hugo & elsa

MoMa

2012-01-30T12:20:00.001+11:00

Two weeks down and the market at MONA has been amazing. There have been so many people coming to enjoy the market, the music and produce available. The beanbags on the grass have been a huge hit with families and young hipsters alike, settling into an afternoon of music and good food, whilst leaving their shopping in the free fridge cloak room. I've eaten Asian omelettes full of crunchy vegetables, ice cream that makes you moan it's so good, incredible cheeses, crusty bread, cold pear cider and I think my children have eaten their body weight in Gillian's chocolates. Establishing a market is not without its teething problems, and we've still loads of work to do until the market finishes for the year at Easter to maintain the momentum. There are lots of more exciting things to look forward to over the coming weeks, new stallholders, new art installations and lots more delicious things to eat. I'm having a couple of weeks off selling jam, and will get back into it once school holidays are finished. In the meantime, Saturday was a good excuse to be a shopper, listen to Guy and Eliza's entertaining talk and take lots of pics. It's incredible to be working at Mona, and to be part of such an inspiring beast, we are very lucky to have it here in Tasmania.

A great day

2012-01-25T10:21:00.002+11:00

One of those perfect days yesterday. A very hot one and nothing for it but to head to the river with good friends. Although quite a mission to get through the paddocks and down to the rocky banks in the hot sun, I never get tired of seeing my kids running through paddocks, and took too many pictures of them ambling through the long grass. We spent the morning swimming in the cool dark waters, building towns on the river bank with rocks and making boats with bark and twigs. Hugo crushed rocks and made face paint and we saw a trout swimming in the waters but lucky for him we had no rods. In the evening we returned for a riverside picnic dinner and as we watched the anglers come out to try and catch that trout, who proved too elusive, we ate strawberries and drank champagne. Then the wind whipped up, the temperature dropped and we headed home. Cool, tired and happy.

In my spare time...

2012-01-19T23:46:00.001+11:00

I'm starting to question the wisdom of my decision to launch my jam empire at the MoMa this weekend. Sitting at the table surrounded by stacks of precariously balanced jars of jam, piles of sticky labels and boxes of perfectly ripe fruit, I can't help think I've bitten off the proverbial more than I can chew. The children have been whisked off to their Nonna's and I have a clean run in the kitchen to churn out as much jam as I can to sell at the first market this Saturday. That's in err, two days.

I've been thinking about making jam for a long time. Around here in the Huon Valley it's hard not to. There is such an abundance of beautiful fruit in our valley, that to me, it seems silly not to preserve it in a jar and capture those sweet sunny fruits, to enjoy later in the year.

I want to make jam that is all about the fruit and celebrates the people and places it comes from. If I haven't grown the fruit myself, or picked it myself, I know who did. Each flavour will be made in small batches, and in limited editions.

So yes, in the super-charged exciting times of Mona Foma, MoMa and the Minnie Mouse Gangster Feathered Serpent Diamond Grill Tent, during the school holidays, in the last minute rush of coordinating workshops, chasing up speakers and a media call (eep!), in my spare time I am launching my jam empire. Apple Town Jams. You can call me Lady Jar Jar.

Here we go...

2012-01-17T16:54:00.000+11:00

Until yesterday, if it wasn't for the car filled with cherry pips and the towels from the morning's swimming lessons fluttering on the clothes line, (along with Elsa) you'd never know it was summer. It's been so cool and mild.

But yesterday and today have been hot. Really hot. So we're lounging around, not heading out until dusk and trying to keep cool. Frozen strawberry smoothies for the kiddos, black ice coffee for me. The lawn is dry, the garden neglected and the chooks breeding like crazy. We have 18 chooks now!

I haven't had much time for this space, but I have been writing posts in my head. I just need to figure out how to download them to blogger. Most of my spare (ahem) time has been working on the new MONA Market, known as MoMa. It starts this Saturday and will run every week until Easter. Brimming with fresh produce, flowers, honey, banana splits and samosas plus a little bit of handmade craft, it's a market Jim, but not as we know it.

What an amazing project it has been to work on. I feel giddy with excitement. And a little bit nervous.

Seven on the seventh

2012-01-07T20:37:00.001+11:00

A slow and easy start to our January, here's seven favourite photos from our first week of the year.

Checking our bees :: Hugo's work :: a bumper blackcurrant crop from the garden this year :: new Salt Waters for my girl :: making The Black Apple paper dolls :: playing her new Christmas violin:: lovely new jars to be filled with Nigel Slater's fabulous blackcurrant jam.

How was your first week of 2012?

Friends, old and new

2012-01-02T22:27:00.000+11:00

Some of the happiest times on our recent trip was spent catching up with friends, not only dear long time ones, but meeting online friends in real life.

First stop was Mt Gnomon Farm to pick up our delicious Christmas ham from Guy and Eliza. Guy gave us a tour of their stunning farm. Guy and I had spent a lot of time on the phone chatting about various things porcine during the year, and I was pleased to not only meet him, but see how happy his pigs and other farm animals look.

After a night on the ferry the super lovely Ruth, from Gourmet Girlfriend, invited us over for breakfast and a bowl or two of her famous coffee. You've got to admire a gal that roasts her own coffee beans. I loved Ruth before I met her and now I love her even more!

On the way home we spent the night the at Daylesford. Oh I love that town. Beautiful to look at, filled with gorgeous buildings and lovely people. We had a delicious dinner at Breakfast and Beer, before dropping in at Fox's Lane to meet the gorgeous Kate, Brendan, Jazzy and Pepper. The grown ups talked and the kids played on the trapeze. We all wished we lived closer so we could drop in more often, such was the super nice time we had.

On the way home, Whole Larder Love's Ro invited us over to his gorgeous family home to share a most tasty lunch of nettle pesto, which was one of the culinary highlights of our trip. I had a tour of Ro's impressive vegetable garden and couldn't help but be inspired by his enthusiasm. No wonder that Ro is going places, his joy of food and gardening is utterly contagious!

When we arrived in Melbourne that night, we had stayed the night with old friends and enjoyed a Croatian feast, which I haven't stopped dreaming about since, before catching the early morning ferry home.

I didn't take many of pics of those moments. But I'll always remember them. It makes me feel so happy when I think about those times spent with dear friends, both old and new, how friendly, generous and wonderful they are in person, and that the gorgeous and inspiring personalities that shine through on their blogs is so very real and true.

Climbing mountains

2012-01-01T12:16:00.000+11:00

Mountain climbing. Not something I ever really thought about before. Not on the long wish list of goals I want to achieve, not in the actual physical sense anyway. But that's exactly what we did on our recent trip to Thredbo, we, all four of us, climbed Mt Kosciuszko. A gorgeous 13 kilometre hike through the most exquisite alpine landscape. Valleys filled with summer flowers, clusters of smooth boulders and crystal clear streams. It was magical.

We stayed at the village for four days, there was chair lift rides, bob sleds and a fabulous pool to soothe those aching muscles. At night, cozied up at out ski lodge, we ate delicious food, played loads of scrabble and celebrated our achievements.

I was so proud of our little ones walking the entire way to the top of the mountain, without any complaints or requests to be carried. No need to add mountain climbing to the list. We've already done it. Yep, mountain climbers, that's me, that's us.

Happy New Year friends!

We're home!

2011-12-30T23:30:00.000+11:00

What a wonderful trip we've had. I've loads to show and tell. But it will take some time to sort through photos, the washing and to fight my way through the weeds to the vege patch. For now, I'll share this beautiful movie from Kinfolk Magazine, that I watched all the time when I needed some quiet time and dreamt of my bees.

honey harvest from tiger in a jar on Vimeo.

Almost ready

2011-12-20T23:00:00.000+11:00

A few precious moments with the camera today, snapping scenes from around here as we prepare for our holiday. Elsa's room is finally finished, the Rayburn has arrived, although not ready to use yet. Taking a moment to notice, the calm, and the excitement, amongst the hurly burly of the season.

Happy, Happy Birthday

2011-12-18T20:31:00.001+11:00

Today we celebrated Elsa's birthday with a huge stache bash. A moustache party. With 16 guests it was the biggest children's party I've ever organised. Hard work but lots of fun (wow those girls eat a lot!). Elsa is wearing her lovely Miss Haidee dress that we gave her. We set up a photo booth, even Spoon got in on the action, although I"m not sure that he was that amused by the situation. We played pin the moustache on Bert Reynolds, ate lots of cake and decorated our beautiful Killiecrankie tree. And we danced to the Ting Tings. Over and over again. I love a good party. Just wish I wasn't so busy and took more snaps.

Happy Birthday my lovely girl xx

Location, location

2011-12-14T20:02:00.001+11:00

Behind the scenes of this week's book shoot. Lots of standing around smoking on the back step.

Plenty of cooking and lots of fun. I really love my job.

Before

2011-12-11T16:24:00.001+11:00

This is Elsa's new room. I can't wait to see it painted.

The B word

2011-12-09T14:25:00.001+11:00

Octopus, trout, eel, artichokes, cabbage, tomatoes, eggs, pickling cucumbers. Pickling cucumbers?!

Yes I'm writing out the shopping list for next week's photo shoot. A super fun job working with the blokes from A Common Ground on a new cookbook. It's very exciting stuff, if not a challenge to find pickling cucumbers at this time of year.

That is one of the many projects on the go at the moment. Another is the new Mona Market known as MoMa that starts in January on the roof of the museum. I've been scouring the state for the most delicious and delightful stallholders I can find. Lots of emails, phone calls and driving to visit folks. It's a lot of fun, and something I love to do.

Oh and Elsa's birthday is next week, there's a birthday party to plan, sixteen guests in all, plus a sleepover Elsa's getting her own room for her birthday, which in itself sounds do-able, if only she wasn't moving into the spare room (aka dumping ground for the past four years) that has half ripped-off wallpaper and shiny varnished wood panelling. I see a lot of nights scraping and painting in my future this week. And a few trips to the opp shop. Time to pass on those Vogue Living mags from the last decade. We're painting it duck egg blue, just like the beautiful shells we bought from the butcher last week.

The oven has arrived, and it looks gorgeous, just waiting for the planets to align, I mean for the builder and the plumber to be free on the same day, so we can hook it up. That is very exciting too. Truly, I can't wait to fire it up.

And my bees! I have a bee hive in my garden! But I'm too frantic to even begin to go there and visit them and I don't have my equipment yet. I think I'll leave them in the capable hands of my scythe bearing friend until everything calms down.

Now there is something else happening in addition to the end of year school plays, ceremonies and parties. A holiday! We are driving to Thredbo! For Christmas, staying in a huge ski lodge with all our family. We shall sail across Bass Straight with a boot full of Tasmanian goodness and head straight up to the Snowies.

