Look no further!
Go visit your local nursery for a free lift of spirits

Free you say!

Yes definitely because no money changed hands.

By letting my mind be refreshed and calmed on a hot hot day under the misting sprinkler.

I remembered …
Lavender cutting/slips growing under some greenery
Hibiscus cuttings/slips slowly growing roots in a glass jar
Red trumpet creeping vine cutting/slip started in a pot
Big Red geranium growing lushly from a cutting/slip

It was a stepping back in time of how old gardens were created.
Networking and sharing.

How to best utilise what I have at home in the garden…..just a moving round and swapping positions. Or repotting with large recycled pots from the neighbour’s hard rubbish clean out.

There was no instant gratification costing $$, just some methodical or random planning and a little patience.

Have you ever done this?

Blessed

Joining Through the Garden Gate

Joining Frontier Dreams

Far too windy today to do any gardening as can be seen by my grown from a cutting Lavender bush. It is sailing to the left.

The plan had been to spray the Roses again for scale to really kill those suckers before all the new leaves appear on my for now Winter hibernating bushes. I am so looking forwards to my Roses flowering again in the warm months.
Just like this Rose in all it’s summer glory!

What could be better today than soup.

Open fridge and find goodies for the making of Real Food.

A veritable feast of bargains. Reduced priced goodness. The best shopping.

Large packet of soup vegetables …mine was 1kg and included parsnip which sells for $10kg on special at the moment.

Large bag of Beef soup bones ….mine was 1kg

Find largest cooking pot or crock pot…my crockpot was out on loan.

Whilst quickly peeling and rough chopping vegetables, heat pot with a little oil and toss bones in for a quick brown

- add chopped onions and stir for a slight brown
- add rest of vegetables and stir for a quick mix
- add 8 cups water and stock powder for that quantity. Or use packaged stock liquid.
-add a glug or two of Worsestershire Sauce

Even quicker is to pile all the ingredients into the pot without any frying, but the taste will not be as rich.

Bring to boil and skim off scum that rises to top for the first part of cooking.

Simmer till meat is tender enough for you. The longer the better.

Remove soup bones from soup liquid and cut meat off.

I then mashed vegetables with potato masher to squash them somewhat. You could use a stick blender being careful as soup is hot

Return meat to soup.

As I wanted to make a slightly thicker soup I made a brown Roux kind of thick sauce and added some to the soup.

Then we devoured it for lunch with only a little left for a small snack.

Wholesome food.

The best taste.

Love my soup….

Then a reduced price afternoon tea treat at a fraction of going out for coffee.

Even better was that we sat in the afternoon sun in our enclosed verandah soaking up the warmth

Till later

If I do pause to reminisce and check my last article then the internet may drop out. The pause will be like discovering a drawer full of old photos. Memories. Ghosts. Sadness. Years passing with the speed of light. Joy. Laughter. Loud laughter and silent chuckles. Sadness for a dear sister lost. Sadness for alone ageing parent too far away to see often enough.

Time has passed taking with it sickness and death, an inevitable part of the cycle of life. Yet when it is family it brings with it a vulnerability. It says to me, you too are getting older.

Today, after a morning tea and play with the little grandsons and family I waved them off to their various destinations. Littlest one to sleep, older two to play some more. One mum to shop and the other to share precious time with visiting in-Laws

Having time to spare I decided to stay and explore the beauteous spring showcase at the Mount Annan Botanical Gardens. It beats browsing any Harvey Norman, Domain, Myers or other big name store hands down.

One section was titled “A room with a view”

There are vast green spreading lawns, small bushland gardens or tropical rainforest settings…..a thing of beauty.

By a still pool a timber bench was placed inviting a passer-by to stop, rest and contemplate.

The unobtrusive memorial plaque said it all.

“Find a thing of beauty in every day”

Flower shop in Stirling

Delicate snow drops in spring garden

Courtesy binks@morgueFile free photos

My thing of beauty this very instant is listening to the frogs merrily creaking and croaking away in the distant creek thinking of how I will grow a few summer salad plants when we move into our house God Willing in a month.

Missing fresh Rocket in my salad

That itself is another page in our journey. From a two storey home where we lived for twenty-nine years to a single storey home a little further out but with a nice size block just under quarter acre. I would have loved living a bit further out still but the voice of reason spoke.

Where we will live is still close enough to country with the likes of Cobbitty and its surrounds. Nice for a drive and a coffee should we desire.

We always said we would move before we were too old to negotiate stairs in the house.

It is the journey to love and cherish. To prepare, savour and enjoy. A move whilst we are able to make our choices and decisions.

