what we've been up to X six

One

We've been letting the garden decide what we eat.

Lots of salads, freshly dug potatoes, baby beets, pestos, plum cakes, pullet eggs, berry sorbets...still no red tomatoes though.

Two

We've been heading out after dinner to turn pumps and sprinklers and taps off.

As the sun slowly sets over the hill, the temperature drops a bit and it's the perfect time to explore, to throw rocks in the dry creek bed, to catch naughty runaway dogs, to pick berries and carrots, to swing under the big Blackwood tree and to feel a bit wild and free and crazy.

Three

We've been starting to think about our trip to Israel this year.

The sights, the smells, the tastes and the culture. I thought cooking our way through Jerusalem might be a good way to prepare the girls. We started with the Krantz cakes the other day, deeeeeeeeeeeeeelicious!

Four

We've been gathering bucket loads of seed off the blackwood trees to regrow and replant and make wind breaks and reforest this place. There is something very wonderful about collecting seeds and growing plants from them. Magical. Sustainable.

Five

We celebrated wonderful behaviour and filled sticker charts with a trip to the water slides with friends. Every single time I saw my girls yesterday they giggled excitedly at what a brilliant time they were having. And they totally deserved it. I am such a fan of the reward chart. I wonder if it's too early to start new ones.

Six

And I've been making and photographing. Now that I've pretty much finished with the words for my book, I'm on to the making it pretty bit. I'm writing lists, collecting ingredients, making stuff, setting up scenes and photographing it all. It's scary and overwhelming and exciting and fun. I wish I knew more, had more time and owned some vintage suitcases.

So there's my second last Tuesday of the summer holidays six.
What're yours?
Care to share?

Later potata
xx

the old bottom shed

Slowly but surely my book grows.

The number of words written, projects made and photos taken grows. The pile of washing on the laundry floor grows. The number of times we have eaten pasta and toasted sandwiches since I started grows. The amount of cobwebs around the place grows. The number of times my farmer boy has calmed me down and reassured me grows. The amount of times I've locked myself in the office while he's played happy homemaker grows. The number of times we've all squealed with excitement about the prospect of our family being in a book grows.

And on the side, the book blanket grows. Square by square, by square by square.

36 in and I love this project as much as the day I started. She's portable, she's interesting, she's colourful, she's a great stash buster, she's my reward for good book behaviour, she's snuggly, she's been claimed by my biggest farmer girl and one day she'll be a reminder of this book writing time of mine.

She's also super photogenic don't you think?

And funnily I've had no urge to cheat on her; no ravelry pattern searches, no wool shop trips, no dreams of cardigans or beanies.

The book and the book blanket and me are in this together. Til deadline or bust.


Is there a special project in your life?
A project that is making you happy?
Do share.

Wishing you a rad week, yo.

xx

Oh summer garden

After four days away from our farm, we jumped out of the car eager to explore the kitchen garden and the changes we had missed in our absence.

In winter, four days' growth might not be so obvious; plants generally sit still in the cool soil like they do in the fridge. But in hot, bright sunshine-filled days, things move quickly. Plants blossom and grow tall and fill out and make fruit overnight. Blink, or go away for a few days, and you'll miss it.

We returned to our garden yesterday afternoon. We dug deep and felt the moisture in the soil, we tied up droopy limbs, pinched out excess foliage, commented on amounts of growth and harvested some greens. 

The rocket we had planted a few days before we left has burst forth from the soil to create a vibrant green spiral. The tomato plants have grown tall and filled out and are flowering madly. There are green bulbs of fruit on some of the earlier varieties, but bruschetta time still feels a while away.

The onions, possibly the only veg that me and my farmer boy disagree on, are finally bulbing right up and looking ready to harvest. All spring long he complains that they are taking up valuable garden space and should be planted down in the farm's market garden where the longer term plants grow. 

But to me onions are worth their weight in gold. An onion is the starting point of every hearty meal. If we can grow good onions then we have taken care of one of the most important staples. I am happy to patiently wait for the onions. I am pleased to give them space and time to grow. I adore watching their bulbs form and fatten up. 

The second succession of carrots is coming along nicely after the first didn't have such a great strike rate. We laugh that I planted this lot so terribly thick, but I know that thinning them out will be a delicious job we'll all enjoy in a few weeks' time.

The basil in the ground, and the basil that has yet to go into the ground is growing huge and bushy and calling for the first pesto of the season. Can you smell it? Mmmmmmm summer...

