Christmas Cases

Winter always seems a good time to start thinking about Christmas, even though it's six months away. The colder, darker, wetter months are much better for creativity and crafting than those long, hot days when you need a sea breeze in your hair not scissors in your hands.

So I've started work on a fancy dress set for our daughter. I took two suitcases - snaffled during an inorganic collection a few years ago - and tidied them up with some green washi tape. Next, I added stickers to the outside to make them look even better-travelled.

The two suitcases will have different themes - one will be a dressing up box - jewellry, scarves, handbags, ties etc - and the other will contain fantasy costumes - a dinosaur, wild beasts, a clown etc. I've picked up quite a few bits and pieces at thrift shops and dollar shops already. Now I need to pick up a needle and thread and start work on the costumes that I want to create myself. Wish me luck!

Caught red-handed

At the end of autumn, I planted some bulbs in these pots. The chickens decided that the pots were actually dust baths and have been scraping and scratching at them for a few months now. I kept re-planting the bulbs but eventually half the soil was scattered across the drive and the bulbs had disappeared - perhaps squirreled away by an enterprising mouse who'd been conspiring with the chickens.

Not having learnt my lesson, I planted some herbs in another pot, close by. I thought that plants would be less tempting than bare earth with soil underneath. I was wrong. I had no choice but to chicken proof my containers. The solution came in the form of gutter guard plastic sheeting with cable ties (to fasten it into a circle) and chopsticks (to anchor it in place in the pots). So far, so good - no incursions have taken place.

I've planted up some money plants in the green pots with sedum around the base (top left - click on the collage for a bigger image) and some land cress for salads too (bottom right). If those survive, I'll re-plant the mini herb garden too.

In a sudden burst of productivity, I also planted some sprouting chokos by the compost heap (top right) and some pelargoniums close to our recently pruned hydrangeas (bottom left) - more on the pruning soon! 

Temptation

This beautiful machine is parked up in a paddock alongside one of our occasional weekend routes. Someone is very tempted to purchase it. Apparently the log splitter would be really useful. 

Full moon

First light

Firewood

First Frost

It's been a funny winter so far. Very wet to start with - when the drought ended - then some long dry spells. Some days it's been warm enough to sit outside for lunch - and plenty warm enough to work outside in short sleeves. And then we've had cold snaps too - including our first frosty windscreens since we moved here 4 years ago. Needless to say, we were underprepared and had to clear the ice with a credit card!

Competitive streak

I recently had the opportunity to enter a cupcake competition at work. I picked out an unusual recipe - spiced kumura cupcakes - and planned a Matariki theme - decorated with fish and silver cachous to represent the seven stars of the Pleiades which can be seen at the Maori New Year. 

Sadly I then caught a bug and was off work when the competition took place. Though that may have been a good thing as I tried the recipe out a few weeks later for an office morning tea - and I was really disappointed in my first attempt at proper cupcake icing. The lemon and cream cheese icing was far too wet to produce the beautiful swirl that I could see in my head. Luckily they tasted pretty good (if a little stodgy) and so all was not lost. 

The next competition is for the best scone at our local produce show. I think that I will start work now on perfecting an apple, oatmeal and Lancashire cheese scone. I have at least six months to get it right!

First fruit

Here are the first three fruit from our Bearrs lime tree (next to some shop-bought oranges). The skins were a bit tough - no good for zest - perhaps because I'd left them to ripen for too long. But they were beautifully juicy and gave a delicious tang to the (gluten free) lime and golden raisin loaf that I made for our gardening group (the recipe is here - I just swapped golden raisins for coconut).

Thank you, Katie & Brendon!

Line-up

Counting our chickens

It's almost six months now since our hens emerged from the bush with a brood of chicks in tow and we're finally able to tell which ones are roosters. We seem to have done quite well this time - probably only three roosters out of a total flock of 11 birds. Three roosters too many! 

It's only when we put out fresh food for the chickens that we see them altogether and can count them and check them. Normally they're spread out, foraging, over quite a wide area - and they move so quickly that it's easy to double count or miss one!

Two of the roosters are white - including the second from the top in the photo above - and the other one has the black and white markings of some of our original roosters. The striped markings must have come from the mother though as our roosters had both gone by the time that these chicks were conceived.

The white birds are evidence of our hens straying into next door - though which neighbouring property has a white rooster isn't entirely clear!

Daffy Down Dillies

Darling Buds 2

Winter sky

Darling Buds

Here's our pink magnolia ready to blossom in time for a certain small person's birthday and the arrival of my parents.