Sowing 2009

On our farm we sow crops of Wheat, Oats and Barley in the cooler months.... This year we're sowing Wheat seed that was harvested from our farm last year. We usually sell our seed, if the price is right, and only keep a small amount on farm for sowing the following year...

We were dry sowing (sowing into ground that had no moisture) this year in a hope that we would get rain.... That was until 3 inches fell Thursday last week right in the middle of sowing which resulted in this....

DH getting bogged to the Axel.....
After a lot of digging and a hell of a lot of pulling (by a much bigger beefier tractor mind you) we finally got out of the bog hole and DH was on his merry way again.....
Hopefully there won't be too many more moments like these this sowing season as we still have 1600 of the 2000 acres to sow before the end of this month with a lot of rain predicted along the way.... I'm not complaining though, this amount of rain is a Godsend!!!! It means our crop will definitely come up now and we'll have either sheep feed or a crop to harvest, it all depends on the follow up rain.... Fingers crossed things work in our favor this growing season and this dry paddock (well at the moment very moist paddock... LOL!!!) turns a nice shade of green....

A Plan.....

My Dad loves tomato relish.. So armed with a big box of homegrown tomatoes he approached me with a plan... I make the relish, he supplies the tomatoes and then we go halves. Sounds like a good plan to me....

The recipe that I use is one that has been handed down through my family for years. I love how it tastes and am yet to come across another relish quite like it....

I love making homemade relish but removing the labels from the jars can be an absolute nightmare, that was until my Mum finally taught me how to do it properly...

First, fill your jars up with boiling water put the lid on and leave for 5 mins. The label should now peel off with ease leaving behind a small amount of glue. Next, wrap the outside of the jar in clingfilm that has a solution of equal parts dish-washing liquid and water sprayed on it. Once again leave for 5 mins. Remove the clingfilm and wash jars in hot water. Any glue still left on the jars once dry can be removed with a cotton ball and some eucalyptus oil.... This method is sure to give a shinny clean jar every time....

Do you have a special method for getting those stubborn labels off jars???

I also made some butterscotch choc-chip muffins this morning while brewing up my batch of relish.....

These were super easy and taste so delicious. They're best served heated with a dollop of whipped butter or cream on top for dessert, YUMMO!!!!! But you can eat them cooled and they're still delicious...

Butterscotch Choc-Chip muffins

2 Cups SR Flour

1/2 Cups P Flour

1/4 teaspoon bicarb soda

3/4 Cups firmly packed Brown Sugar

1 Cup Cooking chocolate, chopped

2 Tablespoons Golden Syrup

1 1/4 Cups Buttermilk (see note below for how to make your own butter milk)

100g melted Butter

1 Egg, lightly beaten

Stir flours, sugar, chocolate and soda together.

Whisk buttermilk and golden syrup until dissolved, add melted butter and egg, whisk well.

Add liquid to flour, mix until just combined. DO NOT OVER MIX!!!

Divide mixture evenly between muffin pans.

Bake for 15-20 mins at 180'C or until golden in colour and cooked when tested.

Makes about 18 large muffins.

note: to make buttermilk add 2 Tablespoon of either vinegar or lemon juice to a 500ml jug and fill to 500ml measurement with milk. Leave for 5 minutes then use as needed.

Necessity

Out of pure necessity I've sewn the girls 5 pairs of pants each and must admit I am totally loving my new mags..... The patterns are so simple to understand and I can't wait to get started on some more little clothes for my girls this weekend if I get a chance...

I'm on the road again this weekend, off to granny's house, will try and get some sewing done while I'm down there, wish me luck..... Take care :)

IN LOVE!!!!!

A belated Xmas pressy came from my sister at the end of last month... You can just imagine how excited I was when I opened it and found a subscription to this mag.....

The first thing I made was this cute pair of overalls for Little Millie...
I love everything about this pattern, right down to the little pin tucks at the front.
I've also made some super cute 3/4 tights using stretch, a big first for me (using stretch that is)and I LOVED IT!!!!
These were SO EASY!!! I can see me making loads and loads of these for the girls out of the big haul of stretch I scored from here last weekend for $1 a metre...
Yes that's right $1, some were reduced down from as much as $16.95 a metre, can you believe it, well I couldn't... That's why I bought 45 metre's of it... LOL!!! A bit obsessive I know but just think of the saving.... ^_^

Show Time - Part 2

The Show was a huge success!!! Miss Connie entered into some of the under 5 cooking categories and even got a couple of 2nd's. 1 for her decorated patty cakes and 1 for her choc crackles... I think this mummy was smiling bigger then her bubby when she saw this... LOL!!!

The pavilion looked awesome and our small country town did an amazing job filling it with all their handmade and grown treasures...
My crochet smock got a 2nd which is fantastic and I also got a few other prizes for some sewing that I'll share with everyone later....
Now it wouldn't be a show without a few rides so with the help of Poppy Miss Connie had loads of fun on almost everything she was able to...

And I even got a chance to take her on this humongous trampoline which was loads of fun...

Finally a big congratulations goes out to my sister... She entered some of her knitting into the show this year for the first time.... She got 2 first places and 2 second places, well done Ab your knitting ROCKS!!!

Take Care :)

Show Time...

Lots of preperations for our Annual Agricultural Show here at the moment...

Today non-perishables were delivered to the pavilion and on Thursday the perishables are due...

Will try to take loads of pics over the weekend of all the lovely crafty goodness on display to share with everyone...

Here's one of the things that I entered today...

A crochet smock... This was such a beautiful pattern to follow, perfect for all skill levels.... I can definitely see another one of these on the agenda very soon... ^_^

Take Care....