WE'RE MOVING!!!

...But not from Hill Shadow Farm! (Dont worry!)

Go and check out our new combined site over at Wordpress. Ben and I have decided to combine blogging forces, so that we can share the updates! 

There may also be a store opening....!!! VERY EXCITING!!! :)

 

www.hillshadowhouse.wordpress.com

 

Why I'm not "A Vegan".

I had an interesting learning experience last night. I made a post on a vegan forum (one that claimed to be inclusive, peaceful, and accepting of all questions) - "If you could source yarn knowing it's origins (from rescued/pet sheep, organic, spun by hand in Australia, dyed naturally with plant dye) would you choose it over synthetic fibre? Asking for business research. All comments which are positive/constructive will be appreciated and respected."

Some people said "Yeah sounds good!"

Others said "Mmm I personally wouldn't, but my mother in law is a keen crafter - she'd love it!"

Some said "Nah. Not vegan. Any animal product is not by definition 'vegan'. Have you thought about cotton or hemp?"

I learnt so much, and most people were so lovely and positive.

Others were downright viscious.

I had no right to call myself vegan. Stupid people ask stupid questions. This question has no place on a vegan forum. I dont really care about people anyway.

These reponses are why I shy away from saying the word 'vegan' when talk to people. Why I hesitate, holding my breath for the uncomfortable silence that inevitably follows, and watching the other person prepare their defenses. I dont want to be associated with extremists. (Wait... is this how it Muslims feel?!?!)

So I learned something. I eat vegan food that does not come from animals. I try not to wear leather (unless it's 2nd hand). I believe cruelty and exploitation of animals is wrong.

But would I choose commercially produced, environmentally unsustainable, chemically treated, possibly sweatshopped synthetice fabrics over the fleece my goats have shed and I have handspun, just for the 'no animal fibres' principle alone? No way.

I dont believe in "ethical perfection", and I dont have one philosophy. I wouldn't choose animals over environment, animals over humans, or humans over animals. I dont think it's that black and white.



I ride my horse. Therefore I'm not a vegan. I vaccinate and desex my dogs. Therefore I am not a vegan. I feed my dogs meat. My kids wear their cousins' hand-me-down leather shoes rather than buying new. I buy and cook local free range meat for my husband (but not often!), because I respect him as a person and respect his choices. I adopt ex-battery hens rather than have them be killed, and sell their free range eggs cheaply, so that others will have an alternative to caged supermarket eggs. Therefore I'm not a vegan.

One forum member put it beautifully:

"I just try to do the 'most vegan thing' in each situation".

Perfect. That's my mantra. Well nearly: "I just do my best to be kind. What is the best, most compassionate thing I can do here?"

I dont think vegans are wrong. I dont know whats right or wrong. I'm not an expert. I'm not the Messiah ("Im just a very naughty boy!"). I dont need a definition, a title, or a 'box' to put my beliefs in. I just do my best. We're all just trying to do our best.

Respect and love to everyone who's just trying to do their best.
xx

Psst! Want my Vegan ANZAC recipe..?

Ok, lean in.
Closer. *looks around*

...it's pretty much identical to the original one.
Well ok there's a few tweaks, but this is a good one for school lunches - no nuts, no eggs, no dairy.
Vegan ANZAC Biscuits ("VANZACS?!")
1 c flour
1 c brown sugar (or coconut sugar)
3/4 c shredded coconut
1 c rolled oats
2 T boiling water
1/2 c melted coconut oil (original recipe uses butter here)
1 T golden syrup (or maple syrup, or rice syrup, or agave...)
1 t bicarbonate soda
Preheat oven to 150 deg c. Put all dry ingredients in a big bowl. Mix all wet ingredients in a little bowl. Dump contents of small bowl into big bowl & mix. Roll mix into balls and arrange on a baking tray (they will spread!) Bake 15-20 min. Let cool on tray.
Don't turn your back on them - they'll be gone.
Add sultanas if you like. Or cinnamon. Or dried cranberries ("CRAN-ZACS"?!) - hey, it's your kitchen! Do it your way!

