• Blog,  Rural Life

    Hand Raising Chickens

    March 17, 2016 /

      *This post is dedicated to Jenson, 2 years, of Brisbane who is keen to see more pictures of our chickens, his mum writes. A few months ago a friend gifted us with eleven organic chooks (grown chickens for American readers) and a rooster. The plan was, they were to be housed of a night, eggs to be collected of a morning and then they would free range of an afternoon.  PC wasn’t keen for us to begin hatching eggs, motivated by nasty ‘omlette surprises’, however broody hens soon derailed those plans. Egg collection time became a challenge and though the children came up with innovative ideas about how to collect eggs,…

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  • Blog,  Home Education,  Parenting

    9 Tips For A New Homeschooler From An Old Homeschooler

    March 5, 2016 /

    We’ve been parenting/homeschooling for over two decades now, doesn’t it sound like a long time, not sure if it feels long or not 😉 One of the gifts of having several children over a twenty year span is our hard won wisdom doesn’t ‘go to waste’, our younger children benefit from our earlier experience. We’d like to share 9 tips with you that we’ve learnt along the way, in this parenting, home educating journey, come along and travel with us. What have we learnt along the journey, where are we now focusing our energies, what pieces of wisdom gained are we implementing?     It’s All About Relationships Focus on nurturing relationships; your relationship with…

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  • Blog,  Extensions,  Extensions - Renovating,  Extensions - Structural

    Tearing Down Walls and Building Anew

    February 24, 2016 /

      The weekend before last we gutted a couple of walls in the ‘old’ house; a wall at the foreground and the wall to the right of this ‘yellow’ wall.  Last weekend our task was to remove the ‘yellow’ wall, strip the lining off the wall beyond, then build a frame for this area which will be our new library.     First task was to remove the gyprock/drywall on the outer wall, the window opening here is to be filled in and this will be a long uninterrupted wall for bookcases 🙂     This was formerly a cupboard but truly dead space and I was rather excited to see…

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  • Blog,  Blogging - Daybook

    My Daybook: February 17th, 2016

    February 17, 2016 /

    Outside my window… the paddocks and skyline are covered by a smoke haze, the smell of smoke is strong, fires are burning on the distant mountains. We are in the fire ban season, fires are always a concern at this time of the year     I am thankful… for my husband, our children, our families, our friends, our lifestyle, always thankful I never take my blessings for granted I am thinking… about what an all encompassing responsibility parenting is, when I ponder on the trust He has placed in us to nurture and guide our precious ones I’m rather daunted Learning all the time… we’re well into the swing of the new school year…

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  • Blog,  Extensions,  Extensions - Renovating

    Gutting Our Home

    February 15, 2016 /

      Beginning a new building project involves a certain amount of logistical juggling, sometimes it means before one project is completed you need to switch to another task and complete it first. Thus it was when we recently began installing our front windows, preparing to install the second window we realised we needed to switch focus immediately.   We had planned to gut a large portion of most of our ‘old house’ after the window installation; half the wall in the foreground, the wall to the right and the walls and ceiling in the room beyond. However we realised it would be easier to remove the gyprock and framing through the window framing instead…

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  • Blog,  Extensions,  Extensions - External,  Extensions - Structural

    An Improved Appearance

    February 12, 2016 /

      As last year drew to a conclusion we embarked upon a mammoth month; preparing for and undertaking re-roofing our ‘old house,’ then a whirlwind of events taking us from home, including our oldest Son’s College Graduation, Christmas and holidaying in Sydney. Whilst we were away the two windows for the ‘new’ front wall were delivered. Once home we commenced installing the windows. The new windows help convey an ‘all one house’ appearance, externally there is no longer a big house, little house look about our home. Once the girls had nailed on the bracing, PC and team were able to install the second window.   Next task was to measure, cut…

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  • Blog,  Hearth & Health,  In the Home - Organisation

    KonMari and Culling Books

    February 9, 2016 /

      In my previous post KonMari and Large Families I shared the desperation that led me to ‘listen’ to KonMari, how I adapted this method to met a large family’s needs and to what degree I ‘let go’ of many items in our home. It took us a week to blitz the whole house leaving the books till last.  My ‘letting go’ muscles were by now well flexed and it was time to cull our books, all eight thousand of them. How did I do it, what questions did I ask and how did I let go?   Our library is a collection gathered over years, many are inherited from…

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  • Blog,  Hearth & Health,  In the Home - Organisation

    KonMari And Large Families

    February 5, 2016 /

    KonMari first came to my attention via internet buzz, I read posts and forum chat with interest and was 7th on the library reservation list.  A few weeks ago my friend began reading The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo and sharing daily updates with me.  We wondered what could a Japanese mother of one whose method is influenced by her Shinto faith, have to say to us, Aussie Christian mothers of many with children over a wide age spread, initially it appeared that the differences were too great. Culling certainly looks different for a family who still have children at all stages, and as for thanking belongings for doing…

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  • Blog,  Travel & Holidays

    Sights of Sydney: Day 3

    January 27, 2016 /

      Tuesday was the highly anticipated day we were going to Taronga Zoo!! and we were delighted that both the older boys were able to join us.  Adding to the excitement was the fact we were traveling by ferry all the way; up the Parramatta River on the Rivercat and then via the Taronga Zoo ferry across the Sydney Harbour to the Zoo.     We arose early and drove to the Rydalmere Ferry Wharf in time to catch the 7:49am ferry.  Parking at the ferry car park is free. Travelling up the Parramatta Ferry on the Rivercat was a magical trip that morning, we had the ferry to ourselves for most of the…

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