With everyone almost over their winter ills, and the sun shining bright and bold, it really does feel like Spring here!

AT HOME: The children have been having sleepovers in the half-finished bedroom, so whilst it’s been occupied we haven’t made any progress on the work.  Lily’s moving back to her real bed tomorrow though, and I’ll get it ready for the next round of work.  We really need to find some sort of efficient wardrobe to install or build, but can’t work out what to do there…

AT WORK: I’ve finished up with my Home Grown Kids column in Natural Life but have promised to write some features for them instead.

I’m still writing every couple of weeks at the Simple, Green, Frugal Co-op blog with an amazing array of writers living their own versions of the simple life.

Spiral Garden has had quiet and busy times.  Some customers are getting in early with their Christmas shopping.  Or is it just me who thinks that September is early?  Either way, they have the pick of the New Products and Specials!

ON THE FARM: We had a family of four (plus dog, plus cat) WWOOFing with us for over 2 weeks recently.  They were a great help and had heaps to share and learn with us.  We now have a long drop toilet, a new fenced garden, pineapples in the food forest, some maintenance done in the orchards and the new chook run is closer to completion!

I think we’ve seen the last of the potatoes and pumpkins from the old plantings…  A chook scratched up my recently planted lettuce seedlings, so we might be a bit short of lettuce for awhile now, unless I buy some seedlings in to replace them.  The cabbages are growing big round heads, capsicums are starting to grow bigger, there’s baby pineapples on the heads planted 2 years ago and everything green is flourishing!

The macadamias are in full flower and the sarsparilla trees on the edge of the forest are also starting to flower.  Our beekeeper friend says this will fill the hives fast!

We still have ten out of ten baby chicks.  A hen is sitting on ten more eggs and a muscovy duck is sitting on 13 eggs!  All the female guinea pigs are expecting too.  What a bountiful Spring it will be…

Our most exciting new additions are a Jersey cow named Lucy, who is in calf (due 22nd March 2010) and a foster calf named Honey.  We’ve only had them a week - I’ve been posting about it here.

And did I tell you about our kitten, Penny?  She arrived in the last month or so and is so loving and fun.  She came from the same farm as Lucy the cow.

HOME ED.: Snow White was wonderful!  Their best production yet (our family have been involved in three so far).  The tap dancing finishes with a recital this week.

Home ed group has been fun.  Last fortnight we went bowling.  On the way home I took the children (my six plus one) to the Strawberry Farm for an ice-cream.  A great afternoon out.  It’s our last one of the term this week - forest walks, bird watching, pioneer cemetries and the park!  We have several new families who have recently joined our group and everyone is looking forward to camp in a few weeks.

I’m really, really looking forward to the holidays and a quieter Term 4.