Starting Out

Well time is really flying and it's already been 2 weeks in our new home! My main project to start out with is setting up a vegie patch. We have 4 garden plots which are about 12m x 1m.

Two of these plots are planted with established fruit trees including apples, nectarines, mandarines, plums (I think), oranges and lemons. There is also a stand of banana trees and a huge mulberry tree out the back. The other two plots are so barren, dry and dejected at the moment it's going to be a challenge for me, who knows zero about growing food, to get it up to some sort of healthy state. I did invest in a great book so I'm sort of learning something as I go.

I started digging up one of the plots and it's hard work and hot work! I'm about 3/4 of the way through. My plan is to improve the soil by digging out to a spade depth, using the fork to loosen up the subsoil, add some cow manure on top of this loosened soil and then replace the top soil. I might even add some mushroom compost into the top soil to give it some more nutrition.

I will then leave this for a few weeks and then after some good rain throw on some blood and bone and then start planting. I haven't decided what to plant yet but it will be all things we like to eat here and some extras for companion plants to deter pests. I'm going to try and be a bit organic and try to stay away from the chemical pesticides if I can.

For now I need to finish digging and then I'll go next door and collect cow manure from my neighbour's paddocks! Fun fun fun!!! he he he

Other than the vegie patch, we went to our first farmer's markets in Nabiac on Saturday which was nice. Got some nice sourdough bread, mmmm, and beautiful fresh tomatoes, grapes, corn, zucchini, garlic, strawberries. Everything we bought was really cheap and fresh and yum. So we'll be going again next month. We also bumped into an old friend of Paul's mum from Glenbrook who has been living up here for a while now and she has invited me to join her group of seed and plant collectors. How funny! So I'll go along to meet new people if nothing else!!! Besides I need all the gardening tips I can get. It's such a small world....

We also bought two muscovy ducks to keep our own Ducko company in his new dam. They are only 10 weeks old and they are already as big as Ducko! They are going to be huge. They are very tame and can be patted and hand fed.

Hannah also got a kitten for her birthday, here she is with Breana. Her name is Suki and she is a very good kitten, already toilet trained and so good with the girls who pest her to no end.

Paul tried out his new tractor too, used it to level some ground which was left all over the place after some stumps were removed. He was very happy with how it all went considering he really has no idea what he's doing! Looks good though...

Yesterday we spent the afternoon at Saltwater which is only about 7kms from us. It's a very nice picnic spot with free gas BBQs, plenty of shade and good ammenities. There is a short walk to a lagoon and the beach which is almost completely deserted. The lagoon is great for the kids although suspiciously too warm for my liking!

We also bumped into the agent from Wingham who was helping us with the other place we almost bought. He is so nice and we met his lovely wife and two girls. Such a coincidence they were there as they live about an hour away and it was their first visit to Saltwater. So we seem to be bumping into all these people that we probably are meant to meet up with. It's been nice.

Still feel like I'm on holidays though.... :)

Goodbye Glenbrook

I still can't believe we have actually left our home in Glenbrook for ever. It still feels like we are staying in a holiday house and we are just on holidays! I suppose the more I unpack and personalise the house it will slowly feel more like our own home.

We were so blessed in Glenbrook. We left our beautiful house that we put our all into, so much work and love went into that place. Hopefully the new owners love it as much as we did. In our last week we were so lucky to have our dearest friends and family organise some farewells for us. It started with our neighbours who are THE BEST neighbours ever. I can't imagine ever meeting such lovely people again, especially Colleen and Cliff who organised the farewell. We had such a nice afternoon, Cliff made a nice speech and I was a blubbering mess.

The girls from my mother's group also organised a last minute farewell coffee night at Lapstone Hotel. Thanks Bree :) We had a good gas bag and a couple of drinks... well it was a good night. Thanks to Susan too for coming to see me at home as she missed the coffee night. And Lynda for calling. :)

Paul's dad had Tuesday night dinner at his place and made his usual banquet.

