My Hometown

I like where we live. 

Its a small community filled with such a diverse range of people. 

From farmers to professional types to families with children.

The love of my town and the love of making stuff has had me working on a secret project!

It was something I had contemplated.

And contemplated some more.

I spent time talking to my friends and neighbours about it. 

And I contemplated.

 Then with a bit of encouragement from a friend (thanks Chelle!) 

I decided to go ahead.....  I wanted to organise a market in our town. 

Sounds easy doesn't it? 

It took about 6 months of wading through red tape and paperwork.

Yes. 6 months.

But we did it! I can happily and proudly (and with some relief!) announce that the picturesque apple growing town of Harcourt will now have its own market! A market full of hand made, home grown goodness! 

What do you like to buy at Markets??

Jacq :)

Time for a catch up?

My brother got married! ( I took all the photos! argh!)

Dirt Girl turned 8!    8!!!

We took some girls camping to celebrate.....

We took an overnighter to the beach for Robs Birthday..

It rained

But it was fun and funny

Planted some a lot of beetroot, someone else is enjoying them too?

Lettuce seeds planted

Tomatos too (with a nice little cover for the nights to save them from frost)

Bird watching. One of Zaras gifts was a HUGE book called 'What bird is that?' we identified this lovely one as a red browed finch, extremely common :)

Important holiday business

The luxury of time on school holidays

I like to call this one 'The Reluctant Walker' thats the boy, not the dog :)


What a whirl wind few weeks! But the future is all relaxing and sewing, well for the most part!
We will be at The Castlemaine Artists Market on the 7th of October for our first market for the spring. How is your spring going along? Do you have a great spurt of birthdays at this time too??

I am linking in with Squiggly Rainbows garden journal this week.


Jacq :)

~Tuesday~

“We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.”
― T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets

 

all taken at http://www.montsalvat.com.au/

We have had a wonderful beginning to spring here, some sunny days to shake away those winter blues (although I do know there is more rain coming) ...

A tiny Silver Eye (?) eating some stale bread

Oh how we love passionfruit!

The potato plot

How is this for an awesome fence! whats even better is that its recycled packaging! I was very honored when someone thought of me when they saw it, thinking it would make a lovely fence for my garden :)

All ready to go now, I think? I just need to watch those pesky frosts....

Linking in with Squiggly Rainbow

How is your garden growing?

Hello from Lazy Land

I am so non productive of late. 

Cold. Tired. Ambivalent. Messy.

I wish spring would come along to boot some spring into me!

I think its coming, I see some blossom on a neighbours tree .....

Still pottering along on the vegie garden. 

We were out and about with the trailer so decided to grab a load of nice soil even though I am not finished with the extra digging or the fence....

Thanks to my awesome husband I now have some bags of horse poo waiting to be dug in. Such a wonderful gift to bring home for your wife! (I was so excited!)

Fingers crossed for a sunny day on Sunday to get those last jobs done so I can move on to planting and guarding from the snails! 

I know they are in the bushes under the dragon tree, just waiting to make that journey over the path to vegie garden goodness!

Mary Mary quite contrary 

How does your garden grow??

(I get that nursery rhyme stuck in my head after every Thursday garden post, so I have typed it in an effort to let it out and stop bouncing about in my brain)

Linking up with Squiggly Rainbow

Jacq :)

another weekend comes and goes

I love a good adventure.

Taking three children to a busy big city market is a BIG adventure for this country Mama!

For the first hour or so I felt as though my head was on a swivel....trying to keep track of who was where as they became distracted by something new and interesting. Thankfully after a little while the crowd died down, the kids got tired and I relaxed a little making for a much more relaxed day.

It really was a lovely day, some shopping, plenty of browsing, lots of walking and of course hot jam doughnuts. 

