The never ending story

We are still at it. The reno's seem to never end. The scaffolding has been up now for over 6 weeks and I am over it!!!! Thankfully - nice weather permitting, it will be down next week and we can start the cleanup. There has been a lot of work happening around our joint lately and it should all pay off - I hope.... I can hardly even remember what it was like before everything. I have tried to take photo's here and there to remind me, but it just seems like it never was sometimes. I am so happy that upstairs and downstairs is now connected and the house seems whole. That was a biggy for me and every time I go downstairs to do the laundry I think how grateful I am that I dont have to walk out the front of the house with my dirty laundry for everyone to see anymore!!! We are hoping that next week will be the end of contractors intruding in our space for a little bit. I just want a bit of privacy again. We are not finished however, and still have the balcony to add. It is going to take a bit of time though as we need to get an engineer to do up some thingy's for us and put back into council. I am hoping that it will all be finished though before summer, so that I can lay out there and enjoy all the hard work we have put in and finally de-stress!

Reno's, before rendering. Gorgeous new front door down stairs.

add a bit of render..... 

our beautiful blackbutt timber internal staircase.

A bit of the view from our living area.

The mess out back

scaffolding has trashed a lot of my poor garden

 This last week saw some pretty hectic weather come our way and much to my dismay my poor garden suffered. When the wind howls through from the south the garden she cops a bit of trouble. The north side of the garden has the best drainage and most things grow the best there, however when the southerly comes through it is the most unprotected part and a lot of the plants suffer. I'm not sure my broad beans will recover, only time will tell. Funnily enough thought the brassica's seem to have been unaffected at all and are continuing to thrive. Most of the garden has, as you know, received little attention whilst the reno's have been happening, but thankfully there is still plenty going on and its providing everyday. I had a friend off load some lovely garlic and tomatoes last week and thankfully they have braved the bad weather and are coming along just nicely. I do look forward to more days back in the garden, only soon I'll be able to turn around and see our lovely renovated (exterior) house as well!

Sugar snap peas and parsnip

garlic sprouting between the kholrabi and fennel

The fennel got a bit burnt after the heavy sea winds

basil burnt after the heavy sea winds

and the broad beans burnt from the heavy sea winds....

more branches down after the crazy weather

gifted garlic taking nicely in its new home

cabbage sprouting in all its glory

gooseberry delight

coriander, flat leaf parsley and dill growing amongst the self seeded mignonette lettuce

the bundled  pots not happy whilst reno's are on!

some chookie treats growing out back

That face!

Homemade ferments, Kombucha, apple cider vinegar, sauerkraut and milk kefir

my new toy for running

a piece hubby has been working on

Hubby had his check up with the neuro-surgeon last week and things are going along and healing marvellously for him! He has been back at work, although he cant drive just yet and is back into his usual hobby's. Just today he picked out some of his old paintings that he started some time ago and is, as we speak tinkering away at them again. I am so grateful everyday that he has pulled through this accident and things look positive for the future. Life it feels is getting back to us. Of course these blasted reno's are still interfering, but I am back to getting a couple of runs in - and now I have a new toy to use too, and things are feeling good! The kids are happy everyday - none of 'all this' seems to bother them at all! What more could one ask for. Anyway, talk again soon xx.

Beyond busy!

It has been forever since I wrote last, almost 2 months in fact. I am sorry. I swear I am living in another world at the moment. Since I last blogged, all 3 of my babies had a birthday – plus parties, our renovations have been in full swing and to top it off hubby had a pretty nasty accident. He is very lucky. In our reno/DIY attempts he was knocking down the outside concrete stairs and as the stairs came down they collected the pole that was supporting them and flung it out and hit him in the head, resulting in a fractured skull and lacerated ear. He was airlifted to John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle where he underwent 5 hours of brain surgery and ear reconstruction. Thankfully he is recovering nicely, although he is no longer allowed to DIY much!

Fresh buns out of the oven.

Lots of over ripe banana's makes good banana bread to freeze.

Baby papaya plants.

My ginger haul.

Rainbow chard still producing! (amongst the rubble)

Poor comfrey all trodden, hopefully it comes back ok.

Beautiful beetroot.

Green manure crop.

The garden has copped a bit of a hiding with the contractors stomping around, but I am still managing to get some lovely crops up and blooming. There are a few empty beds around, resting and waiting for me to find the time to attend and plant something glorious in them. I look out at the yard and pretty much just want to close my eyes so I cant see all the rubble and mess around. I cant wait for the scaffolding to come down which will probably not be for a few more weeks yet. I planted about 100 garlic bulbs last week and they have all popped up to say hello and there are lots of broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, kohlrabi, fennel, leek, broadbeans, Swedes, parsnips, capsicums, tomatoes, silverbeet, kale and a green manure crop growing and enjoying the cooler weather.

3 different types of Kale.

Swedes and broadbeans.

Black capsicum, from a mixed heirloom pack.

Fennel babies.

Reno mess.

and more mess.

and more stomped garden.

Been gone soon please scaffolding....

A remodel of hubby's fractured scull.

