10.27.2009

Stop! Thief!


More Handmade Christmas Cards





Hope you like them !

Splendid Saturday Splendid Sunday

What a fabulous weekend we had. It was SO busy. We got up early on Saturday morning and went down to the river for a ski. The water was like glass.
When we got home we cleaned the boat and put it away and headed down to the gym. The boys swam while I went into the gym.
We them headed home for a breakfast of bacon, eggs and homemade bread. By this time it was actually one o'clock , so I guess it wasn't really breakfast.

We then headed out into the yard and decided to move the chook pen to create a bigger space in our 'farm' area.

Luckily the iron for the roof renovation hadn't arrived yet, so it wasn't too difficult to lift up and move around.

After working in the garden for a few hours I came in and created a birthday card for our son's friend. He was having his party at the bowling alley. I also made some yummy french onion dip and water crackers to take to a friend's house for dinner.

We had a great night out and headed home about 11.30pm


Sunday morning is latte morning. Every Sunday I am delivered my signature coffee (vanilla latte on skim) in bed. I know I know!!! I am totally spoilt!!...... what can I say.....??

After hanging around in bed reading for a while, I made everyone pancakes with chunky blueberry sauce. They were perfect! The sauce was just fresh blueberries thrown into a saucepan with a tablespoon of water and a tablespoon of sugar and simmered until they broke down and thickened up...... this will definitely be on the 'keep' list.


We did a few jobs around the house and garden and then headed out for a Sunday drive. We headed up to one of the local lighthouses and were looking out when youngest son spotted the whales frolicking just off the shore line. They were coming up and crashing down with a big splash! I don't have a zoom lens with me, so that photos I have are just flecks in a grey ocean.

It was sooooo windy up there. My hair was standing straight up!








When we got home I organised things for dinner and got everything ready to start another week. We had an early dinner, a beautiful roast. We were all exhausted and had an early night.
What a jam-packed weekend it was..... but definitely enjoyable!




10.21.2009

Garden Update: Tears of {Onion} Joy

I will be crying tears of joy when I finally chop and cook this little baby! Actually, it is not so little. They are remarkably huge!

This is the first time that I have grown onions. I always had it in the back of my mind that onions take too long and they take up too much space. But..... the time was going to pass anyway and I don't believe they took a lot of space. They are now ready to be pulled out, tied and hung up until we need them. I will be planting more for sure!

  Everything else is plodding along nicely. This silverbeet is going much better since a relocation into a much wetter area.

Rows of beans are powering now that the weather is warming. So too is the sweet corn. This year we are really trying to get our succession planting worked out. We always struggle with feast or famine when it comes to our garden so this year we are determined to try and stagger the plantings and have an ongoing supply of produce.





Tucked away there is the shadow is a little pumpkin that wasn't there yesterday. They say magic doesn't exist, but how was there nothing yesterday and today there is a pumpkin ? That is a miracle in my books!
There are also some exciting chook house renovations happening to prepare the girls for a luxurious summer in their new penthouse. Stay tuned for further updates.
A question for you.... how do you plan and/or organise your succession planting so that there are no gaps in your backyard production ? I have been really encouraged by the show River Cottage and borrowed the DVD from the town library. I like the way Hugh has his seedlings starting again as soon as the last lot go into the ground. He has a great system worked out.
Do you have any fabulous system for what to plant when ? I'd love to know what you do.





10.19.2009

Yesterday We Owned The River

When we are cruising around our beautiful river and there is no one else about I always think that the river belongs to us - that {we} own the river. Of course I know it is exactly the opposite, we don't own the river - the river owns us!

I had the camera with me yesterday so I snapped some shots of the old buildings around the banks.

There are lots of old dairy farms on this island. There is also a lot of history around the area, with the river being used as the main transportation link for freight and milk. The whole area was once a bustling hive of activity. Now days, the river winds its way through the valley with most people too busy to even stop and look.

But I look....... and dream of days gone by. Days when being 10 kilometres from town was a long way and could only justify a trip there once a week at most. Days when the river was the centre of life - providing goods from afar and fish, prawns and crabs from it's depths.



You can see that cruising up the river, turning off the motor and drifting in the silence for a while, taking in the sounds of the birds, the lapping of the water on the bank, the friendly dolphins.... would make anyone realise after a while that {we} don't own the river, the {river} owns us!

10.17.2009

Garden Update: Compost Bin Changeover

The time had arrived to empty the compost bin. We have a pretty plain compost bin. I won it in a radio trivia competition. That was about ten years ago and it still seems to be going strong.

I don't know whether we do it the 'right' way or not, but for years we have been using the same system with great success. We simply fill the bin with scraps from the kitchen, the garden and the some paper and try to keep the balance right between wet and dry materials.

The bin is made of two halves that are wired together in the middle on both sides. When the bin is full I simply undo the wire twists and am left with a perfect pile. You can see in the picture above that the material on the top hasn't broken down yet but as you look down the pile - it is perfect.

By this stage the girls get a whiff of what is happening and they start hanging around - begging to be let into the garden area.

I then move the compost to a new location (this time it is right next to where it was) and wire it back together. I sit the bin up on a couple of bricks and put some twigs in the bottom for air circulation. I then lift the top centimetres off the old pile and put it back in the bottom of the compost bin in the new location.

We then fenced off a small area and let the girls come in and have a good dig through everything for a couple of hours before we scraped it all up and put it on the garden. The girls went absolutely mad! They scratched and pecked and jumped on bugs. It really was a joy to watch!
We also cleaned out the chook house and added the manure to the compost.
It is amazing to think that we put the soil compost on the garden and grow things and then mulch up the plants and put them in the compost which in turn becomes the dirt that we grow things in again. It is a complete circle....... the circle of {life} !

10.06.2009

Health + Yum = Chocolate Slice { ? }




You see lots of recipes that claim to be healthy and yummy. In my experience those two adjectives don't often go together. But...... I have found a slice that actually provides a chocolate fix and yet has only healthy ingredients..... and there is no cooking involved.
You will need:
Half a cup of sesame seeds
Half a cup of almonds ( soaked in water overnight and then drained)
Third of a cup of coconut
Third of a cup of cocoa powder
8 dried figs
Half a cup of chopped dates
Two drops of peppermint essence
Two tablespoons of water.
Throw everything in a food processor and churn/ pulse until the mixture is crumbly. You may need to fiddle with the amount of water or sesame seeds if it is too dry or too wet. Test by pressing some mixture together.
Press the slice into a small pan ( 20cm x 10cm) and refrigerate until firm.
The taste is nutty, yet chocolatey and most importantly it is very satisfying with a cup of tea!
We thought it actually tasted better on the second day in the fridge... not sure about the third day {lol}
Try it and see what you think.....

Harnessing Old Wisdom for a Fulfilling Modern Life

If you have been around here for a while, you know that I love to look to the old ways to find wisdom to apply to a modern world.   I ...