Living The Dream Permaculture

12/10/2026

06/10/2026

I feel like everyone says this about their dog. They are the best dog ever.

Rex is my best dog ever, hands down. There are so many reasons why, and so many reasons I will miss him so. This photo right here shows only 2 reasons. I'm sure i could give you 100+, but I won't bore you.

1. His love of hanging out with his family, all 5 of us were here hanging out with Paul and Squiz at the shed. Not everyone loves velcro dogs, but I do (especially the one I can leave at home - in my home, when I need to go out that doesn't suffer from anxiety or destructiveness, but that's reason number 3 & 4). The way he followed me everywhere. He was the family dog, but I am his person. In the garden, in the kitchen, in the loo 🤣, he was always there.

2. His ability to be trusted around all our farm animals. Supervised and unsupervised. We have farm fencing, fencing he can go through, and under ( #5 never ever escaping even though he could if he wanted to). He would share his bed with bottle babies, kiss calves on their nose, share his food bowl with ducklings, and stay the absolute 🦆 away from the geese. Look at those kisses.

Please tell me about your 'best dogs ever', what was their name and why were they so special to you?

13/04/2026

Home grow goodness (not featured Betty our beef cow which will also be included) for tonight's dinner.

We love Mexican food here, so we are trying Caldo De Res for the first time. It should be nice and comforting for this wintery weather we have at the moment.

24/03/2026

Maltese Kapunata for lunch and 100% home-grown.

It's like the Sicilian Caponata or French Ratatouille. A delicious veggie stew that celebrates summer veggies. It can be eaten hot, warm, or cold and preferably with crusty bread (which I have rising now), but also pairs well with grilled chicken or fish. I'll probably sneak in some capers into my bowl since the rest of the family detest them.

14/03/2026

I'll miss these cheery rudebekias when they go with the first frost. I've planted them as a border around some of my beds. They are long lasting, and the bees adore them.

Yellow is a controversial flower colour. Do you love it or hate yellow in the garden?

14/03/2026

Pumpkin- Galeux D'eysines

It's been a very slow summer season in our patch. I didn't have much hope for a pumpkin harvest, but the vines have started setting fruit. I'm not sure if they will have enough time to mature. But I did find this stunner hiding behind some zinnia plants.

I bought the seeds from , which is where I get the majority of my seeds from. They are incredibly well priced and viable. I've had a few issues with germination from other well-known large heirloom seed merchants. The seed collection is hands down the best. From price, quality, and variety.

Of course, there is a whole conversation about supporting small local growers and sellers (who I do buy from, too), saving seeds, and sharing seeds (both of which I partake in). Each season, there are new varieties I like to try, and sometimes (read all the time) I like to grow several varieties at once, which can make seed saving a a little bit harder. Therefore, I usually just refresh my seed stash each season.

I've pulled this description of this particular pumpkin from the seeds collections website.

French heirloom variety from the late 1800's named after the town Eysines where it originated. Unique salmon skinned fruits covered in large warts that resemble peanut shells; warts become larger and more concentrated as the fruit matures. The warts are caused by high sugar levels in the skin. Flesh is orange with a rich and sweet flavour and smooth texture that is ideal for soups, sauces and baking. Stores well. Pumpkins grow to around 6-10kg. Also known as 'Peanut Pumpkin' or 'Peanut Squash'.

I'm looking forward to cooking something delicious with this pumpkin. The hard part is deciding what. I'm leaning towards pumpkin filled ravioli in a crispy sage butter sauce.

02/03/2026

Cucumbers have been prolific this year. This basket was today's harvest.

Hybrid continental cucumber
Armenian cucumber
Jefferson cucumber
Lebanese cucumber

27/02/2026

It feels very autumny today, so I headed out to the garden to harvest a few things for a pot of veggie soup.

If you are in Vic, I hope you got some beautiful rain this morning 😍

16/02/2026

Dinner tonight.

Venison Paul and his mate hunted, and zucchini shish kababas. Marinated in hot paprika, garlic, cumin, coriander, salt, pepper olive oil and sherry vinegar.

Served with homemade pita, lemon rice and tzatziki. This was an easy way to use up a few cucumbers and zucchini

14/02/2026

Today's cabbage haul. There are more in the garden, many we've eaten and many I've given away.

I'm going to attempt long-term storage so we can pace ourselves and not cabbage ourselves out.

Other than saurkraut or coleslaw, what would you make with these?