Bush kinder.

On a Tuesday...

my smallest and I rug up in our warmest gear.

We meet our friends (sometimes many and sometimes few)...

and with our backpacks on our backs, we head into the forest.

By now we are all familiar with the routine. We sing, we climb, we balance and we discover.

We look out for interesting things and collect treasures in our basket.

We make mud cakes and mud pies and mud smoothies.

 Over the wintry months we light a small fire.

We share some morning tea and a much needed hot drink,

and a row or two of our knitting.

After morning tea we wander through the forest to the kookaburra tree, the story spot, the horsey tree and the goodbye place.

In the depths of winter it is often hard to imagine getting out and spending a few hours in the middle of the forest, but we are always happy when we have.

I've never taken my camera along before. Some things are better experienced in the moment. But I'm really glad it was sitting on the front seat of my car yesterday and I did. Bush kinder has been such a wonderful part of our lives over the past few years, and I'm thrilled to have captured a moment or two.

I feel so anxious every time I think about Miss Pepper growing up and heading off to school next year. I feel the need to prolong these next few months. To embrace her childhood with everything I have. On bush kinder days I feel like I have succeeded.

See ya later,
bushy potato. xx

Stuff and nonsense.

Last year in the weeks and months before we left on our caravan adventure, I remember writing lots of rambling listy blog posts. Lists of all the stuff I had to get done and wanted to get done, stuff I was thinking and feeling, stuff I was wondering, and other miscellaneous crap that was filling up my brain.

I remember reading a few of those posts back while we were away and being astounded by their speed and clutter. I remember feeling clear and so very far removed from she of the speedy-cluttery posts. I remember wishing that there was a way to hold on to the slow and the clear and to bring it back home with me.

Today all morning I've been dying to get a chance to sit down at my computer and write one of those rambly, overwhelmed, overweight, listy posts of before. I've wanted to find a way to get it all out. I've needed to find a way to find peace and calm. To be back on the beach in Broome, on the Coral Bay reef, or in a rockpool in Litchfield.

Inhale.

My head is FULL of making the most of the one sunny day of the week, not coping with Pepper getting big and going school next year, Abby leaving, worries about my Grandfather, Jazzy's middle child stuff, birthday prezzies, rhubarb recipes, Indi's emotions, potato planting, plans for my studio, crochet sampler thoughts, searching for asparagus and daffodils, the naked wall, Wednesday's chicks, Melbourne plans, what's for dinner, a little caravan adventure, the three woolly projects I started on the weekend, the op shop pile, the project, overdue library books, naked windows, what if's, the caravan pages, what should I do's, Indi's training, spring planting, the little busy Milo, washing the ballet stuff, potato bread, everything but the thread, next year's trip, father's day, the postage pile, some indoor, early planting, finding linen tea-towel blanks, all those school notes.... I could go on.... and on...and on...

Exhale.

I think today's mission is to slow down and get out of my head. To breathe deeply. To notice the details. I think I need to put on my farm clothes and to get outside. I think I might need to split wood, or to shovel some dirt, or to go for a long walk in the bush.

Life is good.

Inhale.

Has your week gotten off to a good start?
Are you in your head or are your feet on the ground?
Are you a list writer or do you carry it all around with you like me?
What do you make with too much rhubarb?
What do you do when you feel like you are about to explode?

Exhale.

See you later sprouting potata.

xx

Abby we miss you so much already. xx

Cheesy green garden bread. ( a kind of recipe).

I gathered a colander full of kale, beetroot leaves, mustard greens, spinach, rocket, parsley and rainbow chard. I wilted them, squeezed out all the excess water and cut them into teensy little pieces.

Then I filled a mixing bowl with;

2 cups of wholemeal flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder
a small pile of grated parmesan
a small pile of grated mozzarella
a small pile of grated vegetarian tasty cheese
a small pile of feta
a third of a cup of sliced olives
half a cup of milk

I let the mixer mix all the ingredients together until they were combined and I had a really wet dough.

I plopped the dough mixture onto a floury bench and rolled it into a log.
Then I cut the log into three even pieces and rolled them into long thin snakes.
I laid the snakes on an oven tray covered with baking paper.
I joined the three snakes together by pinching one end.
Then I plaited them and tucked the last pinched end under.

Then I popped the braided dough into a hot oven for about 45 minutes.
I pulled it out when the top and bottom were golden brown.

It smelt incredible. And it tasted good. Really, really good. But it's almost gone already and the girls aren't even home from school yet.

Oh well, I'll just have to make more.

I think this is the type of recipe you can modify to suit whatever is in season, or whatever's in the fridge. I am super-dooper excited to try it with tomatoes come summer.

I think that apart from the flour, the quantities are pretty forgiving. I think that it would be delish with crumbled feta over the top...or slathered with butter...or humus...or dunked in soup...And I think that this is going to be the best lunchbox and afternoon tea snack. And I think this is a great way to get your kids to eat their greens. Yum!

Can you smell it from there?
Are you going to make some?
What's cooking in your kitchen.
What sort of things do you love to make?
I hope you have the happiest weekend folks!

xx

My creative space.

Because you asked Kirst, my hot tip for staying creative is to create.

I am never so creative as when I am making. That's when I hatch my best crafty plans.

It's like using the making tools, unlocks the creative part of my brain. 

When I am lost for inspiration and don't know what to make next, I know my best trick is just to get on with it. Use those tools. Get my sewing machine out and mend something, knit a few rows, pull out an old unfinished project and give it new life, draw an idea for a pattern, or rearrange my wool stash into rainbow order. 

And as if by magic the creative comes. It's like the more I create - the more I create. It's infectious.

