Belinda Moore

September’s gone and we’ve entered the last quarter of the year. Wow!
AT HOME: We’ve had a month of real estate matters and travel. Never a dull moment! There’s been lots of cleaning, tidying, packing, unpacking and juggling dates in the diary… Things are looking good for the house sale, stay tuned for more news! We celebrated a birthday and father’s day this month - fun!

AT WORK: Education Choices August issue arrived and it’s a great one focusing on learning to read. It was the largest issue yet. I’ve been busy through September editing for the next issue and I’m researching for a feature on younger parents homeschooling for a coming issue. Anyone with something to share please contact me! If you haven’t been to the magazine’s website for awhile, check it out. There’s a bookstore and downloads as well as Eleanor’s blog, contacts and more.

I am working on the chapter for Rhonda’s book. It’s nice to have a couple of writing projects on the go, especially when they’re different styles.

The book launch for Chrissy Butler’s My Brother Jimi Jazz was held in Brisbane on the Spring Equinox. I was honoured to attend and celebrate with the team. I am also the proud owner of an original artwork from the book. Those of you who have seen this piece will agree that I am very lucky to have it on my wall here at home! Thanks Chrissy!

I will be resuming my seasonal columns in Natural Parenting Magazine from the Summer issue. These are often available to read on the website as well. I also publish some of the early ones on this site at the change of season - check the archives. This third series will be different from the previous columns. I hope you enjoy them!

Seeds can be purchased directly via email and current stock is listed on the seeds page.

IN THE GARDEN: A number of fruit trees are flowering and fruiting for the first time. It’s very exciting to see them produce fruit! We have noticed mango and lychee in flower, and fruit on the Brazilian Cherry, Grumichama, Abiu, Paw Paw, Pineapple, Cumquat, Lemonade, Lemon, Mandarin, Orange, Banana, Grenadilla and Mulberry trees. The passionfruit are slow this year, as are the chokos. We had massive crops of both in 2005.

From the vegie patch we’re harvesting herbs, eggplant, capsicum, lettuce, various greens, button squash, leeks, celery, roma and cherry tomatoes and plenty of pumpkins. It has lacked attention this month, and we’ve had interesting weather - hot and cold, wet and dry, but we’re still harvesting and the weeds aren’t out of control yet! I notice the mint, nasturtiums and sweet potatoes are approaching weed status, as are the cherry tomato and pumpkin vines. It is so hard to prune edible plants sometimes.

HOME ED.: We had our annual Tinaroo camp in September. It’s always a hit with the whole crew. We were rapt to share with another family this year, the communal kitchen and other cooperative camping worked out so well. Many hands make light work! With sixty campers we enjoyed canoes, ping pong and a fantastic concert. Netball finished for the year and the girls have farewelled their teams as we will no doubt move before the next season. Gymnastics is still a highlight of the week and all four ‘big kids’ are enjoying it, even though Bryce says he isn’t… Otherwise, things have progressed as normal with our routine including maths books, letter writing, drama class, yoga, music, reading aloud etc squeezed in between outings, trips and holidays. Such is a lifestyle of learning!