Do you know in all the madness I have misplaced my camera. I can't take any pictures. We have no decorations up, the chooks are on strike demanding fresh straw, the laundry is piled up high and don't even ask about the vegetable garden, or the meadow that is our front lawn because the mower is broken. Again.

Heck, despite everything that's going on, I am trying to move slowly with grace and mindfulness through this special happy time. And not use the B word after reading Pip's post. It sure takes the pressure off.

Now, does anyone know where I can find pickling cucumbers?

PS. Thank you so much for your kind words about Mabel, I'm afraid she is still missing, but we took great comfort from your thoughtfulness. xx

Dog gone

2011-12-06T09:14:00.001+11:00

Missing.

For four days.

Naughty runaway beagle.

Sad children missing her.

Lonely Spoon missing her.

Missing her soft ears.

Missing her sneaking cake.

Missing her sneaking onto our beds.

Mabel is missing.

Mabel is missed.

Market and moving slowly

2011-11-29T09:06:00.001+11:00

A busy week in the kitchen in preparation for last weekend's Mothers Market. I love that market. It was one of the first of its kind in Hobart, and while not a regular one anymore, when it is on, it's fantastic. We ran the cafe again. A chance to cook delicious food, both sweet and savoury, in the gorgeous vintage kitchen. We used crockery from the stunning china cabinet, filled with vintage treasures of tea cups, cut glass bowls and Alfred crockery. I could easily move into the hall if I was allowed, and happily cook all day. I wish I wasn't so busy and had taken more snaps.

On Friday night we made curries and old school chicken sandwiches washed down with pink champagne. Next morning for breakfast we made rhubarb and granola with greek yoghurt, herb and cheddar muffins, baked on site so they were lovely and warm and smoked salmon and creamy scrambled egg ciabattas. For lunch the ciabatta continued, baked by Jay at Pigeon Hole, with soppressa or ham crammed with salad, and a quinoa and broad bean salad loaded with mint and feta. No pictures but all gobbled up pronto.

Today, I'm feeling a little overwhelmed with how busy things are, and as ever, Amanda's words of wisdom remind me to "move as slowly as I can, as mindfully as can be." I still read her blog every morning, five years on, and get so much inspiration from her. I feel better already.

Ready and waiting

2011-11-21T08:40:00.001+11:00

It's a bit like preparing for a baby a friend said. Months and months of waiting and exciting anticipation. Getting ready for the arrival by preparing the hearth (just as you would a nursery) walls are painted and tiled, floor reinforced and tiled, window installed and finished. All the paraphernalia, flue, tank and radiators are here and waiting. Two weeks over due. Any day my baby is due. Any day.

weekending

2011-11-20T23:00:00.000+11:00

A gorgeous lazy weekend ::
Cooked :: a big pot of strawberry jam
Ate :: doorstops smothered with the still warm jam
Played :: with dogs on the lawn
Bought :: rhubarb, baguette and beautiful araucana eggs from Huonville and Cygnet markets

Me and my meadow

2011-11-18T09:49:00.001+11:00

Every year without fail, the rapid spring growth serves as a reminder of who really is boss in this garden, and it's not me. It's Mother nature and she has big plans for our garden. She wants to turn it into a meadow. Then, she'll leave it as a meadow until the trees have self seeded, grown tall and established, then it will be a forest, just like it was 150 years ago. If it wasn't for my endless mowing, weeding, mulching and trimming edges, this garden would turn into a meadow in about a year I reckon.

This never ending battle to fight off the meadow requires an armoury of garden tools that clutter and spill out of the potting shed and garage: lawn mower, brush cutter; hedge clippers and an assortment of hand tools. And while the big petrol guzzling machines may be the most effective, they need constant petrol, oil, servicing and replacement parts. Usually one of them is broken or at the mower shop at any given time.

Interestingly enough, a small but growing army of gardeners in the next village down the road have turned to the age old tool of the scythe. They've taken to cutting each others' meadows for hay. Much to the bemusement of the local petrol heads. Beautiful to look at, and with a bit of practice, just as effective as its modern counterparts, it's quiet without any moving parts to break. A friend kindly lent me their scythe this week so I could see for myself how it faired in the meadow fighting stakes. I need some practice for sure, but the gentle side to side movement and the irresistible sound of the steel cutting the grass makes this option very appealing. Working outdoors, listening to the sound of the birds, with no ear muffs, no stinky petrol fumes and finishing the job with neat pile of cut grass, what's not to love. It's a winner. Have a look here at how effective these scythes can be.

Yep, I think I'll be adding one of these to my Christmas wish list. I'm sure Mother nature would approve.

Spring days

2011-11-16T11:38:00.001+11:00

These spring days, when the weather plays nice, are my favourite. Mild sunny days spent in the garden, surrounded by flowers and new spring growth. Even the most neglected parts of the garden have a charm about them at this time of year . Yesterday Hugo and I had nowhere to go and nowhere to be except at home. All too rare these days, as it seems the pace really picks up towards the end of the year. A day off is one to be treasured.

We spent the morning in the garden, sowed some lettuce seeds, planted tomatillos, harvested all the carrots and a few rogue garlics that were overlooked last year. Then the sight of a massive scorpion forced a hasty retreat inside. A hot chocolate to soothe the fractured nerves of a small boy (who thought scorpions have lasers) and a batch of cinnamon buns to bake. Ready just in time to share with friends for afternoon tea. A perfect spring day with nowhere to go. I wish there was more of them.

Granola

2011-11-14T17:29:00.001+11:00

Are you making granola? There's loads of recipes around and it's so cheap to make yourself, especially if you stock up on ingredients in bulk at the local health food store. Now that the warmer weather is here and more and more summer fruits are appearing, granola is our favourite breakfast, served with loads of yogurt and fresh fruit.

This recipe, based on one of Heidi's, really is a doddle to make and you can add substitute your own favourite fruit, nuts or even add seeds if you're feeling really virtuous. I like to add the dried fruit after the granola has baked so they don't burn and turn bitter. Here's our recipe, but would love to know if you have a favourite one.

Granola :: makes a really big jar full.

Dry mix
4 cups of oats
1.5 cups hazelnuts
1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup dried sour cherries
1 cup of golden raisins (my god have you tried these? A taste sensation!)
1 tbs cinnamon
2 tsp salt

Wet mix
60 g coconut oil
1/2 cup honey

Preheat oven to 150C. In a large bowl combine oats, hazelnuts, coconut, cinnamon and salt and mix well. Then in a small saucepan melt coconut oil over gentle heat. Add the honey and stir well to combine then pour over oat mixture and toss really well until all the dry ingredients are coated well. Spread evenly over two baking sheets and place in the oven for 30 - 40 minutes, or until starting to turn golden. You can stir the granola half way through if the edges are getting too brown. Allow to cool then pour back into large bowl and add the fruit and toss. Store in a large airtight container.

Absurd

2011-11-10T18:04:00.003+11:00

What if there was an eccentric millionaire who owned an art gallery....

who had a vision for a farmers market...but

it had to be like no other...

More like an art installation...

a marriage between art and food...

combining interesting and contrasting elements of a market...

Absurd.

What if you were asked to be involved...

in an insanely challenging role with impossible deadlines...

Crazy. Preposterous. Folly.

Would you?

Would you take on the pressure, the stress and the sleepless nights?

Would you?

Hell yes! Bring it on!

So long and thanks for all the cupcakes

2011-11-03T16:00:00.001+11:00

After going through close to a thousand kilos of flour and sugar in the past four years, it's time to pack up the mixer and say good bye to our little cupcake business. It's been such fun baking cakes, meeting so many lovely people and hearing wonderful feedback from our customers. But well, there's so many exciting things happening in our world that we had to cut something. And the weekly cake stall was it.

So what are we doing you may ask? Well, we are super excited to be working on a new book with Matthew, Ross and Nick, we're still doing cakes by request, we're catering for events using delicious, sustainable and local ingredients, we're writing about food, styling for food photo shoots, and well, there is one project that we are so over the moon about that I have to pinch myself to check that I'm awake and that it's real. But you'll have to wait to hear more about that.

As they say, you have to close one door before another one opens and well, this week that proverb certainly rings true. Hooray for cupcakes! Those dear little treats have been so much fun.

Hello!

2011-10-31T12:59:00.002+11:00

Look who arrived this morning along with four little siblings! We are very excited!

Bruny Island Weekend

2011-10-24T11:45:00.002+11:00

After a busy Saturday market, on glorious spring day, we drove south to catch the ferry across the channel. We were heading to a Slow Food event - a dinner cooked by Ross O' Meara at the Lunawanna Hall, a little village on the south of the island.

Everything we ate was sourced on this tiny island off the coast of Tasmania. Olives, oysters, pork rillettes, wallaby terrine, possum and rabbit sausages, corned wallaby legs (so delicious!) really incredible ( I mean, really incredible) spit roasted lamb, some greens and buttery pink eyes finishing with a simple Scottish dessert called cranachan. All washed down with Bruny Island wines.

We stayed at Ross's busy farm nearby and after a luxurious breakfast, slowly meandered back to the ferry, stopping to climb the lookout at the Neck, take a quick paddle on sunny Nebraska beach and drive past Daisy Banks my dream cottage by the sea that's for sale. On the voyage back to the mainland, I dreamt of moving to this magic island one day...as I always do every time I visit.

Groundskeeper please

2011-10-17T10:35:00.000+11:00

Rhubarb, artichokes, lemons, apple blossoms and chives. There is an abundace of beautiful things in the garden right now.

But in spring, it seems that no matter how long I spend in the garden, I never will finish all the jobs that need doing. Gardening certainly keeps those prioritising skills in good use. I could happily spend all day gardening (weeding) and still not make a dent in the list of chores. If only I had full time groundskeeper to keep on top of everything.

This week, the garden chores are::

~~Plant six new rhubarb crowns I was given~~
Pull out the last of the winter greens and dig over the beds to make room for spring planting
~~Finish planting my bare rooted trees~~ (oops)
~~Weeding~~
~~Sow some parsley seeds~~
Find some space to plant the rest of the potatoes
String up the tomato plants in the green house
~~Mow the lawn~~
~~Extend the chicken run~~
Build a net for the currants
Weeding
~~Pick a few kilos of those lemons~~
Give all the plants a jolly good feed with worm wee
Did I mention weeding?

Righto, whilst the groundskeeper takes care of the garden, inside, I'd like to::

Paint the recently exposed ~~wall,~~ ~~beam and ceiling~~ before THAT oven arrives (any day now)
~~Make 120 marshmallows for a special order~~
~~Bake 180 odd cakes for the market on Saturday~~
~~Have a good lie down~~

That should keep me busy, although it's hardly likely I will get through the entire list. Not without the help of that groundskeeper.