Our friends also got together and organised a last trip to Glenbrook with a whole heap of takeaway. So we spent a nice afternoon together to say our goodbyes, or rather to think about planning a weekend away to our new place! Hope you guys actually come up and stay... you're all gonna love it here.

We started really packing for the move in the first week of Jan and it was really worrying Paul that all our stuff wouldn't fit into the 9 tonne truck the removalist was bringing. I was more optimistic and was sure the removalist knew what he was doing when he quoted. He did confirm thoughy that he had booked a 3 tonne overflow truck just in case. As it turns out the 2 trucks weren't enough and in the end we had a second 3 tonner for the rest of the things. And we had decluttered and thrown (or given) heaps of stuff away too.

The loading of the trucks went quite fast and after a teary goodbye we drove off after lunch time. The drive was good, both girls, the duck and the dog were all better than we expected. After collecting the keys I pull up at the entrance to our new place "Woongarra" to see our names on the letter box. The old owners had left us a parting gift, and some other little knick knacks around the house. The house was spotless and so was the yard, all mown, weeded and paddocks slashed. It felt like coming home finally and it was such a great relief. Loesje described the feeling to me the next day.. she said the first thing she noticed on the first night at their new place was that her mind was clear of all the worries that come with selling and buying and moving house. Soooo true. I really feel relaxed even though there is so much to do. I have really been stressed like never before in my life.

So the adventure begins...

We have had some visitors already, of course Loo and Pat and the kids came over with a pasta bake.. thanks Loo. :) But before them there was our resident peacock (actually our neighbour's pet, one of 14 peacocks) and a green frog in our laundry.

Happy Snaps

Some recent happy snaps.

Recent Knits

I can't even think of all I've done over the last month and a bit. Mostly I've been working on a jumper for Nicholas.

I also made a pair of flower beanies for Hannah and Ailey. (I don't have a picture of Ailey yet).

And a library bag for Makayla.

Relay 4 Life

Well it's been AAAAAAGES since I posted anything so I thought I might get my act together!

Relay 4 Life was great this year. We had an absolutely perfect day weather-wise. The day was pretty hectic especially with face painting during the day. We painted lots of little faces and big faces too. The Art Gallery was not as successful as we would have liked it to be. It was on the outside of the track for starters which didn't get a lot of traffic. But the main reason for the disappointing prices fetched by such great works was that I really messed up with the method of my silent auction. I'll know better for next year and hopefully we get some good donations again.

Having said that we still managed to raise $950 on the art and overall $2080. So it was not a bad effort at all!

Thanks to all who donated money, art or time. xxx

Relay for Life - Art Donations

In the Next Egistenze - by Yvonne
Wow, what a wonderful response to a request for Art Donations for the Relay! I asked my good friend Aisha to paint something for the relay but, understandably, having a 3 month old at home she really is pressed for time, so she kindly asked her art class mates to make a donation. So far we have three art works donated. Two from her teacher Yvonne
Abstract - Nina De Rome

and one from Dave's mum Natalie. I think there is one more coming.


Hydrangeas Dup - Natalie Dunsford

These works will be auctioned off on the day to raise money for the Cancer Council. So along with Jade's gorgeous quilt we should have some interest in these items on the day. If you would like to place a bid, please email me here.

Thank you so much for the kind donations Jade, Yvonne, Natalie and Aisha. :) xxx

Monograms

Two of my nieces are having birthdays this week and I was inspired to make them some Monograms for their rooms. I saw these in a scrapbooking magazine and had to try my hand at them. I'm really happy with how my "B" worked out (for an 8 year old). The colours will suit B's room too. Hope she likes it.

I used this groovy gold paint around the edges which adds a nice touch. I glued on some scrapbooking papers and sanded around the edges to distress the paper. Then I roughly added some more gold paint. Then I glued on some embellishments. It would have been nice to use beads or ribbon or lace but I didn't have much on hand.

The "M" was more playful as it is for a 3 year old.