Rob and I look forward to hitting the deli section....cheese and meats high on our agenda (King Island Brie, a huge chunk of parmesan, super hot salami and a load of scotch fillet steaks amoungst our booty) with just a look at some things for sale like the baby octopus that the kids thought was really gross! But we did lash out and get some new things we hadn't tried before..stuffed peppers, salmon rolls, stuffed mushrooms...and so I have discovered that I don't really like salmon that much!

And of course a trip through the organic fruit and veg section for some supplies for the week.

and those doughnuts!! Very sweet and yummy. I did briefly think that I could make them at home before realising that would probably be a very bad idea! Doughnuts anyone?? nom nom nom......!!

I hope there was a little adventure in your weekend too, feel free to tell us all about it!

Avalon has a new hobby. Photobombing!

Jacq :)

Thursday Garden Journal

Well its not a very spectacular update today.

While I was digging the posts for our garden I discovered that it would have been far more sensible to extend the edge of the garden a couple of feet over, right up to the concrete, if I didn't I would be left with a trip of coochy dirt to contend with.....

'I'll just dig that bit out' I said to myself

Hours and hours later....

This is all I had achieved!

I found that much stuff in there! carpet, hoses, plant pots, pruning shears, more plant pots, old metal pipes...a spoon....and of course cooch....all in that little strip!

It was slow progress which stopped me from any other more interesting jobs! 

But on a happier garden note, these are some of my very ordinary Hellebores that I am 'collecting'. I have been trying to fill a small area with them but they are expensive. I only buy them when they are a bargin, at markets etc. Aren't they just a beautiful burst of cheeriness in winter?

One last picture I wanted to share with you was from this mornings sunrise.. spectacular!

“Like a red morn that ever yet betokened,

Wreck to the seaman, tempest to the field,

Sorrow to the shepherds, woe unto the birds,

Gusts and foul flaws to herdmen and to herds.”

~Shakespere

joining in with Rach from Squiggly Rainbow

How is your garden going? Any signs of spring yet??

Jacq :)

:: Happiness ::

What is happiness? 

Where does it come from?

Are we ever completely happy? 

Is it possible?

As I get older I think I am starting to see what happy is. It would never have been possible to see when I was young. I am getting close to 40 now (......oh crap) surely some of that wiseness that comes with age should come soon, yeh?

I think there are different levels of happiness, different sorts go into different categories. 

The instant happiness...for example.... ohhhh chocolate YUMMY!! or OMGosh check out those shoes and I can afford them! Oh what a beautiful flower in my garden!

The medium happiness - the kind that comes from when your days go smoothly, no cars breakdown or washing machines flood the laundry. Your plans are slowing working their way to fruition.

And the the large happiness that comes from having great relationships with your husband, children, family and friends. A home that safe and warm. 

But, just because you have one type of happiness in your life doesn't mean you really feel it?

I am starting to see you need a blend of all 3 varieties. 

I think this is how people become envious of others and their happinesses (I might have made that word up!)...She has a great house and a drop dead sexy husband so she has the life, but not necessarily so. Her days may be agonisingly boring and she is miserable. 

But to make it even more complicated I think we have to make the choice to be happy. That's not as easy as it sounds.

I have been contemplating the last few years of my life. They have been rough. Could I have made them easier if I had chosen happiness over sadness?

Instead of mourning the loss of a dear man I only got to love for a short time, could I have rejoiced that I had the chance to be his daughter even if it wasn't for long?

When my new husband had a stroke, could I have felt happiness that he survived rather than the sorrow I did feel?

There are so many pieces of the happiness life puzzle, an edge piece here that fits well, a turn of this piece, moving another piece...is the picture of the puzzle right for you?

So I think that life is all about choosing how we see things, how we react. Tweaking the pieces that don't quite fit, finding little bits of all the types of happiness that can be found in our lives, being patience and calm while your figuring out your picture.....

I had a very happiness day today with all the variety of happinesses...

A visit to the Echuca winter blues festival

A visit to the Holden Museum to look at some beautiful cars

This one was my favourite, I used to drive a red HJ panelvan....pre kids of course!