A sweet day

2011-10-14T09:19:00.000+11:00

I was thrilled when Gillian agreed to let me spend a day in her chocolate shop as work experience girl. A chance to live out my Juliette Binoche fantasies and learn a little of the mysteries of the chocolatier. I can't say that I'm much clearer on the magic of tempering chocolate, turning dull brown chocolate buttons into smooth shiny bars with a marvellous snap. Nor did any Johnny Depp type gypsies come swaggering into the shop. But I did have lots of fun, spending the day with fun and very clever people who make beautiful chocolates.

Social network peeps

2011-10-10T11:44:00.001+11:00

In the four years since we've had chooks, we've never managed to hatch any chicks. Those hens have just never been broody, at least whilst there's a rooster around. So when a friend put out the call on Facebook that he had some chicks to give away, we took three. Two black Hamburg/Frizzle crosses and a yellow fluffy something or rather. They are so cute, the black ones especially with their white fluffy bottoms and the children adore them. Although Spoon is taking an unhealthy interest in them too. The chicks will live in the kitchen under a heat lamp until they're old enough to go outside. About five weeks apparently. Although on sunny days they enjoy some sunshine on the lawn in a covered, hawk proof enclosure.

That takes the current total thirteen chooks living with us. Of course, wouldn't you know it, this week two of the big hens have gone broody with both of them sitting on a clutch of fertile eggs. Hmmm, we may be up for a few more chicks before this spring is through.

Cottage by the sea

2011-09-25T10:44:00.000+10:00

Did you ever play house outside when you were a child? I did. I remember setting up little outdoor kitchens where ever I could. Under the water tank stand, in a small clearing amongst the overgrown shrubs or under the enormous pepper tree at my grandmothers house. An upturned box for a table, an old jar filled with soursops and utensils made from found bits and pieces, cooking dishes with leaves and petals and mud. I would happily play for hours at a time.

I only recalled those childhood memories this week as we stayed at Lily Cottage. A tiny rustic cottage, one L-shaped room, sparsely furnished with second hand finds and a kitchen filled with gorgeous vintage treasure. Prettily painted windows frame views of the cottage garden and out over lush green pastures to the ocean beyond. No fridge, no oven, no electricity and a sink outside for washing up. It's totally basic, totally rustic and totally charming. It reminded me of a grown up version of playing house. And that's what I did on our seaside holiday. Cooked delicious food and played house. Just like I did all those years ago.

By the sea shore

2011-09-23T07:47:00.003+10:00

Scenes from our camping trip to the sea shore :: Tasmanian style. Too cold for swimming, there were plenty of sand dunes to play on and warm lagoons to splash in to keep the children busy. Sometimes windy, sometimes sunny but never cold, the weather was perfect. We're home feeling sandy, smokey, tired and happy.

See ya later aligator

2011-09-16T23:54:00.004+10:00

The first rule of Lily Cottage :: you do not talk about Lily Cottage. Especially to the dogs who will be sad that they can't come with us. See you when we get back next week. xx

101 Donuts

2011-09-14T19:42:00.005+10:00

I've had a hankering to try these since I first read the recipe awhile back. Baked donuts. That equals healthy donuts, right? This morning the pantry was bare. We were out of cereal, down to our last two eggs and almost out of bread. Perfect opportunity to make a batch of these for breakfast. Even though the chilly temperature in our kitchen slowed down the rise time somewhat, with two little helpers to speed things along, it really was a super easy recipe. And the fact that they were all gobbled up immediately was a sign they must be really good. Or perhaps just highlighted the fact that kids didn't get breakfast until 10 o' clock. Bare pantry or not, I highly recommend you make a batch pronto. Heidi does it again.

The race is on...

2011-09-13T18:19:00.007+10:00

Spring is here, the westerlies blow and the race is on in the garden. There are seeds to sow, beds to mulch, trees to feed and weeding, weeding and more weeding, before the blighters get a foothold.

Like most things in my life, I'm kinda a last minute gal, and whilst most gardeners will have their summer seedlings already shooting forth, to allow maximum time to grow during the warmer months, my seeds and potatoes are still in the mail. Except for my tomatoes, which I finally sowed today. Unfortunately the problem with this last minute approach was made apparent during my mad dash to the hardware store today, with very slim pickings left for tomato seeds. I think I nabbed the last six packets of unheard of varieties like Thai pink egg, yellow pear, Wapsipinnicon peach, Ponderosa Pink, Burwood prize and Cerise. Only one red tomato out of the lot of them. It will be interesting to see how they fair, all pink, peach and yellow. Next year I will be more organised. For sure. But tonight at least, I can rest on my laurels, confident in the knowledge that we're in for a bumper summer tomato crop. Just as we open the last bottle of passata too.

In other parts of the garden, the garlic is growing like crazy, but the asparagus is more Mary Celeste than Mary Washington, there's absolutely no sign of it. Lucky the delicious pick again broccoli is living up to its name to make up for the asparagus shortfall.

Along with being a mad rush, it's also a constant battle, this gardening caper. It's me vs weeds, slugs and those pesky black birds, that pull up seedlings, dig holes in the beds and flick mulch all over the paths. It's no wonder they were made into pies. What happened to that culinary trend I wonder? But looking into the lemon tree today, I spied a brand new baby black bird, they seem so harmless with they're little. This little one will no doubt grow up to torment me next spring, probably as I race around the garden in a mad last minute planting frenzy again, having paid no heed to my own advice at all.

Blunnies off

2011-09-12T19:17:00.026+10:00

It's quiet around here because it's school hols right now. We've kicked off our Blunnies and headed outdoors, enjoying bare feet on the grass and the warm spring weather. Might be time to invest in a pair of these I think. We have made marshmallows and popcorn for picnics under the birch trees.

This weekend we head off to gorgeous Lily Cottage for some beach time with friends. Before we go there's lists to write and I'm dreaming of delicious things to cook on the campfire. It might be warm, it will probably be cold. Actually, it might also be time to invest in some of these too.

Hello spring, it's so very good to see you.

The pantry

2011-08-31T19:35:00.001+10:00

There's been sick peeps around these parts. Up all hours, lots of washing, squeezing juices and making soup. But I'm not getting sick. Not me. Too busy thanks.

Around all the nursing, we're fiddling around with the kitchen trying to prepare for the big arrival. For a long time now we've been on a mission. One to find the perfect pantry cupboard. We've hunted and scoured for such a long time. We like those old pine dressers, you know, the farmhouse type ones. But they just don't hold enough stuff. Book shelves, stainless steel racks, we've thought about of all types of storage solutions but we were prepared to wait until we found just the right piece.

However, as we ripped out the last of our existing built-in cupboards to make way for the hearth, things started to get desperate. Nothing like having your pantry stacked in boxes on the floor to take the joy out of cooking. Perhaps we were going to have to get something custom made. Like, right now.

When suddenly, there it was. A giant blue vision at the local second hand store. It was massive, it was loaded with shelves. And it was perfect.

I love that it came from an old girl guides hall. It has £ 8-0-0 written in yellow handwriting on the side and is 235 centimetres tall. And now it lives with us.

Of course, there isn't quite enough room to fit all of our things. But really, can you ever have a big enough pantry? I'm just so happy we found it, that it just fits under our ceiling, and that it's painted the most lovely shade of blue. And that it has found a home here with us.

Baker boys

2011-08-25T16:42:00.006+10:00

I took a huge swag of baking books home from the library last week, looking for some buttery, floury, sweet inspiration. Have you met Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito? Forging new frontiers from their bakery in Brooklyn, they are the cutest sweet tooths in New York. I've been having fun with whoopie pies and butterscotch tarts and most importantly, their famous brownie. So moist, dense, chocolaty and totally delicious, and, had I remembered to include the recipe's vanilla and espresso powder, I reckon they'd be even better.

Across the Atlantic, you might know Yotam and Sami from London's Ottolenghi. Their first eponymously titled cookbook is full of modern, smart recipes. I've been baking their famous giant meringues with cinnamon and hazelnuts, my favourite among a host of other baking goodness.

A little closer to home, the hefty book of Paul Allam and David McGuinness from the landmark Bourke Street Bakery in Sydney's Surry Hills is beautifully photographed and full of recipes for the most perfect breads and pastries. From the easy pizza dough, to the mixed berry muffins, so far, everything has worked a treat. It brings back memories of queueing for tasty sausage rolls and crusty sourdough loaves when we lived in Sydney. A bit more practice is required, but I fully intend to nail the amazing sweet shortcrust pastry of theirs.

So many cookbooks, so many tasty things to bake, so little time. I will be sad when I have to take this lot back to the library, and I hope the librarian doesn't notice the floury, buttery, sticky pages.

Hugo and me

2011-08-23T18:50:00.001+10:00

I've been writing this blog for nearly four years now, and I love looking back through old posts and reminiscing about the days when I had the peeps at home full time. How quickly things change. Hugo is at school three days a week, Elsa five. When they come home they run to the neighbour's and play on the street, with nary a glance back at their mama.

This year, as things get busier for me I have to remind myself to cherish those two days at home with Hugo and to be more mindful of his needs. I find I get swept up in lists and chores or doing work stuff. Hugo gets bored, gets whiney and then I get grumpy.

To get the balance right, I've decided that one day a week is just for Hugo. A Hugo and me day. We might go to a cafe ( my favourite ahem, not his) the park, the bike track, a hike. Anything really, so long as it's us time.

At first I thought this would be hard. To drop everything and just go, but it's not. It's easy and lots of fun. Today was so warm and sunny we grabbed some lunch from the Yo Yo Bakery in Cygnet and hit the beach. There was icy water to paddle in, fallen trees to climb, rocks and shells to collect and like most Tasmanian beaches, not a soul around. It was perfect.

How silly am I that I need constant (daily!) reminding to be present with my children. How sad I will be when they're all grown up and flown the coop. The lists and chores and work stuff will still be there, but they won't.

Right now

2011-08-21T10:30:00.002+10:00

Goodness, what happened to August? In fact, what happened to winter full stop? These past weeks have flown by and the unseasonal warm weather coupled with longer days has drawn us outside and probably into a false sense of security. Spring!? Already?! Woo hoo! But after several years in Tasmania, I know that it will get cold again. There may even be more frosts lurking around the corner. I hope so anyway. I don't mind those beautiful frosty mornings.

Micro blogging has also distracted me from this space, Instagram and Pinterest are my new online loves. So quick and easy. A snap with my phone, select a gorgeous filter and we're done. Instant.

