So how are things progressing?

Or what's working? What's not? :)

Working:

My budgetting! The Husband was seriously impressed that our expenses have dropped to an all time low. The bills are coming in but they are no longer "Williams" (Big Bills)

Seed scattering and letting plants go to seed. I have carrots, chinese cabbages and coriander sprouting from parent plants planted last year. Cabbages, Coriander and parsley seed has been collected and labelled for the next round of planting.

Rubbish: We are down to two plastic shopping bags of rubbish per week in our wheelie bin.

Sewing: I have started sewing again. Only school stuff etc at this point but I am determined to finish Tot 1's dress and start on stuff for the other tots.

The garden in general: Yes! Since I moved the plant boxes over to one of the other beds they all seem much happier. The Cat now has a shady area to sleep under (he likes the damp hessian over the boxes) The sugar cane is thriving since being moved and so are the scented geraniums.

The pond: Yay! Four froggies still alive, two with arms and legs already! Fergus has stayed and I noticed that the pond is clear of all wrigglers so Fergus must be earning his keep.

The gardening challenge: Planted ginger and it's thriving. The peanuts are going mad. Taken cuttings from the scented geraniums and they have struck nicely (yeah I know, if you can't grow a geranium something's really wrong with you!)

What's not working:

The sour dough bread recipe I used. Yuk yuk yuk! Even The Husband who hates to throw out any food was happy to see this experiment go into the compost bin.

One of my compost piles: It is full of maggots! Now we are vegetarian, no animal product has gone into the heap at all. I have turned it and made sure that it is nice and moist. What the hell has gone wrong?

The Cat: I have heard scurrying. I know that it must be because of my compost piles. We also have a lot of pigeon type birds coming in and eating my seed scattering efforts.

The rain clouds and promised thunderstorms: I told The Husband last night that these rain clouds are male; full of promise but not living up to expectations. The Husband was not impressed.

The recycling bin: Try as I might it is still full every fortnight. I buy in bulk, I don't buy things with lots of packaging, I reuse glass jars for storage and potential storage. We get the Sunday papers but they are being stored for when I copy 'going feral(ish)'s' raised bed system.

The Solar oven: Still can't get it hot enough. The Husband has told me to buy one. This is enough to make neeeeeed to succeed.