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

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...