But I do miss writing here and using my big camera. Since my last post I celebrated a birthday with lovely friends around a bonfire. Had a new window cut into a dark corner of the kitchen. Helped my neighbour plant hundreds of blueberry plants. Enjoyed the last minute flurry of "winter" planting of only just still dormant trees in my own garden. Hazelnuts, apricot, more apples and raspberry canes. Just in the nick of time, as the tiny green buds are already shooting.

I've been enjoying selling our cakes at Salamanca on Saturday too. I love that market. It's so vast, so big, and just has a crazy atmosphere I adore. We're lucky to be in such a great position. Surrounded by long time stalls, many of them now run by the children of stallholders who started the market back in the 1970s. The pie stall, the flower stall and the amazing coffee wagon, that not only does a roaring trade in jam doughnuts, but makes the most amazing coffee with milk from their own cows! It tastes truly amazing.

Today, we're tackling the tiling around the hearth, more subway tiles, and later, black "slate" flagstones will be laid on the floor. Then we'll take the dogs for a walk and prepare something quick and easy for dinner, using the goodies I picked from Harvest Feast, the stall next door to us.

Sundays. Family days. Right now.

Rad rads

2011-08-09T09:22:00.006+10:00

"There's a whole stack of cast iron radiators out the very back of the salvage yard"....music to my ears dear reader, music to my ears. I love that my builder knows every nook and cranny of every salvage yard around.

It took a few weeks to find the time to head out over the bridge to search for these rads. And on Saturday, despite pouring rain, I was determined to go see these cast iron beauties.

"Only the ones without legs are for sale" said the store man gruffly as he led me outside, briskly walking past three huge lumber sheds and into the far back corner that bordered a busy highway. In the rain and mud, thankful I had the sense to wear gumboots, I climbed through the overgrown blackberry and there they were. Three pallets stacked up with gorgeous old cast iron radiators. In desperate need of some love.

Of the fifteen or so radiators, they all had legs except three. Two of those were broken, which left only one worth buying. A big heavy eight bar monster. Painted gold. We cut back the blackberry and the forklift was driven up to carry the beast to the car. It is super heavy.

To be honest, I have no idea if it will work. Seems a more common practice in the UK and North America to restore these old radiators. But I'm up for challenge and will give it a go. Next step is to get it tested, sandblasted, painted and buy some new feet for it. A pretty easy process I've discovered after a few night's google research. Once it's painted AWUSA it will look smashing, at a fraction of the cost of a new one. We'll hook it up to the oven, which also heats water, and by next winter our house will be toasty warm.

One rad down, four more to go.

Goodbye, hello

2011-08-08T15:51:00.001+10:00

After 18 months of Sundays, we've finished up our stall at the Farmers Market. It has been a great market to be involved in and we've made some lovely friends, but it's time to move on.

Remember we did a day at Salamanca recently? Well, as it turns out, Ross and Matthew don't need their stall anymore, as they now have a gorgeous little food store in Salamanca open every day. At the same time, our application for a spot at Salamanca was approved so it all worked rather nicely. For the next month or so, we'll be there every Saturday, and during the summer we will take turns with some other Bruny Island producers. So we will get a few weekends off. Hooray!

And while we are a little sad to say goodbye to the Farmers Market, I have no regrets that it was the right decision when I told Elsa that I would be home on Sundays. The look on her face as she realised that we could have every Sunday together told me instantly that it's the right move. It made me realise how kids go along with things, even though they may not like it, and that perhaps me working every weekend was having more of an impact on them than I thought.

So, we'll be at Salamanca Markets every Saturday for a while, out the front of Fresh Fruit Market and next to Harvest Feast, sharing with Bruny Island Cheese and Anne's delicious tracklement stall.

However, sharing a stall with Bruny Island Cheese is going to be a huge test of my will power. Check out this gorgeous new cheese, Pressings, ahem, I did have one or two little tastes of that one....

Eight houses

2011-08-08T15:28:00.001+10:00

Eight houses in four years I counted yesterday. That's how often we moved house before we finally found our little farmhouse in the Huon Valley. That's a lot of boxes to pack when you're pregnant or carrying a little one on your hip. Or both.

Whilst moving every six months can be a real chore, it does mean you are constantly editing your belongings. And after almost five years in our little house, the lack of editing was made glaringly obvious this week when the contents of the pantry were stacked all over the kitchen. The floor to ceiling built-in cupboards were ripped out and they housed not only our bulky pantry items but the high shelves had become a bit of dumping ground for the stuff we no longer use. Conveniently hidden out of sight and out of mind.

Now that those cupboards are gone, we've limited storage space, so yep, it is time to say goodbye to those sipper cups and edit everything down to the bare essentials. Sadly, this also means the end of my op shopping for china and linen habit. There's just no room. I had to take it all back, some with the op shop price tags still attached.

With four big boxes safely delivered back to the oppie, we now have a little more breathing space. It feels quite liberating really. The dodgey floor has been fixed up ready for tiling, the old hot water tank will go and a new one installed in the roof. The new reclaimed window (above) will be installed once the rain clears later in the week. Then we can enjoy a new clutter free and light kitchen. It will be like a new house, with the bonus of not having to actually to move yet again.

Big

2011-08-01T17:58:00.003+10:00

Cooking dinner for 100 people is a daunting task. And at midnight on Saturday, when it seemed there was no end in sight to getting those dishes washed, I wondered for a moment whether we'd bitten off more than we could chew. Boom tish.

Our school has a shiny new kitchen in an amazing new hall and we were lucky to be the first to use it on Saturday for the grand opening dinner. With a huge amount of help from some lovely talented folk we managed to cook a delicious meal for 107 people. And proud to say that all the fresh produce was sourced from local and organic growers. It was big. It was hard yakka. And I loved every minute. Well, okay, maybe by 12.30am when I thought we'd never finish the dishes, I did start to feel a bit weary. But it was lots of fun.

It's taken two days to recover and now I've got a cold, so I'll keep sipping hot ginger tea and have a quiet week at home. And even though there's a lot to do in the garden, I've still got 30 raspberry canes to plant, and my rather large fruit tree order to pick up and plant, I am hoping for a rainy day or two. Because, our builder has pencilled us in for the next wet day. He is coming to build a hearth in our kitchen. For my new baby. With which I will confidently say I shall not be tackling dinner for 100 any time soon. Maybe ~~20,~~ ~~30,~~ well okay 40 tops.

Winter on the farm

2011-07-26T09:44:00.002+10:00

Remember a while back I mentioned an exciting project I'd been working on? It's finally out and it's totally lovely. A cookbook called Winter on the Farm. It's such an amazing feeling to see a project that you've worked on appear in a real, live, actual book. It's like there's a little bit of me in this book. There's photos of all the cakes and biscuits and soups, pies, tarts and risotto that I cooked. There's jam jars and spoons and cake plates from my very own cupboard. And there's even a recipe credited to me. That I'm quietly chuffed about. Yay me!

But what I love most about this book is the beautiful photographs that Alan Benson has taken of the valley throughout this book. He's perfectly captured the chilling grey beauty of winter in my home. The fog, the frost, the mud, the cold and those wonderful bare winter trees. But Matthew's food makes you feel so warm and cosy, wrapped up inside it's the perfect foil for these chilly winter days.

For me, this book really is heartwarming food in the truest sense. And if you want to read more about our valley, then you must read Steve's beautiful words here.

My new hangout

2011-07-18T19:18:00.002+10:00

I was pretty delighted when the huge truck, working on the power lines, blocked the access on our narrow street this morning. It meant that despite a long list of errands that needed to be done, I was stuck at home. We had no power all day, but the weather was sunny and still and Hugo and I got stuck into the new greenhouse. After a series of stops and starts due to bad weather, Pete our handyman finally finished it on Friday.

My lovely louvre windows, essential for good ventilation, were scored from the tip, a door was bought from the off cut pile for $1 and the frames made from timber we had lying around. The only new stuff we needed was the polypipe and the plastic.

My job today was simply dig out the 30 odd raspberry canes, that we built the greenhouse around, build a new raised bed, put down a sawdust path in the middle and move in some furniture. I'm thrilled that I finished and even had time to paint it too, blackboard paint on the inside of the door, a kid blackboard under the louvre windows, and a dusty blue on the outside of the door.

I want to plant tomatoes in the long bed, and have laid cardboard, sawdust, compost, manure and straw down to brew until we're ready to plant in late spring. Never have my tomato beds had such a lovely long preparation. The "benches" on the other side, again made from stuff lying around, will be for seedling trays. I can get started on sowing cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli for late winter planting outdoors.

I love being in the greenhouse. It's my new favourite hangout. It's so warm and bright. I have to stop myself from putting some bunting up and a cane chair inside. Or do I?

This week...

2011-07-16T19:59:00.003+10:00

...I've spent two days quiet days at home with my sick little girl. But it was a treat to spend two days hanging out with her watching movies, making craft and feeding her chicken soup. At some point she took this photo.

...ate too much pudding. Drank too much mulled wine.

...I've been inspired by so much loveliness on Pinterest.

...we finished building our greenhouse. I'll show you next week!

...I loved walking the dogs in the chilly air surrounded by snow covered hills.

Oh, and we BOUGHT a brand new shiny one of these. Yes. We. Did.

Due to the weather...

2011-07-11T17:39:00.004+10:00

Activities around these parts have been dictated by the weather of late. It's bitterly cold, snowy rainy and incredibly windy. Not that we're complaining. It's beautiful and wild and totally Tasmanian. And any excuse to stay indoors with the peeps is lots of fun.

Saturday's deluge of rain created a stream running through the boundary of our yard. The peeps rugged up and built gnome houses, dams, bridges, light houses and villages with sandy shores. A rare treat, running water and mud in the garden, and the chance for some creative building. Then inside for warm baths and hot chocolates.

Sunday I had a feeling the market would be cancelled, but I packed the car and headed off to Hobart anyway. I was almost there when I received the call that yes, as the main stall had just been carried four meters into the air and split in two, that market was cancelled. That gave me the chance to have an unheard of leisurely weekend breakfast in a cafe in Battery Point watching the snow flurries outside. How lovely!

I drove home over the mountain through the most magical snow fall, plonked myself on the couch and played with Pinterest all afternoon. Bliss!

Today we woke to the news that we were snowed in one road, and flooded in on another. Cut off from school! Hoorah! No option but to head west to the Judbury Crafters meeting. I prepped some stuff for Pip's pom pom project for the children, and dragged out my sock knitting, ahem, from the back of the wardrobe and off we went.

In a beautiful sunlit room with big windows overlooking the wild and flooded Huon river, sat a dozen or so people spinning wool. On spinning wheels. There was jam and scones and warm mugs of soup and lots of sharing of stories and skills. I got some much needed help with starting off my socks, again, and to be honest, felt a little inadequate that I was using boughten wool. I hadn't actually sheared my own sheep or alpaca, dyed it with foraged plants and spun it myself. Not that anyone said anything, everyone was very friendly and welcoming, however that might need to be a project for the future. In the meantime, next month, I'm going to bring a crochet hook and get some help starting a granny rug.

