Alphabet Journal out-takes

One chilly afternoon not last autumn but the autumn before, photographer Kim Daly and her husband came to our farm to shoot some photos for Alphabet Journal. Our family with our tangly hair, our mismatched boots and our raggle-taggle clothing got to work amongst the autumn leaves making a campfire in the garden and cooking damper on a stick.





At that stage we didn't know a lot about Luisa Brimble's dreams for Alphabet Journal. We didn't know if it would be an online magazine or print, we didn't know when or how often it would come out and we didn't know what it would look like when eventually it did. But we adored all the little scraps of info we did know about it all the same; a few favourite contributors, stories of families, stories of real life unstyled and true.

The Alphabet Journal photo shoot felt like the first magazine shoot in a long time that we didn't have to clean up for, that we could just be ourselves, that we were enough.




We had a gorgeous time together cooking and eating, feeding the fire and knitting, and just hanging out enjoying each other's company. And Kim wandered around us snapping photos on her proper film cameras, answering all of our questions and politely tasting all the camp-fire cooked tasty morsels she was offered.

By the end of the day our bellies were full, our clothes smelled of smoke, we all felt like old friends and we were dying to see what this magazine would look like when it came out.

One year later, and with our Jazzy on the front cover!!!! Alphabet Journal the magazine was sent in hand wrapped brown paper packages tied up with string, to homes all over Australia and all over the world.

Alphabet Journal feels beautiful in my hands, smells comforting when I bury my face in it and is filled with 160 pages of inspiring, real, gorgeous, messy, interesting, true stories. Alphabet Journal is such a treat. Our family feel absolutely thrilled to have played a little part in helping Luisa Brimble's dream come true.

On the very first page there is a bit that reads ;

Alphabet is a magazine for people who make a home together. We believe that a home is a lived space and not a showroom. We believe that when families return to the basics - acts of gratitude, curiosity, collaboration - they are writing the kinds of living stories that are meant to be shared. This is where we share them.

Thanks for the photos Kim, thanks for the beautiful magazine Luisa, congratulations to everyone involved in Alphabet Journal issue A. We love it and can hardly wait for the B issue.

Big love to your family from ours.

xx

fire, feast and song

There's this little clearing in a piece of forest on our farm that I've had my eye on for a while now. It's a funny little spot in between two paddocks and behind the windmill dam that looks thick and bushy from the outside. It's the type of spot you could easily walk past without giving it much thought at all. But a while ago, possibly even years ago, my farmer boy took me in through the trees and showed me how there was a lovely space inside and a big pile of wood and sticks in there that needed burning. I've been thinking about lighting that bonfire ever since.




I love the feeling of walking through the little foresty bit as it opens up into a clearing. It's like our own little secret garden. And this autumn it's been particularly beautiful in there with streams of sunlight and dappled shadows.

Most weekends I've been suggesting that we head down there with a picnic and a box of matches but this past Saturday we finally did. Us five and farmer Bren's folks, my knitting, some tools, and a box of ingredients to make a bonfire feast.


We got the fire going and then we spent a while cutting down gorse bushes and blackberry plants and neatening up the space. I love being part of the whole family team that cuts down, drags over and feeds the fire. I love the roars of excitement as the branches of gorse catch alight and the flames seem to shake the high tree branches and touch the sky. I love that feeling of being burning hot on the front and freezing cold on the back and rotating to keep myself evenly warm.

And I love how after we had been working a while, the girls got to work on the feast. Working together to measure, mix, roll and cook.







We took turns making and baking. We discussed old cooking techniques and invented new ones. We cut and sharpened the longest sticks we could find, so we could reach the hottest fire. We ate jacket potatoes with rosemary and cheese, toasted marshmallows, and damper with Vegemite, or butter, or jam. We burnt our fingers and spilled things on our clothes and gulped down water. We went from hard-working hungry to full as bulls in not very long time. And we dreamed and told stories of the parties we would throw in the clearing now it is clear and planned to bring in stumps and slabs of wood for future furniture.





