Clean up day

Today is Clean Up Day in Australia (www.cleanup.org.au). People get together and collect rubbish from designated spots in their area. DS and I went along to the Rapid Creek cleanup, and collected three big bags of stuff. The creek has flooded a lot lately with the big rains, so there was debris everywhere. Some strange and/or unusual items were: a glass saucepan lid (which I claimed), some old "Clean Up Australia" bags :( , and lots of items of clothing. My favourite pick was an ancient steel Coke can.

While we were there, we spotted a bicycle in a deep part of the creek, so we went back later with some rope and a homemade grappling hook (courtesy of DS) and fished it out. It's in reasonable nick, considering it's a tidal creek, so I don't think it's been there too long. DS will give it a scrub to get all the silt off it, and we'll take up to the police station to hand in tomorrow. If no one claims it in three months, he can claim it. He's managed to get a few items this way.

We actually have sun today, so I'm trying to cook some rice in the solar cooker. I can tell you the pot is bloody hot!

I went to the Rapid Creek weekly market today in search of our newly discovered delight, dragonfruit. Last week they were everywhere. This week they were not. I still managed to get plenty to put in the fridge though. Tried a yellow-skinned one for the first time and it gets my seal of approval :D. It's tasty enough to tickle the tastebuds on it's own. The pink skinned one and the red skinned one are a little blander and better with a squeeze of lime juice....mmmmmmm. (Please ignore the drooling sounds.)

Anyway, while I was there, I got some more seeds: spaghetti squash (yum!), ceylon spinach (haven't tried it before, but a good green vegie/salady), Darwin Lettuce (never met one before) and a different variety of butternut pumpkin. Which means I need more potting mix.

My latest brainwave for pots is feed bags. Cheap (even free), roomy, portable. They'll also reflect the heat better.