midwinter musings

Our dams are full. The creeks are flowing. The ground is sodden. I've been trying to get out into the garden whenever the sun shines. Right now growing food feels like the most meaningful use of my time. Brussel sprouts. Celery. Kale. Broccoli. Leek. Fresh. Local. Organic. Free of packaging. There's a simple but deep satisfaction in preparing a meal exclusively with ingredients picked from the  garden. 

We're branching out from the house 'to-do' list and beginning to get stuck into the farm jobs. Sam has been busy fencing and our thoughts are turning to what livestock we will keep once they can be contained. Goats seem like the first choice, mostly for their love of blackberries and thistles (we have plenty of both.) Maybe a couple of pigs and some sheep for their meat. I often dream of having a house cow, but somehow that seems at odds with my disdain for early mornings.  

I've just finished reading The Hunger Games trilogy and now I'm into the Divergent series. Young Adult fiction seems to be where it's at for me right now. No TV and no wifi means that I'm devouring books at a rapid rate. The kids are too. We didn't realise our farm sat in a digital black hole when we moved here a year ago, but as it turns out, it's been just what we all needed. 

I have also been captivated by The Teacher's Pet, the Australian podcast about the unsolved murder of Lyn Dawson. Now that I'm all caught up, Thursdays and the next instalment can't come quick enough. 

In September we are heading to New Zealand for three weeks. Travelling around the North Island. Aotearoa has been on my wish list of places to visit for many years. We are travelling light with only carry on luggage, which really was a game changer when we travelled to Sri Lanka a couple of years back. Packing for the cooler climate will make it more of a challenge this time though. The kids will get to see snow for the first time and we will be visiting friends who live in the Taranaki area. We've locked in Piha, Raglan and Ruapehu. Beyond that we are going to leave open and see where the road takes us. So many amazing places to get to, I'm starting to think three weeks won't be long enough. 

The sun is out and I'm off for a swim. I'm loving being in the ocean in the winter, purely for how invigorated and alive it makes me feel! My intention is to be back here with some more musings next week. 

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It's so hard to know where to begin, after spending so much time away from here. The noise of advertising and the frustration of the Instagram algorithm makes me keen for a bit of an old fashioned blog revival. Leaping in with some trivial details of my days seems as good a place to start as any.