from yesterday with love x

So here's something a bit weird. I'm actually writing this on Thursday and not Friday, even though I'm posting it on Friday and not Thursday, and you're probably reading it on Friday and definitely not on Thursday. But if I didn't tell you that you wouldn't know any different. The internet is funny like that isn't it? All this information and all these assumptions and in the end we just have to sort through it all and decide for ourselves what we believe in.

But you can trust me I promise. The reason I'm writing it a day early is because we're going to The Australian Sheep and Wool Show tomorrow (Friday) and on the way home we're going to pop in on our old friends in their new house, and I don't want to feel all rushed or like I've got something at the back of my mind that I feel like I should be doing instead.

So here I am. It's Thursday evening and it's dark and rainy and cold outside. I'm sitting about as close to the heater as I can get, Bren's in the other room practising guitar, the smalls are next to me programming a robot that Pepper and Bren just finished building, and Indi is on a bus home from Woodend. When she gets home we'll have spaghetti with lentils for dinner.

The top photo is of the kitty cat hot water bottle cover I knitted for Miss Pepper for her birthday last year. I was just looking through my Ravelry page before and noticed that I had never taken a photo of it, so now I have. The details are here.

This is the tractor hot water bottle cover that I'm just finishing off now. Did I mention it's cold? 

I feel like overalls are the only clothing option that makes any sense these wintry days. I pretend that I wear them for work, but really it's the handy hot water bottle sized pouch up front. So cozy.

Speaking of sheep and wool and knitting and stuff, here's a little shearing shed drawing my farmer boy found in a box of his primary school exercise books. This one's from grade three. There are more pages of sheep drawings but I forgot to photograph them and now it's dark. Oops, hopefully I'll remember and add them in tomorrow. So cute!!

I'm reading my daughter's copy of Once & Then by Morris Gleitzman, trying to stay ahead of her so we can discuss it as she goes. Once & Then are fictional books that follow the life of a 10 year old Jewish boy called Felix living in 1945 Nazi Poland. I've only read 50 pages so far but I'm already completely engaged in the story. I'm so interested to see how the book progresses and how Morris deals with the horrors of the Holocaust through the eyes of a child and for an audience of children.

I'm also interested to see how the conversation with my daughter evolves. She says that most of the kids in her class have already read the books and she's grown up in a house where many discussions about the Holocaust have taken place in front of her over the years. But still it's pretty tricky subject matter for a kid. I'm hoping that I can trust Morris Gleizman to be sensitive to his young audience and their naivety, but like I said, I'm reading ahead just to be sure.

I'm thrilled to report that my onion seedlings have finally decided to show their sweet green faces a month after I planted them. These were the first seeds that I planted in our new green house so it means so much to me that they have. We also eat a lot of onions so it'll be great to have a big stash.

When we were first talking about and designing the green house I just assumed we'd use old windows for the roof as well as the walls. But then I was quickly talked out of that because their weight and fragility would make the structure unsafe. If we wanted to use old glass, we'd have to build a proper roof structure to support them. 

So after much research and discussion we ordered some poly tunnel plastic and popped it on up. We thought it would be reasonably priced, easy to fit and that it would be UV sensitive come summer.

What ended up happening is that it looked flat and ugly, and when it rained huge pools of water collected in the low points. We tried shoving bits of wood and tubes of cardboard up to stop it, but nothing stopped the pools and we were worried that one day the weight of the water would burst through the plastic and flood the space. 

So this week the plastic came down and some good old, practical Laserlite went up in its place. It's strong and sturdy and safe and now that it's up there I don't mind that corrugated look as much as I thought I might. It does the trick in the rain anyway.

And look at that. Remember in my last post when I told you that we'd been having issues with our Esse stove since it was installed in 2012? Well, on Monday Bren's Dad's plumber came back and after another big day they lit it and ever since then it's been running like a dream. Our house is warm, tonight's dinner was cooked on the hot plate, and if you sit with your back to that radiator in the photo above to write your blog you'll feel as toasty as a marshmallow. So my farmer boy is happy and so say all of warm us!

And that's me all blogged up and no place to go. That is until the sheep and wool show tomorrow. Can't wait!

And just for fun, if you could have anything at all knitted into a hot water bottle cover what would it be? I think I'd like three little girls on mine, or maybe a sheep.

