winter time blues

... it's been raining since saturday afternoon.  thursday now.  i'm about to go stir crazy .... this is cabin fever and it is driving me insane!  with a sick family .... the coughs and hacks and sniffles abound, it is only the rare dash for this or that supply that takes me away from home.

i keep trying to remind myself that this is good for the new no-dig beds we just put in.  they are well and truly starting the decomposition process.

but impatient me would rather be planting those beds than watching them settle.  <sigh>

so i have to think of those things that will keep me inspired ... to see winter as a time of bedding in and preparing, rather than twiddling my thumbs.

• there are seedlings to tend -- cabbage, beets, broccoli, cauliflower, and yes, i am daring to get into bean territory already.
• placed an order with Diggers the other day ... ahhh .... that felt good.  ordered comfrey, chives, sorrel, amaranth, broccoli romanesco, capsicum, eggplant, sweet corn, kohlrabi, cavolo nero black tuscan kale, deer tongue lettuce, malabar climbing spinach, purple tomatillo and new water bottle tops.  
• my Gardenate reminder came.  if you don't belong to this, you should.  a global site that allows you to enter your location and it sends you monthly reminders of what should be planted that month (and also sends you what to prep for the following month).
• the peas (both green feast and snow) are looking fantastic, not to mention the scarlet broad beans!  this dead branch idea from hugh of River Cottage has worked a treat as something to grow the peas on.  
• went to the nursery yesterday to pick up some rooting medium to encourage bare roots for my lavender propagation.  and saw a few acacia's and trees i wanted.  come next pay day i think i'll have to get a kafir lime and a fig tree .... 
• perfect weather to plan an attack on slugs.  turn a bucket or two upside down in the garden bed and they'll congregate inside the warm, dark dampness and make a great treat for the chooks.
• hubby is going to an DIY aquaponics course this weekend.... way cool  (i can taste the smoked trout already!).  and next weekend i will be attending a mushroom workshop .... how to grow exotics, use them for composting and decomposing in the yard.  who would've thot that mushrooms were such a versatile food!

... in the midst of these winter blues i look at the weather forecast.  says it's supposed to be sunny today ... oh cool.  i'll be able to get that laundry on the line.  but then i look outside .... and, well .... it's still raining .... 

here in australia we are one week away from the shortest day of the year ... june 23rd.  it only gets better after that, right?