Sam’s Birthday Bash

August 17, 2015August 17, 2015 / susiecameron / 2 Comments

Thank goodness it only happens once a year!

A dozen of Sam’s closest friends descended on The Meadow this weekend to celebrate his 29th birthday. A birthday lunch at our house has become an annual event over the past 4 years and it was lovely that the boys were prepared to travel to continue the tradition. Most of them had booked into The Berry Pub for the night and we had our guest rooms fully booked too. The new table was fully extended and the kitchen was groaning with food – a good test for the new house with our biggest gathering yet.

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You’ve arrived!!

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All went swimmingly with copious quantities of beer and wine consumed and tales of days gone by were shared over lunch before a game of backyard cricket to round the day off. Bailey was the best on the field – thank goodness she is such a good ‘fetcher’ and was happy to run after the balls furthest away and bring it back to drop the ball neatly at the bowlers feet as the other members of the team were a bit slow off the mark. She had a lovely day with so many people to play with (and no doubt lots of sneakily fed treats as well!)

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A few beers and nibbles before lunch

A bit excited about the meat

Ready, Set, Go……

Happy Birthday Sammy!

Bailey was definitely the best fielder of the ball…..

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Josh anticipating a catch…

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Howzat!!!!!!!!!!! Cheers and Jeers from the Peanut Gallery…..

Sam’s birthday coincided with the Bledisloe Cup decider and with so many rugby boys (players and fans) in the house we had organised a couple of cabs to take them into the local pub to watch it there. The last time we had beaten the Kiwis at their home ground was the year Sam was born so we had this feeling of coincidence and a sense that we may win. Forever hopeful of course and those hopes were to be well and truly dashed a couple of hours later when we were thrashed.

The All Blacks did not come to (Sam’s) party…..

A couple of true blue fans (before their hopes were dashed)

Anyway, apart from losing the rugby to our arch rivals and the pre booked taxi not arriving at midnight to bring our house guests home (necessitating a certain Motherly person to retrieve them from downtown Berry at 1.30 am slightly the worse for wear) it was a fabulous day and worth all the hard work. A lovely bunch of fellas with just a couple of my faves unable to attend as they are living in London. It’s hard to believe they are all about to turn 30 – where have the years gone????

My boys came down the day before to ‘help’ but ended up using the gorgeous sunny afternoon to try out a local golf course in Gerringong. It is in a beautiful scenic spot overlooking the ocean and on a beautiful day it’s harder to think of anywhere better to hang out with your brother and try to hit small balls into holes with sticks.

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Not a bad spot for a game of golf

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Happy Days xx

Local life

August 9, 2015 / susiecameron / Leave a comment

Our neighbours family have owned land in this area going back to when it was first settled in the 1800s and I got a little peek into how life was for families at the turn of the century when Pat invited me to have a look at his ancestral home. At various times it housed extra Cousins, Aunties and Uncles with the house bursting at the seams with 3 different families living there together. Verandas were enclosed to become living areas and kitchens and rooms built as formal sitting and dining rooms became bedrooms to cater for the increase in numbers. The original kitchen is now gone replaced with an 80’s built in number which must have been sheer heaven after working on a wood fuelled stove and cooking for 14 people every day! Ironically Pat’s Mum Vonnie, became one of Australia’s best known country cooks – renowned for her baking (especially her pumpkin scones) and her many award winning cakes. Now in her 90s she is a judge at the local country fairs and at The Easter Show in Sydney and is the vision of a country lady – all rosy cheeks and twinkly eyes. After seeing where and how she must have started her baking career I have even more respect for her achievements! What stories this veranda has seen over the years……if only the walls could talk……..

Their dairy has a wonderful old barn that has been used for EVERYTHING over the years, including local dances and various family christenings, birthdays and wedding receptions. It is mainly used now to house some old equipment but it has a lovely atmosphere and you can imagine how much fun the kids would have had playing there in the old days before the modern ‘progress’ of TV and video games….

An open door is so enticing…..

We have had a couple of milestones this past week, our first dinner date with some locals which was lovely and made us feel part of the community instead of Sydney ‘outsiders’ and my first out of office function with my new workmates. It was a thank you to the team at all 3 offices – Nowra, Berry and Shoalhaven Heads for all their hard work and achievements in the recent Real Estate Awards where they scooped quite a few trophies. We went to the beautiful Wharf Road Restaurant and enjoyed drinks and canapes in front of the log fire and it was great to mingle and meet some new people from the other offices. Earlier in the week Cam and I took the hound to the other side of the river from Wharf Road and enjoyed some locally caught fish and chips in the sunshine. There is a path that tracks the river and is a pleasant way to spend an hour walking the dog although I think she may dive in once the weather gets warmer – labradors just LOVE the water!

On a beautiful sunny morning I bundled Bailey into the car and we drove to Milton for a “doggie playdate” with Corona and Chloe at Claydon Park. Seeing Corona a year or so ago had ignited my desire to get another labrador and then Karen and Phil got Chloe – a little black lab 4 months older than Bailey – and I thought ‘what is a country veranda without a dog lying on it????’ Hence our little chocolate drop’s arrival.

