The Country Way To.... Prepare A Vegetable Garden

A few weeks ago I introduced what I was sure would be my inaugural post of "The Country Way To..." where I attempt to explain the way things appear to be done in the country.  On the weekend we went down to the farm, primarily to get our vegetable garden started (it will be too late in December apparently). The trip gave me loads more material for "The Country Way To..."

We have always had a small vegetable garden here in the mountains (Country Boy is a keen gardener and a horticulturalist too), but lack of space has meant that we haven't had the big garden Country Boy would like.

Toby loves the tractor... 

But... In the country we have oodles of room, so Country Boy has got a big garden all planned out. I was thinking that the project was way too big for one weekend, but of course I didn't consider the "country way".

In the city we (OK... Country Boy) use a mattock to break up the dirt. We then dig in some fertilizer and we are ready to plant. This takes a while and is hard work.

In the Country, you get your tractor, and use the bucket attachment to scrape the grass off the top. You then attach your ripper, and drive backwards and forwards a few times. This digs up the dirt in about one tenth of the time needed to do it by hand. It is also fun because you get to drive a tractor.

The ripper

You then get a couple of loads of sheep poo with the tractor bucket and dump it on top. Then it is ready.

Watch out for sheep poo!

You may have noticed that, so far, the country way to do things seems to include using a tractor when ever possible. Alternatively my father-in-law just loves his John Deere!

We Wish You A Vintage Christmas

Back to Christmas for this weeks' Pinteresting link up. I am living vicariously through my blog because there is no point in setting up Christmas here this year... I have to wait till we move to the farm. So instead of getting a whole month of Christmas decorations I will get a week (hopefully the Country Boy won't mind me setting up the Christmas tree before we unpack anything else).

The one thing I am going to do is send out our Christmas cards with change of address information. So I have been looking at all the beautiful vintage Christmas cards for inspiration.

I love the muted colours of this card. I love pictures of the baby Jesus, because it is his birth that we celebrate at Christmas.

image credit

I love an old fashioned Christmas tree.

image credit

When I see this I hear Frank Sinatra singing "I'm dreaming of a White Christmas". We worked in England over Christmas many years ago, and had our own "White Christmas". I loved it!

image credit

Here comes Santa Clause. If your are a regular, you would know that we don't believe in Santa in our house, but we still enjoy seeing him working hard.

Image credit

I love this picture. It's an old 7up Christmas advertisement. I am trying to think up something witty as a caption, but so far I am drawing a blank. Ideas anyone?

image link

I'm linking up with Tina Gray{dot}me for Ooh that's pinteresting, and 5 minutes just for me for Pinning and Singing. If you enjoy my blog don't forget to follow me on facebook. Head over to pinterest to see more of my favourite things. Thanks for visiting!

A Weekend At The Farm

We are off to the farm again this weekend. We have culled more junk things that we can live without for several weeks and piled up the trailer. Our craft cupboard is empty and I have boxed up our craft supplies (I have kept one box of *emergency* supplies for the girls, who are craft fiends). The Country Boy has gone through the garage and packed everything that is "non-essential", and I have gone through the toys and put together a few boxes that we can do without.

We have a few jobs we want to get done over the weekend. The Country Boy is planning on planting our vegetable garden so that it has started growing before we move there in December.

The weather is supposed to be perfect so I imagine the girls will spend the day on the trampoline and riding their bikes. Toby will love "helping" Country Boy plant the garden, and I am hoping to get the house more organised before we arrive in 6 weeks time.

Oh my goodness.... 6 Weeks!

What Do Pigs Do?

While we were eating dinner last night, we were discussing our plans for the farm with the kids. We were talking about chickens, and choosing names for them (Bob the chicken?), and how we will have to feed them everyday. We then moved on to the pigs (Country Boy is thinking of getting a couple). Again, the girls were starting to think of names for them; Hannah wanted to name one Wilbur after the pig in Charlotte's Web. The question was then asked "what are pigs for?"

