Friday, May 16, 2008 - Dogs On Thursday ~ May 15

Our dog had a lovely day yesterday.  He has a large kennel that he used to share with our previous dog, both GSP.  We have trouble buying straw for it since we moved here 4 years ago.  Usually when I go to the highway to pick up ds I buy straw, because the shop is very similar to the store in our hometown where we used to buy straw.  You know a shed high off the ground with a ramp out the front, been there for years.  Yesterday we had organised that it was "straw or bust day".  DH was to buy the straw after his work.  He usually stays behind to catch up, but went out looking for straw.  Just before this I was driving to school and saw some outside the shop in a large square.  DH drove along just after that.  He brought it home, but really it was lucerne hay I think.  The overnight temps are quite cool, he really needed his straw.  When dh came home later, he put in the straw and "dog" jumped out and ran around him, excited.

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Thursday, May 15, 2008 - Vintage Thingies Thursday ~ China ~ May 15

Now please don't laugh at our attempt at making kolaches.  We are Australian and don't know what a good kolache looks like!  They were very yummy though.  Very filling and good for a large family.  This is the recipe we used with the pineapple filling.  My vintage item is a dinner set I collected little by little from ebay.  I started with bowls (pictured a week or so ago) that I found at an op-shop.  My Nana had the same design, it is Johnson Australia.  It also comes in pink and blue.  I love running a knife around the edge.  My Nana had the colours in the side plates. I also have yellow tea cups, and I enjoy seeing them in the cupboard. I have lots of these, the only complaint is that postage makes it difficult buying them on ebay, but I was happy to pay it.  I have been using it for nearly five years and used the bowls before that.  We use the large bowls nearly every night for pasta and soup etc.  Please click on the top picture to see other vintage items.

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Thursday, May 15, 2008 - Menu Plan Monday ~ May 19

Monday ~ Pork Ball and Noodle Soup Tuesday ~ Prosciutto & Mushroom Spaghetti Bolognaise Wednesday ~ Pumpkin & Green Bean Pilaf Thursday ~ Macaroni Carbonara Friday ~ Chorizo & Vegetable Soup Saturday ~ Penne with Anchovies & Broccoli Sunday ~ Spaghetti Bolognaise

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Wednesday, May 14, 2008 - The Pouring Teapot

May 18 - May 24 The Pouring Teapot This week is all about sharing about teapots. Do you have one? two? or three? maybe more? Is it for display only or do you use it for tea? What is the tea server you use most? Your favorite teapot (or is it something like a quart jar?). Tell your teapot story, give it's history, and tell what it means to you. You can share more than once if you'd like. Antique, new, Asian, English, or something inbetween --- we'd love to know! Imagine two shearers, two helpers, their father and elderly uncle, a wool throwing table, brooms, lots of noise from the shears, maybe a dog or two.  Then at morning tea, one of the helpers wives comes with a large metal tea pot, mugs, milk, sugar and loads of cakes including beer cake & jam drops.  The section near the wool, the spare piece of floor in the shed, that actually has lino on it is now where we eat and drink.  This is my memory of not this teapot, it was the standin.  It was very enjoyable and well ordered.  It is the best tea I have had.

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Tuesday, May 13, 2008 - Sincerely 'Fro Me to You

This photo is from April 2005.  It is a bush hut.  It is in the highest place in Australia.  We were driving around as a family looking at the bushfire damage and the regrowth.  It also reminds me of the first days of my blog. For more 'Fro Me To You entries click the first picture.

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Tuesday, May 13, 2008 - Thankful Thursday ~ 15th May

I once owned this flower and have wanted to have them again.  I remember (it was a long time ago) reading about this flower used by Australian garden designer of the 1930s Edna Walling. I was walking to the bank this morning (Monday), walked to the place to cross the road.  Though I would look from a distance at the flowers offered for sale at the craft shop and saw it there.  They charge a small amount for their plants as they are grown at home and I think it helps the ladies have a little extra money for themselves.  They all have a turn to serve in the shop. So I am grateful for my new plant.  Today I got a delivery of flowers (Tuesday).  I have never had a delivery of flowers at this house before.  I think they came with the V-line bus, and were in a box, padded around the base of the container.  Then they put paper over the top with the florist's printed paper stuck on that.  The florist was 2 hours away.  That is remote living for you I suppose, I have a lot to learn about it still. Last Thursday I got to see inside a tea room, you can see it pictured on my blog.  I enjoyed that.  I had bought my groceries, and spent exactly what I wanted to spend on them.  I also stopped at a roadside stop in the bush that I hadn't stopped at before.  It is a lovely place if you have to stop, they have soap, and paper to dry your hands, and the sound of a waterfall or rushing creek. On Friday I loved to see how happy dd6 was to get something ready for Mother's Day with the help of the school, school parents and her sister.  On the weekend dh got lots done on the new house and I got to go and have a nice time in the sun.  I was very blessed because it was warm and we made some herb tea.  Recipe on pineapple sage post.  On Monday I had a nice chat at ballet and I was really happy about that. This week my back stayed strong and I have been well, with no colds etc.  Please click the top photo to see other entries in Thankful Thursday. Windflower image by shazzy63

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Sunday, May 11, 2008 - Happy Mother's Day

My Mother's Day has only a few hours left.  This photo was taken a few hours ago, I noticed the sunset when I was closing the blinds.  The girls made me up a basket with things they had, plus things they had bought at the Mother's Day stall at school.  There were various cards.  The one I liked the most was one with a teapot and tea things on it.  See tea older entries here.  Also the two little girls tried out the recipe for pineapple sage on the other post and I really enjoyed it.  Older dd bought me a pretty candle.  One mug was filled with rumballs which I enjoy.  We had fog early but it was warm enough to sit in the sun while dh worked on the back cladding of the new house.