What a creative, warm and happy time we are having. Rain, snow, floods, road closures? Bring it on. We're happily hibernating in the valley thank you. We might see you in the spring.

Breakfast lunch and tea

2011-07-07T18:36:00.001+10:00

It wasn't until I was well into making these rolled fruit cookies that I realised how pretty they were and started taking some pictures. I was intrigued by the pastry that was all cream cheese, butter and flour with only a little sugar, filled with cinnamony, sweet, toasted walnuts and raisins. The result is a not too sweet cookie that was very moreish. A recipe from one of my new cookbooks, (I've err, been on a bit of buying spree lately). This one, recommended by Siobhan, The Rose Bakery Breakfast Lunch and Tea, is all beautiful photography, lovely recipes and so very French. I wish we had a bakery just like it in the valley. Actually, probably for the best that there isn't...

Snaps...

2011-07-06T19:56:00.001+10:00

...from this week. Cooking for a new mag. Good food, delicious recipes, beautiful kitchen, talented team. Lovely way to spend my days.

Winter garden

2011-06-27T18:27:00.005+10:00

Despite the day starting out with a wet and gusty morning, the afternoon mellowed into a sunny winter day. That low slung winter sun is so soft and golden, it beckoned us outside to enjoy an all too brief hour in the garden.

There is so much going on. The hens have started laying again, only since the solstice, right on cue. The garlic is spouting, the green lemons are slowly ripening and the rhubarb I divided a few months ago is going crazy. No sulking in their patch. I have a whole bed devoted to kale, my favourite vegetable, that thrives in this cold climate. We pick the leaves everyday to cook in soups, pasta and pies. The broad beans Hugo planted three weeks ago are ever so gradually getting bigger, we should have a crop ready by spring. Yep, it's busy out there in the garden, with plenty to eat, even in this cold weather.

Tomorrow we might go and meet the new neighbours, a young family who just arrived from Sydney on the weekend. Can you believe there are nine houses on our street and five families who live here are originally from Sydney!

In the studio

2011-06-24T18:30:00.004+10:00

We have a studio did you know? A little self contained cottage that sits adjacent to our house. It has a loft bedroom, a bathroom and an almost finished laundry. It's a rather new building, compared to the big old house that we live in, so it's slightly lacking in the rustic charm department. It has good bones though, and with a cosmetic makeover we should be able to get it looking lovely. I'm inspired by the summerhouse above, as seen in the Delicious Miss Dahl series.

Since we moved in it's become home to odd bits of furniture that don't quite fit in the house. A bit of a lost space. However, after four years I'm finally getting around to making a start on the grand makeover. I've made great inroads with gallons of white paint already. For the windows, I picked up three vintage lace curtains at the op shop for mere 50 cents each. While I'm not quite ready to reveal all just yet, here is a little glimpse. I love the patterns the curtains make on the newly painted white walls. A summer house studio. A place for friends to stay, a quiet sunny place for me to sit and read, just like Miss Dahl. That will be quite delicious.

Home love

2011-06-23T17:23:00.004+10:00

Today was my first day at home without the peeps, or any meetings or work commitments since the school holidays started almost four weeks ago. It was heavenly. And while spending the day reclining on the sofa was tempting, the house really needed some lovin'. Especially the peeps room. Check out the before shot. Yikes! It all started going horribly wrong three days ago when they turned their room into a shop. It never quite recovered. I'm sure A Current Affair were on their way to do a story on the family living in such a mess.

It will be a pleasure to tuck them in tonight without risking a sprained ankle or a bruised shin. Fingers crossed it will stay that way until bed time.

Slow down

2011-06-21T22:49:00.004+10:00

I've been neglecting this space lately as I've been very distracted. With life. It seems our life is going through a transition phase. There has been a real shift in my children's behaviour and what they expect from their days. Their horizons are broadening.

Our days are a blur of school, work, travel, homework, soccer, walking the dogs and play dates. More and more they want to run off and play with their friends in the neighbourhood. Home from school and out the door to play and come home at dark. I can't follow them around with my camera any more.

When I started this blog my little ones were at home, and I wanted to document our days to help remember the good things. Now they're at school and the days are whizzing by and I find myself struggling to find the time to keep up, let alone stop and notice those good things, those special moments. And even those moments are in transition like my children.

I really want life to slow down, to go back, but I know that's not going to happen. Instead I have to really rethink how to capture those good things. So I can remember them. Remember to bring my camera, remember to pause and to notice the good things. Before those little ones get big and run away for good.

Rainy days

2011-06-08T12:40:00.003+10:00

I love rainy days. Round here it's pouring. I think the river will burst its banks and we'll be cut off from town. No matter. We're back from the library with a pile of books and we're nice and dry inside, cosying up just fine.

Yesterday we were so excited to be given an entire frame of honey from a friend's hive. One day our friend is going to give us a hive of our very own. I can't wait! The frame is very heavy, and we should get over a kilo of honey. We cut the top off the comb with a hot knife and let the honey drain into a bowl. It is very runny and quite delicious.

While we wait there's lots cups of tea and finger knitting. Cute pups by the fire and a new nest of pie dishes. It's a pie kind of day. Shepherds pie and apple pie for dinner tonight me thinks. Ahh rainy days. I love rainy days.

Best in show

2011-06-06T16:15:00.001+10:00

Scenes from the Campbell Town show.

We were part of the food tent that hosted cooking demonstrations from Ashley at Two Metre Tall, great coffee from Red Bridge Cafe and honey from Yves at Miellerie. All good company.

I enjoyed a wander through the exhibition hall to see all those gorgeous sheep, craft dispays, and the results of the lego and shoe shining competitions. All rather charming and totally country. I guess after 173 years you get it just right.

Winter garden

2011-06-05T15:43:00.000+10:00

School holidays now and we've been busy in the winter garden. Building sawdust paths, planting garlic in straight rows and enjoying the salvias. Good times for the peeps. Who aren't really peeps anymore.

The Dirty Life

2011-05-22T18:03:00.006+10:00

I was at a party last month and, as usual, I found myself drawn to a certain crowd. The ones gathered in a quiet corner, wearing their "good" Blunnies, deep in conversation. The dance music blared, waiters balancing trays of cocktails and paella swept by largely unnoticed. The discussion had turned to keeping chooks and for me there is no finer party conversation.

It seems a lot of the friends I've made in Tasmania share a similar dream. One of wanting to either grow as much food as we can or at least know who did. Have a few chooks, grow veggies, keep a house cow. Some even go that one step further than the dream of a big veggie patch.

Like one friend who bought a scythe from here so he could cut his grass without trying to wrangle a temperamental brush cutter, and break away from the oil addiction. Or the couple from London who dream of harrowing their fields using draught horses instead of a tractor. Then there is the family who moved miles into the Tasmanian wilderness from Marrickville, and now live a life more in common with Almanzo Wilder than the city one they left behind. Complete with a house cow.

So where am I getting to? This book. The Dirty Life by Kristan Kimball. This memoir is one of the most heartening stories I have read since Animal Vegetable Miracle. A real page turner, I couldn't put it down. I laughed, I cried, I dreamed. It's the tale of a New York gal who falls for a farmer and they move to a 500 acre derelict farm to start an organic CSA business.

Kim Kimball is no Lisa Douglas. Never before have I read a story of such a transformation. From NYC writer to a real, in all weathers, in all hours, when all seems hopeless, despite sickness or snow, hardworking-fingers-to-the-bone farmer. Kristen with her husband Mark provide a whole diet, everything from vegetables, grains, dairy and meat, for 150 members every week of the year. An incredible feat. Especially as they use draught horses, Amish tools and hand milk their cows. Their story is so amazing, their compost heap so enviable, their passion, their faith in the universe, their sheer hard work and their love are all so admirable. Everyone who cares about their food and where it comes from should read it. And be inspired.

A while back whilst I picked up a novel and on the back cover was a quote from a famous American actress along the lines of "I'm buying this book for all my friends." I read the book. It was okay, but I didn't feel the need too rush out and distribute copies.

But the Dirty Life? This is the book I want to buy for all my friends. At least for all the ones who wear Blunnies. Or the ones who dream of wearing them. It's as if Kristen bundled up all of our collective dreams and turned them into her reality. Her life. A glorious, hardworking dirty one.

Keep it wonky

2011-05-20T10:08:00.004+10:00

I bought a copy of Mollie Makes on zinio as I couldn't wait for the hardcopy to hit the stands. A gorgeous crafty mag full of handmade goodness. Clever things to make, beautiful photos, lovely handmade interiors, interviews and lots of inspiration. Kind of Martha gone edgy.

But I've rather taken a fancy to this manifesto I saw by Aardvark. I love the typesetting and the words. The perfect to do list. It would look quite nice in my kitchen I think....

Windowsill

2011-05-18T12:17:00.002+10:00

This is the windowsill in my kitchen today. I love the light here, south facing, always soft and always something interesting sitting on the ledge. Today there is a jug filled with kale from the garden, the last of the tomatoes desperately trying to ripen, my new matryoshka measuring cups and a thrifted little wooden bowl and spoon filled with cooking salt.

Today is my first day off in ages, child free, nowhere to be, and I'm enjoying just wasting time reading blogs and drinking coffee. But, there are pears to preserve, quinces to pickle and a couple of barrow loads of compost to shift. Maybe one more coffee first, then I'll get right onto it. Truly I will.

What's on your windowsill today?

Quince love

2011-05-14T19:37:00.003+10:00

I don't remember exactly when, as an adult, I first tasted quince. But I do remember being overcome with an incredibly strong feeling of homey familiarity as soon as that sweet ruby fruit passed my lips, and a vague memory of having tasted it before, as a child.

It was probably at my grandmothers house, who always had some sort of fruit in the fridge that was stewed, you didn't poached fruit back then, you poached eggs and you stewed fruit. We always had stewed fruit, usually apricots, for sweets (not dessert) after tea (not dinner) with lasings of ice-cream.

It's a feeling that still persists everytime I eat a quince, one of nostalgia, which is one of the reasons I love to eat them. As well as being enchanted by their flavour and the magical transformation that occurs when you cook them, they're also gorgeous to look at.

I have planted two trees in my garden, and impatiently wait for them to bear fruit. I have to resist the urge to plant more because I know in only a few years I'll have enough fruit for the whole neighbourhood. A generous friend let me come and pick as much fruit as I wanted from her eight year old tree. Even after seven families before me had already picked their fill, the tree was still covered in fruit.

