produce..

its all very well having a vegetable garden that abounds in produce, but it does all ripen at once, and so needs eating and preserving all at once....
i am only just keeping up...
cucmber relish...
tomatoe and chilli jam...
tomatoe relish...
tomatoe pasta sauce...
fig and ginger relish...
spiced rhubarb jam...
if anyone can help me with preserving the aubergines i would be very grateful.. i have tried baking and keeping them in oil, but did not have a lot of success and cant seem to find a good reciepe to help...
anyhow, more on the recipes for the above soon..

it has been hot, really hot here for the past week, and i am making birthday gifts...knitting birthday gifts in fact, in 39 degree heat...i must be looney..
so this yarn was a delight to work with...i have made a scarf and will purchase some leather driving gloves to go with it...
the recipient recieved a cuban mob car from his wife for his birthday... it is pale blue and i think a chevrolet 1956 ish....and it is fabulous, pale blue, the same as the scarf he should have already recieved...i cant wait for him to get this in the mail...the pattern was from an old book of mums with loads of sample stitches in it, sorry i don't remember the name...i just picked one i liked the look of that was a bit masculine...i thought it would be a quick knit, but i used #9 needles as i wanted a loose weave, and i hate knitting on large needles..i felt all thumbs, and ended up knitting the continental method to give my aching wrists a break....


and finally my two new babies...they were given to me a fortnight ago, how could i say no...just look at their faces...
as brothers they play, sleep, walk, annoy, do everything together.... they will be good company for each other, as in the past we have always had cats when the children were around to play with them...nowadays with children all grown up and me working 3 to 4 days per week they will have some quiet days with just the two of them defending the home....
they are such time wasters...i hope they don't loose their collars, its the only way we tell them apart...
red = cassias
blue = ivanda
...don't ask....

harvest...

my weekend was spent in the garden.....

weeding...

mulching...

cutting back....

and the reward on sunday afternoon was to pick...

the silver beet we ate at dinner tonight...

rhubarb to be stewed in the morning...

spaghetti egg plant...i don't quite no how to handle these..i want to preserve them spiced oil...any other suggestions i would love to hear from you....

chillies for drying, and paste, and jam...

i guess tomorrow is going to be busy in the kitchen...

p.s. happy new year...

a quiet afternoon, unable to harvest due to the scorching temperatures, gave me an afternoon in stone cottage...
the order of the day... boardies for boys...
i cut a pattern freehand, which meant i had a few construction issues, but generally they went together well...
more pairs have been requested so they must have met the seal of approval....
now more pattern cutting to accommodate size differences...
i just need another free afternoon, this time without the harvest ban...

farm friday...

friday is my day off work...i love it..it feels like a holiday... catching my breath...the house to myself..
often my craft is still in its infancy and not really worth photographing, so i am going to do a...

farm friday photo..

i would love you to join me, and i am no photographer..you don't have to live on a farm...
it could be a rural photo from a holiday...or something from the back yard...animal...vegiepatch..spiderweb..or a rooster like here...
you can write about it or not...just a photo will do fine...
join me...if we have a few interested i could attempt to set up a flickr group (me being so computer literate and all-not!!)
its hay making down here and the late afternoon light was sensational...
the smell fresh and earthy...
i love living here...i think i have said that before...

between a rock and a hard place...

sometimes life is hard..
sometimes we make things hard for ourselves...
how does this little plant think it is going to survive the summer...

my beautiful boy...

he's handsome...
he's gentle...
he makes me laugh...
he is a lovely friend...
he's 5 years old
he's nelson...
he's my labrador...
today he has a very sore front leg because he got caught up in a fence chasing a fox...
he spent the day watching me in the garden...
feeling miserable because he couldnt help me dig...he just recouperated in the sun...
he's a lovely friend

timberrrr....

husband + chainsaw = a huge mess....
but all worth it, because i am getting a 'walk- in' wardrobe...
yippee....

bush blocks...