Image: Graphics Fairy

It's a good question and not one with an easy answer. Chickens provide eggs, sheep provide wool (on our farm at least), cows provide milk. What do pigs do? "Well sweet heart, pigs provide meat."

"How do pigs provide meat?"

(Oh boy, this gets harder) "Pigs are grown specially to make meat. When they are big enough, they are killed and used for meat."

Hannah is devastated and my heart is breaking as I see a piece of her innocence fall away. She crawls into my lap, and cuddled me hard. In some ways I wish we could have fobbed off her questions, but Hannah is too smart for that; she knows when the answer she is getting isn't the whole truth, so we tried to give her the essential information, but avoid the detail. There is no way to make her feel better about this truth.

The Country Boy grew up knowing where meat comes from and the realities of food production; I imagine most kids who live on a farm just know where meat etc comes from. 

I grew up in the city and could pretend that meat comes from supermarkets. Even studying food science at university, I was squeamish about some of the less attractive aspects of food production. I confess that, beyond checking the cut and quality of the meat, I do not think too much about it's origin.

There are going to be so many good things about living in the country, and I know that we have to take the bad with the good. I know too, that Hannah (and Meg, and Toby) will have to face many of these types of realities at some stage, whether we live on the farm or not. I know that I cannot protect them from the unpleasant aspects of life.

But today, I am a little bit sad, that my little girl has had to face the first of many hard lessons about the rhythms of life.

Have you had to have similar conversations? What have you said?

The Night Owl

I am a night owl in a house of early birds. As I write this every member of our house is in bed, asleep, and it's only just 9pm. OK so the kids go to bed at 7, but the Country Boy often goes to bed by 8.30. I, on the other hand could easily stay up till midnight (if I didn't have work the following day) and sleep in till 10 the next morning.

Unfortunately, my 3 small early birds just do not understand this. I try to suggest to the girls that they could sleep in on Saturdays but they are still up by 7am. The Country Boy is also an early bird. Very occasionally he will sleep till 7.30am. On Sundays he gets up extra early to go for a jog - crazy!

Image: Graphics Fairy

Sometimes on weekends, if we have nothing on, I will get to sleep in till 8 or 8.30, but it is still not a "proper" sleep in.

I tell myself that it will even out one day. One day the kids will be teenagers who will want to stay up all night and sleep all day too…. Perhaps I will enjoy not sleeping in while I can.

Santa Doesn't Stop Here

With Christmas only 2 months away, I have a confession to make; my kid's have never believed in Santa Clause.

For Hannah's first 2 Christmas's Santa was a non issue because she was too young to understand what was going on, but as her third Christmas approached, people started asking her "What is Santa bringing you?". She had no idea about Santa, but I knew that if we were going to do the whole Santa thing we would have introduce it soon.

image credit

Growing up my parents taught us that Santa was a nice story, and fun to pretend, but that he wasn't real. I never really discussed it with other kids and it was never an issue. Mum and Dad bought me presents and to a kid the presents are really more important than who brings them. There was a photo of my sisters and I with Santa one year, but we knew it was just a guy dressed up, and on reflection I am not sure why the photo was taken; perhaps my parents felt that we should have one to be like other kids (just a guess??). None of us feel that we missed out on anything because we didn't believe in Santa.

The Country Boy did grow up believing in Santa, but remembers feeling devastated when he discovered his parents 'lied' to him. He kept pretending to believe for a few more years in order to get more presents. Once he realised he got the same amount no matter what, the "believing" stopped.

Because of our different Santa backgrounds, we discussed whether or not we would introduce Santa and came to the conclusion that we would not.

How we explain Santa to our kids is "Santa is a nice story (based on a true story) associated with Christmas. He isn't a real man but it can be fun to pretend he is, in the same way fairies are fun to pretend to be. It's up to each child's Mum and Dad to decide when to tell them".