We've made quince jam using the recipe from Apples for Jam, and a little quince paste. But my favourite way to cook them is to peel and quarter a big batch, leaving the core in place, then cover with water add some sugar maybe a vanilla bean, star anise or cinnamon stick, and cook in a slow oven for hours until they turn a lovely shade of deep red. Leaving the core in place seems to help make the syrup lovely and thick and add a richer quincy flavour. You can then cut out the core easily from the soft fruit, without any waste, a task that is much more difficult with a hard, raw quince.

I keep a big jar of these in the fridge, just like my grandmother's stewed fruit, to use in tarts, on porridge for breakfast, or on a cake like this buttermilk cake from Heidi's gorgeous new book. Or they are fine just as they are after tea for sweets, with lashings of vanilla ice-cream.

Heirloom tomatoes

2011-05-10T15:01:00.008+10:00

It's not often someone will share a tale of their late grandfather's clandestine past, but I'm sure glad that my friend did share hers. What a story!

Last autumn my friend gave me a bag of her home grown tomatoes. And she told me they were grown from seeds from her dad. Last year's tomato crop was a good one, so, tasty as they were, I put them into the fruit bowl next to our own bumper crop and didn't think too much more about them.

This year was different. Summer just didn't play ball and it's been too mild produce anything much more than a meagre crop of mealy tasting tomatoes. I gladly accepted another bag of my friend's tomatoes when she offered.

After one bite I was in heaven. Here, was a perfect round red tomato full of incredible flavour. When everyone else's tomatoes were as bland as soggy paper. How did she manage it? I was curious of their provenance and after some prodding she divulged their history.

Seems some years back, her grandfather was a market gardener on the outskirts of a city that shall remain nameless. As successful as his own garden was, her pop, as he was known, coveted his neighbours tomatoes. Spied through the fence, they were unlike any tomato bush he had seen, incredibly prolific, growing on strong thick stalks, almost like tree trunks and each plant producing masses of perfect red tomatoes. The neighbour was an old Italian fellow, who had developed this cultivar over the years and was very proud of it. But he wouldn't share the seeds. With anyone. Ever. What a meanie.

So, my friend's pop did what any self respecting gardener would do, he jumped the fence in the middle of the night, plucked a couple of ripe tomatoes off the vine and hotfooted it back over the fence. He saved the seeds and started growing these tomatoes himself. Very successfully for many years. And he shared the seeds. And he gave some seeds to his son, who gave some seeds to his daughter, who passed on the seeds to me.

Who would have thought a tomato could provide not only a delicious legacy but also an enduring tale of a grandfather's bold escapade. I feel lucky to share the spoils. Now that's what I call a real heirloom tomato.

Beautiful Sunday

2011-05-08T21:13:00.008+10:00

The day started like any other Sunday. Up at 5am to bake biscuits and toast walnuts before heading out into the garden at dawn to pick violets. Then pack the car and head off at 7am to market. No breakfast in bed for me today, but a promise to do something special when I get home.

Seems a box of our cakes was a popular gift for mums in Hobart. The market was one of our busiest yet, helped by a quick visit to the local ABC radio to chat to Chris Wisbey and Alastair Wise about cake and custard. I was very excited to meet Alastair, least of all because I'm a big fan of his mum. We chatted a little about cake and ate one Alastair's delicious Portuguese tarts before heading back to the market. Before leaving I did get Alastair to taste one of our cakes, I was hoping he'd say "I hate this", but he didn't say anything. I wonder what he thought....

We returned to the stall and it was just about empty, lovely Kelly who was minding our stall said she'd been swamped with people buying up big as they'd heard us on the radio! Talk about news travelling fast!

Time enough to barter some market bounty for a Sunday night feast before pack up. When I got home there was a collection of beautiful handmade cards and presents of heart shaped jam tarts, rose petal tea, beeswax hearts to hang in the window and two brand new books to read. Lucky me! We cleared the coffee table and decorated it with candles and flowers before eating the market spoils beside the fire.

A really beautiful Sunday, and not like any other Sunday after all.

Hope your Sunday was a beautiful one too. xx

All stops to Pemberley

2011-05-02T12:09:00.000+10:00

Do you like my new tea towel? It came in today's mail. I love it. I bought it from this cute etsy store that sells lots of gorgeous Jane Austen inspired goods. Did you know Pip is reading Pride and Prejudice for book club? I better sign up. I don't think you can ever have enough Jane Austen in your life.

The birthday party

2011-04-27T10:55:00.000+10:00

A boys-only celebration with treasure hunts, balloons and plenty of cake ending with raining lollies from the must-have piñata. Happy birthday Hugo!

Magic house

2011-04-24T19:55:00.004+10:00

Did you ever visit a magic house as a child? You know the type, a huge old house surrounded by a lush rambling garden. A garden with lots of green rooms, where you could play for hours and never see the house, even though you were only a few steps away from the back door.

And when you stepped inside the house, and your eyes adjusted to the dim light, you saw impossibly high ceilings, ridiculously long hallways and far too many rooms to seem plausible. A house full of laughing children and good food and happy times. A magic house.

We have friends living in a house just like that. Lucky for us. This morning, a perfectly warm and sunny day, we went to the magic house for an Easter egg hunt. The eggs were hidden high up in willow trees, under the agapanthas, throughout the apple orchard and among the keys of the piano wreck. And some were hidden in fairy town. A whole street of magic houses. Naturally, so perfectly a normal sight to see. At the magic house.

On his way...

2011-04-23T12:17:00.006+10:00

... to meet Hugo. An impish, mischievous and bold little guy. Part elf, part super hero and a little bit Tashi. I can't wait for Hugo to meet him. Made with love by this very clever lady. I hope Hugo loves him as much as I do.

This Easter

2011-04-22T15:03:00.010+10:00

This Easter weekend we'll be ::

:: eating hot cross buns

:: decorating our Easter table

:: sharing many happy times with friends

:: eating lots of chocolate and cake

:: preparing for and celebrating a special boy's birthday

Wishing you a safe and happy Easter

Old news

2011-04-20T12:19:00.003+10:00

This morning I thought to myself, "I must write a post about that Country Style article today," when the postie delivered the May edition. It's now officially old news. We were in last month's Country Style.

We were thrilled to be included, especially Mabel. She's enjoying her new found fame, and we've heard from good authority that Angus, a golden retriever from down the road has Mabel's picture stuck to the wall next to his basket. She's a pinup pup!

I was so pleased that Lauren's skirt that Elsa was wearing got such good exposure. I had asked Angie to make some pants for Hugo too, so both children could be showing off fab Tasmanian designers, but he refused to wear them on the day. All of a sudden there's a wardrobe tantrum from Mr Gumboots-and-undies.

The feedback we've received has been very much appreciated. Thank you for all the lovely comments, messages and for coming to our stall to say hello and buy cakes. And thank you to Millie for the sweet post too.

In other old news, last week's issue of Grazia magazine featured a wonderful write up about our cakes and one of our recipes in Matthew's column. Very exciting for us to get a recipe published! Woo hoo!

Finally, the old news I'm most proud off. I recently attended an incredible dinner at Garagistes for Slow Food Hobart. You can read all about it here. One of my photos was included in The Mercury article, in full colour, both online and in last week's paper. With a credit. Yay! Pretty exciting for me.

Did I get paid a fortune? Not a penny. Do I have ambitions to become a professional photographer? Not if I have to learn the meaning of aperture. Was I extremely very proud? Why yes I was!

Well dear reader, that's it for old news, you heard it here last. Come back soon for more up to the minute old news.

Movin' on up...

2011-04-17T19:46:00.008+10:00

When we heard that Matthew and Ross were heading up to Flinders this weekend, Jo and I moved in on their site at Salamanca for the day. Muscling in and sharing the turf with Bruny Island Cheese and Anne's legendary jam. From Rare Foods to cupcakes, it's not such a big leap is it?

Salamanca Markets are big, really huge, with over 800 stalls it's a Saturday institution in Hobart that's been going strong for over thirty years. Arriving at 7am to set up, already the coffee cart was doing a roaring trade amongst the buzz of zooming fork lifts, the clang of steel poles as stallholders built marquees and burly blokes unloaded box after box of fresh produce. I found it very daunting and exciting at the same time, and almost, nearly felt like being at one of Paris' open air markets.

We had a great day, with wonderful feed back from lovely new customers, sold a lot of cakes and I got a real feel for the market, having never really spent a great deal of time there before. It was a huge contrast to our regular Sunday gig, with thousands of people milling through the market, it was amazing to be a part of it for one day.

Today we were back at our home turf at the sunny Tas Farm Gate market, much smaller but I like it like that. Today I stocked up on favourite sourdough, Jacinta's amazing pasta sauce and Paulette's delicious tomatillos for our Sunday night feast.

Who knows, maybe down the track we might consider being at both markets every week. It'd be big. It'd be huge. Could we do it? We'd love too!

Hmmm..sorry guys, I don't think you're getting your stall back.

Green fuzz

2011-04-14T10:21:00.003+10:00

Autumn has arrived. After last week's Indian summer, it's now very cool and very wet. All of a sudden those familiar autumnal smells of damp ground, wet leaves and wood smoke fill the air. And it's been raining. A lot. So much so, that I have been a little concerned about our brand new garden.

It's almost a week since all the action in the garden. By some magic, a clever bloke with a spray can and another clever bloke driving (well it was more like dancing really, delicate moves whilst pivoting on his scoop) a large excavator has, using something like 18 cubic metres of clean fill, 16 cubic metres of compost, 8 cubic metres of gum mulch and 20 cubic metres of sawdust, turned our scruffy, hodgepodge of a yard, into the beginnings of a garden.

We now have 3 times as much flat lawn area (well, will be lawn when the seeds grow), a hedge made up of 140 westringias, and curves. Lots of curves. We have snaky winding paths and curvy garden beds and a sweeping well defined driveway. It's beautiful. And very grown up.

Apart from the hedges, nothing else is planted and the garden beds have been thickly mulched to patiently wait until winter for their new plants. No instant garden makeover here, these things take time. It's all looking a bit brown right now. And a little autumnal.

But this morning, a delightful surprise. Green fuzz. Baby grass. All bright green amidst the brown. Almost spring like really. A sign of things to come. Grow you good thing.

Pop up pho

2011-04-11T15:03:00.006+10:00

It's been a wonderfully full week of friends, food, flowers, fizz and fun. I was too busy to get the camera out to take many pics. But on Sunday morning I was inspired to take some snaps at a recovery "Pop up" pho bar in a friend's back yard.

So delicious. I wish it was every week.

Tomato Gluttony...

2011-04-02T22:17:00.004+11:00

...today at the Agrarian Kitchen. We picked them, preserved them, tasted them, put them on pizza then we took our booty home. Perfect.