I hope you have a great Friday, honey bunches. I have no idea how to schedule a blog post so I think I'll just publish this early before we leave. And I haven't decided if I'll take my big camera along, but I'm certain I'll be posting to my instagram stories if you want to follow along over there.

Big love!

Kate
xx

snippety snippets

So the holidays are over and we've hit the ground running. It's springtime in our part of the world and although it's not quite tee-shirt weather yet, I feel like things are changing and I'm going to have to move fast and spend my time carefully to keep up.

I feel like we've had a great rest. I feel like I've had the time to really work out my priorities and I feel ready to work hard for and at the things I love and the things that inspire me and make me happy.

I feel like I've got loads to share with you here too, but before any of that let's do a quick catch up. Here are some of the early October snippets of my life.

ADMIRING the peony roses. We are generally a bit useless when it comes to growing anything that's not edible, but the peonies seem to take care of themselves. Each year they flower for Jazzy's birthday and each year I am astounded by their beauty and make a mental note to plant more. More roses and more flowers in general. We can't eat them but they certainly feed us in other ways. They make me happy, they make this place beautiful and they make me stop for a bit and be in the moment admiring them. Love!



Technically I'm not CROCHETING anything but I have plans. I'm searching Ravelry for a hat pattern for my cold headed, awesome friend Andi who shaved her gorgeous raven locks to raise money for the Leukaemia Foundation. Pretty great hey!!

And I'm also queuing patterns for my Softie For Mirabel softie. I'm thinking I might make a kitty this year. Or a bird. Are you making one too?


I'm READING this book. Oh my goodness how I want to be a shepherdess. And a spinner. And a natural dyer. And I want to sell a Daylesford Organics yarn to people all around the world. And I want to work out if there is a way we can do it all from here in a certified organic/biodynamic way.

I'm a little bit obsessed but I feel like our probable plans to travel next year are putting the brakes on this new direction. Or maybe it's making me change the direction of our travels into woolly research. We'll see.



I'm SMELLING all of the blossom. I'm fighting for space to get my nose in deep with the bees. And I'm dreaming of quinces and plums and almonds and apples and nashis and berries. Mmmmmmmmmmmmm.....



Unfortunately we're still LIGHTING the fire for warmth. I had hoped that our days of collecting, splitting, hauling, stacking, lighting and cleaning would be over for another season by now, but I should have known better. Hopefully soon we'll be down to overnight burns only. And by then it'll probably be fire season.



I'm still KNITTING my love heart socks. Knitting time at home is so much scarcer than on holidays.



And I'm MISSING little holiday bare legs and arms photobombing my pics.



We're EATING kale on everything, in everything and around everything. We planted a ridiculous amount this year and now I want the space back.



I'm incredibly GRATEFUL for this beautiful 100% natural Polwarth wool that Tom from Tarndie Heritage Sheep Farm sent me.

Tom's great-great grandfather developed the Polwarth sheep on their farm in the 1800's to better suit the southern climate and now 100 years later they are still farming the sheep and now they are selling the wool on their big cartel site. Imagine what Tom's great-great grandfather would think of that?! Amazing!!

I haven't had a chance to knit with the Polwarth yet but I can tell you that it is soft and squishy and the colours are gorgeous, all the most important ingredients in a good yarn I think.

And finally, I'm EXAMINING our wisteria vines as they naturally weave themselves into the roof of our carport. I think I need to make some time for some basket making, and wreath making and weaving soon before they wake up and sprout leaves and flower. I think the clock is ticking on my big basket dreaming, maybe this weekend the sun will shine and I'll get out my secateurs and get to work.

And that's me, all caught up and ready to press go.

How about you?
What are you admiring, crocheting, reading, smelling, lighting, knitting, missing eating, examining and grateful for?
Let me know in the comments, or perhaps you'd like to make a blog post of your own?

Until then, I hope some fun stuff is happening in your world.

Big love

xx

cutting the firewood

Life in the forest is funny. Practically the moment after we finish worrying about the threat of bush-fires, we start lighting fires.

One day we have bags packed at the front door filled with our valuables, we have water pumps filled with petrol ready to go and we have a list on the fridge with every one's task, should the worst come to the worst and we have to evacuate.