I have had this draft blog waiting for weeks to start and finish. There has been so much going on in the last couple of months I just have not had time for much else than reno's and kids! All around me is mess and piles of stuff that has been moved around to make way for something being built and waiting for it to finish so I can put it away. I am not sure when that will be but I am hoping sooner than later. I heard renovations always take longer than expected and this in surely going to be the case here too. At least I know that when it is all finished we will be able to live a lot more comfortably and enjoy what we have and where we live. I hope it doesn't take me as long to write y'all again, but please understand why if it does. Talk soon x

Birthday season

Its been a while since I managed to write here as its been quite busy round our place. We have our reno's finally happening and coordinating all the contractors is harder than one would think. We have had to put off the start a few times already as we don't want the scaffolding up any longer than needed - especially with the wee ones around that will think its a new climbing contraption for them. Good luck to me to keep them off it! Its also birthday season for us. We have 6 birthdays (including our very close extending family) over the next 2 months with my baby boy turning 4 tomorrow!!! He is so happy and excited for his birthday it just melts me. Of course nothing goes to plan for me and I ended up over cooking/burning a batch of cupcakes for him to celebrate at preschool, so had to make another and now they aren't all the same, hopefully the little ones don't notice too much.... Then as usual a last minute scramble to the shops to find a birthday present. What to get the kidlets when you feel they already have enough but don't want them to go with out. Such a conundrum. Anyway, all kinda sorted for now and my next focus is his cake, hmmmm.

A lovely sunset at home.

The first bit of scaffolding for our reno's went up today.

A couple of my 20 or so pumpkins catching some sun before storage.

Pigeon Pea blossoming.

My garden pal - Ruby, follows me everywhere!

Pumpkin in the Bay Tree.

The cool weather crops are starting to take off here with my little seedlings really liking the cool change. Its really interesting to see how the different types of seeds are affected by the temps in the air and the ground. Things that I have been cheekily trying to get growing before its best sow date just weren't happening but are now starting to give me love. A lesson to just be patient and wait till they are ready (something which I am not very good at). Looking out in the garden it looks bare, but up close I can see all the little baby seedlings sprouting. A few plants have consistently provided for a good 6 months now - Rainbow Silverbeet, eggplants, beans. Everyday I am able to put something on our plates from the garden and it feels so much more nourishing knowing it was picked minutes ago and is completely organic. As my babies get older and I am able to dedicate more time to the garden (babies win in the dedication of mummy time factor) I hope more and more will come from the garden and eventually do away with the shops.... wouldn't that be nice?!?!

Roma tomatoes on round two. 

Eggplants just don't stop producing!

Chilli's are another constant in the garden.

New kholrabi seedlings.

The girls all waiting for me to let them out. 

Giant Paw Paws from seeds from my Grandmother in Brisbane.

More Chilli's! And pumpkin trying to take over...

Lately I seem to be battling with myself over my want to get rid of everything that seems to be cluttering our home and the worry that I might need it down the track. In my past I have been known to be a bit of a hoarder - I like to think of it as keeping just in case. So much stuff has just sat there for years in storage and to be honest, I forgot it was even there. Plus if I did think I had something somewhere, when I needed it I couldn't find it because I forgot where I put it and ending up having to buy another of whatever it was anyway! Grrr, more stuff. So I think its best to kinda clear out to start again. But this time be organised. Can that happen - with wee ones? My attempts at organising everything seems to have created more mess as the distractions of day to day life get in the way and my uncanny ability to procrastinate after everything has been pulled out seem to be a bit of the problem. In my mind it will all get sorted, but I do wonder when that will happen and so does Hubby for that matter. Maybe I really should be down there sorting the junk instead of here blabbing about it, oh well, time will tell..... talk soon, x.

Time to get back to it.

The holidays are over and its back to it. I did plan to post during the break but I'm sorry I was having too much fun hanging and taking the days extra slowly with my little gang. We spent each day at our complete leisure with visits to the local billabong/zoo, parks, shops and lots of colouring in and craft before spending the second week camping at our favourite hang out spot which just so happens to be only just over an hour north of us. I have concluded from our 4 out of 6 nights of rain whilst camping that we need to invest in some serious shelter for next time! Some might call it glamping, but I tell you there is nothing worse than soggy soggy everything. It almost put me off ever camping again! Plus all my whinging could nearly have put off hubby....yes a little bit of whinging from me. I dont like being wet (unless I am swimming or showering)! The days were amazing though and I spent the best part of the last 3 mornings surfing until my arms and body could surf no more. We camped with our extended family which made it even more amazing. I'm so grateful to have such a wonderful crew I can call family.

Broad beans already popping out pretty little flowers.

My beautiful Arum Lilly from my Nana and some Salvia to complement.

Okra from Bridget @ http://bridgetlarsen.blogspot.com.au/ 

Choko looks like it might fruit soon - hopefully, its had a rough trot!

Pumpkin growing on the other side of the fence, I hope no one tries to pinch it....

The garden is still producing and providing something each day. The eggplant just wont stop. Luckily my neighbour likes them as well. I have just popped into the ground most of my seedlings and also put our some new seeds direct into the ground. I am still trying to work out the best method with my seeds here as some dont seem to do too well and others just fine. Trial and error I guess and luckily not too much error. I tried to adjust the garden layout and moved some plants that were in the ground into pots and as you can see from the picture below, they are not happy. Thankfully I know this is how they sulked when I was first given them and they eventually come back to a full and vibrant life. We have had so much rain over the last couple of weeks that the ground is a bit of a soggy mess. I'm so glad the garden beds are raised and they dont seem to be suffering from water logging like the grass in the yard is. 

Not happy.

Afternoon tea for the wee ones.

A beautiful spider web catching the morning dew.

Tried to get a pic of Ruby but she just wants her belly rubbed!

Hard at work, shifting a load of mushroom compost into the garden.

The days ahead are going to be hectic I think. Our renovations will begin soon and there are a lot of phone calls to make, organising and meeting to be done, it hurts my brain already just thinking about it. The excitement of the finished job will hopefully get me through. Does anyone have any super tips that might have saved them through a reno. I dream of a smooth and quick job but I know in reality and from all the experience I've had to deal with from this house already, that will not be the case. Thank goodness my hubby is the one with the cool head and when I doubt I'll just leave it to him......maybe, hehe. Talk again soon. x