For the first couple of years the lack of Santa was no problem, but as we hit preschool and school, I wanted Hannah (and Meg) to be aware that some kids do believe in Santa. Each year in early November we have a little chat about letting parents decide how and when to tell their kids about Santa. Both kids are really good at not saying anything when a friend talks about Santa. Hannah knows that if she is asked what does she hope Santa will bring, to just answer with what she would like for Christmas. Sometimes she gives me a little secret smile as if we are in part of a 'grown up' secret.

I have also let the parents of her close friends know that we don't "do" Santa, so that should any conversations come up they can help steer them in the right direction.

Not believing in Santa hasn't in anyway diminished how much we all love Christmas. We love to celebrate Christmas as Jesus' birthday. We go to carol concerts and drive around looking at Christmas lights. We decorate our house and have a Christmas tree. We still give our kids presents. The kids still have problems getting to sleep and then get up way too early to look at their presents. We sing Christmas songs about Santa and even have Santa decorations on the tree. After all he is a fun part of Christmas, he is just not THE reason for Christmas.

"There's only one fat guy who eats the cookies and drinks the milk; and he ain't Santa"
- Bart Simpson

Do your kids believe in Santa? How have you handled some of the more curly questions about him?

If you enjoy my blog, you can follow me on facebook or twitter. Thanks for stopping by!

The Weekend That Was....

Can I just say that I love weekends, especially when the weather is perfect.

 With not many weekends until we move, we are trying to get a lot crammed in. On Sunday afternoon, most of my family came over and we had a bit of a working bee to get some jobs done around the house. I have an incredibly handy family (I tend to let the side down) which is a real benefit when you need a house fixed up.

Cousin Eva and Toby compare notes over some cheerios

We got most of the house trim painted to match our new gutters, gutter guard installed, and the ceiling and cornice of our laundry repaired. It would have taken us several days, but handy family members knocked it all over in 2 hours!

The cousins all played together in the shade, whilst my lovely (patient) brother in law supervised them.

After the hard work, I cooked up a big batch of my nacho recipe, we dragged the dining table outside and enjoyed dinner together. Berries with meringues and cream is always a yummy way to end a meal.

Family dinner outside means less cleaning up, and is beautiful too!

While the adults sat outside, the kids put on a Christmas CD (apparently it is never too early for Christmas Carols) and danced. The adults all headed inside to dance with them before everyone headed off.

One of my sisters, and her husband are heading back to South East Asia permanently soon, and we are moving  to the country soon after, so the opportunities to all get together are about to become rare. I am trying to find every opportunity to spend time together while we can. It was the perfect way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

All The Colours Of The Rainbow

It's Sunday again and I am linking up with TinaGray {dot} me for Ooh... That's Pinteresting. I had heaps of people come and look at my DIY Christmas Ideas on last weeks' link up (thanks). I love all things Christmas, and have some more Christmas themes coming up. Today I am sharing some of the beautiful rainbow pictures I have pinned over the last few weeks.

This quilt is amazing and reminds me of my Aunt who used to quilt in bright colours.

image credit

This pin has been seen all over pinterest; and it is easy to see why! It is beautiful (Though you would need a lot of people to eat it).

image credit

These are coloured dyes which are used in a Hindu ceremony called Holi. Click on the image credit for more amazing photos of the ceremony

image credit

This stitch guide looks great, and is actually useful if, like me, your sewing skills are best described as "basic".

image credit

If you try to avoid artificial colouring, then I would give this one a miss... though it looks awesome!

image credit

I'm also linking up with Five Minutes Just For Me for Pinning and Singing.

You can see more of my pinteresting finds by clicking here, or by clicking the button on my side bar. If you enjoy my blog, don't forget to "like" my facebook page (or click here) to keep up to date with what I am up to. Thanks for visiting!

Growing Up

Sometimes it seems like the baby stage lasts forever. If you have to change another dirty nappy, or mop up another milk spew, you will not be responsible for your actions.

