In pursuit of the perfect 'not sausage' roll

Yes, technically it is Screen-free Saturday in our house, and yes, I'm writing a blog post.  We've bent the rules today because it is the AFL grandfinal, and being Victorians (even ones who aren't massive footy fans - well Stu kind of is.....), we feel the need to watch the grandfinal on TV and eat junk food.  It is also atrocious weather, so we can't work outside.  This week we'll have Screen-free Sunday.

So, in grandfinal day tradition, we need to eat junk food of the hot dog, meat pie, chips, sausage roll etc variety.  Of course, I can't quite bring myself to buy these things anymore, so grandfinal day also means baking.

I took a deep breath and bought sausage meat to make sausage rolls for the boys.  I intend to make sausage rolls fit into my 'ok' list somehow, but for now.... I had some puff pastry in the freezer (which it turns out has palm oil in it too.....aaaaaagh!), so the boys are getting a pile of regular (though not especially ethical) homemade sausage rolls.

I can't eat them anymore though... Just can't go there.  So I am experimenting with 'not sausage' rolls.  I've seen this recipe which looks good, but not 'meaty' enough. And a while back I made this recipe.  It has a mixture of chickpeas, carrot and rice in it and uses regular puff pastry.  The boys ate them, though not enthusiastically.  I loved them and plan to make them again one day.  But today I wanted something a bit different. 

Today I made a filling that had borlotti beans (other beans would have worked though), rice cooked in veg stock, fresh coriander, taco seasoning, grated carrot, egg, breadcrumbs and tomato paste.  I didn't measure anything, so I don't have a recipe - sorry! I blitzed all of that in the food processor, and then rolled it in some homemade shortcrust pastry made using this recipe.  I also used the last bit of puff pastry to see which I liked better......

regular meaty sausage rolls take on their vegie friends (all were eaten!)

My delicious not-sausage rolls - they looked great!

The results.....YUM! We all enjoyed them, but they were a smidge spicy for the kids.  As to the pastry, I liked both, but the puff had a more decadent texture, so I'll be hunting for a good puff pastry recipe.  The not sausage rolls I will have to make again and work out a recipe :)

Do you have a good 'not sausage' roll recipe? Or do you make ethical sausage rolls? Please help me out on this quest and share your recipes!

Green changes - Better late than never

While shopping with the kids yesterday, I was playing the game where I tell the kids what I want and they scurry off down the aisle of the supermarket, racing to be the one to put it in the trolley. 

The first item was a canned fruit.  They found it quickly and brought it back.  Then I sent them back to replace it with the store brand, cheaper item because that's what I've always bought.  But the moment of having the prettier, more expensive can in my hand gave me a moment of pause, and with my two mini greening detectives by my side, we flipped all the cans to discover where the fruit came from.  Thailand, Indonesia and Australia were our choices, and so, we bought the one that was a little dearer and briefly discussed food miles and supporting Australian farmers.

The next item was a baking ingredient.  Again, I grabbed my trusty budget brand.  This time though, a store special made me pause.  I flipped the two packets to check where they were made, and while hunting on the packet, the ingredients of the cheaper brand caught my eye.  Ingredient number 1 was palm oil! I literally threw the pack on the ground like it had bitten me.  I've read about palm oil and really don't want anything to do with it.  Needless to say I bought the other, more expensive product, that didn't contain nasty ingredients.  (for the record, both products were made in Australia from local and imported ingredients).

I felt sick and guilty, the same way I'd been feeling each time I thought about all the times I've bought intensively farmed chicken and pork, and all the chemicals we've unknowingly pumped into our bodies over the years.  This is green guilt - feeling bad for hurting the planet.

But I'm OK now.  I'm OK because while I know we've made some bad choices in the past, we made them unknowingly.  I hadn't, in the past, thought to turn over the packet and read.  Our shopping needed to nourish and fit the budget, and it did.  But now I have spent a lot of time learning, and it is no longer acceptable to me to buy many if the products I used to.  Should I feel guilty for all of my past purchases? I don't think so.  Not only does guilt not help, but I didn't realise or know at the time, and I was just doing what I thought was OK.

Now I know, and if I go back, then I should feel guilty, very guilty.

I've always thought of myself as environmentally friendly, but the sheer number of changes we've made so far this year, and the amount that I've learnt is astonishing.  So it turns out we were a fairly washed out shade of green before, and I know that while we are now among the most green people I know, that it is possible to get much a much bright shade.  I also know that each change we make is better late than never.  Yes, it turns out I've been buying palm oil products, and that's really bad, but by stopping now, I am making a positive change for the future.

