At home

Big thunderstorms and heavy rain are marking the change of seasons. Summer is making place for Autumn, but not without a fight. It’s getting chilly in the mornings, it won’t be much longer before we’ll have to light the fire in the evenings.
How much I love the warm busy days of Summer there is a quite cosiness about Winter. I actually look forward to evenings reading a book by the wood fire, maybe finish some of my sewing projects and do some reflecting and projecting towards Spring.
So many projects we would like to start, but they need research, designing and funds. Taking a step back, this change in season might be just what we need to go forward again.

A year in our new home, it’s nice to look back and think about what we have accomplished, what we have learned.
Somethings have become routine, like baking my sourdough breads daily, making yoghurt, cooking from scratch.
A year further, Sander still rides his push bike to work (22km return), rain or shine, heat and cold. We still manage with only one car.

My biggest project has seen a large area off grass transformed into a kitchen garden. Building up the soil, starting an orchard takes time and patience, but as my favourite farmer at the markets says: ”You’ll have to be in the game to win it”.
In the last couple of weeks many winter seeds have gone in (broccoli, cabbage, peas, turnips), the last of the warm weather should give them a head start.
The cucumbers are still going berserk. One little seed sown straight into the ground has been giving us 15 cucumbers a week, for the last 6 weeks. And unlike the zucchini it isn’t showing signs of slowing down. I’ve starting picking the first sugars snaps and snow peas, ate them straight from the vine. Since the weather has started to cool, the parsley and coriander have come back.

And something very strange happened, over the year I've learned how to sew and even crazier: I love it! Must be all those colours... This is a picnic rug I’m working on, almost done, just the binding and the last bit of the quilting.