Tag Archives: gardens

Taking Stock

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Making :commitments to myself 

Cooking : wontons in bone broth

Drinking : nettle, sage and yarrow tea

Reading: knitting patterns and blogs about knitting, Kingdom of Kammebornia,  hello cool weather handcrafts

Wanting: to have as many arms as Durga so I can do all my tasks at once, and hug my family, garden and still knit…

Looking: at the tree line against the incredible blue sky, at what grows when you give

Playing: Harmonium, piano, accordian, Set, Chinese checkers

Wasting: energy worrying about all that I shall not accomplish today. I shall stop now.

Sewing: a quilt very slowly but I better hurry up for the birthday

Wishing: I had a few more me’s or a few less interests!

Enjoying: expanding  out into the world, being employed in an area I totally love and get to use and share skills my family don’t request from me. Knowing I’m going away to see my family really soon!

Waiting: for seeds to sprout, ideas to bloom, kettle to boil, to let go

Liking: that I am learning, yes I am, to go at my own pace a bit more!

Wondering: if I can just keep on nurturing that second of time before habitual response, that allows me to look below words to the unmet needs of another instead of taking things so personally

Loving: laying on the ground, half in the gentler sun of the season, feeling supported

Hoping:it will rain, my children will grow through to adulthood with good inner and outer health

Marvelling: at Cedar riding a bike so happily and strongly suddenly!

Wishing: for some tips on what I could do, see, eat and hear when I go to Melbourne solo soon!

Needing: continuity, rain, sea, to express myself, camping, fire, flowers

Smelling: geranium oil, sawdust, sunshine

Wearing: a gift from my mama

Following:  my nose to the blossoming tamarillo tree! Wow .

Noticing: the changing light, the cosy nights, a tall adolescent, 

Knowing: this too shall pass.

Thinking: I’m ready for all this change

Feeling: encouraged

Bookmarking: poetry by Timothy McLaughlin

Opening: my eyes before the sun

Giggling: with a beautiful bearded fellow

Feeling: grateful, anticipation, loss, tolerance


Thanks to Pip over at Meet me at Mike for the taking stock inspiration.

right now…

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Amidst illness, parenting challenges, life challenges, menstruating, mess, lethargy, humidity and losing my life map temporarily as the end of the year screams towards me…..

Happiness is a coconut leaf harvest basket, full of colour and scent for dinner

These tiny moments keep me sane and happier! 

It really is the small things people.

Lebanese cucumbers

Green yellow AND purple beans

Chinese greens ( self sown, great weed suppressor)

Lettuce

Basil

Lemon sorrel

Pineapple sage flowers

What are you harvesting from your garden or your life?

X

Roselinde

Broad bean harvest

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Alongside Parsley, spring onions, silver beet and kale, broad beans are the staple harvest right now. I planted a healthy patch before leaving for Europe in late April and my neighbour planted a whole bunch more, since we returned in September it’s been a steady crop of beans. Such a wonderful self sustaining plant. They are surviving in a dry hot season very well. They all fall over in the wind but shoot up again. I never did get around to tying them up like last year.

Mostly I pod and steam them with a pile of silverbeet or enjoy them in soups. Also delicious is to quickly sauté the beans with garlic olive oil salt and lemon juice. The young pods can be cut into little slivers for this dish. 

 I did try the cream of broad bean soup from The Silver Spoon Italian cookbook last week when a girlfriend visited. Wonderful with a smattering of fresh herbs. 

I am so heartily satisfied to eat from my own garden and be nourished by this green freshness!

What are you harvesting?

Xx Roselinde 

Taking Stock

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Returning home and taking stock. Thanks to Pip at Meet me at Mikes for the word list.

  Making :

time to stroll around outside before children wake up. counting leaves and flowers and feeling that everything is really happy I’m home

and fantasise about all the gardening I will do… I have some cheeky plants that went ballistic while I was away and still a few gaps to plant in….

Cooking : snow pea, red capsicum and pineapple sage flower salad with lemon and mandarin dressing, also young broad bean and leek sauted in lemon juice. Mmm

Drinking : mango smoothie, mangoes foraged by Jesse. What a man, he brought in about 300 mangoes last season! Now we enjoy the last frozen cheeks…

Reading: our ash grove blog, beautiful and creative and wondering how does life look homeschooling with 5 children?