The whole point of this year for us is to get greener, step by step.  And each positive step we take is better late than never.  We are still relatively young, and our children have their whole lives ahead of them.  The years of doing good deeds for the environment are going to far outweigh the years of unintentional bad choices.

Tuesday garden journal

Linking up again this morning for the Tuesday garden journal with squiggly rainbow.....

This week has been typically spring like - perfect sunshiney warmth one day, wintery wind, rain and cold the next.  This would be fine if the weather would work with our plans, but it isn't.  We get a beautiful day for a family visit (which we spent much of inside drinking tea and chatting while the baby was sleeping), and then rain and wind when we want to build the pizza oven!  Needless to say, we haven't got as much done outside as we wanted to.

We have started the pizza oven plinth though.  We built two of the levels of besser blocks before the rain set in and it all had to be left covered with a tarp.  We're getting better at it as we go, but I will just say that I am not making a career change to brick laying and I wouldn't hire me to build your next home. :)

In the vegie garden, I've continued to plant out a few seedlings as they have reached a good size.  I have been giving them a dose of seasol and popping a cloche over them and the growth following transplant has been huge, from 2 true leaves to 4 or more in a few days!

Yesterday I pulled out a couple of shrubs along the front fence that were weedy or struggling.  They were also right next to the veg beds in the part of our garden that I one day hope will be all edible.  I am going to plant sunflowers and other beneficial flowers and things along there, I am just holding off as I want to buy the seeds when we visit the Garden of St Erth in a couple of weeks.

In chook news, our last remaining "old girl" (a rescued ISA who was about 6 years old) got sick.  We decided that given her age and the fact that our treatments weren't working to help her, that it was kinder to put her down.  Stu helped me as I found it tougher to put down a sick old girl than a rooster for the pot.  We feel we did the right thing and she went peacefully.  In happier news, we have gone from getting two eggs a day to getting four as the weather is warmer.  We now get a brown, a white, a cream and a mini bantam egg each day.  Love my chooks.

 

That's about the wrap up.  I apologise for barely getting here to post, but as you can see, we're rather busy at the moment, so I post when I can.  I hope you're having a good week too.

 

15 recycled projects in our yard

Today's post is a response to Rach's very excited (!!!!! LOL) response to yesterdays post.

If you've been following my blog, you are probably aware that we are trying to reduce our environmental footprint as much as possible.  You may also have noted that I love gardening and am just a tad frugal.  So recycling in the garden is something that makes my heart sing! 

Recycling in the garden is popular, but many suggested projects use items such as pallets,tyres and old building materials.  These are great, and we use them a lot (see some below), but I believe the best recycling projects  are those that use items that were your own rubbish.  We find most of our inspiration by looking at the materials around us and seeing if they can be used to meet a need.  This saves us from throwing them out and also saves in fuel costs, time etc. 

Here are some the garden recycling projects that I found on my walk around the garden today (there are more, these are the easiest to explain though).

These projects may not always look pretty, and yes, our yard is messy - its a working yard.  I don't pretty things up to take photos for you, sorry! :)

Arch for cucumbers

This is only part recycling, and part purchased.  It is simply 4 bamboo stakes banged into the ground.  Then we wove some wire mesh over the stakes (bamboo and wire mesh both from the local hardware - total cost $16).  We used a couple of taller hardwood stakes that we already had in the centre, to give a bit more support to the wire.  Then, with recycled poly pipe, we formed 2 arches.  The poly pipe is pushed onto the stakes and held in place with a screw on each one.  Ours has a bit of a church window arch shape because I accidentally bent the poly pipe when I was trying to give it a gentle curve.  I like it, but if you want a more rounded shape, be careful when bending the pipes :).

Seedlings pots and labels

I made all if our seedlings pots from newspaper.  We don't buy the paper often (just the local paper when we want to go garage sale-ing), but as it only takes half a sheet of newspaper for each pot, it is easy to get enough.  The labels in each pot are made from a cut up milk jug and written on with sharpie.

Cold frame

Our cold frame was built from pallet wood and a window we picked up at the  tip. I even recycled some nails from the pallets to make it. It is lined with a cut up feed bag to stop weed growth.

Compost bin

Simply three pallets tied together (with strong twine like binder twine) made a huge new compost bin for us.  We can untie them to access the compost when the time comes and then rebuild it.

