spring planting

We sprouted lots of flower seedlings - Calendular, Cosmos and Sunflowers, red and yellow - our favourite garden flowers. This morning the sun inspired us to plant.

Calendular around the apple tree. I'm making calendular oil for our skin and drying petals for tea.

The echium about to bloom - we planted it for the bees - all the flowers are for the bees - our spring gift to them for all their hard work....

We have to implement a snail plan for the sunflowers. They love those little seedlings so we must cover them each night. 

The top bar hive is in action again. A new swarm collected by Big Honey last night (on the bicycle no less - our car gave up on us on Friday!) I very much wish to make Big Honey a bee suit for such ventures.....

The two new swarms seem to have settled. They will love their sunflower forest and perhaps this year, we will be able to take some honey. There was none for us last summer. We always leave honey for the bees, but they hardly had enough for themselves, so dry a season it was! 

We have been eating our salami - it is so good! Next year we will make much more, and prosciutto too. Nitrate free! 

Soon we will plant the legendary tomatoes we inherit from Illias, and cucumbers, greens, beans, basil, peppers, and passion fruit for the children! I would love to have an avocado tree, oranges, lemons, grapes....gradually.

four down two to go

Yes I think we can move on from the salami front page now.....

Instead, the dainty hand of spring giving a little wave.

Himself has nearly finished the garden beds, made out of pallettes he collected. Ah he works hard out there, so he does now. To be sure I'm looking forward to joining him now that this flu is finally lifting. Ooh la la. It were a doozie. Hope you are lurgy free and sitting in the sunshine, dreaming of warm nights and long days...

Our turn

 With the help of Illias, and Bruna's old Italian recipe, we made our own salami! It's actually too late to make salami - end of June is best when it is cold - but Illias has a cellar we can dry them in over spring.

Avert your eyes my vego friends.

 We get to do the most fantastic things with our neighbours. Sausage making this week..I missed the main lesson, but came in time for the tyeing off. These lovely folk on our street, Mediterraneans, go around to each others' houses over a series of days and help each other make things. Like the village in the old days. We've been invited for coffee. Sometimes we pinch ourselves that we landed here. What will happen when these dear folk have gone? Maybe Big Honey and I can carry on some of that good stuff. Maybe one day 30/ 40 years from now, some 40 something couple will glue themselves to us and find us soulful company, full of invaluable skills for survival! That would be nice.

Saturday morning ritual that is is very parent-friendly...We don't have little children anymore. They can make themselves snacks, help out around the house, crack jokes, understand sarcasm, play instruments, make stuff, hold wonderful conversations, play cool games, read books, write, present a valid case....They are such delightful company. 

And just who are these progressively backward looking ladies? They knit together yes, but they also sing. Mountain songs. Stay tuned. Website in the making......

knittin', diggin' and stewin'

Big Honey under instruction from Ilias in the ancient art of tomato bed construction. Every year now Ilias gives us seedlings from his whopper tomato seeds and we eagerly await their magnificence to eat fresh, make sauce and  chutney, and this year perhaps I will sun- dry some.  Our broccoli is shooting and really that is all we have in the garden right now. we have been too busy for a winter crop. This spring we will get more food in the garden, buy more hens, pray for enough rain over the summer that the bees have plenty for honey for themselves and us, and plant lots of flowers - Cosmos, Calendular, Sunflowers, Poppies...........I've decided to 'renovate' the old kitchen in our bungalow; clean and paint and make it art and music studio-worthy. This is my last full time semester at Uni, after which I will go forth and Do My Thing; perform, teach singing, arrange a whole bunch of songs, paint. I have been working from the lounge room which is cosy but high traffic.A lady needs a studio as much as a man needs his shed. Oh yeah.

Dovetail Cowl, Raveled here. Ready to be dyed a warm red I think.

I've been trying all kinds of stews; beans, lentils, fish, chicken...this one was lamb and pearl barley, orange rind, capsicum, cumin, mint....delicious. I love a one pot meal and I love the warm hearty goodness of stews and casseroles. What's your favourite stew?

hand made

Big Honey doing magic things in the shed with the kids. Hours of joy.

 

on the archibald trail

We go every year to see the Archibald exhibition. See the link below for a slide show.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-03-14/archibald-prize-finalists/4572594
My favourites are Carlos Pagoda's portrait of his father Pietro, Del Kathryn Barton's portrait of Hugo Weaving, Abbey McCulloch's portrait of Naomi Watts and Paul Jackson's portrait of Jo Braithwaite.

The weather was the wildest so far, with shimmering dusk light, double rainbow, luminous clouds, steel blue ocean and a bit of orange and yellow at Heronswood ....