A weekend roundup

We had a peaceful weekend, didn't do much but potter around the house, I worked on the forum quite a bit, tweaking and reading the manual, while Hanno did some gardening and tidying up outside. There are always tasks waiting to be done in a simplified home and here it's no different.

Hanno pulled out the last of the winter kale and planted up dwarf bean seedlings in their place. They're nicely protected with straw mulch and will soon be joined by corn seedlings that are not quite ready to plant yet. A storm during the week gave us a bit of water in the tanks so some of that stored water was used on the garden, but we still need good rain to soak deep into the soil and fill the tanks. This is often the driest time of the year for us, late Autumn, but when the monsoon arrives and the rains start in November, everyone breathes a sigh of relief that we have water again. Of course, with climate change, we can't rely now on those once dependable patterns. So, for now, we're hoping that rain will fall and the storms won't cause too much damage this year.

Spring time always makes the chooks broody and at the moment we have five hens eager to become mothers. There are four on the nests and Lucy, our Old English Game hen, has taken it upon herself to separate from the flock and make her own nest. She has been missing for a few days but Hanno found her yesterday, with a nest of five eggs. She's in trouble though, she's been eating the next door neighbour's lettuces so she'd better watch herself.

Back inside the house, I made bread - yeasted rolls one day and sour dough the other. I keep persisting with sour dough because I want to make bread without yeast but every time I make it, it disappoints. I have tried several recipes so I guess I just don't have the knack or taste for it, so for now, I'm sticking with my yeast bread. I made heavy grain rolls on the weekend but I flitter between grain flour to rye to unbleached organic white. We like the variety and they usually turn out very well.

While I was in the kitchen I also made yoghurt, ricotta, quark (more on them later in the week) and muesli. This is a new muesli recipe that I just made up of things I like to eat. I just mixed together some oats, moist coconut, dried apricots and cranberries, lecithin granules and LSA mix, which is a mixture of crushed linseeds, sunflower seeds and flaked almonds. It's delicious. I think next time I make it, I'll leave the oats out of the mix so I can soak them overnight and add them just before breakfast. If you soak your muesli, how do you do it?

Over the weekend I also worked on two aprons, did some stitching, knitting and started making a tea cosy for a Christmas gift. I still haven't made room for, or used, the overlocker/serger given to me recently. I'll have to get to it soon because I will need it for a couple of projects I'm working on now. And what would the weekend be without phone calls to my family. I spoke with my sister Tricia and Shane, Sarndra and Kerry on the phone and Jens came over to help Hanno move tree branches and garden waste to the dump.

I would like to do a crochet-along over at the forum and need an experienced crocheter to help me. The project is a milk jug cover that I have the pattern for, so if you have the time and would like to help, please let me know.

Another week starts today and I am looking forward to it. There are so many things to do each day, it's a pleasure to get up early and get stuck into it. I have a work meeting tonight and work Tuesday and Wednesday. As we get closer to our move, it gets busier there, it will soon be time to organise the move and pack up again. I am really enjoying the forum and getting to know the members, and working on my gifts for Christmas. Each day is full of satisfying work that fills my soul and makes me sleep well at night. I hope you had a restful weekend and that the week ahead will be a good one for all of us.