The True Cost

I was watching Downton Abbey last night (and imagining I lived upstairs), when my revelry was interupted by an ad for kmart which was advertising that it's already very "low prices have dropped even lower". $4 t-shirts, and $8 electric kettles are too good to go past - well so the ad says anyway!

But when we are paying $4 for a t-shirt, we cannot possibly paying for the full cost. I am sure that the store is still making a profit, as is the company that made the t-shirt. So what are we not paying for?

Probably we are not paying the employees who make the t shirt a decent wage. No sick leave, holiday pay, or over time payments. We probably are not paying for a safe working environment either.

We're not paying for the pollution that the production causes to be cleaned up.

In the western world we have become so used to the idea that cheaper is better, that we have forgotten the true cost of these cheaper goods.

Fair trade coffee and chocolate are common now. We are all happy to pay a little more to ensure that our treats are ethically sourced, yet we continue to purchase all manner of other products that are produced in third world countries by a poorly paid workforce.

I have written before about the ethical dilemmas I have when grocery shopping, and I don't have the answers to this problem. I don't even know how you can get ethically sourced clothing or home wares, but I thinks it is time we stop and have a conversation about the true cost of all these cheap goods.

What do you think? Do you know where you can source ethically produced clothes and home wares? I am still getting my head around this issue.

A Bridge Over Troubled Waters (Or Two)

Behind our house there is a small creek that provides all of our family with hours of entertainment. Country Boy has been planning to build a small bridge over it since we moved down here, so on the weekend, with the help of my father, he did. Twice.

I arrived home from work on Friday to be told that they had already built it. I thought it was rather quick, but we set out to inspect it....

with 3 lambs and 6 chickens in tow!

The foot bridge looks like fun to play on, and the kids gave it a good try out.

To be honest I thought they were going for something a little bit bigger - considering all the lumber that had been collected to  build it.

Not wanting to rain on the parade, I made 'discreet inquiries' about the changes to the plan. I was then informed that they planned to make a second bridge a bit further down the  creek - of course!!

On Saturday morning the serious bridge building started. You know it was serious because the tractor was being used. The lambs and kids had lovely time playing along the creek.

By Sunday afternoon, it was pretty much complete.

The lambs and kids both approve.

So now we can nip across the creek and into the paddock on the other side. Here is a picture of the back or our house from across the creek.

Five

We celebrated Miss Meg's birthday yesterday. Remember when your birthday was the most exciting day EVER, even if in reality it was pretty much the same as every other day with the exception of a few presents and some cake? That was Meg's day; she was shaking with excitement several times!

I spent yesterday home sick, but dragged myself out of bed so that we could give Meg her presents before Hannah went to school.

Since Meg was tiny, she has always been interested in the moon and stars. She had been saying for months that what she really wanted for her birthday was a book about the moon. Luckily I found one which seems to fit the bill.

After breakfast she cracked out the lego we also bought for her. Lego is always a favourite in our house, and a new set with flowers and a horse was very popular!

After lunch Country Boy and Meg sat down to look at the space book. Unfortunately for us, it seems to have created more questions than answers. For example, "What noises do planets make when they crash into each other?" and "If God is bigger than the universe, does that mean we are in his tummy?".

We had home made pizzas for dinner (Megs favourite) followed by the all important birthday cake. I had planned a slightly grander design, but the flu put stop to that, but she was still super excited and impressed.

Miss Meg is off to big school next year. It seems hardly anytime since she was born. Happy Birthday, 5 year old!

Random Ramblings From The Farm

 + We have been struck down with that dreaded flu that the whole universe seems to have got. I made it to work on Monday, but haven't been since. One of the bonuses of living where your husband works, is that when sickness strikes he can be around to deal with children, so I have been fortunate to have sleep ins and afternoon snoozes. Poor Hannah sounded like she was about to cough up an entire lung, but fortunately is on the mend.

+ We are almost out of water! I know - it has been so wet, that we cannot work it out either. We use less water here than when we lived in the mountains (our toilet and garden water comes from the dam not the tank), but it is almost empty. Country Boy has been trying to find if there are any leaks, but so far nothing obvious. Yesterday he put the fire tank on the back of the truck and carted several loads of water from the tank near the machinery shed to our home tank so that we have enough. One of the things we need to do is get a bigger tank!