And my creative space this week is the pile above. It's like my creative to-do list. Another crochet collar dress plan, a carving plan, a dying plan and some baby making plans (ha! not mine!).

But before I get on with any of those crafty plans I am making myself finish the Feather and Fan cardi.

To be honest I am sooooooooooo over this project. I started it to justify the purchase of a book but the pattern itself is doing my head in. It's tedious. The numbers never add up and I have my doubts it will even fit Miss Jazzy in the end.

 But I am loving the Bendigo Tasman Blue.

And I only have a few more rows to knit until cast off.

Then there's only the blocking and stitching back together until I can tick it off my list and move on. I am SO looking forward to that part.

So that's me and my creative space.
What's going on in yours?
Are you hatching lots of crafty plans or are you being good and finishing off what you started?

Keep cozy.

xx

Sew grey and happy.

Monday morning started off bad. Dreary and grey and icy cold. I could barely see the forest trees from the windows. Then came the Monday morning eight year old grumps and the four year old tears. Surprisingly the pre-teen remained pleasant. And then I broke two glasses and fell over into a blackberry bush. Ouch!

By the time I had gotten them all to school, run into some more problems and my morning chores, I felt as grey as the day.

I announced to my farmer boy that I was writing the day off and was going to have a shower and wash my hair. I kinda like the shower cry. Its soothing and cleansing. All that warm water.

But he didn't let me. He told me I should go and sew instead.

I know he knows me best so I listened and I did.

I gathered some op shop cord that was grey as the day.

And I cut and sewed.

And then I crocheted.

I used a 2.5mm hook and some fine cotton.
Pattern details Ravelled here.

And when I ended up with a dress I was glad that I had.

Miss Indi said it looks exactly like me. She said she could even see herself wearing a dress like this when she is old. Miss Jazzy asked me to make her one the same. Miss Pepper said she loved it and loves me. And my farmer boy was pretty happy that I was smiling again. He said I might have finally fixed the looking pregnant in dresses I make issue. And he said he loved it.

I'm really happy with it. It's comfortable and tough. Perfect for a farmer girl.

And I love it with my OK OK tights.

And speaking of tights, without further ado, the winners of the OK OK tights are Jules, Frances, Tricia and Ellie.

Congratulations girlies. Email me your postal deets and I'll get them in the post asap.
Thanks so much Emina for the awesome giveaway and tights. I adore mine. xx
And thanks Farmer Bren for humouring me with the photos on the stump in the middle of a chook move. xx

I hope you have a wonderful week.
I hope your sun shines.
I hope you have a nice dress to wear and some fun things to do.
I hope you know how to turn your grey days into blue.
What works for you?

OK, I'm off to squeeze some juice with my smallest.
And then maybe I'll hook up another collar, I'm a bit addicted now.

Big love. xx

Pocket skirt.

I've had the most gorgeous week.

Despite the fact that we've had two with the flu and a rather large dose of middle child syndrome, it's been lovely. Filled with the perfect mix of outside and inside. Lots of cooking (old faves and a few experiments), lots of kitchen gardening (weeding and seeding), a bit of knitting, some family time, a few new friends with the same names, an improved reader, less counting, plans for an exhibition, a night out with my boy and some winter sun.

And to finish it off, I've had a little pocket of time to sew.

A not so successful sewing session a few weeks back left a dent in my sewing self. But I'm pleased to announce that after an uninterrupted hour, Nina Bernina, a pattern taken off a skirt I love, a zipper, some stashed fabric and my bias binding maker, I love to sew again.

And what better way to start the weekend than with a brand new pocket skirt?!! Yay!!

Now I just have to find some treasures to pop in my new pockets, start making some food for our gorgeous Saturday guests, feed the fires, download a family movie for tonight and it'll be time to get the girls. Phew!

Have you had a lovely week this week?
Has the sun been shining where you are?
Have you had time to knit/garden/sew/cook?
Do you feel like adding pockets to everything you own?
Do you have plans for the weekend?
Are you happy it's Friday?

See ya!

Thanks Emina for the tights.
Thanks farmer Bren for the dresser pics.
Thanks Mother Nature for the sun!!! It changes everything.

Cook while the oven's hot.

These wintry days, if you're looking for us, the chances are you'll find us in the kitchen by the wood cooker. Drinking tea up at the bench, kneading bread, rolling out pasta, chatting with the sour dough starter, stirring the soup, cutting up salad, or just supervising all of the above.


Our Esse is fast becoming the heart of our home. She is burning hot all day and right through the night at the moment, cooking our food and keeping the radiators in the rest of the house warm. And we've all been gravitating towards her.


It's comforting to read Little House On The Prairie to the girls every night and learn that it was the same back then too.


I guess that's what winter is all about.

The biggest differences we've found so far since cooking with wood are that;

• the oven is always on, so we may as well pop something in it.
• we are growing our own fuel source, which feels really nice and self sufficient.
• the days of pressing a button and turning a dial are long gone.
• there is about a one hour time delay between a warm oven and a hot oven.
• a good seal and dry, dense wood is the answer to the overnight burn.
• our kitchen is no longer the coldest room in the house.
• I never have to get up in the night to check that I turned the oven off.
• I am growing to love my kitchen.
• slow and steady wins the race.
• the wood cooker has her own personality and we are falling in love with her more as the days go by.
• we are baking with no exact temperature guage and without a timer. The breads and cakes go in when the oven is hot and come out when they look and test done. 
• cooking can be an absolute joy.

Now if only the dishes fairy would visit it would all be perfect.

So what's cooking with you, good looking?
Made/eaten anything extra tasty lately?
What are you having for dinner tonight?
Got a recipe to recommend?

See ya later, roast potata.
xx

PS ohmygoodness blogger, your spacing issues are killing me.