We had a lovely day with the three of them chasing each other around the farm and Bailey met her first cat, Felix. Bailey jumped around him prancing to and fro trying to engage him in play but he sat there disdainfully – a huge ball of white fluff – and completely ignored her, until she got too boisterous and then a swipe of his claws let Bailey know who was boss……………………………..

Phil “sharing” his pie with the three amigos………..(note Bailey sitting beautifully in the hope of a reward)

Chloe, Bailey and Corona – butter wouldn’t melt in their mouths………….

The next day I had to go to work – my alternate Saturday, and of course the weather was perfect. A million things could have been done in the garden but I was off to sit in the office. Still, as I drove through the countryside it was hard to feel hard done by. The coral trees are all starting to flower and contrast beautifully with the green fields and as I drove into Shoalhaven Heads the sun was shimmering on the water and not a soul in sight. Such tranquility, with a sigh I hopped back into the car and onto the office.

The head of the Shoalhaven River in the early morning sunshine

Beautiful Coral Trees line the road

There is a feeling of Spring in the air and it wont be long until we are all complaining it’s too hot and driving to the beach to cool down, and despite all the dire warnings of the August winds we have only had one night of rattling windows and furniture stacked up on the front lawn in the morning. The roses are starting to bud and the lavender is blooming. There is talk of planting tomatoes and spring flowers and little calves have arrived in our adjoining paddock. Time for the next push in the garden with the front perimeter fence being targeted this coming week and hopefully the planting of some hydrangeas around the bay window. Bring it on!!!!

The Five Mile comes to The Meadow

August 2, 2015 / susiecameron / Leave a comment

Our friends from further south (and their property The Five Mile) came for a weekend visit which was lovely as the first time they came we had only been here a few weeks and the guest room literally just had a bed. It was much more comfortable for them this time round! They also timed it perfectly as the under floor insulation had been completed the previous day and we could already tell the difference in the interior temperature of the house. It just doesn’t have that icy feel any more and hopefully when we get the next cold snap we will feel a bit more cosy. 2015-07-30 07.30.11

The magic under the floor blanket

What is wrong with this picture??????????????

Seriously, who builds a laundry door and then takes the steps away? The door is also locked with no key and has thus far been completely useless. Bailey sleeps in here and after yet another night of getting up 2-3 times to let her out I finally snapped and drove to Bunnings to get a doggy door. The last “big dog” door available was purchased and then I had to find someone who had the nouse and the tools to put it in!! My lovely friend and Pilates teacher Leanne volunteered her equally lovely partner Michael to give me a hand and this is the result!! I was so excited but of course poor little Bailey couldn’t use it until we had some steps organised so the boys first job of the weekend was to visit the hardware store for something suitable. These bessa blocks proved to be a perfect height and width and with great anticipation we prepared to bribe Bailey with food to see if she would take to using them. Like red rag to a bull she leaped straight out on the promise of a bit of bacon and then went in and out 10 times in a row until she got the hang of it. We tried not to get excited as we wouldn’t know until the following morning if she would actually use it in the night and not just when we were there with food, but my little chocolate button is very smart and I am happy to report that we got an entire night’s sleep with no interruption! As for any new parents it was a momentous occasion and thanks to Nifty for his great idea for the steps and Michael for the installation of the door – what great blokes!

Stairway to heaven for Bailey (and us!!)

There wasn’t too much going on this weekend but we stuck our heads into the Berry Showground to see the Regional Firefighter Championships. There were teams from far and wide competing for glory and it was a great atmosphere as they prepared to battle it out.

Fireman Sam and all his buddies at the Championship.

They came from far and wide with their families in caravans and trailers. It was a colourful spectacle with some old fashioned country charm. The National Anthem was sung and a prayer for our firefighters was said and of course there was the inevitable sausage sizzle!!

The local lads……..

The local school kids had created the artwork for the pop up cafe. Who wanted to be a fireman when they grew up????

When we got home we discovered a couple of our chickens roaming the grounds as pleased as punch to be out and nibbling all our plants and veggies. We had no idea how they got out and after inspecting the chook fence and discovering no holes we thought perhaps it was time for another trimming of their wing feathers as the only other way out was up! My very own chook whisperer was inside HQ wealding the scissors while Nifty rounded them up and channelled them into the pen one by one until they were all ‘done’ so hopefully that has ended their garden jaunts!

The Chook man with his feathered friends

Feeling quite pleased with ourselves and with the afternoon sun shining we decided to reward ourselves with a visit to The Cambewarra Winery and a couple of glasses of their wine looking out over the fields. A very relaxing way to spend a couple of hours.

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Next to the chardy vines at Cambewarra Estate Winery. A lovely afternoon for a glass or two in the sun..

After a lovely evening in front of the fire chatting about old times and adventures still to come, we woke up the next morning to a beautiful double rainbow arching over the garden and a very unusual light. I wish I had also woken up to a pot of gold and as I had a ticket in the $21M lottery I thought it was a sign. Unfortunately it was merely a sign of the sun shining through the raindrops…………

Somewhere over the rainbow…………………

Sue and I decided to have a Sunday morning bimble around Berry and happened upon the small but beautifully appointed Picnic Shed in the garden of The Sourdough Bakery. It has a lovely unique collection of things for the home, garden and the little people in our lives. Lots of things with a Scandinavian aesthetic and a great place to part with some hard earned cash…… The beautiful Picnic Shed – something for everyone

6 months in The Meadow

July 26, 2015July 27, 2015 / susiecameron / 3 Comments

Well it’s hard to believe but we have been here for half a year now and we are really starting to feel part of things. This week I am sharing some of the local landmarks that make up my new life. I still pull over to check out gorgeous little cottages which I spy when I’m driving. I hop out and take a few furtive pics and hop back in as if I was a private investigator on a job!!

