getting up close and personal

with Freckles the pig. Delaney took this shot on the weekend and I loved it too much not to share it. And just quietly she kicks my butt in the photo taking department. I can't believe how fast my gorgeous little piggies are growing, we will have to separate the boys and girls soon as we do not the girls to get pregnant the first time they are able because pigs have large littlers and having them when they are too young can kill them :(

And on the subject of growing too quickly - here is my baby boy Macallum who has recently learnt to walk. OMG slow down boy where is my baby going. He is such a cheeky devil - can't you tell in this photo.

anyway 2 posts in 1 week what is the world coming to - better get back to it - cheers :)

my journey

The dream is self-sufficiencyor I should say as close as possible because I don't believe it is possible for me in entirity ( there are things I like too much - coffee being one) and the journey is beginning. We have been making baby steps and I have tried off and on with making my own bread but this weekend I decided I will never be self-sufficient if I can't make my own bread so i thought I better get practising. So here one of this weekends results and while I have to admit they are improving every time they are not yet "perfect" but I will reserve my judgement on my bread making ability until I get my hands on some Bread flour and not just regular flour.

The simple life is the life we are aiming for, make what we can, buy second hand, repair, recycle and generally make do. This is something that I/we are particularly passionate about and we are trying bit by bit, baby step by baby step weave it into our lives. We have our chicken for eggs and soon some for meat, trying desperately to grow vegies which is not easy given my black thumb, some pigs who we will breed to sell and some to eat.

Some time in the future I hope to have a dairy cow to milk for milk, cheese, cream all the natural milky, dairy things I can create.

So the journey has begun, and I hope we can achieve this slow, simple life we dream of. We have a set of values we are trying to live up to and still we need to change some of our mindsets and its not going to happen overnight but you know the rest.

will talk more on this journey at a later date - so much for trying to slow down i seem to be always in a rush still LOL

edited to add - I just ate fresh bread for lunch and mmmm mmmm is all I can say - I am definitely getting there in the bread making stakes if I do say so myself :)

this weeks happenings

first off - some craft. I have rediscovered my love of crochet after being inspired my an awesome blog that i read http://attic24.typepad.com/weblog/ . I just love her creations and so I broke out my crochet hooks and whipped up this hair clip for flossy and I have also started a granny blanket but I have run out of wool so that project is on hold.

A random photo of Hudson - it is so rare to capture of pic of him smiling. As soon as a camera appears out come the funny faces and coy behaviour but today i caught him - so showing it off was definitely necessary LOL.

Also belated Happy 5th Birthday wishes to my Tanner man. This is his much prized gift - a built by dad billy cart and lovingly painted my Tanner and myself after much deliberation at the Bunnings paint counter over colour choices. It was always going to be green ( his favourite colour - takes after his mother does my boy :D), but the shade of green was quite the dilemma but the little man finally decided on this lime shade, with some red trim and gold wheels of course. Still to be added are some red lightening bolts to complete his aptly named GREEN LIGHTENING.

I am so pleased with our efforts on this, totally handmade with some recycled items as well. There were 2 reasons for this - yes we are a bit skint at the moment but my main reason is twofold - i believe strongly in the value of a handmade with love gift - i know myself i would rather have something lovingly made by someone i care about than a thoughless, mass produced, made in China, throwaway gift. Not saying that all store bought gifts are that but I hope you understand what I am trying to say here :), the other aspect is that I want my children to be satisfied with this type of gift and not be demanding and wanting all the time, ( this is what I want for them - not in anyway am I there yet ). I want them to recognise the value of a good quality handmade gift as in my experience this seems to be lacking in todays world. Anyway I seem to have lost my train of thought so I will shut up now LOL.

And last but not least this is Codycalf. One of our ( well not our but residing here ) new tenants. There are 3 cows - this one, a pregnant black Angus called Dora. Dora also has a male calf here as well but he is unnamed as he is to be killed at a later point. Please no comments on that - it just life I'm afraid, and anyway its not our cow so not our choice. And I for one would rather know just what is in my meat and be confident in its quality and freshness - well that or become a vego - and just quietly thats not going to happen.

Also no photo but it was my mums birthday this week - HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUM!!!!! and I must say we had a lovely lunch out and a visit from some relatives I rarely see from Adelaide - so it was an awesome week - one far too good not to blog about.

so I hope I haven't bored anyone to death with this massive blog post but thats the week that was in our house

cheers

Nadine :D

new additions

say hello to the newest family members :).The 2 boys ( the black ones) are purebred Berkshires and their names are Barry and Mr T. The girls are Tamworths/Berkshires and the really red one is Penny but the spotted one is as yet unnamed :(

So any suggestions for this little ones name would be appreciated, they are all around the 8 week old mark and so so cute and already getting used to the crazy lady who comes and talks to them every day LOL.

hmmm - help me with a name please - I need to call her something!!!

Long time no blog

well its been a while. Where have I been I hear you ask? Well we moved, something we had been contemplating for literally years. Late last year on the spur of the moment I sent of a letter expressing interest in a job in the area we were interested in moving to and what do you know I got a job WOW. So it was all very rushed, finding a house which nearly didn't happen in time to start work, find a new school etc etc etc.

There have been a few hurdles along the way with some dramas renting out our house but fingers crossed it all seems to be fine now.

All I can say is it just feels right, why did we wait so long!!!!!!!

The pics above are the view from my bedroom window - gorgeous isn't it, we also now have expanded our chicken family, don't ask me how many, I've lost count, Lets just say Darren has developed something of an obsession LOL. I post some pics in the coming days.

I will do my best to renew my blog love and post again more regularly, the downside to my new 9-5 job is that there just seems not enough hours in the day for all my hobbies, needless to say there has been very little craft happening but I hope to rectify that soon :)

Cheers :)

As promised

some recent craft action - first up is a recent swap I was a part of on Nappy Addicts, this was only half of it - I also did a smaller bag for her daughter. I was pretty happy with how this turned out and the recipient was happy to so even better

Nappies I have made lately ( no boosters in them yet, my overlocker and I are not seeing eye to eye at the moment). 2 different patterns here, the first 2 are a large and a small side snap Darling Diaper pattern and the 3rd is a hippy hippy snap pattern also in large. I can't decide which pattern I prefer I think there are pros and cons to each, so I will probably continue to make a mixture of both for the boys. Not sure who the small is for, the embroidery is not perfect and I was going to gift it to someone but not sure now.

And lastly some of the book/diary covers made for christmas gifts. i think almost everyone I know got one of these including family, work friends and teachers. I love them and think they make a great gift.

New discoveries

firstly these were taken just before Christmas - yes I am waaaay behind in my blogging!!!!!

Macallum has been making a lot of new discoveries lately - he escapes to the backyard at every opportunity - which happens to be a lot because the older children are apparently incapable of shutting a door. He is not however a big fan of the practically dead grass ( although thanks to the recent rain is it lovely and green again) and tries to keep his knees off the aforementioned grass - it is a very amusing sight to see,
He does love to try and catch the chickens too which seems to be hereditary in this family - i feel for the poor chickens and often wonder how we ever get any eggs when they seem to spend their days running from 2 little terrors ( Tanner and Hudson) who like to "pat" them
. The chickens don't seem to be bothered by Macallums attempts at catching them though lol.

I think a new years resolution should be more regular blogging especially with the things i have been making lately - although some are secrets due to being swaps and are not ready to be revealed just yet.