Our days

As the Winter solstice slides past and we feel ourselves move into the second half of the year we begin to look forward to the growth of Spring and Summer.
School finished up for the term with a special day of activities and the bringing home of much delightful artwork and storytelling. I do so love Rosie's drawings when she is engaged and full of stories about what is taking place in them. My favourite at the moment is her drawing about Little Red Riding Hood (see photo) and the Big Bad Wolf (there was another about the Three Little Pigs too). They are so priceless, these drawings, like snapshots into the fantastic world of a 5 year old where anything is possible and everything is in technicolour.
And for me? Well, I've taken what feels like a natural break from the blog and really enjoyed some times with the girls while it's school holidays. We've played and worked, and much of that was one and the same.
Our days have been filled with garden work, playing with friends and a big family trip into Albury-Wodonga for our monthly shop, annual purchase of fruit trees and new plants for the garden and a big play at an adventure park.
Oh my, the joy on Bethany's face as she swung to and fro at the park. And the joy on my face as Rosie quickly and easily made new friends and smiled constantly. A proud mama moment again.
The kitchen has been a busy place with pumpkin soup, homemade pasta sheets, more sourdough loaves and homemade butter starring on our menu repeatedly. And are they getting better, these loaves and pats of butter? Well, the proof really is in the tasting but lets just say that these are still a hit with the Ian and the girls and I admit to a certain amount of pride at these homemade achievements too.
In the garden the chickens remain healthy and adventurous and are often to be found in our neighbour's yards during the day. So far there have been no protests, and I'm sure the cat next door is more afraid of our hens than they are of her, however we have plans to add to their current pen so that we may concentrate their manure-producing capacity and allow them to keep our fruit trees free of pests. This is our permaculture solution in action (providing we can convince the chickens to stay in their area!).
We're also adding to our fruit trees this year with a new dwarf cherry, a dwarf apricot, a lemonade tree (mmm...I can taste the homemade lemonade already) and an emperor mandarin (for easy peeling). Add to this 2 new rhubarb crowns and 5 asparagus crowns and a whole lot of rain and you have a lot of garden work for this mama to get her green thumbs into.
And with rain falling down here in Mount Beauty and snow falling up in the hills, the fire has been our constant warm companion these last few days. This has inspired much knitting, finger-knitting and crocheting. Several beanies and fingerless mittens have been churned out by this mama as she's sat, warmed by the flames, while her little ones play and run. Ahhh, I love this part of Winter....the time indoors, the creativity, the chance to make something to warm a loved one, the crackle of lovingly collected timber and girls in thermals and handknits...
sigh.
Happy holidays to you all.

This was the first beanie I crocheted (I had to be my own guinea pig!)

This was the second, Rosie chose her rainbow colours and was adamant that it must have a pink stripe.

The girls in their matching thermals

The first loaves

The second loaves - better looking I think!

The delightful Little Red Riding Hood, drawn by Rosie at school and brought lovingly home

The girls at the adventure playground

The sourdough fruit loaves I tried next - needs more work I think, but tasted good.