Cloches

Cloches are covers for plants that give a warmer micro-climate than the local area.  I am using cloches in the garden this year when my seedlings have true leaves and are ready to come out if the coldframe, but are still in need of protection from cold and the occasional spring frost.  My cloches are made from juice bottles with the  bottom cut off.  I will leave the lids off the bottles to reduce the humidity inside and harden the plants a little.  Having this small opening won't be a problem for frosts (here at least) as the rest of the bottle will still protect the plants.

Chook house

I built our chook house a few years ago entirely from recycled materials.  I used corrugated iron that used to be a fence for the roof, pallets and the old timber decking from our verandah for the walls and old drawers, a cupboard door (and a scrappy piece of lino for weather protection) for the nesting boxes. The door was an old one from the house and  inside the floor is lined with recycled bricks and the girls have an old metal slatted bed base and some branches for roosts. It is by no means the most beautiful chook house in the world, but it was free, recycled and made by me so I love it! It has also worked well for the last few years, which is a plus!

Garden beds

I've talked about these before.  Built from pallet timber and lined with feed bags (instead of weed mat). I can't wait till these are full of vegies!

Tree guards

Feed bags again! Mum gave me heaps and I just keep finding uses for them.  This simple tree guard protects from animals, frosts and lawn mowers and was simply made by cutting the bottom off a bag and uses some prunings (or stakes) to hold it in place.

Vegie garden cat protection

If you (or your neighbours) have cats, you know how much they love digging in garden beds.  I used some old chicken wire to lay over my beds.  It isn't attached so I can remove it for weeding, planting etc.  The cats don't bother digging because it isn't comfortable and it can just be  removed when the plants get big enough to be safe.

Bean teepee and plant supports

As we have been pruning away this year, I've held onto any long straight branches.  I have used some of them to create this bean teepee and support for our berries. The are held together with cut up holey socks and recycled binder twine.  The rest of the branches will be used for other plants that need staking.

A kiwiberry tunnel

My kids weren't using their swingset, so, with their permission, we removed the swings and will be adding some wire to the long sides as our kiwiberry (planted centre front and guarded with some recycled wire) grows so that it can grow over one side.  Eventually, I intend to grow one on the other side too so  we get a plant tunnel.

Snail traps

More plastic bottles! This time as snail traps (blogged about here). We use the dregs from the homebrew in these and they're working well.

Strawberry bed

Ages ago I talked about my strawberry patch and how I'd lined it with cardboard.   It seemed like a good idea, but the snails and slater bugs had eaten much of the cardboard *sigh*.  So I revisited the  black plastic idea using the heavy duty bags that the sheep manure I bought at a farmgate was packed in.  I don't like buying plastic, or getting it if there is a choice, but finding ways to recycle plastic makes it feel much better.

Wine bottle pot waterers

I haven't done this yet, but I have the bottles there ready for when we go away.  Here is the tutorial I found for them. I'll be using these to water my herb pots over summer.

Garden candles

I made this tin can tea light holder for Stu for our wedding anniversary (10 years is tin - see my cute love hearts?).  We intend to make a collection of them to hang around our pergola with citronella candles in them for summertime parties.  They're a lovely easy project to do.  Simply fill you can 3/4 full of water and freeze.  The frozen water then makes it easy to punch through the can using a hammer and nail.  A scrap of wire makes the handle and inside use a little blue tack to hold you candle in place.


I hope I've given you a few new recycling ideas for your garden and that you've enjoyed your wander around mine. 
Have you got any more ideas?
I'd love to hear them or see projects that you do following this post - please leave me a message.

Tuesday Garden Journal

Rach from Squiggly Rainbow stopped by here on the weekend and invited me to share in the Tuesday Garden Journal linkup she has started.  I'm a big fan of linkups :)  and I have started to browse through her blog and it looks like another good one - stop writing such lovely blogs people!  I'm running out of time to work LOL

So I'm going to try and join in with this Garden Journal on a weekly basis......  so here goes.

We've been very busy in the garden this week.  Its Spring, of course we have!

I have just finished making this arch in my vegie patch which I will use for growing cucumbers over.

I found these cheeky little tomato seedlings sprouting in the veg beds, and have plucked them out and potted them up.  Based on their location and what was growing there last year, these will be a delicious cherry tomato.  A few plants for me, a few for mum.  By the way, can you see the chicken wire loosely covering them?  That has to be all over my garden beds as we have cats and they love nothing better than well tilled soil for digging in.

