The simple life??

We have finally put together our Stanley Traditional combustion stove. Here he is in all his glory!

Its been quite the learning experience! And I can say, that if we buy another combustion stove I think I would much prefer to get one that is in one piece. That said, we now really understand how it works, so that is not a bad thing. The stove will be our main cooking stove, we will have the BBQ and possibly a mudbrick pizza oven (if we ever get time to do fun stuff like make mudbricks). The stove will also be our water heater, and hopefully will also keep us warm, when we make the shift, hopefully sometime early 2009.

Now we are waiting on getting our kitchen, which will probably be pulled out of its current home in the next few weeks, and we will be able to put the stove in its final position. I really really can't wait to use it, but that is still a while away, as we haven't got a flue or the hot water stuff to hook it all up, but at least I can now 'pretend' to use it!

Its funny, whilst most people seem to be trying to find ways to make things 'easier' or quicker we are choosing the opposite. Which reminds me of a program we happened to see on TV one night. It was about these rich british people who went over to Africa, to 'help' the locals. They had to come up with some idea to improve the lives of the people there or something along those lines. One of the guys was an older man, who although wasn't obese, wasn't quite the picture of health and vitality. He was horrified at how these people had to carry their water up the hill in containers every day and wanted to set up pumps etc for them. He tried to carry the water up the hill once, and I think he nearly had a heart attack. Now, I realise he is probably meaning well, but these people (and it was often the children's job to fetch water) where incredibly fit and agile, and for them it wasn't so much of a chore as just part of life.

Makes me think why is it that us westerners seem to think that our incredibly lazy lifestyle (and I include us in this too, I don't think we personally are any better than anyone else - but we are trying to make concious decisions to change) is something that the rest of the world should follow. Everything we do is EASY really, turn the tap and there is water, flick the switch and we have lights, turn the knob and there is our 'fire' to cook on. Heck, we don't even have to wash our plates or hang out our washing any more! And then we can buy stuff that we can simply throw out when we have finished with it, rather than re use it. As a whole we are lazy and disgusting! It really scares me to think that we are trying to 'help' others become fat and lazy like us. We need to get out there and get back to basics, rather than always trying to find the EASY way to do things, why not do things the hard way. Hard work is actually good for us, and keeps our body from falling apart.

Anyway, my rant is over!

Have been madly spinning lately, determined to finish my last alpaca fleece before the baby arrives. Due date is officially tomorrow. Hoping that I may still get the next weekend before I will return to the walking dead, but we will see. No photos of spinning since I don't think white alpaca yarn is exciting enough to show over and over, although it is lovely and soft. I'm thinking of making myself a cardigan out of it.

So I will leave you with a picture of the little one, she has just started to really get into the wooden puzzles, does them over and over and over.

Happy Earth Day!

The subject line says it all. Consider our planet! Do something positive for the future, not just for yourself but for those that will follow.

Autumn

The weather has been fantastic lately. Chilly nights and mornings, and lovely days (not hot so you can get lots of work done) and rain! I love autumn!


We have been so busy trying to get jobs finished etc. Finally got the engine back for our trusty old ute, so that should be back on the road soon. Brad couldn't help himself, so he had to respray the engine bay.... MEN....

At the farm we have been finishing off the outside of the shed, a few small projects, and planning the next stage. Finally got the flashing up, and cut off some bits of tin that still needed trimming. Hopefully this weekend we will be able to put the last bits of tin up and have a fully enclosed shed, but we shall see!


There has been crafting too! I'm now spinning the last of MY own alpaca fleeces, this one will be 'something' for me. Not sure if it'll be enough for the raglan I had planned, but we shall see... Its lovely and soft, and very nice to spin though... Brad has scored me some rovings from his Tai Chi teacher, so I will have plenty to go on to once the alpaca is finished! I'm almost done with his vest too, which is good. Then I'm planning some small projects! No pics sorry, I am lazy... Next time!

