All About Autumn.............

You know Autumn's here when the apple tree branches are weighed down with the last of their fruit and the pumpkins are being harvested.  Have managed to give away heaps of the apples I picked...also cooked some up to freeze.  They are great eating apples too.  I tried to juice some in my juicer and after it made horrible brown foam I realised that you usually cold press apples.....lesson learnt!!  Wish I had an apple press....if I ever get apples on my own trees I will definitely have to look at getting one.


Cooked up some of the foraged apples to freeze ...... should make a lovely couple of crumbles with those

Pumpkins were a bit a problem this year....lots didn't make it to adulthood.....dropped off of the vines...the ones that did make it however are so appreciated....I love pumpkin.

Have got the pumpkins outside under the veranda for the next couple of weeks to dry them out before storing.

Cut up my first pumpkin for the year.....roasted some up and into the risotto !

The tomatoes this year have been quite disappointing also..... there are still quite a lot on the vines but they are still green and not sure if they will ripen up..... haven't been able to get enough ripe ones at the same time to make my sauce....2 years ago there were so many tomatoes (I was picking about 50 a day).. I didn't know what to do with them all.....it's funny how each growing season appears to be different.


Only 3 bottles of my homemade tomato sauce this year....tomatoes are very slow on the vine



Compared to 2 years ago when I harvested about 1000 tomatoes over about 5 weeks...!!

Did manage to pick my potatoes this morning.....I emptied the potato patch so that I could replant it out again to keep a constant supply of spuds coming along... I have two potato beds now so should hopefully get plenty...they are very easy to grow.

 



picked the potatoes.....will put into hessian bag and keep in a dark cupboard...they last quite a while that way.



I think Autumn in the hills is my favourite time of year....the leaves are all starting to fall and the slight chill is already starting to reach us even though the sun is shining...the air is fresh, it's beautiful. 

Let Loose in an Orchard......

For the first time in my life I've picked apples fresh from the tree..... the lovely lady who teaches the community writing group that I attend let me loose in her orchard. ..... I always bring her any goodies I have growing in the vegie garden and she said she would bring me in some apples but I said I was happy to go and pick them myself . ... She is widowed and in her 70's ( although very fit for her age) and the orchard has become quite overgrown and a little neglected but there were masses of apples just waiting to be picked......it was fabulous and I ate one straight from the tree and somehow they just taste so much better ...... simple pleasures I know but such a lovely experience.

The orchard is a bit overgrown but there was masses of fruit on all the trees... no pesticides so make great eating.

So many had already fallen wasted onto the ground...... such a shame.

Now I need to get busy and work out how to preserve some of them.....maybe apple sauce or cook them up and freeze.

Delicious apples......I even grabbed a couple of lemons and a few pears....

When I got home I checked the vegie garden and picked tomatoes, rhubarb, a couple of small eggplants and some new potatoes.  Beautiful to have so much lovely fresh produce around. 

Picked from the garden today

Only one little lonely egg today....the young girls still haven't laid any eggs yet but they can't be too far away. they are nineteen weeks old.... so hopefully egg production will be on the rise again soon.

Aging Gracefully.......

I had the misfortune the other day to be sitting in a waiting room and the TV was on one of the morning programs and they were all excited about a new eye cream that someone has invented that when applied instantly begins to reduce the wrinkles around the eyes.  The effect lasts for up to 8 hours the spokesperson went on excitedly, and yes you could actually see the skin tightening when the camera was on the models face.  All I could think of was why would anyone want their wrinkles gone for just 8 hours and how much are they prepared to pay for that.  The fascination with how we look really is an eye opener.  I guess I am on a bit of a bandwagon since I made the decision to let my hair go grey....would like to think that I will let myself age gracefully without the need for surgical, lifting, plumping, or magical potion assistance.  Mother nature truly has taken care of us as we age....greying hair is supposedly less harsh against a women's skin and our eyesight gradually weakens so our wrinkles and nasty bits are not so for us easy to pinpoint. The media and cosmetic industry would like us all to think there is something wrong with aging.

Eileen Kramer the most amazing woman is still dancing at 100 years of age.

I happened to tune into Compass on the ABC the other night and saw the most fabulous story about a truly amazing woman. Eileen Kramer is 100 years old and still teaching dancing and also dancing herself.  She is a beautifully eccentric woman who has lived an amazing life.  Her story is truly inspiring.  We could all take a leaf out of this ladies book.

