A Delight-Filled Life

Beltane

2011-10-30T17:36:00.001+13:00

Ahhhh! That's a big contented sigh from me. I feel all filled up and grounded after spending a lovely day and evening with our ritual group yesterday. The rain we've been having cleared away, and the sun came out. We crafted, ate, sat around the bonfire, ate, participated in storytelling, shared our own stories, and had little meditations and exercises. Yes, very nice.

Then today I went along to an ancient crafts day - super fun! I didn't get along to last month's one, but today I was able to. Crickey. I have a sore arm from wood chopping, a sore finger from cutting myself with my pocket knife (while cutting veges for the soup), blisters from whittling my spoon, a stubbed toe while foraging for greens for the soup, and a little sunburn - oops!

Today we made wooden spoons! I was surprised to see that my lump of wood did in fact start to take shape fairly easily. Next time we need to burn out the centre of the spoon using little smouldering wood lumps.

The woman who ran the day started our campfire the ancient way even. She had her little piles of tinder, her stick and bow (the string is twirled around the stick and rolled quickly), and we had a fire within a few minutes. It was great to witness.

Let's see if I can get back into this blogging thing?

2011-10-26T17:01:00.000+13:00

So, life has changed significantly for me over the past few months. I'm now doing life as a solo mum. So far, so good. I've just started to refind my inspiration, enthusiasm, and enjoyment for all of those things that are a part of me and my life.

I need to get into my garden in a big way! It's been very neglected, and unfortunately hasn't really had much work put into it. I have randomly put a few bundles of seedlings in, and did manage to grow my own seedlings for silverbeet, spinach, and lettuce which I transplanted a few days back. So, I may get there with the help of buying seedlings for other things I want to put in for summer. But, thems the way sometimes.

What else? I've had a hair cut! All that long hair has gone, it happened in about 3 stages over a few months and the last two cuts I did myself with the help of a friend. I then wanted to go shorter again yesterday, so this time I went to the hairdresser so I didn't look too hacked and chopped!

I'm learning how to use my weed-eater. Yikes, I need a bit of practice so the grass doesn't look all bald in some places, and long and shaggy in others!

I'm absolutely LOVING my herb garden at the moment. This is the first time that it is looking VERY full and is literally taking care of itself. There is no space for weeds, so seems to be a true cottage garden now. It's so full of colour and new growth, I love just looking at it. I will get a photo when all this rain stops.

Wednesday Wardrobe - Winter

2011-08-24T08:22:00.001+12:00

This was a bit of a Sunday mish-mash type of outfit. As in, I threw it all on, and then quite liked it (but was secretly glad I wasn't leaving the house that day since it was going to be one spent sitting at the computer lol).

Brown hairband (market purchase last year)
Red cardy - new last year (is actually a blue-based red, not bright as in the photo)
Brown t-shirt - comfy and old
Patterned paisley skirt - about 10yrs old!
Jeans - 5yrs old
Brown birkenstocks

Just playing around...

2011-08-23T13:45:00.000+12:00

Been playing on my uke, and learning new strums. This is my latest...the calypso...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtl4W1o9HPM

I got my new-to-me camera on Saturday, so have been having a wee play with that too. I haven't used a manual camera before, so it's been quite a learning experience. Thought I'd capture a bit of the action and colour going on in my garden at the moment, while learning something new.

Yay! All 3 chickens are now laying.

Loving the aperture setting, just need to figure it all out now!

Books, books, books...

2011-08-19T07:58:00.004+12:00

I'd love to say that I've been on a spending spree, but no, we just visited the library this afternoon.

~ I've been looking out for a 2nd hand version of this Ukulele book, but pleased to get to try-before-I-buy. I spent a bit of time yesterday studying up on music theory (a mix of internet and this book). I have never in my life learnt anything musical (although I'm sure I briefly learnt the recorder and ukulele when I was in primary school), so this is all new and quite interesting to me.

~ I grabbed the first book I found on SLR cameras - my mum is giving me her 8yr old camera, so I need to now learn how to use it!

~ I picked out a variety of drawing and painting books to carry on with once I'm done with my course.

~ I saw Dorothy Hall's herbal book on display, so added that to my pile even though I've had it out before.

~ I also saw on the returned shelf this cute book with some neat little crochet projects. The author uses a variety of materials including: jute twine, wool, and leather cord. I don't currently own a book on crochet (I have only self-taught myself off Youtube tutorials), but this one has made it onto my wants list. I've got my eye on these projects...

But first, I've had a job come in that will consume my weekend. I'd love to go on a book buying spree with the $$ from that, but I think getting a plumber in is a bit higher up the list of priorities!

Icy outside, but tucked up inside

2011-08-18T09:37:00.001+12:00

That's all the snow that remains on the hills.
They were completely covered in white.

Well, the snow seems to have gone, but the icy weather continues.

The sum total of snow that settled at our house on Tuesday night!
And it was slushy due to all the rain.

Yesterday I was tucked up inside again and decided I needed to do a bit more practicing ... first the ukulele (I've been trying to master strumming along with changing chords) and then some drumming.

Drawing - I really need to make this a bit more regular, but I felt inspired by looking at an aloe vera plant I'd recently moved and realised that I was visualising the negative space within what I saw and that I was mentally drawing it - so out came the sketch book and pencil and off I went.

I've been rearranging! Although our lounge is quite large, we're quite restricted on how to place the furniture. So after a bit of mental planning, I decided at 11.30pm Tuesday night that it *had* to be done right there and then lol. I don't usually like to cover over the window with the couches, but I find that the lounge doesn't seem cosy, or warm enough for my liking because it's so spacious and so much window (there is the same amount of windows/doors right next to this lot). So this way, it creates another area that we can now use as a comfy floor spot.

Kid decluttering - yep, while rearranging furniture I managed to find another bag of games and puzzles that are no longer used.

Crafting - I have been wanting to make one of these recycled woollen blanket buntings for a while now, but didn't have a suitable blanket, and hadn't gone looking for one. I did recall I had a very thin piece of woollen fabric though (apparently it was a very old-skool nappy-wrap back in the day and came from my nana...). Same red pin-stripe down one side and same size as a flannel nappy. So I made this up yesterday afternoon. I'm quite pleased with the results!

Wednesday Wardrobe - Winter

2011-08-17T09:42:00.000+12:00

Another outfit inspired by my Trinny & Susannah book...

Turquoise merino - 2 winters old
2 x blue/green shaded under tops for layering - a few years old
Brown corduroy skirt - $1 op shop skirt that I refashioned
Black tights - a few years old
Green/turquoise Dr Marten boots - new this winter

I felt great wearing this combo!

The day it snowed...

2011-08-15T18:19:00.000+12:00

As the polar blast heads over the country, we were very fortunate to get more than a sprinkle of snow too! This is a rarity - a once in 50yrs event!

At school the kids went out to play when the snow came, and they were fortunate that the last 20mins of school-time a heavy dumping came down. Simon arrived to pick them up to see the whole school running around crazy enjoying it.

Once home, we decided to head up to the hills (a 10 min drive) and find some real snow! The rain that was coming down quickly turned to snow, and it was quite magical driving into the hills. There were a lot of people coming and going, and we finally found a place to stop. Terrible photos since I didn't have my flash on, and the light was getting pretty low.

The kids collected snow to take home...

Unloading their snow to continue the fun in the front yard.

Full moon

2011-08-14T21:56:00.002+12:00

On Saturday night I went to a local art gallery with a couple of friends, for the opening night of an exhibition featuring local artists and craft makers. Amongst many beautiful works, I noticed a display of ceramic pendants for sale - made by the same woman who is making my pendant for me (she is apparently doing a firing this coming week, so not long to wait now!).
On our way home from the exhibition in search of a cafe, we had a delicious view of the almost-full moon.

Tonight our women's group intended on a casual get-together for the full moon, but with some nasty weather due to come through we weren't sure on what to do. In the end just four of us got together in someone's cosy lounge room with the woodfire burning and chit-chatted about all things wild woman lol. We did manage to spot the moon as we were leaving though so had a little chuckle as we howled at her haha.

Another week...

2011-08-12T17:52:00.022+12:00

Garden: Yay, I got into the garden earlier on in the week! I dug in my blue lupens, sprinkled wood ash over them, added more chicken poop and lightly dug it all through. Not too happy about the HUGE blister I got of my hand though - didn't even notice it chaffing over a sticky-outie bit on the spade until it popped. Got me out of doing dishes for a night anyway ;)

Chickens: All three chickens now have bright red, plump combs, so I know that we'll shortly have 3 eggs a day - can't wait! As it is I've already stopped buying eggs with just one egg a day.

Drawing: Yesterday the weather turned cold and miserable. Perfect drawing weather! Just what I needed to get stuck back into my course. So with the fire roaring, and my cup of tea beside me, I started by brushing up of my skills. I continued on with another portrait before moving onto the next chapter on shading.

Tattoo: For a while now I've been wanting to get another tattoo (I got my 2nd back in January), so spent a bit of time online finding inspiration for designing my own. I've finalised what I want, and have it all booked for in 3wks time! It involves a lotus, a bird, spirals/korus, and the elements of nature - and it's pretty!

Ukulele: Went to my 2nd ukulele class today. I have been practicing my chords all week, as well as trying to get the strumming down pat. I tend to have a problem with getting my fingers stuck between the strings and pinging them. So, I've spent a lot of time researching the problem, and finding ways to overcome it. It just all seemed to click for me yesterday, and I found the perfect place for *my* fingers and thumb to be when strumming. Then I moved onto learning some different strum patterns. Number 10 of this tutorial is my favourite so far.

Illness: Ick, poor Simon seems to have come down the flu. He's been in bed since yesterday morning and his symptoms so far seem so similar what I had a few months back (sleeping all day, fevering, sore throat, headache...). I'm really hoping that his one is the same variety as the one I had - I really don't want to get another flu!

Wednesday Wardrobe - Winter

2011-08-10T09:36:00.003+12:00

I was out shopping with my mum the other day and splashed out ($40) and bought myself a new skirt (along with some much-needed new bras).

I then realised I had the dilemma of what to wear with it lol. I didn't want to just team it up with black, so pulled out my Trinny and Susannah book that I was given about 5yrs ago. OK, so I gathered together the appropriate coloured tops and went for it. I was quite happy with the results (and even wore it out in public!).

Burgundy/cream skirt - new
Red (they're an earthy tone) doc marten boots - new earlier on this winter
Lime green tank top - a few years old
Plum merino top - 5yrs old

While I was in Trinny and Susannah mode, I decided to empty out my drawers and reassess things. I figured that any winter clothes that haven't been pulled out so far (and probably not for a few winters before), can go. There wasn't actually a lot that needed to go, but it was good to go through it all. I do tend to wear out my clothes after a few years since I have a smallish selection from which to choose, that then allows me to bring in the occasional new thing to spice it all up. That way too, I feel that I get fresh clothes every few years since I do wear them out (I started to wonder if I did have loads of clothes, whether I would wear them often enough or whether I'd get bored of them the same, and therefore a lot of wasted (but good condition) clothes going out or hanging around??).

The week

2011-08-05T13:16:00.000+12:00

The kids have been making board games!

With the lighter evenings, they've been spending some time before dinner outside in the sandpit and working on constructing a "shop". Nathan intends on stocking his shop with swords and bows and arrows.

I went to my ukulele group this morning. Had a great time! I had self-taught myself three chords before going along (and then when booking, the teacher asked if I could learn another three so I was up to speed with the rest of the group) since they have all been going for a couple of months already.

Spring cleaning - I probably blog about it whenever I do more than the basics on housework lol! Well, with all this gorgeous spring-like weather I have been torn on where to spend my time. So yesterday I made my way through the kitchen, laundry, and bathrooms, as well as checking and sorting my stock in my herbal cupboard. Not a lot to toss out, a little rearranging, but mostly deep-cleaning.

The garden has also been calling me - with the herb garden all busy doing its thing, now is the time to start planning the Spring/Summer vegetable garden. I have most seeds I need (I do need to get some carrot seeds though), so it's just a case of planning my timing and placement. I do need to also get down into the lower garden again and clean out the chicken coop to fertilize the beds, dig in the lupen, and weed around my garlic and onions. I have a few buckets of wood ash to dig in too, to raise the pH and alkalinise the soil - I have an abundance of dock and creeping buttercup still down there, which are strong indicators for acid soil conditions. When using wood ash instead of lime, the recommended is to use about twice the amount - I don't really know how much I need, but am going to give a liberal dose to help things along. And strange for this time of the year, but the garden is looking like it might need some water!
I haven't done anymore on the drawing course. I really feel with this lovely weather, that I'd rather be physically doing other things and enjoying the sun - make hay while the sun shines and all that. I'll save the rest of it for a cold, rainy day (I'm sure there will be more of those to come).

Imbolc

2011-08-03T09:33:00.002+12:00

On Tuesday we observed and celebrated Imbolc here in the Southern Hemisphere. According to my moon calendar it was the 2nd August, but it seems there is a lot of information that states it's either the 1st or 2nd or both!

So anyway, Spring is on the way! The earth is waking up, the days are continuing to get longer (and at a faster pace now), and I see signs of spring everywhere I go.

I've been walking the kids to and from school this week and it's been so nice to go at that slow pace and take it all in. I've seen a lot of Jasmine vines all coming into flower, as well as daffodils and many other plants that have been in hibernation over winter. My own plum tree is now in full blossom.

Photo taken this morning before the
sky completely clouded over.

Over dinner on Tuesday night, the kids and I chatted about the things we all each look forward to over the coming year. We had a meal based on the colours white, yellow, and orange to represent the return of the light - a chicken and chickpea curry served on rice!

After dinner I headed off for an Imbolc celebration with my women's group. We gathered outside and were able to be at a venue with a lovely firepit to sit around and discuss what things we'd like to let go of over the next year, and what things we'd like to work on creating. We then shared a delicious hot cup of chai tea! It was pretty cold out there in the beautiful, crisp, clear night, but nice and toasty by the fire.

Wednesday Wardrobe - Winter

2011-08-03T08:02:00.000+12:00

It was a spring-like day when I put this outfit on. It was nice to put less layers on for a change (and a change from my usual winter garb).

Jeans - 5yrs old
Black cardy - trade me <$10
Tunic top - bought new a few years ago
Black ballet shoes - 5yrs old

More natural healing

2011-08-02T08:00:00.000+12:00

This winter has really taken its toll on us. We're all good at the moment, but it seems that we have a week of nothing and then one or other of us comes down with something new. I can't blame it on stress or being unhappy - we're all in a really good space and enjoying life.
I think this is a combo of several things:
~ First, we are being exposed to more than any other winter with the kids now at school (we're not actually getting any more sick than any of the other school families though, and not getting sick with the same thing even). It just seems more than it is, we've each only been sick with about two things each, but spread that out amongst four of us and not at the same time, it has felt constant!

~ Lack of Vitamin D! I really think this is one of the biggest changes. When we homeschooled I was able to get us out for regular sunshine at the middle of day during winter on sunny days - not possible at school! At school, lunchtime only starts at 1pm, past the best time to make Vitamin D during winter.

~ No vitamins or supplements. For some reason I had fallen off the wagon with supplementing this year (and one less meal to include a wider range of veges and nutrients ie. school lunches mainly comprise of a simple sandwich along with fruit and popcorn, not the cooked up meal that I was used to making them). I've now started them on vitamins again (a kids multi as well as a fish oil with added Bs and iodine), so we'll see how we go as we head into Spring.