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Saturday, May 10, 2008 - J is for Jonquil

Some of our jonquils are out at our new house.  These are the other ones and they are breeding up, but not flowering yet.  I like to see jonquils in paddocks where farmhouses used to be. Letter J graphic by the Graphics Fairy.  ABC-along hosted by Knitorious.

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Saturday, May 10, 2008 - Vintage Thingies Thursdays

I thought it would be fun to participate in the Vintage Thingies Thursday at An Apron A Day.  I'm showing you some of the vintage prams I have on the front verandah.  These were amazingly collected at the local tip.  Some need a little fixing up in places.  I have three daughters so they appealed.  I vaguely remember my Mum's friends' kids playing on verandahs when I was little.  Especially great when it is raining.  See other entries for this week here.

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Saturday, May 10, 2008 - Pineapple Sage

This photo was taken very recently.  It is autumn here.  It will be winter in June.  The pineapple sage is growing in a fairly large pot, but probably has roots growing into the ground underneath.  Pineapple sage does get cut by the frost, so it would have been nice if we had put the pot under the privet down the fence a little as it doesn't lose its leaves.  It seems to flower when there is not much around after the easter daisies.  This is the garden at our new house and it looks very wintery there, so dh and I think we should have some pineapple sage around the front next year to brighten things up a little.  DH bought pineapple sage on October 8, 2005.  Originally we had another plant at our first home.  I have researched pineapple sage before and loved this picture.  The link includes a pound cake recipe.  Birds like this plant as well.  We have the plant under water from an automatic watering system.  We had to do this because we are only allowed to water at times when we are not there.  You rub your fingers on the leaves and they smell like pineapple. Here is a tea video I found on Youtube.  It is a great place to see Australian Self-suffienciency at work.  This week's host for Weekend Herb Blogging (after the 11th?) is Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska.

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Saturday, May 10, 2008 - Menu Plan Monday ~ May 12

Monday ~ Left Overs Tuesday ~ Chili with Rice Wednesday ~ Singapore-styled Fried Rice Thursday ~ Sausage Casserole Friday ~ Red Bean & Pumpkin Curry Saturday ~ Corn Chowder Sunday ~ Tuna & Sweet Potato Patties

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Thursday, May 8, 2008 - Another day gone

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Thursday, May 8, 2008 - Thankful Thursday ~ May 8

This week dd14 had her first game of netball and she enjoys it.  I had a little tour of the garden this last weekend and enjoyed seeing at least some berries on the holly that is over our back fence. On Sunday I got to see the snow on the mountains.  I had forgotten, and looked up and saw it on our way home.  There was sun on Sunday, and I sat in a deck chair and was warm for a little while.  I watched the kids play in the pond and the waterfall. On Tuesday we were finished our pantry challenge.  The girls were home from school and we were delayed going to the shops.  Fortunately when we got there and only had two items in our trolley, there was a blackout, and we were asked to leave the shop.  I was really pleased the girls made a salad for lunch and also one daughter used the money we had to buy hot potato gems, so we were warm and happy until the power came back on.  On Wednesday I had a nice sleep in ready for my big shopping day today.  These were some of the blessings I wrote out: ~ the meal I was worried about turned out to be delicious and enough for everybody, it was kumara & tuna patties from www.taste.com.au ~ we got my tubes planted that I bought from ebay via a nursery ~ got some painting done, it was just undercoated and outside ~ saw a man riding a horse, haven't seen much of that since I was a child, so always exciting that men still ride horses ~ got my curtains hung and they fit ~ the girls got to buy some lollies/candy ~ the kids enjoyed playing in the waterfall/pond in the backyard We also got news of a bonus from work so will be able to catch up a little, which is wonderful.

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Thursday, May 8, 2008 - Tea Room Ventures and Venues

May 11 - May 17 Tea Room Ventures and Venues Share all about one of your favorite tea rooms. Use photos and descriptions to tell about the decor and ambiance, menus, service, and what makes this tea room special to you. Does this tea room have a gift shop? What kind of special treasures does it contain? Waltons Tintaldra General Store I went to this tearoom today for my entry in the blog-a-thon.  When we first moved here four years ago, I heard that this place was a tearoom.  It is advertised in tourist circles I think, and I had read about it somewhere.  Still I haven't been and sat down to anything.  I am thinking if Mum comes again soon we will go there for lunch.  Today I couldn't stay long, I was on my way back from grocery shopping and the lady was expecting a coach, as you can see.  I was very impressed with this older lady.  She has many large tables and they were all set with buttered bread in baskets.  She couldn't be more friendly or helpful.  She reminded me of my Nana with the buttered bread.  It was the oldfashioned type.  The walls in the building in the left were like slabs of eucalypt.  There were many oldfashioned things in that section, but what you notice most where the old photographs, some would have been hanging on ladies my age, grandmother's walls once.  Today the lady had two helpers, and before the bus came was having a chat with a man who perhaps had come for his mail or bought something in the general store.  It was a lovely atmosphere.  I think my friends were knitting down the back and looked very cosy. There were things to buy as gifts, some of them handknitted.  It was set up very nicely with a guest book to sign, little brochures near the door and lots of history information.  I remember there was bush music playing, it sounded like Lazy Harry. I came around lunch time, so next time I should come at a time for Devonshire Tea, which I would love. I guessed that stew would go with the bread, and found this link that suggests that.  Tank water tea is mentioned in it.  The old people say that tea is best made with real water, not water that is "town water".  While looking for information about that I found that there are theories about how long you should boil the water! My husband asked me about the bread.  It was real bread, and this link suggests they bake it themselves.

