Nature Gives Me a Happy

I am adoring nature more and more everyday in this beautiful town. My partner and I were sitting out on our verandah a couple of days ago. It was hot and muggy, and we were starting to go a little nuts, constantly swiping flies off each other. The great Aussie salute, indeed. I find that with all the composting I’m doing, my partner is becoming more motivated and inspired to bring more nature into this place.

I was at the nursery in early Spring, and noticed they were selling pitcher plants with little venus fly traps and sundews planted around the bottom. I didn’t buy it that day, but mentioned several times to my partner that ‘one day’ we should really pick one up. After being fed up with being plastered with flies this muggy day, my partner begged me to rush out to buy it! There was no need to beg, because of course I would love a fly-eating plant mix!

It has reduced the amount of flies here somewhat, but not all of them, of course. I think it’d be good to maybe have three of these on the verandah? In time…

I’ve been reading lots of organic gardening magazines in preparation for our vege garden, when the time comes. I didn’t know that one effective way organic gardeners keep pests away is by picking grubs, snails and slugs off and feeding them to the chooks!

We don’t have chooks yet, but we do have loads of beautiful parrots visiting everyday. They sit on the tree above our compost bin…

…and wait for all the slugs, cockroaches and slaters that visit our bin for a feast. They wait patiently until the pests crawl outside of the bin, and have their own bug and grub banquet. I decided to begin the habit of collecting slugs and other goodies, setting them on top of the bin and letting the parrots have at them. The kids love this too. I was sitting out with the kids today, when a sparrow flew past and dropped an egg out of its butt. I didn’t know this was possible. How very Angry Birds of it. So, the kids and I gathered up the broken shell full of white and yolk, and gave it pride of place on top of the compost bin. We keep checking to see if any ants have to come to snack on it. It’ll be a delicious treat for our parrot friends!

Remember this eucalyptus mulch I told you about that we’d been given?

Well, as I mentioned, these leaves are the aftermath of a eucalytus oil-making sesh. We asked our friend if we could buy a litre:

I will tell you, fresh is so much more amazing to smell! It may not be as pretty as the stuff you buy in the shops, and the jar has some remnants, but who cares? This will last ages. I’ve been mixing it with white vinegar to clean the kitchen, and it is such an inviting smell.

My partner and I decided we’d like to have a go making some simple lavender essential oil when we get the chance. We just have to grow some first! If we had loads of money, we’d buy some land out here and run a lavender farm, make and sell our oils, and be proud to be the ones to put a purple splash of colour on the mountains of Batlow. We’re not in a position to do that, so we’ll be content to dabble in growing it and making it on a smaller, backyard scale. It doesn’t hurt anyone to dream though, does it?