these days

last week (yes i am a bit behind)...

returning from our tropical holiday we spent a few days in adelaide... visiting family and friends... exploring other peoples gardens... admiring rusty hued autumn streetscapes... collecting fallen leaves and crunching them underfoot... enjoying a bit of late autumn before returning home...

1&2. visiting an amazing overgrown apple orchard to pick our own fruit.

3. the "clubhouse" that sits beside the private bowling green at nanna and pop's place has seen better days but i thought it looked gorgeous clothed in autumn leaves.

4. the earthy hues of well weathered wood.

5. sisters, off exploring together.

6. rusty iron, just as lovely as weathered wood.

7. nearly bare branches set against a beautiful bright blue sky with fluffy white clouds floating gracefully by...

8. jessica in the wisteria tunnel at the botanical gardens... always wanting to explore but making sure mum isn't far behind.

9. i probably couldn't tell you enough how much i love autumn and autumn leaves.

10. babycino contentment!

11. yes i really do love autumn and autumn leaves.

12. "i want to go to the rose garden mum". this girl doesn't forget much. it has been months since we have been here yet this is what she said when i mentioned we were going to the botanical gardens. we wandered dreamily for ages... smelling the roses... before having to rush off to save the car from a parking ticket!

13. the yellow roses are always my favourites.

baking today

today jessica and i baked some ANZAC biscuits.

one can only imagine how those young men in a far off country felt when they received a package from home with these delicious biscuits inside, re veered for their keeping qualities.

i always use my nanna's recipe, i am a sentimental soul, although i change the quantities of the sugar and butter. less sugar, more butter to make them spread thin while they cook. my nanna taught me to bake with this recipe, i taught my older girls with it and now i teach my youngest.

in the garden

mid autumn...

 a busy time. while others may start winding down their gardens for the cooler months, now is the prefect time for growing in our area. the days are still warm enough to promote fast and healthy growth and often with night there comes a dew that helps to keep up the moisture content of the soil. calm soft breezes and sunny days provide great growing conditions. another bonus during the autumn months is the lack of hungry bugs and birds around although i am always on the look out for the snails.

it has still been quite dry here and we are so fortunate to have plenty of water. our garden is lovely and green and the lack of shady trees not so missed at the moment.

i have grown plenty of seedlings from seed this season and with a top up of seedlings from the nursery the vegetable beds are full. we have all sorts of asian greens, broccoli, rocket, lettuces, carrots, leeks, coriander, beetroot, kale, spinach and silver beet, radishes, dill (to be used in wonderful fish soups this winter, yum!) dandelion greens, parsley, chives and celery. the only plants not doing too well are the peas, they all sprouted so well but have since gone yellow and some have even died. maybe the salt air is not agreeing with them.

plenty of garlic has been planted and is just poking their sweet little green spears through the soil. last year we had a wonderful harvest of around sixty heads of garlic. i have used some of that harvest and planted out over 140 cloves this year. as we still have quite a bit left i am hoping it will see us through and we won't have to buy any. after this year's harvest we will surely have enough for our family for an entire year.

thinking of my daughter's love of picking flowers (oh and mine too!) i have planted many seedlings of flowers. i have no idea when these will actually be flowering. it will look wonderful if they all flower at once however that is unlikely, i think. i am never that clever. larkspurs, ranaculas, poppies, sweet william, pansies (which the snails ate for dinner one night), stocks, sweet peas, marigolds, cornflowers and nasturtium. seeds of hollyhock, tobacco plant and cosmos tossed to the wind, i care not where they choose to grow, just hoping they fill the garden. 

it has been such a happy time for me in the garden of late, i am much more grounded with my hands in the soil. slowly, slowly it is improving, the soil holding more water, full of worms, the grass cover helping to create a small cooling micro climate keeping the dust down, the weeds becoming fewer with each passing season.

i am trying hard to make my peace with this little plot we have right now and not expect so much from it, to work with it and to simply enjoy it.

these days

this week... 

although we are still having some warm days, there is a softness to the air, the sun isn't so harsh, the mornings and nights are cooler, socks and jumpers cast off mid morning and put back on in the evenings, calm almost windless days, perfect weather, autumn is truly here!

how fast this week has flown by but somehow time seems to have stood still as well... how can that be?

i have hardly held the camera in my hands this week so only few snaps.

