inside, outside

 : : inside

A spot cleared for my craft bits and pieces in the play room. Formerly it had become a spot for everything that didn't have a place (ie a big mess) now it is a breath of fresh air

buntinting I made last week from some peter rabbit fabric scraps, flowers brought in. The tiny posie off daffodills has filled the room with its sweet scent

some of my home spun wool being knitted into a little something. I love the feel of the lanolin

: : outside

our peas got damaged by fierce weather yesterday, they were reaching to the very top of the poles and now they are all blown down(you can see the poles are wonky too!). A bit sad but their still healthy and full of peas so thats what matters the most of course

 bennys parents dropped off about 10 bales (!!!) of pea straw as they were sick of bits blowwing into their pool. The garden and apple blossom kids are appreciative!

 my very favourite place to sit (my $2 garage sale chair)

A dinner I looked forward to all day, leftover babi kecap my by my Opa, the best cook ever (my slightly biased opinion of course)

green

Last week I visited my aunt Levin and she gave me this gorgeous Madeline tosh yarn. I'm so in love with it! Its slowly becoming the mermaid socks I dreamed up for it. I say slowly because I've only ever knitted socks in 8ply. I feel like I'm knitting these on tooth picks!

 this week the sun has been shining and days have been almost entirely spent outdoors. Ropes are so handy, they can become so many different toys. We make rope swings, bells on ropes to jingle and a basket tied to the veranda can be so fun to swing and twirl. A swing for toys or a good place for a collection of shells or rocks

With these warm days it feels like the garden is growing so much each day. Ive been spending so much time out there. My parents came over on Monday. We spent the whole day lazing in my veggie patch, snacking on a pancake picnic. They helped me build a big new garden bed and change the garden bed design a bit. Next time I will show a before and after 

 Potatoes are supposed to grow in the summer in Australia aren't they? I have quite a few volunteer plants from compost and I'm hilling them up to see how they go. I have to be honest, their doing a lot better than the summer potatoes I planted and lovingly tended to

 broccoli is surprising me. I haven't had a single successful broccoli since I moved to this town, each year I get little bugs that go crazy for them, this year I have the bugs but they just seem to be on the leaves mostly. Definitely wishing I had planted more. I will get a few seedlings tomorrow

 I like this old fence post with peeling paint that is now sitting in the middle of a veggie patch with no purpose. My cat mishka likes to sit on it for a good view

 Afternoon light peeking through the lattice fence

goodmorning

 Goodmorning everyone. I hope you all woke up to a morning as beautiful as mine. I love a misty morning dont you? Time to pick the last of my herbs in case we get frost. I already have handfuls of them drying in the kitchen smelling delightful

 After a long hot summer the veggie patch is starting to come back to life. I still have pumpkins, watermellons and corn growing. Some broad beans have come up so I planted some peas. Fingers crossed the weather stays cool enough for them. Im so excited for my first winter with this veggie patch. Last year we moved in about june and got some winter veg planted but this year I have twice as many garden beds and a fow extra months of planting. Ive been adding lots of lawn clippings and compost to each bed and rotating the chickens to fertilise and turn each on. One disadvantage to housing the chickens on the the garden beds will be less self seeding but for the nutrients they give and how easy it is i decided I could live with that. I hope to still get a few self seeded plants because I love the suprise!

 Ive been moving about the garden beds on this side of the garden (the whole veggie patch is an L shape) . Looking forward to having fires very soon

Today is also such a nice cozy day for knitting (but then again, every day is good for knitting if you ask me)

sugarless tomato sauce

 We've been bringing in so many tomatoes from the garden this summer so along with regular tomato soup, salads, sandwiches etc. I've managed to make two batches of sauce from all the excess tomatoes. Not all my tomatoes are perfect, some have grubs, blossom end rot or sun burnt patches but all these little imperfections get cut off so that we barely waste a single one. They all taste delicious in sauce

 I'm rarely short of a helper to wash them. The only pay they expect is a few cherry tomatoes to munch on while their hard at work

 Recipe-
9 cups of pureed tomatoes
1/4 cup olive oil
1 small onion
2 tsp garlic
1 cup vinegar
3/4 cup honey
handful of basil

*cook olive oil, onion and garlic on medium until onion is tender
* add pureed tomatoes, bring to the boil
*simmer until tomatoes have reduced to about 3/4 or the original volume (a few hours)
*add vinegar, honey and basil
*cook a further 20 mins or so. Turn the heat up and reduce a bit more if it seems too thin
*Puree again or leave chunky

Bottle and freeze or preserve (can)

Yum!

 Here's three of the 4 bottles that I made. they are 450ml bottles filled about 3/4 way (they needed room for expansion as I froze them)

And I bet you'd like to see the beautiful healthy plants that my abundance of tomatoes are coming from...

Yep seriously! These plants have looked terrible for weeks and I keep expecting them to die but they are tough and just keep making more fruit!

a million rainbow seeds

My current knitting project is a stripey blanket.
Its similar to the rainbow stripey blanket I started a while ago, but doesn't involve all the spinning.
 I'm not sure if it was to do with how wobbly my spinning wheel was, the lack of proper cord or my lack of persistence but I got to the point that I wanted to keep knitting the blanket but didn't want to spend all the time getting frustrated with the spinning wheel. I never really 'got' how to adjust the wheel properly, hopefully one day I will get a better wheel and take some lessons because I know I would enjoy it once it got easier. Anyhow, back to the blanket!