And the next day the temperature drops and our priorities change. Just like that. Now instead of worrying about fire, we're worrying about the fire going out.

In our little home in the forest, the fire cooks our food and keeps us warm. Over the wintry days we are always scrunching up bits of newspaper, gathering twigs and sticks for kindling, splitting chunks of wood and constantly opening the cooker door to make sure it's still going and burning hot.

When we first moved here I used to cry every time a tree was cut down on our farm. I used to mourn the habitat and the beautiful part of our environment. 13 years later I am more practical. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad, it just is. These days I know that living on the edge of the Wombat State Forest, with 20 acres of bushland as our own, it is important to manage our trees. I know that we need to get rid of trees that grow too close to our house, that occasionally we need to thin out small sections of the forest in order to let some of the trees have more access to sunshine and thereby grow, and I know that we need to use these choices to cut firewood to heat our home and to cook our food. I also know that each year we plant hundreds of fruit, nut, native and exotic trees in unforested areas of our farm.









Over the past few days we've been cutting and splitting and stacking the wood that will do these important jobs in 2016. For wood to be hot burning and efficient it needs two years to season and dry out.

Last week my farmer boy carefully selected the six trees to come down and marked them. Bob the tree man came early on Thursday morning and cut them down. We built a bonfire as tall as a house with all the small branches and leaves and watched and listened to it crackle as all the oily leaves caught and burnt. Then Bob cut the trees into rounds and we split them, carried them and stacked them, me and farmer Bren and my dad.

This year for the first time we hired a hydraulic wood splitter. In the past we've always done it by hand which is certainly quieter and more idyllic. Farmer Bren still thinks he can keep up by hand but let me tell you that after watching this thing slice through a one metre round as if it were butter, I'm never going back.

So far we've done 16 cubic metres, with another eight still to split. It is heavy, loud, dirty work. When we come in at night I have to take my overalls off by the back door and shake all the wood chips out before I come inside. It is hard to imagine my hands will ever be clean again.

But there is nothing quite like the satisfaction of coming inside after a hard day's work. That feeling and knowledge that the effort we are putting in now will keep us and my parents warm and fed in two years time. That we are looking after ourselves, planning for the future, teaching our children practical life skills.

On sunshine-filled autumn days like these days, I feel so happy to be living like this. It makes so much sense.

I hope you have a gorgeous week my friends.

Big love,

xx

How to make fruit leather ❤ SO YUM!!

Finally, after many months of supplying us with their delicious fruit, our apple trees are dropping their last few leaves and getting ready to go to sleep for the long, cold winter ahead. They've worked hard for us this year and we've eaten, shared and sold hundreds of kilos of fruit. Hundreds of kilos of crisp, tart, juicy, sweet delicious apples.

And now as winter sets in and makes herself comfortable, we're making plans to use up the last 20 or so crates we have left and to switch off the cool-room. Heritage varieties of apples are delicious in their season, but are not meant to last a long time.

So along with the stewing and juicing and eating fresh, we've been making apple leather. Constantly. And the girls have been eating it as quickly as we've been making it. It's totally delicious.

So I thought I'd share the simple recipe here just in case you wanted to make some too.

First wash, peel, core and slice your apples and place them in a saucepan on a low heat on the stove.

From what I've read, the rule is to add half a cup of water to the saucepan for every four cups of chopped fruit, but I just add a big glug here and there to make sure the mixture isn't too dry and isn't sticking to the bottom of the pot.

Stir in the juice of half a lemon and some cinnamon if you feel like it. Have a taste and see if you need to add some more.

Simmer and stir. Simmer and stir, until the fruit is soft and mashable.

Using a food processor or a blender, mash the cooked fruit until it is completely smooth and lump free. Like baby food.

Lay a sheet of baking paper over your oven trays.

Spread apple mixture evenly over one oven tray at a time until the mixture is about half a centimeter deep.

Place your trays in the oven at the lowest heat setting possible and leave the oven door slightly ajar. You might need to place a spoon in the oven door to keep it from closing but beware, the spoon will get very hot.

(This oven method is wonderful for us because our wood cooker is on 24/7, but a food dehydrator will work just as well.)

Keep the fruit leather trays in the oven for as long as it takes to completely dry out. We've found it best to leave the trays in the oven overnight as the process takes about eight to ten hours.

