I'm sitting here bleary eyed, hair standing on end on my first cup of coffee for the morning thinking about what I have to do this morning before I see my extended family for a belated Christmas. Its going to be a scorcher of a day....42C.
I have recently started growing a medicinal herb patch, its small and missing plenty but its a start. I have a couple of types of mint, rosemary, lavender, st Johns wort, yarrow, lemon balm, camomile, thyme, oregano, basil, fennel, marjoram, chives, coriander, parsley, garlic, chilli, sage. Then strawberries and some leafy greens, spring onions and leeks. We have big veggie beds that are resting at the moment and full of manure rotting away for a big autumn planing. We need to grab some pea straw to speed the process up. The soil was poor in them due to many years of neglect prior to us and we are still building it up.
I'm resisting the urge to plant more not as we are in the middle of summer here and soft herbs are likely to get burnt. I'm looking forward to doing a Diggers order for some of the things I can't source in my local nursery in autumn once the weather cools a little. There is little point doing much more then maintenance in January - not great value for money to start planting now as there are too many losses. I love having a herb garden, I love being able to nip out the door and grab bits of this and that for salads, soups and meals. I'm going to water it in just a few minutes. Then we need to stake some shade cloth over it before the sun hits it.
The boys are already outside playing making the most of the mild morning before it heats up. Sorry neighbors!! Its only just 7am......
Gosh I'm tired. I was up late last night finishing the clothing for the Waldorf dolls I made for my nieces, I love them and cant wait to see their little faces when they open them! They are made to look like my nieces. One has Japanese heritage so her doll has olive skin, black mohair and dark brown almond eyes and the other has light brown hair and beautiful brown eyes. Each doll is about 14", the hair is crocheted from hand dyed mohair, body made from the best quality Swiss tricott and they are stuffed with pure Aussie wool. Some of the fabrics for the clothing are from my local quilting shop which I LOVE and others are vintage/given to me by friends. Their clothing is only simple, as I figure I can give them more outfits/accessories for their dolls for their birthdays this year. That and I totally ran out of time......
Here are the dolls "Meeka" is the dark haired girl in pink for my all things pink and pretty loving niece and "Rosie" is the light brown haired girl for my niece who loves red. The overalls on "Rosie" are reversible and have lady bugs on the other side which is a fabric she chose.
I love handcrafted items, I love the skill, love, time and simpleness of them. There is a real unique beauty of them and I try hard to make something or source something locally made if possible when gift giving. I love supporting the little guys. We know how hard it is from personal experience to run a family owned general store and post office with "The Big 5" giants and their cut throat prices so I love taking the extra time to find the small people and buy off them. I also have two nephews, one we bought a beautiful hand crafted wooden digger from a local fellow and then some Lego for the other. I don't mind Lego - its a good quality classic toy and will be played with for many, many years. My mum I bought a tree decoration from our local nursery and a lovely glass bead necklace made by a local woman. Dad I'm not sure....My brother bought his as a joint gift - I did know but I have forgotten now!
Anyway my first coffee is done, second in my hand and my garden is calling....well the watering is....Grant has leapt enthusiastically out of bed (I'm not joking......he is nearly always cheerful.....) as I let him have a lay in this morning and bugging me for company. Cloth nappies are nearly finished washing and this sun will do them good today. Time to face the day!
xx
