I received a lovely surprise from my dear friend Sally from JembellaFarm last week in the form of beautiful homemade shortbread, a letter and a
copy of Grass Roots in the mail. The
biscuits were made with butter from Lavender and they were utterly
delicious. It was like receiving a
little piece of home and on Friday night Grant and I sat with a mug of tea
each, the boys each had a cold cup of milk.
Together we savoured every mouthful.
(I'm a such a Nanna, I know. But
I embrace my Nanna like tendencies with gusto!)
I am a little homesick for my lovely old cottage and dear friend and familys, but I know things will get easier with time and as we set up 'home' here.
For now though, there is plenty of very simple comfort food for all of us. This was Friday night’s dinner, homemade
cheesy pasta. One of the boys very
favourite meals and it's quick and easy to make. It is
clearly lacking vegetables aside from the onion and garlic in the sauce, but
fruit and yoghurt for dessert make up for that I reckon. Food has such power to bring comfort, aid connection and remind us of what truly matters. I genuinely belive we need to spend more time sitting about eating together, listening, talking and connecting with eachother. A meal doesnt have to be fancy nor complex to bring comfort. Chicken broth when someone is unwell, home made pizza eaten whilst watching a movie together, cheesy pasta after a long week when everyone is tired. Simple meals that are eaten during certain times over the years begin to weave comforting memories that reside within our hearts.
I'm aching to put down roots here.
I miss the little old cottage, friends and family, my bed, my kitchen
and the simplicity of reliable internet.
It is all part of the transition of course, but it is unglamerous and hard.
I'm trying to distract myself by researching things we need, planning
gardens, writing and reading books. In the aim of distracting me Grant patiently dragged a couple of big hardwood logs that were
lying on the property into a place to create a border for our first, rather
large veggie bed. We covered it with
black plastic he salvaged from work for free.
the plastic will help to rot the pasture then we will collect some
manure, turn it all over to loosen it up after years of compaction from grazing
and get planting. I may even splash out
and buy some seedlings as well as planting seeds. It feels good to be beginning to put down
roots both literally and figuratively. We may not have a house, or a proper kitchen, but we can still begin to put down roots. A home is many things.
In my various planning and researching, I came across this beauty for sale.
Yep, an actual wood burning Aga, in beautiful working order. She has been meticulously maintained by her
previous owners who bought her new years ago.
But the thing with a wood burning Aga is that the technology has not
changed a lot. They were well built then just as they are today and should be a pleasure to cook with. The original owners were getting older and
after they had some health problems, they sold their farm of 20 years. The couple who bought the farm are renovating
the home to suit their needs and the Aga simply didn't fit in with their
lifestyle. They thought it was best it
was used by someone who would love it and so she has come to us. She will do the cooking, heating and hot
water in our yurt during the cooler months and we will install an outdoor
kitchen for the summer months. For $1700
it was a wonderful find and will be a huge asset to helping us set up our
off-grid life here at the farm. Buying a
new Aga would never have been in our budget, so I was beyond thrilled to find
this and the sellers were lovely too. It will never cease to amaze me what you can find second hand. It is always worth being patient planning and researching in advance.
Much love,
Emma
xx