The seedlings are going really well in the cold frame.  I love seeing the first hints of green each time a new variety pops through and cheer them on while they grow first leaves and then true leaves.  The zucchinis and pumpkins are nearly ready to go out and then will be protected from frosts by cloches in the garden.

Out in the chook area, Specks is all settled in the old dog kennel with 11 eggs from my mum's farm under her.  With a bit of luck we'll have little chicks in a couple of weeks.

Materials are piling up for the building of the pizza oven.  These concrete blocks came home yesterday and Stu will be getting more supplies after work today.  The concrete we laid on the weekend is dry now, so we will hopefully start the building tomorrow evening.

The sun is out and everywhere I walk I find animals enjoying the sunshine - chooks, bees, dogs, insects, snails (they don't get to stay though) and cats.  They all love our springtime garden as much as I do.

Looking forward to seeing what everyone else is up to in their gardens this week.

A busy weekend and a stingy experiment!

We have just had a whirlwind of a weekend!

From belly dance haflas and family get togethers to building in the garden.  Today we're all tired, but looking forward to another week of busy-ness.

On Saturday, my teenage brother played in his football grand final.  The boys and I didn't go as we would have had to leave too early in the morning following a late night, but Stu went to support him on our behalf.  Sadly, the team didn't win, but it sounds like everyone had a good morning.

In the afternoon, we all met up at my mum's farm.  They have 50 acres which is mostly taken up with rather a lot of horses (my mum and sister are very into showing, breeding and all things horsey).  But 50 acres is a lot of space for a hobby type of farm, and they also have plenty of other farm animals.  It was a great visit - lots of catching up with everyone as my other brother and sister in law had also come over for the afternoon.   Mum made one of her delicious (if eclectic) feasts and we even managed to chat to my Grandad in the UK via skype.  It was one of those family events that felt comfortable and warm.

I managed to come home with a good range of "souvenirs" too - some poly pipe to support my cucumber arch, some fertile eggs to put under my clucky hen, some straw for topping up the nesting boxes, a dozen duck eggs, a pile of books for me and the bookworm kids and a bag of stinging nettles.  Mum thought I was crazy to turn down her offer of silverbeet and take some of her "weeds" instead, but I've been reading so many things about nettles and watching TV shows featuring them - I just had to give them a go!

A somewhat blurry (sorry!) photo of my nettles.

I didn't get a chance to cook with the nettles yesterday as we were out in the garden getting the pizza oven project started.  This involved fixing the wheelbarrow and then mixing up some concrete and screeding off the top of the old garage slab that we'll be building it on.  We have no concrete experience (other than the odd rapid set in the post hole use), and it took a lot of research to even get to this point, and I'm not sure we've done a great job - but it is done!  And tomorrow evening we will hopefully lay the first course or two of concrete besser blocks that will form the plinth for the oven.  We've found this project interesting so far as there are just sooooo many ways people have built woodfired ovens that we have had to sift through all the books and blog posts and come up with a unique plan that is a combination of all the methods we've read about.  This is going to be a steep learning curve, but the aim is to have it ready for a party we're having in November - fingers crossed and I will keep you posted with updates as we build. 

We were also brewing yesterday - bottling the first batch of alcoholic ginger beer (which smells and tastes divine! Can't wait for it to be finished!), and loading up the fermenter with another batch of beer.

16 bottles of ginger beer..... mmmmmmm.....

Back to the nettles though.  I braved them today and used them to cook tea.  They were actually very easy to use and quite tasty.  I simply put on gloves and pulled the leaves off the stems.  I threw the stems out and blanched the leaves.  The sting is all gone when they are cooked.  The cooking water I tried some of as a tea - it has a real earthy flavour with a hint of fishyness.  I can't say I loved it, but it was drinkable and apparently extremely healthy.  The nettles, I mixed with some finely chopped mushrooms, sour cream and grated cheese and used as a ravioli stuffing for pasta made with mum's duck eggs.  The verdict?  Yum!  They were really good!  And the greeness of the nettles is better than anything else I've ever seen.  We'll be revisiting this weed again for sure.

Nettle and mushroom ravioli ready for folding

How was your weekend? 
Have you ever eaten nettles?  How?

This week

In typical Spring fashion, the weather has been all over the place this week, and I'm flat out busy with a hundred projects on the go!

Saturday was a horrible day!  We were stuck inside baking and trying to keep the kids entertained.

