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

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.