This quote from A Year At Otter Farm sums it up:
'It wasn't meant to turn out like this; I had plans for idleness. If I hadn't been painting the ceiling of a friend's shop when the woman who became my wife walked in, if I hadn't had that first mulberry just before the millennium changed, if the mortgage adviser hadn't given me artistic licence when moving here, there would be no Otter Farm and I would be a whole lot less tired. I'd also be a whole lot less happy.'
I so agree with this. The afternoon I spent splitting firewood with hubby made me so much more happy than going out to a restaurant or shopping or any of the other 'acceptable' forms of leisure.
I was also reading about this in one of Jenna Woganrich's books, can't remember which one. Basically she was saying that none of her friends or family could understand why she wanted to take on all this work. No one could understand that the work was her leisure, it was enjoyable and how she wanted to spend her time. Does anyone else get this from friends and family? I know I sure do!
Modern society seems to have developed the attitude that work and play are totally separate and never the twain shall meet. Work cannot possibly be fun. I'm very worried that with this attitude, we will not be able to face the multiple problems that we will face in the future.
OK, that got heavy pretty quickly! Went off on a little tangent there! Let's start again!
Anyhow, it was a productive time the last few days.
I am slowly, slowly getting the small veggie garden weeded and mulched, ready for some winter plantings. Whirlwind and I reattached the trellis that had blown down in the wind.
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| Slowly weeding and mulching! |
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| Spearmint, ginger mint and curry plant |
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| Under the apple tree, where the daffodils are planted |
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| And the daffodils are shooting already! |
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| The garden out the kitchen window |
It is a bit of a process at the moment. You know the whole scenario of this cannot be done until that is done, but that can't be done until this other thing is done! Slowly, slowly, I keep telling myself! It will all come together in the end.
As I said, hubby and I split firewood. We borrowed a hydraulic log splitter from a friend - and what a blessing that machine was! Firewood that would normally have taken both of us all day to split was done in an hour and a half! We had some huge rounds from a tree that had been damaged and taken down a few years ago that we have both been ignoring since that time. They were always passed over for the easier wood! Now they have all been split and we have a new huge pile of wood. Having lots of wood makes me feel very secure and happy. I am just praying for a wood cookstove now!
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| My pile - can you tell I am a bit fussy about how I stack firewood?! |
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| Hubby's pile |
We collected up more scrap metal that was lying around in the paddock. And Legoman had the pleasure of stepping on a nail - blood everywhere!
I don't understand why some farmers just treat paddocks as rubbish dumps and leave all sorts of stuff everywhere. When we first moved here, we cleaned up old computers, car parts, all sorts of stuff.
I spent about $35 on some new plants. All flowers, which I don't normally buy. I don't know why; I guess I think plants should be productive. But I am determined that this summer, Whirlwind will have his field of sunflowers that he has been asking for. Maybe not a whole field, but enough for him! He wants to have a flower stand at our farm gate - good on him!
Miss Ballerina made the scones for afternoon tea as I was splitting wood. What a sweetie!
Which way do you do it - jam or cream first?! Apparently, a Cornwall cream tea will have the cream on top, but a Devonshire cream tea will have the jam on top. So now you know!
In our family, everyone goes with Cornwall, except for Whirlwind (whose scone you see in the top photo!)
Today, Monday, was a beautiful day.
Look at that sky! I love sunny autumn days. Summer ones are just too bright - you can't get gorgeous photos like that in summer. You can't even look at the sky.
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| Banksia in the garden |
Cuddlepie and I did some more gardening and I started chipping out some of the thistles in the paddocks. I am happy to do that by hand rather than using some sort of chemical spray, as I bet there are not many farmers around here who have the number of earthworms I found in their paddocks. I will take the earthworms any day!
Lots of plans for the week as I think the weather is holding like this for a few days. So I will get outside while I can!
Have a lovely week!
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