April

2011-04-01T09:47:00.005+11:00

April is a shaping up to be a huge month, least of all because of Mabel's 15 minutes of fame. It was never intended that way, but it is funny how these plan turn out. Starting tomorrow:

Saturday :: I'm off to the Agrarian Kitchen on Saturday for the Tomato Gluttony class. Hooray!

Sunday :: a Slow Food dinner at Garagistes, a super cool Hobart restaurant I've been itching to get to.

Monday :: major garden works! We've been waiting over 12 months for him to fit us in, but Dan is finally coming to start the hard landscaping that will transform our yard into a garden. Stay tuned for 'before and in-progress' shots.

Wednesday :: sees the first of six much loved and missed interstate friends arriving for a big shared 40th birthday celebration for my business partner Jo and another old friend. Clean up the spare room!

Friday :: dinner with eight gorgeous old friends sitting around our table for a feast of good food, wine and laughs.

Saturday:: a glamourous 40th birthday party, think fresh shucked oysters, wood fired pizzas, giant paella, a super cool DJ and all washed down with gallons of fizz!

And that's just the first week. Then there's a radio interview (!) on ABC local radio the following week, mid term break, then Easter and a Tasmanian tweetup at Mona.

And the biggest event this month? The most important, most talked about, most anticipated event this month? A birthday party for one little guy turning five, possibly the most exciting event of all.

Fiddle di dee

2011-03-31T19:18:00.002+11:00

Loving listening to my girl play the violin, such a beautiful instrument. And she's practising like crazy, even after lights out!
Cat says fiddle di dee.

Chook palace

2011-03-30T06:22:00.003+11:00

It's all but nearly finished, this new chook palace of ours. Taking a week to complete over a few drizzly days, it just needs a little more chicken wire and we are there.

Hugo and I made it all cosy with fresh straw and the girls have moved in already.

I'm so pleased we managed to recycle so much of the building materials for this shed, tin from a friend's roof that was recently replaced, timber from the stash, an old screen door from our former laundry, and my favourite, a nesting box made from solid timber kitchen cupboards that was found at the tip, for free.

As the girls are settling in nicely, scratching through the new straw, my next move is to organise some medicinal plants to grow around the edges for the chooks to peck. Armed with a copy of my chook bible, I've ordered wormwood, scarlet nasturtiums, tansy, comfrey and some barley through Diggers. No hardship there - I love shopping for seeds and plants.

I also plan to give the whole house a lick of lime wash, the real stuff, made from a bag of builders lime and water, which should not only keep parasites at bay, but provide a real Mediterranean feel!

All we need now is the girls to lay some eggs, but I think we'll be waiting for their moulting to finish before they start to lay again. In the meantime, a pair of wooden eggs sits in the nesting box, to hopefully inspire that urge to return.

Actually the girls are getting older, so I'm hoping to pick up some young new girls this weekend and our old girls can retire in style. In their white washed Mediterranean villa.

The crumble wars

2011-03-24T20:17:00.007+11:00

I've been going through a bit of British Cookery stage lately. Perhaps fuelled by the fact we're moving closer to the dream of installing a Rayburn (built by Aga!) becoming a reality. There's something about these autumn days that has me reaching for the books of favourites like Nigel, Monty and Sarah, Jamie, Rachel (who is um, actually Irish but close enough, I mean what with the Queen's imminent visit and all) and Patrick, Cass and Dominic for some nostalgic comfort food.

With Victorian sponges, toad in the hole and kippers on my mind, coupled with the fact of the abundance of apples and blackberries in our garden, we've been eating plenty of crumbles lately. Served with a dollop of our favourite yoghurt, why it's positively a health food that can be eaten most nights with a clear conscience.

However, I admit to not having found a really good crumble topping yet, so we've been having a crumble bake off, each night trying a different crumble recipe. Monty against Nigel, Jamie against Rachel.

So far, the results are inconclusive, Jamie wins points for containing nutritious oats, Nigel is certainly a front runner at this stage, whose crumble has an almost shortbread texture, due to his refusal to be parsimonious with the butter. Both Rachel's and Monty's versions are perfectly acceptable crumble toppings, but none really hit the mark.

Funny enough, it's my neighbour who makes the best crumble I've ever had, it's super crunchy because she cooks the topping on a baking tray in the oven first. Seems I didn't have to go far after all to find the perfect recipe. Still, proper British cookery is something I should perfect before the arrival of our hydronic stove. I wouldn't want her to get homesick. Luckily I have p.l.e.n.t.y. of time to practice!

Harvest Festival

2011-03-22T12:24:00.006+11:00

Today is the Harvest Festival at Elsa's school. Because we can't get there, we thought we'd have a harvest festival of our own in the garden. We've been picking apples from the trees we planted four years ago, mostly giant bramleys and my favourite cox's orange pippin. Such a delicious apple :: a perfect balance of sweet and tart. I think I need to plant another tree so we can have plenty more to eat.

With only a few big bramelys, there will be enough for apple pie for dinner tonight. Bolstered perhaps with a few juicy blackberries that grow wild in the corners of the garden, which we naughtily neglect to control. Much to the neighbours disapproval I'm sure.

In another corner of the garden, there sits an unruly collection of found, recycled, scavenged and reused timber, pallets, wires, kitchen cupboards and a wire door for the new chook house our friend Pete is building. With a big new chook palace, I'll be off to the poultry fanciers sale in April to find some new girls to enhance our flock.

Getting sorted

2011-03-16T10:52:00.004+11:00

I've started a dozen posts this past fortnight and found myself too easily distracted to finish even one. Mostly by the garden and the glorious autumn weather we've been enjoying. I'm going to publish this one.

It's taken us a few weeks to get used to the new rhythm of school and associated going-ons. Even though we minimise after school activities, I still find myself struggling trying to remember if it is library, piano or soccer, despite having a very nice Frankie calendar on my wall. Problem solved by a trip the local second hand store, where I picked up on old cream cupboard door for $5 and gave it a lick of chalkboard paint. It sits by the door so I can remember to which day grab sheet music, violin, soccer boots or home readers on the way out. That's activities sorted, now I just have to make sure I can find the chalk.

On the same visit, I picked up a nice old paint splattered step ladder which makes a very fine shoe rack. Now we can get out the door without falling over a pile of shoes. That's shoes sorted, now we just have to make sure we don't trip over Mabel, who likes to lie on the door mat in the sun.

Speaking of handsome beagles, you must keep an eye out for the next issue of a stylish country magazine, where a certain pup may just grace the cover.

Next up getting weeds sorted, getting the chooks sorted and getting the washing sorted. Righto, back to it.

Haws and sloes

2011-03-01T22:11:00.004+11:00

The very of notion of England's hedegrows is one I find somewhat nostalgic despite never having actually set foot on old Blighty. Most likely it stems from stories I read as a child of quiet country lanes lined with hedgerows :: the setting for many Famous Five adventures. You know, the ones sustained by hard boiled eggs, tomatoes, treacle tart with a jug of cream and bottles of ginger beer.

Although clearly not a new thing, over recent years there has been a huge surge of interest in foraging in the hedgerows, with books and courses readily available detailing on how to find food for free. I love the idea of it and it's something I imagine must be fun.

Tasmania boasts a few hedgerows, most notably in the state's north, where the back roads are lined with immaculately kept hawthorn hedges.

My valley, however, is not so particular with maintaining its hedges. The hawthorn hedges, probably planted widely when the valley was first settled, are now neglected, straggly remnants of some long dead colonial's dream of recreating a little England at the end of the earth.

There is however, one lush, if not overgrown hawthorn hedge around here. It's one I notice often as it sits in front of an old ruined building that I love. This sweet old ruin, once a shop, is unique for its decorative columns, the only building to feature this style in the valley.

So today as I was driving past, I noticed large purple berries amongst the hawthorn. I screeched on the brakes, braved the wind and lashing rain to take a closer look. Sloes! Lots and lots of sloes growing amidst the hawthorn. I was so excited, I raced the children home from school, whipped up a batch of one of Pip's baked risotto recipes, (because we are all busy), and grabbed my secateurs, baskets, and gloves and screeched back to forage for myself.

I pruned the branches heavy with fruit and chucked them into the back of the car. Whilst I was there, I thought I might as well grab some haws, those red berries that grow on the hawthorn. I will make a jelly with those.

So sloes. What are they? A completely inedible tiny dark purple plum that makes the most wonderful gin. Sloe gin. I now have enough sloes to make quite a big batch of gin. Utterly delicious.

I can't help but wonder though, who was it that planted those sloes all those years ago? Was it the same person who built the shop with stylish columns? That is much more intriguing than any Famous Five mystery.

Thank you who ever you were, you totally made my day.

This week...

2011-02-27T21:35:00.004+11:00

...We harvested a bumper crop of pink fir apple potatoes...

...Talked about my favourite cookbook on Siobhan's lovely new blog here then splurged on this one ...

...Planted 30 saffron crocus bulbs...

...Had a visit from my neighbour's adorable miniature black pigs...quite accomplished escape artists....

...Then had a vist from man who installs these (squee!)...

...Picked our first tomato, hooray! just the one, but it's a start...

A very busy and exciting week here. Hope your week was a good one too.

Wet patch

2011-02-21T10:58:00.006+11:00

Monday morning, late summer. It's 10:30am and a chilly 8 degrees outside. It's a grey, drizzly, rainy day, there is snow on the mountain and I'm seriously thinking about lighting a fire. The teapot is full of hot tea and Hugo and I are still in our pjs :: a lucky day off from the morning school run.

Not that I'm complaining. At all. This is my kind of weather. Although plans to get stuck into the garden today will be put on hold. Which is a shame because I have a lot to do out there:
:: dig up my crop of pink fir apple potatoes - urgent, with all this rain, they will rot in the ground if I don't get them out pronto
:: feed this bed and sow some broccoli and kale seeds
:: layer two new raised beds with straw, compost, manure and top soil ready for planting winter picking greens
:: weed the paths, again.
:: search again for any signs of ripening tomatoes. Probably pointless.

Despite looking messy, the garden is quite productive at the moment, we're harvesting zucchinis, cucumbers, rhubarb, butter beans and black beans, perpetual spinach, ruby swiss chard, parsley and basil and potatoes.

But curses, once again this very mild summer has meant the tomatoes are very late, and now with this cold snap, they might not make it at all. Nothing for it but to build a greenhouse ready for the next growing season.

Actually we're planning quite a bit of work in the garden over the coming months, in an attempt to increase the food we grow at home. Along with the greenhouse, we've plans for a bigger chook run to increase our flock of girls, who are getting almost geriatric in egg production terms and a netted berry patch.

