Baking

I like to make my own food from scratch. Being gluten intolerant has been a challenge but it has increased my knowledge of what is in our packaged food. I grind most of my own flour from organic brown rice and buckwheat. It is so good to know exactly what we are eating.

Banana date and spinach muffins

Yesterday I made savoury and sweet muffins. I only keep a few out and freeze the rest. Then just take out one or two as we want them. It's just too temping to have them sitting in the cake tins. I also made a batch of lemon cordial for PH. I'm slowly getting him off diet cola. He also scored a nice thick custard. Busy day!

 Lemon cordial

Tomorrow we are going to Sydney for a couple of days. We're celebrating our anniversary and decided to do something special. It will be our first trip from the Granite Belt. Where we lived on the  Gold Coast we were 15 minutes from the airport. Now we are 3 to 4 hours away, depending on traffic and coffee stops. Can't have everything.

Thank you for reading my blog. It's so lovely to read your comments.

Beautiful Birds

Since moving to our small acreage we have been entertained by a large variety of wild birds. I was so excited to see my favourite King Parrots as well as Eastern and Crimson Rosellas. There are lots of small finches and honeyeaters too. Unfortunately we seem to have misplaced our Bird book in the move so have no idea what most of them are.

A pair of King Parrots

Eastern Rosellas in the Peach Tree

Our two favourite birds are "The odd Couple " as we have named them. We have been watching them come and go for the past few months. Sometimes they are with a few other Crimson Rosellas but mostly just hanging out doing their own thing.

Our beautiful Odd Couple 

We also have Magpies who delight us with there beautiful songs. The Currawongs love our Juniper Berries and have been feasting on them lately.

There is no early morning bathing for our feathered friends. Below 0 temperatures every morning so it takes a while for the  ice in the bird bath to thaw.

Rock sitting on solid ice in the bird bath

Our family of Wood ducks have not been around this week. I hope to get some photos of their new babies soon.

Would love to hear about the bird life in your neck of the woods.

Water

One of the main challenges of moving to the country is the lack of water. It's no longer turn on the tap and out it comes. We have to think of how much is left in the house tanks and dam.

When we arrived in February our two house tanks were full but the dam was very low. The dam is used for the orchid and gardens. Unfortunately because of an extreme hot spell we lost most of our fruit. It just fell off the trees with the leaves. At the end of March we got a little of the aftermath of cyclone Debbie which refilled the dam and topped up the tanks.

Since then not much rain has fallen and the dam is now looking very low.  If it gets much lower we won't be able to pump. I'd hate to loose our fruit again this year.

Just teasing us

To help conserve the water in our house tanks we take much shorter showers. I also put a bucket in the shower and use that water on my pot plants.

I'm so glad we put in the raised waterwise garden beds. All the veggies are looking happy and healthy.

Peas and Snow Peas

Spinach

Hopefully we will get some rain in September. I'd love to know how you manage your water in dry times.

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog.

Sunday Drives

When I was a child most Sunday afternoons were spent driving around Brisbane. Sometimes we'd go to Wynnum, where if I was really lucky I'd get a pony ride or in summer a swim in the big pool that was fed from the bay. Those memories are very special to me.

I'd love to see this old tradition come back into our busy lives. It's a lovely time for getting out and about in your neighbourhood or further afield. To connect with family and nature.

For the past few Sundays we have been exploring our new area. Last Sunday we headed south on a back road and came to Boonoo Boonoo (pronounced Bunner Boonoo) National Park. What a magical place.

I wonder what happened here

It was a beautiful day and the scenery was spectacular.

Platypus Creek

At the falls Lookout

Morgan's Gully

Dirt road though the forest

What a beautiful and relaxing way to end the weekend. I hope you enjoyed a Sunday Drive too.

I'd love to hear about the places you visited.

Spring

Spring is full of distractions. Every morning I wake up get dressed and think about all the things I want to achieve that day. So many jobs need to be done in the house and I promise myself I'll stay inside and get them done. Then I make a coffee and just go out to check on my gardens. Three hours later I come in exhausted and starving. So, what happens?

The peach trees and in blossom and covered in bees. I love looking at the magic of buds waiting to burst open.  I check on all my fruit trees to see if they need watering. PH bought me a moisture metre and it is wonderful. Plants I think need watering are actually quite moist so I can save that water for the ones that really need it. I then check my veggies and seedlings and give them a drink. Of course I need to transplant the orange tree and plant out a couple of natives. The last above ground bed is waiting for my strawberry plants. Better do that too.

And there goes my morning. I'll hang out my washing and get started on the Lemon syrup and prepping for dinner. Maybe make another batch of banana muffins for afternoon tea. I think the dusting and vacuuming will wait until tomorrow.

Country Life

Today marks six months since PH and I embarked on this great adventure .

It's been a busy six months so much has happened both here and with our family.

There has been our daughters wedding, the sale of our Gold Coast home, helping our son and daughter inlaw move into their bus (yes bus). It seems every time we get settled at home we're off on another trip to the Gold Coast. As it takes four hours each way we find it very tiring and need a day to get over the drive. 

Here life has been slower the winter has come and almost gone.

We have put in four above ground waterwise garden beds as well as reconfigured the old veggie patch into three long beds with paths in-between. I've pruned all of our fruit trees and planted a new three way apple tree, a hazelnut tree and two new table grape vines. The old vines are pruned and waiting for the new spring growth.

In the house nothing much has changed. I still look at pink walls and vertical blinds. The odd packing box still sits in the corner and paintings lay against the wall waiting for the hanyman to come along and hang them.

There are so many more jobs to do before spring really gets underway.