2015-07-16 12.36.12 Gorgeous in Gerringong!!

Everywhere I look I see a potential photograph or painting especially at this time of the year when the bare trees are silhouetted against the sky or the fog hangs low like a blanket over the fields or as puffs of cotton wool nestling in the hills. The magnolia trees are in full blossom and the flame trees are just starting to show off their huge red flowers and, being the chilly part of the world that we are, the camellias and rhododendrons are also doing their thing. Maybe we notice things more in a Winter landscape than in Spring when everything is in full throttle.

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Despite the cold and the wind my gardenias are still thinking they are in the south of France and are in full flower with more buds forming every day!

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Berry is full of tourists every weekend, and increasingly mid week as well – as this is a destination equally popular in the winter and the summer. There are loads of houses available for rent for short stays and lots of people come from the city for a country weekend complete with open fires and cosy local restaurants. If nothing else, people stop for a break on the big drive south or north and one of the most popular destinations is the famous Berry Donut Van!! When I told people in Sydney I was moving here the most frequent comment was ” Oh that’s where that donut van is” and although I am yet to visit it (I’m a bit scared I may love it and form a bad habit) the rest of the world has no such qualms.

donut van

Other things that attract people to Berry is the quaint main street with a couple of iconic pubs and a some interesting shops.

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The bustling high street!!!

6381239765_a3e7a06d52_b Great local deli

Cabana Jo's

A cool shop with a lot of interesting stuff

6381097337_975fc0d0ce_b The hub cap pub…..

Our daily life goes by in a flurry of feeding the chooks and collecting the eggs (we’re still getting 7 a day despite the cold weather), harvesting the veggies and thinking of new creative ways to use them all, taking Bailey for walks along the lane and stopping to watch the cows with their new born calves, some days there are as many as three!! They only get a couple of days with their babies before they are taken away from them so I am always hoping that they get two beautiful sunny days together where life is grand before it all gets turned upside down……
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2015-07-24 15.24.04 Today’s pickings…..

There are a few things happening in the house. Our new 14 seater oak table was delivered yesterday and we have are-arranged our dining room to accommodate it. Luckily it is an extension table so most of the time we will have the smaller version on display. Our old table has become a servery bench which will be very handy on those big red letter days like Christmas and Birthdays when we have a house full. We will be giving it a work out in a few weeks time when Sam has his annual birthday lunch with some of his closest friends down here. The boys will make a weekend of it and have rented some rooms at the Berry pub to handle the overflow. It will be nice to have a large crew in the house and we are planning a big country lunch.

Our library has been signed off on and should be started in the next few weeks. Michael – a local cabinet maker – is doing it for me and incorporating a pull down bed for those times we need an extra bedroom. He is keen to tie it in to the history of the house and as it is going to be in the main sitting room of the house we feel we need to give it a bit of heritage love to stay in keeping with the features. This is the working drawing to give you an idea……

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The week ended with the boys arriving for a quick getaway from Sydney. We christened the new table in the dining room with a nice log fire and with some braised lamb shanks and veggies from our garden (including Lucy’s first ever brussel sprout which she loved!!) and a treacle sponge pud with custard, all washed down with several bottles of red!! This family portrait (including dogs) was duly whatsapped to Lauren in Honkers so she could feel included. The weather was surprisingly mild at 20 deg and if it wasn’t for the wind (!!!!!!!) we would have ended the weekend with a nice walk on the beach at Gerroa and lunch out but that will have to wait until Spring I’m thinking!! I’m now off to Bunnings to buy wedges for the windows to stop them rattling….wish me luck!

Go away Polar Vortex………….

July 20, 2015July 27, 2015 / susiecameron / 2 Comments

In a week when the polar vortex hit Eastern Australia with a vengeance our main focus was on keeping warm. That is easier said than done in an old weatherboard house built in the 1800’s. The beautiful old oregon floorboards have cracks through which you can see the great outdoors and and heat is easily lost. We have decided to get the underfloor of the house insulated with a hi-tech honeycomb material clad in what looks like tinfoil. It blankets the underneath of the house blocking the cold that comes up from the ground and effectively trapping in any heat. I wasn’t too sure until a friend of mine said her brother did it in Tasmania and it made a huge difference. It should improve the temperature indoors by 5-7 degrees which would improve it from ice box to cool room temperature! The cold weather has encouraged us to keep the wood fire burning and we snuggle up in one section of the house as much as possible. The easiest way to get warm is to take the dog for a walk or do some work in the garden to be honest!

2015-07-14 14.31.14 Our wood neatly stacked and staying dry next to the old bread oven.

We finally got round to “pruning” the mulberry tree which was so huge there was absolutely no hope of getting any of the fruit before the birds so Cam made yet another call to Noel in Nowra (who provides him with all his boy toys) and on Saturday Noel delivered a sparkly new chainsaw. He stayed to show him how to work it and to help us chop most of the tree down. He was invaluable as he had straps and experience to ensure it all went event free. Now we are hoping that when the new canes sprout from the tree we will be able to bend them and create a tree – almost like an espalier – where we can harvest the fruit easily and hopefully before the birds do….