Two more sleeps till market day!

Cannot wait to spend the day out with the other talented souls who are members of DRAFT (Dandenong Ranges Artists of Fibre & Textiles). I've got so much beautiful yarn spun up!
 
In all honesty, if I didn't sell one or two of these, I could be convinced under extreme duress to keep a couple of these warm smooshy lovelies and knit them myself. You know, if you really twisted my arm ;)
 
And the spindle kits! They'd make such great Christmas  presents!
 

And that's just my stuff! You should see what all the other members have! Come take a look!
www.endofthelinefestival.com 
See you there :)

When it all becomes work.

Lately, I've been finding it hard to slow down. There always seems to be another task in the back of my head that needs to be done, and not nearly enough time to do it all. Im working on a number of projects at the moment, all of which demand my attention, my work environment has been tense and stressful, and the girls have all their end-of-year activities on and:swimming lessons, dance recitals, christmas parties.

And the news is full of violence. And the pollen is itching my eyes. And we've had restless broken sleep each night for various reasons. And it's all just a bit loud, a bit bright, a bit much.

I'm trying - REALLY TRYING - to keep slowing down. To breathe. To remember the really important things.

Im trying to carefully and deliberately to compartmentalise my work hours to keep work from bleeding into my day. When I plan to work for an hour, at the end of the hour, I close the program, get up and walk away from the computer.

Easier said than done.

Part of the stress is planning for a big market coming up. I've been spinning wool and dyeing roving late into the evening (aften way past when I planned to go the bed!) spinning wool until my eyes ache and my fingers are stiff. I want to have tonnes of beautiful things for the stall. Often I work myself to the bone like this, only to sell NOTHING on the day, and come home not even having my stall-money re-couped. That can be so disheartening.

But then I had a bit of an epiphany at a friend's house the other day. She made a comment about trying to find a craft that would be lucrative. She was going to try pottery, commentting on how she felt she'd be able to make more volume in less time. (Can I add as an aside here, that I do not mean to suggest in any way that this friend is materialistic or intends to sell-out and go into mass production! Merely that she was talking about the need to help supplement her family income! I hear that!) But it made me think about handcrafting vs mass-production. Would I sell-out if I could find some way to make this stuff pay?

And I realised I wouldn't. I really enjoy the spinning and knitting. I love the slowness and meditation of feeding out the fibre, and the suprise results of dyeing, and making bits and bobs for people I love who appreciate my pieces. When I feel like Im working to a deadline, or trying to make it profitable, I dont enjoy it. It becomes mundane, and becomes just another 'job'.

I have a job. I do this because its fun. Even when I get up in the dark, load the car, drive to a market, set up sit in the sun/wind/rain all day, and come home having not sold a single thing; I've still had a fun day.



So I'm not going to find another more lucrative thing to sell. Cos I love doing this. And someday I may have to buy a warehouse to store all my unsold bits and pieces, and then move in to it because wool wont pay my rent. Oh well.

But I AM going to remember to stop stressing about finishing items in time for the markets. I can never predict what's going to sell or not anyway! This is NOT MY JOB. (I should stop making it like one!)

And as for my actual job... :/ Weeellll. It pays the bills. Mostly. And the people are nice. Mostly. And I can turn off my computer, and not open my email, until I decide to be in "work mode" tomorrow.

Its been getting warmer too. We had friends over for our yearly "hazard reduction burn" (aka Bonfire Night) and the kids had a ball! I wanna plant more food in my garden. And take the girls to the beach more. And start doing some running again. Not for weightloss this time. Not for punishment. I dont do that anymore. Just for a bit of fun, and to get the dog out for some exercise. Thats another thing I have conciously decided not to make into a "job". It started to become one a while back, so I stopped, cold turkey. I realised I was using running to punish my body for being "too big". I was using it as a weapon to beat myself with, when I really needed to be my own friend.