i think i should clarify a previous post....my community is rural and isolated... whilst driving my usual 250kms around the district for work, i was smacked by the wildflowers that are in bloom...

our australian bush is harsh..tough...dry...

its colours are harsh and tough...

the flora and fauna are tough...

built that way to survive, to withstand the hot, dry, long summers...

yet during the spring, if we search and observe whilst on our normal paths..

looking at the normal, in a different way...

we find these delicacies...

soft...fragile...tender...

just here for a few weeks until they hide again, waiting for next years spring...

the australian spider orchid....

sunshine at last

a cold grey morning, turned into a warm sunny afternoon...
and the canola sparkled in the cloudless sky...
i love our farm...

calm...

cover the air with droplets of mist...
cover the sun with cloud....my sunday...still...quiet...peaceful...

preparation...

as i look outside the window, its hard to believe that it is may, and the weather should be cool..cold even...

paddocks are being prepared for seeding as we anxiously await for the opening rains to arrive...
winter coats are being prepared as we await the cold weather to arrive...
in the mean time how can i not enjoy this sublime autumn weather with some gardening...
its too good to be inside...

2009...

in today already walks tomorrow......
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor (1772-1834)

happy new year.........

where are the teenagers when you need them.....

backtack 4 has been the first swap i have been involved in, at it has been great fun getting to know someone from afar who enjoys similar craft adventures.... this is what i created and sent to Oklahoma and only took 7 days to get there, not the 4-5 weeks that australia post told me... ann has opened it after graciously waiting for december to arrive, so now i can post of my adventures.

gold....................................

the wreath is made from our own hay, wrapped in a circle and pushed and generaly bashed about to get the shape, and wound by string to keep it in place. then as you can see its decorated with some of the oats, wheat that we are currently harvesting from the farm... to add the shinny bit, i tied on some gold baubles and finished it all off with some xmas ribbon, cinnamon sticks and glittering threads...hard to see in the photo.

these birds with golden threads were made as a back-up in case the wreath did not make it through the u.s.a. customs..... but it did, so these become a bonus...i think ann said she was going to sit them on the mantle....

frankincense.....

hand made lavender infused soap, and an organic cotton wash cloth. both fun to make..

myrrh.......................

a nervous gift to be giving ann as she is such a wonderful knitter/weaver/user of woolen fibres...this is a cloche hat that is still to be felted. it was easier to send it in its unfinished state so i didnt run the risk of it loosing its shape. plus, ann has done lots of felting before, so she will probably do a much better job at it than i would have....

now i just have to learn how to upload some photos onto flickr... that is proving harder than making the gifts....where are the teenagers when you need them.....

the cycle...

we sow them......

we grow them...

we mow them....they go and get processed (sorry no photo for that step)...

then we eat them.....

Apple and Cinnamon Muffins
(all done by hand in one bowl)
mix together 1/2 cup olive oil, 1 cup sugar, 1 egg, 1 cup milk.
add 1 cup S.R. flour, 1teaspoon baking powder, 1teaspoon cinnamon and 1 peeled chopped apple.
mix lightly and put into greased or lined muffin tins. bake 15-20 mins 180 degrees celsius.

delicious, especially hot out of the oven!!

they don't last long in this house, i baked a dozen an hour ago and have only three left...
why do boys eat so much?

mud baths....

still no time in the stitching room as we have been occupied in the garden.... what a week, the average temperature was a cool 9 degrees ....Celsius that is...cold ....and to top it all off we had rain...real rain....rain that drenches you....rain you cant work in... rain that forms mud.... even teenage children cant resist throwing mud....aahhh

but progress is being made, even if we have stopped for now, to let the mud settle......and i am already loving the new look.....daunted by the work that still needs to be done, but none the less loving it....

how do i keep mud out of the house...children.....animals.....boots..... on wooden floors....aahhhhhh.....

this mornings sunrise

red sky by night shepperd's delight..red sky by morning shepperd's warning....

yay..bring on the rain....