Impressions from my sister in law.
Memories of 1978.

#farmergetsawife
Agriculturalists gets a wife
City bride new to the country
City spouse new to the country
City girl marries her farmer
City miss weds her rancher

All of the above are depending on from where you live in this world.
Different expressions….same meaning

“I married my beloved farmer or rancher as the Americans say. A young lady who lived nowhere near the country but by the sea. Near Semaphore in Adelaide, South Australia.

Well all this came to nought. No happy catch up time. No time for chit chat.

Country life line

Rather, a call had been received from my parents in law asking that we return to the farm property immediately for my husband to help with the grain cleaning. In those days you needed to wait having made a booking for a man to go to your property or ranch on a set day to do this job …well that time slot had come early!

There was no new bride to be carried over the threshold. I ventured into our stone cottage myself.

But I love our life here. Over the years we’ve lived in a few different houses. First was that stone cottage.

Cycles of family life.

Alexa back here again.
Our cycles of life
The years roll by
Silently but ever moving

Our family visiting the Farm

Now I must search out that pastie recipe from an old school book when we did Home Economics at High School. My sister in law bakes an awesome one.
Best eaten on a cold day which is the opposite to what we have here presently in Australia. Summer heat waves. Yet I guess you could eat it with a salad.
I think I will wait though so that the oven does not over heat the already warm house.

What a pity I did not keep my copy when I culled all my books during our recent move. The modern copy is rather pricey now.
Live and learn.

Recipe of pasty…….
Page 7 of 8
“Cookery the Australian Way” 50 some years old and still serving and teaching our young.

Memories are the threads of life
A tapestry in the making

Endless road.
Long dark ribbon straight ahead
Sweeping
to some lonesome level crossing.

A road trip with a purpose
A lonely drive
Being guided
by this Mallee Highway

Where do you go, this lonely car, so early in the morning
Driving on an endless quest to what, to where I know not.
Driving onwards and some more.

To sadness, to sorrow, to emergency
or to support and more
To be cheered, to share, to deliver
A new job?
Or what or where

And then

the heavy silence again
heard only in the country

These thoughts crossed my mind last night as I lay abed in this lonely farmhouse in the wee dark morning hours unable to return to sleep. Too many recent thoughts, impressions and emotions flitting through my mind.

I should have gotten up then to write, instead of scribbling in the car this morning, during OUR journey going from country to the city…

…and now with the traveller maybe long arrived at his destination and us arriving in the city for another day… I’m wishing for a homemade Florentine biscuit and a freshly brewed coffee to kick-start another day, again.

Thankful for this kindly gift of staying in the country with family.

ps…no photos today due to country broadband issues

Joining in with Essentially Jess for IBOT

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

First Sunday in May is traditionally World Permaculture day
It is also Honey month

A day when and where people come together to share ideas, ideals, ways of doing and the how’s of doing. A day of places to visit to learn about this big word Permaculture. Work shops and open gardens. Community events.

How to look after the gardens they have. Ways to improve their soil. How to make mulch or compost. What to use the compost for. How to encourage worms into their gardens whether of flowers, vegetable or a mixture because these wriggly friends move nutrients through your soil and break it down silently. They are your invisible friends working in the background or in the worm farm.

Why, how and are you allowed to keep the humble hens for their eggs in your suburban back yard or rural property…but watch out for Mr Fox or other predators!…how to build their little hen houses or castles.

How to make use of your small suburban block in a productive way. Suburban homesteading. There don’t have to be grand ideas or spending lots of money. Starting small or micro small. Just the act of getting to and starting and not being afraid to give it a go.

As I wrote in a post on “Sharing” …it’s not in the big words of Sustainable Living or as now Permaculture, it’s in the doing it simply without worrying about the big words. Read what I said about sharing. Remember how our parents or family did things in their little patch of earth called home. They did it to support the family budget. They worked hard, had to work hard to survive, and just got on with doing because there was no other way.

