First rose in bloom! I’ve never grown roses before but so far they’re a piece of cake! Chuck em bare rooted and single stemmed into the ground and a few months later they give you this. That’s my kinda plant!
Dandelion Seeds
I’m not sure if it’s the dandelions but it was practically snowing seeds on my walk with Lloyd today! Perhaps these little fluff balls are why my hayfever has been outrageous today. They were in clumps all over the ground and floating in the air.
It would be quite beautiful if they weren’t weeds!
Where’s A Million Lady Birds When You Need Em??
The sticks called roses I planted back in winter have done really well. They don’t look like sticks anymore!
We get aphids in hardcore numbers and I’ve been watching the roses like a hawk to make sure they’re not being attacked. Just about overnight the aphids made their move.
If anyone has an army of lady birds they’re not utilising, feel free to send them Burnley way!
Possum Kids
Hi blog friends!
I disappeared again!
I do work full time, but working 12 hour shifts means I get plenty of days off. And now that I’m not studying or renovating (for now!), I noticed that I have a lot of free time! So, one day while standing on the platform at 6:10am waiting for the train to go to work, I decided I would try making fun stuff for kids. Since this little idea, I’ve created quite a few different products and opened an Etsy store!
Choosing the name of my little store took all of 3 seconds. My grandpa always called me (and only me) possum kids (always plural). It made me feel special and cheeky and like we had a special bond that no one else knew about. So when I sat down with my little notebook and pen to “brainstorm” names, Possum Kids instantly came into my head and that was it!
Having 5 nieces, I’ve learnt a lot about what kinds of toys I like to see kids play with: toys that stimulate the imagination. I didn’t know until I started this business that there’s actually an educational style based around imaginative play: Waldorf education. My favourite Possum Kids product is the playsilk. It’s a 90cm x 90cm silk square with a hand rolled hem that I’ve hand dyed. Super simple. Watching my nieces play with it is where the magic happens. For the younger ones, it’s hours of peek-a-boo fun. For the older ones, it’s so many things: a sarong, a blanket for teddy, a table cloth at a tea party, a belt to hold a sword, a veil at their “wedding”, a sling for their baby doll, a silky cubby house, I could go on. It’s such a joy to watch!
My other favourite Possum Kids product is my tooth fairy set. Instead of a gold coin, the tooth fairy can leave a bracelet or zipper charm, a tiny vial of fairy dust, and a teeny tiny note explaining why the recipient got such a special gift. Ie. first tooth, extra clean tooth etc. Not only does this enhance the magic of the tooth fairy, it’s also great incentive for kids to clean their teeth!
Having watched my older nieces come home time and time again with party bags full of lollies and cheap plastic crap from China, I decided to make party bags too. Lolly free and all items handmade with love by me.
My little shop has only been open for a couple of months now but the process of getting it up and running has been so fun! I love being crafty! My sister will call me in the middle of a weekday and ask what I’m doing and I’ll say: “sitting by the fire tipping glitter into glass vials as fairy dust”. She just laughs at me. I’ve learnt so much too! Especially in the world of Instagram! Who would have thought there are thousands of mums out there advertising their products through Instagram? Who knew about the world of brand reps and follow loops? I’m very computer illiterate and am still struggling to learn the ins and outs of this Instagram business!
Anyway, that’s where I’ve been lately. I shall start doing the odd garden blog again soon (not leaving 5 months between posts!).
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And feel free to check out my little shop!
Shop 
possumkids.etsy.com
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possumkids_byjen
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Possum Kids
Fence Fail (Again)
I had this great idea that if I wove thicker wire through the top of the existing fence Lloyd would no longer be able to crush down the chicken wire and jump into the vegie garden. Half way through the job, Lloyd casually jumped over the bit of fence that I’d fixed (left side of the photo) so he could check out what I was doing from another angle. Man that dog can jump! Now that I know he can jump it at its full, uncrushed height I guess I need a taller fence. It’s gonna be a pain in the bum to lean over anything much taller to tend to my vegies. And annoying cos I’ve got leeks ready to plant since I thought the fence would be a quick fix. As always, lucky he’s cute.
Rose Garden
It’s finally cold enough to plant a rose garden! I chose 3 special roses: Peace, Just Joey and Mr Lincoln, and added a new one with a special name: Golden Bunny. My favourite golden book when I was little was about a duck and a bunny becoming unlikely friends. When mum would hug and kiss me she used to say “duck and bunny squeeze and cuddle hug, kiss” after that book.
I had to top up the soil with some potting mix and the fresh soil proved too tempting for Lloyd. So unfortunately my lovely new rose garden will have to have an ugly fence around it for a little while. I think once the soil is settled and the roses grab on it should be alright. Lucky roses have thorns, otherwise Lloyd would think I’d planted sticks as some kind of fun game for him.
Maggie Advice Again!
Kate, I’m looking at you..
Maggie has been getting this light green edge on some of her leaves lately. What does it mean? Is she hungry? Too hot? Any advice would be great! 🙂
Lloyd The Determined, Clever Menace
Did my usual damage check after Lloyd was left at home (all by himself!) for a couple of hours this morning. Note that this is pre walk so the following story is in no way his fault..
Somehow he managed to dig a massive hole (went down a good half metre) in the second vegie box while leaving the fence perfectly intact. I’m still not entirely sure how he did it but it would likely have involved him pushing the fence to make a gap underneath big enough for either him or just his paws to get through. Given the depth of the hole and the fact that the splatter zone was on the wall behind, I think he must’ve gotten his whole self under the fence. But the fence isn’t bent in the slightest. And he’s not small! And how did he get out again? I guess he took a leap of faith?
The only other possibility I can think of is that he got into the first vegie box (I hadn’t fixed the fence until today) and jumped across to the second. But that’s still a decent jump and it’s over two intact fences with a half metre gap between them. Days like this I wish we had puppy-cam!
Needless to say I was too impressed to be cross. Plus it wasn’t his fault.
Plus he’s pretty cute.
Lloyd The Menace
I pulled out the remnants of the tomato plants on the weekend and the freshly disturbed soil proved too tempting for a Lloydie puppy. The little menace has leaned his gorgeous little paws on the chicken wire to bend it enough that he can jump over it and dig up that lovely, pooey, soft soil. Time for an extra post for my very attractive chicken wire fence. As I always say, lucky he’s cute!
Chilli Sauce
My chilli plant has gone nuts with really hot chillies. So I made chilli sauce.
Ingredients
125g “firey red” chillies, roughly chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1/4 red capsicum, roughly chopped
2 black russian tomatoes, roughly chopped
1/8 cup white vinegar
1 tbs sugar
Salt
Pepper
Method
Heat all ingredients in a saucepan on high until vinegar is boiling. Reduce to simmer and heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Transfer ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth. Place in sterilised jar. Consume within 3 months.
Note: I didn’t deseed the chillies so this sauce pretty much blows your head off which is just how the hubby likes it. For a “cooler” version, ditch some seeds. (and save some to plant later for more chillies).
Gardener Jen 