+ The days are starting to get a little longer now. It doesn't get dark till 5.30pm and it is now light when I leave at 7.15 am. It is still a while before the days get long enough to appreciate the daylight, but if feels like spring may soon be on the way. The chickens evidently agree and have started to lay eggs again, after a couple of weeks of nothing. I actually had to buy a dozen eggs for the first time since January. Fortunately, for them, they seem to be on board now, which is just as well as Country Boy was considering giving them a pep talk with the axe!

+ One of the poddy lambs is constipated - not uncommon side effect of being formula fed, particularly if they have too much too quickly. The poor thing has had very little milk, and is walking around awkwardly. Country Boy got on the internet and found out what to do, so last night we gave the lamb an enema. You are most welcome to that visual - tell me I am living the dream!

+ Today is Meghann's birthday. She is flapping with excitement - which is an unfortunate family trait, from my side of the family. She has unwrapped her presents and is currently sitting in her pjs on the floor building lego. We have made the cake, though to be honest, after Toby's birthday on the weekend, I am a little over cake etc.

{Recipe} Honey Ginger Snaps

I realise that I haven't posted any recipes lately. It's not because I haven't been cooking, but more because I haven't had the inspiration to come up with anything new. I had big plans to do some fun cooking during the school holidays, but it just didn't happen. Luckily on Wednesday last week, I decided to make some biscuits for school lunches.


These honey ginger snaps are beautiful and crunchy on the outside, and soft on the inside. If you like them really crunchy, leave them in the oven a little longer - we like them chewy so I get them out a minute early.

Honey Ginger Snaps

Ingredients - makes about 60

250g butter
1 cup firmly packed soft brown sugar
1/2 c golden syrup
1/2 c honey
3t ground ginger
1t ground cinnamon
1t bicarbonate of soda
1T boiling water
4c plain flour

Method
1. Preheat oven to 180*c
2. Melt butter, brown sugar, golden syrup, and honey, until just about to boil.
3. Remove from heat.
4. Stir in ginger and cinnamon.
5. In a small jug mix together bicarb soda and water.
6. Pour the bicarb mix into the butter mix.
7. Stir in the flour to form a sticky dough
8. Place teaspoon sized balls of dough onto lined baking trays, allowing about 3cm for spreading.
9. Bake for 10 -12 minutes (the crunchier you want the biscuit, the longer you leave it in the oven.
10. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes before removing from tray

One Year Later..

A year ago I wrote my first ever post.  Then the next day I wrote another. Pretty soon I had written a bunch of stuff. We had decided to move to the country to see how life would work for our family. Country Boy had grown up on the farm, and had always wanted to return when the time was right. We had finished our family, but they were young enough to move without totally disturbing their lives. We are always up for a challenge and want to live our lives with as few regrets as possible.

One year on, we have said good bye to our life in the mountains, and have tried to get into country living. I have embraced my inner farmers wife to deal with all the produce that Country Boy has grown in his vegetable garden. We have got our own chickens for eggs, and pigs for pork. We are even eating rabbits that the Country Boy shoots. I have learnt how to feed poddy lambs, and how shearing works.

I have also found some of the downsides of living in the country. The isolation when there is a medical emergency is hard to think about. There are so many creepy crawlies around, although in winter now there are less around (thank goodness!). Also it is always wise to remember that the country telegraph is always working.

For me the biggest down side of living here is that I miss my family and friends from the mountains. I have been so grateful that so many of them have come down for weekends and holidays (and if you are reading this please come again soon!).

Living here makes me feel more in tune with the seasons and consider more where our food comes from. We are trying to work out how we can live ethically, and have got a few dilemmas along the way. We haven't worked them all out yet, but we keep on with them.

The kids are loving living down here. Hannah has started a new school and has blossomed. I love seeing her grow in confidence, and developing new skills. Meg has always been a bit of a free spirit, and loves the space and freedom to be herself. Toby is Country Boy's little helper and thinks he is a big boy too. He doesn't remember life before we lived on the farm, and he confidently walks up to the pigs and dogs, and believes that his place is on the front of the motorbike. He is a proper little farm boy!

Writing a post like this is a bit like trying to write a Christmas letter - how can you sum up an entire year on one page?

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In my first post I wrote this:

I confess I feel quite nervous about our tree change. We have a great life here in the Blue Mountains with family and friends close by. How will I cope being so far from my family, will I get used to an hour round trip for milk, does life really exist where there is no mobile phone reception? It's a bit of an experiment.