Do find your moment of beauty this day.
Blessings…

Courtesy Pennywise@morgueFile free photos

My kitchen table
Bare feet
Perfect for sitting and thinking
Door open to the back garden
Slight breeze from outside
Slow whirling fan on the other side

How blessed

Washing on line showing off its drying flip flying dance

Courtesy SavaMatkovitch@morguFile free photos

I can just sit and ponder
At nature, even in a small suburban back yard
Dreaming of the country

There is nothing earth shattering here
Just peace and contentment
Clean and fresh scented sheets for this evening

Now a battered straw hat by my feet
A garden inspected and watered
New growth shooting forth from recently planted hedging

Mud dauber wasps with their dangling long legs
Searching for that perfect bit of mud and soil
Ponderously flying like a water laden fire fighting plane
In orange and black hues
Beware they say to me

Thinking back

Where have the years gone
Our very first experience of grandparent hood
Joy and adventure
Seventeen years and a few days
The birth of our first granchild, Renee

Courtesy GaborfromHungary@morgueFile free photos

A new era
Precious
All of them
Family

My five minutes of contentment on this day
Enjoyed doubly by writing
Hoping you too found a moment to pause.

Joining With some Grace
For Flog Yo Blog on Fridays

Words for this day in Australia. Resilience. Support.

Life can be fragile ….like the poppy.

My version of resilience in a tough environment.

Planted nearly fifty years ago on a farm. An apple tree.

Love and care.

Wordless Wednesday

Vibrant in your face red
Colour to cheer us on this dripping and grey Sydney day
Snap shots are from Adelaide on an even colder day

Beauty even amongst the everyday
Look
Observe
See
Inhale!

Joining in for Wordless Wednesday

By AcrylicArtist@morgueFile free photos

Tuesday 16 June…blown off course

A fleeting moment

I was amazed to see a precious sight
The graceful flight
A Monarch butterfly
In winter

Very much blown off course

His colour was resplendent, not tattered at all
Bright and richly hued his coat

Hungry for his food

Dipping into my lavender hedge and feasting on the flower heads
A dip here and a taste here
Up into the air and down again
A few more sips and off

The breeze too strong for him to resist
The urge to wander
Over the fence and away
Even before I had my chance
No photo shutter snap
Even though,
Even though I wished him back

Indeed a sight to lift the heart. Ethereal grace.

It also makes me glad that I still have not pruned my Lavender hedge. It pains me to think that I WILL have to do it….one day!

Would we seize that moment and make the most of a fleeting opportunity. Could I. Whatever it be. Give a moment of joy. Create a moment.

My wishful moment of stillness right now.

By Jusben@morgueFile free photos

Courtesy taliesin @ morgueFile free photos

World environment day which was some days ago…

…well Life and Caring happened in between, but Hi, I’m back

How am I doing world environment day … every day
How do I see it … every day

In simple language, in a grandma, mum and dad and family way

Abundance of newly striked cuttings vigorously growing

Grow plants from cuttings to spread and share the abundant growth and joy around

Huge mushrooms on a dinner plate grown from mushroom compost by friends…a by product of spreading compost under the orange trees :)

I’m going to again push my love of seeing bees busily collecting nectar amongst the bushes and herbs which we grow in our tiny patch….as soon as the sun comes out even in winter here in Australia the bees come out foraging. But soon I’ll have to prune my flowering Lavender hedge which I am so loathe to do. I know, I have to be cruel to be kind to keep my hedge nice… But still !!! Also this time of year our little veggie/herb patch looks a bit sad as I really need to plant spinach to fill in the hole left by the finished Basil and tomato

On an aside though, did you know that Rhubarb flowers and goes to seed. That spike of a tall Lacey flower though has the most disgusting smell which made me promptly cut it off…but there are still stalks of rhubarb growing for a second crop….firstly I wondered how to harvest rhubarb as I’ve never grown it before, so I Googled for info and found that you twist the stalks at the base and they come off easily. Then as I hadn’t cooked rhubarb for years I found a recipe which may have been a Jamie Oliver one. The instructions said to roast it which I did in an old-fashioned Corningware dish from the Op shop. The dish was just the perfect size. Pour the required sugar on top with a tiny dribble of Vanilla essence. Cover and cook. There was a suggested time and then also that you’ll smell it as soon as it’s done….well that was so correct as to the smell; divine. Next time though I’ll use less sugar. It was SO rich I could only eat a bit of it with my homemade thick Greek yoghurt.

I was happy to have learnt that old milk is a good fertiliser even though it was only half a cup….my parsley is thriving

Then memories…Remembering when…the tying up like a bandaged bear and staking, with a neighbours help, of a vandalised small tree on our park just opposite our house. It is now a huge gum tree.

Also saving a tiny acacia tree years ago from having the long leaves plucked off by then toddler grand-daughter, explaining that we wanted to see the tree grow big. It has!

So there’s many a way to celebrate World Environment Day. We care. We do it everyday without even thinking sometimes, just like the older generations before us.

If you pause for a moment, how or what have YOU done. How do you care.

Do you wish to share?

Even the seemingly trivial things?

Whether you are just starting life’s journey or well on the way like us. With a looking forward to it soon to be retired hubby. New happenings and new adventures and new horizons but always learning.

Lavender is one of my favourite flowers and once established in a friendly spot is as tough as old boots, as you can see in my photo!

