Share
Welcome to your Workshop. It is great to have you as a member of the community. We encourage you to say hello and introduce yourself.
Please reply to this post and tell us a bit about yourself. Whatever information you feel comfortable sharing is fine.
You might like to tell us about your current D.I.Y. and garden projects, your work, your passions, your hobbies, your dreams, what you struggle with, what you hope to learn from this community, and/or your favourite ice cream flavour.
And for something truly revealing about yourself - tell us what you call a barbecued sausage served on a single piece of bread.
We look forward to your post and getting to know you. Thanks for joining the discussion.
Jason
Community Manager
Welcome to Workshop @geoffn2010. Many thanks for introducing yourself. I'm sure you're going to add a lot to our discussions here on Workshop. I hope you also find plenty of inspiration for your projects, too. Perhaps you'd like to start a new discussion in the gardening board with some pictures of your block - there will be many community members keen to help.
Jason
Fantastic to have you join us @Darbysgirl. I'm looking forward to reading more about your projects and seeing you share your D.I.Y. experience and knowledge with others here on Workshop. Many thanks for introducing yourself and for joining the community. You would find plenty of like-minded people here.
Please let me know if you ever need a hand getting the most from the site.
Jason
Hi everyone. I joined 3 weeks ago and despite having made several posts I have only just got around to introducing myself. Apologies to all.
My name is Annette and I have lived in the same house in Canberra with Hubby (John) for 38 years. My only real bugbear about the house is the kitchen which is in those lovely colours that were so trendy in the late 70's. Apart from that the house in is fairly good nick.
I am not a very good DIYer but I am a dab hand at painting, having painted 3 different houses within 2 years, my sister's house, our rental property and our own house. I tend to be the ideas person and Hubby makes them a reality as long as they are not too complicated or ambitious as he only has a very basic set of tools and no fancy big boys toys.
Over the years when we both worked as well as raising our son, we did not have time for a vegie patch but due to necessity we started one 3 years ago after we suddenly went from 2 wages down to 1 wage. 4 years ago our lives were turned upside down and inside out after I had a major health scare and a very serious operation. It was a very scary time for us because for 3 days before the operation they told us to expect the worst. Luckily it turned out to be not nearly as bad as they first thought but it still took me about 12 months to recover. Something like that changes your perspective on life forever.
So the vegie patch was born. We started out with a modest 8ft x 4 ft raised garden bed which Hubby built. The next year we built 2 more small raised beds. This year we added a 4th raised bed and next year we will build another one. The first year we had a modest yield but enough to encourage us to keep going. Each year we have increased our yield and last year we managed to have a bumper crop.
As a result of our success in the vegie patch, I then turned my hand to preserving by pickling, freezing and dehydrating our excess produce. Last year I made tomato chutney, pickled cucumbers, pickled zucchini, sweet chilli sauce, various jams, strawberry syrup, dried figs, fruit roll-ups as well as dried tomatoes, celery and much more. As well as having all these preserved foods for our own use I was able to add them to Christmas gift hampers for friends and family along with dozens of my different homemade treats - chocolate coated pretzels, chocolate bark, musk sticks, fudge, rocky road, rainbow meringues, coconut ice, rainbow marshmallows, fruit and nut bars, cookies and so much more naughty but nice goodies. Yes, I know, I have morphed into Martha Stewart, the only difference being that I don't have her criminal record or bank balance 
Despite the fact that I am now "retired", I have never been so busy in all my life. If I am not in the garden, I am either cooking, chopping, freezing, dehydrating or pickling as well as the normal house chores. I am loving the garden and the produce we have grown and we have never eaten so well. I have also found that the garden has proved to be very therapeutic.
For many years John and I have also enjoyed freshwater and saltwater fishing in our boat. 9 times out of 10 I manage to outfish John and he reckons that if he wants to have a feed of fish he has to take me along 
I am a huge fan of YouTube and have learnt so much from my favourite gardening (and cooking) channels but I have now discovered through the Workshop another valuable resource to help us get the most out of our garden. Thank you to all the members who have kindly shared their knowledge and expertise all sprinkled with a liberal dose of good humour.
@Jason - All these years I have been calling a sausage on bread a "pig in a blanket" but I just googled it and it is a name for a sausage (or hot dog) in a pastry. I will now have to go with banga sanga.
And as for ice cream..........any flavour but if I had to choose - English Toffee.
Many thanks for taking the time to introduce yourself @Annette. It's wonderful to hear some of your story and get to know you a little better. I'm sure many Workshop members will be inspired by your story and get out in the garden.
Thanks also for throwing yourself so enthusiastically into the Workshop community. It's great to hear that you have found plenty of great information and advice so far. The good news is that we've only just begun and we are looking forward to the community growing enormously.
Welcome aboard!
Jason
You might also like