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I was most excited this week to discover there is somewhere in Berry that stocks all my foody items, No more trips to the Essential Ingredient in Sydney to pick up my favourite things. The Treat Factory was, I thought, just a gimmicky place selling jams to the coachloads of tourists that flock here each weekend but next door to it is their warehouse and blow me down with a feather it sells Careme pastry which is a girls best friend when it comes to a bit of puff pastry for a tarte tatin! Those of you that use it will understand my delight….

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A bit of foodie heaven in Berry

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Armed with my beloved pastry, pomegranate molasses, the longest cinnamon sticks I have ever seen, some raw honey and some mustard pickles I was a happy chappy indeed. They even said they could order things in if I needed something they didn’t have in stock – customer service excellence!!!

Back home the chocolate one had her collar removed much to her delight and has been finding long lost pleasures in running (well leaping actually) around the garden and reconnecting with her toys that we had hidden while she was meant to be resting. Stitches out this week and hopefully no more vet bills for a while.

2015-07-18 10.09.01 Happy to be collar free and reunited with her toys.

In the veggie patch we harvested the baby leeks and some onions and a large batch of potato and leek soup will be made this week and frozen for a quick and easy lunch down the track. I really need a bigger freezer now that I have such big gluts of produce. The cabbages are nearly ready to pop too so I’m dabbling with the idea of making sauerkraut. I’ve never had it but its flavour of the month in the food world – pickled and fermented foods being the thing ‘de jour’ so maybe I will give it a whirl.

2015-07-18 13.17.25 Our beautiful baby leeks

Cam and I have been looking for a chest of drawers or a console for our bedroom. It is such a big room all our current furniture just fills one half of it so I was quite excited to find this at a local recycled furniture shop. A nice shape and size but not quite the look I was after. The owner suggested I could revamp it with Annie Sloane chalk paints which doesn’t involve any preparatory work – you just slap it on apparently!! Cammo even voiced some enthusiasm for the project so I’m keen to see his creative side come out after 30 years in the dark….

2015-07-14 11.25.51 Awaiting transformation

I’m enjoying being part of Greenbox, the local co-operative packing and distributing farmers produce. There are a dedicated bunch of volunteers and I have buddied up with a couple of the women there and persuaded them to do Pilates with me. They also have dogs and we have plans to walk beautiful 7 mile beach with them when the weather warms up a bit.

2015-07-16 11.08.22 Our warehouse 2015-07-16 11.08.31 Headquarters

Our warehouse in Gerringong where everything gets delivered and packed and people come to collect their orders. Fresh, local produce – delicious !! 2015-07-16 11.10.36

Poo

July 12, 2015July 27, 2015 / susiecameron / Leave a comment

Not the most glamorous of titles for this week’s blog but poo is a very important part of life in the garden and indeed the country. Being surrounded by a dairy farm as we are it is even more important. The downside is that in the summer if the cows are in an adjacent paddock to our house we tend to have an increase in the amount of flies (I have an ever lengthening list of how to get rid of them “naturally”) but the upside is that the farmer is happy to deliver a scoop (a tractor load to the uninitiated) of rotted down cow manure to our veggie patch ready for us to use.

Compost or lunch??

Peter our guru gardener has managed to get me some asparagus crowns which, once planted, apparently last a lifetime – producing beautiful fresh asparagus in season and then dying down in winter so it was important to prepare our bed properly as you don’t want to interfere with the roots once they are established. A trench is dug and then filled with our beautifully rotted manure, before planting and mulching. As this is the bed that runs adjacent to the chicken run it is also the favoured place for one small chocolate dog to sit in the sun and check out the chooks. Not too sure how good that is going to be for any potential asparagus to be honest…..

In recent days I had become convinced that a local rabbit or hare was getting into my patch as the lettuce was being systematically eaten and leaves strewn across the garden, however when I was looking for Bailey the other day I found her in the veggie patch tucking into and eating an entire lettuce!!! I think I have a vegetarian dog – she LOVES tomatoes, cabbage and lettuce leaves, oranges and grapes (preferably seedless) so unfortunately for now I have had to lock her out of the patch in the hope it breaks the habit. Of course the aroma of the newly installed manure is enticing her all the more to venture over there and have a bit of an exploratory dig! We have built all the beds up and constructed a compost bin so it is all going to be used asap to avoid any further temptation for you-know-who.

I ‘m not sure if we will end up eating any of our crops at the moment as we have a flock of 2-300 corellas that regularly patrol our lane looking for delicacies. You can hear them coming 5 minutes away as they screech their way over the fields. I’m not sure if they are looking for anything in particular or are just hoping to come across something yummy. The guru gardener says it’s a good idea to pick all the lemons, oranges and limes from the top of our trees (which the birds can spy whilst flying) and just keep the lower part of the tree laden with fruit until the last minute as they ripen and sweeten far better on the tree than in your fruit bowl…

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The other day when we were having a shower an ominous gurgling was heard in the drain in our beautiful new ensuite. It didn’t go away and the plumber was duly called. A blocked pipe was the suggestion and he asked when we had last had our septic pumped. An interesting question for this city girl as I have never had anything other than the usual mains sewer to contend with. Our house here has an Enviromax which is an environmentally friendly sewage system and needs to be pumped out every 3-5 years and apparently this needed to be done now. So about 50 metres away from the cow poo being delivered ours was being pumped into a truck. What a job – no wonder it cost $400. No-one ever says “when I grow up I want to be the poo pumper guy” but I am grateful that some do and the plumber can now get on with the business of fixing the blockage. The joys of living off the grid….!!