Both kids have had an ear infection this year. Ear infections are not something that they generally suffer from, and usually the ear pain doesn't last longer than a few hours when I get onto it right away (usually a combination of either colloidal silver, garlic oil, vitamin C, and homeopathics). Last time though, Danielle had had some strange viral thing that led to a ear infection that became a bit prolonged and required antibiotics (our doctor doesn't usually prescribe them as a standard treatment). Saturday night she said her other ear was aching (4 weeks since the last one), and I got onto it right away. I came across a timely post on Watching Kereru's blog and tried out her onion wrap when Danielle went to bed (I used a woollen sock of Simon's, one of my cotton knit headbands, and Simon's head wrap he uses when he rides to hold it all together). No lingering pain in the morning (I removed the wrap after about 30mins), although there was a small amount later on towards bedtime (so I repeated it).

I have also been suffering from a lingering cough, which started after my flu and then I got a second cough a few weeks later (my cough had progressed to many uses of my asthma inhaler, which usually only gets used a few times a year normally!). Over the weekend I chanced upon some reading on fenugreek that reminded me of the benefits, so started right away drinking 2-3 cups of tea a day (I had a jar of the seeds in my herbal cupboard). Some of Fenugreek's benefits are that it relieves congestion, reduces inflammation and helps fight infection. It also has expectorant properties that are good for helping with sinus and lung congestion, and loosens and removes excess mucous. Sounds good to me! It's pretty tasty too. Just a warning though ... if like me your body needs a bit of a detox, then this will also produce sweat (and all over the skin in fact) that smells very fenugreeky/curryish - this only last 3-4 days though. Oh, and I haven't used my inhaler since!

Sunday

2011-08-01T06:44:00.001+12:00

Well, the school holidays are over and we had a really nice, relaxing time.

I was talking with the kids how Imbolc will be on Tuesday, and what we'd like to do to celebrate it. Imbolc symbolises The First Light - the start of the return of spring and new growth. The kids really look forward to a family meal (although Simon won't be here for this one), a story about the seasonal changes, and a few decorations that help us tune into nature and the seasons. I'll be heading off for a meet up with my women's group.

All that talk inspired Danielle to pull our our Earthwise activities book, find the winter activities and browse for something to make. She settled on these little paper decorations (although they are for valentine's cards and the wrong season for that ... as well as the fact we don't do anything for valentine's anyway lol).

Simon arrived home with another trailer-load of sand from a Freecycle offer. The base for our garden shed is almost ready lol. The chickens thought it was great having us all down in the garden - especially since there were bugs on offer! The kids spent ages sifting through the sand to find tasty treats for them to snaffle.

And there was plenty of sand left over to refill the sandpit! Enjoying a little play until they were shooed inside to get warm!

I'm now onto the fourth Earth's Children book - The Plains of Passage. I zoomed through The Mammoth Hunters last week while on holiday (and no computer in the evenings...). I realised while reading The Mammoth Hunters that I hadn't read this far into the series before.

I'm going to get back into my drawing this week and hopefully finish off the course.

A spring-like day

2011-07-31T08:52:00.004+12:00

It was quite a lovely day yesterday (aside from a bit of a breeze in exposed areas). I had a list of errands to get through, so the kids and I ventured out of the house late morning.

~ First up we headed to get me a new SIM card for my phone. I had decided when my pre-pay credit had disappeared, that I was going to switch over to 2 Degrees (about half the price for sending texts). I'm not a high mobile phone user, so don't need 100s of texts per month, and never make phone calls - just wanted the cheaper standard text rate.

~ Then to the library to return half our books (we usually get the maximum allowed of 30 books).

~ Off to the market to stock up on fresh fruit and veges for the week.

~ Then over to the park to feed the ducks and have a play in the playground. My kids have been a bit deprived of feeding ducks. Eating gluten free has meant no cheap bread in the house to sacrifice for the ducks (although, with Danielle at school now, I do make her sandwiches with a good quality wheat-based bread), and I freeze all our bread anyway, so there is never stale bread lying around. However, after having been on holiday for 5 days, we did have some slices of stale bread to do something with (the GF bread was used in last night's dinner).

~ I then went and browsed a local designer shop for a ceramic pendant necklace I've had my eye on. There wasn't one on display as I exactly wanted, but was able to put a request in with the artist to have one custom made (it will be a combo of 3 that were on display). I'm not a huge jewellery wearer (just a simple bangle, a moonstone ring, and my pounamu), but this just took my fancy as something a bit different to pop on on occasion.

~ In the evenings I've been enjoying the warm glow from my Himalayan rock-salt lamp. When we visited a friend while away on holiday, she gave me a lamp she no longer had space for (she had six). They are meant to emit negative ions into the atmosphere (these are good despite the sound of it). I haven't done a lot of reading into negative ions, but I have heard of thunder storms and beaches being very high in them - I sure do enjoy the feeling of both of those, so who knows?!

A productive day in the garden...

2011-07-30T10:22:00.000+12:00

Our eggs, my first lemon, kale, leeks, lettuce, radishes, spring onion, and parsley.

Yesterday the kids and I got out in the garden for the first time in a while. It's really ticked through winter quite nicely this year and producing some good colour and veges - this would be my first winter where I've had a good amount coming through. Out of my kitchen garden I pulled out what I thought was a weed (didn't recognise the leaves), but discovered a forgotten radish in there. I haven't grown radishes before, but had some in a bundle of seedlings I purchased from the supermarket a while back. After looking over the rest of the garden, I realised I had most of a meal out there waiting for me.

I made a self-crusting quiche - just added in some GF flour, cubes of potato, chicken, milk, and cheese to my leeks, kale and eggs.
Served with salad made with lettuce, radish, egg, spring onion, and lemon juice all from the garden.
Crutons baked in the oven with butter using semi-stale gluten-free bread.

Instrument bag #2

2011-07-29T09:38:00.001+12:00

After making the bag for my djembe, I was keen to make one up for my ukulele too (it came in a plain little bag).

I found a piece of dark denim that was an off-cut from a long skirt that I refashioned last year, but it sat around while I spent a bit of time pondering how I could embellish it and figure out how I was going to close it.

Last night I found a wide strip of fabric with mushrooms on it that I adore. I used one strip when I made Danielle's foraging bag last year, but there were still two strips of mushrooms left. I think it looks great set against the dark blue of the denim.

For the closure, I kind of winged it. I don't think I could recreate it if I tried lol. I ended up putting a button on it, so will see how that works.

A quiet day...

2011-07-28T18:33:00.000+12:00

It was a day of catching up on chores, laundry, and just hanging out. We had the perfect winter weather for drying clothes on the line (plenty of sun and a little breeze) and for heating the house without needing the fire.

The morning started off early (would have been nice to have a lazy start to the day) by taking Danielle to see the dental nurse, then home quickly to hang out two loads of washing before heading off to meet up with friends at the local theatre to see a production of Charlotte's Web.

The kids really enjoyed it, and it was neat to see a couple of ukelele players up there (including a very talented 8-9yr old).

After lunch Danielle wanted me to help her make a soft toy like one she'd been given by a friend while on holiday. So she designed a long dog (modelled off my parent's daschund). She sewed the body and stuffed it, and I completed the ears and tail for her.

Relaxed and refreshed...

2011-07-27T23:08:00.000+12:00

Ahhh, it's been so nice to be away, but so nice to arrive home again!

I couldn't have asked or a better time away. We got through out list of places to see and things to do. We even had the unexpected surprise of finding some snow to play in (along with a lot of other New Zealanders too). The cottage we stayed in was cute and set on a local artist's property. She had vege gardens outside our door that we could help ourselves to as we wanted, and around the back of the cottage there was a lovely view of the mountain (sadly, not from our windows!).

Our first day travelling had us stopping for lunch with some friends, before heading on into New Plymouth for the evening.

Car snacks all packed and ready to go!

Kids found the trampoline straight away.

Day 2 we headed out around 10am, and because the weather was quite mild, we planned to visit a local botanical garden and petting zoo.

A quick lunch back at our cottage, and then headed out for the afternoon to meet up with another lot of friends down at the local aquatic centre for the afternoon.

Day 3 we decided to visit a couple of the historic cottages in the area - unfortunately, both were only open on the weekends (managed a visit to the museum too), but we noticed snow falling on our windscreen as we were driving along. I then received a text from my friend we'd had lunch with a few days before to say they'd had a huge dump of snow overnight. I then texted (yay for mobile phones!) another friend who lived just out of New Plymouth and asked her about the status of snow out her way. Nothing at her house, but since she lives on the road leading towards the mountain, we thought we'd go back to the cottage, have a quick lunch, then pack our snow gear into the car and go for a drive to see what we could find. As we got to the village where the road turned into the mountain, there was a large sign saying the road was closed and only residents could go beyond that point ... well, we figured we could pose as residents if required ... and we weren't the only ones with that idea.

Snow on the windscreen lol.

On our way back from having a good play, we stopped in with our friends and found hot soup and a cup of tea waiting for us along with some animals to pat and feed.

Day 4 we wanted to check out the coastal walkway, so took the scooters out for a while before heading home for lunch. We then hit the shops in the afternoon for a quick browse.

Day 5 we packed to head home. We had planned to stop in with our friends from the pools for a play at their house and to visit the Pioneer Village in their town before heading home to my parent's house for dinner. The snow from 2 days before was still scattered around.

We all had loads of fun, and it felt nicely spaced out where it was enjoyable as well as relaxing.

In holiday-preparation mode...

2011-07-22T10:45:00.000+12:00

We're going away for a several nights, and very much looking forward to it. We haven't been away as a family since last September/October (Simon works all the days around Christmas/New Year and we generally like to stay around home over summer). We do usually get away for a winter holiday though!

We hadn't made plans to go away until a few weeks ago. We like to explore areas of NZ that we haven't been to before - so this time around we're heading to the Taranaki. A few years ago we did head up that direction, but by-passed New Plymouth to head further north. We have friends in Stratford, so will stop there for lunch and a catch up before heading into NP for our stay. I have compiled a list of about a dozen things I'd like us to get to! Not sure how achieveable that is in 3 whole days (we're away for 5 days), but we'll give it a go.

So, today's list of to-dos are:

~ Clean out the chicken coop and preparing it for us being away (my mum will come to check on them and collect "the egg").
~ Empty out the car of all the ... ummmm ... crap
~ Do our big fortnight grocery shop and decide what to take and what to just buy while away.
~ Give the house a tidy up and clean (I do like to come home to a nice looking house).
~ Get a map so I can mark out where we want to go!
~ Pack bags (kids already did theirs two days ago so I could make sure they didn't wear clothes that we needed).

Better get onto it then!

A spot of sewing...

2011-07-21T19:31:00.001+12:00

It's been a wee while since I have had my sewing machine out. When my drum arrived, I just knew that it needed its own carry bag. In the workshop I went to all the drums had neat patterned, padded covers. So last night, I googled for ideas on how to approach it. I didn't really want to buy padded fabric, so decided for now to just make one using regular heavy-duty fabric. After going through my stash, I came across a large linen bedspread that I'd picked up for a few dollars at an op-shop for the fabric.

Nathan helped me mark out the base and work out the measurements for the main part of the case (it's just a trapezium shape).

Enjoying putting all my pins back into the cushion - they had
all made it into the red accessories case for some reason.

The top is closed with a draw-string, and inside the opening there is a circular flap that is secured on one side and then flips over the top of the drum to give protection.

Just Chillin'

2011-07-20T16:27:00.001+12:00

It's the school holidays here at the moment. So far we've caught up with a few friends, but generally just hanging out at home chilling out.

The weather has continued to be gorgeous - we're getting just the most perfect winter days.

Today my djembe drum turned up, along with my ukelele. What I love about adding these instruments to our home is that the kids can just pick them up and have a go as well. The size of the instrument is not an issue, and both can be mastered at their own levels.

Danielle seems intent on holding it the leftie's way.

Both kids seem to be a bit of a natural with the drum, and have their own unique rhythms going on. I also taught Nathan the rhythms that I learnt at my workshop.

We headed down to the beach with a picnic lunch and a quick play.

I've been contining on with my drawing course, and heading towards the end now - currently working on portraits and facial proportions when drawing from different views/angles. I've now bought myself a little sketch pad to keep in my bag if we're out places (I took it with me to the beach today and had a go at drawing what was in front of me).

Pretty happy with these, although the 2nd one of Simon I can see I haven't given enough width to his face (gap between back of ear to inside eye should be the same distance as from the eye down to the chin) along with a few other issues (size of eyes, length of chin).

A gorgeous weekend

2011-07-17T21:09:00.001+12:00

After all the stormy weather, we've had some really lovely sunny days. The wind has been almost non-existant, and the days have had hardly a cloud in the sky.

Saturday night I headed into the city with a couple of friends for an overnight stay and a fun evening out.

On Sunday, Simon took the kids out for the day walking, picnicking, playing in the playground, and ice creams.

That evening we headed down to one of our local beach accesses where there was a opening ceremony for a new walkway to the beach (previously there was no access and it was a bit of a scrubby bank for anyone game enough to venture down). The event pulled in quite a turn out of locals. We arrived just before sunset; it started with the ceremony, then some braziers were lit for marshmallow toasting. There had been hope for bonfires on the beach, except the winter tides have been bringing the water in too far even in low tide. We didn't stay too long as the kids were a bit tired from their busy day out, but later on people got their drums and guitars out.

Walking by moonlight

2011-07-16T08:36:00.000+12:00

Last night I got together with a couple of friends from our women's group and we headed out to our local recreation park area for a walk in the light of the fullmoon. This particular park is set down on the sand dunes - so loads of ups and downs and full of a lot of tracks. We headed out at 8pm and the night was gorgeous. The wind we'd had earlier in the day had dropped off, the sky was clear, and it was freeeeezing!

So all rugged up, we set off.

Not long into our walk we had a bit of a shock by seeing someone on a quad bike riding around with a spotlight on top, pull up in a lower paddock and start shooting at what we can assume were rabbits! Well, not wanting to be in the vicinity of that we took off down the nearest hill (off-track), but unfortunately got tangled in blackberry bushes. So once we'd detangled we continued on.

After an hour or so we headed down towards the beach and strolled along the sand. In the distance we could see a bonfire, and as we got closer could hear the drums. So we sidled up alongside and got invited to join in. We were handed drums and a variety of percussion instruments to join in the fun. After staying there for about an hour we headed off home.

A little night of fun full of adventures!

Garden - mid winter

2011-07-14T21:05:00.000+12:00

After all the wet, mild weather, I reckon the garden is in a pretty good place. It's looking lovely and green, with the some bright splashes of colour throughout. I think we've got some frosts arriving this weekend though...

Front herb garden with veges mixed in -
lettuce, spring onions, silverbeet and spinach

Lower garden - calendulas brightening things up

My little lemon tree - finally producing abundantly after 3yrs. Needs a good
weed, and those blue lupen are almost ready for digging in.

The chookies! Caramel (on the left) with her lovely bright red, plump comb. She's the layer.
The other two's combs are still pale, dry and shrivelled while they are off the lay.

My plum bursting into blossom.

Love the red of this geranium. I got a little cutting from my
great-aunt about 18mths ago, it's nicely established now.

I found this cute wee dress at an op-shop a few months back as a dress-up for Danielle.
I recall owning one of thee kilt/dresses back in the '70s. She decided she wanted to wear it to school tomorrow.