That's enough to keep us busy over the coming months. If this rain ever stops. No matter, the tea is still warm and I don't mind a lazy day indoors at all.

Getting off the island

2011-02-17T15:52:00.004+11:00

As much as I love living in Tasmania, it is good to step onto the mainland every now and again for a fresh perspective. I go a bit stir crazy if I haven't crossed Bass Strait in a while, and after our recent trip to Sydney I'm feeling thoroughly inspired.

One highlight was a visit to the Penrith Regional Gallery to have lunch with friends. What started life as a grand farmhouse then became home to Margo and Gerald Lewers, is now a contemporary, super kid friendly gallery set in lush green gardens with a cafe serving the most delicious food.

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s the Lewers' home, with its beautiful gardens, architecture, artworks and creative environment, was known as a place of style, innovation and hospitality. You can read more about their amazing life here.

One room in the original house was set up as an artsists studio with easels, piles of butcher's paper and pencils for the peeps to imagine being artists. I like this idea and it's got me thinking...

I can't help feel inspired after our visit and I have lots of ideas for our own home for the garden, the studio space and the veggie patch.Yes, it's good to be home, but now there's work to do. Pass me a paintbrush please.

We're off!

2011-02-10T15:28:00.001+11:00

To Sydney for a family celebration. We'll be catching up with family and friends and enjoying a little break. In the meantime, I thought I'd show you this cake my partner Jo made for a special birthday. It's a tiramisu cake, three layers of madera soaked chocolate cake with coffee cream cheese frosting. Goodness it was so heavy and smelled delicious! It was enormous - enough for fifty lucky people!

See you soon! xx

The days are long...

2011-02-08T15:52:00.004+11:00

...but the years are short.

I'm indulging in some reminiscing about my baby, who starts kinder this week. He was a pretty darn cute baby don't you think? I guess, this milestone is a significant one because it means both my children are now at school.

I. have. school. aged. children.

We're taking one giant step away from early childhood towards the primary school years.

Heck that went fast. Really fast. And yes, it is great. It means I get time to myself during the day. It means I can think about expanding my business, take a yoga class, do more gardening, cook more food and watch them grow. Some more.

I am looking forward to this next stage. I really am. But it is sad to say good bye to those full-time stay-at-home motherhood days. They were hard sometimes but I loved them. I really did.

I'll just shed a wee tear, or two, then take a deep breath, hold that still chubby hand tightly and we'll take that giant step together.

Meet Me At Mike's

2011-02-04T07:22:00.004+11:00

I'm very excited to be taking part in Pip's new series on her lovely blog :: This is my life :: you can check it out here. Today! Thank you so much for asking me Pip. It was fun!

Just like heaven...

2011-02-01T15:29:00.004+11:00

...for me anyway. A cool afternoon and a massive cherry orchard full of fruit just waiting to be picked, as much as you can, for free. We easily picked about 30kg in an hour. Plus scoffed loads whilst we were at it. How lucky are we? Now, the extra fridge is on and filled with fruit, the dehydrator is running on overdrive, there are pickles, preserves and a lot of jam being made and my hands are stained purple. And a clafouti for dinner. More cherries than we know what to do with. That really is my idea of heaven.

The table

2011-01-25T11:25:00.011+11:00

If the table isn't the heart of a kitchen then it's certainly the heart of the home. Our kitchen table is not only where we eat, but it's the epicentre of our home. Where we share meals with loved ones, drink tea with friends, cool cakes, paint pictures, cut and paste, roll out play dough, blog and numerous other tasks during the day.

We've always coveted those very long, old refectory style tables. Showing their age with beautiful marks and dents as testament to a lifetime of use by previous owners. But these tables were never quite right :: too short, too narrow, too wobbly or too pricey.

But this week we were very excited to finally bring our own whopping dinning table home. It's simple, sturdy, two metres long and should easily seat ten adults, ahem, once we find some more chairs. We had it on lay-by for ages at one of my favourite local stores. The store owner Stef made it from some aged celery top pine that was in his stash :: I love how blokes have a timber stash :: so it is pretty special.

The table is a bit newish looking for me. Brand new. And is yet to earn its patina of a well used family table. But then, I like the idea of a fresh starting point that will, in time, develop a patina made by us.

And our old table? Made by a very dear friend years ago, it came with two sets of legs, one set at dining table height, and one set at coffee table height. So now we have a gorgeous massive big coffee table that you can just see in the top photo. It is used for stacking library books, painting pictures, cut and pasting etc etc...

Now the hunt for chairs begins. So tell me, are you for all matching or mismatched dinning chairs?

Sleepy in the teepee

2011-01-24T19:01:00.003+11:00

Summer days on the lawn in the teepee.
Toys, snacks and a sleepy pup.

Works on paper

2011-01-21T23:45:00.002+11:00

gnome house

desert night sky

rocket shoes

fast blue car

work space

At the start of the school holidays I stocked up on new art supplies for the peeps. The best value school holiday entertainment program ever. Total cost $15. One box of pastels, some black paper and a ream of coloured paper, kept within easy reach on our new giant coffee table, has kept them busy for so many hours creating a gallery's worth of drawings and collages. I think they're so beautiful. We stick them on the walls and we love to look them.

In the hay meadow

2011-01-11T16:00:00.005+11:00

Last week we spent three lovely nights camping at our friends farm, in a fresh mown hay meadow next to the river. It's not exactly wilderness camping but so beautiful and quiet, and you can always duck home if you forget anything. Or need to use the loo for that matter.

We made damper and cooked it on sticks and filled them with butter and golden syrup, something I loved doing as a little one. But the peeps thought it took too long to cook, spoilt perhaps by the instant toasting of marshmallows we usually do. We picked more berries, fished for salmon, swam in the river and ate delicious food in the camp oven. And as an added bonus, there was enough hay stuck to our clothes when we got home to mulch a garden bed! Hooray!

Berry nice

2011-01-04T13:53:00.005+11:00

After one hour's picking, ahem

Sometimes, especially during these long summer days, I have to pinch myself to prove that life isn't a dream. Yesterday was one of those dreamy days, with an invitation to a friend's farm to pick raspberries and red currants. The peeps ran around the massive berry patch, well a berry field really, with ruby stained lips playing with their friends, whilst mama picked kilo after kilo of sweet juicy fruit.

For me, a kitchen full of freshly picked berries is my idea heaven. I've made red currant jelly, raspberry muffins, raspberry ice cream and still there is more fruit left.

This afternoon we're going back to the farm to camp by the riverside. More good times. Hope you're having an excellent summer too.

Pitter patter of tiny paws

2010-12-30T10:09:00.003+11:00

Meet our new dog Spoon. Yes, we now have dogs. As in two. Spoon, a kind of jack russell cross, has a colourful past and was bought from a dog rescue home by a neighbour's niece, who can no longer care for him. Desperate to find him a new home, our neighbour asked if we could take Spoon, and of course we obliged. He flew down from Sydney last week and already he's settled in well. He is very much a people dog, is very sweet and has become my little shadow. The complete opposite to Mabel, who lives her own life really.

He is a tiny little fellow, not quite the borzoi I always fancied as a child, but as my neighbour says, sometimes you don't choose your animals, they choose you. And what he lacks in height, he makes up with heart. And that is all you could want really.

Treadlies

2010-12-28T19:59:00.005+11:00

Every day we've been taking the peeps riverside so they can practice riding their shiny new bikes. There is a gorgeous old road that runs along the river that is the closest bit of concrete around here. They're getting the hang of it pretty fast.

Lovin' the school holidays.

Christmas shenanigans

2010-12-27T14:42:00.000+11:00

Midsummer sweets

2010-12-21T20:23:00.001+11:00

The longest day of the year today and a favourite tradition is to leave out flowers and treats for the fairies on the summer solstice. Befriending the fairies on the solstice is recommended, lest they use their mischievous magic to trick you. Peppermint bark, pecan fudge, chocolate truffles and blooms from the garden will hopefully keep those imps happy so as to leave behind a special treat.

Eight!

2010-12-19T08:52:00.005+11:00

To you we sing!

And happiness we bring!

To celebrate your birth!

An angel here on earth!

Can't believe she's eight!

photo by Hugo

Lost week

2010-12-16T17:03:00.002+11:00

Nothing like a bit of minor surgery amidst the Christmas season to force yourself to take it easy. The after effects of a general, coupled with a heady mix of post-op meds has meant there's nothing for it but to take it easy. Well, as easy as you can when you've two children to care for that is. Just the bare minimum of school runs, meals and keeping the vegetable garden watered, with plenty of couch time in between. Washing, weeds and dishes accumulate along with dust bunnies along the hallway and lego takes over the entire house while I concentrate on what matters most. Family.

After a lost week I'm finally feeling more like myself and now it's time to hit the ground running. School breaks up today so this morning, amongst the usual flurry of lunches, lost shoes and missing school hats, were teachers' presents to wrap and a (vegan!) birthday cake to bring to school for a certain girl. Who is eight. Tomorrow. Oh my.

There is much present wrapping, excitement and celebrations around these parts. All surrounded by green and tinsel and joy. Special times.

Big day cake

2010-12-06T20:23:00.003+11:00

We made a beautiful wedding cake on the weekend. A tier of 130 cupcakes with a cutting cake on top. We set up the cake in the most gorgeous venue that had been incredibly styled by this clever lady. Stunning flowers in glass jars, suspended white chinese parasols and white puffy things and lots of votives. Everything looked so lovely, I bet the couple had a beautiful day.

I'm pooped and have lost my voice. I'll be taking it easy for the next few days I think!

Day 2 :: Make Christmas cards...

2010-12-02T06:59:00.001+11:00

We've signed up for the Kids Craft Weekly Christmas Card Swap and the cards are ready to go. Hooray!

Advent day 1 :: Make ice cream sundaes

2010-12-01T17:50:00.003+11:00

It's the first time I've ever put the advent calendar up by December 1. Yay me! This year, rather than treats every day, we're going to have 24 days of fun things. There are lots of ideas around blogland for advent activities and this year we're doing the same. Having fun, making and giving. That's how we'll be celebrating the countdown to Christmas this year.

Day one :: make ice cream sundaes for afternoon tea. With home made chocolate sauce and preserved cherries. And 100 and 1000s for an extra special treat.

The peeps are so very excited. They can't wait to see what fun thing will be on for tomorrow.

Garlic day

2010-11-30T13:47:00.002+11:00

Today we harvested the garlic that Hugo and I planted back in April. My favourite thing to grow, if only because it's so easy. Plant a clove in Autumn then a few months later a whole bulb appears.

Wipe off the dirt...

Shake it off too...

Check out the size...

Look at this one Mum!

{this moment}

2010-11-25T23:13:00.004+11:00

A moment I want to pause, savour and remember.