Sharing with friends

What a wonderful day today to be inside and warm by the fire...It is very cold outside. There are grey skies but, every now and then the sun pokes through, creating a buttery coloured light which blankets the garden. It gives hope to the flowers that they may be bathed in sunshine, if the breeze blows the clouds away.

We had some lovely friends come to visit us on Sunday. Steph came with her family and brought some beautiful homemade granola (absolutely delicious!) and a "miracle spray" which I have tested and, it cleans excellently!

The "miracle spray" is made from eucalyptus oil, vinegar, water, and washing soda. So simple! It cleans bench tops and whatever else, whilst also making the house smell divine! I always use water, vinegar, bi-carb soda, and lavender (not all together!) to clean my house. I cannot use chemicals as this would impede the function of our biocyle sewerage system and we wouldn't want that! 

We took our friends for a walk around the farm and introduced them to our animals. The three little pigs put on a good show of playfulness with lots of oinking and grunting for good measure! Spot, Pinky and Fudge get very excited when they see people coming towards them. They know that people means food! It is always such a pleasure to watch their eyes light up and their ears flop up and down as they bounce around in the mud in anticipation. Incidently, I have been splashed in the face with mud...One morning, last week, I was dressed quite nicely as I had decided to go out into town. On my way out I put on my gum boots to protect my legs from mud, and grabbed some food for the three little rascals. As I approached the pen, the three became very excited and noisy (Fudge makes a loud squealing noise when he sees food). I put the container of food on the ground as I fumbled with the latch on the pen gate trying to open it as quickly as I could, all the while the three piggies were pushing and shoving, grunting, oinking, squealing...and then Spot jumped and landed with her front legs in the mud, which of course splattered all over my face and down the front of my nice clean top! So, it was then that I decided to only wear "farm" clothes to be in the company of the pigs, and get changed afterwards if I'm going out anywhere!

Now, back to our friends' visit...After meeting the animals, we wandered out into the paddocks to dig up some potatoes. The Golden haired girl (the little two year-old daughter of our friends') seemed delighted to watch the earth reveal the creamy treasures of the Dutch creams. It is such an exciting experience to dig up the soil in one spot and have bunches of gems uncovered! 

Our friends left with gifts of potatoes, daffodils and kaffir lime leaves. It is a fantastic feeling to be able to share our produce with others!