1. a scene that will happen an hour earlier now that daylight savings has ended. the sun will shine in the window at 7.30 instead of 8.30 in the morning.

2. golden morning light shining on my new sewing/crafting room wall.

3. milk mustache before bedtime.

4. it has been years since i have had any plants in the house but now that i have a few i am really enjoying the freshness they bring (i just have to remember to water them!)

5. still loving the colour of my kitchen tiles. i especially like them at night in the glow of a dim light. they have certainly changed the mood of this room.

6. oh tilly dog! she gave us such a fright this week that saw us rush her to the vet 170 kilometres away at five in the afternoon. we didn't think we would be bringing her home again. when we got to the vet she was fine, we shook our heads in disbelief. it was not a fun afternoon! the next day at home she was back to her usual self, chasing chickens and digging up seedlings...

7. flower at sunset.

joining in with lovely Em.

these days

this week... some stills with a distinctly autumn tone to them.

we have had a slow week mostly at home, giving some much needed time to catch up on some things. (hence all the shots are once again from around our home). 

my eyes were drawn to earthy colours and by the end of the week it was starting to feel a little more like autumn around here. the mornings so dark... we seem to wake up late but when we do venture outside there is that feeling in the air, that softness of autumn. the days are a little cooler and in the evening that feeling is there again... that autumn feeling, as the sun is setting, the days growing ever shorter.

1. jess and i created a autumn leaf hanging with some very crunchy leaves saved from last year and some wooden beads.

2. an early easter present arrived from granny. bunny ears and tiny easter chicks. they are adored and played with for hours and hours. granny always gives the best presents.

3. falling... leaves...

4. a cold(ish) morning chia tea about to be put on to brew.

5. we have very wide verandas around three sides of our house so the only time the sun actually shines in is in the evening or early morning. i do love the play of light and shadow cast across the walls.

6. i brought home a huge box of peaches from a local farm earlier in the week and their smell is beautiful as they await on the kitchen bench to be preserved. these, the last peaches of the season will satisfy our taste buds come winter and spring.

7. waiting for the chai...

8. fennel seed heads caught in the evening sun.

9 & 10. sisters. both with messy top knots, baking muffins together.

11. upon my kitchen bench... a new batch of kombucha tea fermenting away. little jars of sage and garlic infused honey, one ready to send off to my eldest daughter daisy and one for us, to sooth sore throats, if needed. and the most gorgeously packaged jar of coconut butter (the photo not doing it justice i am afraid!) it looks so lovely i almost don't want to open it. so absurd!

12. my knitting in the morning sun shine.

joining in with the super lovely Em.

spicy play dough fun

i know there are many ideas for play dough out there on the net already but it is all too easy to just put out the same old thing every time. we have had brightly coloured playdough, patty pans and birthday candles for nearly a year now. jess loves it but the adults in this house have had enough i think. time for a change...

  i have been interested in the reggio emilia approach for quite some time now. i love all the natural materials that are used for art and craft work and particularly the way the materials are set out but i haven't always thought about how to use some of the principles in my own home. that is until now. having recently discovered kate's beautiful blog an everyday story, i have been so inspired to think about how i am setting out materials and many ideas for using treasures found in nature or ordinary items found around our home.

a few days ago i set out a little provocation for jess... 

two lots of play dough, one with ground cloves and a little clove oil mixed in and the other with ground cinnamon. i added some bowls with whole spices, cinnamon sticks, juniper berries, star anise, cardamon pods, whole cloves as well as some bay leaves and dried orange peel cut into star shapes, all found in my pantry. i set it all out on wooden trays and kept the accessories very simple, adding only a rolling pin, knife for cutting and a wooden spoon for... well just in case it was needed and it looked right.

we started by smelling each spice and learning the names of each one. the play dough also smelt wonderful so that got a good sniff too and then the creating began. spice cakes and then spice people complete with handbags!

the natural earthy colours looked wonderful and with the smell of spices in the air it made for a very sensory activity. jessica loved it and so did i. i could definitely play play dough for a lot longer when using such beautiful natural materials. it had me thinking of all sorts of other natural play dough adventures in the future... fresh herbs from the garden with chopped rosemary and rosemary essential oil mixed into the play dough will be up next.