back to school

School goes back this week. I always felt a sad loss at the end of the summer holidays with the thought of having to go back to school. Buying new stationary was my little bit of happiness and brought some excitement back to the thought of returning to school. Hopefully these pencils will bring some happiness to some children somewhere too.

a happy christmas and new years

1. The Christmas angel originally made my Mum that has been in our Christmas tree as long as I can remember... revamped and made over by my sister as a teenager with new feather wings and real make up.
2. Perfect sleeping babies.
3. Dusk over Honeymoon Island.
4. New Years Eve barbecue on the inlet with family and friends.
5. High tide = narrow beach = wet feet.
6. Christmas cheese cake made with milk, eggs, quark, and fruit from the farm.

christmas apricots and cucumbers

I love being back home at the farm. This Christmas we were busy harvesting and processing mountains of food from the orchard and vegie garden. It is the most satisfying feeling seeing the pantry selves stacked with bottles of home grown food.

One late night was spent bottling apricots picked that day... something very familiar to me from my childhood. Baskets of ripening fruit, licking sticky fingers with sugary syrup, vacola bottles and the old hand made copper boiling pot.

Mum has perfected her pickled cucumber recipe...

Salt cucumber slices and allow to drain in a colander for 12 hours. Sterilise the glass jars with boiling water. Loosely fill jars with the cucumber. Make a combined mixture of:
apple cider vinegar, white vinegar, tumeric, sugar, pepper corns, mustard seeds, dried dill.
Bring the liquid mixture to the boil and pour into each jar of cucumbers. Immediately close the jars tightly and turn upside down to allow the boiling liquid to sterilize the lids. Allow to pickle for a couple of weeks.