The unveiling of The NEW Kitchen

So after months of washing up in the bath tub, lots of cereal, sandwiches and BBQ's on the back deck the New Kitchen is now officially opened.

Old Kitchen - Warm,  Cosy & TinyNew Kitchen -  Open, Fresh & Spacious 

 About 6 months ago when we found out we were expecting our 6th child, the first thing my husband said was, "We'll need to build a bigger Kitchen".  Now, when my Hubby says he is going to do something, he's not one to muck around! We were lucky enough to buy a  basic 3 bedroom home many years ago that has been easy to renovate (well hubby makes it look easy anyway!) Over the years, thanks to the sale of an investment property, we have managed to build on an extra lounge room, a couple more bedrooms, en suite and an office/sewing room to meet the demands of our ever growing family. Then there was also this built somewhere in between all of that as well!!  We're a busy lot here, there is always something on the go.  
I've still got a lot of pottering to do, finding spots for this to sit and that to hang but it's always fun redecorating.

 I am finding that the warmer colours I am usually drawn to like Reds, Yellows and Orange are not quite fitting in with the new modern style, but being so much bigger now and I am loving the space and freshness of it and am being mindful not to clutter it up so much anyway . . .
Mental Note: DO NOT CLUTTER, Fill with laughter of Children, gathering of Family & Friends and plenty of Home Cooking instead!

I still have an old cabinet to paint and add to the back dining room wall, pictures to hang and boxes and boxes of kitchen treasures to unpack that I have been collecting for many years, hoping to find a suitable spot for.     
    All in good time though . . . 
Once I finished these Stool Restorations,  (thanks for your inspiration ANNIE), I'm heading out of the Kitchen and into the Bedroom to get started on the Babies Corner.    

How to Preserve Husbands

Husbands, like peaches, will not keep all year round unless they are well preserved.  First select him carefully: be sure he is not too green, neither should he be overripe. He might look very tempting and mellow in the market but if he is too old he will not stand the test of the preserving process, but will expose his hard stoney heart.

Husbands grown in the tropics of pleasure look very fine, but are usually insipid. The home grown are the best!  Select your husband, if possible, from a family tree growing on the sunny side of the Church – you will be sure he has a sound heart.  Unsound husbands, like unsound peaches, often have to be sorrowfully cast away.  Having selected your husband, you should have a clear, steady, cheery fire of love – your preserving pan, (The Home) must be clean and neat.  Give him plenty of sweetness, much sugar is needed – vinegar is never used in sweet preserves.  If you think he demands a little spice, use it with caution.  Do not keep stirring him up, neither should you keep poking him with sharp points to see if he is done – it will spoil his good looks. 
 If you follow this recipe, love will be preserved.....

My Hubby
There were always certain qualities that were important to me and in my mind and heart I always carried an image, a fantasy, a wish I guess, of a wonderful person I could love totally...  My Husband has given me what I always wished for, fun and laughter, concern and understanding, a trustworthy friend, a lover to cherish,  a partner in everything I do, a dependable, caring and supportive father for our children, he's a good provider and a great handyman around the Home.  The backbone of our family, I would be completely lost without him.
Sometimes I think I stir him up just a little too much, but I have learnt that if add a little bit of extra sugar, a dash of patience and a pound of understanding at the end of the day, it seems to keep everything blending quite nicely in our little preserving pan...  

Have you preserved your Husband yet? 
 Maybe you have had him salted and cured or perhaps sugar coated, is he pickled, soaked up with Brandy or Rum...

 Maybe you've Smoked him!!

The above preserving recipe is just one of my many favourite recipes from the Wheatland’s  70^th  Jubilee Recipe Book  1913 – 1983.

 I just love old style country cookbooks,  I have quite a collection in my cupboard, mostly from the local country areas where either myself or my husband grew up. 

This Wheatland’s recipe book was snatched from passed onto me from my mother. Wheatlands is a very small rural area in the South Burnett district, Queensland, near where my family grew up.  It is like a bible to me. It is  full of great old fashioned recipes, 

and I found this particular preserve is the wonderful 

Handy Hints section.

There is no author attached to this particular piece above nor the other kind words of wisdom and random sayings scattered throughout the pages, but I would like to acknowledge the Wheatland P&C association and Jubilee committee and all the cooks who kindly donated their time and favourite recipes for this special edition back in 1983.
Well done Ladies...

a SHEEP or two

Our Hobby Farm... Where it's all going ...
Time to stock the paddock

We are now officially Sheep farmers, well I don’t know about the official business, but we do have SHEEP!