Lavender a symbol of an old worldy age, a simple life.

From Wikipedia…
“Lavandula (common name lavender) is a genus of 39 species of flowering plants in the mint family, Lamiaceae. It is native to the Old World and is found from Cape Verde and the Canary Islands, southern Europe across to northern and eastern Africa, the Mediterranean, southwest Asia to southeast …are cultivated extensively in temperate climates as ornamental plants for garden and landscape use, for use as culinary herbs, and also commercially for the extraction of essential oils.”

It make me think of when times were slower, when seasons were followed, when thought was given how everything could be used wisely.

No waste and carelessness, but a time of learning , how to make do, work hard but enjoy the fruits of ones labours. Of helping and supporting one another. Of time to ponder instead of always having to race around or wanting to try something new. Of being content.

The story to my hedge stared over two years ago. My garden was and is getting to be like a very aged person who needs lots of loving care and rejuvenation, but with not too much time I wanted to spruce it up a bit…it is a slow work in progress.

Where I wanted to plant this hedge was a long bed which had a lot of overgrown old plants which needed ripping out and poisoning, a very slow process which I undertook over time. Then had to wait for the Nandina Bamboo and ivy to really die and with a pick dig out the roots…needless to say it was hard work. The soil needed to be enriched a little so I just dug and turned it over where each cutting was going in. Once everything was planted and watered I put down cane mulch of which I had a bale needing to be used up from the shed….it broke down beautifully to feed the soil over time. With sunshine and rain and day following day.

Let’s start some new plants…by harvesting cuttings from my proud “Mother” plant. A large scruffy old bush which I had been tempted to rip out but kept. I have grown so new many plants from this one bush

In July last year I just took soft cuttings and stuck them straight in the ground. I put in excess cuttings knowing I would loose some. Water was applied to keep them moist over summer. A lot of going out everyday to cheer them on and watch as they grew from drooping cuttings. By September the cuttings had “taken” and were well growing with new shoots by October.

I cut off their first flower buds in sacrifice to give strength to the newly grown plants. Once the next flush of smallish flowers had finished I thought I’d better trim the whole hedge to make it even…after some days I thought I’d killed it and was so very upset. But by mid January there was re growth much to my joy.

Now in mid May which is the next year I have a lovely hedge which soon I must prune again to remove spent flowers and let the plants regenerate and so the process goes on. Time after time.

A beautiful sight for me every day out my back door and windows. A lesson in time and patience. To keep going even if it gets tough…hard work never killed anyone , except for the aches in muscles I forgot I had

I love my hedge bordering my herb garden as do the bees and can watch and admire it for an age standing with my back to the sun….and now the lavender is sheltering new cuttings which when a little bigger I will transplant for another type of hedge …a Japanese Box

….and in between loving the sprinkles of joy and sun shine some of our little grandsons bring when we visit their homes x

Courtesy of Lightfoot@morgueFile free photos

Permaculture is such a big fancy word…
A continuation of the previous post on Permaculture but let’s turn it into an everyday word that everyone can understand…Family friendly

It is a way of bringing together people with whatever bit of earth or space that you can work with and on. It can be as small as a pot of Basil on your window ledge, or as large as a farm. It can be on a tiny block or apartment in the city, the suburbs or in the country. It is a delicate dance, balancing at times many aspects, be it our parents adventures or this brave new world with people opting to try the old ways.

Homesteading is basically a lifestyle that promotes greater self sufficiency.

One of our family have a few chickens or hens which refuse to die. They seem to live a charmed life. Even surviving being rounded up by little boys. For chickens to survive you need a few things. These hens live spartanly in a fairly large sized fenced area. The roof also being fenced with wire mesh to stop flying predators. Their roosting and laying boxes were made of spare lumber. The door is a flash spare screen door double locking…once with the latch and next with a brick on the ground in case the latch doesn’t get closed properly by little boys going exploring in the hen house.

A frame from a video hence the wide space

You should see the hens when the scraps of veggies get brought out…it’s a mad scramble. They love their free range in the yard and apparently take themselves to bed each night before dark. Now if only little boys could be so obliging at bed time

So… A plot of earth, shading trees, safe habitat, food, water and if there also was time for a vegetable or herb garden there’s an excellent free source of chicken manure for food production….

…and then sharing some of the homegrown produce in celebration like at one venue a few weeks ago at their open gardens. They had toasted breads with melted cheese and tomato and herbs served on wooden bread boards. For us, I think Hubby will have a ploughman’s lunch served on a board. Aldi crusty panne De Cassa bread toasted with ham, cheese, tomato and maybe some onion…. I’ll top mine with red cabbage coleslaw…easy to make and nicer the next day. Keeps well too.

Have a great day everyone. Enjoy your spring you readers in the Northern Hemisphere and us Down Under try to get over those colds and sniffles….BUT we have a glorious blue sky here at home. So a bonus!

Linking in with #IBOT at Essentially Jess