:: big egg ::

 Phoebe came in from collecting the eggs the other day with wonderment and lots of giggles...

there was definitely something different with one of the eggs...

L to R: bantam egg, regular hen's egg, 'whopper' egg

so she set out to see just how much different...

 Phoebe loves to bake and knows perfectly well that an average hen's egg will weigh approximately 60gm...after a bit of thinking she worked out that this beauty is more than half as big again...

 it was agreed that she would have it sunny-side up for her breakfast and indeed it was a DOUBLE YOLKER!

and a breakfast enjoyed at least one and a half times as much as usual, maybe even twice as much :)

:: walkabout wednesday ::

 

A couple of weeks ago now, we were invited to walk a neighbour's organic farm property with a group of other organic-growing farmers and gardeners in our small local area.

The weather afforded us a very fine, sunny Spring morning and we much enjoyed our morning tea then set out to walk their farm.

 It was interesting to meet the herd of lovely Dexter cows who have the privilege of fresh grass every day or so - yes - there are 30-something paddocks here for these bovine beauties.

It was good to just chat and discover ideas and perhaps solutions to common challenges to working with the land organically.

Like this simple, yet highly effective carrot-raising concept: lay newspaper in an open-ended piece of plastic guttering (in another container to hold the soil/seed-raising mix in), fill with soil/seed-raising mix, sow carrot seed.  When the carrots are big enough to go in the ground - simply dig a suitably-matching small trench in the garden and slide the seedlings directly into the ground, including the newspaper - which will break down - and firm up the sides with soil!

Carrots have been one of my difficult crops...and are notorious for their dislike of being transplanted...I shall definitely be trying this.

And I found it fascinating to notice that our neighbour, who is growing this garlic less than 500m from where we are growing ours, has so much more growth there.  Planted at the same time, I wonder whether their garden is just that much more elevated and sheltered than ours?

The name 'walkabout Wednesday' has been coined and the intention is to walk each others' properties over the coming Spring months.

Heck, it was just great to actually stop working on the land for a morning and go and talk with some real, local people about stuff that really  matters!

:: shelter building news ::

 Spring is definitely in the air in our nook, drifts of pale lemon yellow pine pollen are floating visibly through the much warmer air and leaving sulphuric stains and crusts on everything outside. 

And bees have been busily about their business in the very first plum blossoms. Precious.

 Pruning has all but finished - we have tried to keep to beneficial lunar gardening times for pruning - we are nearly done. Lots of long straight waterspouts here - could be useful...

 The warmth, the pruning and the new-found energy of Spring has propelled me to make a little more push toward completing the shelter house we began with Phoebe. 

While visiting the South Island in the middle of Winter, we went to the Otago Settler's Museum.  There we saw a 'Wattle + Daub' wall panel, rescued from an actual early settler's house and could clearly see how to re-create something similar to help clad our shelter house - adapting it to fit what we'd already created.  It is just like weaving, really, with sticks.

 These are my tools: a decent pair of secateurs and some mean-looking loppers.

They make nice, neat cut-off edges - a bit safer, too - because so many stick-ends could grab!

Inside has had some input, too.  Aaron, Phoebe and one of her cousins who was staying in the holidays borrowed a concrete mixer and the children made the concrete while Aaron did most of the spreading and levelling.

A little embellishment also enhanced the design - a border of marbles, glass gems and stones.

And Olive always watching on, chewing her bones...

:: experimental papermaking ::

 One of the things I really like about how we home educate is the amount of creative time that is available to Phoebe.

 It also leads to one of the things I sometimes don't like...

...unusual surprises that jump out and get me when opening her curtains in the morning - or should I say fall off the windowsill where they have been carefully perched and onto the floor...

