Chicken yoga....

Our friend's baby has been given an interim diagnosis of Benign Neonatal Sleep Myoclunus  ; which is a great result after the stress they have undergone this week.

This morning sees little spots of green breaking the soil where I sowed seeds the other day. The rocket, lettuce and Asian greens are all showing their heads ( so to speak!) and to keep them company, I bedded in 18 odd cabbages today-made up of a mix of savoy, red & drumhead varieties.

 The peas are also swelling and sprouting....

 Some of the ladies are taking serious steps to ensure that they stay in fine form this winter-no battle of the bulge for Roxy as she takes up a form of yoga!

 

Some of the other girls should perhaps take some pointers..... I'm looking at you Lucy!

 

Whereas Twinkle has her mind on other things...like some privacy please!

Tuesday.

Yesterday we heard that friends are going through every parent's worst nightmare. Their week old baby (their first and born on Mothers Day) has been rushed via Air Ambulance to the Royal Children's Hospital after suffering fits. Our thoughts and prayers are with them as they await answers. XXXX

With my mind elsewhere I decided to spend this morning cooking up a couple of meals for the freezer & fridge. The weather has definitely turned towards winter-so I chose to use the ham hock left from Christmas to cook a batch of pea & ham soup (our daughter had cooked up a pot when we visited last weekend and I've been craving it ever since!).

Plus, a pack of split peas ( pre-soaked), a couple of chicken fillets and sautéed vegetables  thrown together has given me a huge pan of savoury split peas.

Both dishes are incredibly frugal and hearty..to say nothing of downright delicious! :) I also threw a loaf of sourdough bread in the oven ( it had been left to rise overnight)-so we will have fresh bread with our pea & ham soup.

What are your favourite comfort foods?

 
 
 

 

 

Monday's musings....

We spent the weekend with one of our daughters and her family-they live 3.5 hours away and we drove over so that they could go out for dinner without their one year old..... For The First Time!

 

As they are expecting their second later in the year, this may be one of the few times they get to go out and "be grownups" together for a while!

 

My parents met us there for a daytrip-they are 2 hours from our daughter's home & 3.5 hours away from us. We all took our grandson to the park and four generations of our family had fun together-with the older males all trying chin-ups and climbing a rather large tree- with varying degrees of success I may add!

 

I have such a satisfying sense of continuity when we have multi generational outings like this-how lucky are our grandchildren to know not only their grandparents-but also their great-grandparents and in the case of my husband's grandmother, great-great grandparent? There is every chance that these grandchildren of ours will live into the 2100's-and they will have memories of someone who was born in 1918!

 

 

It is for this next generation that we decided to buy this land & build this home-when our grandchildren visit here they are in contact with the soil and animals which provide food. They help with baking-and eating. As the years go by, without realising it they will be gaining knowledge and skills-and more importantly to me...memories.

We had a casual drive home-stopping at whatever took our fancy along the way ( stuffed camel anyone? I kid you not!) and arrived home to land that is finally taking on a verdant hue after the recent rain.

 

No photos I'm afraid- I was too busy enjoying our time. :)

 

This morning sees MORE rain-deep and soaking. The plants are no longer dusty and seem to turn their faces towards the sky and glory in it's gift.

 

I am working indoors this morning, housework; then this afternoon I will head into work for a few hours. Today, I am content.

 

 

Gratuitous chicken shot of one of our older hens Betty:

 

 

 

Friday.

This is my morning walk......

 

Overnight it has been raining-a week's worth of wet weather now. The 7 days prior had been warm- a glorious Indian Summer. The two combined have caused plants to celebrate-to deepen their colours and burst into growth.

 

I step from the patio and stop to smell the roses....

 

 

 

After crossing the regions of the backyard, I enter the vegetable garden-on my left the newly planted raspberry canes ( yes, I braved the weather yesterday to get them in-dedicated or delusional, I'm not sure which!)

 

 

I check on the two beds planted with seeds- the one in the background has been laid solely with broad beans; after harvest these will be used as green manure for Spring planting. The bed in the foreground has had peas, spring onions, lettuce mix, black Kale & red pak choy planted-you can see the divisions roughly laid out by the stakes & scrap pieces of wood.

 

Onto the orchard gate-where the Committee Of Management await. They worship me as Bringer of the Bucket-as it is I who brings the scraps they so desire!

 

 

Follow the Great Bringer of the Bucket girls-quickly now, displease her not!

 

 

Oh leaving are you? Well, we have this lush section of damp, worm ridden soil to investigate......so, please excuse us if we don't follow you back. Have your people call our people and we will see what we can do about chatting another time ..........maybe....................

 

 

 

Enjoy your weekend.

 

Love the living....

 I awake-yet again after a sleepless night. I tossed, I turned, I pummelled my pillow ( and nearly His Lordship-snoring like a chainsaw!) and I lay mind racing through the dark hours of the night.

Finally I slept for an hour or so and when I decided to climb out of bed found that my planting plans for the day would have to be put aside. Since last Sunday ( and after the driest 6 months on record) it has rained....and rained some more. I haven't been this excited about a puddle since my waters broke in the middle of the shopping centre with our middle child! To much information? ;)

Instead of planting more seeds for winter greens , or laying out  the raspberry canes which arrived yesterday I have muddled around the house. Washing is done, kitchen cleaned and linen closet tidied.

Now I am sitting in our newly rearranged living area-which has become one of my favourite spots to sit. We have added a large floor rug; which has lead to adding more blue in the room. Plus, His Lordship and I bought a lamp-not just any lamp though...... we bought Basil!

 

 

His Lordship has never shown one iota of interest in homewares-so when I hinted started musing aloud that I thought we needed to find a new lamp for the living room there *may* have been a touch of eyerolling on his behalf!

 

 

Imagine my surprise when we both spied this gorgeous owl lamp at Adairs in Melbourne and he ACTUALLY said that he LIKED it! Now imagine the little happy dance performed in public when we found out that it was 30% off (me-not him....His Lordship only ever dances on the inside...) !

 

 

Why Basil I hear you ask? His lordship is a fan of Fawlty Towers ( Classic British Sit-Com) and the day before had followed me around the supermarket saying " Basil.... Basiiiilll......Baaaaasssil"  ( after I had put a bunch of basil in the basket) to mimic the wife Sybil from the series.... Fawlty Towers

 

 

Ergo-our new household member has been named Basil to remind us off the weekend.

 

Here he is in the living room with it's new touches of blue-and under the supervision of our cat Houdini..... the red spot on the floor is Houdini's favourite toy!

 



 
 

This is the room a month or so prior-an improvement no?

Linking up at No Minimalist Here, Feathered Nest Friday

Pumpkin loaf? Don't mind if I do!

Recently, this recipe for a simple potato loaf was generously shared by Joybelle.
 I read it and filed it away in the back of my mind-planning on baking it at some point.

I woke up this morning to heavy rain & howling wind and after some housework and seed planting, decided to give the recipe a try...but with a twist!

I doubled the recipe and replaced the potato with mashed pumpkin. The pumpkin holds more moisture-so I added a little more Self Raising Flour. It does make a very wet mix-but the resulting loaf is moist and more-ish!

This is an easy recipe- and will be used again...I may even try it with potato!

Let me know if you give it a whirl......

Linking up at:

Mwwwwwaaaahhhhh for Mothers!

Happy

Mothers

Day!