A Perfect Day.....

We spent Monday at the Zoo celebrating my Gboy's 4th birthday.....he wore his superman costume which he has already grown out of .... he is a very tall four year old...but so cute !! He has Batman, Superman, Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Spiderman and now Captain America costumes...he loves super heroes

We all had a cupcake for his birthday....he had superman...what else !

He couldn't wait to take me into the butterfly enclosure as I had told him that it was my favourite exhibit and that the butterfly's would land on him....he was ecstatic when one landed on his cap.  He stood so still waiting for them to land on him.

I love this photo... the innocence in that little face......so excited to have a butterfly land on him...

The Butterfly's are such amazing colours.....it is definitely one of my favourite places to be..... I don't really like the idea of Zoo's as such...much prefer animals to be left where they belong....but I have to admit kids love seeing all the animals.... at least the enclosures are a long way from the cages that were at the zoo when I was a child.



Love the sentiment on this sign at the Zoo.....

The lion's were beautiful...even though I disagree with taking animals out of the wild....



 We had a great day and were lucky to enjoy lovely mild weather....sunny but not too hot...just perfect.  If you haven't been to the Melbourne Zoo recently it's well worth a visit...they have done an amazing amount of work there and are focusing on protecting endangered species and educating children about wildlife.

Montly 9 Link Up for February 2015.....

Happy to be joining in with Linda for the monthly 9 for February....Wow it's already March.....time flies when you're having fun.

Nourish:  At last the girls have decided to favour me with a few more eggs....thankfully I was able to get out a few zucchini slices...needed to use up the glut of Zucchini's that I had.....also stewed up rhubarb....it was delicious and there is plenty more out in the garden so I'll need to get onto them.

Zucchini slice is a bit favourite...also uses up excess of zucchini's and eggs.

Prepare:  I had planned to make the MOO washing powder this month but unfortunately didn't get around to it....I did prepare 4 new garden beds ready for planting...a big load of soil and compost to top up the beds....need to plant out some lettuce mixes and whatever else is in season.

Reduce:  Still working hard on trying to reduce food wastage....had some dried apricots that had been hanging around for way to long....used them up by making an apricot slice...had enough to make two of these during the month.

The slice was a bit crumbly but tasted lovely....great way to use up old apricots.

Green:  Nothing new to report here unfortunately ....  the compost bins are slowly turning to compost...should be ready in the next few weeks....worm farm is going well.  Trying hard to be conscious of electricity usage....and water conservation.

Grow:  Things are winding up in the vegie patch although the tomatoes are finally ripening...seem very late this year...planted heritage variety and they have been very poor producers....the Grosse Lisse have done okay though....I love home grown tomatoes....people are also very appreciative to receive the excess.

Tomatoes ripening on the bench....the chooks won't leave them alone if I leave them once they start to ripen.

Create:  Devastated that I have nothing to report here.....have been so busy ...I know...poor excuse...but I haven't had the chance to work on the mosaic or the quilt ....have done a couple of chapters on the novel though so it isn't a complete waste of a month.

Discover: My man and I took a couple of days holiday last week... stayed at a friends coastal property which was great (nothing like a free holiday)....my daughter and grandson joined us for an afternoon and we went on the ferry to Queenscliff....I rediscovered this beautiful town...haven't been there since I was a child....it was an amazing day out....spending time with the little guy is one of my favourite things...he is fabulous.

Even managed to take the dogs on the ferry....Daphne is a nervous passenger so I had to nurse her

Enhance:  As always my love of reading which I truly believe enhances our everyday lives..... this month book club is The Invisible Girl...a memoir written by the father of a young woman who dies of anorexia....its was incredibly sad and moving...not sure that it helped to understand this terrible illness but it was a very poignant reminder of the vulnerability of the young.

Have also gotten back into my yoga classes....haven't been for ages and I really missed it...it's difficult to find the right teacher and luckily I have found an amazing women who if just perfect... it is Ashtanga yoga which is new to me...have done Hatha  yoga for many years on and off... it's similar but I think a lot more spiritual....I love it.

Enjoy:  I celebrated my 56th birthday this month....nothing more enjoyable than sharing it with my husband and daughters, complete with a homemade birthday cake decorated by my gboy....... I received loads of lovely gifts and was very spoilt as always....

Making my birthday wish with the help of my gorgeous Gboy.....Grandchildren are one of life's treasures.

