COMMUNITY..........

Often you hear talk about small country towns - they are filled with gossip, everyone knows everyone elses business, you can't do anything without every Tom, Dick and Harry knowing about it etc etc etc....

I wouldn't trade living in a small commuity for all the tea in China. I've lived in them for nearly half a century (other than 3 years in the city for study purposes).

This recent disaster in the town across from us has seen all our surrounding small communities pull together. Most of you know I work in the not-for-profit (health & welfare) sector. We have been receiving non stop calls from aged couples offering free long term spare beds to individuals and families, we have had numerous offers of clothing, bedding, furniture, free rentals in holiday homes, food hampers, money has been pouring into local banks collecting for victims of the fire, local businesses offerering whatever they can spare to assist.

I burst with pride when I see everything put aside to help those in need. I watch our communities all pulling together to do whatever it takes to get others back on track.

In the tougher years ahead I suspect it wil be the smaller communities that will fare the best in the early days. It is the spirit of small towns, especially smaller farming communities where history consistently shows communities had to work together to get many things done.

There is a spirit of "oneness" in times of trouble that consistently raises its head in small communities....I wouldn't trade my small town for anything:)

Before I close I'd like to wish you all a safe New Year. May it bring you and yours all you might need in the year ahead.

 

Take care of you and yours...and our planet:)

molly

UPDATE......

Firefighters from the West Australian shire of Toodyay are taking a well earned rest for the night as they prepare to bring the blaze under control in the morning.

Thirty-eight homes have been lost in the fire, which has burned through almost 5,000 hectares of farm and bushland since Tuesday.

Powerlines, fencing and livestock have also been lost.

Many parts of the town are still without power and a tree felling team will continue clearing trees from roads throughout today.

Authorities say the fire has been contained but is not under control with small sections still burning.

WA police are confident powerlines sparked the fire, 85 kilometres north-east of Perth.

Western Australian electricity provider Western Power has conceded its infrastructure may have set off the destructive bushfire.

Western Australian Premier Colin Barnett has declared the area near Toodyay a natural disaster zone.

Thank heavens no lives were lost in this fire.

AUSTRALIA - HOME OF FIRE AND FLOODS............

A few days ago the "Wheatbelt", the region we live in was placed on the "catastropic" level for fires.

As the days got hotter and the winds stronger I got the most dreadful feeling in the pit of my stomach.

Sure enough, today a town 20 mins away has a fire that is threatening many homes, some already have lost everything. Stories  HERE and HERE.

As our organisation is listed as one who will provide in emergencies I spent late afternoon helping set up an evacuation centre here in town for those who had come over to shop or work and could not get back due to road closures etc.

The picture here is early on in the day, remember, this smoke has travelled from a town 20 mins away. It's big and it's nasty. The first time too that the "catastrophic" level of warning has been used extensively over AUssie.

On the other side of Aussie there is flooding. New South Wales residents are still on flood alert, story HERE

Whilst some of us in Aussie sweltered in the heat over Christmas, others had rain all day for days over the holiday. That's the nature of this country.

Tonight I pray that nobody is injured. Losing a home and all those precious memories must be horrendous, but I would rather homes be lost than lives. Join me in sending a prayer if you are so inclined.

Take care of you and yours........and our planet:)

molly

SOMETHING SPECIAL.......

Spending time with family is always special for us. We went to my parents for lunch, joining with siblings, nieces, nephews, aunts and an uncle. I love seeing all the cousins getting together, they all get on so well, it's wonderful to share the day given we are all so spread about the state.

The weather was stinking hot of course, however being inside under airconditioning meant we didnt have to cope with it!  Mum had a lunch fit for kings... ham & chickens, seafood and a ton of salads, roast vegetables, gravy & sauces, flans, fruit platters, chocolate mousse, icecreams, custards and creams. Needless to say all I had for dinner was fruit, I couldn't have fit anything else in!

Whilst we were at Mum & Dads, this magnificent tree caught my eye. From memory I think it is a Coral Gum, the photo truly doesn't do the colour justice, it was a magnificent almost fluorescent coral colour.

I couldn't resist ordering one for my garden too, absolutely stunning and the nectar eating birds and the bees will simply love it! 

The pond is looking wonderful even though still new. More plants need to be put around the rock edges as cover for the frogs and insects though, a project for the New Year.

If you look closely you can see one of our wee frogs, the tadpoles came from a gorgeous holiday farm we stay at for work annually.

I'm so excited, my lillies are all coming out, they really are stunning. This gold one was the first to show, there are some pastel pink/musk coloured ones just opening this morning, they will look pretty lining the drive.

And the sunflowers are all out. I love these for the birds and bees they bring, and once the flowers are finished I feed the seeded heads to the chooks, who of course love them.


Speaking of chooks, I trimmed the Tagasaste trees back in the drive, you should have seen the chooks go mad with the cuttings!  The trees not only provide nitrogen to soil surrounding them, they are a wonderful protein food for any stock.

I hope your Christmas was a joyous one, and may the New Year bring you peace, happiness and good health!

Take care of you and yours.........and the planet:)

molly

2 SLEEPS.............

Until Christmas!

The year has flown by so quickly....I'm sure the older you get the quicker it arrives each year!

