secretly hoping for mushrooms

Mostly our weekends on the farm are busier than our week days. The farmer boys are away so we have all the farm chores to do, the girls are at home so there's lots of food-making and playing and organising to do. Then there's the music lessons, the plays with friends and the parties to taxi to and from. And finally, if there's any time left, there's a little socialising, or gardening, or relaxing of our own.

Somehow this morning, after breakfast but before lunch, we ended up with a little pocket of time to spare.

Miss Jazzy had gone out with a friend, Miss Indi had a friend in her room, and my farmer boy, my smallest farmer girl and I put our boots on and wandered down the hill in search of adventure. We took a knife and a basket along too because we were secretly hoping for mushrooms.

We headed straight to our pine forest. The old owner of our farm planted the forest, thinking it would support his retirement. I don't think we'll ever cut them down though: the chooks love it in there over winter and we just like having those tall thin trees around.

To be honest, I've never been mushrooming before. I'm not sure I would even like the taste of wild mushrooms. But I like the thought of hunting for them. And I love how much more you notice when you're nosing around the rows of trees. And pretty much everyone else around Daylesford is mushrooming at this time of the year, so I thought we may as well have a go too.

But we didn't find any edible ones. We found great big trippy looking toadstools and teeny weeny fairy looking stools, but no slippery jacks and no pine mushrooms.

We did find lots of other treasures to fill our basket with though: leaves and feathers and pine cones and stones. And we did get grazed by blackberry thorns and remember the forgotten hazelnut orchard. And we climbed on top of tree stumps and discussed where the goats will live and admired the job the gorse muncher did.

And after all that we did end up finding some amazing, proper treasures. But it's late and I have to get sorted for school, so I'll save that bit of the story for tomorrow. It's pretty exciting though.

Oh yeah, and late afternoon, after we came in from collecting the eggs, Miss Jazzy came home with a basket full of slippery jacks. So I guess now I have to work out what to do with them. Any suggestions?

I hope you have a happy and wonderful week my friends.
I've got nothing big planned but loads to do.

Bye. xx