They worked together, had working bees, helped each other, supported each other and shared with each other. I know I had chores which gave me the love and understanding of gardening to this day….but there’s always things to learn which in itself is good even as one approaches retiring age. Ones brain doesn’t become stale. New horizons are there beckoning.

Try growing a few herbs in pots or on a window sill. Share what you have with a friend or neighbour. Do a bit of research. Do grow a few marigolds or such amongst your veggies to attract the bees for a productive garden.

Bees our friends that I blogged about on “World Health Day”. Little workers that the world can’t do without.

Share with the children and teach them about the simple things of a garden. The joys of a garden. The responsibility that goes with gardening too. The awesomeness of growth. Share the beauty, it’s free.

So many things that we can simply do or already are doing unknowingly, without the need for big words.

Photo by hotblack @morgueFile free photo

Anzac Day, a public holiday celebrated mainly in Australia and New Zealand to remember those who served and died in WW1 as depicted in our newspapers and Poppies used as a symbol of remembrance

For us it was a drive in the country from Bawley Point to Sydney early on Anzac morning…

Queen Anne’s Lace grasping onto the side of the rural road with its last flush of summer flowers in the icy breeze

Photo courtesy marykbaird@morgueFile free photos

Deserted shops on Anzac morning in Milton. A few cafés open, bursting at the seams and over flowing with their queue of hungry people or coffee addicts needing their morning wake up jolt

A chalk board sign “a yawn is a silent SCREAM for coffee”

Us deciding to continue driving through the rich dairy country with its brief ocean view and find brekky elsewhere to end our holiday

Cycle track winding through bush fire ravaged eucalyptus forest now sprouting an abundance of new growth…a hardy tree is our eucalyptus

Husband now wishing he’d been able to have his homemade gourmet meat pie earlier at a bakery as it’s a bit of a haul to the next proper town for breakfast….

Well, brekky was had at Maccas in Nowra ….fresh and hot…soft egg and bacon brekky mcmuffin and piping hot tea…who needs a gourmet cafe anyway ;). There’s always another time!

A small spot of trivia as we chatted….being Anzac Day here in Australia…this year is 100 years since WW 1

More scenes spotted on our drive…people enjoying the break from work and able to work on their autumn chores in the garden…so nice seeing a husband and wife team together setting out pot plants along the front picket fence for a bit of colour …

Names driven past that caught my imagination.
MJ Fox Plumber
Roger Roberts Creek
Foxground
Gerringong
Kiama Downs

After having spent a magic time weather and family wise it’s home to Sydney and rain happening on the last stretch but not at home!

Rain and Anzac or cold and Anzac go together typically at this time of year. But we were blessedly spoilt for our time at the beach.

I typed in the car as we travelled along and prettied up this article once home, having unpacked and loads of washing done with me having done two back to back trips.

…anyone for coffee?

Older memories of Anzac Day when our children were little in Adelaide, South Australia. It being that time when all short-sleeved t-shirts and tops were packed away and winter clothing prepared and thought about hastily as inevitably pants legs and sleeves were too short. So too with PJs and dressing gowns and slippers for little toes. Things were passed down, sewn or as a last resort purchased. Days before eBay, Target, Kmart or Big W. The sewing machine got going and knitting needles a clicking.

Do you have childhood memories of this transition Autumn to Winter time?

By pippalou @morgueFile free photos. With thanks

Starry night in the country…and travelling in a fuel efficient car…..we took the small car!…Do you think before you travel?

Last night we had to do an unexpected trip down from Sydney to past Goulbourn and back again. We left after work driving into the evening sun and me being the first driver wished that I had my sunglasses for the glare.

We stopped briefly for a dinner of sorts and continued on with my husband now driving. It gave me the chance for a while till dusk, to look at the passing scene. The further we got from Sydney the less dense became the traffic…except for the trucks!

As darkness fell and the city lights faded I marvelled again at the beauty of the heavens through my side window. The brightness of the swathes of stars visible was wonderful. It took my mind far away from the smallness of man. We indeed are puny when set against the vastness of nature.