 

...this time it was a lovely batch of ripped up paper and other assorted ingredients, quietly experimentally percolating on the windowsill and - a nice surprise - it was something dry AND solid - Phoebe's first PAPER! (HaHa - is what she then wrote :) )

Heartened by this paper success, Phoebe and I are researching further how to make more paper from our waste paper around the home - looks like she's ready to make her own mesh screen and deckle and commandeer our old blender!

:: spinning with wilma ::

Phoebe using her left hand to set the wheel in motion in the correct direction

 Last Thursday we were given a wonderful gift by a lady very generous with her time and knowledge - the gift of learning about fleece and making yarn or wool.  We were both brave enough to tackle the wooden spinning wheel and pitch our feet, hands and eyes against this seemingly complicated task!

carefully feeding in the soft, delicate fleece sliver

 As the wheel is spinning (powered by the foot on the pedal), one hand is helping spread the fibres and the other is making sure it is feeding in not too fast, not too slow...not an easy job for the beginner!

With her back to the warmth of the Winter sun pouring in the window, Phoebe mastered the art of gently teasing diaphanous fibres into a neatly twisted and strong yarn.  Foot up and down, up and down, both hands working together, eyes carefully overseeing.

And here is the result on the bobbin - some lovely natural wool - a single ply, which we could ply together with another strand and we would have our first yarn!

me encouragingly looking on, on the table Wilma had displayed her wool and associated tools to show us

Thank you Wilma - it was such a special time for us to begin learning with you - much appreciated :)

:: earnest crafting ::

my creations

Visiting a friend and fellow-Taruna student recently, Phoebe spied some magical little people nestled into her 'Seasonal Table' - it was a Winter Family, a Father, a Mother and a babe in a crib..."Can we make some, puleeeeease?" came the request almost as we walked back in the door at home.

I truly thought I'd done pretty well at 1) remembering how to make these wondrous wool felt dolls and 2) the creating of them.  We were taught how to make them while on the Course in Rudolf Steiner Education, last year at Taruna College.  I'd made about three at the time and thought that was a skill embedded in my cranium and finger tips forever, however time passes...

Phoebe's creations

What was remarkable was Phoebe's effort she put into making the same figures - these above and below are all of her own making. 

also Phoebe's creations - with fine detail - baskets, aprons with flowers on, wrapped braids...

I was fairly taken aback at her persistence to learn how to make them in totality and the rapid expression of her newly learned skill - in total she made 8 figures and at the beginning I showed her every single step, until on the final few she made them each, entirely herself.

And then, there is the hot water bottle cover -she was inspired to make her own, after I'd set out to make us a family set...one of the cut covers just disappeared, along with the child,to her bedroom for a portion of the day...listening to something Roald Dahl, I believe...

Again, more "Mother-incredulousness" as I witnessed her stitch away completely free-form - she had a picture she liked and just began embroidering as if drawing - wonderful!

Lady Vermillion

Those small hands are capable of very crafty business! 

:: flower petal rag rug (something I've been meaning to make for ages!) ::

These past couple of days I've been working away at this mat. My energies probably could have been spent more productively, perhaps.  There is a project I really do need to be working on.

 But this sewing project grabbed me.  I've been meaning to make one of these mats for ages, you see.  Since I first saw similar mats in a holiday place in Fiji...in 2003...10 years ago!

Before I can mobilise my energies for the other project that I really do need to be attending to, I appear to have 'needed' to craft and craft and craft...

I think what I'm actually doing is the rumination and 'turning over of' in my mind what I'm about to dig into that I really do need to attend to (-you know - that other thing)...

 And in a way, creating this mat, tidies up a lot of fabric scraps into something lovely and useful.  Scraps from items of clothing I've made for Phoebe, curtains for her room, dolls clothes, op shop finds - like the, ahem, "contrasting" retro curtaining for the backing...lots of memories...

quite randomly-shaped pieces were cut - I quite like a project like this - completely freeform

and spiralling ever inward, just like my thoughts and feelings as I sew...turning over memories and imagining new ones to come out there in the future...

....is now!