How instagram saved my day.

I was sitting in my car this morning.
I'd just gotten off the phone and was processing some difficult news.
Not my difficult news, but difficult nonetheless.
And I was scrolling through the messages and photos on instagram (IG).
As a distraction. For something to do.
And I saw that someone had written a comment on one of my photos.
Their comment said that my life looked perfect, that I was living their dream.
At first, after reading that, I was a bit confused.
Here I was digesting some pretty crappy news and there they were telling me my life was their dream.
How could I reconcile these two?

The drive home threatened to swallow me.
I could feel my sadness taking over everything.
I felt certain that the first day of this week, the last day of their school holidays, would be a write off.
I just wanted to get home, and hide in the bathroom and cry.

But then as I drove up our driveway.
As I looked at the trees with their glowing red and orange and yellow leaves.
As I saw my beautiful farmer boy come out to meet me.
Something changed.
I saw my life from the outside.
As a series of photos.
As a series of gorgeous moments.
And I made a decision to live today as if I were living in my IG pictures.
Because I am living in my IG pictures.
Really.

So I came home, spread out a blanket on the grass and finished my book.
Then I ate the beautiful salad my girls made for me and the sourdough bread made by their Dad.
I spoke to my Mum.
I washed and dried our bedlinen.
I went back to the blanket and crocheted a couple of rows of my granny rug and knitted a bit of Bren's beanie.
And then my farmer boy grabbed my hand and we went for a big, long walk around our farm.
He showed me what the farmer boys have been doing and I felt proud.
And I took really deep breaths of the gorgeous Daylesford autumn air.
And I realised that I was happy.
That I am happy.
That I just have to look around or take a few pictures and I'll see it.
The crap stuff will happen from time to time and I fully believe in feeling it and acknowledging it.
But in amongst it, there's some pretty gorgeous stuff going on too.

Happy week you gorgeous people.
Keep living your dream.
I'm going to do my best to remember that I am living mine. x

The last pesto.

We spent this late afternoon in the kitchen garden. Him pulling out the last of the summer greens, digging the beds over and planting a bit of garlic. Me knitting some rows of rib on his new brown beanie. It was a glorious warm, autumnal afternoon. The air was sparkly and clear. The girls were busy inside. All felt good in our little world.

When the day started to grow cold he came to me by the window and handed me a bouquet of basil he'd just picked. The last of the season he told me.

So we went inside and whipped up some pasta (100grams of flour and one egg per person plus one extra yolk) and some pesto (we use Stephanie Alexander's recipe).

It was a celebration fit for the last bunch of basil. Only made better with a slice of Farmer Bren's sourdough. Yum! Did I tell you he's been talking to his starter? He has! But I'm not interrupting him because whatever he's doing is working, it's delicious.

For those who asked, he's been working from this great book.

I love it when a meal comes together like that. I love feeding our family food that was plucked from the garden not even half an hour before it was served. I love that my kids know the recipe for pasta by heart. I love homemade pesto so, so, so much.

Like we used to say when we were growing up Pesto is the besto!!!!

Happy days.

How are things with you?
What's your besto?

Lotsa love. x

Hello!

Hello new week!

Hello crazy, middle of the school holidays, lots of children,  lots of insanity, lots of dancing and singing, lots of fun.

Hello pretty autumn table filled with bunches of roses from my farmer boy, and with leaves and petals and cookery books and fruit.

Hello little cape weed Pepper posy that is just as pretty all closed up as it was bright yellow and open.

Hello little crochet squares that I saw on Ravelry and just had to make. I'm not sure what I'll do with them but the hooking sure was fun.

Hello snuggly blue shawl with 16 rows of pattern still to go. What a shame I stood on and snapped my interchangeable number three needle and now have to squeeze you onto metal ones with a too small cord. I love you and am so excited to wear you.

Hello quinces on the tree, off the tree, in crates, in pots and as jelly.

Hello farmer Bren's first loaf of sour dough bread made from his own starter. 

Hello hot happy buns. Yum! Yum! Yum!

Hello plans for a wood burning stove. He's researching models and efficiency and sizes and prices and I'm looking at pictures of kitchens and deciding on a colour.

Hello preserving big pots of apples and pears.

Hello to the few hazelnuts that the birds missed.

Hello chookeys!
What a wonderful job you do laying eggs and fertilising the soil for us. Thank you!