Sirius, the brightest star in the heavens.
Stars, the jewel of the night.
Ice cold twinkling stars of all sizes to light the traveller’s path with a crescent moon on its way down the heavens.

So completed a very brief visit to ageing friend in hospital and a return home before midnight.

By Irish_Eyes@morgueFile free photos. With thanks

We drove through a land which provides food for the many but a region also at times in drought…..Australia, a sunburnt country, a land of sweeping plains. Of contrasts. A land I would love to explore more one day. A blessed land.

I try to be thankful for what we have each day. It so puts things into perspective doesn’t it.

My night-time routine, or ritual, in the dim light is to pause on the landing and gaze out at the dark skies. It is an unconscious act. A calming act and I guess part of the winding down process for the day. Looking out at the shadows of trees near and far, the vast heavens, homes at rest and the always different dark skies. Recent skies were clear with some large twinkling, shivering and almost trembling stars.

I leave the stars and heaven’s dark orb beyond this small upstairs window to find the last light in another room.

A day is at rest. Peace and calm restored..for the most part.

Imagine the night-time view out of these windows looking over the Linden trees in Germany where my mother lived as a teenager. Those vast heavens in every direction.

Heppenheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany

And so ends another day….How do you find that moment of calm?

Till next time then.
Alexa

What of this day…

With our typical Sydney summer’s day of blue sky and cicadas shrilling away in the background, I pause for a moment to reflect on the last few happy but busy family days.

Some vibrant jewel coloured Gerbera flowers in a bouquet given by a little hand. Red and orange and yellow and cream…a luscious mix.

Stunning little smile with pearly teeth when a little boy sees that grandma is there in HIS house in the middle of the night as he stands in a dim hallway having wakened suddenly.

Same little boy desperately fighting sleep with his eyes opened oh so wide as he holds on to the awake moment, then stating so suddenly “sleep please” whence he is gently rolled and tucked into bed.

The quiet of night with all asleep as compared to the busy happenings of family and children.

Quiet absorbed play of a little one with a large plastic container full of water and two cups. Pour from one cup to the other…over a nearby leaf….onto toes….onto grass …into sandpit…Hand in water to make handprint on wood like grandma did….foot into water and footprint all with his own thinking…Drink water ….all this showing that we really don’t need much to keep us happy….think back to when a small thing was really appreciated. What was it?

…for me I think back to sharing a moment with family. Even though it was just brief meeting at Adelaide airport a year or so ago. As I was preparing to fly back home to Sydney from Adelaide airport, having with my girls and their little ones visited my mother. My sister flew in from Perth to visit our mother too. It was a planned overlap for mum to have a longer family time to enjoy. Yet us sisters, my girls and their babies only manage 30 minutes due to flight times and little children. A meet and greet and hug and laugh and kiss and tear up, as we all had to continue on our life’s journeys.

Back to the present…..Older children happily devouring a favourite home made meal pre prepared by mum of lasagne…”we always have seconds of lasagne …”

Large Backpack school bags ready packed for first day back to school. Food and drinks and books and caps. Big black school shoes ready to go, boot/ trunk of car filled with school bags and swimming gear for little one.

courtesy jeltovski at morgueFile free photos

Courtesy jeltovski at MorgueFile free photos

Everyone in car, little one likes grandma’s car seat, seat belts on and off we drive in the semi rural countryside…and so starts another school year for everyone here in Sydney….the precious summer holidays are over….more on that another time.

Family life is a busy one, and with a little one and older siblings it covers a whole range of needs.

Many lessons are there for us along life’s journey. To Find Patience, tolerance, kindness, to be a peacemaker, helper, prompter, learner, discoverer, mediator, and learner again.

No matter what age we are, young to old, these apply. In all avenues from work to play.

….So, soon it’s time for grandma to go back to her home…..a little voice says, “Grandma stay at my house? Grandma sleep in my house?….” Precious memories.

Now I’m back to my own life, a different world. Retirement boring? Never

A little catching up and reading…..words….words…
Frugal Fatigue…Blogosphere…Frugal is make your money work for you…and I like this one, thank you Heather…Time is wealth…..