Then at other times it seems like they grow up and change so quickly, and you wish you could slow it down. 

Toby is going through one of those fast changing phases this week. He is refusing to sleep, because he doesn't want to miss out on anything; he is starting to use more words, and he chatters on and on. He has discovered his ability to climb (up everything) and he is being irritatingly independent, and resents being laid down to have his nappy changed, or removed from any of the high things he has climbed upon.

He is also showing quite a sense of humour, pulling funny faces, and deliberately putting funny things on his head or feet and giggling to show that he is being funny.

He also shakes his head no whenever he is doing something he knows he shouldn't (although he still does it).

It's like we can see him growing before our eyes... Stop it Toby!

A Chocolate Explosion

After a title like that, I bet you are all hoping for an amazing recipe. Sorry to disappoint you, but keep reading... instead I am regaling you with a story from the classroom. I don't really share much about my work, but this is one of the more memorable events in my teaching career.


In my Hospitality class today, I was attempting to make chocolate mousse cups. They were  meant to look like this:

image credit

The idea is that you dip a balloon or water bomb into the hot chocolate, and then gently let it down once the chocolate has set. Then you can spoon or pipe the mousse into the bowl.... well at least that is the idea. At this point I want to say, I have made them several times before and they have worked beautifully.


Not this time though!


I did one to demonstrate how to make the cup to my student, then each of the kids had a go. Unfortunately for some reason, the kids kept bursting the balloons... IN THE BOWL OF MELTED CHOCOLATE!! The chocolate literally erupted in a massive explosion.  6 TIMES!!! (Sorry for the raised voice).There was chocolate all over me; all over the kids; and all over the classroom.


Kids were wiping chocolate out of their ears!


We got cleaned up in the end, and got hold of some more better balloons. It still didn't go as well as it has in the past, but we made them. Sometimes, things just don't work out - this was one of those days.


I need to go now, and scrub a large chocolate stain out of a white chef jacket, (who thought wearing white is a good idea for chefs?) and then wash my hair!

Wordless Wednesday - Look At What I Can Do!!

Look at Toby's latest "skill"!

King of the castle?

Ready...

Almost!

I'll have that!

I'm linking up for Wordless Wednesday with My Little Drummer Boys

A Communication Update

Over the weekend I went to the Telstra shop (Telstra is the only phone company we get reception from) and got myself a new toy phone. I have only ever had a phone that makes phone calls and sms, but I justified getting a smart phone to myself by saying that I really needed it for the blog (hmmm a bit dodgy, I know).

I had a few issues getting started however, the biggest being that my number didn't port over to Telstra properly, meaning I didn't have a phone for 48 hours… not the biggest issue but a bit annoying when you want to play set it up properly. I eventually got it going on our wifi and have been fiddling with it ever since.

The number of apps you can get are amazing, though seriously you do need to wonder about who would actually use some of them! I have spent my spare moments wondering if I really need 2 weather apps (I do) or whether I need a shopping list maker (jury is still out)

Now if Telstra would just build me a tower so that I get reception at our farm house all would be well!

Help me out, what apps can I not live without?

Busy Busy

The countdown is now well and truly on. We are finding so much that we need to do, and so much we want to do before we move.

This week we are getting the wheels in motion to rent our house out when we go. So we need to meet with real estate agents and work out what we still need to fix before we rent it out. We also need to find time to do this work. Also the real estate agents want to take photos, so I need to make the house look like a show home (impossible - incidentally can anyone explain why we need to have photos taken? We never saw any when we were renting back in the day!).

The Country Boy has been putting leaf guard on our guttering, and repainting the trim of the house to match the guttering (something I have been wanting to do since we moved in - better late than never). My mother kindly came and washed down the walls of our (awful) laundry to remove the dirt/dust etc of this neglected room in our house. I have been doing more sorting of our "stuff" trying to get rid of things we don't need or use and convince the girls to get rid of the toys etc they never use (mostly unsuccessfully).