More dreadful weather, more drawings...

2011-07-14T11:41:00.000+12:00

Well, the weather has continued to be pretty stormy and all-round horrible. Although, I must admit that I really like a good thunder storm ... stirs up all those negative ions.

But, I've been enjoying myself inside parked up near the fire drawing. I'm halfway through the book now and really starting to see my progress. I've even started to lose track of time, and finding many cups of cold tea left too long!

This picture (demonstrating the foreshortened view) was copied using a blend of techniques - initially I drew it using the upside-down technique, and then turned it upright to shade and fill in the details and check lines using the sighting technique.

Charles White, Preacher

Here is an example drawing the negative space only (ie not trying to draw a chair or the details, but being able to focus on the shapes that pop out of the picture and then basically put them all together like a jigsaw).

Here was another one I did using the Sighting technique (using my pencil to find the relative lengths of lines and angles). This was copying a black and white photo, so I used the vertical and horizontal page edges as my point of reference.

And another using same size objects set at varying distances. I "framed" it first using my viewfinder and then drew it using the sighting/measuring technique.

I've really found this course a challenge. A challenge more to do with my own thoughts rather than actually completing the exercises. I find that I come across a drawing or exercise I need to complete and I can totally hear my head telling myself that it's too hard, can't possibly get it to look right, I would get bored sitting there for so long (although this has eased off now that my right-brain is really taking the task on board), impossible, etc.

So it's been a really nice eye-opener that I can do this! And a nice side-thing is that the kids have taken an interest in looking at my sketch pad when they get home from school and get inspired to do their own masterpieces.

Wednesday Wardrobe - Winter

2011-07-13T09:18:00.000+12:00

Black l-sleeve t-shirt - new this season

Green/grey merino dress - made by me $10

Black pants - a few years old

Black ballet shoes - 5yrs old

Handwriting analysis

2011-07-11T09:02:00.000+12:00

My interest was piqued after doing some research into handwriting styles yesterday.

I went searching for a way to analyse my existing style of writing, these are the descriptions from the first website I found:
Size (Personal presence) = medium: flexible, fits into a crowd. Practical, realistic, balanced, works well with others or by oneself.

Slant (Emotional interactions) = vertical: practical, independent, head rules over heart. Self sufficient, in control of self, low emotional response, restrained.

Simplicity (Clarity of thought and Action) = high: clear efficient thinking. Strips away non-essentials to get to core of problem, definite opinions, takes initiative.

Capitals (Showmanship) = plain: Unpretentious, underplays self. (New style = Some elaboration: confident self presentation. Self confident yet conforming, presents self in an appropriate manner, adds some showmanship.)

Baseline (Disposition) = usually straight: determined, stays on track. Self motivated, reliable, mind controls emotion, steady, unflinching.

The Baseline can change with your mood. If you start to slope upwards, you are feeling upbeat, positive, hopeful, ambitious with a can-do attitude. If you start to slope downwards you are probably tired and overwhelmed, pessimistic, not very hopeful, and see more chances for failure than for success. If your baseline is erratic (waves up and down), then you lack definite direction, emotionally unsettled, unpredictable, indecisive, and may have trouble achieving goals.
Heh, well, seems fairly spot on for me anyway (especially when I look at the alternatives).

An inside weekend...

2011-07-10T19:02:00.003+12:00

Well, Friday night I went out with a group of girlfriends for a few drinks and had a fantastic time!

Saturday was one of stormy weather - all.day. So the kids and I stayed home. Then, later in the afternoon the storm came overhead and there was hail, and lightning and the thunder without a beat between them, before it continued to move on. I had turned the computer off at that time, and upon rebooting I checked my usual news website to see breaking news that there was a tornado just 15mins down the road. After facebooking about it, I discovered that several friends were within minutes of it (one was on the way to the supermarket, only it was closed due a car being thrown into it; and another had been driving along the highway, only to witness the devastation of it having thrown cars, trucks, and trees all around).

On Sunday I intended on getting out of the house, but with all the wind outside I really didn't feel too enthused being out there in it. In the morning Simon headed out to get a trailer-load of sand to lay down as part of the foundation for our garden shed (yes, it's still an ongoing project lol). I had advertised on Freecycle that I was looking for some sand and had several responses. After lunch Simon took the kids out to burn off a bit of energy while I caught up on a bit of housework and mountains of washing (due to the wet weather, the drying rack was full and it was a bit of a juggling game getting things dried, folded, and put away).

Throughout the day I pulled out my drawing pad as inspiration hit me. I decided to give it a go at drawing the kids' portraits.

(his eyes are a bit too close together)

I haven't got the section of portrait drawing yet, so it will be interesting to see how these change as I learn more. I can certainly see where I haven't quite got it right.

This is the final of my contour drawings.

This evening we decided to try out our new coffee table for eating our dinner at (bangers and spuds lol). It was a very pleasant little setting.

All of this drawing has sparked an interest to attempt to modify my handwriting style. I found a font that I quite like and have been practicing with it. It's not so different to my current style, but has a few changes that I really like. It is the Estrya Font.

In my looking for a new font, I came across articles that spoke about personality and handwriting (I have heard of handwriting analysis, but didn't realise that by changing your handwriting it can influence your personality...!). Maybe I better do some research into that before I randomly go changing my style :P

Drawing...

2011-07-08T09:55:00.001+12:00

Well, I've been right into the drawing lessons and have spent a few hours each day working on them. I bought myself a proper sketch pad and pencil yesterday before carrying on with the pictures below.

I was just thinking about the timeliness of reading this lesson book and how it is really quite perfect for the winter season, and has given me some direction and purpose I was needing. I had started to feel unsettled with the days whiling away just reading books (which is very nice to do, but also a bit of a time-filler) and doing housework. So here I am tucked up in the house with the fire roaring, in the quiet where I have the time to do the pictures and let time run away on me, no guilt about thinking I should be outside in the garden ... and just being.

Yesterday I did another upside-down drawing (was quite happy with it aside from a few things out of proportion).

I then made my first attempt at a Modified Contour drawing. So where previously I had to draw my hand without looking at my actual drawing, this time the instructions said to look at your hand for 90% of the time, and the other 10% at the picture just to get a gauge on where the pencil is in relation to the drawing. The idea with the contour drawings is to let your eye/mind only see the lines/angles/spaces/shapes for what they are. By allowing your right-brain to kick in you are no longer seeing the picture as fingernails, fingers, wrinkles, knuckles as this is when the left-brain starts to try and draw on its logic and we continue to draw as we always have done (typically at a 10yr old level).

The first picture here was done as a preinstruction drawing - just to see where my skills lay prior to reading/doing the lessons. The 2nd is my contour drawing.

This week's winter project...

2011-07-07T12:12:00.003+12:00

My newly leg-shortened, sanded, stained table. I am much happier with the colour of it now. When I got it, it was quite yellow (a pale pine that had been varnished), so we found some old stain ("teak" coloured) in the garage and gave it a spruce up. It's already had quite a bit of use and fills the large floor space in our lounge quite nicely (it was quite dramatic the difference chopping 10cm off the legs made to the room - prior to the legs being shortened, the table seemed to dominate the room).

Wednesday Wardrobe - Winter

2011-07-06T09:43:00.000+12:00

Green crochet hat - made by my mum
Black cardingan - TM
Black t-shirt - new off TM a few years back
Black long sleeve T - new this season from Farmers
Brown corduroy skirt - $1 from thrift shop and refashioned
Black tights - few years old
Black boots - 4th winter

Upskilling...

2011-07-05T18:36:00.000+12:00

Gardening:
~ School hosted a workshop on Pruning Fruit Trees this afternoon (they have quite an extensive vegetable garden, compost bins, and many fruit trees around the grounds). So, I went along to see if I could figure out what to do with my lot. They are very unloved and need quite a lot of attention. I have several apple trees that are 2-3yrs old, and two very large, old trees (a pear and a plum). Those are going to be the mission to sort out. So, off for a bit of a read-up on what to do with them. The 3yr olds I think I can get on top of no problem in regards to sorting out the side branches and leader though.

~ I visited the garden of a friend from school today and checked out her garden set up. Very inspiring, and came away with some good ideas on staking and growing vertically.

~ I noticed just this afternoon that my plum tree is beginning to blossom. It always surprises me that it makes a start so early into winter. But, it is a Christmas plum and fruits mid-December.

Drawing:
~ I have continued to make my way through the drawing lessons in my book. Today's lesson was to copy a picture with it turned upside-down. This allows the right-side of the brain to kick in and "see" the space, lines, angles, and proportions, rather than allowing the left-side of the brain to "assume" and try to copy based off our preconceived ideas of what something looks like (that's a nose, that's a hand). I was quite impressed with my attempt (the lesson was to copy Picasso's Portrait of Igor Stravinsky). When I attempted copying the picture with it up the right way, I found I was a bit hasty in copying and assuming as the book had explained.

A week in our house...

2011-07-03T18:42:00.000+12:00

~ Hmpf! We really are having a winter of sickness! Not all at once, and not even the same thing! So, we're all well again, but I feel like I lost a week looking after Danielle with some random vomity-viral thing that covered her in a red rash from head to toe. Onwards and upwards!
~ Good news on the chicken front - my very sporadic layers look like they're in for a change. Over summer I had a few broody ones sitting on the nest, then they all moulted, and now finally, one of them is back laying. Nathan came into the house a few weeks ago all excited that he could tell that Caramel was going to start laying soon. He'd noticed her comb had gone bright red and nice and plump-looking. Danielle discovered the first egg yesterday! The other two still have pale pink combs, but I'm hoping they'll be coming onto the lay too.

~ I got together with several friends on Thursday evening for a knitting/crochet session. I offered to make a friend a pair of the fingerless-gloves I made myself a wee while back, so made a start that night and then finished them off the next day.

~ I have a set of seedlings ready to pop into the garden tomorrow (yay for some lovely weather).

~ I bought a 2nd-hand square coffee table off Trade Me during the week. We haven't had a coffee table in the lounge since Nathan was a baby; just seemed to be a bit of a hazard and unnecessary. Now that all the kids toys have been removed from the lounge, the large space was no longer required for spreading out on. I have been wanting a large, square, low table that can be used when sitting on the floor - doing jigsaws on, eating at, playing card games, drawing, etc. I found the perfect table - 90cmx90cm and we chopped length off the legs so it is now only 30cm high. I intend on sanding it back and staining it a darker colour to modernise it. So that's my project for this week.

~ I've been drawing! An online friend recommended a book that sounded really interesting. I have always been one to think that I am very uncreative, can't draw, wouldn't know where to start, and told myself I wasn't really interested ... so wrote myself off as ever being able to. Well, this book basically told me that everyone can draw, and that it was really just in the way you "see". I amazed myself by drawing my first picture ever (that wasn't just a "kid" picture with lines). Now, I look forward to learning some skills to take the vision from inside my head and putting it onto paper, rather than just copying an item. So, here's my first picture (after being told that I can in fact draw - strange that it was all in my perception). This is a sample before any instruction, and I'll keep it so I can do a comparison as I go through the lessons.

~ I've been drumming! Yes, I'm all about creativity this year! I am still practicing the rhythms that I learnt at my workshop last weekend (on my tiny little drum lol).

~ I've finished reading Nineteen Eighty Four (it all keeps playing through my mind), and fitting in another library book (along with the drawing book), before I make a start on the 3rd Earth's Children book.

~ The kids have got all creative yesterday - both had ideas for constructing, building, and creating - was great to see!

Wednesday Wardrobe - Winter

2011-06-29T08:54:00.000+12:00

Ahhh, the charcoal cardy ... again
Camel corduroy skirt - made by me a few years ago
Black merino - 6yrs old
Black tights - a few years old
Black boots - 4 yrs old
Green crochet hat - made by my mum

A bit of a juggling act...

2011-06-25T17:24:00.004+12:00

Earlier in the week my weekend was looking all full, exciting and well-planned out (including a fun workshop with a friend, the kids to my mum's for the afternoon and overnight, a night out for Simon and me, and a day-visit on the Sunday to catch up with a friend I haven't seen in a while). Then came an email with a job for me to do. Only problem was that it wasn't going to arrive in my email inbox until Saturday morning and was required back first thing Monday morning ... and I estimated was going to take at least 12hrs to do! So, after arranging for my mum to take the kids all day today, and putting off plans that I had made, I welcomed the challenge.

Fortunately, the job was sent through a few days ago; so I could plug away at it during school hours. After dropping the kids to my mum's I was still able to get out for an African drumming class held at our local community hall this morning (not the same workshop I originally was going to go on, but this was a bit shorter and sounded like fun too), then carried on with my work all afternoon, and it still looks like I'll manage a night out with Simon.

Now I want to get myself a big djembe drum (my little one really pales in comparison) - and somehow find a way to go to the other five classes.

Off to visit a lost penguin

2011-06-25T07:49:00.005+12:00

This was one of those mixed blessing kind of situations.

On Monday, a juvenile emperor penguin was found far from home (it came from Antarctica, and had travelled about 4000kms) on one of our local beaches. Initially it was reported that the penguin was healthy and seemed to be doing well.

On Thursday evening he was still there, so we decided to take the kids for an early morning visit before school on the Friday. We woke the kids up while it was still dark (6.45 - not that early really lol), didn't tell them what kind of adventure we were going on, but to be dressed and ready to leave in 20mins. We made lunches for school bags, had toast and tea ready for consuming in the car on the way there, and were off. It's only a 20min drive up the coast to where the penguin was, so we had loads of time before we needed to be back for school, and to drop Simon at work.

Upon arriving, the light was still low, but there were plenty of other people with the same idea as us! Off we went for a short wander to find it (how convenient it decided to come in right near the beach access).

When we got there the penguin was sleeping and it wasn't looking too hopeful that we would get to see him stand up.

But, after about 10mins he stood up, had a shake and started stretching his neck and mouth. He looked a bit uncomfortable and like he had something stuck in his throat.

We got some neat photos (there was a makeshift barrier set up by this stage to give it a bit of space from people), then about 3-4mins later he lay back down again. We headed off to drop the kids to school.

Due to the low-light, and not wanting to use my flash, my photos weren't the best. However, I took a short video and was able to capture a shot from it as it came out much clearer.

As the day went on, I saw news reports that the penguin had declined in health from the previous days, and the zoo were brought in and took him away. I guess, being out of its natural habitat, and it not being that cold here, he couldn't really survive for long in the situation that he was (and had been eating sand and sticks). The latest report was that he has had some of the sand pumped from his stomach and will be going for surgery today). Hopefully the poor fella survives!

Who can resist a bit of a play at the beach - even if it is 8am on a chilly winter's day!

Lantern Festival

2011-06-24T08:50:00.000+12:00

Last night we joined up with some friends and went along to their Steiner school Lantern Festival.

It was a magical evening out (after having rained all day, we were fortunate it stayed away for the hour we were there). We were prepared for anything though, and were weather-proofed in our coats, hats and gumboots.

Wardrobe Wednesday - Winter

2011-06-22T09:01:00.002+12:00

I think this is turning into "the little charcoal cardy project" - much like the "little brown dress project" that I read about 4 years ago. It's not intentional, but I find myself popping this comfy wee thing on almost every day. It's warm enough for the winter weather, can be layered with extra merino tops underneath, the colour goes with everything in my wardrobe, and is great for with skirts, tunics, jeans etc. I wonder if anyone will notice whether I wear it every day or not? Most likely not - it's not like I see all the same people every day (aside from school). When I think about it, unless someone wears something that's particularly noticeable, unusual, or bright in colour, I'm not likely to notice either.