Sunday was a beautiful day!  We were outside all day, working hard in the garden.  We built a new compost heap.  Cleared a massive pile of prunings (OK, moved them to a more hidden spot till we work out what to do with them!).  Made some progress on the paving/courtyard garden.  Tended the vegies that are growing well.  Mowed the lawns.  Started work on the frame that will (hopefully) support our Luffa vines.  And ate every meal in the garden.  Bliss!

Monday was an OK day weather wise - perfect as it was shopping day.  I did the groceries and all the in town running around and finally caught up with one of my best friends for a cuppa and a long chat.

Yesterday was blissfully sunny and warm.  Unfortunately, I had to run back to town to get some more things (swimming togs to replace the ones that just wore out on the first day of 2 weeks of swimming lessons for the kids!).  But the trip was made worthwhile by finding time to grab a few bargains at the opshop and then having lunch with my sister-in-law and her mum (this involved coo-ing at my beautiful niece too..... awwwww). 

Then yesterday arvo was all in the garden!  More seeds went in, some seedlings were transplanted and the new beds got a couple of bags of sheep manure and were covered with black plastic to kill the weeds that had grown from the horse manure.

And today is another ordinary weather day.  But that's OK, I don't need sunshine tempting me to be outside, I have a Hafla to prepare for on Friday!  What's a hafla I hear you asking?  Its a belly dance party.  My students will be dressing up and performing some of what they've learnt this year and we'll be sharing a meal with family and friends of the group.  We get about 60 people attend our hafla, which will this year be held in a gorgeous country hall and catered partly by us and partly by a local restaurant who will provide delicious pizzas and cupcakes - no, that is not traditional Middle Eastern food, but it will be very much appreciated! :)

In addition to hafla planning, I have a workshop to teach tomorrow and regular classes to run, and then a family event on Saturday.  Its busy busy busy!  So if the sunshine wants to stay away for a few days so I can work, that's OK with me..... so long as it comes back on Sunday, because with a bit of luck, we'll be starting on the pizza oven project then.

So if I don't get back here for a while, you know why.  Though I am going to try and get back with some hafla photos and if that pizza oven project gets going, you'll hear about that too.

A mid-week home day

Victorian teachers were on strike yesterday, fighting to be paid the same as there interstate colleagues.  As a (non practising) teacher and a parent who of children at a school with great teachers who well and truly deserve a fair go, I fully support the industrial action. 

A bonus of the strike is that our kids got to be home for the day.

The weather sadly turned bad for the morning, but we made the most of it inside.  The craft cupboard got a massive cleanout! Sorting through hundreds of pencils, textas, collage materials, paint brushes, colouring books and playdough tools.  It took quite a while and made a big mess, but we all feel that we are a bit more updated to the current crafty needs of the boys.

The cleaning made us hungry, so a batch of oven baked donuts was very popular!  This is a great recipe, but next time I make them I'll be sure to give them a really good knead before rolling the dough out.  It made about  16 big donuts, so most went in the freezer for lunchbox treats for the rest of the week.

image

Cleaning up the craft cupboard also inspired some crafting by the boys and they made themselves shields, popped on their pillow case tunics (that I made them for the 6th birthday party), added jewels to their belts, grabbed swords and played knights.  There were elements of Beast Quest (their favourite book series), Deltora Quest (another good book series) and their own wild imaginations in the game.  It  was great to watch them (and made us both satisfied we've made them good pressies for their birthday this year).

The sun finally made an appearance in the afternoon, so we got some work done in the the courtyard.  We pulled up pavers from an area that will become a small garden bed,  and prepared to lay them in a new place (the path to the not-yet-built pizza oven).  This meant we were digging out 10cm of roadbase where the pavers were, and soil where they're going.  All was bagged up for a change of location as soon as we have framing timber in.

 

I'm loving working in the courtyard and dreaming of the finished product.  Tuesday night was warm, so we cooked our tortillas on the bbq plate and ate them out there by candlelight - fun!

Aren't the days where you are all together just bumbling along nice?

Beautiful day.....

Look at the colour of that sky!! :D

 

 

O' what a beautiful morning
O' what a beautiful day.
I got a beautiful feeeeeeeeeling
Everything's going my way!

image

Thanks to a stepmum who introduced me to a whole selection of classic Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals, every time I wake up to warm glorious sunshine, this is what I end up singing.  I also start imagining cornfields and cowboys.... Hmmmmm.... Thanks Cathie!

Then in an effort to feel somewhat cooler, I force myself to start singing U2's Beautiful Day.  I feel better about myself for a while.

