Mounting tension....

So this morning I woke with butterflies in my belly. Nope, not from the joy of today being the 1st day of spring, nor from the flutter of tiny feet in my puku. This month my blood, sweat and tears (not to mention sleepless nights and random bouts of manic laughter) will come to fruition on the 24th, when the Kindergarten fundraiser I've been planning most of the year will be held.

So far, so good! Venue booked, speakers sorted, advertising posters and tickets looking fantastic, and sponsorship and donations flowing in steadily. Catering... No worries!

Tickets sold to date.....2.....!

It sounds worse than it is i think . I know of at least 30 or so people who are defiantly coming, but I'll certainly feel better when they have actually purchased their tickets ... and told their friends and family to buy theirs as well. I know there is no need to feel like my insides are jelly, the workshop is going to be great and all 230 tickets WILL sell... I guess this nervousness is just all part of planning an event. Who the hell would be an event planner!!! They must love living on the adrenalin the stress creates... Me... I prefer the nervous anticipation of waiting for my first tomato seedlings to appear, or seeing if the mixed capsicum seed will this year surprise me with some of those lovely orange peppers... not just green ones.

So, those of you who would be interested, here's the flyer for the fundraiser.

Please come ...

... and make your friends (mums, grandmas, and husbands) come too. Lynda Hallinan (my idol) is a fantastic speaker and will be full of good juicy info for us all. Anyone wanting more info or to buy tickets can leave me a message and I'll be in touch.

Hibernation....

So, months have past since my last blog, but with a lack of heating near the computer, who can blame me. Here's a wee peek at whats been happening at Dukerville HQ.

Family picnic on the way to Grandad Tony's in Auckland.

Stopping at the army museum on the way home from Auckland and leaving a Poppy for Papa.

Winning Soccer on a FREEZING Saturday morning.

Snow in Filly!!! 

Possum piklet making one wet afternoon...yummo!

This is our new addition to Dukerville... welcome Kermit Mcdermot, or just Dermot if you prefer ;)

Baby growing. (by far the toughest job of all)

Chugging along nicely for 23 weeks. This little rascal is due on 20th December so I'll be setting up a manger under the Chrissy tree this year. Bring on a very merry Christmas... And a lots of lovely warm weather and long happy sunny summers days! Only about 133 days to go....*sigh*

Remedys for a bad week.

Anyone else had the flu this year?? I don't recommend it.

The word flu doesn't do the illness justice... nope, not at all... i tend to think of words more along the lines of 'steamroller' or possibly 'trainwreck'!

3 solid days in bed, would of been 5 if i hadn't had to go to work on the first two. Never before have i actually been so 'out of action' that my lovely husband has had to stay home from work so the kids weren't left to fend for themselves. Adam did an awesome job keeping the household together while i was suffering on my death bed, but by Wednesday night he was feeling a little frazzled. Washing piled so high you could barley get into the laundry, no idea what should go in the school lunches for the next day and "DINNER... Ah crap, I'd forgotten about that!" Nanny Ali to the rescue with a lamb casserole and a HUUUGGGE bunch of scented stock for me. Not that i have any sense of smell. Although the hyacinths that Nana arrived with the following day i can certainly smell... as can the rest of Feilding I'm sure!

Amazing what a few flowers can do to lift the soul... but having once been a florist, i guess i can be a little more sensitive to the good they do then some others.

Hmmm, other things that have turned this week around for me:

1. Making 1 million mini piklets for the Kindy disco tonight



2. Finding this picture of the kids from a couple of years ago :)

3. The New Zealand Gardener being delivered in this mornings post. Saturday morning will now go something like this.... Kitchen and Garden show on Radio live blaring to drown out the 'Little Einstines'  tune from the telly, Fresh poached egg on toast, Tea, Gardener magazine and evil eye ready for anyone who tries to disturb me!

4. Easy... Feeling #4 baby wiggling around inside my belly! (*Happiness*)

What's to love about Autumn?

 Little Layla and I spent the afternoon in the backyard a couple of days ago, and it reminded me why Autumn is my favourite season.

- Warm enough to hang out in a tee shirt, but not so hot you have to hide under the apple tree for fear of sunstroke.

- Hose is made redundant and is retired to the shed till next summer.

- Vegetable garden grows like snot.

- ANNNDDDDD there are still raspberries to pick and have on top the pav. (Chooks AKA Lovely ladies are looking a little worse for wear due to the annual shedding of feathers, but still providing more than enough fresh eggy goodness!)

Also, you can't go past the simple pleasure of raking up all those leaves... even having to do it 3 times after  Lil and Maggie insisted on rolling around in them after I'd got them into a nice big pile.

I grew Kumara for the first time this year. I wasn't overly confident that I would have any luck as they are notoriously tricky to grow. Also, I didn't have too much room to spare so I planted all the sprouts along one trench, when in hindsight I probably should of only put one or two sprouts per trench. With nervous excitement (of the type one can only experience when digging spuds, pulling carrots or any other root type vegetable!!!!) Lil and I slowly forked up the plants. I did a wee dance when the first one came up, and in 10 minutes we had half a bucket full. Not all huge, actually some were down right tiny, but I'm pretty chuffed with my first attempt. And seen it's turned so miserably cold, I thought I might make curried kumara soup for dinner tonight. Will put some bread dough on in a minutes so we can have garlic bread too...yummo!