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Wednesday, May 7, 2008 - Set the Table, Tea is On!

May 4 - May 10 Share a creative afternoon tea table setting.  Linens, serving pieces, teapots and teacup, tea accotrement's and accessories, centerpieces, tea trays or three-tiers, and more.  Show one way you enjoy creating a memorable tea experience.  This is your opportunity to show the world the fun you have when you create your own special tea experience. Then. . .invite over a friend or neighbor and share some tea together. That way all your work is not for ought. This photo is from a Flickr album, to view this album click here. My children would love this tea experience.  This is called Billy Tea.  I have a tea set that my Mother In Law gave me, but it is packed away for the time being, so today I am talking about another nice way to enjoy tea.  Here is a recipe for Billy Tea.  Here is the history of Billy Tea.  This is the setting for Billy Tea.  It is served with damper.  In American terms I think damper is a giant biscuit.  There are lots of gourmet damper recipes around these days, but probably not for around the campfire.

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Wednesday, May 7, 2008 - Dogs On Thursday

Last weekend our dog went collecting wood.  I didn't go this time, but he was very excited to be going.  I have included these photos from a previous wood collecting day. He is an old dog, his name is Mousse.  He lives in the backyard, so enjoys going to our new house or wood collecting for a nice change.  Of course, being a hunting dog, he would enjoy smelling all the animal smells in the bush. "Hmm, what have I done wrong?".. says Mousse.  We have since got a new chainsaw.  "I love collecting drinking water". "I found something!"

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Wednesday, May 7, 2008 - Wordless Wednesday

It has been a little while since a participated in Wordless Wednesday, so getting the hang of it again.  I came across this photo from last year.  It is snowing again, so may see this view again soon, though it is not as green yet.  For more wordless Wednesdays click here.

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Monday, May 5, 2008 - Barnyard Buddies

Week 6 of the: "FARM GIRL BLOG-A-THON"  (5/3/08---5/7/08) Garden Goose says: Share with us a photo of your farm animal/animals(cow,duck,horse,sheep,chicken,guinea,etc..anything goes) Your furry friends(dog,cat,other)or feathered friends,or finned friends (have a catfish pond??) If no pets/farm animals...simply share with us what you'd like to one day have on your farm. We want to see pictures. This is our new pond.  We inherited it and put in the pond plant, the mesh, the pump, fixed a leak and planted the papyrus.  We have a snake problem so may have to move the chicken house rather than use it, not sure.  Any ideas what to do with the blue?  Or ideas generally? We have had fish since about September, they even had baby fish.  The green has been a problem, we use barley straw, and water conditioner, perhaps need to give it all a good scrub.  I have heard if you put in some real pond water then it changes from a green to a brown.  We had to drive 1 1/2 hours to get the fish.  During the school holidays in January they came up daily to feed.  At the moment though, we only see the odd bubble.  We have since harvested the pumpkin.  Please visit Garden Goose to read about more Barnyard Buddies. To share with other farm girls and to learn about the Farm Girl way of life visit: http://www.maryjanesfarm.org/

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Sunday, May 4, 2008 - This week

This photo was taken today, it is like a painting isn't it?  It is a wonderful paddock, has all different patterns in it sometimes.  Apparently it is leased, and very high producing.  Today wasn't very warm.  But after some wood stacking, we went to the new house, and in the backyard I sat on a deck chair and it was like sunbaking.  The kids were really happy for awhile, getting a perfect configuration on their waterfall.  We have a waterfall in the backyard, man made.  The real estate agent said it didn't look good when we were thinking of selling the house.  Today though, the sound was like being in the bush.  So maybe that will be the theme when we plant out the pond.  We got all those little plants planted finally.  Some where trees, but I think I will wait until next year to put them in their final positions as they are so small at the moment.  I hung some curtains that I kept forgetting to take to the new house.  The room isn't finished but the curtains will help with privacy, and I think helped. We got mowing done, leaves raked, wood cut on the weekend.  Our pantry challenge is working, only one more day to go.  The sweet potato & tuna patties were delicious, so relieved about that.  The week was cold really.  A few times I had cold hands.  By the end of the week I was seeing blue sky and beautiful autumn leaves again.  There is still a tiny bit of smoke around I think. This week our daughter 11 made a beautiful apple pie type thing.  She didn't have to cook the apples, just slice them up.  It was lovely.  One day they made fruit salad as well.  We got the books dropped off to the op-shop.

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Sunday, May 4, 2008 - Snow Pic

As you can see it did indeed snow.  It is amazing that we have seen it now.  This photo was taken today.  It is amazing that 3 weeks ago we were driving up there and there was no snow at all!

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Sunday, May 4, 2008 - More Country Music

All these songs are clickable.  Sara Storer - Long Live The Girls Lee Ann Womack - I Hope You Dance Ronan Keating I Hope You Dance Beccy Cole ~ Poster Girl Australian Idol and Memphis connection, Christian Big World Small World ~ Melinda Scheider Sara Storer - Land Cries Out Little men ~ Lee Kernaghan

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Sunday, May 4, 2008 - My Country Music Picks

Friday, May 2, 2008 - More zoo pics

Nearly three weeks ago we took the kids to the zoo.  dd6 had never been to a proper zoo.  Here are some pics. I especially liked the trees in this zoo, and went on to buy some robinia tubes from ebay.  The zoo also has an aquarium, and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. I also liked how close the animals where.  This zoo I haven't been to before, so it was a nice change.

