rainy days

It's been a funny old weekend. I got up super early on Saturday morning to drive up to Callawadda to harvest our garlic crop. Michelle & I arrived to find a pretty depressing sight,  a lot of the garlic had rotted and about a third hadn't formed into individual cloves yet. Not enough sun and too much rain meant that this year has been a real dud. We did salvage some garlic, and some shallots though. We ended up leaving the silver skin in the ground (you can see if above, behind the shallots) & we'll go back in a few weeks to see if it has divided. Fingers crossed.

Although it was disappointing for us we are lucky that it isn't our main occupation. I really feel for all the farmers who have had a terrible year, whose crops have failed, who have been affected by the torrential rain and lack of sun. What a tough life it is.

So all of a sudden we had finished pulling out garlic and it was only 11.30! We hung out for a while with Terry, who was crutching sheep,

checked out the new sheep dogs, 

 and William's new buggy.

Back home it's been raining all day and I'm well & truly sick of it.

I'm hanging out for some sunny days and blue skies.

Have you had a look in my shop lately? There are some lovely bunnies

looking for good homes so do have a peek.

And don't forget to enter my giveaway!!

It's not too late,

bye for now lovely friends, I hope all is well in your world,

see you soon xo

Garlic & ducks...

On Monday I drove with Michelle up to Callawadda to check on our garlic crop.  Normally we mulch the garlic in August but unfortunately we didn't get up there before the huge rains that fell all over Victoria. The rain then filled the creek bed (which had been dry as a bone for many years previously) and we were not able then to cross the creek.

 Rain + sunshine = weeds!

Normally I'm a fan of daisies and the kids have been having fun lately making daisy chains, just as we did as children. But when they are en masse & right up snug to our beloved garlic plants,  grrrrr! We voted them our least favourite weed (there were many to choose from!) as they were the hardest to pull out.

We had a fair bit to do before mulching so we started just after sunrise. It's a beautiful feeling being out in the field, a sweet breeze blowing & birds flying high above. As Michelle always says, "it beats being in an office!"

 Despite all that annoying weed the garlic is growing well, although as you can see the ground is quite dry.

 We finished just before a huge storm that then dumped 11 ml's of lovely water onto that parched ground. Hopefully more rain will come so our garlic can grow big, and fat, and juicy! 

We managed to get most of the work done and have a good old chat too, of course.

Time to say goodbye to Terry, who was busy shearing rams, & Sally, above. We packed up and left for our two hour drive home but didn't quite make it back for school pick up. Thank goodness for my mum who picked up the kids and took them to the ice cream parlour, lucky kids! Thanks mum x

Today I'm in recovery mode as I managed to hurt my back earlier in the week and made it worse yesterday! Sitting here with a hot water bottle trying to get better so I can get through the week and also enjoy a wedding we are going to in Shepparton on Saturday. 

   Zsa Zsa

                                 

                                                                                                              

                                        Venus

                                     

I'm also thinking about our new duckies and how much fun they had in the rain yesterday! I love the way Venus still has some fluff on her neck, and the sweet smiles on their faces!  Gee I love ducks.

What are you up to today? Hope you are having a fun one, see you soon xo

My Creative Space

My space this week is birthday inspired, thank you to everyone who sent good wishes, I had the happiest day! So many lovely messages and some real life visits with great mates left me in a spin. Delicious tarts from Phillippa who also gave me some of her amazing fabric. Have you visited her yet? You really should, her blog is always interesting & quirky, often funny & always inspiring.

My space is also a bit scattered and chaotic this week. What's new, I hear you ask?

Lots of projects on the go as usual. I'm attempting to make a vintage linen quilt, so I have been looking in the oppies for special pieces. The above photo is a shocker but I'm blaming that on autumn/winter light, or lack of it...

I was so excited this week to recieve a lovely tea cup from Jess and, from Kate, the dearest little bear (made by Jess!) Thanks so much to both of you.

As you can see Moby has taken to living in the cup, I wonder if I will ever be allowed to use it for tea...? He is so beautifully made & adorable, isn't Jess clever?

And now for the not so clever.... it seems it will be a wet and rainy couple of days as we plant our garlic so I had the brainwave to make us some water proof pants. I found a couple of yellow plastic poncho's in the cupboard and ...

traced around a pair of jeans, so far so good.

Here is me modelling the finished pants (I like to think of it as my Dottie Angel pose, minus the caravan & extremely beautifully arranged background......and no, I am not naked underneath..)...just before I bent over to pick up a pin off the floor and... RIP!!!.....we're talking major tear action. Yep, it appears that plastic footy poncho's are made from the thinnest, most easily torn material, it wasn't pretty. So, I'll just have to take a few pairs of spare clothes instead. Shame really as they did look so fetching..

