The last few weeks in photos

I have to touch on the horrible violent event of last week, just to acknowledge it as I post my daily normal-ness here. Sigh. Surely some things must really change? We can't just become numb or put it in the too hard basket can we? It's been occupying my mind a lot. Anyhow. That's not why I'm here right now. Moving on (here, now).

For twelve years in this house we managed with a bathroom that was horribly ugly and became more broken and leaky and damp and nasty until we had about four plumbers standing around looking at pipes and saying it was, really, not worth investigating and mending any further. Hello, dear bank lender....

Now we have a nearly-finished bathroom that is just so luxurious in comparison, despite being only 2.1 x 2.1 metres square, and sure beats the heck out of 'washing' ourselves in the laundry sink as we did for several weeks. It's fabulous. And I have wanted one of those telephone-shower things in the bath for as long as I can remember.

We've picked strawberries and made jam. Clem's drawing and writing has taken off like a rocket since he's been at school. Um, including a lovely picture of 'farmers' on the wall by his bed. And spelling Jasper 'JasB'. He has been running a shop out of his bedroom for a couple of weeks, selling us back our wine collection and his toys and books in exchange for handfuls of buttons. Cute as that may sound, he has been driving us all nuts on the behaviour front at home. We have researched more strategies that include a lot of clear, consistent (and firmly enforced) rules, calm in the face of tantrums, encouragement in self-help skills and chores/responsibilities. It's coming along.

I have sewed a bit, including the 'shorts' (longs) for Clem from Cloud 9 organic Ed Emberley lions and tigers, which I have loved for ages. Also, a dress for me that you can hardly see in the pic above and I really should devote an actual post to because although it's incredibly simple it has been in high, high rotation in our speedily warming summer.

Charlie's been sewing. We have Wanderer caterpillars. A friend and I have been working very hard to set up a new business (more on that, I hope, soon!). You know. Life. 

I hope yours has been safe and happy.

- Jane x

cherries!

It's pick-your-own cherry season! We went to 'Stella Creek' at Forest Range, probably a half-hour drive away and in some of the loveliest hills country. Last time we drove nearby here we saw a country cricket match that could have been straight out of Midsomer Murders. Although perhaps without the mystery gunman hidden in the scoreboard.

We met up with Andy's sister and her little boy Ori (in the blue stripes above with Clem). It was very well-organised and they charged a small entry fee so nobody felt guilty about tasting, and more tasting.
There were more cherries than we could possibly have wished for and we picked nine kilos. Yup. Nine kilos. It was kind of hard to stop... ooh look, but this one's perfect, and this whole branch! And if you pick over three kilos they refund your entry fee so really... we had to, right?

Back home with our nine kilos and some brand new Fowlers Vacola preserving equipment, we dove into the world of bottled fruit.

(The boys had a bit of fun with the foam packing sleeves from the jars.)

The cherries were picked over to eliminate split or spoilt fruit. The chickens had a little cherry feast too.

Fruit was de-stemmed, washed and packed into jars. A simple sugar syrup (2 cups sugar per litre water, heated until well dissolved) was poured over and the seals fitted. Then into the water-filled preserving unit which is electric and self-contained, so we can use it on our outside bench and not heat up the house on hot summer days. After an hour you drain away the water and take out the jars. The clips can come off after a day and the fruit should keep for over a year!

It's much easier than I imagined. I think we might be haunting eBay for a bunch more Fowlers Vacola jars now. I don't think our garden will be yielding enough to bottle much this year but there's always markets and more pick-your-owns. Hooray for cherries and jars!

- Jane x