Well the experiment is certainly not over - I'm not sure that it ever will be - but I am happy to report that, although I do miss my family,  life truly does exist where there is no mobile phone reception. And it is good!

Two

Toby turned two yesterday. Time flies when you are having fun, and he certainly has added fun to our lives! Toby is mischievous, adventurous, full of energy, and has a spark about him. He is also cuddly, kind, and lovable.

When he thinks some one might be hurt or sad, he goes up to them, puts his head on the side and says "You orwite?" He calls Hannah, 'Hanny' to show her that he loves her, just like he calls Meg 'Meggy'. His favourite thing to do is anything that the big girls are doing. If they are dancing then he wants to dance with them. If they are drawing, then he wants to draw.

He loves Hairy Maclary, motorbikes, trucks, trains, and tractors.

This morning we gave him some Thomas wooden railway that we had bought on ebay. The girls gave him 'Hairy Maclary and Zachary Quack', and a matchbox motor cycle. We encourage our kids to give each other a small gift on birthdays.

Toby was so excited to open each present. He made "oh" noises, and played with each of them. The girls were so impatient, because they wanted him to open the next one. It was hard to keep them from 'helping' him too much.

After present opening, it was straight into the play room to set up the most enormous train set. One of the engines he received is battery operated, and Toby just enjoyed watching it go up and down over the bridges.

Later in the morning, Country Boy and I put together a birthday cake for him - a yellow truck. I made two cakes in loaf pans then cut them using a bread knife to make a truck. Buckets of yellow icing and lots of lollies completed the design. Toby and Meg gave us 'design advice' and 'helped' - if you call licking helping.

Unfortunately, Hannah has been quite sick with a sore throat and temperature for the last 2 days. I knew she was really unwell, when she showed no interest in helping with the cake, or licking the beaters. As the day went on I started to feel sick too.

Country Boy took Toby and Meg to church (we have joined a house church - I'm not sure if I told you that!), whilst Hannah and I stayed home and slept.

Throughout the day, family members rang to 'talk' to Toby on the phone. He is OK for a couple of words, particularly if he can talk about tractors.

Dinner was a 'party' - sausage rolls, nuggets, calamari, and fruit. A slightly odd combination, but the kids enjoyed it, even if Hannah and I weren't feeling great.

After dinner we lit the candles and sang 'Happy Birthday'. Toby was sooooo excited, he couldn't stop talking, unless it was to sing 'Happy Birfday too too too too' repeatedly. He loved the wheels on the cake, the lollies, the 'rocks' in the back.

After dinner it was straight to bed. Tired from an exciting day, they all went straight to sleep. Country Boy then took the opportunity to build a 'proper' train layout... not really sure who the train set is for!

Toby, if you read this in years to come, we love you and are so blessed to have you in our family. You bring us joy every day. Happy Birthday!

Birthday Cake Decisions

We are about to head into birthday week here on the farm. Toby turns 2 on Sunday, then Meg turns 5 on the following Thursday.

To say Meg is getting a little excited is an understatement. She has been studying my Women's Weekly birthday cake book for 2 weeks, and looking at pictures on my pinterest boards as often as I can bear to sit there with her. I'm a little afraid that she has built up such expectations, that she cannot help but be disappointed.

Here is Meg's cake from last year - lots of lollies

Meg has decided she wants a number 5 cake, so I need to find a ring tin, and a couple of bar tins. Toby is too little to really have an opinion, though he does say "Melmo song. He know words" every time he sees a picture of an Elmo cake. As much as he loves Elmo, I am not a big fan of the whole merchandise for everything thing, so I am thinking we might do a truck cake or something similar for him instead.

Here is Hannah's 5th birthday cake - the year we went all out!

When Hannah was 5 she desperately wanted a castle cake, so Country Boy made one for her, standing on one leg all day because he had his knee reconstructed two weeks earlier. It was a work of art, and Hannah was absolutely thrilled. Since then, cakes have been been less spectacular, but I am thinking this might be the year to go all out for Meg. Old enough to appreciate an amazing cake, and young enough to be blown away with excitement.

Here is Toby's 1st Birthday cake (last year) - less than spectacular. It's a vegetable garden, of course. Can you tell he is a third child??

I was watching Cake Boss with one of my classes the other day, so I may have set the bar a bit too high in my mind... we will see how we go!

So tell me what have been your cake triumph and disasters, and inspire me please!

People Actually Read This???