And I'm kind of partial to these brown corduroy trousers at the moment too going on the photo I took the day before...

Winter Solstice part 2

2011-06-21T21:03:00.002+12:00

This evening we had our family winter solstice celebration. I invited my parents over to join in our feast (they came last year as well) and we had a lovely relaxing time.

After school the kids and I gathered together some fresh greenery for part of the table display. We found all our candles and had them set up around the house to provide all the lighting we would need.

As we all sat down at the table in the dark, I lit our centre candle that represented our "family/sun". We then each shared special things that we appreciate about winter and what we love best. Then I lit my own candle using the centre candle, I lit Danielle's, she lit Simons, he lit Grampies, who then lit Nathan's, who then lit Nannie's.

We then ate our feast!

Oh, and I planted another 20 or so garlic cloves this morning as well!

The week that was...

2011-06-20T21:58:00.001+12:00

Last week went vey slowly - it felt quite strange having no commitments or catch ups with friends planned, no taking my Nan out shopping, no school parent-help required, it wasn't grocery shopping week, I had library books out...so I just cruised. The garden is doing it's own thing and there were no outstanding jobs I needed to do. Very ho-hum actually and not such a nice feeling really. Right at the end of the week things started to pick up pace!

~ Thursday night we all went down for our teacher-parent interviews at school. Was great to see that unschooling hasn't hindered them in any way lol, and both have been finalised for their year levels for next year (when we started I said I'd leave it up to the teachers and their professional opinions since I had no idea where either of them were at). Agewise, both are on the cusp with going either direction for year levels because of where their birthdays are - they are both in composite classes currently and will be again next year, so easy enough to shift around and work at their own level as needed.

~ I've sped through the 2nd Clan of the Cave Bear books - The Valley of the Horses. I've also started to read Nineteen Eighty Four as a break between starting the next in the series (The Mammoth Hunters). I've been wanting to read some of the classics for a while now, so that is my mission. Woohoo on picking a gloomy one to start with lol.

~ On Friday a friend invited me to her Steiner school shared assembly that morning. That was fun, and I got to catch up with and say hello to some of the women from our women's group.

~ We then went to the tip shop (haven' t done that for quite a while), and found myself a very cool, retro chair for in front of my fire - for $5. The green Queen Anne bedroom chair I had in front of the fire has returned to my little bedroom corner so I can enjoy the winter sun that streams in there at the moment. Unfortunately Simon sat on the new chair and one of the underneath springs went *sproing* (yes, sound effects and all - thanks Pippa lol). But looks like it can be fixed easily enough.

~ On Saturday a friend called up to see if I wanted to go to her place for a girl's DVD night, so that was fun. It had been a bit of a full-on day with getting Nathan sorted to go to a birthday party (including putting together a plate of gluten free food for him to take along) and needing to clean the Cub hall as per the roster.

~ Sunday saw us catching up with my parents for lunch before heading off for my winter solstice evening - looks like my mum will be heading off to Bourgainville in the Solomon Islands/Papua New Guinea on a volunteer job placement for 2yrs (business development and project management). She just needs to get the final signing off by the powers that be and a medical done and then she'll be off. I think it's very exciting for her to go off on an adventure like that at 60!

~ Today a friend came over so I could be her "student" as part of her yoga-teacher-training course. That was a pleasant way to spend my morning. Since I have a tickly cough still lingering from my flu, and she had a bit of a cold, I started off by making us both a cup of healing "hot lemonade" as per one of my winter lurgies recipes using lemon rind/juice, thyme, sage and honey - Yum!

Winter Solstice

2011-06-19T21:10:00.001+12:00

This evening our women's group had its winter solstice celebration. I helped organise it with a friend, so it felt extra special being a part of planning my first celebration to share with others.

We had a lovely gathering, followed by a shared meal. We brought along some greenery as decoration (symbolises continual, year-round, health and wellbeing), candles to welcome the longer days and return of light and warmth, and a little music, singing and drumming.

We'll have our own little family winter solstice on the 21st as well (the eve of the winter solstice) which we all look forward to.

Brrrrrr

2011-06-17T09:02:00.000+12:00

Well, last night we had our first frost of winter! It pretty much felt like it came out of nowhere (aside from the fact that it was so clear and still last night, it was a given I think). We've had such mild weather so far, mostly beautiful, calm days that warm the house, so I only need to light the fire about 4pm when the sun goes down behind the hill in front of our house. The full moon last night was also a stunner.

I might actually need to light the fire today, I also had to crack the ice on the chicken's water bowl and the car window took a bit of defrosting before heading off to school.

The kids went to school with extra layers and woolly hats, and I noticed Danielle enjoying "making smoke" with her breath as she wandered along the road to the school gates at drop off.

I really LOVE these types of winter days. So invigorating. I do look forward to the winter solstice though and the gradual return of the longer days. Now to light that fire...

Wednesday Wardrobe - Winter

2011-06-15T08:48:00.000+12:00

Red top - hand-me-down from my mum (is darker than in photo)
Brown cord skirt - found for $1 in thrift shop and refashioned
Black tights - a few years old
Red Dr Marten boots

Black cardy - not worn in photo as I was still cooling down from doing the vacumming!

Appreciating those sunny winter days...

2011-06-14T09:24:00.001+12:00

Yesterday was one of those gorgeous, blue-sky days, but where the breeze was a quite chilly if you were in it.

The day started off with Simon walking the kids to school, and I stayed home and wiped the dripping condensation from the windows. I think one of those moisture systems would be quite nice at times like this! When I was younger I didn't realise that windows/houses benefited from being wiped down in the morning (I thought people did it to look good lol). Since we've had some heavy rain for days on end, I was needing to set up the drying racks inside the house to get our clothes dry - adding to the moisture in the morning! One benefit of wiping down the windows in the morning is that my windows remain clean throughout winter haha.

We then got out in the garden for further cleaning up, and then caught up on airing out, folding and hanging out more washing.

The afternoon was one of relaxation on my part (lying on my bed in the sun with a cuppa and a book), while Simon felt a bit more energetic and went out for a training ride for 1.5hrs.

While Simon picked the kids up from school, I thought I'd have a little afternoon tea all prepared for them on their return. It's not often that can happen since I'm the one collecting them!

I was sad to hear that our poor old Christchurch was hit with another 2 large aftershocks that had more buildings collapsing, streets seeping liquifaction, and people injured. :( When will it end?

The garden over the weekend...

2011-06-13T10:46:00.002+12:00

I felt inspired to get out into my herb garden yesterday (before the rain came). It's looking really good, and fillling out nicely now, so minimal weeding is required. The borage, calendula and yarrow that seeded over late summer have really filled in a lot of the gaps. The bright colour from the calendulas, violets, feverfew, borage and rainbow chard continue to brighten things up.

I took these photos this morning - it's started off as a sparkling, shining one with a gorgeous blue sky!

I also gave the chicken coop a much needed clean out. We've had a LOT of rain, and things have gotten really soggy and gross in there. So, once all that poopy-straw (with masses of lovely wormies in it) was shovelled out and added to the winter garden beds (with blue lupin in them), Simon went down and laid down some fresh straw.

The far bed on the right of the path has the garlic, the middle is where my vege seedlings are going, and the front bed has some onions. The beds on the left have the blue lupin.

The wild strawberries I was given a few weeks ago and coming along well. In fact, all my strawberry plants are looking fantastic and filled with flowers and growing fruit.

My hanging basket in my front porch has some lovely bright colour draping over the sides now. Love the vibrant colours of the lobelia and the pansies together.

Banana Boats and hot chocolate

2011-06-12T18:57:00.000+12:00

After dinner I noticed that the fire had died down a bit and that it had some lovely hot embers glowing. I thought it would be neat to wrap up some bananas in foil and pop them in to cook. I sliced them open and dropped in some drinking chocolate (recipe below), wrapped them up and put them on the hot embers for about 5mins.

Mmmmm....

I've never made these before - mostly due to the absence of tinfoil. I don't usually buy foil, but for some reason got some a few weeks ago, so it was nice to do this as a wee treat.

I have been making our own drinking chocolate for about 6 years now. When Nathan could no longer drink most of the store-bought drinking chocolates due to the gluten in them, I searched around the net for recipes.

This is a fairly standard one, and is good because the kids can make it up themselves very quickly.

Into a jar I fill 1/3 with cocoa, and 2/3 with milk powder (gives it a creamier taste adding powder rather than just relying on the milk in the drink). This mixture doesn't have sugar, so isn't very nice when it's made as a hot chocolate (but the kids don't mind it when they drink it cold), so we add sugar to taste if needed. If premixing and wanting to use sugar, I make it as 1/4 sugar, 1/4 cocoa, and 1/2 milk powder.

There are other blends that alter the flavour a bit - the addition of vanilla pods, or other spices such as cinnamon or nutmeg, and even chili for a Mexican hot chocolate.

One of those throw-together meals...

2011-06-10T07:37:00.003+12:00

The cupboards were beginning to appear bare (my fortnightly shopping day is due today). Although I knew that that were plenty of meals to be cooked from what we had, I was feeling less than inspired with what I saw. After going through the freezer I found a container with half a tin of coconut cream, another with frozen tomatoes, and a chicken breast and thought I would be able to throw together a tasty and nutritious curry. So, out came a tin of chickpeas, an onion, a potato, the rice and the spices - and I had my meal.

A trip out to the garden for a large handful of silverbeet and we were good to go.

The seven stars...

2011-06-09T08:15:00.001+12:00

I've been wanting to make a set of cute candle holders with the kids to represent the coming winter solstice and the return of the light and longer days. I proposed 5 as a number, but then Nathan suggested that we make 7 to represent the 7 stars of Matariki - the Maori New Year.

We made the holders using salt dough, and then baked them till hard (removed the candles and left the holders in place while they baked). Apparently though, while sitting on the table that night (before decorating), the dog thought they would make a tasty treat...fortunately I was able to fix up the one chewed holder with a little left over dough (and replaced the munted candle/foil holder!).

We then decorated them with water paints, sequens and paua pieces.

Wednesday Wardrobe - Winter

2011-06-08T09:40:00.000+12:00

I've been enjoying wearing this wool skirt for laxing around the house in the weekend. My mum gave it to me a few years back (someone had given it to her as they'd shrunk it, but it didn't fit her either). It's made from a lovely boiled wool fabric.

Purple wool skirt (hand me down)
Charcoal woollen cardy (TM purchase)
Purple merino scarfette (made by me)
Ugg boots (my winter staple indoor footwear, a few years old)

All scarfed up

2011-06-07T08:29:00.000+12:00

Once I was on the better side of being sick I was able to power away through my scarf (and had memorised the pattern by that time, so could sit in front of the fire completing it and not rely on the computer for seeing what I had to do). Unfortunately I ran out of wool and not too much chance of finding anymore. So, I decided to call it a scarfette or neck wrap and for now have a kilt-pin to hold it all together until I come up with some other idea.

The week of nothing much...

2011-06-06T09:51:00.001+12:00

Hmmm, well I haven't really been up to much aside from resting and regaining energy.

I've been reading a few books though...Walking to Mercury by Starhawk (lent to me by a friend) and I'm halfway through Clan of the Cave Bear.

My seedlings from a few months back are looking awesome and ready to be transplanted into the garden. My 2nd lot of seedlings are now ready to repot and I have put another lot of seeds up. Feels good to be back into a routine of successional planting.

Most of the garlics are up and looking good, and I'll then put another lot in on the winter solstice.

The kids have been busy with a variety of things - Danielle's class went off and did plantings for Arbor Day during the week. Nathan's Cubs group have been working on emergency preparedness. Over the weekend, Simon took the kids out for a walk in one of the local public farmland reserve areas and got completely soaked from a downpour, but they had a great time nonetheless.

I enjoyed watching the Sherlock Holmes series on TV.

Yummy salads

2011-06-03T08:22:00.000+12:00

Now that I've fully recovered from the flu I had (aside from the lingering cough), my appetite seems to have returned after a week of not really eating. Yesterday I had a sudden craving for good, fresh, raw and cold vegetables to go with the rest of my dinner. I had seen a recipe for a 'tri-colour salad' in one of my new cookbooks, and planned to get what I needed with my weekly vege shop.

Beetroot and homemade mayo salad (very nice!)

Carrot and toasted spices (not bad, but will cut back the salt required)
Watercress salad (nice too, only I didn't want to pay $4 for watercress so used my own lettuce from the garden). I do have some packets of watercress seeds though that I have been meaning to grow.

Wednesday Wardrobe - Autumn/Winter

2011-06-01T08:32:00.000+12:00

Well, it's winter today according to the calendar, but in recent years I have been thinking of our season changes occuring with the equinoxes and solstices. So, for me, winter really starts to feel like winter starting from the winter solstice on the 21st June.

~ Brown crochet hat - was my nana's and looking kind of old and pilled
~ Charcoal wool zip-up cardy - found on TradeMe about 3yrs ago. Is my go-to cardy for an added layer.
~ Sea-green t-shirt - a good couple of years old
~ Brown corduroy skirt - a thrift shop find for $1 in a large size that I scaled down to my size.
~ Black tights - a few years old
~ Green Doc Marten boots
~ Green corduroy bag - handmade by me a few years ago

Jerusalem Artichokes and other garden additions

2011-05-31T08:52:00.000+12:00

When I was away at my last women's weekend, I was chatting with a woman I've known for a few years through my Transition Towns network (was a lovely surprise seeing her there), and we got to talking about our garden efforts. She was saying she had a load of Jerusalem Artichokes that they have been enjoying, and take minimal work to grow, and offered for me to come around and take some away. So yesterday, after feeling mostly better, the kids and I popped around to her place for a visit.

I recall finding these in my organic vegetable box a few years back. I first thought they were ginger root, but upon snapping a piece off I realised it wasn't. A phone call to my mum had her IDing it in one of her vegetable encyclopedia type books.

I found this interesting article that has a good explanation about how it grows and what conditions it likes and dislikes. I do have a suitable area in the garden where I can put them, so any tubers left behind that decide to sprout up, can do so without concern of it taking over the area. I roasted some up for dinner and will keep some for trying a few other ways and that should still leave a good amount to plant out in a wee while.

I also came away with some wild strawberries, nasturtium seeds, and miner's lettuce. Pretty rapt about having some edible ground covers to pop in.

Losing the plot on this parenting lark...

2011-05-30T08:16:00.000+12:00

It's been interesting to me, to notice quite a dramatic change in our family dynamics, the dynamics between the kids and their general demeaner since starting school. While I initially "blamed" school for all this disruption and out-of-kilter behaviour, I also realised that I hadn't moved with the times nor switched my way of dealing with the kids.

Whether it was due to being time-scheduled to be places on time, coordinating different things we wanted to do, or just generally hanging out around the house, I have really been noticing an imbalance going on.

The kids were squabbling more (they went from the occasional niggle that they'd problem solve and sort out themselves), to full-on squabbling, yelling, and grumping what felt like ALL THE TIME. And of course, I was then responding in kind by also raising my voice and grumping back at them. Whoa!

