A Joyful Keeper

I need a better camera. That is, if I wake up early and want to get a close up of the kangaroos in my back yard. And I can just imagine what the neighbors thought if they saw me out the back stalking kangaroos - in my nightie, with a shawl and big clumpy boots! Not a pretty sight! I took 10 photos, but only one turned out. If you click on the photo twice it will get bigger and you should be able to see the two ‘roos, on of them looking at me in wonder:

That is the road behind them, which they soon hopped over to get away from the paparazzi.

Ah the country life!

As I mentioned in Part 1 of this topic, I really didn’t grow much this summer because of limited water supplies. What I did grow, however, was a great help in keeping the grocery bills down a little. Having some extra to put away has also been a bonus.

I only grew one zucchini plant, because I know what happens when I plant too many - lol! I found that this was just enough for our family, with some to freeze for winter as well. To freeze it, I just grate the zucchini, skin and all, and then put it in freezer bags. I put about 1 1/2 cups of zucchini in each bag since that is what my winter recipes call for. Here are my bags in the bottom drawer of my upright freezer:

On the right you can see bags of frozen tomato puree. Since I only had two tomato plants which were mainly intended for salads, I bought two boxes of tomatoes to preserve. Mum helped me cook and puree them, and instead of bottling them this year, froze them. I have enough space in the freezer. I’ve already used some for making a Bolognaise sauce, and it is soooooo yummy!

Here is a picture of my four pumpkins:

They will probably end up being soup, oh, and served with roasts….. mmmm!

Now my garden is looking a bit weary as the frosts have come and most plants have died off. Autumn is really here with the leaves starting to change color and fall:

Yesterday I went out and picked the last of the harvest:

Now I am looking forward to pottering around in the greenhouse, seeing whether I can coax anything to grow in there during the winter months. And of course, sitting inside by the fire, quilting…..

Yesterday I was driving down our driveway, on my way to go shopping, when Chewie ran under the car….and I ran over him. There was no warning, nothing I could do. He just miscalculated and ended up under my back wheel. Thankfully it was over quickly and my dh was there as well. He dug a hole and we buried him in the garden.

My emotions in the morning were anger (as dh said, if Chewie hadn’t have died, he would have yelled at him for running under the car..!), and then resignation. Daniel and Elizabeth were in tears and very upset. Matt was upset, but he isn’t as attached to the animals as the others are. In the afternoon it really hit me and I cried for the rest of the day.

It’s a strange thing, really. I love all animals, but dogs are special. They love you unconditionally. They have a look in their eyes when they look at you - of love and adoration. And Chewie was so sweet, even though he was often naughty too. Having a pet die is sad. But I can’t even imagine what it would be like to lose a child or a loved one. Yesterday afternoon I just wanted to hold my children tight and tell them I loved them.

While the tears flowed freely yesterday, joy comes in the morning and today we are still sad, but not crying. I will miss his little cuddles, his long tongue that tried to lick me all the time, and his puppy dog eyes. The memories will remain….

Just a puppy…

His usual pose, with his tongue hanging out:

About to chase the stick….

Goodbye little guy….

While all my blogging friends in the Northern Hemisphere are enjoying Spring, those of us Down Under are watching the leaves change colors and bringing in what is left in our veggie plots.

Here on our little farm, I have been quite pleased with what I have harvested this year. We didn’t have much water, so I kept my planting to a bare minimum - only one zucchini plant, one Roma, one bigger tomato plant, two cucumber vines, a few capsicums, one eggplant, and some herbs. The only one plant I had lots of was the self seeding cherry tomato. That just pretty much grows itself, and I let it go wild. I had four pumpkin vines, two of which produced. One had three butternuts and the other had one big round green one. The latter was from seeds from a supermarket pumpkin that I just wacked in the ground. Next year I hope to grow the pumpkins down by the dam where they can just go wild.

Our fruit trees suffered from the frost and lack of water/care before we bought the property. Despite that, we got ONE PEACH (LOL), lots of plums, and heaps and heaps and heaps of apples! Just imagine what my little orchard could produce with some TLC.

Besides the plum cordial that I made, I also made jam. I have to admit that I cheat when I make jam. I use Jamsetta. That makes a perfect jam every time… except this time! The plum jam ended up quite thick. It still tastes lovely, but I was surprised that it ended up that thick. Usually I have more trouble with thin, runny jam - that’s why I use the Jamsetta. I guess the plums had a lot of pectin in them naturally. Anyway, I’ll know for next time.

These are just a few of the apples we got from our trees this year:

Because we had so many, the ones that had lots of bruises and funny bits in them went to the chooks. I also gave boxes and bags of the apples away to friends and family. Most of them I sorted out and the kids just ate… are still eating! I put as many as I could in the two bottom drawers of our fridge, and the rest in a big bucket in the kitchen. The kids just grabbed one whenever they felt like it. We still have lots and it has been a great saving in our grocery budget.

Since the kids were enjoying the apples fresh, I decided not to make applesauce this year. My mum made some for us though, from some that we gave them, and that has gone straight into the freezer.

All the children are up now and I’ve just made a big pot of porridge. I’d better finish this post and keep going tomorrow. Thanks for dropping in and it is lovely to be back.