Belinda Moore

Spring is here! I tend to wish August away, looking forward to Spring, its colours and activities. After a particularly cold and wet winter, this is more true this year than any other.

AT HOME: Glad to be over the winter ills, we enjoyed being more social during August.

We’ve been baking and cooking up a storm during the last weeks of Winter. The freezer is well-stocked, which will be handy for the busy weeks ahead.

We’re settling into a routine of buying our fresh food from the local markets and our Organics Network. The markets are a great outing - usually I take our three older girls and they enjoy some browsing and socialising before helping me carry the bounty of produce, fruit trees and secondhand bargains to the car.

It was awesome to see the John Butler Trio and Josh Pyke in Kuranda at the Ampitheatre - what a venue! It far exceeded my expectations and I’m looking forward to next year already.

We bought our tickets for the Yungaburra Folk Festival, which we’ve only been to a couple of times before (as tourists). Now we’re local it will be good to take the time to enjoy more of the program.

AT WORK: Education Choices remains behind schedule, and I’m still currently editing my section for issue 11. Stay tuned for the printing date of issue 10, which features a lot of content especially for and by Dads.

There are some twists and turns in my writing and editing career at the moment, and I’m excited by some new proposals and currently deciding where to focus my energy.

There is even more work for me on the horizon in a related field - hopefully an announcement will follow this month.

ON THE FARM: The weather has improved and the plants are growing wildly. I have them all squeezed into such a small space so I imagine the garden will resemble a jungle before long! The greenhouses are coming along, well one of them at least. Some fencing and other tasks took priority.

Stage 2 of the orchard is filling up nicely - tons of room so I don’t think I’ll need a stage 3 for awhile! Two of my girls made me a lot of tree guards and we planted another dozen fruit trees in August. I still have quite a wish list (and a lot of room) and I’m keeping the vision of a food forest in my mind as I come across different trees suitable for our area and bring them home to thrive. Our stone fruit trees are all budding or blooming - so pretty. We have quite a variety and look forward to them growing and producing lots of juicy summer treats in years to come.

One of our bantams is broody again, she has three eggs under her today. The new hens should be laying within a couple of weeks, when we’ll have more than enough eggs.

Finally we finished the fencing along our road, so the horses are free to roam the entire property. They were happy to access a lot more feed and will hopefully fatten up again soon. I know older horses commonly lose condition through Winter, but I don’t like to see them skinny!

HOME ED.: We have another new violin pupil in the house so we hear duets on practice days now. I really miss our piano. If only we had the room for one here. We do have a Yamaha keyboard, but it really isn’t the same. What a blessing it is to have music playing in our house every day, though.

We’ve resumed art classes and enjoyed a variety of activities there in August. It’s wonderful for the children to learn the different techniques, work with others and meet a lot of new people.

The children are still busily reading. Horse books are still flavour of the day for some, with Immi reading a novel aloud to Lily. We unpacked some boxes and Bryce was rapt to find his favourite books hidden within. He enjoys reading aloud to Heath, who seems to have enough patience to listen at Bryce’s pace, so long as there are illustrations. Dr Seuss has regained popularity, so it’s good that Daddy never tires of reading The Lorax at bedtime!

We’ve been to the local library and found many treasures and met the lovely staff. Keeping track of the library books is quite an organisational task!

Lego has been the focus of much play-learning with imaginative games which last for days on end and grow with the structures and creations.

Brit’s interest in Anime is now shared with a new friend. I’m so glad she has someone who understands her passion, as most of us here don’t appreciate this art form.

During September we’ll attend our second annual camp for the seventh time. We’re hoping for fine weather and wondering how to juggle the animal and garden care. At least it isn’t far from home. Most of all, we’re looking forward to having Daddy home from work for a week!

Learning at home in August was a typical blend of morning lessons, gardening, animal care, playing with friends, movies on rainy days, board games and puzzles, reading, cooking, art, music, going to the park, drama group, walks and bikes and running around. Bliss.