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.

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