Next Phase In Fitness & Life

Over 60 and living my best life

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Our Life On A Dirt Road & Off The Grid – July

August 8, 2018 By nextphaseinfitness 22 Comments

July Update

IMG_5301

Thankfully the middle month of winter is over, even though there is still quite a way to go until we start to warm up here. We have had many more frosts than usual this year and my fingers are crossed that the garden survives them.  Most days, there is very little sunshine so the solar batteries aren’t getting topped up very much, which means that we are using the generator a bit more than usual.

Garden

Most of the garden is dormant for winter, so it looks fairly bare at the moment. As we have a country garden, our garden beds are quite large and weeding is a huge chore. To keep weeding to a minumum, I use my version of the no dig garden method.  This entails spreading sheets of newspaper and layers of straw onto the garden beds, leaving a gap around the plants, so that water can get down to their roots. This usually needs topping up about every two years, depending on how thick the newspaper layer is.

This is what I have been mainly doing during July, so that the garden is weed free and ready in spring for further planting. Laying the newspaper and straw is a huge job, but worthwhile as it makes gardening easier in the long term.

IMG_5819

IMG_5918

Our other big job was to create a new vegetable garden. So far, it’s just been marked out and dug over, ready for soil improvers to be added over the next couple of weeks. By spring this bed will be ready for planting summer vegetables, such as tomatoes, capsicum and zucchinis.

IMG_5920

I haven’t been doing any planting at all during July, except for some lettuce for the chooks. The chooks vege garden needs regular plantings to be added to keep up the huge supply and demand from our chooks.

Rainfall

Happily, we’ve had  rain during July. However, the dam is still at a very low level

IMG_5799

Chooks

As is usual in winter, the chooks haven’t been laying much. However. The one or two eggs a day we’ve been getting have been enough to keep us going. I usually give cartons of eggs to my friends, but that has stopped over the past few weeks. Chooks need a long period of daylight each day to lay eggs. With the days being much shorter in winter, there are always very few eggs. But this will change in the spring, when we will probably be inundated again. We will be adding a couple of chooks to our flock in a couple of weeks.

IMG_5110

August is the last month of winter, but September can be quite cold here also. So we have a little more cold weather to suffer through, before the joys of spring arrive

Jennifer 

Share this:

  • Tweet
  • Share on Tumblr
  • Email
  • Print

Filed Under: At home, Uncategorized Tagged With: off the grid

Comments

  1. Kristin Alicia says

    August 8, 2018 at 12:51 pm

    I’ve always dreamed of living in the country and having chickens and a big garden. It must be so peaceful. #MLSTL

    Reply
    • nextphaseinfitness says

      August 9, 2018 at 1:03 pm

      We love the lifestyle Kristin. Yes it’s very peaceful. Also very busy at times

      Reply
  2. Donna says

    August 8, 2018 at 1:16 pm

    Hi, Jennifer – I enjoyed reading your July update. I am not much of a gardener, but I greatly admire those who are.
    I know that you have hiked the Camino, have you also hiked any of the Via Francingena? My husband and I are currently planning to hike the Italian Section of this trail and would love some extra advice.

    Reply
    • nextphaseinfitness says

      August 9, 2018 at 1:02 pm

      Hi Donna I’ve only done Camino Frances so can’t give you any advice unfortunately. Via Franc is in my bucket list

      Reply
  3. Leanne | www.crestingthehill.com.au says

    August 8, 2018 at 10:45 pm

    I really enjoy having little glimpses into your farmsteading life Jennifer. We had chooks for years and there were always more eggs than we needed – except in Winter when their laying dropped right off.
    I hope you get a bit more rain for that dam – we’ve been getting bucket loads in the West!
    #MLSTL 🙂

    Reply
    • nextphaseinfitness says

      August 9, 2018 at 1:05 pm

      The rain has finally arrived Leanne. I’ve been away for almost a week and it rained the entire time. Thanks again for visiting

      Reply
  4. Sue from Sizzling Towards 60 & Beyond says

    August 9, 2018 at 7:01 am

    Hi Jen, thanks for the update and I always love looking at the bush surrounding your property. So much space! Spring is on the way so hopefully that means warmer weather for you. Thanks for being part of the #MLSTL community and sharing with us. Have a great week!