The new and the old

yummies at Beechworth Bakery in Echuca

All with one of my biggest happinesses! 

We did also visit the market of my friend Cath   Little Birdy Markets but of course I was so busy looking at all the handmade goodness I forgot to take pictures.....!!

So I declare today a happiness success!

What are your thoughts? What makes you happy?

Jacq :)

(BTW I have purposely left out any reference to children and their affect on our happiness, thats just way to complicated!!)

 

Thursday Garden Journal

Vegie Garden Update! 

Well the man with the digger came and dug. He left us with a wonderful clean slate AND we found nice soil underneath all that crappyness!

Avalon and I worked really hard digging post holes together.

 I was so proud of her, she was a great help and it was so very lovely to spend some time with her without the other 2 cherubs ( One nicked off to a friends place and the other moaned about it all so much he went inside to read!)

So the posts are nearly all done, just a couple more to do this weekend. Then we will use wire between them in an effort to keep the dog out ( I am sure he would love to sleep in there!) 

Our rock wall is starting to fall apart which is a shame, I rather like it, so we will have to do something to try and repair it, or rather, Rob will! We did have to replace one whole spot with a board because it wasn't repairable, so we decided to hang our 'used to be a bedhead' gate up there hoping to make it look less patchwork.

So my plan now is to finish the fence and gate this weekend (but I think its meant to rain the whole 2 days!!) then we can bring the new soil in the weekend after that then hopefully some planting sometime after that!! Of course, we need to move in Mr Gnome who is waiting patiently for his garden to be finished!

The kids think we should only plant tomatos, cucumber and lettuce......no beans! ever! 

I say no silverbeet YUCK!!

What do you/would you plant??

I am joining in with Squiggly Rainbow and her Thursday Garden Journal. Thanks Rach!

Jacq :)

I have made a few etsy updates today too, one in particular is the Advent Calendar we have talked about in the past  xo

A weekends worth

Well Saturday was nice,  strolled about our local market chatting to all the people etc, would have taken some spectacular photos except.. yes, no memory card in the camera AGAIN! I was pretty peeved, those cameras are heavy to carry around along with all your vegies and other yummy goodies!!

That leaves us with Sunday

mmm pancakes for breakfast/lunch!

Working on that garden all day!.....
I love my fence posts...
.not so much the digging of the holes! 

How was your weekend??

Jacq :)

Thursday Garden Journal

I am joining in with Squiggly Rainbow this Thursday for my Garden Journal....its very cool timing actually. I can start this journal with the very beginning of my vegie patch!

Here is the bed, it has a lovely stone wall around it which you can't quite see.....All the crap will be dug out of it tomorrow, ready for some nice soil to go in!

Exciting!!

Happy Friday!

cleaning your sewing table is classed as housework....right??

Have a great weekend!

No rain here!

This holidays the days have been all clear and blue skys so far, although they have been a bit chilly!

So, we crafted :) 

Avalon looked through all the Alphabet Glue e-mags and chose the tiny box with the accordion book.  We made....heaps!

We used scrapbook paper from my stash....

Used the 'chopper' but you could easily do it with scissors

A little snip here and there.....

Reading those instructions.....

Finished!

A hidey place for secrets....

I made a few too ;)

..... the mess!

I love going to crafty blogs, but they can be intimidating in the way that everything looks perfect and magical and effortless, which can make us mere mortals feel less than awesome!....so I hope to remember to post a 'reality' type photo with anything we make...this is what it all looked like when we were done!

 But I can happily type that no tantrums were chucked during the making of these boxes even after I measured a couple heap in a row wrongly, you can see them all in a pile in the last photo

  (they WERE pretty easy actually! I was just being daft!)

Next Zara wants to make bug keeper boxes ...stay tuned!

If you're interested in getting Alphabet Glue for your family just click on the little picture on the side bar >>   it will take you to the website!

What kind of stuff do you do in the holidays?

Jacq :)