Spring At Garfield House

October has had a special springtime feel this year with the addition of more tulips planted last autumn. This is the yellow and pink bed and while perennials are still abed, I have coloured chard and strappy iris leaves filling in.

Spring is just not spring without the lambs! We are bottle feeding seven little maids much to the delight of little boys on holidays. Add to that the 50 chicks in the brooding pens and we are full to the brim with babies!

The boys always enjoy pasta making

and lots of crafts too....

Collages with a definite springtime theme...

Colour and science play with bi-carb and coloured vinegar from pipettes.

(Instructions Here)

More colour play with food dye in milk and watching the reaction to soap.

(Instructions Here)

Check out the video to see how the colours swirl like magic....

Some lovely, squishy, swirly sensory play in coloured water beads.

Lots of games, cards, "jobs", a water fights and good appetites.

And when the sun went down....

The fairy garden under the white peach tree lit up with little lights as the fairies played and magic misted among the sleepy calendula buds.

Then off to bed for sleepy heads and goodnight fairy stories to send them off to lands far away in dreams.

In The Zone

I used to feel so comfortable and at home in this world, now everything looks exotic and strange. I used to know so many of the plants but that was more than 30 years ago. Now the scenery for the most part jars my senses and jangles my nerves.

We recently went back to Queensland to see a new grandson and family.

I used to embrace the heat and humidity but now I find like a plant out of climate, I don't fare well; my skin doesn't feel comfortable and my hair becomes listless.

This is more the palette of my spring world now and the climate I feel comfortable in. It takes a long time to acclimatise and I am sure I've arrived.

It has made me think about the plants and gardening. We can and often do, blur the climate zones within which we grow things, some survive and a rare few fully acclimatise but for the most part I sympathise with those plants out of zone that fail to thrive but we persevere anyway.

My folly of a Tahitian Lime in Campbell Town is very much on my mind. It's definitely not thriving but....it just might be acclimatising.....?

Are you like an exotic flower and struggle outside of your climate zone now?

Upon Reflection...

October, be gone with you!

It's been a month of extreme highs and lows.

We started the month of with a party and catered for a beloved aunt's 90th birthday. A wonderful celebration shared with seventy family and friends. Craig closely guards his salt & pepper squid recipe but I swear NEVER again for that size crowd. I think I said that last time we did it. It's a real crowd pleaser and often asked for but if anyone asks ever again, I'm handing them the recipe and they can do that one themselves!

A measure of our love for you dear Mae/Miss Mamie/Nin xxx

We did get a couple strides forward in the garden...

And in the house...

I got to work with some amazing ladies to bring together a High Tea for 100 people with Fashion Parade as a fund raiser for Kidney Health Australia. Not only did we raise funds but the guest speaker from "Donate Life" educated our guests about organ donation and we boosted the profiles of four local small businesses. I would like to thank Wysteria Lane of Longford, Miss Nicola, Blue Illusion and Gazman of Launceston for providing a top notch parade and givig so much of their time and prize donations too. I would also like to thank the models from Sue Rees Modelling who also gave up so much of their time for a good cause.

My heart swells thinking of so much generosity and support.

I don't wish to dwell on the down side but their is a lesson here to be learnt though.

Many of us pooled our resources and loaned fine china and silverware to enhance the high tea experience. Unfortunately some of the precious china went "missing". A set of 6 to be exact. I don'y want to talk about karma because that feels so hollow. Let's just say lesson learnt while we try to swallow down the disappointment.

As I left for the Kidney fundraiser that morning, the waters were once again rising after a significant rainfall over night. I phoned the shearer when the event was over bar the shouting to learn things were not good at home. I abandoned the washing up and made haste towards home....

until the engine light came on.

I pulled over and checked the oil of my tired old engine and debated whether to spend precious minutes turning the car out of the wind in order to fill it. Another lesson learned. I gambled and tried to shield the oil stream from gusting winds with my body.

Snort! I'm wide but not that effective as a wind shield. The oil spilled onto the engine and you can guess...

it caught alight.

I carry a pair of pyjama bottoms for a rag so I must have looked a right sight flailing these trying to smother the flames between the radiator and engine. Anyway, long story short, the shearer came to rescue me but it was a sorry sight back at home. 

While it didn't make it all the way into the house, the out buildings were all flooded as the water rose very quickly. Luckily our daughter and SIL were up for the weekend and able to take quick action.

Our losses could have been much greater than our three oldest ladies. Poor girls, the cold water rose so swiftly that by the time they realised the danger and it was up to their belly feathers they weren't able to jump into the trees for shelter. 

Huge thanks also to our neighbours who came swiftly to our aid and got a lot of things to dry land and housed our ride on mower in their garage. Big love.

So October, you've been great, tumultuous and trying, exciting and busy but I'm glad to be moving into November. 

Hungry Gap - Fennel

The hungry gap is that period between late winter and early spring when you've harvested most everything you've been over-wintering and the new season abundance hasn't kicked in yet.

Fennel planted in mid to late summer can be that fresh burst of flavour that enlivens your plate with exciting flavour and you don't need a lot, just a few sowings will do.

We've been harvesting the fennel over the last four weeks, eating it baked with simple olive oil basting or my favourite way - in salads. I've even been harvesting some of the ferny, feathery tops for a subtle aniseed flavour in omelettes and steamy hot buttery, potatoes.

Sorry, no foodie shots. more of an after thought really.

I love the fennel finely shredded with some finely sliced cabbage and a fruit like; chopped mandarin, sliced orange or finely sliced yellow delicious apple. All these ingredients are seasonally available and at their peak now and they go together so sublimely.

