One step forward....

Two steps back...bloody chooks! Looks like they need their wings clipped again. I planted red cabbage on Sunday only to find they had disappeared this morning, and the chooks were licking their lips (err...beaks)!

What is the point in keeping chickens when they don't even lay eggs!

Anyway, not all bad news.I am very happy to say I have finally, after a year or so, got my plants back into the garden. The photos show the little bit of progress I am making.
It feels really good to get the plants into the ground, as they were lifted out last April so that we could kill off the kikuya which had immigrated from the lawn, and pretty well taken over. And it isn't the kind of weed you can just pull out.Oh no, this stuff gets in deep(sometimes a metre deep) and strangles the root system of everything in its path, and nothing will kill it, apart from a good dose of round-up, three times! Blimey,it is tough stuff. So much for being totally organic. You just can't beat it without help from glysophate.

So my plants have been waiting patiently, and I did lose a few.But that's okay, because I have changed the design a bit, and made different choices of plants and different ways to plant them.I am hoping the garden will be a bit less "cottagey" and a bit more designed, but that remains to be seen.

I have put in a couple of dwarf nectarines and a "doughnut" peach, as well as three Chilean guavas, which have edible fruit. I like the idea of having some edible plants in the border.

This photo was taken before I started replanting:

This one is after planting, though it doesn't show alot of difference, it will look much improved in spring. Note the gorgeous colour of the Triton Maple.

And finally, something I have been hoping to do since Charlie's birth - to plant his tree, the Gingko Biloba, over the placenta which sustained him for 9 months,growing him into a strong and healthy baby.Now it can do the same for his tree.(In case you're wondering, it was in the freezer all that time!)

The Buddha statue now sits under the tree. The tree itself doesn't look that great, but it is losing its leaves for Autumn, and I am sure it will look beautiful in the future. I also planted perennial irises around the tree and Buddha.I am not sure what kind of irises they are, but they are delicate and pretty, and I think suitable for a special spot.

It feels good to be gardening regularly, to look forward to what the plants will bring : perhaps food, beauty, flowers to bring inside, a lovely place to wander, to sit in, and a chance to get my hands dirty and to connect with the earth...Ahhh, bliss!

Saturday Sewing an Mum's Day

On Saturday I was able to get some sewing done.Yay! I had received a new book on Friday,The Creative Family by Amanda Blake Soule (you'll see her blog on my reading list,and you can purchase the book from her), and she was saying how important (to her) it was to have some creativity everyday. Well, I realise it is pretty important to me too, because if I can't do something creative,I do feel frustrated, and when you add that to no enough sleep, I can feel unhappy.

So,I decided to try harder to fit in some creative time, and did manage it. You'll see Charlie wearing a little grey vest - I have been trying to make this one for some time - I felted an old vest of Michael's, and it worked out so well.It will certainly keep Charlie warm.

I also got to play with some of the beautiful fabrics I bought from Fabricworm,on the website Etsy (which sells hand crafted wares as well as supplies).It is such a pleasure to sew beautiful fabrics. I made a skirt for Freya using the Anna Maria Horner fabrics, and a headband for Lily.

I also made this "holdall" and plastic bag holder, for the side of the change table.It is great,it keeps everything close,just where I can easily reach.The lovely fabric is another Anna Maria Horner fabric, so pretty.

I must say I felt really satisfied after the sewing session. Which led onto a wonderful Mother's day on Sunday. Just briefly, this is what contributed to a wonderful day:

• A sleep in
• Breakfast in bed courtesy of Freya
• Three new Pandora beads for my bracelet (Oooh!)
• No chores ALL day
• A session in the garden,planting out
• Lunch at the beautiful peaceful farm with Michael's parents
• Michael cooked a yummy stir fry dinner

It was just lovely having the day with my children and husband.I am blessed.

Another Birthday

Happy days...Charlie is loving this crawling caper,getting stuck under chairs,pulling on and chewing electrical cords,finding long lost bits of fluff to gag on! We are all enjoying his blossoming and changing.Many people comment that he is less like a baby and more like a boy now, and it does feel that way.He already wants to walk around the furniture and displaying some risk-taking behaviour! It keeps me on my toes,and I am loving every minute.