We have had a quiet week as the little chocolate dog had to go to the vets and get desexed. For girl dogs that involves a hysterectomy and removal of the ovaries which is quite major surgery and she was in the vets all day. When they examined her they also found that her baby canine teeth had not come out and were impacted in her gums causing irritation and potential infection. The roots are 2 inches long and quite hard to extract so I was very glad she was out cold for the whole procedure. They gave her everything else at the same time – heart worm injection, pedicure, worm and tick meds and she left there with an “Elizabethan collar” to stop her pulling at the stitches. She has to keep it on for 2 weeks and at this stage she isn’t particularly impressed with it – she keeps bumping into the doorways and furniture and can’t quite seem to find a comfortable sleeping position. I am sure she will get used to it but she woke us up every 2 hours last night as the pain killers wore off and things weren’t quite right in her world but this morning she seems as bright as a button and is mainly just desperate to eat anything and everything after having fasted for 24 hours – a situation no self respecting Labrador would ever want to find themselves in.

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Anthony from the “Village Vets” (new series starts July 30th on Lifestyle) with Bailey waving goodbye to us just prior to the big chop….They are so lovely at The Berry Vet Clinic, they spend loads of time with you and your pet going through everything. Really nice guys and a great practice.

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Bailey looking decidedly unimpressed post surgery………

Now that I am working in town and joining lots of different organisations I am in the pleasurable situation of bumping into people I know in Berry now as I walk down the street. I am starting to get a sense of belonging and being part of it all which is what I had hoped for before we moved but wasn’t sure I would get for quite a while. In the meantime my Sydney friends all seem to make regular trips down to the South Coast and as we are so accessible from the highway (the ONLY good thing about having it so close ) is that they pop in and say hi or like Annie did yesterday call me to say she and a few girlfriends were having lunch in Berry and would I like to join them! It was lovely to catch up with her and after a delicious lunch I felt like I had known all her friends for ages! Such a great thing about being this age is that we all have similar stories with our kids and our lives and can have a sense of ‘belonging’ quite quickly. A lovely bunch of girls and I’m pretty sure they would have had a great time at Hyams Beach this weekend.

2015-07-10 13.31.15 Lovely to see you Annie!!

The days have been decidedly CRISP lately. The whole of the east coast has been subjected to a polar blast and in our lovely old weatherboard it definitely feels that way. If we have all the fires pumping it is cosy but that feels a little extravagant mid week and I basically just heat the kitchen, lounge and pop my electric blanket on 15 minutes before sliding into the sheets but at the weekend we have the combustion stove going too which makes a big difference. There is talk about insulation going UNDER the house floor – a blanket against the cold rising from the ground and apparently it makes a huge difference. Another thing on the list…..

In the meantime the skies are mostly blue with sunshine and clear cold nights produce some amazing morning mists. It looks so pretty even if I risk frostbite getting the photos……..

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A blanket of mist hugs the fields in the morning

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Beautiful blue skies along with the cold daytime temperatures

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Our garden is turning into a artist’s palette of colours…….

The simple things in life

July 6, 2015July 27, 2015 / susiecameron / Leave a comment

It was a week that I had to dedicate to finalising my accreditation for Real Estate and getting things done around the house. Scintillating I hear you say, but not every week can be a stand out week and I really enjoyed paring everything down and enjoying the simplicity of every day. Wayne was in Brisbane so it was just me and The Chocolate One, hanging out and trying to stay warm.

I rewarded myself after an hour of paperwork by going for a walk or sitting outside with a cup of tea on my veranda in the winter sunshine simply appreciating things! The only new thing I attempted was to go to the farmer’s markets in Kiama. I had heard lots of good things about them and they are very scenically placed on the water so I bundled Bailey into the car and we headed North. Kiama seems like a lovely little town and has a few worthy homewares shops and cafes to enjoy. The markets themselves were much bigger than I had anticipated and were full to bursting with families as I had completely forgotten it was SCHOOL HOLIDAYS!!!!!!!!!! Rookie error as there were kids everywhere, all at Bailey’s height, and most of them eating something yummy and very tempting to a labrador. Need I say more?? I was exhausted after keeping her on a VERY short leash and having to supervise when people stopped and asked if they could pat her (slightly concerned that she may actually attempt to ingest their hands that smelled of vanilla ice cream and doughnuts and other such delicacies…) . Next time I will probably leave her at home as I have a friend in Kiama that I would like to catch up with for coffee without worrying if Bailey is gong to eat a pre-schooler…

Scenic spot for the market

Local Real Estate Agent and vegan chef Adam Guthrie runs some cooking classes for kids at these markets as well as at the Berry Sourdough bakery. Even if you are not vegan or even vegetarian he still has some lovely food ideas cooked fresh from scratch. He has a huge productive garden where he grows most of his own food and follows a permaculture style of gardening. If you are interested you can find him and his cooking philosophy on facebook as “I Feel Good”.