All these are a world away from life of the last few days that I was privileged to share.

Courtesy hotblack at MorgueFile free photos

Tag words given for the above photo were woman, girl, reading, coffee, shop, leisure, relax, quiet, peace, alone. My addition would be joy in the aloneness to refresh the soul and to garner strength for the next need that arises.

…later I will continue on my little journey started the other day.

Have a good day all.

By Alexa

Photos as stated with thanks from http://www.morguefile.com

{Lightfoot at morgueFile free photos }

So a little chicken talk turned into a story, which goes to show how much is involved if one chooses to keep these feathered friends….

This is how I ended my last post, but on further reflection with a rested and refreshed mind there is so much more that can be gained from these memories and ideas.

As with everything in life we need to investigate, learn and prepare …and learn Spanish…shall we??

Life can be an adventure….

… I am thankful for the many different life happenings I have experienced from a young age, for they do teach us many, many things….how to care, to be thankful, to be patient, to try again, to understand others, to try new ways, to listen to the young also cause they can teach us a thing or two, not to judge-hard to do cause it’s in our nature, to make do, to re-use…and so the list goes on.

We don’t need an online education for the above. We have life skills….

Hand washing country style by jdurham at morgueFile.com

…As I stand here with my iPad on the kitchen bench looking out the back door and pretending to have a rural vista, I see blue sky, freshly washed laundry on the line, a green lawn of sorts edged with a newly established Lavender hedge atop a rock wall and I think …

What are life skills…let’s look it up on the internet with mr Google. The first item that comes up is this

noun
plural noun: life skills
1.
a skill that is necessary or desirable for full participation in everyday life.
“sharing with a sibling can help children learn important life skills”

So, returning to the scene at my back door, there are quite a few life skills even in the everyday taken for granted scene.

O.K…even my iPad, I had to learn how to use this tool and am still learning as there is so much new technology and older brains take longer to process and take it all in and grasp the concept. Yet a younger child who is using this new technology all the time is quick to grasp the workings and can show her grandma a thing or two without any fuss, but I have to remember for next time….practise, practise grandma.

{Monosodium at morgueFile.com}

Then there’s the laundry freshly washed. We do it all the time without thought except that we keep an eye on the weather, how full is the wash basket, what needs special stain treatment, hot wash or cold wash, washing sorted into light and darks, by country- just joking, fluffy away from darks, TISSUES OUT OF POCKETS, is all the dirty washing out of the children’s rooms, delicates washing, uniforms needed for the morning…quick quick. Yet give it to a child with no experience and see what happens.

Now a lawn needs some looking after. Depending on the time we have to spend and how fussy or particular we are there are many steps to learn. The real basic ones are that Lawns need water, especially in our hot Australian summers. They need to be cut and the edges done either by hand shears or an edger like a whipper snipper. Lawn trimmings need to be disposed of. Prickles in the lawn need to be poisoned off or pulled out so children can play on it with bare feet in summer. Then there’s the need to feed lawn if you have time. All these are learned skills through necessity so you can have a lawn of sorts. Ours gets cut and watered and has to survive. It still gives a space to enjoy, a buffer from neighbors and respite from the heat rather than having bare concrete.

{Kaparti Gabor at morgueFile.com}

My new lavender hedge needed lots of preparation to get to where it is now. Maybe over a year as I had the time,to research and to propagate and grow many cuttings from the main lavender bush. Over the years I’ve done gardening, learnt and observed from my mother since I was a child. It is something that is enjoyable and brings desirable results. The lavender hedge garden was at one time a mish mash of plants and creepers that were growing old and needed a replacement that was easy to take care of as we approach retirement.The old plants had to be dug out or poisoned and wait for the poison to work. Patience and energy and perseverance. It was hard but I got there!

So lots of life skills are part of the everyday, but at the beginning needed to be learnt, understood, practised, nurtured and just done cause they are part of what makes our life happen….and passed on!

