snapshot of now

I feel like I have a thousand things to tell you. There's so much going on my mind, in my heart and in my life. This morning after I took the girls to school, tidied the house and took part in a lovely girl's photography project, I sat down and started this blog three times.

I have three incomplete blog drafts sitting in my post list and now this is my fourth.

But I think this one will work because just before I sat down to write it, I spent a few minutes walking around snapping photos of things that tell the story of me now. Twelve photos that represent a bit of a snap shot of my life at the moment (minus the girls of course because they are at school). So I think instead of being overwhelmed with details I'm going to write a sentence or two to go with each photo and that'll be that.

Simple, right?!

OK, let's do this.

HARVESTING - rhubarb. There is just so much rhubarb right now. I cut and tied this bunch to give to a friend this morning but forgot. I think I'll make a cake for the girls for afternoon tea now instead.

I'm a little bit obsessed with tying things up with string at the moment. Somehow the winding and the tying make every package just that little bit prettier, don't you think?

READING - These two books. Finished one and a hundred pages left of the other. Possibly two of the best books I have ever read. I'm trying my hardest to slow down and make the last pages last longer but it's impossible. I only hope the next book I pick up is as good.

MISSING - salt. About a month ago my grandfather was told he had to cut salt right out of his diet. My grandfather and I have always shared a deep love of the salty. We were the type of people who added salt to a dish before even tasting it. If you were looking for the salt shaker at a meal time you could always be certain it was next to one of us. When he was told to cut salt out for health reasons I was devastated for him. It actually made me cry. And then I decided to cut salt from my diet too.

I haven't added salt to a dish for a month. I miss salt like crazy.

WAITING - for rocket. And for all the veggies that are sitting still in the icy cold ground waiting for the winter equinox and the days to get longer so they can put on some growth and feed my hunger for salads.

CROCHETING - well I'm not actually crocheting anything right now, but I do need to darn in the ends of my May motifs, photograph them and write up a blog post about #MotifDayMay before it turns into July.

KNITTING - woolly slippers. I love that Miss Pepper chose odd colours for hers. I love that she sleeps with them on the shelf next to her bed and I love that she took them to school today to wear them in class. Miss Jazzy's are next.

LOVING - my farmer boy's new house rule that every member of this family must pick and eat at least one carrot a day, everyday. Yay!

CARRYING - chunky wool and fat knitting needles in a cute basket wherever I go.

SEWING - right now I really should be outside helping farmer Bren prune the apple orchard but instead I'm alternating between writing this blog and sewing leaves. But firstly it really is just too cold outside. And secondly, I've got this space in my new craft area that I just painted white that I think needs to be surrounded by a leaf wreath. Hopefully the reality looks as pretty as it does in my mind. Hopefully also, it warms up a couple of degrees in the next little while and I can get a couple of hours of pruning in before pick up.

WEARING - great quality, wool socks for the first time in my life and marvelling at the difference they make in terms of comfort and warmth. Until now I have always been too mean to spend much money on socks, but all that has changed from now on. Wow!!

I would really like to learn how to knit socks this winter. If you have an in-the-round, snugly fitting, simple sock pattern, I'd love the link.



COOKING - spinach and kale and all things green and leafy in every meal. It makes me feel like a better Mum when I know my girls are eating such garden goodness.

MARVELLING -  at the fact that you can cook haloumi in your sandwich press. I know!! I had no idea you could do it either. Indi saw it on a blog somewhere, told me, we tried it and it works. I can't believe I spent so many years frying it in oil, splattering my kitchen with oil, and burning myself with flying bits of splattering oil. This past week we've enjoying the squishy, melty cheese without the hassle of the big cleanup. So great!

OPENING - the pages of Zoe Phillip's new book The Time of Our Lives. It is such a gorgeous book and I think the photo she took of farmer Bren and Bingo Maremma might just be one of the most beautiful photos I have ever seen.

OK, that's me all caught up now.
How about you? What are you harvesting, reading, missing, waiting, crocheting, knitting, loving, carrying, sewing, wearing, cooking, marvelling and opening?
Care to share?

Big love

xx

listening in

I've had one of those days. Some days are wonderful, some are crappy and some days are just blah, blah-di-blah-di-blah. Today has most definitely been the latter. You know those days, nothing is quite wrong but nothing is exactly perfectly right either. It's like I've used up all my energy, and have nothing left. I've been sighing a lot.

This morning I woke up, got everyone dressed and ready and then I took myself back to bed with my knitting. I never do that. I have way too much to-do, to do that. But today I did.