Hubby and Annabel arrived home from a visit to Gran & Pops last week with his homemade sheep float full of SHEEP.  

Me, Annabel and our New Sheep

It was inevitable that we would eventually get a few up here, We enjoy going down to the farm so much, rounding up the sheep, lamb marking and shearing has always been a big part of our holiday adventures. With Gran and Pop starting to slow down a little now and the future of the family farm unkown, we thought it was time we prepared for our own sheeping adventures on our own property.

We have five 1st cross Ewes, 

Nancy, Beatrice, Eliza, Lorraine and Kimmy.

 Two  black and coffee coloured Lambs, 
Cappuccino & Mocha latté.

One young super studly dorset cross Ram named Earl 

and a young fat lamb which we have called Sunday Roast....
you get the picture...

Our 5 Ewes are only young but have spent quite some time with the Ram on the Farm before they were loaded up and brought here, what that all means is that Hopefully in about 6 months time we should have lots of little lambs running around the place, should be pretty cute, however I have been told I should not get too attached...  

Cappuccino and Mocha latté will eventually become mamas as well. 

Hubby gave them all nice looking haircuts before their journey so we shouldn’t have to shear them for a while yet, I think its 6 or 12 months, I don’t really know, I have a LOT to learn about these woolly critters  yet! 

They are a little bit flighty still and I have not been able to get to close to get some real good pics especially of Caps and  Mocha, all they ever do is eat and run away from me so I can only get snapshots of their buts...Cute hey! 

It's so nice to wake up in the morning and see the sheep grazing outside I feel like a REAL FARMER... Just gotta make ourselves a few pens now and build a little shearing shed down the back.

 

Our Hobby Farm...Where it all began..

My husband grew up  on his families farm in Western NSW. He spent most of his early years farming Sheep and Wheat and playing Tennis in the court his parents had converted from an old chook coop.  
When we moved out to our little piece of green we always wondered what we would do with it all, all 5 acres of it!

 We brought chickens and a couple of children with us, we renovated the house and along the way came a few more chickens and a few more children. I established a small veggie patch and we chopped down a few trees and planted some turf to make a nice open green backyard for all to play. We often talked about  running a few cattle, maybe we would sneak a few lambs back with us from a visit to Gran and Pops Farm.   A  Pony for the children? 
 And it's no secret that I would LOVE  a Milking Cow. . .

For a while there  feeding my chooks and children was about all we could  handle. Then, almost overnight, It all happened. . 

 Hubby decided he would fulfill his dreams, he was ready to invest into his Favourite Hobby  'Tennis'.  And what a process,  In came the bulldozers, rollers, semi trailers, and more rollers 

.

We couldn't be happier with the final product.  And oh so much fun we are having now spending lots of Quality Family Time on the court.  Hubby is coaching the kids now with the big kids doing after school lessons and the little ones lessons in the morning. 

 Look out Wimbledon . . . Here we come . . .

Stage 1

1st January 2011
The boys have started work on the new coop...
I have always wanted to extend the coop into my garden and now that hubby has finished all his special little projects he is happy to work on one of mine.

It  was getting a little overcrowded with all the new chicks that have arrived the past couple of months. So just like our house, we thought we'd add on a few extra rooms to accommodate this other ever growing Family of mine...



The design was approved, The holes were dug, The posts are in place.

What a great productive start to the New Year.

"Buy an Orange Tree"

So hubby says to me "buy an orange tree, we'll plant it down the back". 

"Okay darl" I said, little does he know my plans are for an entire citrus orchard 'down the back'.

Today I came home with a Lime tree, Lemon, Kumquat, Tangelo, Blood Orange and of course an

'Orange Tree'

It's raining here today so the ground should be perfect for an easy dig. I'll put it on hubby's list of things to do when he gets home....

Nothing like the taste of freshly picked home grown, juicy oranges, We already have an orange tree and two mandarin trees in our house yard, we  get plenty of fruit from these, but there is always room for more...it's nice to bag them up and send home with friends and family. 

And then there's always 'Marmelade'  

744 km away

Dad and daughter are off on the road today, It's harvest time down in Tooraweenah and Pop needs some helpers.

It's Annabel's first time away from me, I am going to miss her dearly, I'm nervous for her but I know she is in good company with her dad.  They will be creating their own special memories together.
After lots of mummy cuddles a few tears were shed last night and the bags were almost unpacked but with a new lease of life this morning it was in the car, kisses goodbye and off with dad on a big adventure. Dad you'll be missed as always, it's not often we are away from each other and I count down the days until your safe return.

X0X0X0X0X0 (big kisses & hugs from all of us)