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Monday, July 30, 2012

Cacti

 I am having a bit of a gardening romance with cacti at the moment. This one I potted up in a wee tea cup and received a few prickles for my troubles. But I still like it anyway.

These teeny-tiny ones are on the kitchen window sill so I can enjoy their company while I wash the dishes but I may pot them up together in a terracotta pot for the verandah or porch. I don't think there is much scope for them to grow in such tiny pots.
Tracy

Sunday, July 29, 2012

We drove Tom back to Sydney on Friday in readiness for university on Monday. We drove back home on Saturday and I have come to the conclusion that driving for 12 hours plus in two days is just too much for a body to handle. I do not know how long distance drivers do it, they are made of tougher stuff than me.

 The few daylight hours we spent at the townhouse were full of fun. Mowing the little patch of lawn (which I would turn in to a herb garden if I moved in), grocery shopping, going to the new park and looking at plants.

A rare occurence, all of us together.
 My sister's and there kids came over for dinner on Friday night. When I sent out the call to invite them all over I didn't think about the fact that I would have been up since 4am and driving a long way. But it was all good. I made three curries with Basmati rice and took cakes, biscuit and slice from home for dessert. Next time we visit should be in September and I think a restaurant meal might be on the cards (it will be my birthday afterall).

Today though, it is back to normal. Chilly nights, gorgeous days and a sleep in for the girls. Tom is settling back in to city life and Tim is at work.

I have only just realised that I have been AWoL online for a week or two. I think my mind has been away with the fairies but hopefully I am on the not too straight and not too narrow now. I also hope I can think of some things worth blogging about because I do miss that when I am away from it.

Now I have the finishing touches to put to our Sunday soup night dinner, a phone call to Tom and then off to bed then ready for a brand new day tomorrow.
Tracy

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Stay tuned. I will be back in a day or two. Three at the most.

Monday, July 16, 2012

Back to school

All good things must come to an end and today the girls went back to school for term three. I did feel sorry for the two of them having to go outside this morning in the heaviest frost we have had this year. 

Frosty ornamental kale.
 I did the rounds this morning with numb toes and ice on my gumboots but I do love the frost.

Thyme touched by frost.

Puss enjoying the sun on Hope's bed.
I know I have mentioned before that I didn't like going back to school when I was a scholar and I still don't like that first day back now. I have however done what I usually do on the first day back and had a good clean up. Hope's room is a nightmare after the holidays. There seems to be a lot of fun going on in there if the mess is anything to gauge it by. So all the house is shipshape for now, baking is done, washing dried and put away, floors vacuumed and mopped etc and I can take a break online and get back to farm work tomorrow.

Last week I signed up to host a High Tea for Humanity. I didn't and still don't know too much about the charity but any excuse for a tea party is good enough for me. So sometime in September there will be much baking and tea sipping in the name of a good cause. For now though Grace and I are dreaming big about what, when, how and who, we already know the where. Right here on the farm.

Tracy

Friday, July 13, 2012

Rainy Day

A couple of days by the seaside and I am back at the helm at home. We arrived back home to some very wet weather which thankfully hadn't made it over the mountains to the beach while we were there.


My daffodils are starting to bloom. They are stunning and I am trying to establish a  patch in a meadow type of effect. It takes some time but I can see them multiplying each year.

 The daffodils really are not stunning when wet. They seem to be a little sad but they will come good when the sun comes back out.
 I can't think of many better things to be doing on a dark and wet day than to sit with a hot cuppa and a couple of new seed catalogues from two of my favourite places to buy seeds, Diggers and Eden Seeds. It's nice to come home from a trip to mail that is not a bill. I already have a few seed varieties in mind to buy for the upcoming spring planting.
 It did rain overnight while we were at the coast. That type of rain though doesn't give the flowers a sodden and sad look like my poor daffs. I think it added to the gorgeousness of this salmon pink hibiscus.

There was a little bit of swimming while we were away but it was restricted to those under 18 who don't seem to feel the cold (I only managed to go in up to my ankles). Fishing was popular with everyone though. Hope was the best of the anglers. She caught five fish with her unique fishing style and is so keen now, she even baits her own hook. All the fish went back into the water alive and without too much stress (I hope).

Now though it is definitely back to normal routine. The girls go back to school on Monday and Tom is returning to Sydney next week too.
Tracy

Friday, July 6, 2012

Screen Time

I have often read about parents trying to manage their children's screen time but sometimes in my house I think it is me who needs to rein in my screen time. It is just so easy to get caught up reading blogs or checking out Facebook or family history research. I really like my computer time but I don't want my life to be online and not in the real world afterall, then there would be nothing real to write about. In fact I really don't know how some people seem to manage to do so much and be able to write about it too. I wish I knew their secret to time management. I'm not even sure what a good balance is supposed to be. I guess it is different for everyone. I would probably spend on average an hour a day, six days per week online with blogging, emails and bits and pieces. Sometimes maybe a little more.How much time do others spend online?

Anyway, in my real world today, I have been doing some lovely things like making brownies and lime curd muffins, weeding the purple dragon carrot bed, planting some snow pea  and coriander seeds and I even did a samurai sudoku (which I love doing). We had a visitor to take Tom's picture for The Land newspaper and a phone call from my youngest sister. I also made some more compost which is about as unlovely as can be but oh so good at the same time. I also did a mountain of folding and ironing which has been waiting for a couple of days (lazy I know but it is the holidays). Doesn't make for much of a blog post but it is how it is in my very real and very ordinary home.
Tracy

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Holiday routine

 The slower pace of homelife during the school holidays is great. Although our lifestyle is not run at a hectic rate, it is certainly still noticable when holiday mode kicks in. There is more time to play games (I do not like board games a bit but Cluedo was ok I guess), no lunch boxes to think about and just generally enjoying having the whole family together.

The oven has been working overtime though. Tom may cook his own meals when away for university but he doesn't bake. It is a good thing to cook for an appreciative audience and it means I can try out new recipes because baking really is at its best fresh so if it is gobbled up quickly then a new offering can be prepared.

The farm and garden is in slow mode at the moment too. The ewes have been with the rams and are now just waiting for their five months to be up until lambs will be at foot again. The rams which needed to be sold have been. The bees are still out foraging, our winters aren't cold enough to stop them and little needs to be done with them until the warmer weather. The garden is a delight with weed growth slow and it has lulled me into the feeling that maybe I should extend beds because things are easy to handle right now(come summer time it might be a different story).

Frosty weather has been upon us for a few days now. It is gorgeous right now.

Tracy

Sunday, July 1, 2012

New financial year resolutions.

Save! Save! Save!

Cutting expenses where practicable.

Focus on growing more of our own food.

Tightening the belt another notch.

And maybe even make a little extra cash along the way.