by Krista | Mar 1, 2016 | Autumn
Autumn arrived this morning and I am overjoyed. It brought some wind, a smattering of rain drops, and cooler temperatures, so Bear and I celebrated with ham potato soup for breakfast. So cozy and good.
We had a really lovely weekend in spite of scorching heat. We spent a day with some of our Viking friends, shuffling from one patch of shade to another as we worked on all sorts of projects. Some made leather shoes and sewed linen garments, others carved beautiful Viking symbols into wood and one used the finest linen thread I’ve ever seen to start the process of making her own linen. Amazing. I brought my spinning wheel and loom along, and received really great tips on weaving and spinning that make the processes not nearly so daunting. Unlike Bear, who astounds me with his ability to design and build things in his head before ever pounding a nail or drawing a pattern, I’m a more hands on approach kind of girl, and learn much better watching someone do something. I’m always so thankful for patient people who don’t mind walking me through things.
We also picked up all our beekeeping equipment, and are now thoroughly kitted out with big white suits, a smoker, honey extractor, leather gloves, and a hodgepodge of other things you need to get honey from comb to jar. Our lovely bees will arrive soon and I can’t wait to see them.
On Saturday I made a batch of lilly pilly liqueur using the lilly pillies growing in a big clay pot in my kitchen garden.
Although making big batches of wine and cider is great, I have a soft spot for liqueurs because you can make them with only a handful of fruit and still have something lovely to sip on within a week or two.
Since my lilly pilly bush is still young and only producing a few cups of berries each season, liqueur is a wonderful way to capture the essence of this Australian native fruit. By next year I should be harvesting enough berries to make jam and jelly, but for now, I will cherish my little bottle of lilly pilly liqueur.
The process is simple: for every cup of fruit add 1 cup of vodka/rum/spirits and one cup of simple syrup (equal parts sugar and water heated until the sugar dissolves, then cooled). You can also do it with straight sugar, but I prefer the simple syrup which isn’t as sweet but still gives a smooth liqueur texture and flavor.
Give the fruit a bit of a mash (since lilly pillies are not a soft fruit like raspberries, I chopped most of them in a food processor) and pour into a sterilized glass jar. Top up with vodka and simple syrup and stir well. Cover with a clean dish towel or cheesecloth and secure tightly with string. Store in a cool, dark place for at least a week or two, and up to a couple of months, making sure to stir the fruit mixture once a day with a sterilized stainless steel spoon so no mold forms.
Taste once a week and when it reaches your desired flavor, strain the liqueur into a sterilized bottle and seal until ready to drink. Some folks throw away the fruit, but I like its boozy flavor and fold it into cakes, pancakes, and scones, or simply pour over ice cream.
Lilly pilly liqueur is a gorgeous color, beautiful for festive occasions such as Christmas or Valentine’s Day, or whenever you feel like treating yourself. It’s delicious at room temperature, but during the heat of summer it is even better cold. You can drink it straight, stir it into a mojito, or pour it over panna cotta or ice cream.
It’s been a good but busy weekend and I’m ready to curl up with a book and a nip of lilly pilly liqueur.
What is your favorite fruit? Have you ever made it into a liqueur? xo
by Krista | Feb 26, 2016 | Summer
I like a lot of things about my Bear, but one of my favorites is his ability to turn mundane chores into memorable adventures. Today he transformed a car appointment into the loveliest day out, and it was just what I needed after an exhausting week.
He started by pulling into our favorite cafe in a nearby city and treating us to brunch. We had toasted sandwiches and shared a sumptuously creamy chicken, avocado, and sun-dried tomato salad. A surprise brunch just wouldn’t be right without coffees and dessert, so we indulged in our usual drinks – long black for him, flat white for me – and pieces of opera cake, heavenly layers of wafer thin almond sponge, coffee syrup, coffee butter cream, and a dark chocolate glaze. Bliss.
Then we hopped in the car and he took us for a drive.
It was a gorgeous day for a drive, blazing hot and sunny with brilliant blue skies, just the sort of day you want to enjoy from the comfort of an air-conditioned car.