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Friday, May 2, 2008 - The White, Green, Black, and Herb of Tea

I visited Garden Goose today and found this lovely Blog-a-Thon at Gracious Hospitality all about tea!  I recently changed my "About Me" to include tea, so this is great.  This weeks theme April 27-May 3: Tell about your favorite tea. How do you prepare it and serve it? Milk and sugar? Plain? What are some of your best memories of serving or sipping on this tea? Share a picture if you can. Tell the health benefits of the tea(s) you prefer. Where do you purchase your tea? Is there someplace you enjoying purchasing tea from? Who from and where? My favourite tea is from Dilmah.  Because of the price I will also drink IGA Courtyard round bags or Madura Tea Estates.  The last two teas are listed on this site as Australian.  Dilmah has a website to visit here.  Tea is black tea to me.  However, I do sometimes drink camomile with honey, with having so many children and extended breastfeeding, from memory I had to stop drinking it for awhile.  I was amazed after buying chai tea, that I love the smell and it really made my cupboard smell nice for awhile.  It even tainted some of the plastic cups, though lemon fizzy drink with the smell of chai tea behind it is lovely.  The lemon drink had 211 in it, so I have only been buying natural lately, I think I am alergic.  We have instant Dandelion tea in the house, and it is very nice, by Symingtons.  The chai tea is missing hmmm.  It must have got too much for them?  We buy the teabags that don't have the tag, they are more for teapots.  I have mine in a mug white with two sugars.  When I was little I had it black with two sugars, I think the same way my Dad had it.  My memory is not good, but I think it is related to those teas I drank in the shearing shed when I was little.  Still the best memory of drinking tea, in an enamel mug.  My aunty made the tea, and had a giant teapot. I remember recently after we bought our house that we are going to move into (I think lol) not wanting to discard the taps we found in that house.  We had to in the end they were past their useby date, there were three types of turners, lots of things, but that seems like a long time ago.  The bottom line was, the end of the tap reminded me of the same material that kettles and things are made of, coated brass.  Already I have forgotten but the base is brass and the top a silver colour. The preferred mugs in this house are white, with a picture on them and a certain size.  Most were given to us.  Recently I found one the same on ebay, and this time a picture of Raggedy Ann to celebrate 90 years.  There is another one here.  One broke the handle in the mail even though it was very strong, but fortunately my favourite one survived. I buy my tea at IGA.  I drive 50 minutes to get there every two weeks or a fortnight and drive on a dangerous but very scenic route. I enjoy this shop very much, the staff are very friendly.  Some people I meet there have my Dad's personality and they weren't even brought up in the same place.  I wonder how that came to be?

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Wednesday, April 30, 2008 - More Snowy Mountain Photos

Here are some more photos we took on our trip.

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Tuesday, April 29, 2008 - Thankful Thursday ~ 1st May

National Day of Thanksgiving in Australia is on the 10th May.  Today I found an interesting site called Gratefulness.org you might find it interesting. Also Grateful Friday. 100 things I am grateful for printout. Have a listen to this song I think I found on the Country Music Channel.  Count Your Blessings by Karl Broadie and Dianna Corcoran. A simple living thanksgiving. These are some of the things I have been grateful this week, these were taken from the two days that I stopped to write down my blessings.  ~ lovely soup for tea ~ lovely clean entry ~ broken light fixed ~ ds has some homework handed in ~ lovely books from the library ~ Piglet movie to watch and listen to ~ decluttering done and a nice serene effect Today I am thankful that I found what I needed at the op-shop.  A new netball team has started up.  They suggested that there were lots of netball skirts at the op-shop.  When I got there there were lots, one or two in the right colour, so I am pleased I got something and that it fits dd14 and I like it.  Also today I was looking at the roses, thinking they would be all finished for winter soon, and noticed a beautiful spray of roses on the climbing rose.  Well another day on and I am still finishing this post.  I am so glad to be involved in Thankful Thursdays again.  It hasn't been an easy week.  I have had two or more phone calls about my Dad who is very sick.  Also my pantry challenge is just that, challenging, I think I am just a little distracted with Dad.  And compared to last week, it is COLD.  Brrr.  I think this week I am very grateful for the new places and people I have met online through memes and being involved with some Australian bloggers and new people on my board, and a visitor to my blog.  I hope to soak it all in in time.  Like I say I am very distracted.  Yesterday though I got a delivery of plants.  I am grateful for them, especially the pink salvia, I was happy just to see its leaves, like an old friend.

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Monday, April 28, 2008 - Where I am up to in the world of craft