As I mentioned yesterday, we had the youth group from our old church for the weekend. Whilst they were up, I was talking to a friend, and every so often she would say "Oh yeah - I read that on your blog". I knew that she does read this, but to be honest I don't really think that much about it. I write it, press publish, and there it goes.

Coincidentally, on Saturday afternoon, Country Boy's grandmother phoned us. She also commented that she had been reading my blog, after CB's aunt had shown her it. Better yet, she actually enjoyed it!

I know I shouldn't be surprised - after all I began blogging to keep friends and family up to date with what we are up to - but I hadn't really connected that there was any body out there actually reading this besides my mum and dad, and a few die hard blog lovers.

When I started blogging, I decided that I wouldn't put anything on here, that I couldn't happily say to anyone. I live in a small community, and some people around here do know that I blog. So when I am writing on here, please don't think that this is the whole of my life. It is a good part of it, but I don't write much about my work, because I would prefer it if my students didn't work out that I blog, and I don't write about some of my personal struggles, because they are too personal.

But because people actually appear to be reading this little blog of mine, I want you to know that while I write about some of the ups and downs of our life in the country, it isn't everything. Life here is very good, but no matter where you are there are good bits, and bad bits. Some bits just aren't worth writing about, or I don't have the time or inclination.

So hello to all those people who apparently find my ramblings interesting! Welcome to my little place on the web. I'm glad you are all here! Hi Mum! Hi Dad!

Oh, To Be Young Again!

Over the weekend we hosted the kids from the youth group at our old church. They got to sleep in the shed, chase the sheep, collect the eggs, pat the pigs, feed the lambs, ride on the back of the truck, and do all the other usual 'country' things.

Luckily the weather held out until after the evening bonfire before it began to rain - in the middle of a game of spotlight (using the spotlight Country Boy uses for rabbit shooting - perhaps slightly more power than strictly necessary).

The kids were full of questions about country life. It was great to listen to our girls explain the intricacies of our lives, and what living on a farm is like.

We had organised several activities including a timed sheep round up to see who was more efficient; the kids or the dogs (No prizes for guessing the correct answer there!), and a treasure hunt around the farm finding answers to questions about the farm and collecting items. At first things didn't look that promising, but once they realised that the goats on the property next door were not the rams, things started to improve.

They ran every where, all day, squealing and giggling, and rarely stopping except for food. We loved watching the kids enjoy the farm and learn about the country life. I took the camera with me, but didn't manage to get any photos at all (which is rare for me) because I was having so much fun I forgot! 


By the time they left we were so tired we could barely move. It was DVDs in front of the fire all afternoon (with breaks to feed the lambs).


It was lovely to see all that energy and enthusiasm from the kids. They wanted to know everything, do everything, right here, right now. I love the passion and enthusiasm that comes with teenagers. Remember when you wanted to stay up till the sun rose, just because you can (and not because the baby hasn't stopped crying)? When you spent all night sharing confidences with your friends? When you hoped your life would be like a Dawsons Creek type show (or 90210 - take your pick)?


The reality is I am pretty happy with the age I am at now, and I love that as you mature, your perspective broadens, but sometimes I think it would be great to be a teenager again.


Would you go back to being a teenager, or have I got my rose coloured glasses on/

Poddy Lambs

On Friday morning we were busy trying to get things done in readiness for the youth group from our old church weekend visit. Some friends had already arrived so we were also planning on giving them the farm tour.

Country Boy went to check on the sheep and returned with news that we needed to go and get in a sheep that had being lying down for too long with a sore foot. Her two lambs  hadn't had much milk and were rather weak too. So I drove the ute out with the kids on the back, whilst Country Boy rode the motorbike. He put the sheep on the back of the ute and the kids held the lambs. We brought them back to the shearing shed in the hope that the shelter and dry ground would help the sheep recover.

  

I ran into town to get a bag of lamb formula and some teats for the bottles to supplement the milk they might get from their mother.

The sheep didn't recover, and died on Sunday night. We found her when we went to give the lambs their evening bottle. So we now have 2 poddy lambs to look after. We need to feed them 3 times a day for the next 2 weeks, then twice a day for several weeks after that before we can wean them.

It takes a while for the lambs to learn to drink from the bottle so each lamb takes about half an hour to feed at the moment. Fortunately our guests thought that feeding the lambs was most exciting, and all the kids were practically arguing over whose turn it was to hold the bottle. Now they have left, it is back to just Country Boy and I to feed them and the novelty has already worn off. They wiggle and squirm about, pulling on the bottle teat, and spurting milk every where. It's almost like having a baby all over again - a baby that you have to go and sit in the freezing cold to feed.

