Goings on at Hetzel House

I haven't had a break from writing yet to think about the next post on food security. It will come, hopefully this week, but in the meantime I thought I would bring you up to date on what's been happening here at home lately.

Before I get into that, I have to tell you that I'm not allowing anonymous comments anymore. I don't mind constructive criticism but when I get comments about my hairdo and glasses (from an anonymous "stylist" LOL), well, it made me realise that life's too short to even read anything from people who only want to criticise. I've also had hate comments in the past. Strange that I've never had criticism from anyone who left the link to their own blog or website, hmmmm. I want to share and be a part of my community here and those comments get in the way of that. The lovely Tania over at Ivy's Nest has had a similar problem and all she was doing was writing about her new house cow. There are some very unhappy people out there who want to make others as miserable as they are.  I'm sorry it's come to this but getting an ID doesn't take long and it's simple to do. I've kept anonymous comments going for the past six years but now it's time to get an ID if you want to comment here.

Our garlic just after harvest.

We've been very busy here these past few weeks. We decluttered our wardrobes and gave the charity shop a few bags of clothes. We also gave away, to a local family via Gumtree, a large cupboard we had no need of. When that went, we reorganised the living room. Hanno cleaned and reorganised the pantry yesterday. As usual, Hanno is always working along side me keeping our home maintenance on target. We're a great team. We harvested our year's garlic crop a couple of week's ago, they've been drying out since then. Yesterday I cleaned them up and now they're safely stored away. I'll write up a post about growing and storing garlic soon. It's easy to grow and worthwhile having your own crop because organic garlic is expensive and a lot of the other garlic is from China. :- |

This is the view along the front verandah.

We also replaced our seating out on the front verandah and got rid of the very old (antique) cane lounge and chairs. Now we're luxuriating on a new-to-us cane lounge we bought on Gumtree for a fraction of the new price. It's so comfortable out there now I go and sit there as much as I can. It's a great place to read and knit and it's where Hanno and I have our morning tea. Do you have a special place to sit and read?

I'm still clicking away on the needles. Right now I'm knitting a Miss Marple scarf in organic cotton, in Diligence, a dark grey, for my friend Kathleen. She is visiting her family in Texas soon and seeing as it's almost winter there, I thought a nice scarf would help keep her warm.  This organic cotton is beautifully warm without being scratchy. My other project is for Johnathan, my nephew Danny's little boy. Johnathan turned one last week. Happy birthday Jono! His cardigan is also organic cotton, in Mercy, a pale blue. I just love knitting that EcoYarns cotton. It's my favourite of all the yarns.

From the road, the fence going up.

From the house, the finished fence.

The chook fence.

We had to replace some of our fences lately. A few weeks ago we had a local company come in and replace the side fence at the front of the house and later, the old chook fence. The front fence had been up for almost 15 years and had become rickety and unsafe. The chook fence had needed replacing for many years. In the past, Hanno would have done that sort of maintenance but it's too much for him now so we got the locals in. Still, it was an expensive exercise and we had to save up till have had enough to have it done.

Today we're having family lunch at Daisy's Place, our favourite local restaurant. It is our birthday gift to Sunny to take her, Kerry, her mum Sunja, Jamie and his cousin Jooa to lunch. I love Sunny like a daughter and I'm so thankful she is part of my family. It will be a real pleasure to celebrate her birthday with her mum here. Although we celebrate Sunny's birthday on 8 October, the day she was born, in Korea, it's the custom to celebrate on a different day each year, according to the full moon. They have many beautiful customs in Korea. I've been reading quite a bit about Korea lately, a country with thousands of years of traditions that are so different to our own.

I think our garden is nearing the end of its 2013 season. The chickens got in there yesterday and ate about half the new seedlings Hanno planted the day before. We still have a lot growing, and will continue harvesting for a while, but I doubt we'll plant too much more this year. I think it's going to be a long hot summer.

So, that's a bit of what's been happening in here. I hope everything is going well for you at home too. I send warm wishes to you.