Garden Goose:  Week 5 ~ Farmgirl Blog-a-thon Getting Crafty At the moment I am possibly a bit of a craft hasbeen.  I learnt to crochet at about the age of 8.  My Nana taught me when we went to her house for tea with my family each Sunday.  I learnt to spin carded wool next at the age of 13.  I was still spinning when I was 20.  It was my uncle's carder, Mum's spinning wheel.  I used to spin in Mum's sunroom listening to the radio I think.  At around the same time I made a blanket crocheting on the school bus.  I learnt to knit after I was married and knitted for my husband and myself, my step-children, then baby clothes.  I was given my Mum's sewing machine.  I had had many sewing lessons at school between the ages of 11 and 14.  I made many things, but the machine beat me I think. We got a new machine over a year ago.  I still can't thread it, but have had a recent attempt to do that.  I have though been hand sewing again, and have taken up a couple of hems.  A few years ago I took part in a bookmark swap.  After that I got reading glasses and haven't tried to crochet recently.  I remember once I made a lovely aran jumper from 5ply for my eldest when he was 1 year old, so I liked trying out new stitches.  I have fond memories of visiting a school friend when I was 13 and watching her make patchwork, Grandmothers Garden.  Why don't I knit?  I had been very busy with having 5 children and once or twice got visited with moths while I was very busy with a baby.  I decided I couldn't manage woollen clothes.  I remember once visiting a wool shop and the lady said that not many people buy wool for babies clothes anyway, so maybe I should only use cotton or acrylic, things that are easy to wash.  Maybe it is the expense?  I have collected pinecones recently.  My favourite are the wooden roses. When I was about 16 I got very involved with cake decorating.  We had moved from the farm and our landlady was an excellent cake decorator and she spent the time to teach me the basics.  I loved buying little bits and pieces to make cakes.  I collected this tin, I don't even know what it is for.  Very recently I got a heart shaped tin from the op-shop, I was very happy about that.  Even got some of those flexible heart shaped muffin trays a couple of years ago.  My uncle loved to collect wax.  I remember him putting pressed flowers onto candles, I think we did it together.  My husband and I have also pressed flowers we grew in the garden.  I was very interested to read a book of craft in Australia what women at home had made and wish to visit Pioneer Women's Hut.  I honestly think I can't go back to crafting more than a tiny bit until my children are grown up more.  I have had three step-children and five children and need the little breaks etc.  It is very hard to explain.  I did a little scrapbook for my eldest when he was a baby, put a very detailed family tree in it.  This was before I knew it was called scrapbooking.  I wouldn't go back to it I don't think.  We did once stencil our entire lounge room floor!  Well at least around the edges.  I think I would have to say crochet is my favourite. I have a box or two of special material that my husband and his work mates printed with he worked in a material factory.  To share with other farm girls and to learn about the Farm Girl way of life visit: http://www.maryjanesfarm.org/

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Monday, April 28, 2008 - Menu Plan Monday ~ 5th May

I am continuing on with my pantry challenge.  I usually have crab in my pantry, as we used to make a lot of paella, until we started not buying chicken because I was worried about building up an immunity to antibiotics.  Monday ~ Crab & Coconut Risotto Tuesday ~ Spaghetti Bolognaise Wednesday ~ Spiced Lentil & Pumpkin Soup Thursday ~ Vegeroni Puttanesca Friday  ~ Pumpkin & Sweet Potato Soup Saturday  ~ Pea & ham, Kransky & Brussels Sprout Soup Sunday  ~ Vegetable Paella

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Monday, April 28, 2008 - It's snowing again!

To everyone who has asked about my weather this week, the cold has caught up to us!  This is a picture from last year to show what I have to look forward to for views in the coming months. Apparently today it was snow down to 1,000 metres which seems right.  So we could tell it was snowing somewhere, but didn't see any here.  We have plenty of wood at the moment, so enjoying it very much.  DD14 made some nice stewed apple with cloves in it, and I ate it warm, so a lot happier and cosy now.

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Saturday, April 26, 2008 - Anzac Weekend

This weekend has been a long weekend for us.  Friday was Anzac Day.  I made half a batch of Anzac biscuits.  We finished them off today.  While I was making these dh and ds were at the new to me house of nearly 8 months putting the cladding back on the back of the house.  He did a full days work and only got the wrap around piece done on the side.  It was the worst and needed repair work before putting the cladding on.  I imagine this was the reason that the asbestos was not removed in the first place.  Today was decluttering day.  The weather has turned cold.  It was lovely yesterday when Rhonda asked me about it, I suspect she heard about Melbourne's weather.  We get it a bit later.  So it was a nice day inside by the fire.  DD6 helped choose which books she didn't want anymore.  As she is the baby she can have the final say I suppose on the picture books and some videos.  Four half full boxes are in the car waiting to be dropped off. DH finally got a chance to do gardening again at this house yesterday, he came home early to take ds to help set up for a party.  They left early in the morning to get their work done.  The bulbs were coming up despite our lack of trimming the salvias overhead.  Yes, dh was very tired by mid evening.

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Friday, April 25, 2008 - Simple Living