We had a cuppa with our good friend and blacksmith at his country home in Wivenhoe Pocket – isn’t that the best name? – and talked about swords and motorcycles and plants and goats and home renovations, all the lovely mundane things that are interesting when shared with comfy friends.
Then we drove down to a spot by the Brisbane River that we’d noticed on our drive in.
It is such a beautiful spot with crystal clear water and lovely old trees along the riverbank.
Families fished along the shore while others kept cool under a shelter with a cold beer in hand. Teenagers too hot to care about going home for swimming togs, swam happily in their underwear, luxuriating in cool river water against their sunburned skin.
I wandered along the rocky shore and over the bridge, watching vivid green weeds bobbing serenely with the current, loving the twisted gum trees casting shadows over shallow pools.
Rivers have a beautiful mesmerizing quality that lulls and soothes as the water flows steadily, pouring over rocks and twirling around fence posts and tree branches. I find it utterly relaxing to watch the water, listening to it gurgle and sigh.
Back in the car Bear and I grinned at each other, basking in the novelty of sitting and just enjoying our surroundings.
There’s not much better than a hot, sunny afternoon by the water to restore weary spirits.
Then we headed for home, Bear taking every back road he could find to give us new surroundings to look at. We meandered past acres of lush farmland and stopped at vegetable stalls in search of Roma tomatoes. We drove through the mountains, along twisting, narrow lanes that led past towering rock cliffs and tidy little farms nestled next to open meadows and dry creek beds. Bear kept me entertained as he pointed out landmarks he remembered from his childhood: swimming holes, picnicking spots, and places his parents once took him on Sunday drives. It was marvelous.
Where is your favorite place to escape to when you need a little break? xo
by Krista | Feb 25, 2016 | Summer
I’m sitting on the back veranda this morning, cozy in a flannel shirt and blanket as I watch the sun come up over our farm. Our lamb, Kebab, hears me moving and bleats his disapproval that he’s not allowed to join me up here. I wouldn’t mind his cute little self hanging out with me, but if he thinks it’s OK now, he’ll think it’s OK when he’s a full grown ram and that, luvs, would be pure mayhem.
I can feel harbingers of Autumn on mornings like this, when mist snakes across the fields and sunlight shimmers through leaves starting to crisp and change color. I can see it in my gardens as flowers that wilt in the summer heat come into their full glory, standing tall and straight, their blossoms jeweled with dew drops. I see it in the orchards as our grapes plump and the apples take on rosy hues.
And I feel it in myself as I look forward to packing away sundresses and hauling out my stash of sweaters and scarves and cute boots that make me feel sassy. I’m pining for campfires and creamy Stilton soup and hot apple cider fragrant with star anise, cardamom, and cinnamon.
I’ve set out books on home preserving and cheese-making and ham-curing, ear-marking recipes that sound especially marvelous for making as cold Autumn winds blow. And stacked up other books that I want to read once I finally have my gardens harvested from Summer and planted for Winter.
We’ve got some hot Summer days to come, but it’s fun to dream in the meantime.
I’ve been going out to my gardens every morning at this time, reveling in magical light and the quietness of a world just starting to waken.
I’ve been pulling out spent tomato plants and harvesting chilies, mustard greens, Red Russian kale, rainbow chard, scarlet snake beans, and even asparagus. I’ve never know asparagus to grow as long as it does here, and I love it!
I shuffle through my seed collection over and over again, somehow finding treasures I missed the day before. I’ve dug 15 new small garden plots, bordering them with the rocks I pull out of the soil, and have been planting all sorts of marvelous things: watermelon radishes (they’re fuchsia inside and white outside!), coriander and dill, crimson carrots, purple topped turnips, yellow and striped beetroot, more kale, mustard greens, and Swiss chard, red cabbages and Brussels sprouts, leeks and garlic chives, and tomatoes, bell peppers, chilies, and cucumbers to winter over in my greenhouse.