Kiama-Farmers-Market-Kids-Cooking-Class-Image4Web-630x315 Adam and the kids cooking class in Kiama.

This is the coastal route to walk from Kiama to Gerringong – definitely on my list of things to do.

So apart from working in the garden where all my winter crops are looking BEAUTIFUL, pruning the apple trees and preparing my new asparagus bed I spent the time walking in the nearby country lanes where I occasionally felt like I was in the Chevy Chase movie ‘Funny Farm’. At the top of our lane the steam was still coming off the newborn calf in the cold winter sunshine, Crimson Rosella were flitting to and fro in front of me, magpies called to each other and the meadows were full of wildflowers and horses running with their manes streaming behind them as they came to greet their owners bearing gifts of hay! Sometimes I really have to pinch myself that I have stumbled onto such an enjoyable albeit simple new life.

2015-07-05 10.02.57 Some local countryside

I managed to coerce Cammo into driving up to Moss Vale and use the new Ute to pick up a bedhead from our favourite shop Country Homes & Interiors. While we were there we spotted at least 3 other things we loved and have a couple of things on order……….I LOVE the new financial year!!

Half the reason he agreed to come was I suggested we stopped off on the way home in Kangaroo Valley to have lunch at The Friendly Inn. It has a long history in the Valley and is the central point for all the locals to meet up as well as a few blow-ins at the weekend. It is the only pub in town and is well frequented.

The Beer Garden at The Friendly Inn

When we got home it was time to pick a load of lemons from our tree and get to work making some limoncello. As if by osmosis I heard from Lou, one of Lauren’s best friends who was passing through from Mollymook to Sydney, and she called in to say hi, have a look at the house and give Bailey a play date with Coco, a golden retriever who she was babysitting for a week! It was the first dog she has played with at the house (sorry Gin and Tonic) and they both had great fun running around and around….Baileys and cream……

Baileys and Cream My little helper for the limoncello….!!!

Next week is all about poo. Cow poo. We need it and we are surrounded by it so fingers crossed we will get some. Watch this space.

2015-06-27 11.35.30 The Brussel sprouts and cabbages coming along beautifully 2015-06-27 11.35.39

A beautiful sunrise in The Meadow

Friends and Frolics

June 28, 2015July 27, 2015 / susiecameron / 2 Comments

How lovely to have our friends from Forster, Wayne (Baz) and Cathy come and stay with us for a few nights. We haven’t seen them for about 8 months and it was great to finally show them the new house and some of the surrounding areas. They are the best sort of friends – happy to relax, drink wine and chat about old times (the two Waynes go back to their early 20s when they both met working in a ski resort in Switzerland) and equally happy to roll up their sleeves, don the tool belt and attack our never ending “To Do” list!! Many thanks to Baz for helping Cam fix the chain fence around the veggie patch that one (not so small any more) chocolate dog was using as a gate…..!! Cathy and I attacked the weeds and then she very kindly mulched them for me as the mulch is one of the things that send my lungs into crisis – all that dust in the hay bale I presume.

2015-06-27 11.35.48 The boys being boys with power tools

2015-06-27 11.38.40 Cathy being a champion mulcher..

2015-06-27 11.36.37

and SOMEONE not being much help at all….

They also helped us move our beautiful old Butchers Block into our kitchen to create an extra work surface and a more sociable environment. I really missed the kitchen being part of a living area and as the rennos are on hold for now this has really helped make the kitchen a bit easier to hang out in – a couple of stools from the garage and a bottle of wine and everyone was in there within 10 minutes having a chat with the chef!!

2015-06-27 16.21.37

2015-06-27 17.56.06

It didn’t take long for us to love it!!

The Butchers Block was originally located in our local Butcher’s shop in Epping where Sam had his very first job at age 11 – he used to wash up all the meat trays etc in the back room and he learnt a lot about having a work ethic and also about life as the three young Butchers in their late 20s chatted as they worked about EVERYTHING!!!!

In between our working sessions we did manage some R&R. The boys went to a salami and sausage making day in Wollongong with our mate Phil. Sam (84 and as bright as a button) ran the day in his garage and after a 9am start the boys were quite surprised to see the beers appear at 10 and sambucca shots at 12 – maybe this is the trick that the Italians have to getting their entire family and friends to their tomato bottling and sausage making days!! Luckily a pig had already been dispatched (one they had prepared earlier…!!) and the boys just had to learn how to bone the meat and make some great spicy pork fennel and chilli sausages as well as a huge amount of salami (all made to Sam’s secret recipe..) A really informative and fun day rounded off by Sam playing his accordion while everyone had a glass of wine! Thanks to Phil for organising it all – I’m envisioning a similar day at Claydon Park at some stage with one of his Berkshire pigs.