Until fairly recently there were no blogs that I read each day.  However, now I have about three that I check regularly, and daily I read Down to Earth.  Today Rhonda has invited readers to join and and make a post or comment about Simple Living in their homes and lives.  We live in a town of around 1,000 in a remote area.  The schools and work are within walking distance, also the girls after school activities.  I can't say dhs work is not long hours because it is.  However, we do live in a very scenic location.  We have bought a new house with an eventual view to be mortgage free, but this has had stops & starts.  It does mean that we have 3/4 acre to play with at the moment, until we sell one of the houses, though I can't decide at the moment.  We have had our new house for nearly 8 months.  We are only just finishing the necessary building work today.  Things don't happen with help straight away.  Maybe we went about it the wrong way?  We are not big consumers.  My big voyage into saving came in 2003.  We were living in a rented farmhouse near Melbourne in the bush.  We also had our house of three years in a small regional centre in country Victoria that we visited on weekends.  DH had been working in a factory for two years after restructuring at the IT firm.  They eventually closed down.  He was working on the floor in the factory and decided to go back to his first career before IT.  During his holidays at the factory he did relief work in his first career.  This enabled him to get a contract.  So on the contract at the farmhouse, he was told it wouldn't be renewed as they didn't have the work for him.  I started saving then.  Before Christmas he got a permanent job in a remote area.  From this saving I was able to show it to the bank.  We bought a house, so had two houses.  The other one sold during the next Easter.  I dearly wanted my son to go to university.  Because we were used to factory wages and had made the adjustment from a very small IT wage to basic wage by adjusting my food spending, we were able to afford the rental home, then the two houses, then to send my son to uni, now the two houses again.  We don't usually buy cars that aren't on gas.  We did last year though, but we only use it for around town.  Would much prefer a gas/LPG car.  When dh left his first career we took an opportunity to buy a car on gas, and that made a huge difference to my life, so did having two cars.  Yes, it may be extravagant, but it gives choices.  Helps with change management etc.  At dh's work, he is given things like plums and green tomatoes sometimes and we have put them to good use in making sauce and pickles.  I really have been blessed by the kind people at gardenweb (au) and received jam melon seeds and we grew those and made pickles, jam & chutney and have found a lot of our joy simply by growing different kinds of sunflowers.  Another great joy is growing swan plants and seeing butterflies come from that.  Our community has a craft shop and we are able to buy cheap plants from other people's gardens.  We also have a very inexpensive op-shop here, and know of other good ones.  Having been in a town for years with a not so great op-shop I appreciate it.  Having said that our bowls pictured on this blog are from that op-shop that did improve at one stage.  I never did buy myself a dinner set when I got married, so in 2003 before my saving, I did buy some more in that set on ebay because it was my Nana's design, Johnson Australia if anyone wants to know what it is called.  I sometimes see it pictured in magazines.  Since coming to live here we have had to do without Coles.  Our shop did away with plastic bags, so I have developed skills in packing boxes in trolleys.  I have also decided to cut down my use of bottled pasta and stirfry sauces.  I believe living here and doing that has had a great effect on our health.  Our shop only could be relied on to stock certain foods consistently so I learnt to cook with sauerkraut for example.  However, years on, I have decided to shop out of town.  So another set of ingredient recipes had to be sourced.  I rely on the Taste magazine for that, though some ingredients are still have to find recipes for, but improving on the web.  If we move, it will be closer to the shop, and also there is an excellent local shop.  We have put in berry bushes at our new house, two kinds.  I read recently read A Slice of Organic Life.  It is very encouraging about what you need to have pigs, ducks & geese.  Some steps we have taken, but haven't gotten any further.  We found some bread pans at the tip.  The tips is an excellent place here.  Recently we bought home some wire netting, just in case.  The pans, some of been wire brushed.  They were from a bakery.  However, the children have been making bread.  They have a recipe where you can speed the process up in the microwave, and they make excellent pizzas.  They still have the one tube of yeast in the fridge, I am amazed how far it goes.  I love the Spirit of the Bush song, particularly Adam Brands part "she stares at empty cupboards, just like the day before".  We did have empty cupboards at the rented farmhouse.  But we were never without food.  I did very detailed meal plans and shopping.  My thoughts if people were having trouble to get very well acquainted with dried beans.  They are so cheap!  I feel I am not so clever, because in the last year, I have discovered wonderful canned beans and have been enjoying them immensely.  I suppose they are cheaper than meat.  I do not like the price of apples just to stew.  I have a post about the roadside apples we collected.  What do we do to be self-sufficient?  DH changes his own oil and fixes bits & pieces on the cars.  He cuts our firewood.  We use straw or free mulch from the tip, or cut up leaves.  We had some hydrid cherry tomato plants, were very disappointed so someone gave us some "real" cherry tomatoes so they could seed down.  I have skills in crochet, knitting and spinning, but don't use them a lot.  We saved for a new sewing machine with Castle Hampers.  We have a collection of old freezing and preserving books.  We have a good herb collection.  We have those new light bulbs in our home.  We had to do this, they blew regularly from surges or something.  We don't use a tumble drier.

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Thursday, April 24, 2008 - In The Garden ~ Farmgirl Blog-a-thon

Last Saturday we visited our new house.  We spent a little bit of time trimming off the finished Easter Daisies ( you may know them as Michaelmas or Aster novi-belgii).  We also neatened up the mint and camomile pictured below in the before picture. For some reason last week I decided to look on ebay for feverfew.  I have wanted some for quite awhile.  I may have grown it many years ago.  While I was there I found a plant that we meant to bring with us when we moved four years ago, but it was missed out and one of my favourites.  There plants were very inexpensive so I am very excited.  It is called Salvia involucrata 'bethellii'.  I enjoyed seeing the robinia trees and white birch at the Canberra Zoo.  The seller was selling very small robinia trees so I got some as well.  We have been busy eating pumpkins from our new house.  The seeds came in the soil when we moved our plants.  There was a plant growing near our compost pile that we planted hear the pond.  So the pumpkin a cross grew over the mesh on the pond in places and one pumpkin is sitting on the mesh above the water.  We are still harvesting a self sown tomato.  Have no idea how it got there, it tastes like a commercial variety.  We have a watering system at that house, that comes on on alternate days.  We have water restrictions still in force and we can water on alternate days that match our street number, ie odd or even days.  We didn't think we could manage the watering without it, not being there during the week.  The watering times are early in the morning and late at night.  Our second system turned out to be quite inexpensive.  Both were from Bunnings, so it pays to keep checking the prices. During a very busy period for us our daughter 11 wanted to start a vegetable patch.  It is mid autumn here.  Her garden has been done for a few weeks.  On the weekend we meant to get her seedlings that she planted as seeds and spread them out a bit more.  As you can see her lettuces and things are growing well.  We need to work on the garden more.  They were very careful what to choose, and I was surprised what they found to plant that late in the year.  I have some of my grandfathers watering cans which I really love having.  This was the gardening we did before that at our new house.  There were four bushes and a maple along the back of the house.  DH removed two of them and took this photo for me to see how it looked.  The maple was pruned by the previous owners like traditionally people prune crepe myrtles.  We removed the one closest to the maple to allow it to grow into its natural shape.  I got a surprise on Saturday, the jonquils are flowering.  Usually you can see them July/August I think. So the garden is great for flowers etc.  I took the scraps out at our old house on Sunday and found many self sown vegetables, they think it is spring too. To see more entries in the blog-a-thon visit Garden Goose. To share with other farm girls and to learn about the Farm Girl way of life visit: http://www.maryjanesfarm.org/