And hello to you!
What have you been up to?
What are you saying hello to?
Is it cold where you are?
Are you cooking or making or baking?
Wishing you a very happy week indeed.

Bye! xx

Bee keepers.

Last week or the week before I made the decision to merge my two blogs for a while.

Once upon a time this used to be a craft blog and it didn't make sense to include our farmy bits here.

And once upon a time I felt very strongly that the farm needed it's own space for Daylesford Organics story telling. 

But lately it's been less and less clear which stories should go where, and who should be told and shown what. And lately I've felt like I want this blog to be about our whole picture and the farm part is such a big section of that. We live and work here, but we also love and believe so strongly in what we do here. Organic farming, looking after the land and animals, and working and eating with the seasons is who we are.

So for now I'm directing all the Daylesford Organics traffic over here. This will be my place to record the farm stuff, the family stuff, the crafty, food and life stuff. I hope it makes sense to you too. That you find what you are looking for here. That you still pop in and say hi.

Last week some of our gang got strapped and velcroed and zippered into their bee keeping suits. We left no gaps at all for sneaky bees to fly into and sting, even taping on gloves and boots.

 We lit a fire of pine needles in the smoker to placate the bees and went to inspect their workplaces.

If some of these pictures are not so clear it's because they were taken through the car window where those of us without suits sheltered.

We have about five bee hives scattered around the farm at Daylesford Organics. We mainly keep the bees to pollinate the fruit trees in blossom time, but of course we adore the sweet, sticky honey too. There is nothing better than a dollop on our porridge or toast. Some members of the family have even been known to eat it by the fist full.

And I guess an added and almost unexpected bonus of keeping bees is the lessons we are learning about them. Watching my girls dress in their suits and calmly go about their jobs while being slowly covered in the potentially dangerous insects. Their knowledge and understanding of where their food comes from. And their respect for these important members of our team and their understanding that at this time of the year, in autumn, we must leave most of the honey frames for the bees to feed on when the days are too cold to fly and there is no pollen around.

I hope your Easter and or Passover weekend is the sweeeeeeeeeetest.
Big love from our gang to yours.
xx

My loving list.

Just for fun, because today is the first day of the school holidays and I feel happy and lucky and filled with love, I thought I'd make a list of some of the things that I'm loving right now. The things that are making me smile. The things that make me want to get out of bed in the morning. 

Ten things.

My loving list.

Top of the list are my gang. I heart them the most. They are my everything.

I'm loving crochet. And baskets of wool. And a blanket that is growing. And that meditative feeling that comes from having busy hands and a project you don't have to think to make.

I'm loving the autumn produce: apples and tomatoes and quinces and pears and carrots and grapes...

And I'm loving turning this into that, and that into this. It's like kitchen alchemy. It's quite magical don't you think?

I'm loving posies from my princesses and a kitchen table FULL of the gorgeous Gourmet Girlfriend's family. Great friends, beautiful food and lots of laughter is so much of what it's all about, I think.

I'm loving spotting little caravans around our town and imagining their road trips and what they've been up to.

And I'm loving the thought of Ms Frankie Blue taking us on many more adventures soon, after her time at the fixer uperer this week and next.

I'm loving knitting again. It's been quite some time between knitting projects, but it's lovely to be back. I'm using Kate's beautiful wool and knitting my first ever shawl. It's a very basic pattern but will be gorgeous to wear.

I am loving autumn's light and colours. Wow! She certainly is putting on quite a show this year.

I haven't had much time for treasure hunting lately but the little has been fun. A new to me dress and cardi, a bunch of Fowler's jars (soon to be filled with apples), some of my favourite pie crust edged Johnson Brothers crockery and a couple of pink floral cuties too.

I am loving farm life and it's variety of colours and flavours and jobs. I feel happy and proud to live here at the moment. 

And I love that my farmer boy has discovered a passion for turning a humble handful of flour into the most gorgeous loaves of bread, pies and pasta. It used to be my job but somewhere along the line he took over and I am in awe of his creativity and passion.

There's mine.
How about you?
What are you loving at the moment?
Have you got a loving list?
I'd love to know.
Let me know in the comments.
Or write a list on your blog and let us know and we can come and visit.

Happy week you guys.
I hope it's inspired and a bit silly.
xxhttp://gourmetgirl-friend.blogspot.com.au