The little voice in my head became a drill sargent. screaming out internet "fitspo" slogans: "You'll make time, or you'll make excuses!", "you just dont want it bad enough!. I imagined laying my boot into myself, curled in defense on the ground, kicking and flogging it to get up and get my 'fat ass' to do one more rep, when what I really shouldve been saying to myself is "...honey, you're tired. You've been caring for 2 little kids, a farm, and a sick partner all day on your own. It's ok to go to bed." I was my own worst enemy. In fact if i had heard anyone absuing someone the way I abused myself inside my head, I would've bodily thrown myself inbetween, screaming "STOP! STOP!!! WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?! SHE DOESN'T DESERVE IT! LEAVE HER ALONE".

But I wasn't my friend.

I choose to be my friend now. I wont punish myself anymore.

So I choose to slow down. To log off. To stop making the things I love a 'job'. Even if I only have a few beautiful, hand made things on my market stall, they will be made with integrity and love. Even if I didn't push through to get that last email sent, at least I wont be stressed and yelling distractedly at my kids. Even if the house is dusty, and the garden's going a bit to seed and weed, Im not a size 12, and I havent worn my Garmin in months, it's ok. I can cut myself some slack and do something nice for me. It's what friends do.

Itchy feet, restless heart.

Hi guys - it's been a while since I've blogged. But life's like that, isn't it? It's like you blink and weeks have passed while you were just getting on with the 'routine'.

The 'routine' has me a bit bummed lately. I mean I dont want to sound ungrateful - Im so blessed that my life is routine enough to be boringly comfortable, and not ravaged by war and uncertainty! And the grass is always greener, isn't it?

But I've been catching up on Kate's blog and their family's trip overseas, and feeling a tad envious! Sometimes I want a bit of escapism! ...But then I look at our animals and think "Omigosh I coudn't possibly leave you for all that time, you smooshy fluffy Collie....*smoochsmoochsmooch*"

*sigh*

Still, next weekend, we're off to McCrae to stay the weekend in a friend's beach house, so Im looking forward to that! (AND the dogs get to come too!)

What else?

Oh yes - we finally got our spring seedlings in! We took the trailer and bought some market boxes for this year's garden! The bales were great last year, but eventually they do start to decompose and fall to bits, and you find yourself with a bit of a mess of plants going to seed and sinkholes and twine. We've planted Choy Sum, Broccolini, Peas, Strawberries, Beetroots and I got one tiny tiny tomato to pop up - so fingers crossed it takes! Today I'm going to pop out to Mt Evelyn and grab some Zucchini and Leb cucumber seedlings. The cucumbers were prolific last year!

The apple trees are blossoming, the apricot's looking good, the plum is... not as 'fruity' as last year. And the Hill Shadow Feral Bees are hard at work each day, you can hear the hum of them wokring all over the farm. Bless them x

Our 2 new goats got a haircut last week, and now they look like skinny little drowned rats! Poor boys! Their fleece hadn't been maintained at all, so they were quite matted and dread locked round the chest, and I just didn't have the heart to try to comb and pull at them. So we rang a mobile shearer and he popped out one day between jobs and now I have 2 cashmere fleeces in bags and two tiny skinny goats. I had high hopes of selling/using the fleece, but have found removing the guard hairs an absolute nightmare. Commercial cashmere gets dehaired by machine, and because this is shorn and not combed, some of it is a matted hairy mess. Still, when Im feeling patient, I clean up enough for me to use, and blend it in with something else.

This is our cashmere, blended with some alpaca I dyed orange and yellow, and plyed with the softest 16 micron merino - turned out ok, huh? Im planning on knitting this into a little beanie for my friend's baby girl.

