Friday around here

At the moment I am loving this collection of short stories by Tim Winton.

I am really feeling I need to get a move on with my winter quilt, for snuggling kids on the lounge and for lying under in the tent.

Studying seeds for companion planting.  The idea of planning what we want to eat in the coming seasons and adding a dash of colour which I know will also help things grow and give the bees a hand after hibernation.

Planning for a road trip and picnic gathering with friends.  So far on the menu is rhubarb and coconut muffins and roast pumpkin and fetta frittata.

Sunday

Three months since I have posted anything... recorded life's small happenings.  Mainly because these days the photographs I post to Instagram have become my mini journal.  A recording of my favourite parts of the day.

So what have I been doing??  Mostly it feels like I have just been treading water.  Trying to stay afloat during the times I feel like I am drowning.  And a lot of times I've felt like I failed.....

To help me through through to the other side of those moments I have given myself a little project.  Our vegetable garden.  We have always had a vege garden, and I will have to look back through posts on my blog to remind myself what I have done.  There is a great deal of satisfaction when you reap what you sew.  I have a couple of gardening books that I would flick through occasionally, reading them like a coffee table book (Alys Fowler).

A couple of months ago I thought that I would like to put more thought into our gardening - we plant what we know - tomatoes, zucchini and bok choy.  But I would like to start from the end... think about what we like to eat and plant a variety of things.  Last year I was inspired by the eggplant I grew.  I loved it.

So that is my first goal - plant what we enjoy eating.  Then I thought, I would like to go back to the beginning and plant heirloom seeds (which should surprise no one who knows my love for heritage).  Heirloom seeds are open pollinated seeds that have been passed down from generation to generation. They are true to type, which means that you can save your seeds from a plant and expect the same thing when you plant the following year.  My second goal.

To ensure I have beautiful seedlings to plant in our garden for Spring, I will need to have something of a little greenhouse, or more likely, use our bathroom to get the seeds going, as we did ten years ago when hatching chickens in an incubator :)  I found a fantastic website that has a great little spreadsheet to do halt the work for me.  I simply put in the the first frost free date of the year (Melbourne Cup Day??) and the website works backwards for me, according to the vegetable I want to plant, telling me exactly when I need to plant my seeds in order to have seedlings ready to go outside when frost free.

Then my mind turns to the planting outside, and the care of the plants.  Something else that has interested me over the years is companion planting, grouping plants together which help each other to grow. This would mean plants to attract beneficial insects (bees) to help pollinate.  Also plants to disguise odours and thereby deterring insects that might attack your plants (more on this when my seeds arrive).  So third goal, companion planting.  

I am finding the research and the planning rewarding... hopefully it becomes what I envisage.

In our "people roll their eyes" conversations, there are values we have that also lend themselves to having a healthy vegetable garden.  One thing I have always been frustrated by is how we can expect to have every fruit and vegetable available to us all year round.  I think eating seasonally is healthy, not only for our bodies but for our minds.  Think food miles.  Yes it is a thing, and yes it makes a difference.  If I lean towards the political side of things I could talk about the orchards we drive past in the Riverina with fruit dropping to the ground and rotting because of the cost to pay people to pick, when givernments by fruit from overseas and bring in cheaper to the detriment of our own farming industry...
Gardening is an opportunity to be mindful in what I am doing.  Seeing the beauty and experiencing the thrill in growing something yourself.  Since Nicholas was a toddler, Audrey and now Maggie, there is joy in sharing the gardening experience with kids.  Maggie was excited at a recent Bunnings trip when I bought her some kids garden tools. Of course I was quickly reminded that I need to be on the ball and checking exactly where in the garden she is digging.

I have seen women looking at jewellery ads with a misty eye and one hand resting on the heart, and I only know what they’re feeling because that’s how I read the seed catalogues in January.
Barbara Kingsolver (Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life)

Saturday

 A bit late posting this, but....

I think Australia Day was one of my favourite days this year so far.  We had a semi-spontaneous lunch at Lanyon Homestead.  David had seen that they had free entry to the homestead and were also having music in the gardens. 

We grabbed meat and other goods on the way to pull together a great Ploughman's lunch.  Then we sat in the gardens under trees and ate while the girls played.  Nicholas had taken up an invitation to go to the water park with a friend for a day of swimming and slides. 

Before leaving we took a walk around the vegetable gardens (and were inspired by the tomato trellis) and bought homemade ice-cream before heading home.