So, we sat down with the kids a few weekends ago and had a bit of a chat about how they were feeling about the constant disharmony and anger that was going on. I asked if they'd noticed that they didn't play easily or solve problems a lot anymore. When it turned into "but, N/D does this/that" I questioned them whether blaming the other was really solving the problem? We discussed personal responsibility. They got it (or rather, remembered). I had suggested, instead of one waiting for the other to get started (getting dressed/helping dry dishes/tidying up toys/put shoes on/feed the chickens), that they just do what is required because they know that it's the right thing to do or because it's something that needs to be done for themselves or the family. Don't focus on the other person or what they're doing - the competition and comparing was driving me (and them I'm sure) nuts. It was almost immediate the way that they could reframe their approach and attitude. Of course, it will take a little work on our part to ensure that we also respectfully deal with them, have patience, listen, help problem solve rather than dictate, and get more into-the-moment with them again.

None of this is new to me, but gosh, it can be hard work to maintain and remember when the situation changes drastically. I guess I just hadn't caught up with the changes that school life had brought to our family, and it got to a bit of a critical point for me to realise that we all needed a refresher course in finding a better way forward. After an online discussion about this exact topic a week or so ago, it really all started to come clear what needed to be done (and realise that most people hit the wall occasionally on where and how to go forward, no matter their parenting style).

I pulled out The Parents Tao Te Ching again and had a wee read. I liked this one - although our parenting philosophy is already based on no rewards or punishment, I needed the reminder to guide without controlling.

You can control your children
through threats and punishments
and they will learn to fear.
You can control their behaviour
by praise and reward
and they will learn to look outside themselves
for approval and for worth.
You can watch over their every movement,
every action, every decision,
making sure they do it "right",
and they will learn to always
doubt themselves.
Or you can love and guide
without controlling and interfering
and they will learn to trust themselves.

::~::

We've had a lovely week, and noticed a lot of positive changes all round.

Wah! Who heals the healer?

2011-05-29T09:15:00.005+12:00

Yeah, I know, mums get sick and we just need to carry on - and I guess over the past 8yrs I've been very fortunate on that front. But after the 4 days that have just gone past, I really was left thinking, "who looks after me?" Now, that sounds more pity-party and poor-me than actually what I mean. I thought, it's all very well that *I'm* learning about the natural healing properties of herbs, and know what I need to do for the rest of my family, but it doesn't really factor in looking after me.

I got to thinking that when the kids are sick I cuddle, snuggle, find herbal teas for them, offer soothing honeys, provide nourishing food and drink, and generally "nurse" them through an illness. But the person offering all of this often misses out on reciprocal treatment.

So after being down with the flu (not really fair after being laid low with Strep throat only 6wks ago), and not being able to help myself much, I think I need to write up a little healing manual for my family to refer to for times just like this...

Yesterday we were blessed with a lovely blue sky and warm, healing sunshine. So the kids and I spent a good amount of time out there around lunchtime soaking up the sunrays and producing a good dose of vitamin D, which we have probably all been starting to run thin on with the shorter days, and lower angled sun.

Hopefully we've had a headstart and will have a fairly bug-free winter now?

Learning about Ayurveda

2011-05-27T08:09:00.005+12:00

I have a friend who was showing me her books on Ayurveda earlier in the week. We did the quiz in the book and I came out strongly Pitta/Kapha. Since I know nothing about the Ayurveda philosophy (aside from having heard about it at various times over the years), I decided to get a stack of books from the library a few days back.

One thing that stood out to me is that my "type" really needs to cut back on onions, garlic and hot spices. What is interesting to me about this, is that we eat a variety of these most nights and I was keen to see if cooking appropriate recipes for my type (and incidentally, Simon is the same dual-type as me) would make me feel different. And since I'm all for finding some new recipes, I look forward to finding some new recipes. Of course, as per my usual, I will need to wait till shopping day to buy particular ingredients I need (shopping day is today).

Has anyone followed an Ayurvedic diet at any stage, and how did you find it?

Herbs from the Earth's Children Series

2011-05-26T08:25:00.000+12:00

Well, my mum and Simon have/are both making their way through the Clan of the Cave Bear series now that the 6th book has been released. My mum's just finished them all and was mentioning how she'd like to go through the books again and take out all the herbal medicine references and then do a bit of study to see whether they stack up to what the herbal experts actually say (and I'm pretty sure they will be well researched and spot on).

I remember reading Clan of the Cave Bear when I was about 13-14 (25yrs ago!) and being fascinated and intrigued with the use of herbs for natural healing back then (and even remember having a discussion with my mum about the herbs and their uses). Or maybe my memory's good because it was my first exposure to porn fiction... ;)

Since I haven't yet started to re-read the series, I thought I might be able to take note of all the herbal references as I go...of course I thought I'd check Google first as I was sure that somebody out there has probably already done that! And yes, there are many online references.

Still sounds an interesting wee project though.

Wednesday wardrobe - Autumn

2011-05-25T08:00:00.010+12:00

~ Green and black wrap dress off TradeMe from a few years ago $5
~ Black 100% wool cardy from TradeMe a few years back <$10
~ Black pants - a few years old
~ Ballet shoes - 5yrs old.

A new crochet project...

2011-05-24T08:57:00.000+12:00

I have really taken a leap from basic fingerless gloves and beenies! I decided I really wanted a different looking scarf and spent some time searching Ravelry to find a free pattern. I had a lovely 10ply wool in a stormy purple in my stash that I've been wanting to find an appropriate project for, and finally found something that looked suitable.

Hmmm...well, it seems that it must have been rated by really experienced crocheters lol, coz even though it was rated on the easy end of the scale of 1-10, it sure is stretching my pattern reading skills! I can see there is a bit of a pattern occuring, but equally, I know I've messed up my interpretation a few times. I figured it doesn't really matter so much since it's a scarf, and I still like the way that it's working up.

Maybe I'll have it figured out by the time I'm finished!

Ginger Beer!

2011-05-23T08:27:00.001+12:00

Yum! I first made ginger beer about 3.5yrs ago and made a few batches, but didn't continue.

So after watching River Cottage Every Day last week, I decided to get all my gear out, sterilise it all, and make up a batch with the kids after school. We set the bucket in the laundry for a few days to do its thing before bottling it up.

Shaking in the tsp of sugar at the end

Within 2 days, the bottles were firm enough, indicating that it was ready (I kept the box of bottles next to the fire in our lounge to give them enough warmth). We popped them in the fridge, which stops the yeast action, and enjoyed! The kids weren't too keen on this batch, but Simon and I liked it.

Chit chat stuff from around the garden and out-and-about

2011-05-22T08:04:00.004+12:00

Well, my first lot of garlic is now in the garden. I wasn't too impressed with my pesky chickens coming along right behind me and scratching them out again though! They weren't after the garlic, rather just the soil that I'd disturbed - and then a little fantail started to flitter around the garden too hoping to get any little insects. So, after chasing them off a few times (and replanting the garlic twice), I put them back in their coop. They're all looking a bit bald and scruffy at the moment due to moulting.

I then discovered some Saffron corms in my garden. My mum gave me a handful last year, which I planted but kept forgetting about. A few weeks back my mum called all excited telling me to go down and check to see if the there were any flowers ready to pick, as she'd discovered some in her garden. Sadly, I couldn't see a thing and thought I'd killed them off (or accidentally weeded them out). But, when I was there weeding the onion patch I noticed them again (and pulled them up in case the chickens came along and pulled them out too!), but maybe I should have left them and they might have flowered?? So they're back in the ground again and hopefully they'll continue to increase in number as this lot already have.

My seedlings are coming along nicely, as well as my current seed tray. So far I'm having better success with the seeds germinating. Loving having my greenhouse right under my clothesline - it certainly doesn't suffer from lack of attention there!

Look at this cute picture I took while out during the week. Some elderly women at the local Arts and Crafts centre just down the road from had decorated (keeping warm lol) the trees outside their building. I saw them stitching them on earlier in the week.

The sun continued to shine yesterday morning, so the kids and I went down to the markets and bought some fruit and veges for the week. It was also a good opportunity to get the ripstik and scooter out of the car for a play.

We bottled up the ginger beer, so that's happily sitting and continuing to brew.

A gorgeous almost-winter day

2011-05-21T08:20:00.000+12:00

After school on Wednesday I took the kids for a little bush walk to a local reserve. It was a beautifully clear, blue-skied day (albeit pretty chilly) and just begged to be enjoyed for as long as possible. We didn't do the whole walk and climb up the top of the hill, just played around in the lower part under all the Nikau palms.

Another wintry meal or two

2011-05-20T07:38:00.000+12:00

Once our household returned to normal after the weekend, and after the icky bugs were gone, I got out my library cookbooks again for a bit of inspiration.

I had bought some fish (frozen) and mushrooms at the supermarket last week - I don't normally buy either of these ingredients, not because I'm particularly adverse to them, they just seem to fall outside of my "normal". So, out came the Irish Folklore book again, and I found the recipe that had me buying the fish and the mushrooms for. Fish Pie - yes very ordinary! I've made fish pie a few times, but the kids just weren't into it, so I think I just didn't bother again - until now.

It used a lot of pots and it called for quite a bit of preparation time (not usually my thing to be in the kitchen for a length of time), but it was super yummy. Both kids ate it, so a success I'd say.

I then made another visit to the library and grabbed a few more books. A couple of gluten free ones (I was particularly interested in reading up about Fructose malabsorption, and this author takes that into account in her recipes) as well as a River Cottage one. I've been watching the current River Cottage series on TV and really enjoying it - I even have a batch of ginger beer on the go at the moment.

Tonight's dinner was a Chicken Casserole from one of the GF books and handily used up my remaining mushrooms. Also a success!

A home blessing...a few wee violets...and a lovely bit of sunshine

2011-05-19T08:11:00.001+12:00

Now that the virus that Nathan had seems to have left the house (fingers crossed the rest of us have avoided it), it felt right to give our home a bit of a clean and charge it up with a bit of healing energy.

The house has been feeling grimey, furry, cobwebby and generally dirty. I think the murky weird weather has contributed (it has been quite mild and warmish, but just so damp feeling), as well as our woodburner being in use most days. So I decided to get back into a bit of a modified Flylady routine (just the zones, I don't do the daily things she suggests). I have done her programme off and on over the last 7yrs and found it really good when I've been in the groove of it, but easily fall off the wagon.

At the first sign of sunshine (although very windy and pretty cold), I opened the door to air out any lingering dampness (the windows have started to get condensation in the mornings). The washing was hung out and the dishes all done (still dishwasherless...still zen about it...). While out hanging up the washing, which is positioned in my herb/cottage garden, I gathered up a lovely little handful of sweet violet flowers that I noticed have just started to peek through to join the heartsease violets.

(A few days back I really got a headstart on the deep cleaning - I was doing a bit of phone catch up with my mum and a friend and spent over the 3hrs (!) on the phone, but managed to simultaneously wash the windows, tidy up the bedrooms and living areas, dusted, did the dishes, hung out washing (then got it in again as it started to rain), swept away cobwebs, and scrubbed the kitchen floor around the skirting!)

I then got down to mopping the floors since they were freshly vacuumed. I don't think I have ever bought floor disinfectant and usually just use hot water with a big splash of white vinegar in it (and to be honest, I'm a really hopeless floor mopper and it gets done *really* infrequently). But, it felt like as good a time as any, so I put a splash of Thieves Oil (and a little milk to emulsify the oil so it dispersed into the water rather than settling on top as a glob of oil) into my hot water. I discovered Thieves Oil a few years ago. No idea if it works, but it seems a nice little thing to do.

The story (one version of many) goes that back during one of the plagues throughout history, and there were dying and dead people lying in the streets or in their homes, that a group of thieves would go around and rob the bodies of their possessions. There was wonder how these thieves didn't also die from the disease. The story goes that they rubbed a certain group of herbs over their bodies to ward off illness. The blend used, which contain anti-bacterial and anti-viral properties, are Rosemary, Eucalyptus, Lemon, Clove, and Cinnamon.

So anyway, it is a lovely aromatic blend. I sometimes use it when I clean the bathroom (I add it to my baking soda bottle), or add a few drops to floor mopping water, and I even like to set a dish of water on my woodburner at night time and drop a few drops into the water to gently infuse the room with its fragrance (and reputedly sanitise the air).

The recipe I use (and only make up a small amount at a time, so use a 1/2 tsp for my part measure):

3 parts clove oil

3 parts lemon oil

3 parts cinnamon oil

1 part eucalyptus oil

1 part rosemary oil

So, wishing my home and inhabitants good health and good cheer, I was done!

Wednesday wardrobe - autumn

2011-05-18T07:49:00.005+12:00

I never said this was a fashionista Wednesday wardrobe eh? LOL. My Wednesday wardrobes are my own eco-conscious meets what-I-like-so-I-wore-it kind of posts. So, my blog features a bit of greenie version. Not beautiful organic or fairtrade (some of which I drool over), but rather, hand-me-down, thrift shop, 2nd hand, and mixing old with new.

I prefer non-new clothing for several reasons:

~ Someone else has washed all the nasty chemicals out of the clothes for me.
~ They have been pre-shrunk and you know what it's going to look like after 5 washes
~ Often great quality and excellent condition for a fraction of the original cost
~ More opportunity for finding quirky or unusual pieces
~ I'm reusing, repurposing, refashioning to increase the life of clothing. Therefore, not using new materials, fuel or energy to make or transport it.

I don't have any hard and fast rules I stick to, so will have new things that I buy each season (t-shirts are a biggy since they can look stretched or shrunk or faded after 6mths of wear).

~ Handmade green woollen hat
~ Purple t-shirt from last Spring
~ Green and purple patterned skirt from TM - was a designer test piece I picked up for about $5
~ My comfy old jeans
~ Old birkenstocks

Chook space

2011-05-17T09:05:00.000+12:00

Back in 2007, I read Linda Woodrow's The Permaculture Home Garden and got all enthused about getting chooks. I was super keen to get started, but felt that the dome style coop was a bit unattainable for us at that time (and I really wanted to use recycled materials from around our home as much as possible). So I designed a square coop 2m x 2m and just under 1m high. We had quite a large bamboo grove with thick bamboo growing in it. So we chopped them down, sawed them to length, and I went about lashing and cable tying them together. Simon then went through with and put cross bars at the corners with screws, bought some chicken wire, found some thick plastic wrap in the garage to wrap around the back half, attached some corrugated iron on for a roof over half of it, closed off a part for the roosting/nest area and it was good to go. Well, 4yrs later we still have the original coop and it's still going strong.

Initially, we moved it around the yard as a tractor and the chickens remained cooped and content on their fresh patches of greens munching and scratching away. My first year of gardening saw us with fantastic crops and healthy soil. I then started to find it tricky to maintain the crop rotation and successional planting though, so the chickens eventually got "parked" up on the side of the beds and just moved up and down the yard as required, but no longer directly placed over the garden beds (my growing times seemed to be quite a bit longer and I couldn't really get it to match up easily).

All the moving around meant that the coop did sustain a bit of wear and tear from our lumpy, uneven ground, and the bamboo stakes snapped in a few places. It was around this time that I decided to go with a fixed area for the coop (the chickens were basically free ranging all day by this stage), so we weren't getting contained "poop" to benefit from. So, after choosing our spot, and deciding to provide them with a better "house", we worked on attaching the kids unused plastic playhouse to the back. It was perfect in that it had a door to lead through to the original coop, several windows for gaining access to eggs and scooping out the poo, and could be fitted onto the back of the coop with minimal modification (with a perch fitted inside between the walls). Super easy and still works really well. The only issue we have when there has been torrential rain (once or twice a year), is that the area they are in is prone to surface flooding for a few days. This is something we may need to reassess if it continues to happen.