 My absolute favourite gift  was a painting from my special little man...it's a painting of us all..my husband and I on the left (that's me with the grey hair and my red headed man), his mum and auntie on the right and him in the bottom right hand corner...I have hung it on the wall in my home office.

He finger painted this for me .... with a little help from his mum

I had such a busy February...so much to enjoy.... had a few difficulties with my fathers illness and not reacting well to his medication and suffering early dementia.... but you have to take the good with the bad.....am loving getting back into yoga...it's so helpful in dealing with tough times...Namaste !

Remembered With Much Love......

It's 12 months since my girlfriend passed away from liver cancer....time goes so fast...her family chose to commemorate the anniversary of her death by inviting family and friends to a memorial at the lake where her ashes were spread last year.  It was very moving to watch Richard and the kids release balloons which we had all written messages on ..... a really beautiful tribute to her memory.  She is so sadly missed.... but I think I could feel her presence there... RIP beautiful Heather.

Rich and the kids ...hopefully time will heal their hearts.

One of Those Days ......

Yesterday was one of those days.....the ones were nothing seems to be going right... one of the light sussex has gone broody again just 14 weeks after the last lot of chicks....  a few of the said chicks flew over the coop fence into the yard... they got into the greenhouse and ate all of my seedlings....and destroyed the strawberry bed...... one of the old girls doesn't look too well and she has been laying soft shelled eggs which keep breaking.... A zucchini bush has developed mildew on the leaves....  . the tap on the water filter started leaking and dripping all over the place... argued with the guy I work for.....this was all before breakfast......then while I was having breakfast  I saw this little worried face watching  me.... somehow your pets know when your not happy....made me realise none of the things going on were insurmountable....just annoying.



The beautiful Daisy........she was worried....doesn't normally put her head on the table.

Broody hen is now in the broody buster ( my husband's trailer).... today I will clip the wings on the teenagers...separate the sick chicken to see what's going on with her....pull out the mildewy zucchini plant ... salvage any seedlings from the mess and save what I can... and get the water filter repaired..... then off to writing group.

Loving the Little Things......



Spent a lovely Sunday morning at Burnham Beeches in Kallista with my daughter & Gboy....it's a great spot and amazingly popular...we had brunch at the Piggery Cafe  then a walk through the Alfred Nicholas Gardens...

 

The very impressive Burnham Beeches....a lovely spot to have brunch ... organic local and sustainable foods.. very rustic



 Brunch was smashed avocado with poached eggs and bacon on artisan toast....I love avocado but there was more than I could get through on that plate..... the atmosphere in the café is fantastic.

Brunch is different things to different age groups.....Gboy ordered almond pancakes with pear and banana... unfortunately he wasn't all that keen when it arrived...I ate some of it and he polished off my bacon....... He then ordered a cookie which was nearly as big as his beautiful little face !

An impromptu snap of us walking out of the gardens.

 Our walk through the gardens took us past the old mansion which is going to be restored to a boutique hotel... the lake had been emptied as they are completing restoration work there.... it's an amazing property and to think that the Nicholas family used it as a holiday house....

Monday is my day to mind the little guy..... we started Monday with his swimming lessons and then off to do some lunch and shopping with his Auntie Moo Moo  (my other daughter)  ... Monday also included a long overdue haircut......

He loves his swimming lessons..

He looks so grown up with his haircut....he will be four next month....where did those years go ??

It Was All About the Nuts....

The February Sunday luncheon with the same group of friends transpired into the Saturday night Soiree which had a theme of "we are all going nuts!".. nuts to be in every course.  As usual everything was delicious, food and wine flowed and between the 8 of us we managed to polish it all off.

Almost too pretty to eat...

 Robbie and the Big K had entrée and we began with a delicious starter of Chicken and Cashew patties with a Thai dipping sauce.

Scrumptious dukkha and nut crusted lamb

 J & A our host's prepared a stack of nut and "homemade dukkha" crusted lamb cutlets .... they were so tasty ... served with a side of boiled potates with pine nuts and a lovely creamy aioli ....I was asked to bring a side dish and provided a beetroot and cashew cheese salad...it was from Wellbeing magazine so was a very healthy option but could possibly have benefited from a delicious goats cheese or feta as the cashew cheese was a little bland I thought..

Yummy potatoes and pine nuts with a tangy dressing.

My baby beetroot salad with cashew cheese, walnuts, cranberries with a red wine vinegar and oil dressing

It goes without saying that this was ......decadent and delicious.

