It's the school holidays here, and for now, the sun is shining. Kind of. We are expecting heavy rains again in the next few days, so while the sun is shining I have been trying to catch up with washing and opening up the yurt to the warm sun to chase away the damp that seems to seep into every nook and cranny.
With the changing of the seasons, we have a few chores to tackle. I need to go through everyone's wardrobes and take stock of what clothing they have and what they might need for the coming winter. I also need to deep clean the boys' loft with them. If I were to do these myself, they wouldn't be long jobs. But instead, I get the boys to lead and I come after them and help if needed. This means the jobs take forever and require a certain level of patience.
There is also Grant's volunteer giant pumpkin overtaking my little garden near the door. I'm pretty sure it's not the right season for it but Grant wanted to let it grow out of curiosity and the thing has become an absolute monster. He has since become oddly attached to his feral pumpkin plant, and invested in seeing if the pumpkins will ever mature. He gives me regular updates on how many pumpkins it's attempting to sprout and how much more of the garden it's taking over. I, in turn, have been turning a blind eye to it strangling out my little garden because seeing his amusement at something so simple has in turn been deeply entertaining. But it's attempting to set fruit in my crape myrtle and squashing it, so today it will meet my snips.
All of this is from growth came from one wild plant, probrably dropped from the compost bin.
Everything is a bit beaten after the endless rain and removing the pumpkin vine which was strangling everything out. I have planted a few punnets of greens and flowers to hopefully fill in the gaps again. The pumpkin has been left to do it’s thing on the other side of the fence. I only removed it from my garden bed.
We are thankfully over covid now and fully recovered, though the tiredness lingered on for quite a while.
I'm also happy to share that Grant is very happy with his new job as a farm manager for a local dairy. He doesn't help with milking as onsite staff do that. Instead, he looks after machinery, fencing, pasture, feeding and rotating the cows, calving, overseeing the staff and other general farm duties. His boss is a lovely fellow who cares about his employees, pays a fair wage and Grant gets to do what he loves. It is the happiest I have seen him in a long time.
We feel like we can begin to breathe again. There are desperately needed car parts ordered and on the way, and we have been able to purchase some timber needed for the bug shed roof which will bring a much-needed income stream when finished. We are cutting it fine to get the woodies in the new, heated bug shed before winter really hits but all we can do is our best. We also have an improved payment plan for school fees. All in all, I'm beginning to feel a renewed sense of hope about life here, which I confess had begun to disappear in recent times.
Easter was a simple affair. Grant worked good the Friday and Monday public holidays because farming doesn't stop, but he was happy to have Saturday and Sunday off with us. We attended church on Sunday, and I was incredibly proud of Will who was invited to do one of the easter readings on stage. At 14 he is becoming such a lovely young man. There were hot cross buns for breakfast, an Easter egg hunt and my parents, as they do every year, sent money for winter PJs for each of the children which they were all thrilled with. There was a lovely chicken roast dinner on Sunday night and there's been an excessive daily consumption of chocolate since.
Will doing one of the Easter readings.
Opening their PJs from grandparents.
As usual, I turned the bones into broth, left them to simmer on the Aga for 12hrs and made a big batch of chicken soup. I have always made a very traditional western chicken soup if you will. Sauteed onion, celery, carrot and garlic, broth, other assorted soup veggies, thyme, parsley and risoni or another type of soup pasta. But since becoming coeliac, I'm yet to find a gluten-free soup noodle that fills the same flavour/consistency.
The last couple of times I have made chicken soup, I have been channelling the Chinese chicken and corn soup I loved to get when we occasionally ate out in Chinese restaurants when I was a child. It's a simple but delicious recipe, seasoned with gluten-free soy, sesame oil, fish sauce and a dash of oyster sauce. Thickened with cornflour and egg whites slowly poured in at the end. I think it might become my go-to chicken soup over the coming winter. I often do a simple clear Asian soup with broth, noodles, veggies and maybe chicken or whatever meat I have on hand, with coriander, chilli and spring onion sprinkled on top, but this Chinese chicken and corn soup somehow feels heartier. It's an absolute hit with the children, especially Henry as he loves corn. However, I think I need to purchase some Asian ceramic spoons I loved to use as a child, just to make it that little bit more special. We don't get to eat out often as not only is it expensive to feed a family our size, my strict gluten-free requirements can make it a little tricky. I'd really like to get better at creating these kinds of memorable traditions at home.
This is the link for the recipe I used as a base for the soup. It's a simple recipe that easily lends itself to tweaking. If you're wondering what to do with the spare egg yolks, I make a simple egg custard for dessert while the soup is simmering. This is the recipe for the Chinese corn soup with chicken.
I hope you have had a lovely easter dear readers, and that this post finds you well.
Much love,
Emma
xx
