Thank you October, you were amazing!

Mulberries

Expanding my range with cultured honey.

These flavoured versions are mind blowing.

October is often the month we have loads of juvenile king parrots visiting.
Far from shy, we often have 8 of them chatting away...

...or cheering you on

Coming back from New Zealand with rain, lots of it.
Here you see one of the dam overflows, releasing water into the gully.

All the rain is doing wonders for the garden, which is now is full blown Spring growth.

At last, the start of the cabin build!

Coinciding with my parents flight out of Amsterdam, the pressure in on!

Laura approved

And of course a massive thunderstorm rips through just before the roof goes on.

Quickly erected, wired up and a toilet hooked up onto the new septic system, it has already hosted our first overseas visitors and a Tim’s mates sleepover.

It will still need a couple more coats of oil on the outside, a finish on the inside walls and doors. And a bit more permanent furniture, other then the comfy queen size bed. 

Any friends and family visiting, we can now offer you a place to sleep, with a gorgeous morning view over the dam... Be welcome...

Jacaranda’s are coming in flower. The start off of the Jacaranda festival.

When you have a massive basket of eggs sitting on the kitchen bench, you make brioche.
Letting the dough rise long and slow in the fridge, with a dash of sourdough starter, improving the taste big time.

Sunday morning baking, scrolls with homemade fig jam...

These two...

The reality of having your whole family living on the other side of the world. When they visit you have them all to yourself, for weeks on end. Leaving many good memories behind.

Planting out the new orchard with the kids. It’s making my heart sing.

I managed to find a lemon myrtle tree, treasure! Growing alongside are an aniseed and cinnamon myrtle and a macadamia tree.

So far we’ve planted out mostly natives, wanting to support our local bees and butterflies. 

We might even end up with enough blossoms to sustain a beehive!

Besides natives, we've managed to plant a lemon tree, we’ve transplanted bananas, a lychee tree and a have quince tree on standby. A friend has kindly taken cuttings from his trees, soon we will be planting out coffee and Brazilian cherry trees.

We’re still waiting to plant: apples, avocado and a lemonade tree. Dreaming big!

Saying yes to all the challenges that come onto your path for a whole year  brings you to many interesting (and scary!) places. This year has brought me outside of my comfort zone many times.
This week I got asked for a feature for the “Keeping it Local” in the local paper.
They did a video feature of Nerissa and me at work as well...
Find it here... Can you here the nerves raging in my voice?
And what’s with the accent?!? Hearing yourself talk on video is weird, big time...

Making jacaranda ice-cream with the children: frozen blueberries and banana, yoghurt, macadamias and a spoon of quince paste, to get the colour just right...