Pondering: how to grow with the children and stop my default repeats.

Wanting: a massage, a shiatsu or a kahuna therapist to knock on my door right now…

  Looking: at cobwebs. Lots of cobwebs. Overflowing suitcases, washing and general debris of returning home. Flowers! Lots of flowers!  Also looking at some of my favourite things. Is this really my home?

Playing: a game where i am employed by this house for domestic duties and I get paid holidays and good hours… And other perks…

Wasting: time searching for cherry red flannel sheets on the internet. I know winters over right, but  maybe for next year… 

Sewing: lots in my imagination! Like a whole new rack of simple stylin lady fashion. 

Wishing: spring was 6 months of the year, I could teleport and whistle really genuine bird calls. Not at the same time.

  Enjoying: the reward of planting bulbs at Easter and seeing a bed full of freesias bursting with colour and fragrance in spring . No instant gratification involved. Patience. I think I’m growing up!

Waiting: to grow up and be more patient. To get a hold over this overactive mind. To visit  my newly moved mama and papa in Tasmania!

Liking: the morning sun as I meander the gardens and check on the fruit tree buds and seedlings and the caress of the cool breeze and bird song. Spring mornings in Bellingen are delightful. 

Delighting: in the wild creatures, on the night of our arrival home we are greeted by the first cicadas, the fire flies and a python on the verandah. Welcome home!

Wondering: if I will be able to do all I dream of in one day.

Loving: gathering my family for a home cooked garden dinner by candlelight, at home, at our own table for the first time in a long time. Sweet.

Hoping: the children will have a great swathe of warm memories from their time in our care.

Marvelling: that Cedar has just had his first doctor visit! I was a bit out of depth for this cut and am grateful for the medical help when needed and to Jane for holding my hand and standing up to the pushy Dr. And so grateful he has been a well boy thus far. I know dr help is a big part of some families reality and it’s fantastic when you need them and there they are! 

Needing: to practice to say what I think even if it might be uncomfortable. 

  Smelling: something delightful on the air, floral, springy, mystery blossom.

Wearing: daggy old clothes and feeling ok about that. 

Following: my own adventures on my own blog. Now that’s good for perspective!

Noticing: sometimes I write something I’m proud of. Sometimes I take a photograph I’m proud of! 

Knowing: I need to practice believing in my gifts and talents.

Thinking: about the simple gift of a safe home to go back to and all the people who don’t have one right now.

Feeling: a bit helpless to make a difference right now on a global scale and remembering to practice peace at home.

Bookmarking: hmm. Any suggestions?

Opening: an illustrated envelope, with a handwritten card containing old photos of myself and friends from another life, a gift from a dear friend today to make me smile!

Giggling: at the sweetness of being seventeen.

Feeling: incredulous that it’s only 6 years til I have my own sweet seventeen year old child! 

Quoting: family life is like music, some high notes, some low notes, but all together a sweet melody.

  
All photos from my springy garden! I didn’t shoot the crazy bits.

Benalla gardens Victoria

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We are en route from Bellingen to Tasmania for our summer adventures. It’s been hot and windy through Victoria. I’m flying between joy and anxiety as the trip begins.
We’ve found a new swimming respite in Wangaratta by Ovens River then explored Benalla for a camp. The official camp (470 in the free camps Australia book)is dusty and depressing today so we head into town to a promising green patch by the river. Locals are fishing carp out of the Benalla lake.
We are relieved by the green promenade of the Benalla gardens. Soft grass and immense rose gardens of beauty scent and vibrancy. Roses and succulents rule the plantings. A great surprise and delight for me.
The playground is a great combination of retro equipment of the type removed from other places (a real seesaw with no handles, exclaims L) and newer framework. Lily finds a tree to climb and all is well.

Waking up to

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I know I Know,
I said I wouldn’t be a breakfast blogger, but how could I resist when I realized this morning it was all from the farm around me!
Golden egg omelette with new potatoes I dug with Cedar, greens we picked a minute before they hit the pan, mums pickled peppers from last harvest and Keith’s sri lankan tomato relish… Yum.

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I hope you’ve had a good breakfast!
It makes me want my own farmyard.
You too?