The Esse 900.

She's here!!

Our Esse 900 is in our kitchen, all plumbed in and looking mighty fine.

But I guess her once upon a time story began almost 11 years ago when we first moved here. Way back then was when my farmer boy started talking about her. But I wasn't ready. Adding another fire to the house meant more work, more dirt and dust and that the cooking process would be slower and less exact. I just wasn't ready.

But as time went on I could see the merits of using wood as a fuel when we live on 20 acres of forest (self sufficiency and all that), I could see that slow is often a good thing and I was ready to take the next step with our cooking. Apparently a wood cooker cooks like nothing else on earth. And to be honest, I love the look of those big, English ovens and wanted one of them in my kitchen.

And so began the research process. The hours on the Internet, the showroom visits and the quizzing of anyone who had ever owned or used a wood fired cooker.

Eventually we decided on the Esse 900 because she has a huge firebox, she has a reputation for being fabulous for cooking, she could push hot water to radiators and heat the rest of our house and is very efficient and clean burning.

So after a three day installation. After two plumbers turning up at eight every morning and not leaving until six. After ladders and piles of tools and mess and drop sheets. After a massive headache from the first firing and the chemical burning. After issues with air in the pipes. We finally fired her up and started cooking.

Farmer Bren's sourdough went in first. On the floor of the top oven. Oh my.

We've since made soup, apple cake and banana cake.

And the results so far have been AMAZING!!!!!

The very same recipes we have been using for years taste better, moister, richer.

And the puppy is pretty happy with his new spot next to the cooker too.

I guess the only problem is the ugly rubber pipes feeding boiling water into the radiators in all the bedrooms and bathrooms. In my head I had imagined they would be copper pipes or something equally industrial. But they are not. They are ugly and squishy and they move as the water moves.

But I have a plan.

And as you crafters know, there's nothing as exciting as a brand new crafty plan.

Knit, knit, knit, knit..............
Cook, cook, cook, cook..............

How about you?
What have you been cooking lately?
What do you cook on?
Do you dream of your ideal cooker?
Are you hatching a crafty plan?

Bye! x

This is not a tutorial.

The first part of our weekend was all big city, bright lights, late night, family, friends, fun, fun, fun.

Today we've tried to take it easy. To spend time together at home. To ground ourselves. To have a slow day in preparation for the fast week to come.

We spent a bit of this afternoon making decorations for our kitchen garden. Prettying up the pea and bean stakes. Wrapping wool around sticks.

It was good simple fun.

A great way to use up all the colourful yarn scraps I've been amassing.
Fun time together as a family.
A crafty activity suitable for young and old.
A way to marry wool and nature (I love that combo).
A way to really be together, winding, talking, telling, singing.

We tied a knot with a strand of wool and wound around and around and around.
Simple.
Some liked neat wraps and others prefered big gaps.

We could probably use beads and bells and sequins and other crafty bits too next time.

I'm totally in the mood to wrap now.
I've been walking around the farm looking at all the potential wrap situations: trees, the uprights in the garage, chairs, stools, bits of the chooken houses, mobiles...

And the newly colourful bean patch makes me so happy every time I walk past.

I have no idea how long my kids will be happy spending a few hours like this, but while they still are, I'll certainly be making the most of it.

I hope you've had a great weekend. Have you done anything special?
Have you been wrapping?
Do you think you might?
What do you think you might wrap?

I hope your week this week is surprising and fabulous.

Bye! x

Yarn bombed!

So there has been a little craft going on in the background of this little caravan adventure we're on. A little bit of rainbow hooking here and there.

Can you guess what I've been making??

This is the before shot. Its the back of Frankie Blue, our caravan, and a clue.

Yep, you guessed it! It's a yarn bombed spare tyre cover for the caravan.

So much prettier than the boring old black tyre right?!

I was totally considering stitching 'Kate, Bren and the gang. Carpe Diem!' or maybe 'Say G'day channel 18 and 40' but I didn't.

Frankie Blue insists we drive pretty slowly so there's often trucks, road trains and other vehicles stuck behind us waiting to pass. Oh how I would love to hear what the drivers and their passengers say about our granny van.

The details are Raveled here and the colours go around and around in a spiral because that's the name Miss Pepper insists on calling our van.

We are in Darwin at the top of Australia. It took us one month and 16 caravan parks to get here. I think we'll hang out for a bit.

Happy adventuring!

xx

Happy!!

Coincidentally the last Critical Mass of 2010 fell on New Years' Eve, so yesterday we spent the last afternoon of 2010 decorating our bikes and making them look oh so fancy.

Then in the early evening we gathered with all the other decorated bikes and their riders and pets, behind the main street for our turn to ride in the New Year's Eve Parade.

There were the usual tractors, fire engines, motor bikes, brass bands and us. That's me and Pepper on the far left.

That's us again when we saw Bren and Jazzy in the crowd.

And there is Miss Indi on her yarn bombed bike.

Miss Jazzy refused to be in the parade for fear that she would miss out on the lollies lots of the floats throw out into the crowed as they pass by.

Miss Pepper did so well on her bike riding three circuits in all, but I have to say that her steering leaves a lot to be desired.

It was such great fun and quite emotional riding our bikes through the main street of our town being cheered on by thousands of people.

Later we partied on at Meg's and for the first time in forever, the five of us were together and awake counting down to the new year, hugging and kissing and waving sparklers around. We were at a party until after midnight!!!!!!

So lovely people, on this first day of our planet's 2011 circle around the sun (thanks Dad!), I wish you health and happiness and love and creativity and inspiration and passion and satisfaction and many, many completed projects.

What did you get up to? Hope you had fun.

Have a great one. XX

Eeeeeeeeeeeeekk, our caravan adventure is happening THIS YEAR!!!!!!

Farmer Bren says...

This morning my farm boy took a look at me making the girl's school lunches and said he'd quite like to blog bomb my blog with photos of me in my grey, holey trackies, a stripey hoody, ugg boots and my hair all piled on top of my head. Apparently I did not look very glamorous.

Its almost been a whole year since he came up with the words blogutation and blie and it probably was time for a new one.

He says that where yarn bombing is using knitting and crochet pieces to decorate and make a statement in public spaces, blog bombing takes real, unedited, photos or video of a blogger perhaps not looking or acting their best and uploads them without permission onto their blog for the whole blogworld to see.

This morning my farmer boy told me the list of the things I had to do today was nothing, barely even a list compared to his, even though mine included make a dress for Indi to wear to a wedding on Sunday, pack everyone up for farmer's market in Melbourne tomorrow, throw together a small, family party for Pepper for Sunday, wash, cook, shop, clean, make a birthday present for Pepper for Sunday...

Funny how when I explained to him how long each thing on my list was going to take he offered to finish work early so he could help out and pick the girls up from school. Love him.

And finally, Farmer Bren said that there is no way he could decide on the two grateful giveaway winners so he asked me to ask Mr Random generator thingy who he thought should win. Lucky he didn't ask me, I thought they were all wonderful and worthy of fabric.

Soooooooooo without further ado, according to the random generator the winners are:

Levin; I'm grateful for people like you who make me feel 'normal'. People who make me realise that it's okay to get frustrated with your family, to want to have time away from them, to need to be alone. That these feelings don't make me a bad mother - just human. And I am also extremely grateful for my family - both the one I have created and the one that created me - I get so much love and support and encouragement and it's absolutely priceless :)

and

Megan K: Oh how I would love to raid your fabric stash Kate! Now that would be something I'd be grateful for :)
Right now I'm feeling grateful for the past three days of absolutely stunning sunshine, just in time for my big girl's birthday, after weeks of heavy rain.

Please contact me with your details lovely ladies and I'll pop your fabric in the post on Monday.

The apron dress Jazzy is wearing in the pics is in my shop. And this photo shoot showed me how impossible taking photos of her for my blog is going to be now that she has her very own camera.

Have a wonderful and happy weekend out there.