I went down to get some recent photos and discovered my camera battery was flat...

Winter herbal medicine chest

2011-05-16T08:48:00.000+12:00

I've been thinking about making up some remedies to have on hand as winter moves closer, and lurgies start to move through the community.

The garden seems to be having a good little burst of energy at the moment; it must be the mild weather and plenty of rain. I've been trawling through my books and course work to see what I can prepare ahead of time. I suffer a mild asthma during seasonal changes (such as right now, autumn). I rarely need to use an inhaler and it passes eventually, but I want to experiment a little and see if I can find some herbal remedies to stop the cough I tend to get as the first sign, which then can make me a little tight in the chest and breathless.

I went to the organic shop on Friday and found some lovely big garlic bulbs. I saved the outer large cloves for planting in the garden this weekend (this will be the first planting), and the inner cloves I used for my garlic honey along with my leftover cloves from last year's harvest that are really too fiddley for cooking with.
On Saturday, the kids and I set to work making a few of these up and discussed where the herbs are found in our garden (they're getting pretty good at knowing the herbs and their uses too).

A basketful of chickweed, plantain, comfrey, and sweet violet leaves.

Sage honey...good for coughs, fevers, colds and flu.

Garlic honey for soothing sore throats and good for the immune system. Has the same uses as sage honey (coughs, fevers, colds and flu)... Good for asthma symptoms. A teaspoon mixed with a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar into a glass or water or juice would be a good choice too.

Sage, thyme, lemon rind, lemon juice, honey drunk as a hot lemonade (the sage honey would be useful for adding straight in here). Great for colds, sore throats, and fevers. I love this one, and it's one of the first comforting, soothing things I do.

Violet leaf infusion soothes lungs: good for coughs and asthma (gathered fresh violet leaves for drying to make infusions).

Plantain/comfrey/chickweed salve: wound healer, skin conditions, eczema. My mum asked for something that could help with itchy patches of skin she gets, so I thought I'd have a go at making a salve. It came out perfectly! I started by making a maceration the herbs (infusing in olive oil by setting them to slow cook in the crockpot for a few hours). I then bottled up the remaining oil (strained out the herbs) to use in future salves (it will last 6-12mths). to the melted wax/maceration mixture I added some calendula tincture I made late last year and some lavender essential oil.

The jar of galic cloves are awaiting some runny honey.

Herbal teas: Yesterday I had a fevering, tired boy with no idea what was going on (aside from a one off vomit early in the morning and a headache). I started him off with a drink of hot ginger syrup with some vitamin C powder for the nausea. Then out came my Naturally Healthy Babies and Children by Aviva Romm book. I made him up a tea using fresh herbs and weeds from the garden to help with allowing the fever do its job, restoring health, relaxing and soothing the stomach. He chose one with lemon balm, and I added to it some violet and yarrow leaves.

Other standard first aid kit items I keep on hand are: 20% Active Manuka honey, Colloidal Silver, lemons, garlic, apple cider vinegar, and vitamin C powder.

Mmmmmm...Chai Tea...

2011-05-15T07:30:00.004+12:00

Over the years I have had chai tea a few times (and there was the memorable moment when I was invited to the home of an Indian friend back in my early 20s, and his wife asked if I'd like a cup of tea ... it took me by surprise and wasn't what I was expecting lol). I've been meaning to make it for years and after visiting a friend earlier in the week and drinking chai with her, I decided to finally give it a go.

I phoned my mum who always seems to have bulk spices (she goes to the Indian supermarket on the other side of the city), so after school we popped around to cook up a pot.

The recipe I used called for ginger, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, black peppercorns

This version was made without black tea (it was a recipe for kids). However, I had intended on adding the tea since I figure my kids are old enough to have the occasional cup, only I forgot lol. So, I will attempt that again another time.

Danielle wasn't so keen on hers, but Nathan drunk down several cupfuls (he moved on from this mini-cup to a larger one!).

My mum then made us a pot of Chinese Blooming Tea. Very nice - cleansing and refreshing.

Refreshing some skills...

2011-05-14T07:29:00.000+12:00

I taught myself how to crochet a few years back using YouTube tutorials (knitwitch has some good ones). I have only made a couple of beenies and a pair of fingerless gloves. I had been getting an itch to pick up my hooks again and do a wee winter project. I really wanted another pair of fingerless gloves, and this time, one that has thumbs rather than just a hole to put my thumbs through. I found this cool free pattern a few nights back and made a start using a ball of variegated wool I had hanging around. It crocheted up really quickly, and the instructions were good for my learner skills (although I did need to learn a new stitch for casting on) and within about 5hrs going at a relaxed pace (and taking time out to pick up the kids from school, putting away chickens, hanging up washing etc) I had them made. I'm really pleased with them.

Around the home and garden over past week...

2011-05-14T07:25:00.001+12:00

Chickens: I bought a new bale of straw for the chicken coop. We've had a lot of rain over the past few weeks and things are getting pretty soggy down there. So, after a good clean out and fresh straw they were back in happily kicking around. Needing to throw a lot of extra greens into the coop to give them something extra to nibble on now that they're contained for more hours (with putting them away a little earlier so they don't roost in the trees).

Seedlings: I potted up my seedlings since they have reached the two-leaf stage - it appears that I had mixed success with the broccoli and cauliflower seeds so repeated these with a fresh packet.

Garlic: Making plans to buy some garlic for planting in about 2 weeks time. I'll also do another lot on the Winter Solstice.

Seeds: Sowing more above ground leafy green seeds as per my lunar calendar.

Herb/Weed ID: I've been wanting to find some mullein to get a visual ID on, and make sure I don't mix it up with foxglove. Well, I was fortunate when away for my first women's weekend that I was able to ask a fellow wild weed user to point them out for me - perfect!

Technology: Well, it seems the kids finally have a game console that brings them into the 2010s. My mum the Baby-Boomer is more onto it than us lol. She gifted Nathan one of her WiiFits (she had 2!) for his birthday. Last year he got her hand-me-down digital camera that was better quality than my one lol. I've not really been hanging out for them to have something like this, but it is kind of nice that they aren't the completely missing out due my own disinterest. So I can see a bit of a game-buying session coming on.

A little bit of handcraft

2011-05-14T07:25:00.000+12:00

I've been searching for a simple little handcraft that I can easily pick up and put down. After being inspired over at Watching Kereru with the gorgeous little hearts Jacinda and her girls have been making, I went on a hunt for suitable materials.

My first stop was at the Salvation Army to sift through the drawers of buttons. I only had plain and boring at home and wanted some cute little bits of colour. I then made a phone call to a friend who has been making winter coats for her girls from old woollen blankets, to see if she had any scraps she could spare. I then had a heap of embroidery thread that came to me with all my nana's sewing bits and I was set to go.

On one particularly dreary day, I sat down in front of the fire and quietly stitched away.

Not too sure I'm going to do with them - but Danielle likes the idea of pinning them to one of her bed cushions as a cover which seems a great idea (and I pinned one onto one off her fabric hairbands). I thought they could also look cute on one of her winter coats, or woollen hat or her bag.

These will be a neat little project for the kids to have a try at as well in the winter days ahead...

Wednesday wardrobe - Autumn

2011-05-11T09:23:00.001+12:00

I've had a few opportunities to pull out my woolly hat lately. I had my mum make this for me last winter and I really enjoyed wearing it. I'd bought the wool in a co-op and had the pattern all picked out (it's a 10ply/double knit). I still really love it this winter (and it's green hehe), so look forward to more chilly days to wear it!

It got lots of use while away over the weekend and had its job cut out as a rain-hat, a keep-my-head-warm-hat, and a keep-manky-greasy-hair-out-of-my-face-and-covered-up-hat haha. Now just got to see if the bonfire smell disappears on its own...

Special outdoor spaces...my little herb haven

2011-05-10T09:15:00.006+12:00

I spotted a few cheery, bright spots out in the herb garden a few days back. They sure are appreciated as the weather cools (and the days look dreary) and as some of the plants are starting to look spindly and tired.

Strangely, the heratsease violets aren't really visible unless the photo is expanded.

Calendulas, Heartsease, and red stalks of the Ruby Chard/Silverbeet.

Thought I'd do an update photo of the herb garden to see how it progresses through the seasons.

Left

Middle

Right

So, alongside all the herbs/weeds that I've bought seedlings for, or propagated cuttings (rose geranium, other geranium, rosemary, evening primrose) or entire bits of plants uprooted and replanted (red clover, forget-me-nots, feverfew), I'm also cultivating some wild weeds that have made their own way there. I have patches of plantain, chickweed, nettle, heartsease, sweet violet, kawakawa, and dandelion.

I'm now loving how the calendulas and borages have popped up all over the place too to fill the gaps. I only need to do minimal weeding these days. Any gaps get vegetables planted in them like silverbeet, spinach, lettuces, and peas (and tomatoes in summer). The garden is also perfectly situated to catch all the autumn leaves dropping off the trees that hang over the fence that add a nice mulch layer for winter.

A weekend of outdoor fun for all...

2011-05-09T08:11:00.002+12:00

On Sunday, Simon took the kids over to Wainuiomata so Nathan could ride in the Bike Jams. He rode in the Bike Jams for the first time last year and really enjoyed it. This year's course was a bit longer (being a year older), and a bit more challenging. I was a bit sad about missing out, but they had loads of fun. Danielle rode on Simon's bike on the bike seat attached to his front bar, and they rode at the back of the pack while Nathan rode on where he was comfortable. It's not a competition, just a friendly ride with kids of similar age and ability.

Me? I had another women's weekend away. This one was a bit closer to home, but equally surprising and pleasant. Music, singing, sharing stories, campfire, delicious food, sleeping in a yurt... I went along thinking I didn't "know" anyone, but, as I have been finding more and more lately with people I meet, our lives seems to be interwoven and full of synchronicity. And there were many I recognised from around my community and was given the opportunity to get to know better.

Then Mother's Day dinner around at my mum's.

A yummy, fulfilling weekend all round.

A 2nd Autumn birthday...

2011-05-07T09:17:00.000+12:00

Mr Nathan is turning 8 next week. Due to a very full May and one of his good buddies moving away tomorrow, we chose to celebrate his birthday last night. He decided to have a couple of friends over for a DVD night - that included homemade pizza and chips, ice cream cake, toasting marshmallows and a sleepover! Danielle had her own sleepover at a friend's house (her first too with non-family).

This little light...

2011-05-06T07:47:00.000+12:00

Last week we gathered some lovely leaves from a friend's house, bought them home and flattened them under heavy books for a few hours (we still wanted them pliable to work with rather than dry and crispy) and then created some lanterns I've been wanting to do once we had some autumn leaves.

First up we pasted the leaves onto the jars. I then went on and pasted ripped up pieces of tissue paper onto my one for a different effect. We will locate some wire to attach around the tops.

Changing seasons and a changing menu...

2011-05-05T08:52:00.000+12:00

Now that the weather's cooled off for good, I've been having the feeling of really needing to change the types of foods we're eating. While I've been bringing back some of our cooler weather meals, I've been kind of bored with the same ol', same ol'.

When we went to the library on Tuesday I decided to grab a bunch of books to draw a bit of inspiration from.

The Feeding the Whole Family book was one I had my
library purchase a few years back.

I really liked the idea of a couple of the seasonal books I found, including the Irish Food and Folklore one. Having a bit of Irish blood in me, I'm always drawn to a good old potato recipe (and this book doesn't fail me!).

I was presented with a slight challenge in that I wanted to use what food I had available in the pantry and freezer. Since I only grocery shop once a fortnight and don't step foot in a supermarket or dairy in between times, I needed to find recipes that suited what we had (and I only shopped last Friday). Next shopping day I can plan my shopping list around what I decide I'm going to give a go. Wasn't too tricky as we eat fairly traditionally anyway and generally have a good range of spices in the pantry, fresh herbs growing in the garden, and other basic ingredients on hand - especially potatoes ;). I was a bit pressed when it came to the Ox Tongue or Lamb's Liver recipes though... :P

First up was Irish Farmhouse Bake and Meat Loaf served with broccoli - nothing unusual there, and fairly ordinary, but meatloaf is something I have only made once or twice (I just used some fresh gluten free bread for the crumbs). Not the best meal for those on a reduced calorie diet lol, but it went down well and tasted goooood!

The kids were keen to help out, and a bit of boogying in the kitchen to U2 was just the thing.

Last night was an Irish Stew cooked in the crockpot - so once again, nothing too out of the ordinary, but did have me using the chops in a different way that I usually do.

I already have my eye on making a few of the vegetarian meals, but will need to wait tll shopping day for them as I need to get some more parmesan and arborio rice. If I can find some prunes and a kumara in the pantry, I think I'll make the Chickpea and Sweet Potato Stew tonight.

Wednesday wardrobe - Autumn

2011-05-04T08:17:00.000+12:00

Terribly blurry photo lol.

Black/marled Fin Pants (6yrs old)
Charcoal/black stripey l/s top (one of two new tops I replaced for winter)
Black t-shirt with green print - trade me purchase a few years back from someone doing their own screen prints
Grey sketcher sneakers - 6mths old, bought on clearance

Happenings from the past week and idle chat...

2011-05-03T07:52:00.002+12:00

Hanging out time:
~ We've just completed 2 wks of school holidays. Our first! We had a lovely low-key holidays - mostly hanging out at home together, playing board games on rainy days in front of the fire, catching up with friends, stargazing on clear nights, a trip to the art and culture museum, a bit of crafting, and catching up with our unschooling friends (Danielle declared to them that she is a School Kid AND a Homeschooled Kid - she wants to claim both labels still lol).

Blokus - a game for adults as well as children, where once you know the
rules and figure out how to make strategic moves, age is not an advantage.

~ Apple Magic: Find the secret inside.

~ Nathan pondered whether Kapiti Island (just off our coastline) is taller than the Eiffel Tower - so we did a bit of googling and found out that Kapiti Island is 197m taller.

Garden:
~ Minimal garden happenings this week - my seedlings are coming along well (when I remember to water them and take them out/or air out the greenhouse so they don't overheat). Chicken coop got a clean out and poop added to one of the garden beds in preparation for my seedlings when they are a bit older.

~ Continuing to harvest enough silverbeet to bulk out and add to most meals. Feijoas appear to be coming to an end - but we've gorged ourselves every day and haven't had any excess (aside from sharing with friends we visit).

~ Chickens are off the lay for winter it seems.

~ Simon's built a bike shed. The kids bikes used to live up on our covered porch by the front door - but now that the table and chairs are there, the bikes have just been shunted around. Since this photo was taken he's added a wooden post up the side and top to protect us from the the sharp edges. He's left the bottom section open so it doesn't get too damp in there. It's a long shed and the open end will mean that it should be mostly sheltered from any rain driving in in that direction. And that's my poor very under-used bike in there too.

Around the home stuff:

~ Ick, tax pack has arrived to complete. And homeschooling paperwork to claim a bit of "payment" for the part term when we were still homeschooling. I won't go on too much about the parking fine when we met up with a friend elsewhere and forgot to check for limited-time parking signs! Oops.

Herbal Healing:

~ A friend had a nasty cat-bite on her hand. After being tended to by the doctor and medicated up, I also suggested the chickweed poultice for the swelling. After 2hrs of having the poultice on she said she noticed the swelling down and could move her fingers more than she could before. The wounds also oozed a little as Susun Weed said would likely happen.