A few more piles like this are needed!

We are also trying to wind down our involvement in some of the activities we do. Next weekend our church has it's annual fete. The Country Boy has been in charge of the plant stall for several years, so he is busy getting his plants ready. The girls are excited about the fete, and I am planning a pep talk on not buying more crap for me to throw out too much. After this we are trying to clear the calendar as much as possible.

I hate it when life seems so busy. I know that it is only for a few weeks, but really, will it be any saner at the other end when we are trying to unpack, enroll in schools, meet people etc? I hope so!

DIY Christmas Ideas

Today on Ooh! That's Pinteresting... I am sharing some of the great Christmas ideas I have found recently. I love doing Christmas crafts, but this year I am not sure that I will get much of a chance to do some because we are moving to the country in early December. So whilst I am only dreaming about all these great ideas, I'm sharing them with you.

I love this button wreath because it is so easy. Hannah and Meg would enjoy making these!

image credit

I love this idea because it can use some of the great Christmas scrapbook papers I haven't been able to resist buying, and it looks pretty easy.

image credit

These also look relatively easy to make. I think that having several together would look good on a shelf or mantlepiece.

image credit

I love this super easy idea for hand made fingerprint cards.

image credit

I love the colours of these felt christmas decorations. If you follow the links it has the instructions for how to make it.

image credit

image credit

I'm linking up with TinaGray{dot}me for Ooh! That's pinteresting! Head over and see what pinteresting finds other bloggers have found this week!

You can see more of my Pinteresting Christmas Ideas here, or click on the button on my side bar!

Return of the Lamingtons (aka Lamington Saga)

I previously wrote about how the girls had made lamingtons and then had a lamington stall, and I thought that this was the end of the story - I was wrong. During the holidays, in amongst the craziness of packing to move stuff to the farm, the girls received a letter.

To back track; after we had the lamington stall, the girls chose to donate the money they made to an appeal to provide famine relief in the horn of Africa. We got online and sent the money to TEAR. We used the girls names since they were the ones who raised the money, and they added a note to say that they had raised the money with a lamington stall.

I was so impressed when the girls got a handwritten note from the director of TEAR Australia, thanking them for their donation. The girls were so excited and were glad to hear that the money they had raised would be used to buy food for starving kids. We certainly didn't expect a note, or any other form of thank you. They did it because they wanted to.

The letter and note made their day. In a world where kids often feel that they can't make much of a difference, it has made our girls feel like they can do something that can make a difference to others.

Is This Narcissistic?

I watched Insights on SBS on Tuesday night. It was about narcissistic behaviours and the role that modern culture, in particular social media such as facebook, youtube, and blogs, can have on our tendency towards narcissism. They gave examples of people who had multiple facebook and twitter accounts to "put themselves out there" (where ever "there" is) and then there was a discussion of whether this is narcissistic or not.

Just 2 days previously I had begun to set a facebook page for the Country Life Experiment. I have noticed that most blogs have a facebook page that goes with them. I already kind of hated the idea of having a facebook page for the blog, because it somehow seems conceited to set up your own page. After watching the program, I had a bit of an internal debate about whether to continue.

But then so many people who I don't know personally have been kind enough to stop by my blog and to comment, so I thought it would be great to be able to connect more with them. At the same time, I thought it would be nice of me to give my friends from my personal page a break. This way they don't have to be subject to Country Life Experiment stuff if they don't particularly care for it.

So here it is… the official unveiling of my new facebook page. If you're a regular here (or if this is your first visit)I would love it if you would follow me. I promise I am not narcissistic.

