eighteenth

Just a quick one tonight because it's 9.44pm and we've just come in from organising tomorrow's chook move and I'm exhausted.

So let's do four photos with four short explanations and finish with a question for you. Sound good? Let's go!

Photo one is of a crate of rhubarb we picked while we were fencing off a part of the south orchard for the chooks to move into tomorrow. And on Wednesday they will be joined by four sheep. shEEP!  Did I tell you we're getting sheep? I'm so excited. Finally the beginning of the Daylesford Organics wool project is becoming a reality. I'll introduce you to them once they're here.

And the rhubarb? Well so far I've cooked it until it's mushy with some lemon rind and now it's straining through muslin. Tomorrow I'll make it into cordial.

I'm thinking tomorrow evening after a hot day on the farm we'll be sitting back drinking glasses of rhubarb cordial with a splash of vodka, lots of ice and a squeeze of lime. Oh yeah!

Photo two is of my broccoli seedlings poking their first leaves out of the soil. Funny how farmers and the fashion industry have working a season ahead in common. Hopefully these babies will be big and strong by the time the big chill kicks in and feed us all through the icy cold months.

Photo three is of the blackberries I picked this morning when I got up really early because I have finished my book and don't know what to read next. We ate some on our muesli for breakfast and the rest went into Sophie's Blackberry and Chocolate loaf. It was a huge hit after dinner at our house and felt like just the thing to celebrate our Indi's welcome home.

Photo four is of the apricot jam I made a few days ago being slathered on bread in the garden the yesterday when we had to have an impromptu picnic because our house was too school holidays messy to venture into. I love summer. And I'm happy to report that with all hands on deck we managed to get the house in order that afternoon and it didn't even take that long. But any excuse for a picnic hey.


So there are my four. And now what I'd love from you dear reader is some book suggestions. Last night I finished The Natural Way Of Things by Charlotte Wood. It is disturbing and haunting and at times it feels like a nightmare, but it is also incredibly fearless and beautiful and brilliantly written. I can't stop thinking about it. If I'd had the time I would have gobbled it up in one session, but I couldn't, and in the end I found myself limiting myself to a few pages at a time in an attempt to slow down the inevitable end. I loved it. I loved it so much that I'm scared the next books I read will feel inferior and crappy.

So please help me with your most loved book suggestions, I'll be so grateful for something good to read at night and first thing in the morning.


I hope you're in the middle of a book you are loving, it's the best feeling isn't it.

Ciao, ciao!


Kate

xoxo


ps happy birthday mogus xoxo

thirteenth

Do you want to know what makes me happy?

Eating what's available seasonally makes me happy. Experimenting with new varieties and flavours makes me happy. Picking baskets filled with produce makes me happy. Growing as much of our own fruit and veg as we can makes me happy. Sharing our bounty with friends and family and those in difficult circumstances makes me happy. And making the most of what we have by using it all and not letting it go to waste makes me happy.

This year we had one apricot tree that fruited. We shared the bounty with the birds and carried a basketful home.

That basket sat on the dinning-room table for a couple of days and filled the bellies and pockets of everybody who passed by.

Once the fruit started to go soft I cooked one kilogram of fruit into four jars of jam.

And I baked 800 grams into an apricot upside-down cake.

This bowlful is all that's left. My guess is that it'll be empty by this time tomorrow otherwise I'll cut the remainder into halves and freeze them for winter baking.

I love summer's bounty. It feels like everyday there is enough produce to pick to keep us well fed with a bit over to give away and to preserve. It's autumn's bounty that often gets a bit out of control.


So tell me lovely ones; what's making you happy today?

Wishing you the sweetest rest of your Wednesday.

Love Kate

xoxo

ninth

If I'd blogged yesterday as planned I would have posted this picture of a tomato and captioned it something like - the very last, first tomato of the Southern Australian season. For it seems like everyone around us has been picking them already for weeks.

But I skipped yesterday's blog and this beautiful specimen smelled, felt and tasted as good as we'd been dreaming it would. There are a few slowly ripening behind it, but I'd say we're still a while away from bucket loads.

And in case you are wondering, my eighth day of the new year was a crazy busy one and I just didn't get the chance. I did have a bit of guilt at times, I did wonder if missing one day rendered the whole exercise worthless, I did consider posting something quick and crappy just before midnight last night, and I did contemplate the possible flaw in my character that I had barely lasted a week before slipping up.

I thought about the lovely lady sitting in hospital for six weeks who had written to me, I thought about my Mum and how I'd missed the chance to wish her a public happy birthday, I thought of how there'll be a gap in my record when I look back next year and I thought about what I'd say if anyone asked.

But then each time the thought came up over the last few hours of the day, I made myself remember that the best thing about my blog is that it's my blog and it's a record of my life and that sometimes my life is just too full to squeeze one more 'have to' or 'should' into it. And the best possible thing I can do is tell all those little niggling negative feelings to get lost and go back to living my life and get back to blogging about my life when next convenient.

Which is now, 3.26 in the afternoon of the ninth.

So here goes.

On the morning of the ninth day of the new year we crossed a wide, brown paddock.

And found our one apricot tree. A tree we planted about 10 years ago but has never grown fruit.

We pulled over a ladder and picked those warm, juicy beauties.

The birds had started feasting well before we arrived so we left those they'd started to them.

It was hot work in the sun and we had to take lots of breaks to rest and sample the wares.

Somewhere in the back of my mind I have a childhood memory of picking and eating apricots straight from the tree until our bellies were full to bursting. I can't seem to place the when and the where but the feeling is so sweet and fragrant and delicious.

I believe that apricots are one of those things that once you taste them straight from the tree, you can never go back to shop-bought again. The flavour, the texture, the feeling - there's nothing quite like it. 

Heaven in a basket.

One basket-full is what we picked this year, although there is already talk of planting more.

I think we'll eat most of them fresh, dehydrate a tray or two and bake some into a cake. Yum!


So there we go, all caught up and back on track.


Sending lots of juicy summer loving out to you wherever you are.

Love Kate xoxo