~ I had my third chickweed success in as many weeks - Danielle got 3 huge mozzie bites on her ankle over the weekend that really swelled up the whole area and itched like crazy. After returning from being away for the night, I popped a handful of chickweed on and wrapped it up for a few hours. Voila! Upon removing it 2hrs later, we discovered the swelling had completely disappeared.

~ And another chickweed story. I really seem to be attracting these! Nathan came home from school with a sprained ankle yesterday - painful and quite swollen. So at bedtime (for some reason it still seems to take a while for my brain to click in that I could be using something herbal instead of doing nothing), off I trotted to gather some chickweed and a bit of plantain, which also has anti-inflammatory properties. I crushed and broke it up and strapped it on as before. The swelling was downa bit and will repeat it again. Love that stuff. I reckon I've well and truly learnt a good deal about chickweed now.

We've dubbed the white cloth (old nappy cut up into squares) and one of Simon's
stretchy sweat straps from inside his bike helmet as the chickweed wraps.

Seedy Art

2011-05-02T09:03:00.000+12:00

When I cut open our lovely pumpkin last week, Nathan and I scooped out the seeds, gave them a good wash, and dried them (and kept some for growing more pumpkins later in the year).

We then attempted to dye them. Not so successful. I tried two methods - one was using food colouring, but that didn't absorb. The other was using tempura powder paint mixed up - a little more colour (but really only external, not soaked in).

Was still fun, and off they went creating pictures with them...

A weekend of nourishment

2011-05-01T15:40:00.003+12:00

The Lodge at the French Village in Carterton

I went away for the weekend with a group of wonderful women and had a fantastic time! Spending time sharing, laughing, relaxing, and connecting.

Great music and entertainment (I'd never heard of Steampunk-style dance/costume/music/theatre - but it was super cool to watch), great food and wine, cosy woodfire, and a beautifully tranquil bush walk. Bliss!

Check out that gorgeous bright blue sky we had. The following morning was overcast with a light mist sitting in the valley that was equally as spectacular.

Special spaces - the little touches

2011-04-29T07:43:00.001+12:00

I love making little crafts for around the home. I'm not into stitching type crafts such as embroidery or cross stitch (although I was when I was in my early 20s), but like to try out different materials and crafts.

Large wall hanging in my dining room that I made about 8yrs ago and set paua pieces on it (perhaps a bit out of date, but I still like it)

String of bright-coloured felted balls I made a few years back that I have across one of our bedroom walls

Cute glass jars with dried twiggy/branch things in them

Woven kete that my mum made me

Danielle's paper bunting in her bedroom. It's a few years old now, but still adds colour and cheer to her room.

Our small home - random thoughts and storage solutions

2011-04-28T07:22:00.008+12:00

As mentioned in a previous post, we have a lovely small home of about 101 sq m (1087 sq ft) - not including our garage, deck, and porch. And we have no intention of moving or upsizing. It's not that it's new, modern, or in perfect condition (it's none of the above) - it just has a feel about and is in a location that I really feel quite happy and settled in.

While this would be considered a "first home", there isn't a lot of reason for us to go bigger. We have 3 small double bedrooms, two living areas (although not closed off as the house if fairly open-plan), two toilets (one shares with a shower and the other shares with a bathtub), and a decent sized laundry and kitchen. While we don't have a spare room for that "home office", or "study", or "guest bedroom", or "craft/sewing room", I figure that one day we will - two in fact! lol

I love the area we live in. It's in walking distance to a few local shops, beaches, cafes, parks, school, Keas/Cubs, and friends' houses. It's also an older, more established part of town which just gives it so much character and community. Our section is an original Kiwi 1/4 acre with loads of space for the kids to have their outdoor play, trees to climb, and plenty of space for vege and herb gardens and for keeping chickens.

And more in its favour, I have recently found out that our snug little area is tucked into a 'tsunami safe' zone (depending on the size of it I guess) despite being right near the beach.

What more could we want?

Well, for one, storage solutions have always been a bit of a challenge! Fortunately, I am a bit of a declutterer and always have been. So I don't have years of stuff still hanging around and don't tend to accumulate much stuff even when settled in a home for a while (although it still amazes me how I manage to donate a box or two every 3-4mths??). This has still meant it's been tricky finding places for basic things such as: the vacuum cleaner, the freezer, the dog's bed, kids toys, books, books, books, shoes/bags/coats, ironing board (where is that thing?), guest bedding, travel bags, craft/sewing supplies, and generally anything over and above day-to-day living items!

But over the years, and as our needs change, we have found solutions that are both practical as well as not creating an eye-sore.

The kids toys have gone through several transformations. When they were littler, we had most of their toys in a portion of the lounge as I preferred they were out with us playing rather than tucked away in their bedrooms (plus, they just much preferred to be where we were). As they've gotten older, we've been able to reallocate toys to their rooms, where now we really only have the dollshouse and boardgames in a part of the living room behind the couches where we don't have to look at them while relaxing (Nathan's Lego has just moved).

Then there's the laundry. We were able to close off one door from the hallway. On the laundry side it created a space perfect for the upright freezer with the vacuum cleaner squeezed down beside it (and a drying rack slid down the other side). Opposite that in front of the back door we have the dog's bed. I also have a small cabinet squished in there for my herbs and sewing paraphenalia. It really isn't the most practical of rooms, and things certainly need a bit of shuffling around to make it all fit.

On the other side of that laundry/hallway door I have recently hung up a door-mounted hook arrangement to hang coats and bags, and underneath that, a shelf for all our shoes (these were relocated from the messy front door arrangement).

In my hallway I had a large shelf unit with all my sewing fabrics on it - exposed to the world (where the shoe rack now is)! While it was good to have easy access to them and find what I wanted, it really bugged me that they were "all out there". So we also recently managed to get this into one half of Danielle's wardrobe (her wardrobe actually has a bunch of stuff that doesn't belong to her).

A wide hallway makes it possible to use the hallway for storage.

This scotch chest holds other crafting materials, kids crafting materials, stationery and has a few small miscellaneous junk drawers (I need to have one or two of these to store those bits and bobs until they can be reallocated).

Then there's our room. When we bought this place 9yrs ago we remodelled our wardrobe. We had several deep shelves put in up high. These store our camping sleeping bags, guest bedding, travel bags, christmas decorations, and anything else that needs a home!

So it really is a shuffling exercise, but I also think it keeps us on our toes to not accumulate and really assess just what we bring into our home. Fortunately we have a small garage to use as a temporary dumping zone before sorting (it can't stay in here too long as it's used for Simon's bikes and our tools and garden stuff etc).

Wednesday wardrobe - Autumn

2011-04-27T08:41:00.000+12:00

Basic black long-sleeve T
Brown knit - hand-me-down from my mum
Comfy old jeans
Old Birkenstocks

Gardening and home happenings from the past week...

2011-04-26T08:52:00.000+12:00

Chickens: I've had to make sure I get down to the garden to put the chickens away by around 4pm lately. If we leave it any later they climb the pear tree and prepare to roost for the night. Then we spend ages encouraging them down again so they're safely inside for the night (and also it stops them squawking loudly early in the morning). I did leave one chicken up the tree one night as she wouldn't budge and it was dark already, only problem is at daybreak she flew down and then proceeded to stand at the outside of the coop calling the other two!

Seeds: I've found that some of my packets of seeds must be no good. Several varieties didn't germinate - only problem is I don't know which packets are the problem (I have several open ones of each). I will need to make sure I keep them aside next time to see which ones are the dodgy ones so I can toss them out. We had gusty winds last night, so I sent Simon outside to strap the little greenhouse to the washing line pole it's up against.

Handy little fire-starters: Our lovely Cabbage Tree drops a large amount of dead leaves. I read a while back about gathering all the leaves together and tying them up into bundles and using them as kindling/tinder to get the fire started. I used one of the bunches last night and it worked great!

Buying power: We switched to Powershop a few months ago after being cold-called on the phone. I usually don't like to receive calls like this, but I'm not particularly loyal to my power company, and I must have been in the mood to listen to their speil. It's kinda fun purchasing the specials for power in advance, and so far have partly-purchased right up to December (eek to the $300 worth of purchases I made though to get the long-term savings). We haven't really been with them long enough at this stage to see if we will be saving much money though. We are low-energy users, which means we use less than 8000kw per year, but they guarantee a savings of around $10 per month from memory. Our power bills year-round only fluctuate between $90-130 per month. Even if I factored in the cost of buying firewood for 7-8mths of use, our average year-round monthly energy bill would be around $150 which is pretty good really when I hear of some $300-$400 winter bills!

Further fire-safety: Danielle's been really bothered by the house-fire story of a few weeks back, so I've been really working on trying to reassure her. We went over the plan again, and I also removed the security latches off the kids windows so they are free opening now. The phone call to the alarm company confirmed my suspicions - the only way to check our mains-wired alarm is to test it with smoke. They suggested buying a can of smoke from a hardware shop, but I realised I'd overheated my oil till smoking point during the week so Simon used that held up under it. Yep, that set it off.

Pumpkins: I didn't intentionally grow any pumpkins over summer, but I had quite a few pop up as per usual. I had one lovely looking pumpkin that I've not seen before (and therefore no seeds in the compost to pop up). I cut it open on Sunday to make a yummy pumpkin soup for lunch. We kept all the seeds from inside so I could a/ grow some this year, and b/ save the seeds for doing an Autumn craft with the kids. I can see this will be a once off craft - even with Nathan helping me, cleaning and washing the seeds took ages lol.

Easter Weekend

2011-04-25T15:34:00.000+12:00

Good Friday we had a bit of a slow start to the day. The kids were busy making plans on what we could do as a family and decided a nice walk and picnic lunch was just the thing. I was still a bit fuzzy headed, but thought the gentle walk, fresh air and sunshine would be just what I needed. It's was quite a lovely, mild day and the sun was out.

I had my eye out on wild weed/herb foraging spots to visit later in the year. I've seen a lot of what I'm fairly certain is mullein here, but want to come back later in the year to see it flowering to be sure it's not foxglove! I haven't got up close and personal with either of these plants yet to do a proper comparison.

Easter Satuday: The kids and I had a quiet day at home (and I decluttered their rooms). A friend and her daughter popped in late afternoon for a play (while the mums had a glass of wine!).

Easter Sunday: This kind of passed us by and I even forgot to get Easter eggs for the kids! (Although, they still had saved stashes each from a birthday party they went to a few weeks back and came home with a bit of a haul after having an egg hunt.) Simon took the kids out for a bike ride late morning and I made a yummy pupkin soup (using one of ours) for lunch. Dinner included more of the pumpkin roasted up and some of our own frozen runner beans - they were delish!

Today, Easter Monday as well as ANZAC day, Simon and the kids headed off for an ANZAC citizen's parade (I wasn't prepared as Danielle wasn't going to go, but changed her mind last minute). Nathan's Keas/Cubs group were joining in the procession to commemorate this important day in New Zealand history. We had a friend and her boys visit for relaxing lunch.

An all-round nice relaxing weekend.

Twitching fingers ... decluttering time again

2011-04-24T08:14:00.006+12:00

This seems to just hit me from out of the blue every now and again (maybe it's been triggered from being laid-low for a few days). And when it does hit, it does so in a big way. I did a huge declutter a couple of years ago and it felt great (not that I'm really a hoarder, just things just seem to accumulate without being shifted out when they could have). I tend to trust that as we need things, that they will find their way to us, and they generally do. I've only regretted a couple of things that I've gotten rid of, and even then, it's more an inconvenience rather than a deep regret.

After watching the kids a few days back pushing their way past (and grumbling about) all the Lego in the lounge to get to the new little table I picked up a few weeks back, I asked Nathan if he had any other ideas on what to do about the Lego situation (it's usually just folded into a large play mat and pushed into the side of the wall unless we (I) feel like picking it completely up). He immediately suggested using a large container from his bedroom that currently holds Marble Run pieces. He said he doesn't play with it anymore (or enough) and to get rid of that and put the Lego in the bin, which can then be stored in his bedroom. I then asked if they wanted to go through all their toys and do a bit of a clear out since it's been a while. Well, the kids whooped and jumped for glee at the thought of doing that and proceeded to ask me when I was ready to get started lol.

So, while it was the addition of the little table in the corner that has caused the change in our needs, I can also recognise that we actually are due to move with the times and that the kids just are that bit older now at 6 and almost 8.

Danielle's room in particular is a bit overwhelming with bags, little bits and pieces, beads, play money and the likes. And a lot of things that don't really get played with or used (but often loaded into the little bags). I know it's going to be me in that case who needs to let go and trust that she knows what she does and doesn't want. She also seems to have more clothes than Nathan (and more than she really needs) - not because I've bought them for her, just that she gets hand-me-downs, which I am grateful for, that I then put into circulation even if they're not required.

Four hours later I emerged from their rooms. There was far less to get rid of that I expected (and mostly donatable), and realised, that what we have has been in our house for so long because a lot of what we have is just so open-ended in use and suitable for ages 2-6+ (with new things coming in as they become age appropriate - they just don't seem to have grown out of a lot of their things). Nathan still plays with his wooden train track and wooden blocks (he got the train track at age 3 and the blocks for his 1st birthday)! Neither are used in the same way they were originally, but still serve many purposes.

Still, it feels good to have gone through it all and given the dust bunnies a good chase out. We also found a few MIA items, so all good.

While we don't live in a minimalist home (and I don't strive for one as I like all my familiar and favourite bits out there to enjoy), I do like for (most) things to have a home and to be returned back there every day. We don't live in an immaculate home by far though! I have had to really think our storage systems over the years since we live in a fairly small home by modern standards with a floor space of approx. 101 sq m (1087 sq ft) with only two small storage cupboards - located in the laundry (one of them contains a few shelves for linen above the hot water cylinder). I like our small home though, and the way it is laid out really makes it seem a decent size, and allows us to use every part efficiently (not much space lost on the hallway for example, and where the hallway starts, it's wide, so can easily take a large scotch chest, coat/shoe/bag storage, and tall bookshelf without looking crowded). I think I might do another post on some of my storage solutions that we've tried out over the years (I'm also a constant rearranger!).

Easter seems to have passed us by this year...we didn't do any specific crafting, and the kids just had some chocolate eggs that we'd saved from an egg hunt a few weeks back (they came home with so many that it just made sense to put some away!) LOL.

Crafting and recuperating...

2011-04-23T07:15:00.008+12:00

A few weeks ago the kids and I gathered a range of stones from the beach in preparation for this craft. It was a gorgeous day and the kids spent the afternoon after school playing in the stream and sand before heading home to make dinner.

I had the flu earlier this week (first week of school holidays, which was a bit of a let-down for the kids) and it really had me out of action for one of the days (I haven't had anything like it since my early 20s when I recall not being able to get out of bed/off the couch and could only doze). Fortunately the kids are pretty self-sufficient and could get themselves food and entertain themselves all day (and then did the necessary chores like feeding/putting the chickens away, lighting the fire, and putting baked potatoes on for dinner so Simon to finish cooking when he got home from work), and I already had my Tuesday's blog post on what I'd been up to all written up lol. On one of my recovery days we decided to get the stones out and give this a go (despite the fact that it was a gorgeous Autumn day outside when we'd much rather be exporing and playing ... but oh well ... at least we got to sit in the sun!).

Hot Rocks with melted wax...