{handl at morgueFile.com}

So what new skill have you had to learn or master, passed on or just worked at in a different way.

Make a hard job beautiful by looking forward.

Alexa

Thank you to morgueFile.com free photos

Black hen and Red Barn
Courtesy revwarheart

Chicken talk… Memories of chickens.
My parents kept about 300 chickens for eggs when I was about 10. They came as pullets and gradually grew till they were old enough to lay eggs. The idea being that it would provide a bit of extra income for Life’s journey. Mum and dad were and had to be very resourceful. They did not have access to a Livestock Batchelors Degree online.

There was always work to be done, especially the preparation stage in building the fences and shelters. If a chicken was sick it had to be made better quickly or butchered so it was not just eating the whole wheat grain. (This bit was hard as a child to comprehend) The end product had to be eggs for money.

Courtesy of morgueFile free photos

I don’t recall how dad got the chickens to the place we were renting in the rural Adelaide Hills as we had no car. But do remember dad taking the stacked up big trays of eggs on the back of his motor bike. Well tied on.

It was not very far to the railway station but it was hilly and I don’t think he ever lost any!…. Money was precious and had to s-t-r-e-t-c-h. Being frugal before the word was fashionable.

We had no fridge in those days so foods that spoiled were purchased as needed and stored in a small room downstairs which was quite cold. Our fresh milk came daily delivered by the milkman who measured and poured it into our billy can which hung over the gate post and was brought in by us to be boiled and the cream separated. THAT was the best…..to be had on toast with jam….either butter and jam or jam and cream , and not all three together. Today I am too spoilt as I do love all three together.

Once dad had been working for a while at GMH …Holden’s for short, he was able to purchase a Fridge for us, so we didn’t need to scald the milk any more. Compare this to how we take it so for granted that everyone has a fridge . And it’s needed straight away as soon as a household is set up!

…but I digress from chickens. When dad had to butcher chickens, most parts were used even the unshelled eggs which were inside the butchered carcasses and because we had no fridge for a time mum had to use them up quickly.

Frugal Egg Custard
Courtesy morgueFile free photos

She baked or made custards or Spetzler which are like small dropped by spoonfuls dough and cooked in boiling water. These were then added to scrambled eggs. Very sustaining and I can still taste them especially if we had a bit of bacon added to the dish. All these frugal dishes are now classed as a bit gourmet.

…to the everyday person having chickens has a romantic, green, frugal lifestyle feel to it but there’s so much more.

I do love chickens
Courtesy morgueFile free photos

Are you permitted to keep them in your suburban yard.
Are you rural
Is your yard layout suitable.
If you have pets will everyone get on together safely without a huge amount of effort on your part.
Do you know enough about keeping hens…or are you prepared to learn about them.
Have you easy access to their required food needs.
Do you know which hens are the best layers.
Which hens are the most children friendly.
Are you going to free range the hens.
Can you keep your hens safe from predators
How many hens for your yard
Have you enough time to care for your flock
Do you go away often, if so, who can care for your flock
What about shelters and laying boxes for them
Or are you going to use a chicken tractor…

Suburban garden for hens
Courtesy S349142

I have collated some photos below which show a story about chickens or hens and their needs. They love freshly foraged greens and love a morsel in the shape of a snail of worm. Watch out if you have bare feet though because your toes look like worms and hens DO peck very hard!

Dried and green foods.
Access to fresh water.
Space to roam.
Free from predators.

Hay fields Courtesy Jpkwitter

Chicken feed
Courtesy Krosseel

Green clover
Courtesy dharder

Hens love Dandelions
Courtesy fedegrafo

Beware the Predator
Courtesy Monosodium at MorgueFile.com

Rural Water pump & bucket
Courtesy Docron at morgueFile.com

Fresh water from red tap
Courtesy morgueFiles free photos . Photographer from Orlando

So a little chicken talk turned into a story, which goes to show how much is involved if one chooses to keep these feathered friends.

As with everything in life we need to investigate, learn and prepare …and learn some more. Life can be an adventure….

Alexa