Worm Farm

One of my goals this year was to create a worm farm and all I can say is it's still 2014 so it was time to sort it out today.  The funny thing is sometimes this simple living thing can be expensive, take solar power for instance, using the sun for energy, how simple and effective is that however solar panels on your house is quite a huge outlay.

On a smaller scale, worms to start your worm farm don't come cheap and I bought 1000 worms from Bunnings for $55.  On top of buying the worms I didn't want to outlay another $70 for an actual plastic worm farm unit so we got into the recycling mode.  After seeing Tricia's post from Little Eco Footprints we decided to go with the home made version with the help of Sienna's artwork to identify the worm farm box.  Here's the link to the step by step instructions.  We are picking up another box off our friends today which will sit underneath this one and I've bought a plastic tap to go into the bottom box which was about $4 from Bunnings.  Hopefully we will get rid of our veggie scraps and make great worm juice for our veggie gardens.

Around Here

With Christmas a few days away I thought I would post a few photos of what's been going on around here.

I also wanted to thank everyone who stops by to read my blog and especially taking the extra time to leave a little comment here and there it's lovely to have some little notes to read at the end of a post.

Wishing you all a very Happy and safe Christmas and hoping 2015 will be a brighter year for all.

Here's what's been happening at our place.

Sienna made movie tickets for our movie night for our favourite Christmas Movie "The Flight Before Christmas" and Aunty Lisa came over as she hasn't seen this movie before.

And some popcorn to go with our movie which according to the ticket says it's "free".

A trip to the Dentist for clean and check up for James.

Same with Sienna, getting her teeth checked and cleaned.

A trip to the Doctor and an x-ray on James heel as it's been sore for ages however thankfully it has just turned out to be growing pains in the heel.

James doing some iPad research on toys to ask Santa for.

Pita Prawn Pizza's for dinner.....so quick and easy.

"Wouldn't it be nice"......I was hoping I could buy a lovely little bit of land to have animals and grow more veggies with the kids.  Ummmm back to the drawing board and we are staying put.

Sienna gathering her cards she has done for her school friends.

Every young lady needs a mustache and a Christmas hat to wear to school on the last week don't they!

Birthday presents for James from my sister in Perth and her family.

Mum's birthday last week with James and Sienna.  James came down with a raging temperature which is why he is not looking the best.  He was on the couch for 2 days after this.

Birthday afternoon tea for Mum (Granny) and Lisa (Aunty Lisa) made the cupcakes.

Home made Quiche with a bought pastry shell which got the thumbs up and a 10/10 from everyone.  My best yet I think.

Every year I buy the Myer Christmas CD as part of our Christmas Traditions.

This is actually a gift from my in-laws in Melbourne.  Rather than to post heavy presents this year I was sent a Myer/Coles Gift Card to buy my present and put it under the tree.  I went to Myers yesterday afternoon and bought this book who are two Melbourne guys and they also have another book out as well.  I bought the book from Myers for $45 with my gift card and then went to Kmart to do other shopping.  In the book section of Kmart the same book was $25.  I knew it might be $5-$10 cheaper in the end but a whole $20.....ridiculous.  I went back to Myers to get a refund to buy it at Kmart but they matched the price and gave me $20 refund so now I can buy another gift for myself to go under the tree.  Always check Kmart books.  My sister ordered in a book for my birthday from a bookshop and it was $32 and later we found it at Kmart for $16.  Always check Kmart first before buying books.

I made yoghurt yesterday for the kids and it's in the fridge ready.  I flavoured this with some Maple Syrup and Home Made Vanilla Essence.

A gift of some Sourdough Starter from Celia from Fig Jam and Lime Cordial blog.  I'm looking forward to re-hydrating this and giving it a go.  Thanks Celia.

My birthday subscription to Slow Magazine from two of my sisters was a great gift because I get to sit with a cuppa and read lovely things that I am passionate about.  I've done more on my crochet blanket but haven't touched it for about a week as we've had lots on but this weekend I will get back to it as I'm loving it.

Notes on our menu board from last week which was the final week of school.  No food but just lots of notes about where to go what to bring it was a huge week.  This morning I noticed the lovely comment from Sienna "I love you Mummy" which bought a smile to my face.

Gingerbread Men Biscuits

James was off at a party yesterday so I thought it would be good time for Sienna to have her friend over and make some Gingerbread Men Biscuits for decoration.  I used Fiona's recipe from Life at Arbordale Farm and according to the kids the biscuits were fantastic.  I'm on a Liver Cleanse Detox at the moment so no Gingerbread Men for me however it would have been nice.  James came home from his party and tried them and commented a couple of times how nice they tasted so it's thumbs up in our family.

