simple days at home

Chickens ~ I love watching our girls go about their day. They take the complication out of my life, even if only for a short time. They live such simple lives compared to ours. Maybe we are missing something?

Wildflowers ~ with all the rain that has fallen this year, these little daisy plants have popped up everywhere.

Laundry days ~ There will always be daily chores to do, and this little helper makes life so much easier. Can you tell?

Pot pourri ~ I am trying to make my own this year.

Cups of tea ~ are very popular in our house.  I always make a teapot of tea, it tastes so much better.  The old bread boards were an op shop find.  They were pretty tatty and tired, but a good scrub and a soak in oil has brought life back into them.

Old dresser ~ this was once painted pink, black and green and covered in grease. I found it years ago in my dads workshop on our farm. After convincing dad he didn't need it any more, the paint was removed and we restored it back to this lovely piece of well made furniture. Now it is displayed proudly in our dining room.

Vintage salt and pepper shakers ~ a lovely gift from hubby.

Baking ~ I found another recipe using zucchini.  A moist chocolate and zucchini loaf from here.

Bread ~ this week I made a loaf and some more rolls from sourdough. Easy now I know how. I sat them in the car to rise. The perfect place on a warm day.

Figs ~ these came from our friends tree.  We have been taking care of her place while she is away. We gathered eight kilograms of figs and they have been sliced and put in the freezer for now.

Tomatoes ~ I am picking and eating these every day now. Some of these will be dried. I love sun dried tomatoes.

Simple Lunch ~ toasted homemade bread, home grown tomato and cucumber. Sprinkled with salt, pepper and oregano, then drizzled with organic olive oil.

Rhubarb from the garden ~ made into this.

A simple pasta salad ~ you will need; 

pasta, 2 chopped onions, 1 green capsicum, 1 cup celery, 3 grated carrots, 2 tins sweetcorn (or equivalent frozen), 1 red capsicum. Dressing; 1 cup sugar, 1 cup vinegar, 1 cup oil, 1 heaped dessertspoon curry powder. Mix thoroughly. This is better made the day before.  (I halved this recipe as it makes a lot).

Sturt's desert peas ~ we have the right soil and conditions for growing these.  I planted them out when it was raining on Monday night, and have covered them so the chickens don't scratch them out. 

Roses ~  I have been gathering bunches of yellow roses from my friends garden, displaying them for a while, and then into my homemade potpourri they go.

Op shop finds ~ A visit to the op shop and hubby was excited to find an old retro tape recorder. It had no cord but was only two dollars, so we took a chance. Luckily dad had a cord in his collection that fitted perfectly. It works.

Crochet rug ~ I simply cannot leave something this lovely in an op shop.  From experience, I know how long these blankets take to make, and so this one has made its way into my home.

Crochet book ~ twenty cents for this 1955 book. Lots to look at and hopefully learn some new skills.

Out the window ~ the view with my windchimes, mother in law tongues slowing coming to life and tulip pelargonium.

Hippy hat ~ we couldn’t resist at a recent market and came home with two of these. 

The Simple Home ~ the postie has delivered this lovely book, now to make time for some good down to earth reading.

Grandbaby ~ handsome boy at a recent birthday dinner.

Sundown ~ always beautiful.

Browsing through old cooking books ~ getting back to the basics with my cooking. A good lesson for me this week when my dad told me his doctor asked him how he keeps so healthy. Dad replied, “I don’t eat junk, and I keep busy."  My parents are elderly now; dad is 80, mum 77 and together they have started a new adventure on ten acres.  They are fit and healthy and I think it is because they stick to basic foods, with most of their food grown or raised at home. They also walk every.single.day. Just recently and all by himself, Dad built a shed on their new block.  I hope I am able to do this kind of thing going into my old age. Dads motto is; " keep on moving, if you stop, that is it!"

Spider lily ~ looking lovely.

Lisianthus ~ these plants were looking really sad in our local grocery store. I hope to revive them with some loving care. I cut the flowers off, gave them a drink of rain water and added a bit of fertilizer. Now I wait.

Lamingtons ~ our Australia Day treat. Definitely homemade using Lady Flo's recipe.

My posts seem to be awfully long, who knew there was so much happening in our week? Maybe I need to post more often ~smiles.

How was your week? Did you do something special for Australia day?