Currently on my needles is Ben's birthday present (I've got til Dec 31!). It's a v-neck jumper in TARDIS blue, with a pattern of Daleks and the TARDIS round the bottom. I spun all the wool myself - it's half alpaca, half merino, indogo dyed by the Shepherdess herself, Niki - and Im hoping I'll have enough... :S And Im kinda thinking about more socks... socks with cables... mmmm.

ok, I've ground to a halt. Time to go shower and get these girls dressed for the day. And feed the horse and let the goats out and break up the fights and put the washing on and tidy the breakfast things and...

*sigh* Oh well, at least it looks like being a beautiful day. And Im going to meet my friend Tash to check out the Lilydale Psychic Expo and have a coffee.

What are you going to do to make this day fun? Where are you travelling to next? What are you putting in your garden? What's on your knitting needles? Who's blog are you loving?

Tell me everything.
xx

Weekends, Hill Shadow-style.

This week Ben happened to pick up a packet of the Pancake Parlour's pancake mix, and was absolutely astounded at how many ingredients were listed! I mean, they're yummy, but I have no idea why a pancake mix would contain so many things. Maybe to help you justify the price of buying something that's so simple to make at home!

Rarely does a weekend go by here where we don't have pancakes. They're super easy! Our pancake recipe is loosely based on Jamie Oliver's one. 

HILL SHADOW FARM PANCAKES

Serves 4 -ish

2 cups SR flour (we use 1/2 wheat, 1/2 gluten free. I hear buckwheat flour works well too!)

2 cups milk of your choice (we use soy)

2 eggs (free range ONLY and ALWAYS, please x)

Pinch salt.

That's seriously it! 

Whisk ingredients together til well-combined.

We cook our pancakes on our sandwich press left open - It works a treat! But your fry pan/skillet is fine. A medium/low temp is best. 

Pour out pancakes of 10 - 15 cm and wait until the air bubbles on the surface pop and don't fill back in. The top of the pancake will be covered in craters & look 'dry' (not like wet batter) when it's ready to flip. 

Serve with local honey or real maple syrup (it's worth spending a little extra for the real stuff!)

I hope you're out enjoying this beautiful weekend with your loved ones! I'm washing some beautiful alpaca fleece ready to card and spin. Won't take long to dry today! 

Right, now go put your washing out, then make a cup of coffee and take it out under a tree with a good book x

And the farm grows...

We finally did it. We bought 2 goats. 

Well, I bought 2 goats. I was a little flu-ey and delirious at the time. But these are our new boys, who will hopefully start helping us control our weeds & lawn with out sprays.

Meet Jerry and George. They're cashmere. 

The chickens are also loving this gorgeous warm weather we're having - spring has sprung! 

And after the goats have a good go at our overgrown veggie patch, I'm getting some seedlings in! 

My favourite thing at the moment is to take my tea and a good book and lay on the trampoline in the gentle warm sun. Bare feet on warm grass. And the hum of the Hill Shadow Ferals working on our fruit tree blossoms. 

I love being on the verge of abundance, don't you?! So blessed. 

Ve-ghurt.

Guys guys guys! I found another epic vegan recipe!

I made vegan coconut yoghurt! And its freaking amazing!!! Seriously: Even the kids love it!

And this stuff is SO. EASY.

I found the recipe at Chocolate and Zucchini, and pretty much followed it to the letter, using 3 x 400ml tins of full fat coconut milk, and 1/2 cup No Udder coconut yoghurt (From Woolworths) as a starter. Whisked it all together, divvied it up into the little jars in the yoghurt machine. Turned on my little yoghurt maker and left it alone for 24 hours. PRESTO!

Easy as! (Think of all those amazing gut bacterias!)

You gotta get yourself one of these little yoghurt makers - I got mine from Aldi for about $20. I bought it to make conventional dairy yoghurt when my kids were little, and we just could not get it to set! We tried all kinds of things! Fail after fail after fail. So its basically been in my cupboard doing nothing for about 3 years.

I whipped it out to give this a go, and BOOM! PERFECT YOGHURT. First go. Coconut yoghurt ROCKS.

