Plums, poultry, preserving and pom poms.

Hill Shadow Inventory:
Rooster - 1
Chickens - 14
Horse - 1
Dog - 1
Fox - ?
Humans - 4
Daily eggs - 3 or 4
Sleeps til christmas - 24

Unfortunatley the closest we've gotten Tara to Santa is waving to this reindeer at the mall.



...well, it's a start.



And our garden produced this amazing beetroot which was ready before all the rest - isn't it beautiful?!



It's getting warmer and warmer! The girls are in dresses, sandals and shorts.



UGH! STOP PRESS!
Chickens - 13

Can you believe that?! Just as I was typing that last bit, Mrs Fox took another one, right from our front door step!!! There's feathers everywhere!

The scene of the crime.

At first I did a quick head count and I was horrified that she took Katie's favourite chook, Shiny. But luckily, Shiny has a favourite hiding spot on her own round back under the fig tree, and a quick check found her to be there as usual, oblivious to what had just happened round front.

Shiny: lives to dig figs another day!

Phew! I have no idea how I would've broken that to Katie this afternoon!

Lennon is recovering beautifully from his ordeal and has actually begun to crow again in the last few days. Unfortunately I think it may take him a while to regain his former glory. His crow sounded a mix between an old fashioned car horn ("A-HOO-GA!") and a set of deflating bagpipes.

Kate and I made sure we made encouraging comments. ("Gee Lennon, that sounds... er... well that's really... um... yeah good try, Mate!")

Christmas activities are ramping up: Concerts, parties, and Katie's kinder graduation (Where did THAT time go?!) are all in the next few weeks.



One of the events I did check in at was the open day of our local Steiner School. Although I dont wholly agree with the Steiner/Waldorf approach to education, there is so much I love about it: The avoidance of commercialism, the focus on nature, the peacefulness, the importance of creativity.

Feeling totally inspired when I got home, Katie and I made a 2-storey fairy house in the yard, and Kate spent ages furnishing it with feathers, leaves and flowers.





In the afternoon, while Tara had her sleep, Kate and I listened to Tchaikovksy's Swan Lake Suite (My favourite!) and made pom-poms.



Look! We have apples!!!



THREE APPLES!!!

Yeah ok: not real great for a whole tree. But the poor tree is on its side, totally eclipsed and deprived of water and sun by the 2 massive cypress' next to it. So it's a wonder it's managed to survive at all, let alone bear fruit.

I was hoping to have some apricots or figs to make jam from for christmas presents this year, but alas - no dice. Still green and under-ripe. BUT! I just happened to taste a bit of the 'ornamental' plum in the front yard, and knock-me-down - it's edible!!! They're just little plums! And it seems the birds have been fooled too - they haven't noticed them! So I've picked a bunch and spent this morning having my first attempt at jam-making!

Little kitchen helper fairy.

It's a sticky red mess in my kitchen, but i'll let you know how it goes! Here's the recipe I used.

And lastly I made this raw vegan caramel slice this week.

Oh. My. Word.

Do your self a favour - download the Raw Desserts App from Ascension Kitchen and make a batch.

You're welcome.



Have you finished your christmas shopping?
Are you making any handmade gifts this year?
Do you Waldorf? Steiner? Montessori? Homeschool? Unschool? None? All?

Go count your chickens.
xx