A Scavenger's Weekend

Earlier last week I had an annoying experience of spending a fair chunk of cash on taking kids to a rather disappointing waterslide on what was supposed to be a fun school holiday outing. Also, I think I managed to lose Charlie's good Akubra hat in my huffy state as I left, probably leaving it balanced on the front of the car as I drove off. Boo. Luckily, this weekend seemed intent on turning the tables.

I love a good roadside furniture freebie. I even scored a relatively aesthetically-pleasing doggie pooper-scooper (yes there is such a thing) from someone's hard rubbish recently. It has long, chromed handles that remove you from the 'business end' of the device, which is pleasantly rusted, blue-painted metal. Seriously. I barely even mind the chore when I'm using it.

What is it about the thrill of scavenging? I'll be the one running up the street with the wheelbarrow when there's a tree cut down, collecting firewood. I think fruit overhanging someone's fence is fair game. Andy's a bit dubious about it sometimes but hey, waste not, want not!

On Saturday, this desk presented itself with a 'FREE, PLEASE TAKE' sign just around the corner from our house. Don't mind if I do! My companion at the time was Clem, who has the treasure-hunter's instinct, and was very excited.

It's made of oak, entirely charming and just what Clem needed for his bedroom. Into the car boot it went - not easy with just Clem helping. I drove with the boot open, very carefully and slowly, around the corner back home while Clem ran along the footpath calling out to me that it was all going well and nothing was falling out.

We gave the whole desk a quick wipe-over and then a light polish with my trusty beeswax/linseed oil potion, I tightened up the screws on the drawer handles and it was good to go.

We had to do a fair bit of re-shuffling in his room to make it fit, and Clem (not for the first time) rejected my suggestion of getting rid of the doll's house you see upon it, which was my eventual solution. Fortunately, it's quite a deep desk.

 It even features this fabulous slide-out... slidey-outey-thing, to which I imagine Clem will add his own initials, compass-stabs and so forth as time passes.

On Sunday I took Clem and Jasper blackberry picking (Andy is overseas, actually on his way back right now, and Charlie was at a friend's house). The day was not too hot, and recent rains had plumped up the berries.

Yum!

The boys and I have enjoyed blackberries and vanilla icecream for dessert two nights in a row and there are still more left. Mind you, I just extracted a lingering stray blackberry thorn from under my right big toe. But the scratches and prickles just kind of make it all the more satisfying. We fought for those berries! And won!

At any rate, I think the world has given at least as much as it has taken from me this week, and I am happy. And tomorrow, two of the boys are back to school and Andy comes home. And the next day, Charlie is off to high school. Yipes!

- Jane x

Best picnic ever

Today was such a beautiful example of spring in this corner of the world, and we took a picnic to Brownhill Creek with some extended family. So long as we choose to ignore the fact that pretty much all the vegetation in these photos is introduced and spread as weeds along the creekline (buttercups! blackberries! Salvation Jane! figs! willowy things!), well, this was simply the most perfect spot on the most perfect day for a picnic.

It's all still so green and there was even a decent amount of water in the creek.

 There was space for cricket, and Jasper declared that he would like to have a go at cricket this summer, which simultaneously makes me thrilled and also a bit weary thinking about adding something else into our schedule. Is that bad of me?

 Can you spot the boys? (Clem, his cousin and cousin's friend, as seen from the other side of the creek.)

  This small man had an absolute ball and got bumped, scratched and filthy, which is all a bit outside his usual comfort zone, and I was so proud of how he bounced back and kept up with his older cousin and even older friend.

 This is a water skink that the boys discovered in the creek (and let go again). I didn't even know there was such a thing. Even Andy's sister who identified this for us, and has a creek at the bottom of her hills garden, hadn't seen one in real life before. What a beauty.

  We brought Skylar, who could barely believe her eyes, ears and nose with all the wonders of this place. Since she was raised in a kennel, many things are very exciting new experiences for her. She explored and explored and explored but finally gave in to the pleasure of a Sunday afternoon nap on the grass. Ahem yes, she's wearing a Liberty kerchief.

 Being dragged down a slope by your feet is apparently all kinds of awesome. And back for more.

  Sliding down the dirt slope by himself: "Watch this one, it's going to be really really really really really really really really hardcore!" (Clem also told me the other day when we were throwing and catching his soft toy Miffy that it was 'hardcore' so I'm not entirely sure of his definition.)

 Big dead tree across the creek. Charlie thrilled at being in photo for scale.

"I didn't realise it was going to be this much fun," Clem said.
Those clothes and shoes will never be the same again.
One hundred percent worth it.

