Tempus fugit. Or something.

The reinventors ran away for the weekend to celebrate the practical one's birthday.  As well as drinking fabulously obscure wines in achingly cool bars - one of which was the brainchild of a Masterchef competitor - they found a treasure for Marmalade Cottage.

It has always been the plan to have small collections about the house - there are a number of cookbooks dating back to the era the house was built.

And now there's this:

Which is the beginning of what is going to be a completely nutty display.

There is the Dali clock.

 

There's the movie bomb clock.

The 1930s kitchen clock which doesn't get wound up on account of its absurdly loud tick.

 

They've been joined by the ABC test pattern clock.

And for luck, a portrait of Audrey Hepburn on a record.

That's a nail sticking out of her mouth.  As well as the cigarette holder.

The ladies have arrived!

You might remember back here, we started to build a chook house.

Over the last couple of months, it's taken shape, based on the building materials we found, scrounged and nicked from building site rubbish piles.

With the addition of some hay, it was finally ready. 

We proud to introduce, on the left Nancy Bird Walton (a Chinese Silky) in the centre Alice Anderson and on the top right, Marion Bell, who are Australorps.

Bless them, they've given us these:

As well as giving us eggs, they'll eat most of the scraps we produce, and their poo will feed the soil.  It's very good, organic practice and everybody gets what they need from the system.

What happens in spring

Plants get all excited and grow!

Sweet corn.

A second plot of broad beans, with a few marigolds peeping out from the bean foliage.

The fig tree that's been in a pot for four years.  Immediately after it went into the ground it looked awfully sick and dropped the leaves and fruit it had.  Now look!  There are least seven little figs growing there. 

This is the second plot of butter beans.  There have been enough to give great handfuls to the neighbours and they're still coming.

Potatoes.  Add to that beetroot, peas, snow peas, tomatoes, lettuces, onions, spring onions and silverbeet.  Yet to go in are capsicums, rosella, more lettuces, green beans, pumpkins, cucumbers and whatever else we can fit in.  We are rather running out of space.

Harvest

After a morning helping clear out spent crops and plant new ones at the Urban Orchard in Perth's Cultural Centre with Josh Byrne (of ABC Gardening Australia fame), the reinventors caught the train home full of enthusiasm for the back garden.

The first plot of broad beans has given its all, and left some lovely nitrogen in the soil.  They've come out and been replaced by some beetroot seedlings left over from the morning's activities, and more basil.

The butter beans have produced beyond our expectations, and are ripening faster than we can eat them.

This is what we picked today:

Half of the butter beans went into handmade drawstring bags for two of the reinventors' favourite neighbours.

Into the largest vegetable bed went: kipfler potatoes, corn, onions, lettuce, carrots and more butter beans.  We now almost don't need to buy vegetables.