Freya seems to be enjoying homeschooling so far.The tempo is certainly cruisey, but she tells me she is doing much more than she was at school. Is this true?I don't know, but I do know that time is wasted at school. I love that she can pursue something that interests her and run with it.For example after walking on the beach and finding bluebottles,her curiosity was whetted, and when we got home she found out everything she wanted to know about them, and will write a report about them.

I also love that she can wear her fairy outfit to school and not worry about anyone teasing her about it.One of the best things about being home schooled is that Freya can be herself,she doesn't have to keep up with the rest of the pack (and,yes,some of those girls act like wolves),she doesn't have to worry about the dynamics of friendships,and it was getting very complicated - who was allowed to play with whom,when they were allowed etc.I found her tales of friendship perimeters quite disturbing.

Having said that,she is still able to maintain her important friendships, and was really chuffed to have her friend Ashlyn visit on her birthday.Freya had a lovely time,enjoying her presents and the company of friends and family. She loved her chocolate cloud cake (thank you Rosie and Nigella for the recipe) served with cream and fresh raspberries and strawberries. It is a great cake,no gluten (which is good for me), and simple to make.Let me know if you want the recipe.

Busy,busy,busy

A busy couple of weeks...As you can see, there's a new path in the garden.Michael did it over the school holidays. Any progress in the garden is a wonderful thing. I am very excited that I have finally been able to start replanting in the bed in front of the house (pics of that in a blog to come). I am hoping I'll get some time out there soon.

Freya stated homeschooling this week.So far,so good.She is a very fast worker and so eager, ready to tackle the next task as soon as she has finished the first.This means I have to keep on my toes! Sometimes Charlie makes it difficult, as he believes his needs are always to be met straight away!

We set up this corner with a desk for Freya's homeschooling. It meant taking the kitchenette out and finding a new home for all the crockery.It was a good opportunity to cull what we really don't need.The rest found a place in the pantry, which also underwent serious culling. It always feels good to cull (so why do I still have compulsions to buy more!Incurable!).

Charlie is now crawling everywhere at a great speed.He is very cute.He hit the 8 month mark on the 23rd.He still hasn't cut any teeth, but judging by his ferocious grip whilst breastfeeding (sets my teeth at edge) he isn't far off.He has also been dribbling great wet fountains this week.

His crawling style is very interesting.He tends to do all the work with his left leg while keeping the right leg bent, but not really doing any of the work.It works, he's able to get stuck under chairs and tables ALL the time!

Another milestone met this past weekend...Callum turned 18! Wow! It is amazing having a boy-adult under our roof.He's legal for drinking and other things, but it isn't really all that different to when he was 17! He is very independent - we hardly see him - he works long hours, then hangs out with friends.We really only catch up in the mornings for a few minutes.It feels a bit strange, but at least we see him more than when he was living away.

So that is why I have been really busy. It is so hard to get any time for myself,particularly with Charlie's sleeping habits, which require my nice warm body! If I get him to sleep and put him in his cot he almost ALWAYS wakes up. I honestly don't know how to deal with this problem.I don't want to leave him to cry, I just won't go there, but I worry that he'll never sleep in his cot, or that I'll never get a little break(I'd really like a little bit of time in the afternoons to sew or garden).Anyway, he's still little and I know what I signed up for, so I'll just make the best of it...

We are off to swimming lessons tomorrow(for Charlie), how exciting.I hope he enjoys it.

A Lovely Easter Day

I think I like Easter much more than Christmas. Maybe it is the time of year, perhaps it is that there is less hype, less expense,less expectation. I don't know, but it feels more cruisey and we had a really nice day.

We started with the egg hunt.Always enjoyed by all, especially when it is time to divvy up the goods!After that Freya and I went on another hunt, to find some bits and pieces to make an Easter tree.She really enjoyed decorating it, and it looked so lovely on our dining table.

We made a special lunch, a roast lamb, which was delicious, and especially so with the accompaniment of our home grown roast spuds (ooh, so yummy), and a big green salad full of our lettuce, spinach and herbs, along with tiny tomatoes from Joan's(Granny's) garden. We followed that with Heather's meringue,cream,raspberry,passion fruit curd dessert.Mmm!