Homemade Potato Pizza

Homemade pizza is a favorite in our house. We often make it on Saturday or Sunday nights because it takes a little more time to make, but it is definitely worth the effort. I don't remember where we first saw thin slices of potato on pizza, but it has become a regular. The Country Boy is our pizza maker, though Hannah and Meg always like to help knead the dough and top the pizza. So he is letting me share his special recipe:

Dough - Makes 2 pizzas

1 sachet of yeast

3/4c tepid water (just warm)

2c bread making flour (plain flour will do) approx

Good pinch of salt

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200oc
2. Place the water in a bowl and sprinkle the yeast over the top. Allow to sit for 3-5 minutes.
3. Add in flour and bring together to form a dough. Note the actual amount of flour needed will be slightly different each time because of factors such as moisture content of the flour and of the air.
4. Turn the dough onto the bench and knead the for about 5 minutes or until it springs back when poked with a finger. The dough will get wetter as you knead so you may need to knead in some more flour.
5. Shape into a ball and place back into a bowl. Cover with cling wrap and place in warm place for 30minutes or until the dough has doubled in size. This is important to allow the flavour of the crust to develop.
6. Knead the dough lightly a second time. Divide into 2 equal balls
7. Roll each ball out and top as desired

8. Place on a pizza stone (if you have one) or baking tray and put in the oven for 20 minutes or until the crust is crunchy and the topping is cooked.

Topping - 2 pizzas

2 medium potatoes

1 small onion

1 garlic clove

1/4c olive oil

Salt

3 fresh rosemary sprigs

1c grated mozzarella

Method

1. Thinly slice the potatoes and onion (CB uses our Japanese mandolin to get them really thin)
2. Crush the garlic and mix with the olive oil.
3. Brush a small amount of the oil over the pizza base
4. Toss the potato in the remaining oil, and then lay them in a thin layer over the pizza
5. Sprinkle with the salt
6. Pull the leaves of the rosemary off the stalk and spread over the potato

7. Spread a small amount of finely sliced onion over the potato

8. Top with mozzarella

9. Bake.

Whenever we make pizzas we make 2 different toppings, usually potato and Hawaiian (our girls favourite). We have also done a fantastic tandoori chicken using a yoghurt tandoori base for the sauce, chicken, cashew nuts, snow peas, and a minted yoghurt raita and mango chutney drizzled on top once it is cooked. Maybe I will share that one with you another day!

P.S I have finally succumbed and set up a facebook page for the blog. If you like my blog please "like" my facebook page (on the right side bar). I'm going to start posting blog links and other blog related stuff there so that my personal facebook page stops looking like an ad for Country Life Experiment!

Free Range Parent???

Toby is exercising his new found ability to climb! In the last 2 days we have found him on top of nearly every piece of furniture under 6 foot high, and the roof of our little tykes ute. He loves the ute and can happily play on it for hours. Unfortunately since discovering he can climb on the roof of it, the roof is his favourite part.

No matter how vigilant a parent is, it is impossible to keep an eye on everything a child is doing. To be honest, I don't watch everything the kids are doing (particuarly the girls) because I want them to learn to be independent and not always rely on someone else to solve their problems. I guess I am attempting to be a free range parent.

Let me qualify this by saying there is no way I let my 14 month old go outside unsupervised (on the farm he likes to eat sheep poo!), but I believe in letting kids learn from mistakes, and allowing them to have the occasional bump and scratch.

Toby however is testing the strength of our convictions. Today he rolled down the outside stair (only 3 steps) when the Country Boy had his back turned. We have been teaching him to crawl down backwards, but every now and then he forgets and turns around... and he has a bump on his head to show for it (CB feels awful and won't let me take a photo of Toby until its better :(). I really do not want to have to carry him up and down the stairs or block the stairs off when we are outside, but I was having second thoughts... until about an hour ago.

Off to explore!

I was sitting on the steps when Toby crawled over, turned around backwards, said "back back" and proceeded to crawl backwards down the stair.

Falls and bumps are a normal part of childhood, and today Toby showed me that he had learnt something from his bump. I'm continuing to be free range!  