And it was all delicious and wonderful. But my very favourite part of all came after the sun set, when it was pitch black except for the fire. It felt like midnight but was possibly not long past six when the girls started singing. And for the next few hours we all sang and sometimes danced and laughed and laughed. One song after the other just voices in melodies and harmonies.

And it occurred to me as I sat up against my farmer boy watching their glowing faces and listening to their songs that finally after years and years and years of entertaining them with nursery rhymes and silly games, that they are finally entertaining us. And I felt blessed beyond measure.

I'm sure that that night when we all went back up to the house that we all dreamed exhausted, smokey, secret garden dreams.

I went down to that same space yesterday in the late afternoon to check if the fire was still burning, to see what the newly cleared space looked like a few days later and to have a few minutes of silence for myself and I could still feel something special there. I've got plans for another visit soon with a pot of soup and some Turkish coffee. Hopefully winter is kind and allows it.


I hope you are having a gorgeous day.

Lots of love

xx

blogging bits & burning sticks

I'm afraid my blogging has been getting away from me. Where my monthly average used to be 13 or 14 posts, these days it is down to four or five. I don't know what's changed. Maybe I have less time these days, maybe facebook and instagram are to blame, maybe it's because I feel like I've said it all before, maybe it's because I just got out of the habit, or maybe it's because each post seems so big and overwhelming that often it's simpler to let it go.

But I miss it. I miss taking the photos and telling the story. I miss watching the post come together. I miss that feeling of satisfaction I get when I press publish. And I miss your beautiful words and stories in the comment section. And someday in the future I know that I will desperately miss the gaps in our family's illustrated history.

The other day Miss Jazzy sat down to do a timeline of her life and there the last five years were, every birthday party, every major event and so much in-between. She had a ball scrolling through remembering her life.

I've been thinking about ways to make blogging easier for myself ever since.

And I've come to the conclusion that I need to make it simpler and quicker for myself. So for the next little while I am going to aim to publish a blog post every, or every second day. Quick little stories with only a couple of pictures that tell the tales of where we are and what we are doing right now.

I've said it before and I know it to be true; the more I blog - the easier and better I blog.

Look out for stories in the coming days about what I've been knitting, what's growing in the garden, what we are doing with all those tomatoes, what we are reading, how I'm going with the whole kind thing, what's bringing me joy and anything else that pops into my head. Feel free to offer me any suggestions you might have too.

Yay! I'm excited.

This particular story above is one that began yesterday morning when I bumped into a friend who was taking her family away camping for the holidays, and left me feeling guilty that all our plans are for home. But then when I came home to our little farm and had a good look around I realised that our home, and all the adventures it holds, is a pretty incredible place to holiday in too.

And once I'd realised how much we all really need a holiday at home, we set about collecting sticks and building a bonfire where we spent the day cooking and pottering and playing and experimenting and getting absolutely filthy.

I love that despite the cold and rain, I found Jazzy and Pepper back out there in their wet weather gear first thing this morning wanting to keep going where they left off. I can remember doing that so clearly when I was little. The sign of a great day I think.


I'm going to sign off now and go and stir my bubbling pots of tomato sauce and quince jelly, but I'll be seeing you real soon.

Big love and happy holidays!

xx

Coffee and paste...x

I think these last few weeks have been amongst the biggest of my life. The book, the interviews, the feedback, the film, the signings, the reviews and of course the Daylesford launch.

I have been so overwhelmed, I have been humbled and I have been grateful. I feel like I've been running on adrenaline for so much of it. It really has been huge.

And over these big book weeks my blog words have woken me up at night whispering descriptions and explaining goings on and feelings. My nighttime blog words always feel so articulate and honest in the dark.

And yet my days have been so full that I haven't had a second to get those words down here. 

And now that I finally have a little bit of time, they're gone. Actually I don't think they're gone but I think there are so many of them that I don't know how to make sense and order out of them. I feel like they're all jumbled up and all over the place.