Oh, and we haven't heard from the lady who has taken Cookie, so I guess we can assume he hasn't caused her too much trouble.... YET! I do miss him, but its nice to go to the farm, and not have to spend all my time sorting his 'issues' out. Now I can go and burn off, or tidy up, or actually tend my plants! Wow a revelation.

Looking forward to the weekend and marshmallows on the fire - yay! Love autumn!

Good bye our friend

Its with sadness, and relief, that we say goodbye to our goat Cookie. Initially we had him on a chain, along with our other goat Archie, to clear blackberries, but that involved me having to travel for an hour each day to make sure they were ok, and to let them have some exercise. I did this for a year, and although it was my choice to do this, after a year, I decided that I would like the goats to live in the paddock. That and the fact that I'm pregnant with our second child, and I know I wouldn't have been able to 'devote' the time required for such a task each day.


So we tried 'upgrading' the paddock fence, adding an electric wire at the bottom, making sure it was all tight etc, and putting a small yoke - a Y shaped branch on Cookie's neck to stop him getting through. Now the thing about goats is that they are far too clever.... This worked for a few weeks, and we were pretty pleased with ourselves.

But then he figured out how to get through, so we 'upgraded' the yoke, something a little bigger... Cookie ended up wearing a yoke that was almost a 1.5m top to bottom. And yet, it didn't take him too long to get out again. Soon he was out eating fruit trees as well as the Mountain Ash tree we planted for our daughter when she was born (on her placenta). Then other indigenous trees. We continued to try, but soon he was out on the road, harrassing people getting their mail. He is a 'people' goat, so he doesn't care much for the others in the paddock with him, he would much rather follow someone around... This could be a problem, depending on who he follows....

So it was back on the chain. I put an ad up locally, but I was pretty certain that Cookie would be doomed to a life on the chain. But amazingly a lady with 3 other goats (who knows what they are like, and is able to cope with that!) rang up, and well, yesterday we delivered him!

I hope he wont give her much trouble, but I think he will be very happy there, she feeds them hay and other feed in winter, and there is so much grass, we couldn't even get him to raise his head for a photo!


So its a big relief, a weight off my shoulders, I hate to keep an animal chained up, so I'm very pleased that things have worked out. Now I guess we will see how long before she rings us up because she can't cope with him!

Winter already???

Wow, what is it with our weather??? For 3/4 of March we had not a drop of rain, and a week or so of full on heat, and now... winter!!! Its turned cold and wet! I'm glad about the rain, but it would have been nice to have some mild days with rain, so that maybe the grass would grow... oh well, not much we can do but complain about it, and get over it eh?


Well, the Cookie saga (Cookie is our goat who wont stay in the paddock) continues.... We have tried added extra wires to the fence, putting on various variations of yokes around his neck, but he still gets out, harasses neighbours and their animals (he is TOO friendly, raised by people not animals - I wont ever get an animal raised by people again, they just don't bond with the herd, but want to be with you all the time), hops into people's cars (yes, literally). So I'm looking for a home for him. He is back on the tether now, and unfortunately I just can't devote my entire day to him alone (yes, I do have other things to do too...) so he has to go. We are very sad about this, as for all his vices, he is a nice boy and deserves a good life....

I've finished my Jaywalker socks, they turned out well, and I'm happy with them. Next I will have to make a pair of sock for our little one, as I'm yet to knit her a pair. Crazy, since she has the smallest feet, and toddler socks would take me very little time at all....


Brad's vest is comming along slowly.... Note to self, don't do cables on men's clothing, Man Size items should be simple and quick, they just take SO long to knit! But I am up to the armholes now, so at least the back will be done soon.