The Vegetable garden is still doing it's duty and keeping us well feed. Although the lettuces I planted are taking much much much to long and in desperation I brought one from the supermarket yesterday. (The supermarket checkout operator looked pleased, I have a feeling she thinks I only serve my kids frozen peas as they are the only vegetable I ever buy!) I have quite a few cabbages coming on at once which is worrying me, I mean how much coleslaw can one family eat. If anyone has a good cabbagey recipe, please send it my way! I'm off to the library now to trawl through the recipe books there!

Easter goodness....

Crap... I hate it when you write nearly a whole blog... then accidentally

 delete it!

Woooh... a whole calender month since I last blogged!

When did my life become so crazy busy, that finding a couple of minutes to jot down a few words on the most memorable moments of the past few days, seems like a total luxury?....

Tonight I have my babes in bed early, lovely husband out of a bit, dishes and washing done...

and that damn box OFF!!!

off off off off (off out to the bin if I had my way!)

Yesterday... wonderful sunny warm Easter Friday, I spent (FINALLY) in the flower garden, which has become some what neglected in the last month due to the demands of the vegetable garden... obviously it has pretty tough job seeing us thru the winter...($100 a week is proving to be seriously tough for the 5 of us!) (TIPS WELCOME!)

I am pleased though. I think it looks great for this time of year and am proud that we have made it blossom from this in August last year...

To pretty flower garden now...

Lots of thanks to my Nan, Mum, Aunty Al and neighbours Rena and Daphne for their contributions of cuttings...  oooh and Em too, for the standard roses from her garden.

The vegetable garden is going awesome too...except...

My spuds... they actually look HUGE here.

The biggest one here was smaller than a 10 cent piece... lucky we had rice in the cupboard :)

Gloating....

My crazy carrots... never, ever, in my whole gardening life have i ever grown carrots like this!!! And i just needed to share my success with the whole bloggin world :)!!!!!
and my wee Layla May looks pretty happy with the haul!

A is for Apple

Wow we've had such a busy week and I've managed to get next to nothing done! We had a new fire, hot water system and loo (yippee, one that the kids can actually flush all by themselves!) installed, so kitchen time was significantly reduce by the amount of dust and noise inside. Love having the flash new mod cons though, and I did still get a chance to make some goodness to squirrel away for the winter.

Maggie, our extremely excitable, lovable, licking and grossly overweight chocolate brown log... oops dog, this week moved on from eating strawberry's, raspberries and tomatoes, to gorging herself on the beautiful tart cooking apples from the unnamed, very old, apple tree out the back. Although having pretty bad coddling moth, I couldn't bear to see the fruit adding to her rapidly expanding middle (not to mention the numerous #2's happening due to excessive fiber consumption!) so my number one man and I decided on a apple rescue mission.

Reubs, armed with a home made ladder type of thing, and a basket was sent out to collect every apple from the tree. Maggie sat mournfully under said tree, waiting with diminishing hope that Reubs would throw one down for her. Meanwhile I scoured my many cooking/gardening books to find something spectacular to make. Oooohhh and spectacular I certainly did find!

Tah dah....

Apple Chutney and preserved spiced apples. Think roast pork and apple pie and homemade ice cream... Man, I can't wait (note to self...will need to hunt for a good ice cream recipe)!

Here is the apple chutney recipe I used. It says to leave it to mature for 12 weeks before serving... but I had to have a wee sneaky taste and after 30 minutes it was already Divine!

*1kg apples, peeled and diced *500g brown sugar *500g diced red onion *300g raisins *2 Tbs yellow mustard seeds *Fresh ginger, grated... I love it so I use lots ;) *Chilli, de-seeded and finely sliced... again, as much as you like or not at all *1/4 tsp ground cloves *250ml red wine vinegar *salt and pepper to taste

Place all ingredients in a large preserving pot. Bring to the boil, then turn down the heat. Stir regularly to stop it catching and simmer down to a thick consistency, like jam should be. Pour into warm, sterilised jars and seal.  (to sterilise jars, wash them well with warm soapy water, rinse, dry and put in an oven, pre-heated to about 120-150 for at least 30 minutes. Make sure you sterilise the lids by boiling in a pot of water for 10 or so minutes too...and don't contaminate them again by touching them with dirty fingers!!! Finding your hard work has a whole kaleidoscope of mould growing on top is pretty dis-heartening!)

As for the spiced apples....

Just blanch peeled and diced (or sliced) apples in hot, then cold water for a few minutes before putting in sterilised jars (it helps to stop them going brown). Pour over a syrup made by boiling 1 part sugar to 5 parts water with your favourite spicy things added. I made mine with a few whole cloves, a stick or two of cinnamon and a vanilla pod. Add some to the jars to make it look pretty if that's the way you roll ;)