I hope I will get all that stuff down here soon because it is important and because I want to remember it, but for now I thought I'd try something completely different. Something I found on Pip's blog. Something I feel might help me take stock and ease my way back in.

So here goes;

Making : Another crocheted hot water bottle cover, knitting a looooong scarf and squares for a blanket.
Cooking : Wintery breads and soups and cakes and bakes.
Drinking : Freshly picked beetroot, carrot, kale, ginger, orange and lemon juice.
Reading: The List Of My Desires. The publisher sent it to me. I've only just started but I love that she's a blogger.
Wanting: Warmth in the air and a bit of sunshine on my skin.
Looking: At the chooks through the mist in the forest.
Playing: A feeding a plant game on my phone that tracks how much water I drink during the day.
Wasting: Time on facebook. I resisted for so long. Then I joined to keep an eye on Indi. And now I think it's fun.
Sewing: Buttons on a knitted onesie.
Wishing: I had more time to knit. And cook. And garden.
Enjoying: Reading chapters of The Famous Five with Miss Jazzy every night.
Waiting: For asparagus and the start of the spring veggie season.
Liking: Photos on instagram.
Wondering: how much our lives will change now we've made the decision to scale things down here and homestead instead.
Loving: That my folks are just at the bottom of the hill.
Hoping: Miss Indi feels better soon. Hate the flu!
Marvelling: That Miss Pepper can stand on her head for minutes at a time.
Needing: To go out and collect the eggs, but it's toooooo cold.
Smelling: The Daphne blossom at the front door.
Wearing: Jeans!!!! It's been years.
Following: An exercise plan. True story!
Noticing: The first signs of spring. More daylight, almond blossom, jonquils...
Knowing: That I shouldn't wear my shoes inside the house but I do anyway.
Thinking: That the bunnies are super messy.
Feeling: Calm for the first time in a while.
Bookmarking: Recipes. I need to menu plan again.
Opening: The stove door to add more wood. Constantly.
Giggling: About Miss Jazzy's suggestion that I should write a book called BUMtastic.
Feeling: Like I could sleep for three weeks if I had the chance.

So how about you? 

What's going on in your life?

Do you want to play Pip's game too? 

Coffee and paste the blank list from her blog.
And let me know so I can come and see what you're up to.

We're off to get the eggs.

Happy days my friends!

xx

olive harvest 2013

On Wednesday we finally picked our olives.

It was one of those icy-cold but brilliantly sunshiney winter days. We wore sunglasses for the glare and about six layers of clothing for the chill. We chatted and we laughed and we sang and we joked.

And over the course of the day we picked all the olives from our one hundred trees. 

Some of us used little hand rakes to brush the olives off onto the white ground sheets (a small section at a time just like you do with your hair straightener, my farmer boy explained to his 12 year old). Some of us picked off each olive into picking bags clicked onto our waists. 

And the last one of us, had the most important job of all of us. Farmer Bren was in charge of catering.

He made us camp-fire Turkish coffee.

And he made us pesto, cheese and last year's olives jaffles.

Everything tastes more delicious when cooked on a camp fire don't you think?!

I love days like yesterday. I love the feeling of everyone pitching in and working as a team. I love the joking and the feeling of leisure at the start that slowly becomes a rush to get it all done before dark.

And I love the olives. Big time!

There's been a lot of other stuff going on here on our farm in the last few weeks. A lot of other stuff that has taken our focus and attention and meant we left the olives a bit longer than we should have. 

The birds got possibly more than their fair share and the frost damaged a few, but we got enough to press some for oil and enough to brine for eating and that makes me happy. Really happy.

I can't imagine how exciting it'll be to have bottles of our own Daylesford Organics olive oil.

We are trying to organise to get it pressed next week. I'll keep you posted.

And I'll keep you posted about the other stuff too. Soon I hope.

I'm off now to cover the lettuces, there's going to be another frost in the morning I think.


Big love to you peeps.
May your days be brilliant and sunshiney and your olives and coffee plentiful.

xx