    Reply
    • nextphaseinfitness says

      August 9, 2018 at 1:04 pm

      Cannot wait for spring Sue. Really feeling cold since coming home from Qld

      Reply
  5. Agnes Knowles says

    August 9, 2018 at 8:56 am

    Wow! Hat’s off to you, Jennifer! I love the idea of your lifestyle, but I’m not sure I’d last long. I’m wondering if you had experience (with solar etc) before you went off-grid. I hope Spring comes quickly for you!!

    Reply
    • nextphaseinfitness says

      August 9, 2018 at 1:07 pm

      We had no experience with solar at all Agnes. Learning as we go. Was a big learning curve at beginning but I think we have it sorted now

      Reply
  6. Debbie says

    August 9, 2018 at 5:16 pm

    It’s great to hear how you’ve spent the winter Jennifer and preparing for the spring. You seem to relish in your off the grid lifestyle! #mlstl

    Reply
    • nextphaseinfitness says

      August 10, 2018 at 8:50 pm

      We love it Deb. Thanks again for visiting

      Reply
  7. 1010ParkPlace says

    August 10, 2018 at 6:07 am

    I’m in Texas where our summer is brutally hot at the moment, so I loved reading about your winter. If only I could send you some of our stored heat. Brenda #MLSTL

    Reply
    • nextphaseinfitness says

      August 10, 2018 at 8:50 pm

      Pleased you enjoyed reading about your winter. Won’t be long and some will be complaining about the heat. Not me. I love the heat

      Reply
  8. Donna McNicol says

    August 10, 2018 at 6:42 am

    Such an enjoyable read. We live in a somewhat rural area here in the US but I am so NOT a gardener. Thanks for sharing snippets of your life! #MLSTL

    Reply
    • nextphaseinfitness says

      August 10, 2018 at 8:48 pm

      I’m not a natural gardener at all Donna. But I love it and that’s all that matters

      Reply
  9. Victoria says

    August 10, 2018 at 8:17 am

    Jennifer, I like the idea how you live but wouldn’t actually want to do it. lol We had a garden when I was a kid and it was a lot of work and then we canned and froze everything so we had the produce for the winter. Lot of work.

    Reply
    • nextphaseinfitness says

      August 10, 2018 at 8:47 pm

      You’re right it is a lot of work. But we do love it.

      Reply
  10. 1010ParkPlace says

    August 12, 2018 at 2:10 am

    I lived on a ranch in the Texas Hill Country for 10 years. Now that I’m back, living in the city, there is so much I miss about the country. You can take the girl out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the girl. Brenda #MLSTL

    Reply
    • nextphaseinfitness says

      August 15, 2018 at 8:19 am

      I’ve lived in the city for periods during my life but am always drawn back to the country. Thanks for visiting

      Reply
  11. Dee | Grammy's Grid says

    August 25, 2018 at 1:11 am

    Enjoyed reading your update! Looks like a lot of work but it would be so nice to live off the grid 🙂

    Reply
    • nextphaseinfitness says

      August 25, 2018 at 11:38 am

      Yes we love our Off The grid lifestyle

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Subscribe to My Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 1,121 other subscribers

Categories

Archives

Kiva - loans that change lives
Australian Women Bloggers Directory by Blog Chicks

Tags

12wbt 150 Walks In Victoria April A-Z Challenge Axedale bendigo bushwalking Camino Camino de Santiago Central Victoria challenge Christmas Coastrek CoastrekMelbourne cycling exercise Fernwood Fitness Fitness For Seniors fit over 60 fitover60 foxy Friday photos goals gym Health healthy eating hiking history I quit Sugar life Maxine's Challenge Melbourne's Best Bush Bay & City Walks Melbourne Coastrek 2017 Michelle Bridges Next Phase In Fitness nutrition O'Keefe Rail Trail postaday running Spain strength training sugar free Victoria walking weight training

Connect with me

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • Home
  • About Me
  • About Camino de Santiago

Copyright © 2021 Next Phase In Fitness · Contact

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.