I hope you've had a happy weekend too!

- Jane x

A match made in Clem-heaven

When your favourite thing to cook is gingerbread bikkies, and your favourite toy is Miffy, does it get any better than Miffy gingerbreads?

Excuse the dry lips

I bought the cutters last year and meant to give them to Clem for Christmas, but put them away 'safely' and forgot. But when he asked to make 'gingers' today I remembered and I wish I had captured the look on his face when he first saw them. Anyway, a success! They are nifty little cutters (that I bought for a ridiculously - like crazily - small amount of money on Amazon or something) where there's a second piece that both makes the print on top and pushes the dough out of the cutter.

Actually, it did get better than just making Miffy Gingers. He 'made a shop' and sold a bunch of them up on the street corner and made five dollars! (Thank you, lovely neighbours.)

- Jane x

jinjs four 20c

I felt like I had a very unproductive day today. The weather lately has been sizzlingly hot, followed by rainy and oppressively humid. (Do not get me started about climate change and our government's environmental crimes and ignorance, grr.)

Today was the first day in ages that would have been nice to get out and do something outdoorsy. And it was Sunday, and Andy left tonight for a week interstate for work. And what did I do? Slept in, mooched about, had a nap on the couch.

Should have:
- gone blackberry picking
- gone for a walk
- cleaned out the shed for hard rubbish
- done some work in the garden
- done some washing
- tried to fix the printer
- made pencil cases with the boys
- oh, you know, stuff.

However, I did help make the scene above happen. We baked and I helped set up the stall. 'Gingers for 20c' (gingerbreads). He made almost $6 and was very chuffed.

And, I suppose that's enough. For today.

- Jane x

Brewing water kefir

Every sewing, chicken-keeping, veggie-growing blogger these days seems to be fermenting something-or-other for all its probiotic goodness. Hello, bandwagon. May I jump on?

I was given some water kefir 'grains' by my sister-in-law, and spent a bit of time Googling up how to deal with them. Kefir grains are a kind of 'SCOBY' (symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast - how I love an opportunity to use the word symbiotic). Apparently the kefir liquid created with these grains is chock-full of beneficial organisms for the digestive system. There's also a different sort of kefir that is done with milk, which I guess is more of a yoghurt type of thing.

I'm so pleased with how it's been going. How's this for a recommendation, it's:

• cheap
• very, very easy
• no waste
• delicious!

Does it get any better than that?

Here's how I have been brewing kefir.

INGREDIENTS:

A ratio of:

1 tablespoon fresh kefir grains (mine came in some sugar-water so I just drained them)
1 tablespoon soft brown sugar
1 cup water, if using tapwater, leave to sit for at least 12 hours to allow chlorine to evaporate
2 - 3 thin slices fresh ginger

I started with about 3 tablespoons of kefir grains and the resulting (roughly) 3 cups of kefir is a great amount to share amongst the five of us in the family.

EQUIPMENT:

1 large glass preserving jar
piece of mesh/tulle to cover top of jar, and a rubber band to hold it on
1 large glass jar or bottle with hinged, airtight lid

METHOD:

In a saucepan, heat a small amount of the water together with all the sugar and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Add the rest of the water to cool it down. When it's no warmer than blood temperature, pour this sugar-water over your fresh kefir grains. Add ginger slices. Cover the jar top with the mesh  (I used a piece of tulle left over from these alien masks!) and allow to ferment at room temperature about 48 hours. That's the kefir grains at the bottom of the jar in the photo below.

Remove ginger slices and drain kefir into the sealable jar. Repeat the sugar-water process with the grains to start brewing your next batch.

Close the lid of the sealable jar and let it sit around 12 hours at room temperature for a second fermentation (a slight fizz will develop). Refrigerate and drink!

With the added ginger the flavour really reminds me of the ginger beer my brother used to brew at home using a ginger beer 'plant' that somehow involved sultanas and, I guess, wild yeast. Yum! The boys all love it and we have a fresh batch available every second day. I have actually noticed a slight similarity in flavour to the yeastiness of Coopers Pale Ale... perhaps that means that a Pale contains beneficial tummy-stuff?? (One can only hope.)

Initially I was using raw sugar but I think the fermentation has been better since I switched to soft brown sugar. The colour looks slightly less appetising though, ha. But check out the fermenty-froth!

From what I have read, the grains like the minerals in richer sugars. Gradually, the grains should multiply. After about a month I have been able to divide my batch in two and share grains with a friend.

