So Beautiful

Our beautiful winter skies...
Whilst walking outside, I was greeted by this wonderful sight, it made my heart leap with joy!

Have a lovely day.
Linda

Our Start to the Week

Our beautiful Buff Orpingtons were sunning themselves this morning. It was -1C, pretty cold, even though the sun was shining, it was freezing out there.

I love to sit and crochet by this fireplace in the mornings, I have found an old wip, a knitted blanket that needs a crochet border. It's amazing how you put knitting down for months (ahem) years and then, one day you see it lying over there on a shelf, out of the way and you just pick it up and finish it off.

Erin with her favourite chicken, Willa. Willa has become so tame, if Erin sits on the grass, she will rush over and sit on her lap, too precious. Erin is wearing her knitted ear warmer, pattern to follow soon:)

A winter morning sky...

Calendula flowers growing in the veggie garden, hopefully attracting all sorts of insects.

Our potatoes are growing so beautifully next to this flowering Rosemary plant.

I had fun knitting up this little kitty today. If you like I can share the pattern here with you, Meow! :)

How has your Monday been so far? 
Do have a lovely week.

Our Lovely Weekend

This has been such a lovely weekend...
Our beautiful Jenna turned 15 years old yesterday, time has flown...

I went for a walk around our garden early this morning after feeding the chickens. It was -1 degree Celsius, really freezing, my hands were burning after taking the ice out of their water, but how lovely to be out there. I looked up at our neighbours tree with the moon in the background and had to go and grab my camera. I do know that this tree is indigenous to Australia and has a thorny bark with the most gorgeous pink flowers, such a sight to see...( if you know its name please could you let us know)

This little pond by our front door is frozen over...(It was 3 degrees inside our home this morning, the fires are blazing now)

Yesterday family and old friends come over to celebrate with Jen, she has had a special time...

Our chickens' warming themselves among the Lavender bushes in the early morning sunshine...

Frozen water in the chickens enclosure...

Jenna's birth orchids...
This beautiful orchid was given to me on the day of Jenna's birth 15 years ago. It was a single orchid in bloom. It was given to me by my wonderful mom-in-law as a gift. Each year around the time of Jenna's birthday it give us the most beautiful show of flowers. It has become a huge plant with many blooms and I probably should divide the bulbs but it seems so happy on our front veranda, just as it is.

I spotted some Violets flowering in a pot outside, do you see the mesh? This has been placed here to prevent our curious chickens from jumping up into our pots and scratching every piece of greenery out while they search for little grubs to eat.

Here I am squinting into my camera, taking a photo through a window reflecting off a mirror inside our house. I am wearing my Shalom cardi and I must tell you, it is so incredibly warm, I love it!

The Red Hot Pokers are flowering again, their bright colours make me so happy...

Even Jack popped out in the cold for an early morning snack.

Have a lovely week.
Linda

Natural Orange Peel Firelighters, Recycling

A few months ago my hubby, Richard gifted me with an amazing book called A Farm in my Heart such a fantastic book in every way... In this book they spoke about making natural firelighters from orange peels and we decided to make some. We juice so many oranges each day so this is a perfect way to recycle these peelings. When we juice oranges it is easier to just cut them in half and juice manually. Remove as much of the left over pulp as you can after you are finished juicing. I just lined all the halves up on our window box and let the sun do its magic for a few weeks. When they were sufficiently dry and hard, so that no more moisture was evident, I put the halves into the empty orange bags and hung these outside for a few days. We are using them now to light our fires and they give off a heavenly citrusy perfume when they are burning. It is really cold here in the Southern Hemisphere at the moment, I am definately looking forward to Spring...

Winter Fun and a Wonderful Shop

We have been having quite a bit of outside time in the sun this winter...

And mama can sit in the warm afternoon sun and knit her precious treasures....

Kye has become quite the tree climber these days...

Erin has been enjoying making felt animals all week....

I bought an old doll making book from a thrift shop and Jenna is so taken with this book. We went to the material shop and bought all the items she needed to make her doll and then we came home and she started straight away and worked into the evening. She is so inspired and just loving this project. She has done all of this herself and I am so impressed!

Here Jen has stitched her together and now she is busy making her clothes...

My new horse project...

A Wonderful Etsy Shop Discovery!

And now to tell you all about a wonderful homeschooling mama, called Lorilee who has her own Etsy shop, her shop name is Mamakopp and she makes the most divine wooden toys, they are so beautiful http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5498615 this is her shop address or http://www.mamakopp.etsy.com/

Some of her toys are inspired by the books that she reads to her family.... Others her own creations....

Here are some of the treasures she sells:

Aren't these just wonderful!

I bought a few items from her shop this week and I just can't wait for them to arrive...

Enjoy Lorilee's shop,

Have a wonderful week everyone...