Again I’m running late with this post. I have been doing our tax, and writing an article, and distracted by the sunshiney days!

AT HOME: Work commenced on the entrance room, with a fantastic tiling job (including a mosaic feature), a red feature wall, the wood stove delivered from storage (though not installed) and other finishing touches. It feels good to make such a huge difference to the house with some relatively simple changes. Okay, there’s nothing simple about tiling with grout containing red oxide, my husband says, but overall this renovation project has at least been faster than the last one.

AT WORK: I finished an article for November’s Warm Earth on Bush Tucker and Wild Food, which is a topic of interest at our place, so an enjoyable piece to write. I am looking forward to working with Warm Earth over the coming months.

The Natural Life magazines arrived, and it was good to see my regular column with Life Media continued in that publication. I think they’ve done a great job of combining their three publications into one.

I have taken on a role as Moderator for the Intuitive Parenting site and look forward to helping with the development of the website and forums.

Readership of this blog has expanded so much that I had to purchase additional bandwidth this month. Thanks to everyone who visits to read the weekly menus and other musings.

Spiral Garden has kept me busy with some great new stock arriving, including Chrissy Butler’s new book The Wonderful Place, which I helped to edit. It’s very exciting to see the book at last.

ON THE FARM: Our chickens have started to lay again, which is wonderful. The baby chicks are growing nicely but we’ve had to keep them locked up after several losses due to a hawk. We’re looking forward to a bantam going clucky again soon so we can continue to raise our own laying stock.

The greenhouse gardens didn’t progress much during the period of heavy rain in July, but now that the sun is shining, things are taking off again. We’re still harvesting green vegies and herbs, and planting loads of seeds and seedlings for the Spring. Work on the second greenhouse should continue in August, and we should also build the outdoor fenced garden which will, for awhile, house Lily’s new ducks.

HOME ED.: We’re back into afternoon activities now, which everyone enjoys. Alice in Wonderland rehearsals are in full swing, and we’re looking forward to the performances in September. With our home ed group, ATHENS, we’ve been to the bat hospital and had another popular Clay Day so far.

Otherwise, everything is going along as usual with busy days of learning and living…