bits and bobs

Hello!! How are you? Happy springtime!

Long time no blog hey. Possibly the longest time since this blog began, possibly too long for me to even remember where we've been and what we've been doing.  But that's OK, I'm here now with twenty minutes before I have to go and pick up the girls from school, and that's all that matter's right.

So a little while ago the clouds finally parted, the sun came out and we've been busy bees in the garden, in the kitchen, on the farm, at school and everywhere else in between - ever since. I've barely opened my computer in weeks. But I have been taking photos here and there and so I thought I'd just catch you up quickly on some of the highlights.

We've been picking daffodils. Always one of the very first signs of spring around here.

One sunny day Miss Pepper woke up very early and wrote a list of everything she wanted to do that day. It looked like comic strip with a drawing of her doing the thing and a description underneath. Pick a basketful of daffodils was the very first thing on that list. So we did. And now we have jars full of yellow happy flowers throughout the house.

I'm so excited that spring is finally here. Last night it occurred to me that I've now survived 14 Daylesford winters. That is a lot of very cold, dark months and I am so relieved to see the back of this past one. Phew!

I'm reading another Miss Mogantosh book suggestion.

It's interesting to read a book that is so similar to the one I always thought I might write. Leaving the city for a life of organic farming, the steepest learning curves, the never-ending jobs lists, the dirt and mud, the cost of things, the joys of farming, the taste of food grown with love, the interesting characters along the way, the live-stock and dead-stock, the love of a farmer boy...it's all there. But in this case it's in America with the added bonuses of real deep snow, encounters with the Amish, maple syrup and draught horses.

Our stories are so similar and yet vastly different. I'm really enjoying Kirstin's tale and bookmarking so many bits to chat with my own farmer boy about when I get the chance.


I'm still loving my wool craft classes at the girls' school.

I've been thinking a lot about holding some workshops here on our farm over the warmer months, teaching, making and sharing. I love the thought of passing on the knowledge and skills that we have to people who don't necessarily live the same sort of life as we do.


We've been making our coffee on a little burner out in the paddock in the sunshine, eating snacks of dried nuts and fruit and knitting a few rows here and there. Ahhhhhh there's nothing quite like the feeling of breaking after a hard morning's work, sitting with the sun warm on our backs, counting how many different bird songs we can hear, while sipping sweet cardamon coffee.


I worked out that every Saturday for the past few Saturdays, I've cast off a sock and cast on another sock. Last Saturday I finally finished Miss Indi's fairy bread socks and she loves them! She actually took them off me and wore them straight away!! It has been a long time since my teenager has worn anything I have handmade for her and seeing her love those socks as much as I loved knitting them for her was the biggest buzz ever. Hooray!!

Socks ravelled here.


That same Saturday I cast on a pair of socks for my farmer boy.

A few weeks ago he was on a boy's only trip to Melbourne when he popped into a wool shop, asked for a ball of sock yarn that would be knitted on size two needles with graduating colour and chose this. Amazing right?!

I could hardly wait to cast them on.


I should probably mention that when our local craft shop didn't stock the one meter long, size two circular needle I'd need for knitting two socks at the same time, I was forced to shop online and by accident lost my web-shopping virginity on these beauties.

I bought them from Tangled Yarns who had the best customer service and I can highly recommend.

I always thought that I needed to actually squish the yarn myself before buying, but I've been proven wrong. There is something so exciting about getting a parcel of delicious wool in the mail, it's almost like a present. I'm pretty sure I'll be online buying again before too long.


Of course we've been taking advantage of the warm, windless days by spending time in the kitchen garden, the market gardens and the orchards weeding, forking, tidying, planting and getting ready for the growing season.

And we've been planting bucket-loads of this gorgeous looking mix of Burrum Biodynamics green manure seeds. Giving back to the soil that gives so much to us.

And that brings us up to now, to this week when the weather has closed in and is cold and wintry again. At other times this might have made me miserable but instead I'm feeling glad for the opportunity to slow down for a bit, to catch up on some inside jobs and for the rain that is watering in the seeds and hopefully filling up the dams and water tanks before summer. It feels like a big, deep breath.


So tell me, if you feel like it, what you've been busy with. What you're making and baking and growing and reading. I'd love to know.

Be well my friends, I hope your shoulders feel strong enough to take on your load.

Big love

xx

still making…x

This afternoon I spent a while in the tee-pea.

The sun was shining for the first time in days and it was actually warm when I was standing in it. Farmer Bren was reading seed catalogues out to me for our orders. And I should have been doing a million other things but I wasn't.

At first I felt a bit silly as I climbed up on the chair, reached over the little pea plants and started to wind my wool. Wouldn't my time be better spent weeding the garlic, or planting out the leeks, or pricking out the tomatoes, or cutting the spinach, or mowing, or, or, or….?

And if I had listened to that nagging voice I'm sure I would have felt great when I crossed something off my mile long list, but I'm still glad I ignored it.

And the entire time I was making something that would never be worn, or eaten, or used in any way, my heart felt happy. 

I was making, just for making and it felt great.

And my world was still for a while. For the first time in the longest while.