A big chunk of my week has been taken up with preparations for garlic planting. So I've been peeling and popping the bulbs like crazy so that they are all ready for today when Michelle and I head up to Callawadda. I'm looking forward to planting but I have that funny anxious feeling I usually get about leaving the kids. Silly really but I guess it's because we are together such a lot. I'm sure I'll be fine once we hit the road.

Before I go thankyou again to everyone who left comments on my Celebration Giveaway post. It really blew me away and made a happy day even more fantastic. If you haven't entered yet then feel free, the giveaway will be open until Monday when I will draw out three winners!! Hope your space isn't too scattered today, lets go and see what else is happening over at Kirstys, see you soon xo

ps: Do you like this little bunny dress that Mum knitted?

Celebration Giveaway!!

I'm so excited today as I've been plotting a dandelion giveaway! I have just passed the 200 post mark & it's time to give something back to my lovely, loyal, funny & fantastic friends! I love to celebrate special occasions, well actually I just like celebrating! So this little giveaway is my way of saying thankyou & also having some fun myself.

So here is what you might win. First off is a dandelion bunny, it could be like this one above....

or like one of these twins. Or it might be totally different, you get to choose! Whoever I pick out first will win a bunny & I will custom make it using colours/patterns handpicked by you.

I have some lovely new alpaca offcuts too & some gorgeous vintage fabrics so matching them up will be fun!

Number two out of the hat will receive a String of Hearts similar to these, but again you can choose your colour combo. Yay!

Number three will be getting two Lovehearts of your colour/pattern choice.

All winners will also receive a mixed bag of beautful biodynamic garlic from The Organic Paddock. If you are an overseas friend then you might have to put up with something sweet instead.

This giveaway is open to all my dear mates far & wide, I really appreciate you all and love to read your comments & visit you. I love the way we can chat about everything and nothing, how I can be so inspired, moved and captivated. I love that I can see into other peoples worlds, see colours, patterns, moods, through someone else's eyes. It's such a relief to read that someone else feels the same way, has similar flat patches, or finds the crazy whirl of motherhood/creative life/inner life at times a struggle. I love to read of other people's successes, their joys, new babies, new idea's. Blogland has been a very rewarding & welcoming & fun place for me and it has become a part of my day & life that brings me a lot of pleasure, and some much needed space at times too. So thank you my dear friends, lots of love to you all!



Before I go a couple of important things I should add. To be in the running for this giveaway just leave me a comment telling me what you like about my blog. If you are a regular reader (follower) let me know for an extra entry. Good luck to all & I hope you have a great week, see you soon xo

ps: Oh, I almost forgot, it's my birthday today!

Monday

I love Autumn. The cool nights and sunny days are just my cup of tea. Daylesford really turns it on at this time of year, Wombat Hill is awash with red, orange & gold. Actually when I first saw our house it was April 2004 and I can remember thinking how beautiful it all seemed, golden leaves in the garden, green grass and blue sky above.

I liked the house too of course, but the garden really won me over. The empty, old chook pen was tempting too, I couldn't wait to fill it with fresh hay and some happy chickens.



Did you have a good weekend? We spent lots of time outside - although Billy & Lucy were pretty exhausted after their school camp.

I had a nice little visit to the local Raglan Hotel, checked out their latest exhibition & chatted with Jo, the owner, about their plans for this fabulous building. I also popped next door to have a peek in the new shop, Dot & Herby which has gorgeous women's clothes, all designed & made in Melbourne.

Later in the day Sunday & I went for a bush walk, this time down to Hepburn where there are so many great walking tracks. We found an old fallen down house surrounded by fruit trees and old stone walls. I find these little scenes so poignant, almost spiritual, you can feel the sense of pioneering, of family, of daily lives. The shadows of the people who once lived here seemed to be there still, darting in and out of the sunlight.

Life would have been so different then, no internet, supermarkets, technology, electricity. Who knows what hardships this family faced? What joys, what happinesses.



I think it's important for children of today to know about the past, to learn about another time. I wonder what it would have been like waking to the beautiful bush, birds in the trees, giant gums and the sound of the bubbling creek below.

The rest of our weekend was all about cubby houses, playing shops, roller blades, picking tomatoes, tree houses, hanging with the ace kids from next door and lots of cooking for me!

Good old lamingtons, yum. You should make some soon, they are so delicious. If you would like a recipe send me an email.

And talking of delicious we also roasted baby garlic, oh my goodness does it taste amazing, so velvety & buttery..mmm!

What did you get up to? I feel like I haven't caught up with everyone lately. It's hard to keep up with so many lovely blogs. Hopefully I will be around soon for a visit. I'd love to sit down with you over a cuppa and have a chat & hear your news. See you soon sweeties xo

ps: look who was in The Age today!!