At the start I felt guilty and a bit embarrassed. Especially when my farmer boy came in from fixing the tractor and my Mum came over to show me her new hair. But I couldn't help it, I felt heavy and stuck.

But then I sat there under the blankets and knitted a few rows and thought about kindness and being kind to myself and realised that I had to stay there. I had to look after myself and honour the way that I was feeling. I had no choice.

And then I felt a bit teary thinking about some of the stuff that has been going on in my world lately. Some huge life changing stuff, some house rearranging stuff, some changing of the seasons stuff, some sickness, some excitement and a lot of other bits and pieces in between. Sometimes I find having a little sob by myself feels just so sad, but also so cleansing. It's nice not to have to explain it to anyone else and just to let it all wash over me and then off and away.

After a while I got out of bed and did some things. Nothing big or bold and nothing that meant I had to get dressed. But doing nice stuff made me feel a bit better and that was good.

First I made a rainbow out of lots of odds and ends of wool. Making tidy and making pretty at the same time was always going to make me feel a bit better.

Then I picked some celery from the garden for a snack. This is the first year that we've been able to grow such great celery and eating it and running my hands over the tops of those lush green fronds is a wonderful thing.


Then I finally wove in the ends of my face washers and popped them in a parcel to post to Cath for the Bellingen ladies to pop into their Day For Girls packs. What a honour it's been to play a little part in such an important project. Thanks for organising it Cath. x



Then I looked out and found this dead bird outside my window. Poor little, tiny bird. When I went outside and picked it up I was amazed at it's weight. For some reason I had thought that it would be light as a feather but it wasn't. It felt heavy and earth-bound. I hope it had a wonderful life flying about our farm being free and fabulous and died in its sleep and not from hitting our window.




Then I took some pics of all my motifs so far. What a wonderful project it's been. The crocheting time, the thinking time, the zoning out time, the patterns and colours and cottons. 21 motifs made, 10 to go, I'm going to miss this project when the month is done.


Then I did some clearing and cleaning up of my new crafty office space, more on that later, and came across this photo of another time and place. Only about seven years ago but a lifetime ago all the same. I miss those times and those smiling faces. (I'm sobbing again…..)


Then I picked some leeks for dinner. I planted so many leeks this year and now we need the space - every 'what's for dinner?' question works its way back from leeks.

And then I ended up back where I started, writing my blog in bed with my knitting for company when the words needed time.

In the end I had a difficult but surprisingly lovely day. The outside jobs never happened, I didn't do nearly as much as I'd hoped to inside either, but I listened to what was going on with me internally and I honoured that and was kind. Tomorrow I'll be better off for it.

Sending love and kindness out to you guys wherever you are, whatever you are doing.

xx

This weekend you might like to….

LISTEN - to Miss Indi and Geoffrey Williams' recording of Ho Hey. #proudmotheralert


MEDITATE - by taking some time out for yourself to crochet/knit/sew a motif. The weekend is such a great time to catch up or even start on your motifs. And if making them is just not your thing, why don't you check out the #MotifDayMay hashtag on instagram, there's some really gorgeous stuff going on over there.


KNIT - Gidday, the brand new pattern by Tikki Knits. It is such a cute little cardi, I'm really hoping Georgie releases the mama version soon, I want one too.


LOVE - the season you are in. Get out amongst it. Lay in the autumn leaves here, pick a bunch of bluebells there, breathe it all in, we'll be moving right along soon enough.


LISTEN - to this podcast about understanding chicken pox. Yep, Miss Jazzy has the miserable things (not in this photo of course), I wonder who's next. (Thanks for the link Farmdoc xx)

POD - your beans and save them in jars, some for eating over winter and some for replanting next year.

And above all have a gorgeous few days. We're hoping to do a bit more work on the woodpile and we're planning to see The Grand Budapest Hotel at The Rex tomorrow night. Yay!

How about you, got anything fun planned?

Big love

xx

#motifdaymay

Coral Flower Circle

Late yesterday afternoon I announced to my family that I was going into my room to crochet my motif and I was not to be disturbed. I would be away for 10-15 minutes and if they really, really needed me they knew where I'd be. So I closed myself in my bedroom, sat down with my back on the radiator, chose my coloured cottons and my pattern and got to work. Ommmmmmmmmmmm…...

About five minutes had passed when I heard a loud discussion from outside the door. Pepper was looking for me and Indi was trying to tell her to leave me alone and that I was meditating.