 I got the wool from Bendigo Woolen Mills. The colours aren't quite as nice as the colours I dyed myself for the last blanket but they are close and I do love them.

 I was going to knit it with just a small seed stitch border but I like how the colours blend together gently rather than bold stripes of regular knit stitch so the seed stitch continued.. and continued.. and now I thinks its plain to see that it will be a seed stitched blanket!

 Its going to be so warm and cozy, I really do love it

I love that the seed stitch is so puffy and soft

Here are my silkies in a place they love and the place id really rather they visited a little less often, my chamomile patch. If they have their way I think I will be buying shop bought chamomile tea next winter! But still, its the only thing in the veggie patch that they bother so I don't mind too much

Garden Love

Every day in this garden we discover or make something new. Lately I've been trimming the low branches of this tree to turn it into a natural cubby house. Its hard to get a photo of  of it but by the fence its like a leafy tunnel and the trimmed twigs and leaves have been made into cozy pretend beds.

 Today we tied up some branches and added a door made of an old cot sized sheet

 The tree is a beautiful, its a gum tree that Benny planted when he was a little boy (for those who don't know we live in Benny's parents old house)

 This tree is in a cozy little nook behind my garden shed. We have a little temporary mud pie kitchen set up back here so that the children can make pretend food to 'eat' in their little tree house (still getting around to making a propper one but in the meantime this one is rather great fun)

I love this pretty moss:)

 We have plans for a rope swing, must get some more rope

 I love seeing the dirt creations

Tea leaves in the garden

 Last night i finished the second sleeve of my tea leaves cardigan and I have been happily wearing it although it still does need a button band. I love it and the fit turned out perfectly.

I have a feeling ill be wearing it a lot! Today has been such a good day in fact the whole week has been rather bliss full. The weather is making me think its spring already when we still have a month left of winter.

I don't mind at all as spring is my very favourite season!

With these warm days I've hardly been able to keep out of the garden.
 I cant get enough of just wondering, dreaming and taking it all in
 Ive been planting a few lots of seeds almost daily and now I'm starting to have lots of pretty green shoots popping up.

When I first started my garden I put in some seedling for a little instant gratification.
They have been growing so quickly that were already harvesting our first bits of lettuce and parsley.

There was already some nettles growing as weeds, Benny's dad offered to spray them with weed killer but of course i declined his kind offer.
Id never tried nettles before and got a bit worried after having a few painful stings.
I did try cooking them and just as Id read was the case the stings disappeared once they were cooked and they were yummy!

Every day I'm thankful for our new house and garden. Its been difficult moving in here so early without much notice but now that all the challenges are almost at an end I can appreciate how worth it it all is.

The photo above shows my veggie patch currently and although it still doesn't look like much, every time I look at it I see how it will soon be. I picture all the little newly sprouted seeds as full grown plants, I see flowers and bees buzzing around them. There is so much potential and so much to look forward to.

I cant wait to look back at these early photos each month as the garden gets lusher and more established. I'm already proud of all the 'work' I've put into it already. Its funny that I smile at the thought of gardening being work when I enjoy it so much. I feel the same about looking after the day care children most of the time ( although now and then we have a difficult day where no one can get along and  I most definitely remember what I'm being paid for:)

knitting, bells and rainbows

 Ive been making some progress on my tea leaves cardigan. I'm not sure if its the pattern, the yarn or the experience I've gained in knitting but this cardigan has by far been my favourite knit ever I do believe.
I'm finding it so relaxing so I take it where ever I go and knit a few rows here and there.
Today at nap time I was reading 'The Story of the Root Children' and Cameron said to me "look its you knitting!" when he saw the picture of mother earth with her yarn and knitting.
 Later in the book we decided that he and the others must be my helper ants because they always make sure my ball is perfectly wound for me:)
He was most happy with this as he is a real bug lover.

 Remember this cardigan I was working on way back here? I sure don't expect anyone to, Id forgotten about it myself!
Anyway, Ive finished the second arm (a place when many cardigan knitting halts I'm sure, that second arm gets a bit tedious)
So... hopefully I can get the button band and ends weaved in soon, although progress has halted just a tad since receiving the yarn for my tea leaves

Yesterday I dug the little table and chairs out of the shed and we are all enjoying eating all our meals and snacks outside. In fact were all having so much fun in the garden that we pretty much only come inside for nap times. Ive hardly been setting up any activities because they've all been so engrossed in exploring all the new play spots

 today we strung together some snack/lunch time bells which we will jingle when its time to cook, prepare food and eat at our little outdoor table.
 Its down at the children's level for them to take turns ringing so I think we may have a little meal times confusion until the novelty wears off

 last week we received this dolls hammock and some other rainbow goodness from my friend Alison. Its a great space saver toy as it hangs between two dining room chairs.
Funnily enough we have two wooden doll beds and I don't think either have been as high in demand as this simple little swinging bed

 At the moment we have limited space and lots of toys still packed away and I'm being reminded how powerful simplifying things is. We don't miss any toys, the children just improvise with what they have. Snails become playthings and old teapots become their homes. An old spade handle becomes a galloping hobby horse. The children have been packing up without me asking now that its not a big job. We make the train tracks slither into their basket home like snakes and the building blocks like to jump their way home. The dolls and animals get tired and run home to see their family.
I'm happy that we will soon have room to store whats not in use, I will continue having less out.

In case you were wondering who was being rocked to sleep.. about 30 wooden animals and people plus a few building blocks and trains. Sure, why not!