February

Laura started training, she got picked up for a 5 hour drive to her trainers place.
Chester was not happy...

But most of all he would like some rain, the paddocks are so bare...

Two weeks in, Laura is doing great. Cattle work can be very technical.
At home I’m practicing with Chester on opening and closing gates while riding and picking up kids at the bus stop. Riding easy while his leg is taking a long time healing from his abscess.

Breakfast smoothies for a great start of the day, we’re going though our blueberries rather quickly.
It’s all great practice for a workshop I’m supposed to be running in April...

Our dragon fruit has been flowering and producing it’s first fruits. The flowers are so big and bright white, filled to the brim with bees.

The kids have counted 21 flowers!

Sophie’s riding lessons

For weeks we had been looking for a second kayak, for Tim’s birthday. However no luck, the day of his party a friend mentioned he had a couple of kayaks taking up space in his shed. He delivered us 4! We now have a whole fleet, we didn’t see much of Tim and his mates all weekend...

Also David is becoming an old hand on paddling the dam. Do you see his friend in the tree?

Cyclone Oma, so far south. It got very windy for a couple of days, but all the rain that got predicted didn’t eventuate... We really could have used it...

Birthday cake at the Full Moon gathering.

Boys are making lots of progress with athletics this year.

Sander fractured his finger with volleyball and required surgery. While his finger was getting screwed back together, we made the most of our time in Coffs on the break wall.

 And even got to see a sea turtle!

 Full Moon rising over the paddock

My garden is a sorry mess. Not having had any rain for months on end, combined with very hot and windy summer days, water is very precious. I’m hand watering my orchard, taking u many hours of my week. The permanent plants in the vegetable garden are being kept alive by a drip irrigation. But for anything else to grow, I’ll need some serious rain. We’re onto the third day of Autumn, we’re getting a little bit of drizzle during the night and the temperature has dropped a bit for now (you know you’ve gone through a hot summer when the kids are wearing jumpers as the temperature drops under 30 degrees!). It has given me enough confidence to plant out one (out of 7) garden beds. Knowing that at least I can keep the watering up, without stretching myself even thinner. 

Hopefully when the busy registration part of the soccer season is past us, I have a bit more free time again in my weeks.

I’ve been asked give a Master Class on macadamias at the upcoming Regional Masters Food Expo on the 30th of March in Yamba.
Being part of the Gate to Plate movement we have in our valley which focuses on the exquisite ingredients we’re producing locally. A fundraiser for the Gallery Foundation.
If you would be interested to Go Nuts! with me: tasting, trying and experimenting with macadamias and their wide variety of uses. You can find more info and tickets here: https://gatetoplate.com.au

Full Moon Weekend

Full Moon rising over the gum trees.

Macadamias, raw organic cocoa and raw local honey.
Smooth, dark and irresistible.

Soccer games. Alex’s team had a formidable opponent. After a rather frustrating first halve, Alex had enough and took on the role as goal keeper. An Edwin van der Sar in the making, nothing did pass this little wall.

To say that it’s rather dry is an understatement. With a fire ban coming in early. The valley was rather smokey from all the back burns cleaning up dry vegetation for when it gets dangerously dry, combined with hot Summer weather. 

It makes for interesting driving though...

Another way to clean up the grassy shoulders, cattle patrol.

The paddocks are bare, the horses get hand fed daily to keep them going.

My first go on a plaited brioche.

The Amongst Friends, Trees and a Full Moon get together. After many moons, still going strong and highly anticipated by our kids.

Full Moon after party, with breakfast by the fire.

“Cleaning up” my macadamia brittle disaster as a topping for lemon myrtle and vanilla cake.

Back at school, all the extracurricular activities have started up again.

A couple more days and the soccer carnival is on, 64 junior teams have nominated. 

It’s going to be a massive day! It’s a rather steep learning curve...

May, in photo’s

Our annual photo shoot for Mothers Day.

The second shot had to do, already a week late. The battery ran out and there’s no way I can get them all lined up (and dressed!) again.

Harvesting the first batch of our wild pumpkins.

Which got me here...
Teamed up with a local nut grower, who keeps me in fresh pecans and macadamia’s.
My new Autumn granola: chockerblock with pumkin and maple roasted pecans.

For sale now, customers are raving about it.

 My cave man Tim, in charge of the fire.

Saturday morning soccer games, finding warmth wherever you can.

Tim’s team, such focus.

Alex, burning off some of that wild energy...

Help-coaching David’s Little Champion program.
It took me awhile to find my feet with it, but if there’s no-one else, you make the most of it.
Nowadays, I’m having heaps of fun and actually look forward to get all these kids having a very fun morning.

 My lone rider.

 Watermelon tastes so much better in a...

 Friday afternoon fun.

A pancake afterparty.
We still very much enjoy hosting our Full Moon gatherings.

Loving the hand-me-downs from friends.

 Little brothers rule!

 Focus

Adding a piano to the madness. Sophie has been doing lessons for the last couple of months, but all of us are keen to learn, adults included. Tim still plays guitar, but gets a real kick of being able to play his practice songs on the piano too. David often plays me make-up songs to keep me company while cooking.

Even in death, this tree was very stubborn... Thankfully, Sander is too.
This will keep us warm for many more months, Winter is near.

Loving life.