Tag Archives: installation

Birdbath

Posted on September 7, 2013 by Laura Rittenhouse

As I continue to make my way through the garden beds on the farm, I keep uncovering all kinds of cool things. For example, a bird bath. Seriously, you couldn’t see this thing before I cut back some flowering ginger … Continue reading →

Posted in cat, Garden, Nature | Tagged , , , , | 21 Comments

New Home, New Chicken Run

Posted on July 28, 2013 by Laura Rittenhouse

The first thing we had to do before we could move to Richmond was build a fox-proof chicken run. We’ve seen foxes on the land twice already and the previous occupant reportedly lost some chooks to foxes. As if that … Continue reading →

Posted in Chickens, Nature | Tagged , | 13 Comments

Parrot (not Possum) Box

Posted on June 22, 2013 by Laura Rittenhouse

In November, Possums moved into our parrot box. It didn’t really matter that it was possums rather than parrots, I was happy as long as some local fauna was making use of all that hard (okay, easy) work. The possums were … Continue reading →

Posted in Nature | Tagged , , , | 22 Comments

Recycled Fencing

Posted on May 10, 2013 by Laura Rittenhouse

Last year we had our back fence replaced. It was totally decrepit but it had been made of hardwood palings (granted, over 1/2 century ago) and some of that wood was still “useable”. At least after a bit of work. … Continue reading →

Posted in Sustainability | Tagged , | 12 Comments

Feeding my bees

Posted on April 28, 2013 by Laura Rittenhouse

When we made the decision to requeen our swarm hive, we decided that it wouldn’t hurt to feed them a little sugar-water at the same time. Basically, feeding never hurts and just might help in pretty much any bee situation. This hive … Continue reading →

Posted in bees | Tagged , | 13 Comments

Possum Box Update

Posted on April 14, 2013 by Laura Rittenhouse

We have installed 3 possum boxes on our property. The first was designed to be home to a sugar glider. No sugar glider moved in but a bee swarm did. That box is now positioned nice and low in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Nature | Tagged , , | 17 Comments

Keeping Bees Cool

Posted on January 9, 2013 by Laura Rittenhouse

Bees are great at climate control. They keep the hive at a constant temperature of about 35 C (95 F) day and night. When it’s cold outside, they huddle together around the brood and shiver their muscles to generate heat. When … Continue reading →

Posted in bees, Chickens, Garden, Nature | Tagged , , , | 8 Comments

Garden Trolley

Posted on January 1, 2013 by Laura Rittenhouse

Recently we had a council clean-up day. This is a day where the council sends around huge rubbish trucks and strong men to haul away household garbage that its citizens no longer want. It all ends up as landfill with … Continue reading →

Posted in Chickens, Garden, Sustainability | Tagged , , | 7 Comments

Cabbage Moth Net

Posted on December 18, 2012 by Laura Rittenhouse

Frank was reading an organic gardening supply magazine recently (as you do) and came across some information on how to deal with cabbage moths, a.k.a. Laura’s Nemeses. There are sprays to kills the caterpillars, there is the strategy of picking the caterpillars … Continue reading →

Posted in Garden, Nature, Sustainability | Tagged , | 6 Comments

Solar Beeswax Melter

Posted on December 14, 2012 by Laura Rittenhouse

If you have bees, you end up with beeswax. If you have messy bees, you end up with a lot of beeswax. No matter where the wax comes from, you’ve got to melt it to a) separate out any honey … Continue reading →

Posted in bees, Sustainability | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments