watching a bee hatch

Late yesterday afternoon while visiting one of our hives we watched a bee hatching.

It had been one of those messy mornings when the girls wanted to do anything else but farming and be anywhere else but outside, and I felt disappointed and took it personally and found it difficult to give up the idyllic picture I'd had in my head of how we'd spend the day. But eventually I did give up and after an hour or so of broad-bean picking and shelling, we went our three separate ways; one into town, one to my parents' house and us three to visit the bees.

Even though we've had our own bee hives now for a few years, I still mostly feel like a beginner bee-keeper. It's like when we put on our suits, light the smoker and crack open the first hive, we enter a whole other world. And even though I'm not really scared of being stung, I am constantly aware of doing the right thing by the bees. Often I don't even realise until we come home and get our bee gear off how filled with adrenaline I've been. Bees are buzzy and their hives vibrate with activity and by opening them up we are exposing them and you can feel their tension. And we've noticed that different hives seem to have different personalities. We have one particular one that always feels frantic while some of the others are much calmer.

Late yesterday afternoon we visited one of our calmer hives. We cracked open the lid, slowly pulled out a few frames to see what was going on, and on one of the frames closer to the centre we found a bee hatching out of its cell.

It was such an incredible experience to see it nibble its way out of the capping. First came the feelers, waving around and then the head. After a bit more wriggling it went back inside and turned around and tried again from a different direction. And then the whole bee wandered out. A brand new, light grey coloured bee.

What a buzz!! It felt like such a privilege watching that bee's story unfold.

All three of us were so excited about what we had just witnessed as we closed the hive up, collected the honey frames we had swapped from another hive and drove up to the house.

And later on as I heard Miss Pepper tell the story of the hatching baby bee first to her grandparents and then to each of her sisters, I realised that it was OK that they hadn't wanted to come along. This is their world, they are SURROUNDED by bee keeping and veggie growing and bio dynamic stirring on all sides. It makes sense that they need some time out, that they need to find their own passions, and it makes sense that they just want to socialise on their weekends too. I just hope Miss Pepper remains our farm loving, animal cuddling, bee-keeping girl for many years to come.

Check out this link if you want to see some great pictures and info about the bee's life cycle.

And may your news be good news.

Lots of love

xx

Catching a moment

Hello! How are you dear friend. I was wondering if you might like to join me on a quick skip through my past week that was. I know it's a little self indulgent but it was a gorgeous week and I'd really like to catch it before it flitters off in the wind.

So here we go, this past week;

I visited a family with their new baby girl Holly, not even 19 hours old.

I sliced my thumb open on a pair of secateurs.

I saw blood clot and was impressed at my body, but not so much by the sight. 



I woke up one year older.

I thought a lot about what a wonderful place right now is to be.

I threw a little, last minute birthday breakfast in our garden and hired a coffee van. During the party I was serenaded by my family, the girls singing and Bren on the ukulele, on the steps of the cubby-house.

I wrote an article for one of my fave magazines.



I sucked honey out of honeycomb that we stole from the roof of one of our hives.

I planted 100's of seeds.

I started reading my first ever e-book - My Year Without Matches - which I am really enjoying, but still missing turning the pages.

I spent two whole days not knitting due to my cut thumb.

I sent the girls to school with yesterday's plaits due to my cut thumb.



I read through the 102 Clover crochet hook entries and loved every single one. I love how crochet unties us, calms our busy minds and enables us to make pretty gifts from scratch for ourselves and other people in our lives. Eventually I chose Dre at No Frills Mum because her story touched me. Dre please email me your postal details and I'll get gorgeous Renae to mail you your hooks ASAP.

I thought a bit about how cool it would be to run a yarn store like Yarn Haus and how we should support Renae by buying our yarn from her because she is brave and living her dreams and sourcing some really gorgeous yarns.

I spent an afternoon without house water when farmer Bren ploughed through a pipe.

I cleaned up another Mother's child's poo in our bathroom without any water (of course it happened when I had none).



I knitted a hedgehog Softie for Mirabel.

I did half of Indi's painting homework.

I remembered that I'm not such a great painter.

I remembered that I love couscous.

I felt overwhelmed and honoured and thrilled by all the birthday messages and calls and love.

I ate my first mango of the season.



I visited a bio dynamic sheep farm and fell more in love with wool.

I accumulated 246 unread emails.

I accumulated a kitchen table full of beautiful birthday flowers.

I donated to our community's Clay Space project.




I listened to this song and watched this film so many times and felt more than a little bit proud of our Indi, Tim and Geoffrey.

I think that's all the main points. I'll probably think of more once I press publish.

I have to now, my farmer boy is teaching the girls to make fire with a magnifying glass and I don't want to miss out.


So how about you?
What have you been up to this past week dear friends?
Tell me three or four things in the comments if you like, I'd love to know.

I hope you have the most wonderful weekend.

Love Kate xx

Eloise the snake and a crochet giveaway

What do you give the seven year old who has everything for her birthday?

Why an enormous stripy crocheted snake of course!!

The Sunday before the Friday of our Pepper's birthday we found ourselves asking each other this question often. Seriously, what on earth did she possibly want or need? Being our third girl the answer was most certainly not clothes, or toys, or books. And being seven the answer was most certainly nothing too babyish and nothing too grown up either. And not giving her anything just wasn't an option.

So we were stuck.

And then it occurred to me that I could make her a toy. And hopefully the fact that it would be made by me, and the fact that it would be bright and big, would kind of negate the too babyish bit

So I got to work on ravelry, found a pattern, and every night as soon as she went to sleep I got out the hooks and the cottons and started crocheting. Around, and around, and around.

And you know what? She loved it! She loves it!!

She takes it everywhere she goes, she changes its name constantly and she's even given it a much coveted place in her bed so she can snuggle it all night. (Poor old Big Ted hasn't been as happy finding himself in the crack between the wall and the bed every morning though).

Funny how I am petrified of snakes in real life yet this stripy one makes me so happy.

So, do you want to make a stripy snake for someone you love too? You know you do. The pattern is simple and totally make-able for beginners. I just used lots of scraps of cotton I had from other projects and I used these gorgeous Clover crochet hooks.

And guess what??

Gorgeous Renae of Yarn Haus has kindly offered to send one of you a packet of these wonderful hooks too. How cool is that!!

I am seriously in love with the Clover hooks. The padding is in the right place not to leave an indentation in my finger, I love the colours and I don't think I will ever use another hook again.

So if you live in Australia or New Zealand.
If you love to crochet or would love to learn.
And if you think these hooks are just what your hooky kit needs, then please leave a comment telling me something about crochet. Anything you like. And we'll choose a winner early next week, (my birthday week - YAY!)

Oh I just realised my pink hook is missing from the pics. Oops! Never fear, your kit will definitely include the pretty pink hook too.



In the meantime why don't you check our Renae's;

Gorgeous new yarn haus website here.
Go like her pretty yarn haus Facebook page here.
Go follow her fabulous yarn haus instagram account here.
And go and follow her witty yarn yarn haus twitter here.

You gotta be in it to win it!!

Happy hooking friends!!


Love Kate

xx

PS Miss Pepper's snake is ravelled here

a nest among the prickles

A week or so after we got back from our winter break up north I had a mega tantrum.

I think it started when I went down to check the asparagus patch only to find it waist high in prickly weeds. The very same thing happened in the raspberries and the strawberries. After that I was a mess. I wandered around the farm with tears streaming down my face for hours. I felt overwhelmed, out of control and completely hopeless.

It felt like we had left this place in the depths of winter and while we'd been gone the sun had come out, warmed the earth and everything had shot up and taken over. It felt like in another few months we would be like Sleeping Beauty in that fairy tale where she goes to sleep in her castle and the vines and creepers grow up and cover her home until no one knows there is anyone or anything there at all. It felt like it would take us weeks and months to get on top of all the vines and thistles and that was precious time we didn't have considering it was the start of spring and things needed to be planted.

So I wandered and wept. And I wept and wandered.

And after a while my farmer boy came and wandered with me and tried to console me and make practical plans for mowing and slashing. He would put in a few days on his tractor and I would follow behind with the brush cutter. It would be hard work but he promised we would see results quickly.

But the truth is that I knew then that we were having the same conversation but thinking two different things.

In my head I was planning a war on weeds. I would spend as much time as it took to get this place in order. I would slash from sun-up to sun-down. I would prioritise it and I would be super proud when in a few months or weeks time I would stand back and look at our manicured farm.

On the other hand I knew that my farmer boy was thinking a very different thought. He would happily mow the orchards and clean up a bit around the place, but he didn't see the horror story that I did. To him weeds aren't the sworn enemy but another part of the farm's ecosystem. He certainly doesn't want them to take over and bury us, but he doesn't want to eradicate them all together either.

So we did as we planned, we spent a few days mowing and cleaning up this place and almost immediately I felt better. I felt like I could breathe. I felt like I could cope.





But then this morning as we were walking from the house down to the bottom garden to gather some rhubarb and asparagus and broad beans for lunch, we decided to check in on the hazelnut orchard to check for fruit set. And there, under a tree, tucked into the prickliest blackberry bush there ever was, was the most beautiful little nest. A nest for a tiny bird. A nest for a bird that needs undergrowth for it's habitat and undergrowth is not really something that our local forests, having been disturbed over many years, provide.

And as we walked down and then back up the hill for lunch I opened my eyes further and saw this place differently all over again. Not so much overgrown but biodiverse.

We're thinking the nest we found is probably a fantail nest and I'm thinking good thoughts about that fantail family living happily in our hazelnut orchard. I'm also thinking about picking those hazelnuts and eating those hazelnuts and cooking with those hazelnuts come autumn-time, fingers crossed for a good harvest.

Fingers crossed I can keep seeing the habitat and move onto other pressing farm jobs.


I hope your fairy tale castle has a clear way in my friends.


Love Kate xx

Miss Pepper's floral party

Last Wednesday, two days before Miss Pepper's birthday, I was having a little bit of a moan at school about how I don't have a baby any more. About how time is flying. And about how hard it is sometimes not to feel a teensy bit sad at her milestones because they are firsts for her, but also lasts for me.

At that point one of the girls' teachers stopped me. She told me that she'd lost so many friends over the years that now she looks at ageing as a gift. We are so lucky to live our lives and watch those we love, live theirs. Life is a blessing.

I decided then and there that I want to think like that too. I want to celebrate and feel grateful and be happy and leave all that melancholy stuff behind. That especially makes sense when it comes to our Pepper, the happiest, most joyful child.



Last Thursday, one day before Miss Pepper's birthday, she told us that she wanted her world to be filled with flowers, so we filled every pot we could find with colourful blooms.

Last Friday our Pepper turned seven. We celebrated her with cards and presents and pancakes and cake and songs. I felt happy the whole day thinking about how exciting a little kid's birthday is and she had the very best day too.

Last Saturday, the day after our Pepper turned seven, eight of her best friends came over for a flower fiesta party!!



As they came in, each of the girls lay fabric flower petals and leaves and feathers on a piece of elastic and I hot glued them on for them.



I absolutely loved watching each of them create their masterpiece. Some crammed on as many petals as they could fit all the way around, some placed layer upon layer upon layer, and then some went for one single bloom - gorgeous and simple.



Once they were all crowned, we played pass the parcel with notes, pin the bees on the blossoms and musical statues.



And then my farmer boy sat the girls in a circle and taught them how to make paper flowers.



We made garlands with some, while others wore theirs as corsages or held them like posies.



Then we sang to our birthday girl, ate cake and then we danced.

Much later on, after her guests had left, the cards had been opened and the presents had been played with a bit, our family went and ate ice cream down by the lake. We played charades, we watched the ducks and then we went for a long walk. At one stage I asked our Pepper if she had enjoyed her party. I said that to me it looked like it had included all the best ingredients; yummy food, craft, music, laughing and her best friends. First she told me that I had forgotten crying, because indeed there were a few seven year old party tears. And then she told me it was the best party in the whole world, the best party ever. You gotta be happy with that.

And I totally am happy with that.

And I love that in a seven year old world crying can be part of the happiest time.

I'm hoping for happiness and not too many tears when I turn a year older next week and when Indi does not long after that.

I'm not 100% sure that this blog makes sense but it's been crazy windy and stormy since very early this morning and I feel wriggly and jiggly and rattled inside.

Enjoy your present and your presents lovely friends.

Big birthday season love from us.

xx

falling off the mower

Yesterday I fell off our ride on mower so today I'm starting my day off very slowly.

I didn't actually fall off but rather jumped off when I thought it was going to roll ontop of me. And actually my farmer boy says it wasn't going to roll on me, but it certainly felt like it at the time.

Looking back I know that I was being silly. I was in a rush to finish the mowing before school pick up time and instead of leaving the steep, hilly bit for the whipper-snipper, I thought I'd be smart and get it done there and then. Turns out I was not so smart. I realised I was going up the bank at too sharp an angle, I got too scared to go backwards but tried anyway, slowly, I felt like the mower tipped a bit, I slammed on the brakes, straddled it in a funny way jumping off (not haha funny) and managed to batter and bruise my legs and pride and confidence in the process. Ouchy.

I'm fine. The mower is perfectly fine. It's probably not a bad thing to happen to me at the beginning of mowing season. But this morning I'm feeling a bit achy, and instead of rushing out there to set up fences for a chook move tomorrow morning, I'm crocheting a couple of rows of Miss Pepper's stripy birthday present and writing to you.

How are you?
Are you in a rush or being gentle on yourself?


Take it easy and travel safely my friends, we'll get there in the end.

Love Kate xx

treasure hunt party

I feel like I've spoken often here over the years about how much I love a kid's birthday party. How much I love celebrating each of my girls all the way from the planning and the invitation making, through to the themes and the cake. I love how as they get older the activities change and they get more involved in the running of things, and I really love watching the parties unfold, seeing the excitement, listening to the laughter and feeding them all the yummy treats.

Our parties are pretty low key, they are always homemade and mostly they are planned using games we played when we were kids.

A few years ago, on the anniversary of our 25th children's birthday party I wrote this list of my top 10 ingredients for throwing a top party.

Yesterday we celebrated Miss Jazzy's 11th, which was our 30th!! Wow!!

She invited her three best friends and asked us for a big treasure hunt, we wrote a list of activities and destinations and then they pretty much ran things themselves.





CLUE NUMBER ONE

At the start of our farm sits something that's red
It used to plough paddocks but now it's old and it's dead
On the seat of this beast sits your very first clue
Go find it then read it and it'll tell you what to do







CLUE NUMBER TWO

Walk down the driveway, turn left before the creek
Wander through the apple blossom if the next clue you seek
Keep your eyes open for a blanket or two
You must each make two pom-poms before you get the next clue



CLUE THREE

Go back to the driveway, turn left then start walking
Head to the tractor shed, not too much talking
When you get there take a seat, on a chair or the floor
You must each get your nails done before clue number four

CLUE FOUR

Head on up to the place where our veggies all grow
The grass is a little long and might need a mow
There you'll find a table with some food to eat
Relax and enjoy, take a load off your feet



CLUE FIVE

Now head down the path to the tee-pee of burnt sticks
Look around for a silver pot where you'll find all the tricks
Stand behind the marker and take aim at the middle
When you're done with this game, I'll hand you the next riddle

CLUE SIX

Now go back near the house for some costumes and fun
There's chocolate in the caravan please walk don't run



CLUE SEVEN

The next clue in this game leads you somewhere so near
A mere 20 steps away at a tiny house so dear
There you'll find the next part of this hunt that's nearly done
Show us your hand and have lots of fun





CLUE EIGHT

Now all that's left
Is the cake and the song
Happy birthday dear Jazzy
Thank you all for coming and playing along!!


It was wonderful. My favourite part was chucking the old eggs at the tree monster. There's something just so satisfying about the throw and the smash. Such fun!

And that's our 11, see you next week for 7.

Until then, tell me about parties at your place.
Do you do themes? Do you bake fancy cakes? Do you have favourite traditions?
I'd love to know.


Big love

xx