New fungi puff ball

When I first saw this I thought it was a child's toy or a weird piece of plastic buried in the soil. Digging revealed a small puff ball that bursts open and this strange membrane breaks out and expands into this mesh ball about 15 cm wide. Not a great photo light was low. I found another three.

Koolewong

We are finally moving, I'm getting a real garden, a proper place for Frank to play. I cannot wait. The verge veggie box was a failure. Most people just picked everything they could lay their hands on well before ripening. They will take a 3 cm capsicum, the only red chilli, rip the top of the celery.

We did get enough spinach for this Hunza pie.

The $10 box from Flower Power rotted away, although it was meant to be treated timber. At the new house I will build possum proof boxes and ramp up the scale but space is still limited

The house has water views, birds, possums, koalas and a native garden and I will use this blog to record the development of the garden, especially the veggie patch.

Another good day fishing at Swallow Rock

The Stripped Seapike caused some concern as I pulled it up onto my kayak. It can bite and has the most convincing set of teeth. My net was missing however found something to hold it down, those teeth are quite scary. A good flathead again and this one eaten fresh that night.

The flathead was skinned and filleted but left the pike entire.  The fillets were fried in butter using a simple Rick Stein recipe of sage, garlic and butter.

The killing process is still a bit ugly as I'm just working out how to hit the brain, it's also bloody.  The pike was an unusual catch and not valued for eating but I found it to be very sweet and fine textured. That light texture makes cooking more difficult as the flesh breaks apart easily.

Verge veggie box

Tomatoes are now ripening and producing really well this year. Chilli is very thin and capsicum slow. The tomatoes are taking most of the light but once they finish will do a lot better as I can keep them going for a few months longer. Looking forward to replanting in the next few months for winter.

Another rat

Finished with his cruel play he asked his Mum to take it away. A two day quest is over.

Woronra River, Bonnet Bay

What a day, one enormous 70 cm flathead by Brett and two good fish from myself. The bream doesn't get any bigger at just under a kilogram and flathead at 37cm.

We fished on a outgoing tide, this area has lots of sandbanks and underwater obstacles which traps the larger fish. Six hours of fishing, by the time we left at 6 pm it was all just starting again.

All fish caught on prawns and Brett caught his fish on a Squiggy.

Great bush at Swallow Rock

Not quite seen such a mix of Bankias before, B ericifolia, B marginata and B serrata all together.

My new t-shirt

I could have had "I let my cat walk all over me" but that would have signalled the deterioration  of my mental health. We love him.

Winkkly dink from Frank

He's trying to eat.

My Moken Lite

   Love my new kayak I've not had one Sunday at home since I bought it. My new anchor is not working well but I had just tied it off the back handle. So I need to come up with something better and simple, not an anchor trolley.

Three fishing rods are definitely too many and my new Aird has been getting wet, so that will need a service. I'm learning to use a baitcaster and hope that will be more useful in the future. But my cheap Jarvis Walker rod from K Mart and Shakespeare spin reel are good enough and catch a lot of fish.

Fishing Georges River, Lambeth Street Reserve

What a day! Would it ever stop raining, we paddled towards Revesby Beach but didn't make it there. Lots of fishing to do and didn't want to travel too far just in case the wind came up. That would mean a sad paddle home and risk of hypothermia. 

I caught a nice bream in the rain and it was the only fish for the day.