What about some lovely winter Tasmanian walnuts from their shell and lightly roasted with pickings of parsley and mint. Finely shredded "spring" onion (onions plantings not quite ripe and ready in big bulb form) added for a bit of zing.

Simply dressed with Tasmanian olive oil drizzled over with a splash of white wine vinegar or a squeeze of winter abundant lemon juice.

There is nothing nicer at the end of winter than some alive and fresh flavours from the garden. Plan for the hungry gap and feel blessed with abundance all year round.

A Corner Is Turned

We have turned many corners this month, weather-wise and house-wise. 

It's been just over twelve months since we actually moved in and a LOT of the work has been done and we are living comfortably and joyfully.

We are creating a garden now rather than just the emergency food growing area. Everyday I try to spend even just 10 minutes weeding and transplanting self sown seedlings around the place. The garden is still low on the budget stakes as we continue to repair the house and using what nature gives you is a fine and frugal way to create abundance.

We are blessed with beautiful flood plain silt and humus of many ages and are putting down stronger roots and sending them into the soil of our community too. We are bringing in the spring blossoms and welcoming the change and new friends into our life.

The pressure to get things done has relaxed and we are enjoying the journey and getting back to some normal activities.

I bit the bullet and ordered a pressure canner from America. And yes! You can use your Fowlers jars so need for extra jar purchases.

I've been canning the dried beans from last summer along with some chickpeas, giving us a ready to use product from the shelf instead of having to plan ahead 24-48 hours with soaking and cooking times of dried legumes. 

We've been scoping out potential country hanger and runway sites close to home for the shearer's plane. He is getting close to finishing it now that he has less house reno demads upon him. I'll post some photos soon.

We've been scoping houses too looking at trim colour options and fencing and landscaping....

The Heritage specialist builders are still at work in the front room putting layer upon layer of traditional lime render on the walls and paint stripping continues also. Our next big and hopefully final piss-problem to deal with will be the front threshold. It will need to be replaced and these guys will be in charge of that as well.

After 12 months I have finally been able to clear out all the furniture and building materials out of the children's' cubby house and restore it back to it's original intended use. I can't wait till Julien visits and discovers it for the first time.

All in all, there is a positive change in the air and we feel like we are home and blessed.

"Where'er You Walk"

See what delights in sylvan scenes appear!

Descending Gods have found Elisium here.

Come, lovely nymph, and bless the silent hours,

When swains from shearing seek their nightly bowers

This harmless grove no lurking vapour hides,

But in my breast the serpent love abides.

Here bees from blossoms sip the rosy dew,

O deign to visit our forsaken seats,

The mossy fountains and the green retreats!

Where'er you tread, the blushing flowers shall rise,

And all things flourish where you turn your eyes.

extracts from "Where'er You Walk"

by Alexander Pope

Lost and Found

Spring is bursting out in glorious blossom at our new home. Bees are pollinating "surprise" fruit trees as I impatiently wait the swell and bud and delight as the soft breeze lifts the petals like drifting snow flakes. 

Although there is still snow on the mountains, the days are definitely lengthening and the ckooks are contentedly laying again. We have the beginnings of our produce garden mapped out and spring planting is under way.

At the northern end of our property are the ruins of two working mens' cottages from the mid 1800's. This area contains lots of treasure still I'm sure. Certainly there are lots of interesting bottles and several old files.

Lost....

A little grave made from salvaged stone and inscribed in the sandstone headstone,

"Teddy Bear xxx"

The grave is tiny and I'm sure Teddy was probably one of the previous owners cats.

Found...

fragments of china to excite this china enthusiast 

and what a find!

A penny token!

Before currency when the colony was so new, some businesses commissioned the manufacture of penny tokens for their stores. These were made in England.

This particular token was commissioned by Thomas White of the White House in Westbury and bears the date 1855.

I suspect this garden will keep us engaged and excited for many years to come.

All Free...But We Couldn't Give It Away!

Last week I was very excited to be a part of the Colony 47 Spring Share Market.

Colony 47 works for the community and their mission is

"to create a fairer community, eliminate disadvantage and improve the lives of Tasmanians" 

A share market was organised to coincide with fair food week and timed for encouraging spring planting.

All the seedlings above

Free.

A picnic blanket to sit and read gardening magazines and maybe take one

Free

The seed box with hundreds of seeds

Free

A speaker about compost making

Free.

Just look at that great teaching tool created from half a bin and some Perspex. Learning about nitrogen and carbon layers and the additions like comfrey (bottom right).

The Tasmanian community food garden group were there with activities for kids

Free

A demonstration showing fun with food and how to be creative with it.

Free

I drove from Launceston and did a talk about beans, how to grow, how to harvest and how to use dried beans.

Free

I talked about nutrition and feeding through the "hungry gap" and had made baked beans from scarlet runner beans, a bean salad in seconds and a white bean dip even faster! Note the Good and Cheap book- I was so excited, it turned up just the day before. It's a not for profit book that aims to teach people how to eat well on $4 a day. I love it!

Trestles under blossom trees and little marquis 

And the Colony 47 garden putting on a good show and even mushrooms coming up from the compost!

Being a typical spring day it was a bit breezy and cool and clouds were scudding across the sky. It was beautifully organised. About 60 people had rsvp-ed to this all free event...

But we were lucky to have a dozen people show up I reckon.

I'm starting to wonder,

if you make something free, is it then perceived as valueless?

Is something only worthy if it has a dollar value attached?