Soon it will be butchering time on our farm as we fill our freezers with good meat for Autumn and Winter, and make room in our paddocks and pens for all the baby goats, ducks, and chickens born this year. We also hope to get turkeys within the next few weeks, a couple more lambs, two hives of bees, and, if we’re lucky, a pig or two.
Until then Bear and I will continue to work steadily building pens, mending fences, covering our orchards and vineyard, adding a new water tank, bottling the apple and plum wines we made this summer, and planning little adventures so we don’t get too tired and run down.
Now it’s time to put my hair up, find my hat, start up the tractor, and get to work. xo
by Krista | Feb 19, 2016 | Summer
When life tosses new responsibilities my way, I need to sit with them awhile, figure out how life looks and feels with them in it, and find a way to shuffle and shift to make room for them in a way that doesn’t leave me frazzled and overwhelmed.
So I’ve been hibernating a bit this week, slipping into the role of Observer Of My Own Life, and finding it rather fun. When you’re an observer, you aren’t a judge or a jury or an executioner. You’re simply there to watch and report the facts. No condemnation is allowed, no shame or lavish helpings of guilt, just observations.
At the end of each day I went through my discoveries and made adjustments and changes and improvements, then put them into practice the next day and observed some more.
It’s been so interesting.
I really do love learning about how I tick, what I’m good at, what I’m rotten at, what things I’m afraid of or intimidated by, what makes me happy or excited, what sets off triggers, what makes me feel instantly comfy. I like to do what I can to help myself be my best self so I can walk through this life in peace with a full heart and a settled mind.
Here are some of the things I’ve learned or been reminded of this week, things I can do to help me thrive and navigate life in a healthy way:
- Sleep. Such a simple thing but wow, it makes all the difference in the world for me. I went to bed an hour earlier and my 1:40 a.m. alarm was so much easier to rise to. It’s nice to not be a zombie.
- Exercise. My non-farm work involves copious amounts of sitting as I do my law firm work and my writing work. So hoofing it on the treadmill keeps my back and neck from getting stiff and keeps me limber and alert.
- Quiet. I thrive with moments of quiet throughout the day, especially first thing in the morning. Bear and I have renewed our practice of having breakfast together on the back veranda. Even if it’s chilly, we just pull blankets over our laps and do it anyway. It is bliss to be out there, watching the various animals wake up, listening to the wind in the trees, talking about whatever comes into our heads or just sitting quietly and companionably together.
- Reading. I need books. Need them. The stories and experiences and thoughts written within their pages never, ever fail to enliven my brain and renew my love of life.
- Writing. Setting aside time each morning to write in my journal, no matter how rambling or disjointed, helps me settle my whirring brain and work through any issues that may be niggling at me.
- Food. I grew up in a world where women were pressured to do everything from scratch. Everything. All. The. Time. Anything tinned or premade was looked down upon as not-good-enough, or a sign that this-woman-doesn’t-really-love-her-family. Such hogwash! I didn’t even realize I’d carried that expectation with me until recently, and when it hit me I thought, “Oh bugger!” Since then I’ve rebuilt my relationship with food and it has been glorious. Taking away the expectations and pressure has made food fun again. How lovely to know I can cook/eat whatever I want. Seriously. It’s like someone gave me Christmas presents all over again and I’m delighted. Food has become such fun. If I’ve got the energy, I love doing fiddly stuff with 18 ingredients and 12 steps, but if I don’t, it’s baked potatoes, or pasta with premade sauce, or even a big bowl of cold cereal. And the best part, it’s all OK. Premade, homemade, it doesn’t matter, we’re just so lucky to have food to eat and people to share it with.
- Nature. Being outside is pure happiness to me and when I let myself get stuck inside for too long, I suffer for it. So I’ve been carving out nature time every day, even if it’s just walking through my gardens or standing barefoot in the grass or picking weeds in the orchard. It contributes greatly to my well-being.