The apple leather is ready when it is no longer sticky or wet, but dry and leather-like.

Once your apple leather is ready and dry you can peel it off the baking paper and roll it up.

Keep the baking paper sheet and use it again on your next batch.

Cut the fruit leather into little bits.

Or chop it into cereal or salads.

We like to store the rolled up apple leathers in a glass, sealed container. To be honest, I have no idea how long it will keep as our girls eat it almost as quickly as we can make it.

What I do know is how great it feels to feed our family something we have made from the freshest, organic fruit, with no sugar and only two ingredients. No nasties, no numbers.

And there have been reports that even the kids who only eat junk food in their school lunches love it too, so it must be a winner. Yay!

OK, off you go, if you get some in the oven now, it'll be ready for their school lunches tomorrow.

I'm off to peel this lot.


See ya later - apple dehydrater!!

Let me know how you go, OK.

xxxx

Cheesy green garden bread. ( a kind of recipe).

I gathered a colander full of kale, beetroot leaves, mustard greens, spinach, rocket, parsley and rainbow chard. I wilted them, squeezed out all the excess water and cut them into teensy little pieces.

Then I filled a mixing bowl with;

2 cups of wholemeal flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder
a small pile of grated parmesan
a small pile of grated mozzarella
a small pile of grated vegetarian tasty cheese
a small pile of feta
a third of a cup of sliced olives
half a cup of milk

I let the mixer mix all the ingredients together until they were combined and I had a really wet dough.

I plopped the dough mixture onto a floury bench and rolled it into a log.
Then I cut the log into three even pieces and rolled them into long thin snakes.
I laid the snakes on an oven tray covered with baking paper.
I joined the three snakes together by pinching one end.
Then I plaited them and tucked the last pinched end under.

Then I popped the braided dough into a hot oven for about 45 minutes.
I pulled it out when the top and bottom were golden brown.

It smelt incredible. And it tasted good. Really, really good. But it's almost gone already and the girls aren't even home from school yet.

Oh well, I'll just have to make more.

I think this is the type of recipe you can modify to suit whatever is in season, or whatever's in the fridge. I am super-dooper excited to try it with tomatoes come summer.

I think that apart from the flour, the quantities are pretty forgiving. I think that it would be delish with crumbled feta over the top...or slathered with butter...or humus...or dunked in soup...And I think that this is going to be the best lunchbox and afternoon tea snack. And I think this is a great way to get your kids to eat their greens. Yum!

Can you smell it from there?
Are you going to make some?
What's cooking in your kitchen.
What sort of things do you love to make?
I hope you have the happiest weekend folks!

xx

Cook while the oven's hot.

These wintry days, if you're looking for us, the chances are you'll find us in the kitchen by the wood cooker. Drinking tea up at the bench, kneading bread, rolling out pasta, chatting with the sour dough starter, stirring the soup, cutting up salad, or just supervising all of the above.


Our Esse is fast becoming the heart of our home. She is burning hot all day and right through the night at the moment, cooking our food and keeping the radiators in the rest of the house warm. And we've all been gravitating towards her.


It's comforting to read Little House On The Prairie to the girls every night and learn that it was the same back then too.


I guess that's what winter is all about.

The biggest differences we've found so far since cooking with wood are that;

• the oven is always on, so we may as well pop something in it.
• we are growing our own fuel source, which feels really nice and self sufficient.
• the days of pressing a button and turning a dial are long gone.
• there is about a one hour time delay between a warm oven and a hot oven.
• a good seal and dry, dense wood is the answer to the overnight burn.
• our kitchen is no longer the coldest room in the house.
• I never have to get up in the night to check that I turned the oven off.
• I am growing to love my kitchen.
• slow and steady wins the race.
• the wood cooker has her own personality and we are falling in love with her more as the days go by.
• we are baking with no exact temperature guage and without a timer. The breads and cakes go in when the oven is hot and come out when they look and test done. 
• cooking can be an absolute joy.

Now if only the dishes fairy would visit it would all be perfect.

So what's cooking with you, good looking?
Made/eaten anything extra tasty lately?
What are you having for dinner tonight?
Got a recipe to recommend?

See ya later, roast potata.
xx

PS ohmygoodness blogger, your spacing issues are killing me.