Instructions found here at 5 Orange Potatoes. We only had one minor burn, but yay for the Aloe Vera plant that lives on our outdoor table that was able to be used immediately.

Fast food

2011-04-22T08:00:00.001+12:00

I have a standard 'fast food' meal that I tend to cook once a week - and I try to keep it seasonal. We have one day where we're out of the house and not home till 5.45pm. Although Nathan's gym class isn't till late afternoon, I've been picking the kids up straight from school and do a bunch of errands or go to the library to try and use our fuel economically. I will probably start doing a crockpot soon though, now that it's getting colder.

When asked by the kids "what's for dinner?", my reply is "the pasta tomatoey dish". Always received with a "Yum!".

A large tin (or 2 small) tins of tomatoes (or fresh if in season)

1 large onion

2 cloves of garlic

Fresh seasonal vegetables - grated courgette, finely chopped silverbeet/spinach/chard, broccoli pieces, capsicum, etc

About 1 T of fresh herbs (I usually use oregano, parsley and thyme and some dried basil)

A packet of GF pasta

It's as simple as sauteeing up the onion and garlic, adding in the tomatoes, veges, herbs, season with a bit of sugar (brings out the flavour of the tomatoes) and salt if desired. Meanwhile cook up the pasta and toss it into the tomato sauce when done. That's about 15-20mins all up.

Special spaces in my home - calm spaces

2011-04-21T07:47:00.007+12:00

We all need quiet, calming spaces in our homes. For some it's bedrooms, or outside under a tree, or snuggled up on the couch, or even sprawled out on the floor. This is my favourite at the moment as winter creeps closer and closer.

I recently added the green chair beside the fire (was previously in our bedroom).

It's been used frequently and really creates a more cosy area here.

This little area I set up for the kids. I often see Danielle sitting over here just chilling out and having a little rock (my very cool chair that came off Freecycle). Other kids that come to play have a sit and a little play with the drum.

I've not really been into ornamental plants. However, my poor old deck is really a very neglected space. It's just not in the flow of how we live and is quite exposed to the weather and loses the sun early. It is a large elevated space outside our lounge though (that overlooks the back garden) and just looks barren and lifeless - so I decided to add a few hardy plants to liven it up.

Wednesday wardrobe - Autumn

2011-04-20T07:39:00.005+12:00

I'm wearing:

My other pair of new boots in red.
Same 2nd hand pants (these seem to be my winter staple even though I'm sure I'm about 2yrs out of date!
A black long sleeve that I recently purchased to replace a very embarassingly holey one I've been wearing for 10yrs (see my sewing post where I'm wearing a black merino with holes all up the arms (!) with the merino dress I made...).
A deep/brick red (it's quite a bit darker than in the photo) top that came as a hand-me-down from my mum.
Oh, and just because you really want to know, I wear Thunderpants undies everyday. They rock. They are the best. They never go up your butt, and they never lose their stretch (I'm up to about 5yrs old on several of them lol). They are fully made in NZ made (although the fibre is imported and then made into fabric here in NZ). A bit spensy, but totally worth the money since you will get so many years of use out of them! Cheaper knock-offs just don't cut it (I did give it a go, but they really aren't the same (aside from the cut) if you have worn both).

What I've been up to over the past week...

2011-04-19T07:51:00.008+12:00

Lighting fires: I've rediscovered the upside-down fire. I first heard about these last winter and had great success with them. You basically build the fire the opposite of what we typically think. So, instead of building a teepee style fire with paper on the bottom, then kindling, then a few larger chunks directed up into a point, you layer your items the opposite. Start with large pieces of wood layered across the bottom of the fire (tightely nestled together all paralell). Then lay a few sheets of newspaper flat across that (or torn into strips). Then layer some kindling across. Then more paper. The instructions suggest using firestarters at this point. I don't use fire starters though, and have found if I put my kindling on top lightly layers with scrunched up paper it works just as well.

The idea is that the fire starts at the top and drops hot embers down in the lower layers that then proceed to light up (providing you can keep the top on fire long enough which is why I suppose they suggest firestarters). The real benefit kicks in when the bottom layer catches fire. It seems to burn nice and long and hot and actually takes much longer for it to burn through, so you are not having to keep an eye on your fire when you first light it. It will go for a few hours before you need to top it up.

Here's a pretty good link on how to do it (aside from all the manly man talk).

Garden: My lupin seeds have all sprouted (I hope they don't look too enticing to the chickens).

Laundry: We've had a few wet days and it's meant that the drying racks need to come out. I really try and avoid putting the racks up in the house during winter to avoid adding moisture to our home. But, sometimes it just can't be avoided (as it is I only do one load of washing evey 2 days).

Walking to school: We've managed to walk to school, on average, 4 days a week. It takes us about 15mins with me walking at a fast pace, and the kids on their scooters. It's great exercise for me since it's my only exercise aside from gardening. I really hope to keep that up when the weather takes a turn, but we'll see. As it is, I only use about a 1/3 a tank of petrol a fortnight (and that's in my itty bitty little car).

Technology: I have finally stepped (just a baby step) into the 2000s as far as technology goes. My mum got me a basic iPod for my birthday. I'm not really one to listen to music all the time, nor one to race out and get the newest and latest in technology. I much prefer the sounds of nature around me when I'm out gardening, and my own headspace when at home. I do like music, just don't seem to crave it as others do, but I have been really wanting to listen to quite a few podcasts over the years and finally, now I can! It never appealed to me to sit at the computer and listen to them since I'm not really into needlework crafts that require me to sit, so I never really had the opportunity before. I have several Susun Weed discussions on CD that I want to listen to, and have now found that she does podcasts too. So, I can now do that while doing housework, or even on my walk home from school on my own. Oh, and I have loaded all my music CDs onto it as well, for a bit of light relief between interviews. :)

DVD watching: The kids went to stay at my parents on Saturday night and Simon and I went out for a meal for my birthday. We grabbed some DVDs on the way home, to settle for a night in front of the fire, with the rain pattering down outside.

Oops, heartburn hit me. So, out came the fennel seeds for a cup of soothing tea.

Spending time with special people...

2011-04-18T08:45:00.006+12:00

Grandparents: The kids stayed at Nannie and Grampie's for the night on Saturday night. They had fun helping make dinner, had a spa, then in the morning prepared morning tea for me and Simon as we arrived back to pick them up.

Danielle was busy looking at an awesome pop-up dinosaur book that my mum has. She then wondered if she could make a pop-up book too. Nannie, who has been well-educated on unschooling over the years, didn't fob her off as I was (coffee and muffins were calling my name), and went to see what she could turn up on Google. So they made some pop up cards that seemed to satisfy Danielle's desire to recreate the pop up book. This then inspired Nathan to make his own, and upon getting home, the crafting continued ... all afternoon...

Nannie then sent through a link via email with loads of other pop-up ideas for them to work on.

Monday date-day: Now that the kids are at school, Simon and I have Monday to ourselves. I could say that we don't know what to do with ourselves, but that isn't true.

It's kind of like having a date-day once a week. Or like those weekend days before you had kids.

We potter around doing some morning chores, sort out organising things around the house that need tending to (phone call to bank, another to sort out the broken dishwasher, replacing blown bulbs, odd house maintenance jobs that just aren't important enough to spend time doing but quietly start to bug you (me hehe), garden jobs etc). Then it's close to lunchtime, so we go out for lunch (we've discovered at 2 for 1 gourmet pizza deal at the Mediterranean Food Warehouse on a Monday, or we grab something from the bakery and sit down at the beach for a chat). Being gluten free the rest of the time, it feels a real treat to actually go out for lunch without wondering what is GF or about the cost to feed all of us. Then it's home again to potter until school pick up time. One of us picks the kids up from school and walks Nathan to Keas, and then continue the walk (scooter) home with Danielle.

Although it's the start of the school holidays today (yay! have really been looking forward to having the kids home), that's been our little ritual for the past 6 wks!

Extended family: Now that the kids are at school, I've been helping out my old Nan who has Parkinson's. I've been taking her out once a week to run any errands that she has (bank, shopping, library, etc) as well as checking in with her on an as-needed basis. It's been really pleasant to hang out with her and have more indepth chats and getting to know her on a deeper level. It's quite different than when the kids are around. They are pretty good at entertainment, but it has also meant that the conversations that I had with Nan remained on a superficial level. So, that's been a nice way to fill a few hours a week.

Herbal healing - Chickweed

2011-04-17T07:16:00.010+12:00

Not a great picture - the chickweed in my garden is only starting to come through after a
hot, dry summer. I actually had trouble finding some to take a photo.

I had the opportunity to use chickweed a few nights ago.

Simon came off his mountain bike a few days ago and gave his knee a good whack (no external abrasions). All was well, if just a bit sore from the bang, but two days later his joint was sore, flaming red, and hot. It was obvious there was inflammation, but I was also a bit concerned there could be some sort of internal infection brewing. First up he drew around the red area (it was about 15cm long and 7-8cm wide just to the lower side of the knee), just so we could keep an eye on it. I then thought to pull out my herbal books to see if a poultice could help (it was 11pm Friday afterall, so really just a wait and see anyhow since he was otherwise fine). Susun Weed suggested a chickweed poultice as being particularly useful for sore, painful, "hot", and inflamed joints (the saponins in the chickweed has the ability to open cells and draw out infection).

So, off out to the garden we went and gathered up a large handful of chickweed (I had weeded around a patch just a few days before so knew right where to go). We laid it over the red area (just lightly crushed in my hand, and it was already wet from the rain), wrapped a cotton cloth over it and secured it on with a piece of strapping and safety pin. Susun suggests that 10mins to 3hrs is all that is required. Simon went off to bed and I said he could remove it if he woke later on (which happened to be about 2hrs later). In the morning we had a look and there wasn't a trace of redness and the swelling had gone down.

I guess it's entirely possible that this would have been the outcome without the poultice, but it was good to know that it didn't "fail" either.

Chickweed has many uses including treating inflammatory skin conditions (hives, eczema, itchiness, abrasions and wounds, boils, burns), colds and flus (dissolves and expectorates thickened membranes), stomach ulcers, inflammed bowels, sore eyes (conjunctivitis).

Edible: It can also be added to salads (the tender young bits are best), made into pesto, added to green smoothies or in place of spinach in a hot dish. It's packed with nutrients - sure makes sense to use a "weed" that seems to grow freely in most gardens without effort!

Special spaces - my herb room

2011-04-16T09:00:00.007+12:00

I have a tiny space set aside for dealing with my herbs. I needed somewhere dry, airy, and without direct sunlight to lay out or hang my herbs to dry. I found the perfect little space in a corner of the laundry. I managed to squish an old oak set of drawers that came from my Nana into a gap beside the washing machine (the drawers themselves actually hold all my sewing bits and pieces such as threads, buttons, pin cushion, and other odd bits and pieces). I put up a wee shelf with hooks and can use the windowsill for added storage.

Right across from it I cleared a shelf in my linen cupboard for further storage. It's a great space as it opens directly from my kitchen, with its useful benches and other utensils easily at hand.

Shelf space for glass jars, dried herbs (this photo was taken before summer, and that shelf is now full of jars of dried herbs that I gathered), vodka for tinctures, paper bags for storing herbs that aren't good in jars, and a muslin cloth that I use when foraging or for laying my herbs on to dry (and also useful for straining when I made Cleavers Lemonade). Check out the cute detailed wooden boxes that came from an old Singer sewing machine table.

Gluten free lunches

2011-04-15T07:17:00.003+12:00

Considering my blog gets a lot of traffic from those seeking information about the GAPS diet, I thought I'd do a foodie post about something that affects us everyday. But first, just to explain why we did the GAPS diet ... I had Nathan on the GAPS diet 2.5yrs ago when I aimed to heal his suspected leaky gut (perhaps as a consequence of having damage from eating gluten prior to his coeliac diagnosis). We had ended up in hospital with his kidneys not working (of unknown causes - so frustrating to have no answers to that one except a name of the condition based on a bunch of symptoms rather than a known cause - idiopathic is the name they give to that kind of situation) and it was a time that I decided to reassess if I could be doing all that I could health-wise

The GAPS diet includes eating entirely fresh prepared foods due to the nature of the restrictions - no grains of any description, no starch (ie potatoes), no dairy (just for a limited time), and no sugar. The reason for the diet was one of those long-shot kind of things that could really only do good, and although not directly related to kidney function, I wanted to take a deeper look at his immune function and the way that he processed his food. (As an update on the Nephrotic Syndrome - he's been all good. Had one relapse a year ago (successfully and quickly treated) and fine since then. Here's to a further 4yrs of no relapses and he can then be considered to have outgrown that unfortunate childhood illness.)

Back to the nature of this post. Nathan has Coeliacs disease and was diagnosed when he was 2.5yrs old, which means that he needs to be on a 100% GF diet for the rest of his life. The good news is that this is the "cure" to the disease, so it's not a big deal in the big scheme of things (just frustrating at times), and we are fortunate that he doesn't suffer any life threatening repercussions if he were to consume something containing gluten (just a big tummy ache and negative consequences in the long-term if done repeatedly) - although we've not stuffed up on a big-scale as far as I'm aware, and certainly not even a trace for a long time.

So, I thought I'd now do a post on what I cook/prepare for lunches and snacks.

Since starting school, our lunches in particular have changed quite dramatically. Firstly, I have discovered that making GF lunches is much easier and cheaper than what I expected. This is the first time ever that he has been "allowed" to eat gluten free bread every day. I used to ration it because it's sooooo expensive and since I was feeding 3 of us at home for lunch, I wasn't about to make several meals, so we all ate GF lunches. But a cooked lunch I did still make to avoid the sandwich trap - hence the cost and the headache!

I don't find GF bread to be very nice at being sandwich bread (tends to be hard and dry even when fresh). However, with school lunches, I initially thought I'd give him 2 x slices of bread as a part of his lunch until I figured out what to do. But it's actually working out quite well. And he's not fussy about the bread - he likes it even.

Here's what his lunch-bag contains every day:

~ I make the bread into toasted mousetraps (GF marmite-alternative with grated cheese and then grilled) and he eats them cold.

~ Half a homemade GF muffin

~ Container of homemade popcorn

~ A few dehydrated apple slices

~ A piece of fruit (feijoas, apple, pear or banana depending on season)

~ A small GF biscuit that I buy

Weekend lunches include:

~ Baked beans (one that doesn't contain wheat)

~ Rice noodle omelette

~ Vegetable fritatta

~ Corn fritters

~ Sandwiches using corn thins and filled with salad/eggs etc

~ Homemade pizza with sauce, bacon and cheese

~ GF scones or fresh made bread

Snacks include:

~ Fruit

~ Carrot sticks

~ Corn thins with peanut butter

~ Popcorn

Dinner:

Well, these are fairly straightforward if you're cooking from scratch. We basically eat the same as what we used to with just a few modifications. GF pasta instead of wheat pasta, rice noodles instead of any other sort of noodles/spaghetti, no packet/jar sauces (although there is a growing range of products that just happen to have no gluten in them - not specifically marketed or priced as GF, just the manufacturers must realise they will tap a larger part of the market if they replace wheat thickeners with corn thickeners), plain corn chips for nachos rather than flavoured, tamari sauce instead of soy sauce, etc.

So, although my wee fella's suffered a few medical conditions in his short life, he's actually very healthy and robust when his kidney's are functioning as they should and he doesn't eat any gluten!

PS: Gosh, what a long rambly post!