Autumn is here.
Cool mornings, warmer days.
Life this year on the farm, after the last 3 years of bushfires, floods, and Covid, sees us with a total of 10 sheep (2 intact rams, 3 neutered boys (all full merino brothers), and 5 ewes), 3 horses and 4 chickens (plus, of course, my cats and dogs!).
A much smaller concern than in previous years.
My vegetable garden is slowly growing - I have four different types of tomatoes, a capsicum plant, a solitary broad bean plant that survived possum and bird attacks, as well as one spinach plant that also survived attacks, and two roly poly carrot plants. My lettuce and strawberries, my baby carrots and the rest of my veggies were taken out in an overnight onslaught by marauders of the verminous kind, plus birds and possums.
I have recently bought some raised garden beds and drop over greenhouses from Aldi, so I'm hoping that my much needed home grown source of food will survive in the future, and that I will be able to add to it as the cost of living continues to increase.
I also bought a lovely book at the newsagent that is for Australia. Most of the books like this deal with the Northern Hemisphere and their topsy turvy seasons (although some would say it is Australia and the Southern Hemisphere that have the topsy turvy seasons!), so it was nice to find this the other day, and it will be put to good use!
I've started using my little stock pot again as well. Slowly but surely I am finding my way again, I guess. Life has been very hard since Dad died in 2019, and I have felt very lost indeed. Cooking was something Dad very much enjoyed, and while I will never be as good as he was at it, I do sometimes enjoy actually creating things, especially when it is using up contents I already have in my house!
I re-watched Victorian Farm yesterday, which is still as good now as it was when it first came out. I have the books that accompany Victorian Farm, Victorian Pharmacy, Edwardian Farm, and Wartime Farm, although I have yet to see Tudor Monastery Farm or get hold of the book. They are all worth while watching, as is Snowdonia 1890, which I watched the other day on Tubi.tv
I am slowly getting back into the swing of things, and picking up my life from long ago - my history, my music, my craft etc. I feel very much as though I have been "on hold" for about 6 years now - the three years that Dad had cancer for and the 3 years that have followed since his passing. I know that I will never truly get over the loss of my father, just as he never got over the loss of his, but I need to start seeing joy in life again, even if only in the small things, and starting to accomplish things again - like growing my own food (something I haven't done in 20 years).
It will all be a slow process, I know, but what better time to do it than the Autumn and Winter, when it is nice and cool, and I feel more alive than I do in our hot Australian Summers?
