2016 autumn at Boodarai

Having a go at eating hay, just like mum Martha

Our most handsome calf evah

Our 4 week old calf Chuck got ringed to celebrate St Patrick's Day (and because he had to be ringed) and was not impressed. He's sticking his tongue out at us. Seems fair

Still the same perky, happy puppy, just bigger

Whenever Siobhan comes to stay I get gourmet vegetarian delights like this one.

One of my favourite bits of city art. Cafe Three One 2 One donates a portion of its takings to Rhinoceros preservation, and have this beautiful work of art on the wall outside.

Our pottery friend Pat was heavily involved in organising this High Tea, a fundraiser for the South Gippsland hospital. It was scrumptious, and good company, too.

Our table, with Michelle, Siobhan, and five of the TEN Morgan sisters!

Our table, with Michelle, Siobhan, and five of the TEN Morgan sisters!

It was a bit scary, having the prosciutto hanging there since June 2015, with a mouldy covering of lard and rice flour, but after 9 months we decided it was time to try it out and see if it was edible or a big festering hunk of eeeeew.

Not only was the 9 month old prosciutto edible, it was divine!

We will have enough prosciutto to last us a year at least. That's about 15kg of bliss, and there is still one more the same size hanging in the salumi cage.

Just six weeks after Bastien completely rebuilt garden bed #3 , it is full of vegies.

... except I'm not convinced it works. I cut squares from thin white plastic shopping bags and tied them with thin wire to make little fake moths; I stuck three of these wires together into the end of bamboo stakes and planted them around the cole plants. The theory is that cabbage whites are territorial, and if they perceive that other cabbage whites are already there en masse, then they will move on. I've certainly seen one anarchist cabbage white land on the kale already. Will see if it reduces the infestation at all.

Painted the ceiling a bright (almost cobalt) blue. Later there will be some glow-in-the-dark spots (for stars). And you can see our new "Chick-a-Dee Smoke Alarm" bird as well. (Dutch design - leuk!) I wanted silver walls as it is such a dark area. Silver paint looks black from most angles, apparently. Silver foil (my second idea) can go black over time, apparently. So I got silver insulation foil. I quite like it, but I've been asked more than once why we are so keen to keep the hallway well insulated. We're thinking of getting a silvery "rocket ship hatch" door decal for our bedroom door at the end. That may pull it together a bit more. Although stars inside the rocket ship don't make much sense...

And all grown by us! There is chicken wrapped in prosciutto with oregano, baby kipfler potatoes boiled then sauteed in prosciutto lard, with silverbeet also sauteed in prosciutto lard. All grown, killed, cured and cooked by us Even the salt was made from our own sweat. (Okay, that's not true.) The beer was home brewed too. And yep, delicious.