But that old musical tune invariably ends up back in my head and the only way to get it out is to start singing Christmas carols instead! Again, thanks Cathie! Love you to bits, but these bad habits of mine are ALL your fault!

But it is a beautiful morning.... And everything does seem to be going my way........

Slow living month - August

I'm not fond of winter, I blossom in the warmer seasons, but August turned out the be a pretty fabulous month for me.  Here is the Slow Living linkup summary.

~Nourish~
I've continued to try lots of vegetarian meals in amongst our few meaty meals each week.  Some have been a success, others have been met with less interest, especially from the kids it is not that they are real carnivores, but just not keen on a few of the flavours and textures we've tried.  But a huge hit was the vegetarian 'chop suey' (perhaps you know it as chow mein?) that the boys helped me cook using our homegrown cabbages.  It was scoffled up in no time by everyone!

And my bread is getting better each month - love it!

~Grow~
We've harvested cabbages (I think they were savoys?), a few dingy looking sugar snap peas (growing peas is not my thing), more rainbow silverbeet, lettuce, coriander, leeks and lots of lovely lemons.  I feel like our winter garden could be more productive, but I manage to still use something from the garden every day.  Next year it'll be better!

Seeds were planted in newspaper pots for the summer crops, and it is lovely watching the tiny sprouts pop through the soil.

Also, a few more trees went in - a satsuma plum, a navel orange and a feijoa.

~Create~

Again, there has been more work done on creating items for birthdays that are yet to happen and Christmas, but I have a few little gifts that I have already given, so can show you!

A garden bag made for a girlfriend using a recycled chook food bag.  It is designed to be filled with veg from her garden, and has a pocket on the back for her seed packs.  Inspired by this.

These spunky crochet high tops for Clover!  too cute!  I gave them to her today and they fit her little not quite 2 week old feet.  I used this pattern.

A crocheted owl rattle for baby Clover - made before she was born out of soft cotton from this pattern.

 

~Green~
Our 12 months of greening project was to not buy anything new all month.  We succeeded, finding loads of great alternatives to new items all through the month.  Then my ipod died.  For those of you who don't know, I teach belly dance, and without an ipod, I can't teach.  So on the 31st, I had to go and buy a new one :(

 

~Prepare~
This month I got busy with some more making.  I made some deodorant using this recipe, and I love it! It really works! And Stu uses it too, so I'm really pleased with that.  I also made some toothpaste with this recipe.  It isn't very sweet, the boys say it tastes like seawater, but it makes for lovely clean white teeth and we're all using it, so another success!  And can I just say again that I LOVE Crunchy Betty :)  I am also still making the citrus cleaners as it is the right season for lots of citrus peel.

We've started using these lovely bamboo toothbrushes! image from here

In food prep, I have blanched and frozen cabbage and silverbeet, so it lasts us through the 'hunger gap' in the garden a bit better, and have been buying free range chicken when it is cheap for the freezer.

 

~Enjoy/Enhance~

There have been some great moments this month.  Stu's birthday was a lot of fun.  As was running the kitchen garden program again with my kids class.  All of my belly dance classes have been doing really well and I feel as if I have my belly dance mojo back (it always goes quiet in term 2 and I wonder if it will come back, it always seems to!).  I've been working with my troupe members on a special dance that will see us linking up with dancers from all over the state in October which is exciting too.

 

But this month's biggest enjoy moment has to go to Clover Mae's arrival.  How can anything top being a birthing partner at the birth of your precious baby niece?  I went and visited again today to sneak some more Aunty cuddles - she is simply divine! 

Clover Mae with her adoring big cousins. Naw.....

~Discover~

My reading this month has been strictly for leisure....  a few chicklit novels on the bedside table for pure escapism.  But I've also been reading up on the internet on how to build our pizza oven, and have signed up for online belly dance classes, so I'm learning a lot there and enjoying the extra exercise I get a few times a week.

Spring has sprung!

A very quick post tonight because the springing of Spring weather means I'm out and about, not on the computer.

We've been busy in the garden all weekend, enjoying the warm sun on our skin, watching the seeds germinate and trying to get things tidy.

Plans are happening for the pizza oven and the vegie garden is being prepared for our main growing season. 

We've also celebrated father's day with cuddles in bed, food of Stu's choice, small gifts bought at the school stall and a home decorated mug. 

And in amongst all that, the 'simple' life tasks of bread making, cooking from scratch and beer brewing continue.

I'll try to get back for my slow living post tomorrow and the greening post later in the week.  But for now, I hope the sun is shining in your neck of the woods too.