It's funny but I think this afternoon was what I had thought a lot of this year would be like. All three girlies at school and so much time to create. 

And even though we're so close to the year's end, I'm hoping that now I've started I wont be able to stop.

I feel really happy!

And I'd love to know what made you feel happy today?
Or what you made just for fun?
Do tell.

xx

stuff i thought u might like to know...x

First

Farmer Bren has taken over the Daylesford Organics blog!

That's right, there are now two bloggers in the Foxs Lane fam (yikes).

And wouldn't you know it, he went straight in there and did all this fancy tech stuff and now it looks completely different.

I guess we can expect bloggy bits about farming, gardening, bread baking and other Farmer Bren thoughts and theories on life.

Follow along here if you wanna.

Second

I wrote a piece and took some photos for Slow magazine.

Slow is one of those very rare magazines that I read from cover to cover. It's a beautiful Australian magazine filled with stories about interesting people doing interesting things.

I was particularly thrilled to have our story included in the Spring issue alongside Rhonda from Down to Earth, Tim Winton, Paul Kelly, Charlotte Woods, Edwina from The Old Post Office and so many more. Like Rhonda said on her blog;  It's like I'm part of a lovely and familiar Slow family. Totally.

Third

Have you seen this?

My friend Pip from Meet Me At Mikes is running a blogging e-course. How ace is that?!

In her very own words;

It's called Blog With Pip! and is designed especially for crafty and creative types. This course will teach you lots of valuable things about blogging, writing, inspiration and social media. It's perfect for beginners OR for people who have blogs already, but might want to refresh them.  If your blog needs a bit of TLC, this is the course for you. (It may offer a bit of TLC for you too, truth be told!)

Find out more about it on Pip's blog here.

I think this is such a brilliant opportunity to learn from one of the most crafty, cool, creative and generous girls around. Hop to it I say.

Fourth

So many people asked me what the top of our pea tee-pea looked like. This is what it looks like. So far we have just sort of woven the tops of the branches in together. Later on, as the peas start climbing and the whole structure gets heavier, we might tie it all up to strengthen it.

Fifth

I am knitting Olinda for Miss Pepper at the moment. It is a gorgeous lacy pattern and I am loving watching it all come together. I'm knitting my way down the second sleeve at the moment, not long to go. Hopefully she'll be throwing it over her shoulders before the week is out.

Sixth

And lastly, here is my podcast from yesterday's ABC Radio National's Life Matters program.

If you want to hear what my voice sounds like, if you want to hear my nervous giggle, or if you plain just want to listen, click on this link.


Phew, that's it for me and my news for now.
How about you?
Do you have some stuff you think I'd like to know?
Are you going to click on any of my links?

Go on.

xx

Pea-tee-pee

This morning while we were discussing planting peas, my farmer boy suggested we build an enormous tee-pee structure that they could climb up and the girls could play in. 

We toyed around with the idea for a while, and then we got to work.

First we chose a tee-pee site, Farmer Bren showed the girls how to draw out a big circle with a metal peg and some rope, and then we dug out the grass and dirt from around the circle.

When it was time to gather the wattle poles for the structure we headed down to the back of the old orchard with the chainsaw. The farmer boys had cleared the wattles out of the creek a few weeks before, but they still needed their heads chopped off.

To get to the where the wattles were we had to cross the creek. Those of us with long legs simply jumped over. But those with not so long legs got a bit stuck.

Once the water went over the top and into Jazzy's boot, the two smalls went back to the side they had come from.

We thought they'd probably go and play in a tree or on the back of the ute or something.

Oh yeah, and there were prickles in the creek.

We kept working, me pulling out the longest, straightest poles and him neatening them up.

And we saw that the girls were busy but weren't sure what they were doing.

And then after a while it all made sense.

A whole lot of sense.

They were problem solving. ...Can't get under it, can't get get round it, can't get through it...they had to get across it...

We sat and watched them for a while.

And then we tried it out for ourselves. Their bridge was good and strong and tough enough.

And we trekked back and forth on it about 15 times with our bush poles.

When we got home we made the tee-pee.

We planted it out and watered it in.

Now all that's left to do is to wait a few weeks for the seeds to germinate, to grow and then to climb up the poles and create our pea-tee-pee.

Imagine how fun it'll be come summer to shelter from the sun inside and to reach up and pluck a pea from the vine as a snack. 

Form. Function. Food. Father's day Fun!

I hope you've had a fabulous day. 

I hope you have a wonderful week this week.

Got anything special planned?

The second tee-pee

I'm completely obsessed with childhood at the moment.
With stretching it. Prolonging it.
With getting out and getting dirty.
With making stuff and burning stuff.
With pretending and imagining.
With climbing and swimming.
With singing and telling stories.
With laughing.
With exploring and getting lost and falling over.
With grazing your knees.

There is a bit of a tug of war beginning in this house over independence.
Over mobile phones, shopping trips with friends and over outfits.

I acknowledge and remember those feelings.
But I am trying to slow it all down.
There is so much time for those things.

These times are precious and can be magical and wonderful.

xx