September ~ A Busy Month

What a busy month September is shaping up to be! Our city has so many events on it is hard to choose what to go to. Our annual Carnival of Flowers will be held from 16-25 September and with the recent rain the gardens will be looking even more stunning than usual.

 If you are planning on visiting around that time and want to avoid the crowds it is a good idea to come the week before the Carnival starts. Of course the home gardens in the competition won't be open at that stage but the many parks with beautiful gardens will be.

Calendula Infused Oil

Edited on 4/9/16: Please note that the workshop mentioned below has unfortunately had to be cancelled due to illness. Those who are on the Simple Living Toowoomba mailing list would have been notified today by our co-ordinator, Margy. So our next workshop will be on the 22nd October when Racheal will be talking about the uses of Essential Oils. 


Next Saturday, on the 10th September our Simple Living Toowoomba will be having a herb workshop which will be presented by Murray and Mary McCallum who are Naturopaths and Herbalists here in town. Our presenter wasn't able to do the workshop due to family illness so they offered to help out which is very much appreciated. The details are below:

Herb Workshop
Date: 10 September 2016
Time: 10-12 noon
Cost: $5
Where: Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, 23 Glenvale Road, Toowoomba.  
What: Mary and Murray, a delightful couple who have been herbalists for many years will be talking about how to grow herbs, what herbs to grow in Toowoomba and how to use them.  With extensive knowledge of herbal medicine they will also demonstrate how to make an ointment and a tincture.

We will be having our handmade and homegrown swap before the workshop.  If you would like to be involved bring up to five items.  All items need to be on the table by 9.45am.

Bookings Required: RSVP 7 September. You can book via the Simple Living Toowoomba website.


I had the pleasure of meeting Mary at our Mead and Perry Workshop and she was telling me about the Toowoomba Home Produce Swap Group. The group meets on the 1st Saturday of the month from 9-11am at the East Creek Community Centre in Kitchener Street so we went along today to take a look. I spoke to Jo who explained about the group which swaps seeds, fresh produce etc.

More information can be found on their Facebook page which can be found by finding Toowoomba Home Produce Swap in Facebook groups where you ask to join if anyone is interested. I haven't gone over to the dark side and joined Facebook yet but I am sure lots of local readers would know how to do that. From what I could tell this is a terrific group and just up my alley.

There is also a seed bank catalogue which can be downloaded and printed out as well.

I would really like to have a look through this so I just might have to join Facebook to do so. 

On the way home from the swap we made a quick visit to the Farmers Market which wasn't as busy as usual probably due to the cold wind that had sprung up after the rain last night. By the way, the market is going to be on both Saturdays of the Carnival - 17th and 24th - and is just across the road from one of our major gardens Queens Park. The Market dates up until December 2017 are on the website if you are visiting at any time.  

While there I remembered that The Bakers Duck used to sell sourdough at the market but was now opening in a little street somewhere obscure so we had a search for it on the way home and finally found it in Shed 1, 55 Bellevue Street. It is only open on a Saturday from 7am to 2pm and there is a little cafe there as well. I wanted to try their sourdough so that I could compare it with mine to see if I was achieving the 'right taste' of sourdough. I bought a rye and linseed loaf and it didn't look or taste all that much different from mine which I was pleased about. I don't use as much rye flour in mine at this stage even though I want to but I am still experimenting. We have lots of little shops springing up in old buildings at the moment and it is very surprising when you come across them if you have no idea they are there.

As I said it is going to be a very busy month and while at the market I picked up a brochure advertising the Craft and Garden Show at Geham which is 20 minutes north of Toowoomba. It sounds interesting and I just might go for a drive out there as it is going to be very busy here in town that weekend. I noticed on the website that Cody Cook, one of the winners of House Rules, will be there on the 17th from 1-3 if that is an incentive for anyone. I must admit I never watched the show as those types of TV shows are too stressful for me :-) 

So those are a few of the events that are going to be on this month. Looks like a lot of fun too! Thanks to everyone who made nice comments about the loss of Sally this week. I still miss her as she was so much a part of my daily routine, especially trying to get her to get into her coop at night and I am sure the neighbours wonder why they aren't hearing me yelling 'Get into bed, Sally' every day while they are preparing dinner. Susan mentioned in the comments that she read a blog where something similar happened to a special chicken so I had a look and read the blog post and had a good cry. I am glad I am not the only person to get attached to a chook :-)