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Wednesday, April 23, 2008 - Menu Plan Monday ~ April 28

I am very organised for next Monday, that is because I am doing a pantry challenge. Monday ~ Pasta with Tomato, Chili & Borlotti Beans Tuesday ~ Vegetable & Chickpea Stew (another great pumpkin recipe) Wednesday ~ Spiced Pumpkin & Lentil Soup Thursday ~ Potato & Cherry Tomato Salad Friday ~ Tuna & Sweet Potato Cakes Saturday ~ Lentil & Cannellini Bean Soup Sunday ~ Borlotti Bean & Chorizo Soup

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Tuesday, April 22, 2008 - Burning Off

Our autumn has been very nice.  Sometimes the sky is very blue.  There are days though when it is an eerie yellow and there are shadows cast.  It is very pretty when the butterflies cast a shadow on the shed wall.  In order to keep the bush free of matter the bushfires can burn next summer we have this burning off.  On Saturday we were driving home from our other house and saw two fires that were very pretty as it was dark or nearly dark.  We saw a whole ridge outline.  It reminds me of where I grew up.

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Monday, April 21, 2008 - I'm reasonably new to tofu

Monday, April 21, 2008 - From Nana's Kitchen of olde

Monday, April 21, 2008 - Menu Plan Monday ~ April 21

This is a photo of the risotto without the pancetta on top.  The photo was taken of the left-overs.  It was for the Farmgirl blog-a-thon. Monday ~ Speedy Fried Rice Tuesday ~ Spinach Pilau Wednesday ~ Pumpkin & Pancetta Risotto Thursday ~ Spaghetti with Rookwurst & Mustard Friday ~ Corn & Potato Chowder Saturday ~ Spanish Rice with Chickpeas, Pumpkin & Chorizos Sunday ~ Pancetta Macaroni Cheese A note about the pumpkin.  It is a cross, came up in the garden by itself.  It has the color of a butternut squash, but unfortunately didn't taste as superior, but was fine in the dish which we loved.

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Saturday, April 19, 2008 - In the Kitchen/Domestic Bliss

I was thinking about any kitchen collections I could share for the blog-a-thon hosted by Garden Goose.  The most relevant and most used and loved at the moment would be things in my pantry.  I was looking in the pantry for something to eat before tea, and saw some seaweed, which reminded me of this very healthy recipe we tried recently.  I have been wanting miso paste for a long time.  I went to my hometown for a checkup a little while ago and went across the road to the health food shop.  Miso!  Vegie Patties 425g tin chickpeas 5 carrots, grated, lightly steamed 2 cups brown rice, cooked until soft 3 tablespoon tahini 2 teaspoons miso paste 2 spring onions, chopped 4 sheets nori seaweed, chopped 1/2 cup chopped parsley Whiz chickpeas in a food processor until broken up. Stir in carrot, rice, tahini and miso. Knead well. Mix in spring onion nori and parsley. Form into balls and flatten slightly. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Heat olive oil in a pan over medium heat and cook patties until golden both sides. Makes 12. From House & Garden AU Feb 2008. Today we picked a self-sown pumpkin from our new house.  We took it home and made this dish that turned out very nice. Pumpkin and Pancetta Risotto Cooking Time 30 minutes Ingredients (serves 2) 1 x 375ml carton Campbell's Real Stock Vegetable 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 small brown onion, chopped 2/3 cup arborio rice 200g butternut pumpkin, peeled, cut into 2cm cubes 1/3 cup frozen peas 1/4 cup finely-grated parmesan cheese 5 slices pancetta Method Preheat oven to 180°C. Place stock in a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Meanwhile, heat oil in a flameproof, ovenproof casserole dish over medium heat. Add onion. Cook, stirring, for 3 minutes or until onion is tender. Add rice. Stir to coat. Add stock and pumpkin. Stir to combine. Cover and bring to the boil. Remove to oven. Bake for 20 minutes or until pumpkin is tender. Remove from oven. Sprinkle peas over rice mixture. Cover and return to oven. Bake for a further 5 minutes or until liquid is nearly all absorbed. Remove from oven. Add parmesan. Season with salt and pepper. Stir to combine. Meanwhile, preheat grill on high. Place pancetta on a baking tray lined with foil. Grill for 1 to 2 minutes or until crisp and golden. Break into large pieces. Divide risotto among bowls. Top with pancetta. Serve. Notes & tips Variation: You could use bacon instead of the pancetta, and orange sweet potato instead of the pumpkin. Stir through chopped fresh sage leaves before serving, for an extra flavour boost. Source Super Food Ideas - October 2007 , Page 17 From:  http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/18075/pumpkin+and+pancetta+risotto The left overs are pictured above without the pancetta! The canister is from ebay.  There are others in the set.  Sultanas are golden raisins.  To share with other farm girls and to learn about the Farm Girl way of life visit: http://www.maryjanesfarm.org/ On MaryJanesFarm I am FloralSaucer.

