Growing food in 2014

Growing food in 2014 has been a challenge, but I think 2013 prepared me for the worst. Our climate is both freezing in winter and dry and hot in summer, so planning for both extremes is not easy. I am gradually learning what does grow well, when and how to get the most from our greywater. I've written about climate and farming, as well as vege gardening. And I've written about one herb every month, which has helped me to learn more about the herbs in my garden. Here's what I wrote about growing food in 2014:

Growing vegetables
Setting up another worm farm
Growing and eating chokos (chayotes)

Seed saving and seed swap
Does growing vegetables save you money?

Our frustrating climate
Surviving the QLD Heat Wave(s)
Can't buy me rain....
Frost - what is it and how to manage it

Thoughts on farming
Who is a farmer?
Deadstock

My Herb Garden

How I use herbs
How I use herbs - Mint, Peppermint and Spearmint
How I use herbs - Aloe Vera
How I use herbs - Basil
How I use herbs - Ginger, galangal and turmeric
How I use herbs - Marigold, calendula and winter taragon
How I use herbs - Soapwort
How I use herbs - Comfrey
How I use herbs - Nasturtium
How I use herbs - Parsley
How I use herbs - Borage

Permaculture and some wonderful guest posts

Permaculture on Eight Acres
Permaculture - Produce no Waste - with Linda from Greenhaven
How I use Permaculture - with Chris from Gully Grove
Permaculture - applying the basics with Homehill Farm
Planning a property using permaculture

Summaries from previous years....

What I wrote about my garden in 2013

How my garden grew - 2012 Update

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The new Eight Acres website is live!

Very soon this blogspot address will automatically redirect to the new Eight Acres site, but in the meantime, you can check it out here . You will find all my soaps, ebooks and beeswax/honey products there, as well as the blog (needs a tidy up, but its all there!). I will be gradually updating all my social media links and updating and sharing blog posts over the next few months. I'm very excited to share this new website with you!

Chicken tractor guest post

Sign up for my weekly email updates here , you will find out more about chickens, soap and our farmlife, straight to your inbox, never miss a post! New soap website and shop opening soon.... Tanya from Lovely Greens invited me to write a guest post on chicken tractors for her blog. I can't believe how many page views I get for chicken tractors, they seem to be a real area of interest and I hope that the information on my blog has helped people. I find that when I use something everyday, I forget the details that other people may not be aware of, so in this post for Tanya, I tried to just write everything I could think of that I haven't covered in previous posts. I tried to explain everything we do and why, so that people in other locations and situations can figure out how best to use chicken tractors with their own chickens. The dogs like to hang out behind the chicken tractors and eat chicken poo. Dogs are gross! If you want to read more about chicken tractor

How to make soap with beer (and tallow)

I may have mentioned this before.... soap making is addictive! Once you start, you just want to keep making more soap. And not the same soap, you want to try all sorts of different soaps. I made the mistake of joining a facebook group called Saponification Nation and now my facebook newsfeed is full of glorious soaps, in all colours and shapes, which makes it even harder to resist the urge to experiment. One soap that kept popping up a few weeks ago was soap made with beer. I generally prefer not to use ingredients just for the sake of it, I like to know that they are adding something to the properties of the finished soap. As you know, I don't like to use artificial ingredients either (colours or fragrances). When I read about beer in soap I found out that beer adds sugar to the mixture, which increases lather. I use tallow in my soap, which has limited lather, so anything that adds lather could improve the soap. It also contributes a tan or brown colour to

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