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Country Life Experiment

Simple Country Living

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Miscellaneous

It’s hard to believe, but we are already up to planning next summer’s garden. Seed catalogues are being studied. With the house renovation taking up all our spare time, our vegetable plot has been sorely neglected and we have even had to buy vegetables this winter (!!). We do have some kale and broccoli coming on, but that is it! Now that the extension is finished, CB is eager to get his hands back into the soil. The dirt around the house has been dug up and trampled by the building, so we need to put in new paths and work out where to put garden beds. It’s a good thing CB and I like a project.

We are slowly getting the farmhouse into order. We’ve had several trips to IKEA to buy wardrobes for two of the bedrooms. We need another trip to get some bookcases for the hallway. I want bookcases with glass doors to protect the books from the dust that seems to accumulate quickly with the fire going. So far we are loving all the light that flows through our windows, and the warmth of the whole house. We are still very much working out how to live in the space.

My parents bought down a big bag of oranges picked from their orange trees on the weekend. They remind me of my childhood. Every winters night growing up we had freshly squeezed orange juice for dinner. It was always my job to do the squeezing. I might have to introduce Hannah and Meg to the art of making orange juice while we have all these fresh oranges to use up.

Since finding my wool stash, I’ve hit crochet with a vengeance. I didn’t realise how much I missed it. I’m working on a multicoloured hexagon blanket at the moment and whenever I need a little break I grab my hook and knock out another hexagon. It’s so soothing and relaxing. Of course, once school goes back I will have less time to spend on it, but right now I’m loving it.

Since moving back, I’ve also got back into cooking again. A little more time and a kitchen that is enticing have me making and baking more often. As we moved in, we rediscovered things that were squirrelled away in the back of the freezer, so I’m doing my best to cook it all up. With school holidays upon us, there are also ravenous mouths to feed. I’ve made this chocolate sour cherry tart to take to church, together with this pulled pork and coleslaw (I just skipped the rolls part). I’ve also trotted out these chocolate oat cookies, and the kids have made jam drops. Yep lots of cooking, and in our new spacious kitchen, it is nothing but a pleasure!

We have been spending the holidays at home. Working out where to put furniture and the like. Despite a smooth build, the renovation has been a stressful time in our lives, so the chance to rest and decompress is exactly what we needed. With sun pouring in the windows, and a cosy warm house, it’s impossible not to feel relaxed.

What has been happening around your place lately?

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Comments

  1. Casey says

    July 23, 2017 at 4:09 pm

    After recently moving to the country, I stumbled across your blog and am absolutely loving your posts!

    Reply
    • Jo@CountryLifeExperiment says

      July 23, 2017 at 9:39 pm

      Hi Casey,
      Welcome, and thanks for your kind words! 🙂

      Reply
  2. Alexa-asimplelife says

    July 12, 2017 at 7:28 pm

    As you stated …You have chosen the best for holidays….time to decompress. Perfect .

    Alexa-asimplelife

    Reply

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Hi, I’m Jo

I'm a city girl turned farmer's wife, school teacher, ideas woman, and mum to three country kids. Country Life Experiment is all about simple country living, growing and making our own food, and life on our family farm in rural Australia. Join me as I give country living a try. Read more...
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Team work makes the dream work. We were asked rec Team work makes the dream work. 
We were asked recently whether we “make” our kids work on the farm. The answer is “of course not”. Having said that, all three love to help out whenever they can. They all work hard because they want to; because they take pride in working hard and contributing in a meaningful way to our family life; because they love living on our farm and don’t remember life before we moved here. Whether it be planting trees or doing sheep work or feeding animals, they all want to be involved. As a parent, nothing is better than watching them grow in skill and confidence as they work along side you. We’re so glad that we get to spend time with our three, working together.
We’ve had an unexpected addition to the family ☘️🐑. She is a lot easier to look after than the other family members but she does try to escape her yard and head butt people. Poddy lambs are super cute but they tend to think they are a human. Clover the lamb is sure that Meg is her mum. Can’t think why… 🤔🤣
The perfect way to end a long winter weekend: toge The perfect way to end a long winter weekend: together, cooking damper around the remains of the bonfire.
It’s been a tough few weeks on the farm. We got It’s been a tough few weeks on the farm. We got through shearing without a hitch (thankfully 🙏) but we’ve had a run of the flu followed by Covid run through the family since then. The kids and I have tested positive (this is my second time getting it 🦠) though so far C has managed to avoid it. There has been a lot of lying on the couch feeling pretty ordinary. Han had to reschedule her driving test for a 4th time due to Covid, which is disappointing for her because she wants her freedom and for us because it would be so much more convenient if she could drive herself places. Just to add in to the mix, our hot water system has chosen now as a good time to die so we’re on cold showers until we’re all out of iso. This is not meant to be a whinging post but sometimes life just sucks a bit and it’s good to be real. Fortunately, the sight of the fire going with a stack of wood next to it cheers us up. Things will improve soon. Onwards we go…
A picture perfect Autumn afternoon to end the scho A picture perfect Autumn afternoon to end the school holidays. We’ve been busy spending time with friends and family, harvesting the last of the summer produce, as well as a short escape to explore the big smoke. After the craziness of last term it was the break we all needed. It’s back to school for me tomorrow, and the kids are back on Wednesday. Shearing starts soon and so it’s all systems go over the next few weeks.
Covid has made some late changes to our weekend pl Covid has made some late changes to our weekend plans so we are embracing the unexpected and doing not much at home. Plenty of time for hanging out on the dam and enjoy the perfect weather.

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Hi, I’m Jo

City girl turned farmer's wife, school teacher, ideas woman, and mum to three country kids. Country Life Experiment is all about simple country living, growing and making our own food, and life on our family farm in rural Australia. Join me as I give country living a try. Read more...
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