This morning I had it with 3 chopped fresh strawberries and a level teaspooon of coconut sugar. AMAZING.

So look, there really is no excuses for me not to be vegan now! 'What do I miss out on?:

Yoghurt - nope. Making as much as I want!
Milk - soy (ALDI organic!) or Pureharvest Oat milk
Cheese - Bio Cheese FTW! (Coles)
Ice Cream - Soy Good Soy Icecream, in moderation!
Eggs - I do eat the odd egg from our lovely free range back yard chookies, but there's TONNES of substitutions! (Right Maxine? x) Chia, avocado, oil and vinegar....
Meat - berk. Try tofu, kidney beans, peanut patties, vege snags and i had the best burgers this week, by substituting a beef pattie with a GIANT, FAT grilled mushroom. Took up the whole bun! OMG drool.
Butter - Coconut oil in recipes, and Nuttelex spread on toast.
Bacon - gimme a break... #facepalm

Did I miss anything? ;)

This is not about how I look anymore. This is not about weight loss. I ate for weight loss for the last 20 years and it made me freakin MISERABLE. And I still got fat anyway! This is eating for how I FEEL. This is love through food. My tummy feels good, my head feels clear, and my heart is happy.

Go on - make the yoghurt. Its a game changer x

The recipe you've all been waiting for...

OMG this cake.

This. Cake.

Ben took it to work. His workmates devoured it. Then he told them it was vegan, and ran a guessing competition what was in it. NONE of them got it!

This is the best choccie cake recipe I've found. Note I didn't say 'the best vegan choccie cake recipe'. That wasn't an accident! So easy, so healthy, and YUM.

The original is here, but I've tweaked it a bit. So here it is:

Vegan Chocolate Avocado Cake with Chocolate Frosting

Pre heat oven to 170 deg C (150 deg C if fan forced!) - thats 350 deg F for you guys, USA!
Spray-oil and line 2 x loaf tins with baking paper.

In a big bowl, combine:
3 c plain flour
6 T cacao powder
2 t baking powder
2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
Set aside.

In another bowl, combine:
1/4 c coconut oil (melted)
1 ripe avocado (mashed)
2 c water
2 T apple cider or white vinegar
2 t vanilla extract
Whisk these together, then whisk in:
2 c coconut sugar.

Combine wet and dry ingredients and mix until well-combined.

Pour 1/2 mix into each lined and greased loaf tin (YEP - YOU GET TWO CAKES!!! One to take to 'that-thing-you-said-you'd-take-a-plate-to', and one for the kids for afternoon tea! BONUS!)

Bake 45 min.

If you want an impressive and also vegan choccie frosting for it, use a stick mixer (or hand mixer, or your ENORMOUS POP-EYE ARM STRENGTH) to mix: 
2 ripe avocados,  
1 cup icing sugar, 
1 t vanilla extract, 
4 T cacao powder.
And use this to ice it when it's cool.

OM NOM NOM. Who said vegan food had to be all spinach and mung beans?!

A branch came down.

Meant to be cold this week! We're prepared!

Any sun peeking through is a chance for us to get out and play outside! To throw off Will's rugs and let Lennon & the ladies stretch their wings. 

The mud is taking over, but it's only for a few more weeks. 

Meanwhile, Bluebell has settled right in to Hill Shadow Farm life.

Hard to imagine people try to have Collies in suburban blocks! They're so full of energy and mischeif! Blue thrives on the space and activity here!

Off to eat an apple pie. It's a tough life ;)

Organising the inside - while it's getting colder outside

So we have been in Melbourne for nearly two years and in that time we really hadn't unpacked our book collection and sorted it out. Recently we changed that situation.

A little win-fall meant we could finally afford to go to Ikea and get our wall units to complete the blank wall at Hill Shadow House. 4 Standard size Billy's and a small one with doors meant we could cover the whole wall.

A couple of wall fixers were added to make it safe and extra stable (kids you know), and here is what we ended up with.

