It has been at least a couple of months since I’ve written an update on this blog. We’re in the midst of birthday season at our place. Within a couple of months we celebrate the birthdays of Lily, Brittany, Imogen, Bryce & I (same day) and the Dad.
AT HOME: We’re up to the stage of painting the girls’ new room! Then there’s only some finishing touches, a built-in robe and curtains to add before they can move in. I guess we’re past half way with it! I’m hoping that the painting continues through into other rooms - it will brighten Winter to have some more colour in the house!
AT WORK: I’m still posting every couple of weeks at Simple, Green, Frugal Co-op and adding to my garden blog and Spiral Garden News.
I’ve just sent off another column to Natural Life about no-dig gardening. It comes out every two months, which seems to fly by when it comes to deadlines! I had a short piece on reading published in the most recent Otherways and intend to write a bit more for them in future. There are plenty of opportunities to write, but finding the time to create just isn’t happening for me lately.
Spiral Garden has ebbed and flowed this year with sales. My customers know that it’s better to buy quality gifts and art supplies etc in the long run, no matter what the economic climate. So the Garden continues to grow and blossom and I am grateful for all support!
ON THE FARM: Winter’s here with cooler nights. We’ve also had some unseasonal sunny weather so have been taking advantage of it before the cold winter drizzle sets in here in the mountains.
We’ve welcomed some WWOOFers into our home to help us with some weeding and painting. They’ve been lots of fun! We’ll probably get more every couple of weeks throughout Winter and into Spring.
The garden’s been going a little slower than I expected. I have had some sneaky pests eating my seedlings of spinach, kale, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, peas, beetroot, pak choy and more! I have just kept planting though, and hopefully we’ll beat the pests and have more to harvest soon. There’s still some plants growing, I’ve just had to plant about five times what I normally plant to get anything. So soon enough there’ll be more to harvest, I hope!
We’re currently harvesting macadamias (by the bucketload), eggs, roosters (for meat), passionfruit, chokos, pumpkins, some herbs and greens, the last of the yellow guavas, cherry tomatoes, some salad greens and stir-fry veg and a few green beans. Something every day, but a lot less than we have normally been getting.
Our ducks are laying now. A second duck has joined the chooks, so there’s only 3 females and the drake left in the duck enclosure. They are really quite sweet and funny to have around.
We’ve had a population explosion in the guinea pig community, but thankfully a couple of other families we know want some guinea pigs. Baby guinea pigs are just about the cutest baby animal we have on the farm!
The horses have a new shelter for winter, but haven’t spent much time under it yet. Horses are like that. We’ve been riding Rosie with mixed success. She’ll be great once we spend more time with her.
HOME ED.: What a busy time! We’re nearing the end of another term already. This term two girls swapped violin lessons for dance, but have a performance for violin coming up so are still practising a little.
The rehearsals for Snow White are coming along nicely and I’m sure September will be here sooner than we expect!
We haven’t been doing anything new with regard to formal work. I’m hoping that over Winter we might spend more time on our Australian history unit as a family.
Our eldest started work in May, right after our home ed camp. She’s working casually at the local health food shop (and clinic), and also at the local SPAR supermarket. This has been great for her overall, and she’s thinking about future direction from a different perspective now.
Two of the girls’ had pieces in a collective exhibition in Atherton - Imagine. It was very encouraging and exciting for them again. This exhibition is an annual event with a large proportion of homeschooling families involved. Next year’s theme is Protest and Protect. I can’t wait!
With ATHENS (our local home ed group) we’ve gone to Granite Gorge and Wondaree Macadamia Farm already this term, with a trip to Herberton Historical Village coming up. There’s certainly plenty to see in our local area!
I hope this finds you well and busy. Sorry for posting nothing but menus and recipes for so long! Keep in touch…