And the peas and beans are still fruiting madly, rewarding us with their crunchy fresh burst of flavour whenever we pass by.

Miss Pepper's sunflowers are still squished up closed but look just about to burst into bloom above our heads at any moment. Just as the potatoes nearby are doing their thing under our feet. 

And the lettuces...oh how I adore the summer lettuces. Salads for two out of three meals a day, green leaves poking out of sandwiches and leaves cut off and gobbled up right there on the spot.

Oh summer garden, I feel like I've been waiting for you all year.

Deeeeeeeeelicious!!

How does your garden grow at the mo?
What are you planting, harvesting, noticing, eating?

Wishing you the most scrumptious weekend.

Bye!

Oh summer!

Oh summer, I feel like I've been waiting for you all year.

x

First draft

The book blanket grows. These 25 squares are my first draft squares. Somehow, someway, I found enough words and ordered them into enough sentences and paragraphs to finish the first draft of my book.

If I were a novelist I would have written a big fat capital lettered THE END after I typed the last word, but because I am not a novelist, and because the last chapter I wrote was the middle one and not the end one, I didn't.

And even though I am only half way through this book making process. Even though I have lots of edits, some research, lots and lots of making and HEAPS of photo taking ahead of me, I have finished the first draft of my book.

And at the risk of sounding a bit show-offey (I'm sorry) I'm a little bit thrilled. Partly thrilled that this bit is over, partly thrilled that I was actually capable of it and partly because it means the days spent alone tapping away on my computer are numbered.

The first draft bit of my blanket is now big enough to be folded up, used as a lap blanket and hung from a tree. The words of the first draft of my book have been sent in a word document to my editor.

I am both excited and terrified for what the next 25 squares of book making will hold.

Big love and thanks so much for your kindness.

xx

Summer words.

The strangest thing has happened. I feel like I've run out of blog words.

Perhaps I've used them all up in chapters and lists and patterns for my book. Perhaps the stuff I usually write about here seems petty compared to the fear and devastation and sadness being experienced by so many affected by the terrible bush fires in our country's south. Or maybe I can blame it on the heat and the wind and the summer school holidays.

I'd like to write words about the rhythm of our hot, summer days. Words about opening my eyes wider and letting my five year old be the tour guide in my quest to rediscover the magic in my day to day. Words about really getting in amongst it and playing with my girls, not as a means to occupy them and pass the time, but as a way to discover joy. But I can't. I feel a bit too self conscious and the words feel wishy-washy and hippie even.

So today there is no story. No description. No list.

Just thoughts for all those affected. May they find security and peace and safety and home and happiness once more.

xx

Sweet and juicy

It's a funny time of year, slow and dreamy but also alert and listening.

I love how the brand new 2013 seems to lie in front of us filled with promise and adventure.

I've had a draft of a blog post open for four days now but I still can't seem to decide on the most important details. Resolutions? A word for the year? Words to live by? Do I need them? Should I make them? Will I use them?

Farmer Bren is up and at 'em super early each morning. He's changed taps, fed and watered animals and checked fire hoses and sprinklers and generators before I've even opened my eyes.

It's hot and dry but very still today. On the radio they're calling today the baking day. Tomorrow will be hot and windy. High fire danger. My farmer boy has the fire wireless strapped to his waist constantly chirping in his ear. We have a plan, a few plans and we are mostly fire-ready but when you live in the middle of a forest, are you ever really fire-ready?

In the mornings we drink coffee and then we collect the eggs. We wear long pants, white business shirts and wide brimmed straw hats. We are cool and protected from the sun but I know we look silly. Cool but not so cool.

The girls are slow and lazy. Sometimes they help us with the farm jobs but mostly they play quiet games together, they lie under the trampoline, they write words and numbers in little notebooks and they eat lots of ice-blocks and juicy fruit.

We still have no Internet. I'm uploading this blog with wifi from my phone. It's crazy frustrating and upsetting.

And the book blanket grows.

And in amongst it I try and write lots of book words. It's coming together slowly. Soon we'll finish with the text and start on the images. It's a book about caravanning and family and adventure and vintage vans and craft and food. I am so grateful for your kind words of encouragement, they are keeping me here at my desk writing and editing and imagining and remembering. I really hope you like what I'm doing.


I wonder how you are spending these first few days of the brand new year.
Are you slow and steady or are you straight back into things?
Have you made resolutions and plans?
Will you stick to them?

From our family to yours - we wish you a happy new year.
May your 2013 be super sweet and juicy!!

I have a great feeling.

Lots of love xx