With our belly's full to bursting it was a good job we felt like strolling on the beach.We took a really long stroll, the girl's were chuffed to walk all the way to the end, called Mistaken Island (which is really attached to the beach but appears to be an island). Charlie was very good,considering how long the walk was, but felt he had to have a cuddle and a nap on the way back!


Heather took the lovely pictures.Unfortunately, she isn't in any of them!

Easter Baking, Sewing and Gardening

These are the spuds I dug up this afternoon. It doesn't look much - certainly not enough to keep us fed over the winter, but that is okay, it will give us a few feeds, and there's nothing quite like fresh spuds. I think if I left them longer we would have got more, as there were lots of little ones on the roots. However, the plants were yellowing, and I'd like to use the space for new crops.It was quite a sandy bed, so maybe carrots? But then again, should I plant more root crops in that bed, or put something different in?

This picture is of Charlie enjoying the potato soup I made for lunch(not with my new potatoes).He loves to eat with us.

Yesterday I was able to get onto the sewing machine and make some cushion covers.The photo doesn't really do them justice (colourwise). They are a pretty blue and made with the softest hemp fabric. I bought this fabric years ago when one of the fabric shops in town closed down.I could never decide what to sew with it, so I finally decided the colour matched the other cushions perfectly. I was also able to finish off Charlie's little pants. Again, the colour has come out quite right, but they are lovely soft green baby cord. And the little pocket and cuffs are made from the darling fabric I bought online from "Duckcloth"(http://www.duckcloth.com.au/index.php). It has baby boars on it! How cute.It is a lovely Japanese fabric.They do it well. As I was saying, I had bought fabric from a closing down sale years ago.We used to have three fabric shops in town, all small businesses, which I loved to visit.I have always loved textiles. It is so sad that they couldn't get enough business, and then the big chain store came to town, and that was the end of them. Sadly the chain store doesn't go for the better quality fabrics. It is all pretty cheap, and that's okay, but I'd rather sew nice fabric if I am going to go to the effort. There's been a resurgence of sewing and crafts due to the recession, I believe, so there are lots of choices on the net. I'd prefer to be able to handle the fabric before choosing, but I shall just have to take the chance. Ideally I'd be in a position to start my own wonderful fabric shop, but that isn't going to happen!

Check out the goodies we baked today:We made hot cross buns, without the crosses,both with and without gluten.You can tell which is which: mine are the little ones.They were still tasty, just not as light and fluffy as the other ones!

The girls also made gingerbread Easter cookies.We didn't photograph them after they were baked, because they ended up too well browned(read "burnt!")The girls ate them anyway!If nothing else it is lovely to have the scent of spices and dried fruit in the kitchen, yummy!

So, all in all, a couple of fruitful days. Speaking of fruit, I picked rhubarb today, and have a box of apples from mum and dad, so I am off to the kitchen to make a crumble.Yum,yum!

Cool Cat Pants and Homeschooling

They aren't the best pictures, but you get a glimpse of Charlie's little pyjama pants I made yesterday afternoon. They are "Cool Cat" pants because they have cats in the print.They are very cute on him.And nice and warm now that the temperature is dropping.

I have noticed that he often has a dummy in his mouth in photos, it makes it look like he always has one, but that isn't the case.He was pretty grumpy, he is still cutting those first teeth, and he has a cold.He woke Mike and me at 4.30 am because he wanted to suck on his dummy but his blocked nose meant he couldn't breathe! So there was much crying!Michael got up to console him, but I could still hear him and wasn't able to sleep. We were both zombies yesterday!

As for the title today, Freya has decided to take up my offer of homeschooling her.I am really pleased she wants to give it a go, but also a little scared - I want to give her the best education, and just hope I do a decent job. We have already started planning some of the projects we'll do together. One is a science project - raising seeds for the vegetable patch. I recently bought a heated propagation tray, so we'll see how the germination rates go compared to unheated. Not only interesting, but practical too, I'll have a willing helper in the garden.

We are also going to do some sewing and knitting.It will be fun.

My little one is calling, better run!