I think part of the reason I loved it so much is that Lanyon seems to be a backdrop for many memories I have over the years.

I have always loved history, and I remember distinctly that it was year 5 when I decided I wanted to be an historian.  Visiting Lanyon I would dream of living a century earlier....

In high school I was part of a small team working on restoring a plough, which was donated to Lanyon Homestead and was displayed in their machinery shed with a picture of us.

When I was 15 I volunteered as a guide at Lanyon, my faithful dad driving me through the bush to front gate and then down the long drive.  Now it seems impossible that you wouldn't drive through streets and down highways to get there in a matter of minutes.

I also did my year 10 work experience at the Sydney Nolan Gallery.  David Dolan was the curator at the time and went on to curate in some of Australia's bigger museums (such as the Powerhouse Museum). During this work experience I helped hang Nolan's Kelly paintings.  I remember being in awe of the work I was permitted to do, and even kept the white conservation gloves I was given for years!!  The gallery was preparing for an Arthur Boyd expedition, and some months alter I received an invitation to the exhibition opening.   

Many years later after my studies were completed and I was working in a different field, I remember writing to David and thanking him for the exposure he gave me to a field I loved so much.  He replied and asked if he could use me as an example in a paper he was writing about the field and providing real opportunities to young people.  I never saw the article he wrote, and he sadly passed away a few years ago, receiving acknowledgement in the Senate for his contribution to the field of heritage.

Then when I studied Cultural Heritage at university I completed a conservation report on the Lanyon Cemetery, which is located on private property, but still accessible on open days. 

So Lanyon will always have a place in my heart, and it was so lovely just to be there on the public holiday this year.  When I think about it, it is not the homestead that I get the most pleasure from, but the older out buildings - the stables, the kitchen, and thinking about the work that took place there.

New Years Resolutions weren't a priority for me this year.  But I read this yesterday and it is certainly the year I would like to have.   “That was the day she made herself the promise to live more from intention and less from habit.” – Amy Rubin Flett

2016 was crazy-hectic.   And I was caught up in it.  Just trying to get through, but in reality I was like a mouse on a wheel, round and round but not going anywhere.  

David's work is demanding.  This year I would like to be more supportive.  Nicholas is going into year 6, and preparing for high school.  This year I want to walk every step with him.  Audrey is in year 3 and also needs to step up to new learning expectations.  Maggie has started the year in the junior preschool room of her child care.  

Me?  Who knows.  I am in a job that does not satisfy me in anyway - other than I show up and get paid, so I can pay the bills.  So I have regrets, leaving a job but on the other hand, this will also enable me (I hope) to be the support and the parent I need to be.  I know there are parts of these jobs that will be a challenge, but I want to make a difference in my family, and be the best that I can be for those I love.

 To be that, I also know that I need to give myself a little self care.  What will this be?  Reading, pleasure in the simple things and ensuring I am mindful of all around me, including the choices I make.

This year I read more than I have in a long time.

My list is:

Still Alice by Lisa Genova

The Light Between Oceans by M L Stedman

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J K Rowling

The Lady In Gold by Anne-Marie O'Connor

The Wife Drought by Annabel Crabb
La Rose by Louise Erdrich
Elephant Moon by John Sweeney
The Days of Abandonment by Elena Ferante

Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson (audio)
The Good People by Hannah Kent

I did say Amen to Annabel Crabb: "so long 2016.  Don't trip over on your way out".  While I say I am not focused on New Years Resolutions, so many events during 2016 have made me want to think more about simple things, choosing less in order to really have more.  And for this reason I think of this Ted Talk on Gratitude.  My we all learn to be MORE GRATEFUL.

2016 ending

I was going to post about the books I had managed to read in 2016.  But I found I had posted a lot of Christmas/Boxing Day photos and had neglected to hit publish.

We had a great time over the 25th/26th December!
Christmas Day was with David's family, and at our house.  We were excited to be hosting this year.  (A great excuse to purchase the linen napkins I have been eyeing off for months...)

David and I had fun (and late nights) prepping food and planning the menu.

Boxing Day was a relaxed lunch at Orroral Valley.  A great spot that we will be certain to visit again.

I was determined to enjoy it all.  After a year of global misery and personal struggles I wanted to forget it all and to be in the moment.  And I did.  I even bought a new (for me) dress to wear on Boxing Day.