A moment or so after that Pepper burst into the room, looked at me and then burst out laughing. 'That's not how you meditate!' she cried, and then proceeded to give me a lecture and demonstration on the lotus position, the proper way to place your hands when you meditate and a couple of tips and tricks as to how to close off your mind.

My girls go to a Buddhist school, they meditate every day and apparently are experts.

Eventually she left me to it, peace well and truly broken, but a smile on my face none-the-less.

Truth be told, all five of my meditation motifs have been a bit like this: Stolen moments, interruptions, distractions, hiding behind closed doors. But I have loved every second of every stitch. I have owned that time and not felt guilty about it. I have relished it.



Penny Flower Circle

So far all the motifs I've made are from a book Bren's mum gave me called 75 Crocheted Floral Blocks by Betty Barnden. I think this one is my fave to date.



Rosette Circle

Every day after I upload my motif to instagram I click on the #motifdaymay and as I scroll through the images it makes me smile to think of all those other busy women taking time out for themselves to sit and meditate on their crochet.



Helenium Circle

I must have loved this one so much I made it twice. Weird. I've since started marking each one in the book as I hook them up.



I love getting to that moment each day when I place my new motif on the growing pile. I wonder how tall a tower the 31 motifs will be. And sometimes I do wonder what I'll do with them when the month of May is up, although I'm trying my hardest not to.

OK so those are mine, I'd love to see yours. I've tried my best to set up a linky thing below, feel free to add your motif blog posts so we can all come and visit. Hopefully it works, let me know if it doesn't and I'll have another go.

If time got away from you and you feel like starting from today, that's great and if crochet is not your thing but knitting or even stitching is, that's totally fine too.

See you soon.

Big motif love,

xx

This weekend you might like to…...

READ - issue 39 of Dumbo Feather. There's a story about an organic farmer/blogger in there you just might recognise. Eeeeep!!


MAKE - my toffee apples while it's still apple season.



LISTEN - to Emily Ulman's beautiful new song Light On and while you're at it like her facebook page too - she's ace.


PLANT - your garlic. We got a bit of ours in yesterday and hope to get the rest in tomorrow.


PULL OUT - the last of the outside tomatoes. Ours were hit by our first frost on Wednesday night and will make a delicious feast for the chooks and compost pile.


SUPPORT - our gorgeous friend and organic egg farmer Madelaine and her pozible campaign to buy an egg washing/sorting/grading machine.


CLICK - over to Wholehearted Journal to read an interview with me.




MEDITATE  - by taking a little time out for yourself each day in May to crochet a motif. Take a picture, upload it to Facebook or instagram and tag it with #motifdaymay.

And have a gorgeous weekend. Of course. We've got loads of farming stuff going on and we're hoping to get out to Clunes Booktown at some stage too.

How about YOU?

Bye! x

monday musings x

The season is changing. There's still warmth in the afternoon sun but the mornings and evenings are icy. The school holidays are over. The quinces are all cooked and bottled and shelved. The beans have been dried and jarred. The washing only dries inside. The wood-fired cooker stays on. There is a big bowl full of feijoas on the kitchen table. The girls pack beanies instead of sunhats in their school bags.

We have spinach and kale and lettuce growing in the garden again. The outside tomatoes are slowing down and the ones in the poly tunnel have only a little while longer. We're eating soups and stews and pies for dinners. Every bed has a blanket tucked up on the end. The freezer and the shelves of the pantry are full of summer goodness. Every day I try to spend about 15 minutes splitting wood.

Yesterday I sprained a little muscle in my foot driving far, far away and now I have to ice it every few hours, brrrr. We've been talking and learning and are about to start playing with bio-dynamics. I can't remember how I dress to stay warm and comfortable in this cold. I'm so pleased I picked up so many dry sticks for kindling over the past few months. At night we're watching sneaky episodes of Girls while our girls are asleep.


Right now farmer Bren is out planting the very last of the winter veg. It might be too late for things to grow, but it will rain tomorrow so it's worth a try.

I've got a pastry shell blind baking and am trying to write a magazine article. I feel like I need to hurry up to get everything done before getting the girls.

I've started a Facebook page for Foxs Lane. I resisted for so long but now I love it over there. Why don't you pop by and say hello.

Oh and thanks for all your wonderful feedback on the motif meditation. I'm so excited that so many of you are keen to join in. I think we'll make an instagram hashtag and a weekly link-up here. Do you know if you guys can post to my Facebook because that might be fun too.

So tell me peeps, what're things like where you are?
What are you wearing/baking/making/growing?

OK, I'm off - as Willy Wonka says - So little to do, so much time. Strike that, reverse it.

Big love

xx