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Wednesday, April 16, 2008 - More Farmgirl Memories

ART PRINTS - Art.com! I don't usually share a lot about my childhood on the net, I guess I don't want to be identified.  Does anyone else keep their blog life and real life separate?  Also my Dad is very sick, so there are memories of him as well. I just commented on The Garden Goose blog about calf shed cubbies.  My Mum had a childhood friend.  She actually met this friend because both their brothers were friends in highschool.  So the friend got married to a farmer not too far from us, and during the holidays us daughters played together.  This friend of Mum's had three daughters, two older than my friend.  They did amazing things.  Being the eldest child it was just wonderful for me. The second girl had the calf shed, elaboratly decorated with fabric from memory or maybe cushions.  Yes, it had been cleaned out first.  They also had a log hut sort of a teenage hang out for the eldest.  I remember they had a small house, later they joined another to it.  At the back of the old house they used to wash their little sister's hair, or maybe one did and I don't remember which one.  The hair was all the way down her back, she was about 5 or so at the time.  We often came to tea (dinner) and the girls would play games with us.  My favourite was looking into their dressup box.  I remember an hawaiian grass skirt.  Once the second sister came to live at our house for a little while.  Their were 6 children in their family.  She taught me how to ride my bike.  Once their Dad filled up the dairy with water and made a fantastic pool for us little girls.  It was actually too deep but we had a kick board.  Their mother one day went into their back room that had the door at the outside and spent some time sewing.  She came out with some lovely dresses for my doll.  I think that is so sweet and kind of her.  It even had a monogram on one of the dresses. The Mum would let us little girls bake when we were older.  Everyone had jobs, my friend did the baking.  We always played games outside in the dark jumping over hedge bushes.  Their brother was fun for that game.  Back home I had three girl cousins my age.  Two moved not too far away when I started school.  We met at our Grandparents house.  We had a hall up the road, and I remember coming home in pitch black of night.  How many people carry torches with them these days?  Mennobrarian mentioned "I think the heart of a farm girl is filled with the sum of her experiences on the farm."  I wonder how many pages we could write about those?  Thanks mennobrarian, it is nice to try to remember what they are and ponder that thought.

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Tuesday, April 15, 2008 - Farm Girl Heart

What being a farmgirl means to me.  Please visit The Garden Goose to see other similar entries and the other weeks in the farmgirl blog-a-thon.  I grew up as a farmgirl I suppose.  I got the heart for it somewhere along the line.  I belonged in a family of four living on a farm with Grandparents, and my Dad's brother, his wife and 2 children.  When I was little my Dad's sister, her husband and their children also lived there.  It was a property of 2,000 acres with sheep, 2,000, cattle, maybe 200, tobacco, crops, cartage business etc.  My Mum was very enthusiastic with chooks, rearing lambs, ducks, turkeys, sometimes pigs, goats, horses.  We had a wood stove, no other stove for cooking.  My uncle also had a wood stove, as did my Grandparents and my Nana down the road, though she had electric as well. My experiences included getting up early and "catching" Dad as he met his brother to fill up the trailer with bales of hay to take to the various paddocks to feed the cows in winter.  Drinking my aunty's tea during shearing time and accepting her generous offerings of jam drops, beer cake? and other things.  Her tea is the best!  I loved trampling down the wool in the sacks tied to the rafters.  My Grandmother kept her bread inside cream cans, so did my Great Uncle who lived next door.  Grandma had all the ideas about catching yabbies with meat.  Once my cousin and I slept in the haystack just to see what it was like.  Tobacco meant watermelons.  We also ate some on the way back to the shed.  I learnt to tie the tobacco to the sticks.  My Nana taught me to crochet at age 8 I think.  I remember crocheting on the school bus when I was about 13.  I learnt to sew at school, I went to a technical school and learnt it for 3 years.  I am not confident with my machine these days, will have to work on that.  I learnt to knit when expecting my eldest who just turned 20 at age 24.  My Mum is an excellent seamstress.  That was her job before she got married.  I wore her clothes for quite a long time perhaps until I was about 15?  My Nana was a great darner.  My Dad milked a cow, we had to go over a creek to get there.  My fondest memory was seeing a platypus one day.  When my husband and I started our life together he was interested in preserving with Fowlers Vacola jars etc.  I think he had just started, that was 24 years ago so please excuse my memory.  We still have his jar collection, we will not part with them.  He also had a gundog and we went hunting together.  He had a vegetable garden before we met and we continued that until about 1992-3.  My Mum and Nana preserved fruit.  Mum did plums that actually turned to jelly I think.  We used fruit from an orchard my Great Grandma planted.  There were many plums, and also I think a heirloom apple.  We used to pick blackberries together.  Nana and I baked together.  Five years ago after a stint in corporate America, and two years in factory work, dh went back to teaching and we moved to a farmhouse.  One year later we moved here to our remote location.  The first year dh got out his chainsaw, which is a collectors item and got it going again.  During the time in the factory (after the corporation closed down the previous factory where dh was an office worker in IT) our wages went down so the only way to make up the balance was with cutting back on food.  I remember at the farmhouse we had two houses then, a rental and our own, and the menu planning kept everything going.  It was very finely tuned.  Now in the remote area, we choose not to buy too many processed foods.  Some people give us plums etc. and we have made sauce and green tomato pickles.  I love the smell of wood.  It reminds me of my Grandfather's woodshed and seeing him standing there.  ~ FloralSaucer "To share with other farm girls and to learn about the Farm Girl way of life visit: http://www.maryjanesfarm.org/ "

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