I went along to the local spinner's group the other week. It was good. I've been meaning to go along for some time, but just never got around to it. I was the youngest one there by a good 20 years or so, but it was nice to see other's spinning. They all spin such fine and even yarn, made me look a little silly with my think and loosely spun stuff, but then again, one lady said that although her spinning is really good, she wont knit it, as its just too fine! I guess I spin the yarn that I like to knit, rather than striving for perfection. Maybe one day I will aim for a perfect yarn, but now I'm more interested in doing it as a way of being self-sufficient - grow the fleeces on the farm, then spin, and knit our clothing. Better than buying some cheap factory produced jumper...

New gadget!

Since summer has decided to try and make a comeback (nearly a week's worth of high 30C temperatures...) I've decided to dry some apples. Unfortuantely they are bought apples, but they are organic, so I guess that makes up for them not being home grown....

I just recieved my apple peeler/corer/slicer gadget, and its great! Its nice and solid (not plastic!), and its all manual (no electricity required), and should last a lifetime. So I've put out 2 trays of apple rings to dry, hopefully the next few hot days should dry them out, otherwise I'll throw them into the dehydrator to finish them off. Our daughter loves dried fruits, and will probably eat all these apples in a matter of days, but I can always do some more....


Have been doing lots of pruning in the garden, mostly because the goats require so much variety in food (they are not impressed by dry grass - and I'm desperate to keep them happy - a happy goat is less likely to cause me trouble.... and yes cookie has been escaping still, he was visiting our neighbour's cattle...). So they are getting Peach prunings, roses, jerusalem artichokes, lemon balm, camelias, and some old pumpkin plants. Soon I'll prune the raspberries, and they will like that!

I've been busily knitting on Brad's vest. I'm getting really worried about running out of yarn though, fingers crossed I can finish it.... This is my first real cabled project (I've done little practice cables, and 'fake cables' on socks, but this is the most intricate), and I'm really enjoying it!


Not much else to say, just trying to survive the current heat wave, and hoping my trees will hang in there... this could be the straw to break their poor little backs....

How much does one have to do?

I'm truly at my wits' ends with our goat Cookie. He is a real sweetie, very friendly and incredibly beautiful. But why can't he just not escape from his paddock? Even wearing the Y shaped branch that we have put around his neck to stop him going through the fence, he still manages to get out. He has a nasty habit of eating trees that we care about, either fruit trees or plants with sentimental value. But I also fear for him, as he is likely to follow someone home (he is a people goat), and who knows what could happen to him. I wish there was some simple solution, but then again, that is why everyone has goats that they give away, they are a real pain in the butt sometimes....


But on to more happy things. We have been getting a bit of rain now, and it really feels like autumn is on its way. Although we are still getting warm/hot days, the nights are cool, and I can feel the plants (those that survived anyway) breathing a sigh or relief. At the farm, my only vegies that survived were my potatoes (although there is nothing on the surface now as the grasshoppers ate the plants), I harvested some today, and we had roast potatoes for dinner.


I love the taste of real fresh home grown potatoes, they actually taste of the earth. 'Our' roast potatoe recipe is just to cut them up and toss in a baking dish with olive oil, and add a mix of garlic, peppercorns and rock salt that has been 'ground' in the mortar and pestle. Lovely with a big dollop of sour cream.... yum!


I've managed to finish the chocolate brown alpaca fleece. It ended up being 720g once it was washed and spun, so that is ok although, I would have expected a little more. Unfortunately the shearer made a little bit of a mess of it, and made lots of second cuts. Stupidly, I spun this fairly thick, so that I could cheat when it came to knitting my raglan, so that I could use bigger needles and get it done faster, so now I'm not sure if there will be enough, and none of my other handspun is spun so thick, so I can't even do stripes..... damn stupid me! I am thinking I will probably make Brad a vest out of this, and keep the white fleece ( the last one of my own fleeces! YAY!) for myself.


I've also been knitting away on my jaywalker sock, which is going ok, and a version of the baby yoda jacket (I'm making a 'vest') for the bub to be. I figured I should make it something....

Apart from that its all pretty much as usual around here, nothing much happening and yet constantly busy!