Lego Tales

Lego is one of our favourite toys here in the country. Barely a day goes by without it  being played with. Best of all, all three kids can play with it together. Toby just loves playing with the motor bike. He will often lie down on the floor and wheel the motorbike backwards and forwards.

We keep the lego in a wooden blanket box, where the girls can put their half finished creations without Toby destroying them - well that is the idea anyway...

...unless Toby gets into the trunk.

Lambing

We are currently lambing crossbreds. It probably doesn't mean much to you so let me explain. Crossbred lambs have a merino mother and a different breed for a father (hence the cross breed). They are normally bred for meat, as opposed to purebred merinos, which are bred for wool (we lamb purebreds in August).

We have been lambing for about 3 weeks now, and it's been going OK. Generally it is best to leave the ewes to it - if you get too close they tend to run away, leaving their lambs behind. They then can't find their lamb and so the lamb dies. On the other hand if you don't go out and check them the ewes can get stuck on their side after they have given birth and the lambs can't get any milk, so both mother and babies die.

If we can find the lambs before they die, we can bottle feed them in much the same way you feed a baby - including getting up in the night to feed them!

Here are last years poddy lambs - Susie, Caleb, and Lucy - named by Hannah and Meg

Country Boy goes out every day to check on the sheep, and try to help any sheep that needs it. Despite this we have still lost several ewes and lambs. Keep in mind that each animal that dies represents a loss in income as well.  It can be disheartening to see animals who haven't made it. Not to mention unpleasant having to pick up dead lambs and sheep. Each time Country Boy finds a dead animal, he feels like he should have done more, though of course he can't really.

Hannah Writes A Recipe Book

For mothers day this year, Hannah made me a recipe book. She wrote the book, and 'created' the recipes herself (The recipe book, and a bath bomb were the high points of mothers day, but that is a whole another post).

Since then Hannah has been desperate to have a go at making some of her recipes (so proud - I have totally rubbed off on her). So this month I included a recipe in the meal plan, and on Friday  night we had sausages and Potato Jungle for dinner.

Dinner took a bit longer than we planned, but Hannah loved it. She was so proud of her efforts - and so was I!

If you want the recipe to potato jungle, I'm sorry but it is a closely guarded family secret. Alternatively, you could look at the picture and work it out for yourself!

Weekend Rewind

Another fabulous weekend has come and gone. We had a visit from some friends we first met when Hannah, and their daughter Sofie started school together. The girls soon became good friends, and we have enjoyed each others company every since. 

Hannah still misses Sofie a lot, so she was really excited to show her friend around the farm.

They had barely got out of the car before our girls were showing them the pigs and chickens.

After lunch we rugged up, and went for a truck ride around the farm. The adults got to chat, whilst the girls pointed out all the 'sights'.

I've never seen our girls so keen to go a put the chooks back in the pen, and collect the eggs. I think perhaps the chance to show their friends made it more exciting. 

Country Boy made an amazing peach pie for dessert, so after dinner the kids had some with icecream while we watched Funniest Home Videos. We put all the girls in the one bedroom, and were expecting a lot of late night chattering, but surprisingly, they were all asleep fairly quickly. That combination of lots of fresh air, and excitement was exactly what they needed!

On Saturday we had a leisurely pancake breakfast. Once the kids finished eating, they disappeared into the play room to dance (incidentally does Georgie Parker have more than one CD?? We desperately need a bit of variety!), and we continued to enjoy another pancake in peace and quiet.

We got ourselves organised and went for a motor bike ride around the farm, taking the dogs to round up a mob of sheep.

The kids had a try at doing themselves...

... before Country Boy got the dogs to demonstrate how it should be done!

Later we went over to the dam, to hit some floating golf balls into it (always brings out the competitive streak in the adults), and chuck some rocks into it - such fun!

 After an afternoon snooze, we lit a bonfire on an old tree stump that we want to rip out, and toasted marshmallows. The kids hung around for a while, but once the marshmallows ran out, they headed off for a game of hide and seek, leaving us to channel our inner pyromaniacs tend the fire.

We had a roast dinner (my favourite) and the kids collapsed into bed with very little resistance. 

This morning, there was time for a last motorbike ride and another explore of the shearing shed and sheep yards before they headed off.

Really it was a perfect weekend: Great weather, great food, and great company!