Independence Days Update

Garden:
Finally got some garlic cloves into the ground. Will do another lot in a week or so (shortest day). I also bought a few packets of seedlings from the supermarket last week so have popped in some more brassica's, lettuces and spinach.

My mum gave me some more seedlings she'd rescued from her BIL's herb nursery. So I planted out some more sage and spinach.

Home sweet home:
I'm pretty much Flyladying again (let's see how long that lasts!). I'm certainly not as methodical as what they suggest, but it helps me work on little areas frequently rather than deciding on spending a whole weekend doing about 2mths worth of deep-cleaning.

I felt the urge to rearrange - again... This time it was the front porch and the laundry.

Stocking up:
I did a big grocery shop last week to keep our pantry and freezer full! Feels so good. Of course, I need to make sure it actually lasts the month that I've bought for instead of eating it all in 3wks...

Last night Simon and my step-dad went and picked up a couple of lambs from their farmer friend who owes my parents some money for a vehicle - but they're quite happy to receive payment in meat. So Simon spent this morning processing that for the freezer. I also made up a large pot of stock that is now frozen in litre sized containers.

The day was sunny...
So the kids spent half the day outside while Simon spent the afternoon chopping and stacking our new lot of firewood (I was out doing a bunch of errands I'd been saving up including replacing our stolen recycling bin grrrr). I then took the kids down the road for a ride on bikes (Danielle is just getting the swing of riding her two-wheeler (with trainers) so we'll try and do that more often).

Community:
I received a newsletter in the mailbox the other day from our local Residents Group. I belong to it but have not been to any meetings in the 2yrs we've belonged. They put a call out for interested parties to let them know if we'd like to be responsible for a fruit or nut tree on our front grassed area next to the road. They are working with the local council on planting up our area with edible fruit/nuts. Totally into that.

Saturday night a friend came over and we walked down to the local cafe for dessert and a glass of wine. A lovely night for a walk too - and surely all part of supporting our commuity? Seemed that winter had taken a hike for a few days (we've even had a few nights where it's hit 5pm, sun had been shining and warming the house and we hadn't even thought of putting the fire on, no super cold over night temps and so didn't bother - tonight is one of them!).