- Friends. I know we all go through lonely times when we move away or our loves move away, or things get busy or people get sick or money gets tight and we can’t afford drives or coffees or lunches. The last couple of months I’ve been much more intentional about friend time, whether it’s chatting on WhatsApp or meeting for tea and cookies on the veranda or stealing 30 minutes to sit down and talk on the phone. What a difference it makes to have those connections, to listen and be listened to, to share and laugh and cry and laugh some more. I’m going to keep doing this, maintaining the connections that make my life so rich.
How about you? Have you made changes in your life recently to help you thrive? I’d love to hear about them. xo
by Krista | Feb 16, 2016 | Summer
It’s lovely how sometimes healing sneaks up on you when you least expect it. Moments that previously would trigger panic attacks are now ones of genuine happiness, and you can’t help but smile knowing you are stronger, braver, healthier than you were before.
That happened to me this weekend when I welcomed people I barely know into my safe place, our farm.
When I first started healing from C-PTSD, the thought of having people in my safe place was cause for full blown panic attacks. Real Me wanted to have my friends and loved ones around me, but C-PTSD Me just couldn’t take it. It made me very sad and I felt much shame about it until I realized that C-PTSD is nothing to be ashamed of. It’s simply something that happened to me that I get to learn through and heal from. Removing shame makes healing so much easier.
As our guests arrived and we gathered around the table to eat and visit, it struck me that I wasn’t afraid anymore. I felt perfectly safe and, more than that, I felt happy, peaceful, delighted to have the chance to get to know such lovely people better. I was genuinely glad they were there, and I’m overjoyed about that.
Needless to say, such a revelation made a great day even better.
Bear and I had fun bustling about setting up tables and chairs under the gum trees. I added cheery tablecloths and mismatched dishes to brighten things up, and scattered cushions so everyone could have a comfy place to sit.
I caught myself smiling as we set up our picnic by the woodpile, celebrating that I’d also healed from the perfectionism that has long plagued me. It’s lovely to know now that connecting with good people and making memories is what’s important, not having a woodpile-free yard or chairs that don’t wobble or a farm that isn’t dotted with projects waiting to be completed.
I raided my gardens for flowers and herbs to decorate the tables, collecting elderflowers, geraniums, and vinca, petunias, yarrow, and mint. Flower shop perfection they are not, but they make me happy with their whimsical free spiritedness.
We set the tables, chilled the beer, started the bread, set out the wine, and then, phew, we were ready.
A chorus of barking from our four dogs meant our fabulous guests had arrived. Hailing from England, Australia, and New Zealand, they brought a delightful array of accents and stories with them, and we had a marvelous time.
There’s something pretty wonderful about sitting under the trees on a hot summer day, wind blowing through the trees, cold drinks in hand, having great conversation with interesting and kind people.
Our friends – for they are friends now – are so interesting, each with a wealth of adventures, experiences, and insights that make for excellent conversation. We heard tales of cycling around the world, life in the Kimberley’s, and hilarious encounters in New Zealand. We talked of books and food, photography and politics, philosophy and Aboriginal medicine. I loved it.
And we ate. How we ate!! All Bear and I provided was cold beer, homemade wine, and fresh bread, they brought the rest. Bless them.
We started with hummus and veggies and a scrumptious cheese platter bearing spiced gouda, a gorgeous blue cheese, brie, and camembert.
There were sausages with caramelized onions, fresh beetroot, steamed broccoli and cauliflower, buttered bread, chunky potato salad with red onion and gherkins, and sweet apple salad with cashews.
Accompanied by glasses of homemade plum wine, it was a truly delectable meal.
Then we had dessert, Sue’s famous Spotted Dick and adorable profiteroles filled with chocolate cream.
Bliss.
Of course, the company was the best part, and we chatted companionably around the table and as we explored the farm, perched on fallen logs, or nestled into comfy chairs on the veranda. Even two days later my mind is still mulling over things we discussed. It was good.
The afternoon flew by and soon it was time for them to head for home. We hugged good-bye, sun-kissed, wind-blown, and happy, hoping that our next visit isn’t too far in the distant future.
Where is your favorite place to picnic? xo
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