Thank you all for spending time here, for sharing your thoughts and ideas with me, I truly do appreciate you:)

I wish you and yours the most wonderful Christmas and hope the New Year brings each of you that which you need.

I will be back after the New Year, I am now on 2 weeks holidays....time to rejuvenate:)

Be safe and have a joyous holiday

molly

SIMPLE SATURDAY..........

Still feeling like I need to go slowly, I decided today just to take photos and spend the day relaxing and enjoying the fruits of our hard labour over the last 6 months.

 The Mango tree has set fruits. It is only about 5.5 foot tall so there aren't a great deal of fruits yet, the kids will love what there are though!

The string you see is turning the tree into an umbrella style, saves trying to reach up to fruit and keeps everything within arms reach.

I have done this for years with my fruit trees and find it makes harvesting our fruit so much easier.

The Grape vine is going well. We have brought in another 3, 2 red and one white, one can never have enough grapes!


Have you ever read the research on B17?  One of its' sources is the seeds from grapes, look it up when you have some spare time, I found it very interesting!

We had a short lived storm here today. It was more lightening and thunder than  rain unfortunately, we received a total of about 2 mms in total!


Of course for the cockies (farmers) the storms aren't welcome at this time of the year, too easy to set fire to the remaining crops that havent been harvested.

The nectarine tree gave us a heap of fruit, there were a few however that went the way of the birds....namely the 28's. Little buggers come in to steal what they can when they can, fortunately they don't get too many, I keep up with the harvesting!

Hope your weekend is a good one!

Take care of you and yours.......and the planet:)

molly

LIME CURD or LIME BUTTER

Just as I make lemon butter, so too do I make Lime Butter. (Some call it curd or spread).
For those who have limes that need utilising here is the recipe:

• 6-8 limes
• 440g (2 cups) sugar
• 250g unsalted butter, cubed
• 7 eggs, lightly whisked

 

Method

1. Wash and dry the limes. Finely grate and juice the limes. You will need 250mls (1 cup) lime juice. If you need to use 8 limes, only grate the rind of 6.
2. Strain the lime juice into a medium heavy-based saucepan. 
3. Add the lime rind, sugar and butter and stir over a low heat for about 5 minutes or until the sugar dissolves and the butter has melted.
4. Remove the saucepan from the heat and slowly beat in the whisked eggs with a wooden spoon. 
5. Return to a low heat and cook, stirring continuously, for 20 minutes or until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon. 
6. Do not allow the mixture to boil or the eggs will curdle.
7. Ladle the hot lime curd into four 250mls (1-cup) hot sterilised jars (see note). 
8. Seal and invert jars for 2 minutes. 
9. Turn jars upright and allow to cool. Label and store.

Notes and tips

• Fill cooked small pastry tartlets with this lime curd, or spread on toast. 
• An ideal gift, store it in a cool, dark place for up to 6 months. 
• Once opened, keep for up to 2 months in the fridge.

• Note: to sterilise the jars, wash the jars and lids in warm soapy water and rinse well. 
• Place them in a large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to the boil and boil for 10 minutes. 
• Transfer the jars and lids to a baking tray and place in preheated oven at 100°C until dry. 
• Use the jars straight from the oven.

Hope you are enjoying your week!

Take care of you and yours........and the planet:)

molly

BACK!

Well I finally feel up to sitting at the PC long enough to post. Whatever the bug I had was, it certainly knocked the stuffing out of me.  A week of not eating and raging temps for 5 days has left me feeling rather frail. Last week I worked half days only. I thought the Dr. was being far too cautious, but I have to say that by lunch time each day I was exhausted.

Anyway, I feel much better and back to some semblence of normalcy. Rather than doing the normal molly thing and getting stuck into things like a bull at a gate I decided to potter this weekend.

I picked some of the herbs from the herb garden for drying, leaving enough to use fresh as we need them.  This way I have organic all year around!

Sage, Basil, Chives, Parsley and Oregano, the aromas as they dried were sheer heaven!


I also decided to do an audit on the fruits and berries, here's what is in the garden right now:
4 Midyim berries
2 Nectarines
5 Panama passionfruits
2 Coffee Beans
1 Avocado
2 Chocolate Pudding fruits
1 Pommegranate
6 various types of guavas
1 Lemonade tree
1 Lemon
2 Washington Navel Oranges
3 Cherries
2 Pitaya pink
2 Pitaya yellow
1 Granny smith
1 Pinkabelle Apple
4 Strawberry guava (in addition to the other 6)
2 Irish Strawberry trees
1 Mango
2 Plums
1 Grapefruit
2 Lillipillies
1 Fig
1 Peanut Butter Bush
1 Apricot
2 Water Chestnuts
1 Raspberry
5 Grapes
1 Boysenberry
1 Silvanberry
1 Loganberry
1 Elderberry
1 Youngberry
Not a bad selection and about all we need. Now we move on to the wicking beds and get those set up, I am missing growing many of my veggies!

Hope your weekend is a good one

Take care of you and yours..........and the planet:)

molly

BACK SOON..........

Some horrid bug has me in it's grip! Back to the Dr again tomorrow. Whilst I can't even summon the energy for work I am going to have to place the blog on ice too until I can summon up more energy, took me 4 days to get here lol.

Take care of you and yours........and the planet:)

molly