Are we feeling healthier? Eh, who knows. I don't want to jinx us by supposing that we've avoided any ills by drinking this. But it's yummy, and fun. And if it's helping our guts, well, that's a bonus.

- Jane x

Sunday night pizza and other odds and ends

- Andy is a pizza-making genius and our Nectre Baker's Oven has been getting a workout, being our main source of winter heating as well as a jolly fine pizza cooker.

- We love Dr Brian Cox and his Wonders Of... series. Dare I say he's the David Attenborough of physics?

- Jasper made a Tardis and Sonic Screwdriver.

- He celebrated turning 11 on the last day of school term by having two friends for a sleepover. They were all so exhausted they actually slept. Parental win!

- The winter grass and weeds are out of control so we're letting the tractors a.k.a. chooks have a bit of fun. Can't make the backyard much messier than it already is.

- Clem wanted to dress up as an artist.

* * *

Life has been madly exhausting. But Andy has recently finished up a few major projects and in the last two weeks (school holidays) I've taken leave from my 'corporate' job to focus on The Drapery and family. At the end of it all I've begun to feel more energised and focused. Today I actually got to the bottom of the washing and sorting pile and decluttered and cleaned an entire room of the house. (Plenty more to go.)

My mind had become a blur, unable to focus on anything except the here and now. The idea of planning anything a week away, let alone a holiday for next year, was causing me intense stress. I've been trying difficult dietary measures to try to help with back pain, eczema and puffy skin when maybe it's just stress-induced.

I've decided something has to give and I am about to resign from that corporate job. It will be some weeks with jobs I have to follow through before I can actually leave. And I will miss the very lovely people there. But now the decision is made, I can feel a weight lifting. Financially it will be tough but I have two tax returns in and we hope to be able to start paying ourselves a small amount from The Drapery fairly soon. I feel my sanity is at stake (not to mention the steadily deteriorating state of our house). It would be nice to spend Sundays doing fun things with my family rather than fighting a losing battle with household mess.

Life, hey? I do feel incredibly lucky though. I'm loving The Drapery and Fiona is the most awesome business partner and we could hardly have asked for a better and more encouraging start. We both just want to pour all our available time and energy into it. Our customers are so darn lovely. Sew-ish, art-ish, craft-ish people are just... the best!

It would be nice to have a bit more time to take photos, reflect on life and blog, too! I'm missing this.

- Jane xx

stuff we've been up to

Busy, busy. Getting the hang of running a shop. Usual family wrangling. Still holding down a part time office job. Husband bouncing from one time-consuming work project to the next. Something might have to give soon but we're all holding up for now!

It's important to me to keep adding to this space as a personal archive of our family's day-to-day and my sewing, and to keep in touch with lovely bloggy friends :) I do so love reading the same kinds of things on the blogs of others so it's up to me to contribute too! And so, on with a bunch of photos - 'random' as Jasper is so fond of calling everything.

That Charlie - not only does he cut his own fingernails, he can now make my lemon poppyseed cake recipe better than I can, and put together Ikea furniture all by himself. Practically a fully-formed human being! 

What else do we have up there... Clem has some new lights on his bedhead thanks to the theatre show Andy has just finished working on. 

Clem built his first real improvised Lego thing, which I was excited about because none of my kids have ever been huge Lego fans, which I admit I find a little disappointing. 

I made a small whole cloth quilt/throw from some gorgeous Nani Iro double gauze, pure wool batting, linen/cotton on the back and perle cotton hand quilting, as a sample for the shop. The cat, and Clem, really rather wanted it to stay at home.

The dress above was made as a sort of shop sample, and also to wear to the opening of Andy's show. I was really pleased with it. My first fully lined dress! Pattern from Ottobre 5/2012, and if you look carefully at the muslin version you can see how I made sure I avoided awkward placement of the dots on the 'proper' fabric (Anna Maria Horner Field Study velveteen). Texta drawn on 'danger spots' while wearing muslin! The only fitting adjustment I made to the pattern was to make the back darts a little deeper and longer. Oh and I omitted the back zip since the muslin went on and off just fine while all sewn up. Win! 

No photo of me wearing the dress... but this post may never happen if I wait for that. Maybe later. I wore it with a skinny black belt on which I attached an old sparkly buckle of my Granny's. Very swish.

Alright, nuff for now. (Crap, with this sort of photos and shorthand commentary seems like I should take up Instagram instead doesn't it! Fortunately I do not possess the technology. I really don't need another internet time vortex in my life. Do you Instagram? Do you like it?)

- Jane x