Back to Work

Today was a rude shock after 2 weeks spent having fun around the farm. I had to go back to work, meals need to be planned and groceries have to bought (apparently 2 minute noodles get boring after a few nights), homework needs to be started and clothes need to be washed. I woke up with a sore throat, which is not a great thing for a teacher to begin the term with.

Who wouldn't rather be here??

I brought the kids back on Saturday while The Country Boy stayed behind to help with lamb marking. The kids were tired and ratty, and it was raining when we got home. I managed to get all the luggage inside, the kids bathed and fed, and a load of washing on before collapsing. The Country Boy and I rarely leave each other overnight, and I am very glad of this. It is hard work corralling kids by yourself, and this was only one night. Kudos goes to those people who look after their children by themselves for long periods of time! Any how it was a somewhat lack lustre return to reality.

This ending to an otherwise great holiday kind of sums up my whole attitude towards heading back to work. I am just not very interested. I guess the problem is that I have mentally moved to the farm already!

School holidays offer a great break from the day to day grind of keeping a family on track, but having only spent holidays on the farm it is easy to idealise life down there. I wonder if, once we have moved there, I will be idealising life in the mountains?

4th term always tends to be crazy busy even before we add in moving house. I am already quite daunted by what we need to get through over the next couple of weeks.... I feel like I need a holiday!

Pinteresting Ideas for My Farm House

Well we are back from the farm after getting some renovations done on the house before we move there in December. It is really starting to come together, but as always, there is a lot more to do.
Today on Ooh! That's Pinteresting I thought I would share some of the Pinteresting ideas I want to put into our farm house.

I am definitely getting a boot rack like this installed next to our back door. On the farm, we all wear boots in the paddock, and we take them off before we come inside (no sheep poo inside thank you!). This looks a great way to keep them out of the way and creepy crawlies from getting into them... assuming I can train the kids to put their boots onto the rack!

image credit

I think these candle holders would look fantastic strung along the edge of the veranda.

image credit

I would love to have a fire pit to sit around in the Autumn and Spring. This one looks good.

image credit

Keeping up with the laundry for 5 people is hard work. I love this idea for sorting the laundry out... when/if our laundry gets renovated.

image credit

The kitchen in the farmhouse is really the pits! When/if we get a new kitchen I would love it if it looked a bit like this! 

image credit

You can see more of my pinteresting finds here or by clicking on the follow me button on my side bar.

I'm linking up with Tina Gray {dot} me for Ooh! That's Pinteresting. Head on over there and see what great finds other bloggers have found this week!

Begin Countdown

We are heading back to the big smoke this weekend after spending the school holidays down on our farm, getting our house ready for when we move here properly in December. Only 8 weeks to go!!

We have got sooo many jobs done, and the house is starting to look and feel like ours (a little bit). We will probably do a few weekend trips down before the move.

The kids have absolutely loved being here. The girls have spent every dry minute outside on the trampoline or riding their bikes. They have ridden over to their grandparents house and spent a couple of hours there each afternoon. Hannah seems more excited and relaxed about moving down here now that she can see some of the benefits of living here.

Toby has become quite brave with the poddy lambs, and is happily feeding and patting them. He loves the dogs and tries to escape and crawl over towards them at any opportunity. He has also started making dog noises (Ah Ah Ah) and sheep noises (Aaaaah Aaaah). Truth be told, you do need to know what he is looking at before you can tell the difference.

It's going to be a crazy term, but the count down to the start of our country life experiment is now well and truly on!

Potato Planting

Yesterday The Country Boy took advantage of the beautiful day to get our vegetable garden started. He has plans for a very big garden once we move down here, but he got started preparing the beds (using the tractor to remove the grass of course).

Toby is turning into our mini country boy and was most insistent about "helping" his dad. He gave himself a little clap each time he put a potato into the hole.

We now have whole garden bed of potatoes which will hopefully grow while we go back to the mountains, ready to be harvested when we get back here in December.

Twilight in October

It's Wordless Wednesday and I'm linking up with Trish from my little drummer boys