Redwork

Hugo stitching "red fire", he's becoming quite confident using a real needle.

Box of sauce tomatoes, not mine sadly, from the grocer.

Chopping kilos of tomatoes...

red washing...

...red toys to pick up.

Finding peace and calm in the busyness of our days. Bottling tomatoes, watching little ones stitch, washing laundry and picking up toys. There is comfort in the rhythm of home, while we enjoy these last few days of summer holidays.

Thank you so much for your thoughts and kind words about the loss of our friend.

Untitled...

We lost an old, dear friend on the weekend. He died whilst saving his two sons and a friend caught in a rip. One of four people who drowned at NSW beaches in the space of a week.

In a state of disbelief and overwhelming sadness myself, I can't begin to imagine the grief his family must be feeling right now. My heart goes out to them.

Given that so many of us are at the beach this time of year, I thought you should see this video that explains about rips, how to spot one and what to do if you get caught in one. I urge you to watch it and share the video with family and friends.

Our friend was smart, strong, capable :: his words and actions well considered. If someone like him can lose their life at the beach, then anyone can. Maybe if more of us were aware of the dangers at the beach, it might go some way at preventing so many tragedies occurring. And then perhaps, I wouldn't have written this post. Oh, how I wish...

Vale Steven.

Hidden gleaning

Gleaning. A word I had never of until yesterday, and coincedently, today we were generously given an opportunity to glean. At a cherry orchard no less. That is, to collect leftover cherries after the pickers have been through.

Some trees had nary a cherry, but others had some extremely well hidden ones. If you stuck your head right into the tree and looked up you could see, hiding in the leaves, large, dark, juicy orbs just waiting for us to pick. Like the most delicious treasure hunt. I even found a couple of white cherries, which are super sweet and juicy.

After gleaning two or three rows of different varieties : Stella, Vans, Lapins, we had all filled our buckets. With plenty of quality control testing along the way. We also had a tour of the packing shed, to see where the cherries are washed, sorted and packed before flying off to the mainland. A huge operation, with up to 400 people picking or packing during the short cherry season.

Now, what to do 3kg cherries? I will bottle some, to eat in the winter, perhaps try to dry some, but mostly, they are delicious just as they are.

And gleaning, there is more later this week, with a friend inviting us to glean at their black currant farm. I'm going to try and make cassis with those.

And that, dear reader is what I love the most about summer in Tasmania, all the delicious fruit. And it's even better when it's gleaned! Cherrio!

one fine day

Not too hot, not too cold. Perfect for kite flying::building a cubby house in the shade of the birch trees::baking and eating warm fruit buns::and admiring summer's first sunflower.

A summer's day

Pickings from the garden. Our first tomatoes, hooray! And zucchinis, which we like to eat when they're small.

Elsa likes them raw but I like them sauteed, with flowers attached, in olive oil with garlic and parsley.

Some indoor dress up fun. Too hot to play outside.

A princess costume, Elsa made herself, so clever.

Late this afternoon, we turned the sprinkler on under the trampoline to cool off. Did I mention it's so very hot today? The poor chooks are still panting.

Hope you're keeping cool.

Twenty ten

Just thought I'd check in and say hello. Christmas was gorgeous, loads of delicious feasting, backyard cricket, walks through paddocks and lounging on the verandah with a glass of something cold.
The new brick oven was a triumph and got a thorough workout. There was up to three meals a day for twenty seven people to prepare. The family split into cooking and washing up teams so everyone had a chance to pitch in. And an entertaining wood splitting competition between the teenage boys resulted in a lovely neat stack of wood to fire up when needed. Yay team!

The Taste, whilst not the frantic bake-a-thon we expected, was enjoyable nonetheless. We opened a wee Pop Up bakery and had lovely people dropping in to buy cakes fresh from the kitchen. Here's our first sale :: a big one!

And this new year, well, we've been relaxing, visiting my favourite beach at Cockle Creek, eating loads of cherries. Roadside stalls sell a juicy selection of summer fruits and it's such a short season, you've got to scoff while you can.

Which means it's about time to wash the empty jars for some jam making sessions. I preserved some lemons today, an easy recipe out of my Christmas present book. Strawberry jam tomorrow I think.

Hope you're having happy days.