Baz the butcher

Baz the Butcher….

phil making sausages

Phil mixing up the secret recipe…

finished salamis

The salamis ready to hang

Sam the salami man

Sam 84 years young…

Cathy and I used our day to have a girly shopping trip to Bowral via Kangaroo Valley, It was a perfect Winter’s day – cold and crisp with blue sky and sunshine and we loved pottering around the vintage stores looking for some furniture finds for the house. We saw some delicious things but I’m definitely going to have to work for a few months before I can go crazy. We had a lovely lunch in the new Harris Farm markets in Bowral which had the most beautiful produce and flowers, it felt more like Spring with all their colourful displays.

2015-06-26 13.18.59 2015-06-26 13.19.20 2015-06-26 13.19.37

2015-06-26 12.17.04 So many beautiful things…

We managed to tear ourselves away from the garden long enough to drive up to The Cambewarra Lookout which I had been told had an amazing view of The Shoalhaven. We were not disappointed and the beautiful bird life was a bonus. We could actually see our house from up there too – funny to think that people would have been able to go up there and see our house now for 119 years!! There is a lovely little cafe up there serving breakfast, lunch and delicious devonshire teas with tapas and wine on Fridays.

2015-06-27 15.25.50 Great view from The Lookout.

2015-06-27 15.23.28 Crimson Rosellas and a King parrot.

As always it was lovely to be with our old friends and especially nice to see the “old mates” together again. I must be getting sentimental in my old age but this photo warmed my heart…

2015-06-27 16.38.53 Off for a walk…

Before they arrived I came back to find a little surprise gift at my front door. Despite making a couple of calls I haven’t been able to track down the anonymous donor but it’s obviously one of the chocolate dog’s fans…..

2015-06-28 12.12.43 Going to smell rather posh after her next bath…

2015-06-27 07.28.48 Our beautiful Bailey starting to grow into her paws

Short week

June 21, 2015June 21, 2015 / susiecameron / Leave a comment

Back to Work

June 14, 2015July 27, 2015 / susiecameron / Leave a comment

After a week in Asia, 2 weeks of being sick and a week starting a new job I have spent very little time in the garden and it is very apparent that this is NOT a good state of affairs. As much as all my veggies grow and blossom the grass and the weeds also grow and it doesn’t take long before things get out of hand. My lovely gardener Peter came this week to help me get on top of things and his sage advice was not to hesitate for a minute – hire someone if necessary- and get on top of the weeds NOW and then mulch – deeply and regularly, if I am to hope for any break from the bossy weeds. So we attacked it with a vengeance this weekend in an attempt to get on top of the situation….my new mantra is MULCH IS MY FRIEND!!!!!!!!

We invested in another bale of silage to mulch the freshly pruned rose bed and Cam has finally got the idea that we have to put at least 6 inches of mulch onto these beds to do any good.

All the roses are pruned and mulched.

The veggie patch is going really well and we are harvesting cauliflower and broccoli with a few snowpeas starting to arrive on the scene too……….

The chooks are all laying and we are now getting 7 a day!!!!!! Fantastic and always nice to send visitors home with a dozen home grown eggs. Just got to remember to ask all our friends to save us some egg cartons. Smeds has been wonderful in this department and gets a gold star!

The interior of the house is starting to feel quite homely as we are now lighting the wood combustion oven in the rear of the house at the weekends which keeps things a lot cosier and we finally have our walk in wardrobe up and running and our ensuite completed.

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built in

Next job to attack is our library incorporating a Murphy bed for those times we have the whole family here, giving us in effect a 4th bedroom. Our lovely architect Natasha Marshall has come up with a fabulous plan for a great extension incorporating all our heart’s desires ( walk in pantry/wine cellar/bootroom/indoor-outdoor fireplace/big cathedral ceilings with revealed trusses etc) but it comes with a horrendous price tag and we have to decide if we really need to almost double the house’s footprint when most of the time there is only 2 of us here? For the price we could live overseas for a couple of years or invest in another smaller place so it really is quite a big decision. The main motivator for the extension is the fact we are very unused to not having open plan living and at this stage we have the kitchen at one end of the house and the living at the opposite end which seems a little unfriendly. However with a minimum price tag of around $350,000 we are hoping to find another answer to our dilemma……….

After last weekend’s windstorm Cam apparently isn’t even sure he wants to stay in The Meadow…………….!!!!?????????!!!

It really was a horrendous couple of days where we had extremely squally strong winds coming from all directions. We lost all our veranda furniture – scattered to the front and side garden and smashing the glass top to the table. I lost my seat cushions (they were found blown into a wire fence in a paddock 2 fields away) and the pot plants inside ceramic pots (also smashed) are lost completely. All the mulch and newspaper from the side garden ended up at our back door (and down the lane) and none of us could get outside to do anything (chickens included, they seemed a bit miserable). It literally stops you in your tracks when it’s like that and it’s a pain in the neck. Of course once the sun comes out again it’s all a bit of a distant memory but our neighbours are warning us that it can go on for a month in August…..I think Cammo would be running for the hills after 4 days let alone 4 weeks…)

Today was just glorious though and hard to do anything other than love it here. With a tummy full of lamb shanks and Cab Sav I must say I’m a contented girl tonight………..

So tranquil and peaceful today….

Tom and Lucy came down this weekend and we did take a couple of hours off from the dreaded weeding and mowing and showed them 2 Figs Winery which we loved so much last weekend at the Wine Festival. A totally different animal this time with just a dozen cars and plenty of picnic tables to choose from. A bottle of rose, a bottle of red and 2 cheese platters (with the most amazing mustard pickles and marinated baby figs) later and with the sun setting behind the mountain we went home. Bailey was exhausted after running around and around with the winery dog Chloe, The whole family had had fun!!!