Janine and Michael were bringing up the rear with dessert...... wow it was delicious...hazelnut merengue base with a chocolate ganache layer, filled with cream, strawberries and another merengue layer, topped with more cream, strawberries and encircled with nutty Ferrero rocher chocolates....scrumptious.
March should see us back at the home of  Robbie and the Big K....always something to look forward to.

Monthly Link Up for January 2015.....

Joining in with Linda to start off the new year.  I missed December...way too much happening and I didn't get the time (sad face).... but it's a great way to share what has been going on and also good to look back on.

Nourish:  I've spent a bit of time in the kitchen trying to make nourishing but cost effective meals.  I have decided 2015 is the year to try and save money.....I made a lovely cheap and cheerful chicken pie which I posted here.  Used some unhappy bananas and made a de3licious banana and raspberry bread and made a healthy slice using up some dried apricots that had been hanging around in the pantry for ages. 

Prepare:  The zucchinis in the garden have been prolific once again....so I made zucchini relish and loads of zucchini soup which is in the freezer....still having to give lots away though, I didn't have success cutting them up ,then blanching and freezing them last year...they were very soggy and flavourless...don't know if anyone else has any ideas on preserving them.

My zucchini relish with homemade labels and into the pantry...

 Reduce:  Still trying to reduce the amount of plastic we use....I don't want plastic bags at the supermarket even though the shop girls don't appear to want to put meat into anything but plastic and I have to ask them not to use the plastic bags....my recent trip to the butcher caused raised eyebrows when I asked them not to use a plastic bag as I had my own bag.  I have no problem with putting wrapped meat into non plastic bags.

I love my hessian shopping bags...I have several that I always use...they last for ages

Green: I have been busy turning the compost and hopefully will have some suitable for the garden beds soon....also the worm wee has been great.  I have also bought the ingredients to make the washing powder from  Here.  Will see how that goes.

 

Grow:  The garden has been growing well but not as good as last year...maybe it's the crazy weather we are having now....40c one day and the 18c the next...I don't think the poor vegies know what's going on.  The corn grew quite a few ears but they didn't quite develop inside to the ends...so about an inch on most of them has no corn...no idea why this happened.



The corn is edible but funny looking

Quite a few tomatoes on the plants...but not as many as last year...still enough though



Zucchinis are everywhere.....they grow so fast if you miss one within a couple of days they are like huge gourds

 The pumpkin vines went crazy but quite a few of the baby pumpkins didn't develop... just turned yellow and dropped off...I think they may not have been fertilised even though I did have a bit of a dab at them with the stamen from the female plant.

Pumpkins are also a bit tricky this year....there's quite a few there but a lot didn't fertilise

Create:  I've been pretty busy this month with my elderly parents unwell,  so creativity was a bit out the window...didn't quite finish the block of the month on the quilt I am working on...only two blocks of the month so far and I think I have had this for about 10 months...need to lift my game...


Still not finished this block......only managed the 2 blocks so far



This is an old photo of 1st block....it's finished now....

I have also planted a couple of pots in the greenhouse with Basil...I am planning on using the terracotta pots with Basil plants in them as gifts..... hopefully they will continue to grow and I have created cost effective but lovingly cared for gifts.

Growing basil from seeds in the greenhouse....hopefully they will flourish

 Discover:  I discovered that not all 3 year olds are the same size....photo of my Gboy dressed in his Optimus Prime outfit and my nieces daughter Olivia dressed in his Bumblebee transformer outfit...only 7 months difference in their ages...it's really the long and the short of it I think.

Pictures really are priceless.... my Gboy is tall but Olivia is also petite.

I also discovered that... yes two of my baby chicks were roosters.....hardly babies anymore they are nearly 13 weeks old....unfortunately I will have to give them away as I don't want to keep roosters...

These two teenagers will be moving out very soon.

 Enhance:  The book for bookclub this month was A World of Other People....it's actually a bit difficult to read as there is not much punctuation in the book and you need to reread it every now and then so that you can follow what's going on.....bookclub should be interesting as always. 

 Enjoy:  It's summer so there is so much to enjoy...we've been to a lovely wedding...a good friends 60th birthday dinner....moved my mother-in-law into her long awaited retirement village unit...and I spent a lovely couple of hours at the local lake with my daughter and Gboy... far more enjoyable to just watch them on the paddle boat... thankfully I wasn't out there paddling !!

 

My daughter and Gboy are out on one of those paddle boats