They filled the gap perfectly!

With the books added they are starting to look like home!Yes they are alphabetical by author or series (i.e. Star Trek is under "S")

Notice the way we featured the wall light and created a cupboard for the girls art suppliers - or what I like to call the crap and messy cupboard. But the girls do like to draw, paint, cut, stick and general get their art on!

The wet cold days certainly allow us to explore other parts of Hill Shadow House - and it's a nice change to build something and get our books out of the boxes and temporary locations.

Mud Fest 2015

Argh - it's a Hill Shadow Mud-Fest!

9 degrees c at the moment! Thank goodness this weather doesn't last long!

Haven't blogged for ages! Finding it hard to sit and compose lengthy posts at the desk, so expect more posts from my mobile phone on-the-hop! 

Bendigo Sheep and Wool Show tomorrow! I'll be your On-The-Spot correspondent! 

Stay warm x

 

Ps Bluebell had her first night at Puppy Pre-school last night! Hasn't she grown?!

Homespun, hay, and hungry hunters.

It's getting colder and greyer at Hill Shadow. We still get blue skies, but colours are duller. The air is crisp. Morning frosts are a regular occurance now, and the report this morning said it was 3 degrees celcius.

I'd believe it.



I've been knitting lots of warm woolies! I'm about 3/4 through Ben's woolley socks (he MIGHT get to wear the before the end of winter!). I discovered my friend Bec over at Peg and Jane spins the most amazing wool by hand (amazing skill!) so I've HAD to buy some and cast on a little cardi for Tara. Im in love with this wool! And knowing that it came from a small family farm in country Victoria, spun by Bec, and knitted by me, makes it all the more special.





And we bought a new little runabout car for Ben - FINALLY. We just couldnt do the too-ing and fro-ing in in the freezing pitch black early mornings and all hours of the night anymore! So this is Ben's little work vehicle. And life has settle down CONSIDERABLY since!




It was great being a 'one car family' for all those years, but completely impractical now!



Last weekend we scored a few mouldy bales of hay from one of our agisters! Unsuitable as horse feed, but perfect for another bale garden! I've filled with layers of green clippings, cardboard, manure, straw, and compost, but so far I've just planted some peas and some bits and pieces from the garden. Not really sure what I'll put in there yet.



And of course in true Hill Shadow Farm style, we've had some #accidentalfarming happening, with a butternut pumpkin popping up on its own in the garden and these... er... things.



There's 2 of them. Pumpkins? Marrows?



Someone who has been loving all the wet weather is Katie!



MUDPIES!!! Perfect after-ballet activity!



And speaking of hay, we picked up this load for $4 a bale from an ad on Gumtree! BARGAIN! We got 20 bales, but I'm so getting another 20 when I can! What a steal!!! It's so nice to have the barn full for winter. Its a comforting feeling; abundance.



Some of the old hay we were given went out to the chooks as a nice warm bed in their chookhouse. And Ben up-cycled this old coffee table into new nesting boxes for the girls - aren't they brilliant!?









Unfortunately: Disaster. A few nights ago, we made a fatal communication error. I thought Ben had shut the chooks in for the night, he thought I had. We hadn't. I woke in the night to frantic clucking and I knew. I bolted out in my pjs and gumboots and in my torchlight I saw the flashing eyes of 2 cunning foxes in the dark, licking their lips having helped themselves to our henhouse like theives in the night.

I felt so horribly guilty. We lost 5 girls through stupid forgetfulness, and we both felt absolutely horrible. I now have a very loud piercing alarm set to go off each evening to remind us to SHUT THE CHOOKS IN!!!



You know what IS good about winter though? Baking. Specifically, my husband's baking.


Just LOOK at this apple pie!!! Tonight he's making lemon meringue. God help my waistline! I shall have to chop wood for hours to work it all off!

The other thing I cant wait for about winter...

3 more weeks!

What do you look forward to about winter?

Keep warm
xxx