Nice way to spend a sunny Winter’s afternoon

The beautiful Shoalhaven River stretches out before us…..

So another week finishes and as we get ready to try out The Roxy in Nowra to see a movie I feel quite chuffed that we have achieved so much in the garden this weekend – thanks to nature behaving itself and providing a picture pe Lovely to see you Tom and Lucy xx

My Move To The Meadow

A tale of our move to the countryside

Uncategorized

Sam’s Birthday Bash

Local life

The Five Mile comes to The Meadow

6 months in The Meadow

Go away Polar Vortex………….

Poo

The simple things in life

Friends and Frolics

Short week

Back to Work

-Is it really a week since my last posting? Feels like about 3 days! The weeks are starting to fly now that I am at work a couple of days a week and this week I zipped up to Sydney for a couple of days as well which made it a pretty short week in The Meadow! I had a rather traumatic experience one morning when I came out to the garage to get in the car and a bird was trapped in there and making a hell of a racket squawking and flapping about. They fly into the garage and as there are large picture windows at the back of it looking out over the paddocks the birds think they can fly straight through. It has happened before and the birds eventually got out by themselves. I opened both the roller doors and backed my car out in the hope that the bird would realise it could get out that way but we had an additional problem in that it was stuck to a mouse trap that Wayne had laid in the garage. They are the size of an envelope and extremely sticky and we thought they would be a safer option in view of the dog in case she got her paws trapped or whatever.
-I realised when I got closer that it was a crimson Rosella and a baby(ish) one at that and its feather were all over the sticky pad. I was really worried that it might have been it’s wing and that it would be the end of it. I was home alone of course and I thought that even if I could catch it in a towel and put it in a box it would still be pretty dangerous to then drive to the vet by myself in case it got out and flapped about in the car. I definitely needed a second pair of hands and luckily my friend Nola who lives about 5 minutes away was able to come straight over and give me a hand. We managed to catch the little one and it calmed down after a while and we could see that it wasn’t a wing on the trap but it’s tail feathers which had obviously come off when it was trying to escape the stickiness. Nether of us were really sure if they could fly without tail feathers but after easing it’s foot off and cutting around the gluey mess to release the bird we thought we could put it in the grass and see what, if anything, it could do. We were so happy when it flew away straight up into a tree and seemed no worse for the experience. A big relief to us both and we felt ridiculously happy at saving this little baby Rosella. Our little (semi) feathered friend.
-I asked Nola if I could buy her a pub meal the next night to say thank you but she was attending an event in Nowra so she invited ME to come to THAT instead!! A friend of hers had bought an old convent and it was its 110th birthday which she was celebrating by inviting some of the old Nuns and some local historians as well as friends to a soiree at the old house. It is a wonderful old house but a definite work in progress. It has 8 marble fireplaces and 6 bedrooms with 13 foot ceilings. I think poor Jenny will be renovating it for a LONG time to come to bring it back to it’s heyday, luckily she loves everything old and is enjoying the journey! While I was there I got chatting to the historian and in one of those amazing coincidences it turns out that her mother had grown up in our house in The Lane!!! She has many stories to tell us about the house and we have arranged to get together with her and our neighbours and one of the previous owners to swop tales and hopefully some photographs of the old house. She is excited to walk around it and I’m sure some interesting information will come out that night….. The old Convent in Nowra.It has become very wintry down here and it is really cold in the morning and the evenings. The fires are lit and we have mastered the art of “layers” to deal with the contrast in temperatures. After 10 am it is so warm on the front veranda that we have to shed the jumpers and we are toasty warm in just a T shirt but 2 minutes back in the house and we are reaching for the jumpers again…!! The trees have either lost their leaves or are well on the way and in the midst of our bare garden we have lush flowering citrus trees, our lemons, limes, mandarins and oranges are a very welcome sight in the middle of such a wintry landscape and I am in the midst of cooking lemony things – lemon curd, preserved lemons and luscious lemon tarts. (recipes in the kitchen section). Yummy lemons….Our lovely friends from Sydney visited this weekend and our neighbours invited all of us to witness the lighting of their bonfire last night along with their children and grandkids. They had been stacking the fire for the last 6 months and it towered into the sky just waiting for ignition. We were rather surprised (and impressed) to see they were lighting it with a flaming arrow from a crossbow!!! Extremely unique (and NOT to be tried Tom/Sam Cameron) and very effective. The little kids eyes were as wide as saucers and we all enjoyed a drink soaking in the fiery blaze and re-living those bonfire nights from our childhood! Getting ready….
 Impressive fire starter…

The four city kids enjoying the country!!
We had a lovely meal in Berry at South on Albany with Dave and Ing. The staff are so friendly and the food is seriously good and we had a great evening exchanging banter with the next table and the wait staff and enjoying our ‘big night out’!!
      The pine mushroom pasta                                    The beautiful fish special.
We love seeing our Sydney friends and sharing our new environment with them, it reinforces all that we love about our new life (especially when the wind ISN’T blowing !!) so today I am a happy camper!

A beautiful tree in our neighbour’s garden…