A Story of Seven Summers

I saw this book on a blog a couple of weeks ago and I took a picture of it on my iPhone so I would remember to get it out from the library.  Yesterday afternoon I checked the BCC Library Catalog on line and there was one copy at a Library 10 minutes from here.  It's not the Library that we regularly go to however it was still close.  I picked up the book and then when I got home I started reading it and I couldn't put it down.  By last night I had read three quarters of the book and that's saying something because I'm not a big book reader.

The story is about a British born girl who was raised in Tasmania by her family and then she spent 20 years abroad as a high flying journalist interviewing famous people and basically hobnobbing it and would think nothing of flying to New York for a weekend.  After 20 years she felt something was missing and flew home to Tasmania for a holiday and decided she wanted to buy a little run down house.  She found one, put in an offer and it was rejected.  The day before she was to fly back to London she saw a little white cottage that was closer than the other one and put in an offer and went back to London.  Her offer was accepted and she resigned from her high flying job and came back home with no plan in place but to get back to her roots and see what happens.

I have actually come across this story a couple of years ago in I think the Country Style Magazine and knew of her but it wasn't until I was over half way through the book that I realized it was her.  It was such a feel good book and a lovely autobiography about her seven summers in the "Nun's House".  She discovered that the little house she had bought had been where the Nun's lived and hence the house was renamed from "White Cottage" to "The Nun's House".  I just loved the book and loved her real life story so much that I've given the book to my mother to read.

I think when it comes down to it we keep coming back to the Simple Life is so fulfilling even though she had the big career wore couture clothing and shoes she couldn't be happier where she is mixing with the locals and living in "The Nun's House".

Letter to Santa

You know it's Christmas time when there are Letters to Santa being done.  Sienna spent a significant amount of time on Sunday afternoon with her coloured pencils to write up her special letter to Santa.  I do know that Santa is bringing her a new bike because the bike she currently has is a hand me down, hand me down from friends which is perfectly fine for us however it is now so small for her and is really meant for a 4-5 year old not a growing 8 year old going on 9 year old.  Here is her beautiful letter to Santa complete with very cute words mis-spelt words.

James hasn't done one yet but there's plenty of time as he was busy with birthday celebrations last week and applying for the School Captain and Vice Captain for his school.

Crochet Blanket

Over the past couple of years I have been admiring knitting and crochet that are appearing on people's creative blogs.  It's funny because many many years ago I did cross stitch and quilting and I would do some every night and then having babies I didn't have the time and I got into scrapbooking because of my love for photography.  I've been coming back to the idea of doing something creative with my hands and a year ago I won a Book on Crochet and was going to start a blanket.

I went and did a refresher lesson to do my first square and ordered all the wool and then once the little square was done using three different colours I thought that is was not going to be very relaxing as the square was about 6 cms and I would be forever changing colours and starting a new square.  I wanted my first project something that I could just sit and crochet.  I thought about doing the Granny Square however I didn't want to end up with a square blanket and then I saw a post from A Gluttonous Wife and thought that's it, the Granny Square stitch only in a straight row.  Thanks for the inspiration and this one got me started.

I went back to the Yarn Shop for a quick refresher on the stitch after the chain ie the next row and the turning and starting a new row properly and I was determined to start this blanket which I did last Saturday.  I actually used these instructions from Maybe Matilda which I found great.  I did crochet as a teenager so I wasn't completely new to it but it has been many years since I was a teenager and just need a little help on starting.  I haven't got a pattern in mind except for using about 6-8 different colours I bought.  I'm working with 7 rows of one colour followed by 3 rows of another and then 7 rows of another colour and then 3 of another and repeat.  It's going to be a TV blanket but I'm so excited after a nearly a year to get this going and it's quite relaxing sitting in front of the TV watching River Cottage doing some crochet.  Here's where I'm up to at the moment.

Chickens

We are really enjoying having chickens again after a 10 month break and I wish I had done it sooner because I love the kids going out in the morning to check on the chickens and to see if we have any eggs.  The chickens remained in the coop for the first 7 days so they could get used to their new home and now they have come out to have a wander around the grass.  The other afternoon Sienna was trying to catch them which was hilarious to watch.  The Isa Brown which is James chicken named Diamond is pretty docile and easy to catch while Sienna's chicken Snowflake and my chicken Daisy are another story.  Here's some photos of Sienna trying to catch the chickens which was most amusing and entertaining.  She loves playing with them and she's the real animal lover.