William.......

At the end of last year William graduated from the Police accadamy....It was a long year for him living in Brisbane and being away from his new bride but now he is all finished...

Needless to say we are all very proud of him and he is making a fine policeman here in Toowoomba.....

It was an honour for us to be able to watch Will and 150 others graduate.....What amazing young men and women we have..

Sometimes it is hard to beleive that all my children are grown up with lives of there own, something about the youngest though isn't there. I know William's Dad would be so proud of him as well as we all are....Life goes on and every one grows up.....

Have a great week all and thanks for reading a proud Mum post...... Mandy.....

TWENTY TWENTY FIVE.....2025

Well hello 2025...... We have had a wonderful time since Christmas! We had a quiet Christmas day with my Mum and Dad, Robbie and Emma and Bruce and myself...In the evening Will and Cill joined us when Will finished work... Boxing day we headed to Robbies place at Buderim where Alanah and family and Cassie and family met us....

These 3 still play up when they get together hahahaha Lots of swimming with the grandkids, trip to the beach and just spending time togeather making memories...

Such a good start to the year with some off the kids.....Then it was out to Gundy to spend time with Jessica and family..You know you have had a good time when you are busy and forget to take photos. I really am the worst at picture taking as I get caught up in the moment....

After Gundy we headed to Brisbane to spend time with Alanah and Shane in there new house....All up we did 1220 kms since boxing day.... It was a time to rest, swim, read, walk and laugh lots of laughter.....

It is always good to be home though....We are looking forward to this year aheadI hope you are too... Mandy

Slowly............

I can't beleive this is the fourth week I have finished up work!!!!!!! It has been so good to slow down and get things done. With the hot weather it is good to have lots of kombucha in the fridge, I like mine just plain so I just bottle it and pop it in the fridge. I have had the same mother for about 20 years now and honestly it just keeps going no matter how much it gets neglected....

I have also been making cheese again,just a basic cheese but I will start making chedder again soon as I can not stand the taste of bought cheese any more.I have always made bread but I need to make a starter and make sour dough again.

The kitchen isn't the only place I have been,I have been having fun in the garden as well.

My side kick Mac is never far away from me which is good as we have seen a couple of brown snakes already this season....

I have edged all the gardens as they look so neat and tidy when done. If their is a tool I love it is my edger. I have had it over 10 years now and use it so much as it makes light work of the edges for me.

In my front garden this happy sunflower has come up....What joy it brings me looking at it...

I have also been busy cleaning out cupboards in the 2 spare bedrooms....So much STUFF sheets, blankets, cards, clothes and shoes not mine but of the kids and grandchildren..I am slowly going through the house one room at a time...All bedrooms and bathrooms have been done.....

Yesterday I sorted out a room in our shed that has become a junk/drop it all room. This room will become my studio for my soap and candle making, this then will free up the kitchen...Hopefully I took before photos! Still a long way to go as I filled both wheelie bins.....magazines my goodnes so many magazines I think I was boarder line hoarding hahahahaha I can not wait to get this room done, it will be a slow project and I will show you when I have finished it.... Today is the pantry well more the bottles again boarder line hoarding haha. I am going to tidy and sort all the bottles and take most of them down to the larder and then bring them up as I need...Thats the plan anyway. Enjoy your day...... Mandy

CHRISTMAS SOAP MAKING

Hello and welcome.... The last week has found me elbow deep in Christmas, yes I know it early but I have had lots to for the markets and soap orders as well....

For last Sundays market in Toowoomba I made Christmas hand towels and dishclothes which were a real hit. Also Christmas candles and soaps.

With the soap I have made the grandchildren {all 14 of them} there names, I am sure they will enjoy those....So many A and Es to make though,all done now.

As I only had 4 moulds it took a little while to get all the letters but all part of the fun. I have made a few Christmas orders for soap as well..

The above one is activated charcoal to get the black colour with peppermint and eucalyptus it smells amazing...I decorated it with gum nuts and leaves from the garden....

This was a order to use egg yolks in the soap with no colour or scent, I must say I wasn't to sure but it turned out OK...It came totrace very quickly so was hard to work with...It also took longer to cure. But the customer is happy so that is good...

This order was for Christmas soap and the customer has children so I had some fun....The block soap I tried to makelook like candy canes but it looks more like peppermint fudge hahahaha....Also made soap with christmas trees..

All orders are done now and we have 3 more markets befor Christmas then we will have a break untill February..... As I write this it has been raining all night and day which is such a blessing, the garden is loving it.... Untill next time.... Mandy

WELL HELLO

It has been a long time since I visited this old blog of mine! So much has happened in the last year but I am not going to bore you with it all, so lets start here and today. The most exciting thing is I have decided to give up work.For the last 6 years I have worked at our little local Post Office and truly enjoyed it.Things change and now it's time to move on.

I will spend more time with my children and grandchildren and a lot more time with my Mum and Dad...Bruce and I have lots of ideas and things we want to do and see. We have been busy doing the markets this year selling candles and soap, Bruce has been making wooden items as well, we both enjoy doing the markets and getting out and meeting new people and saying hello to our regular customers.

My days are filled with the rhythm of slowing down while working in the garden growing our food to eat, making soaps and candles for our marketstand and just taking the time to stop and enjoy the beautiful place we have created and live. Life has many seasons in it and I amgoing to enjoy this season in my life. I am going to make the time to blog again even though on this old computer its so hard. I can't even connect my phone to it to download photosbut I have found a way to get around that by sending them to myself and then downloading them.... For now I am going to make a cuppa and finnish making the candles for next weeks market.... Mandy.....

CHICKENS & VEGE GARDEN

Who doesn't love chickens???? Our chicken run is now right behind the vege garden, this makes it so easy to get rid of unwanted veges and waste. The chook pen used to be at the other end of the garden, so it makes more sense here.

As you can see above the vege garden opens into the chook pen and then out to this large paddock that they have free access to daily, lots of insects and worms out here. Having them here also keeps insects down in the vege garden.

This pic is from the hilltop where the goats milking shed is, from here you can see the green house and chook pen surrounding it. We have 23 chickens and one rooster. 10 are ones we hatched and raised ourselves and should be starting to lay soon....

We have had a sprinkle of rain in the last 24hrs which makes everything nice and green, also makes it a good day to be working in the vege garden. At the moment we are harvesting cucumbers, lettuce, tomatoes, capsicum, chilli, zucchini and asparagus....Lots of salad food perfect for the weather we are having.

Today I planted out the garlic bed, now I already have some shallots planted in here but they will be havested soon and more garlic will go in. The potatoes are down the other end of the vege garden as I will be planting onions in the next bed and they shouldn't be planted close together. I have planted my own garlic that I saved from last year,I also got some from Diggers club called Italian Late and New Zealand Red... Not sure what mine are as I just saved them and forgot to mark them so I called them Mandy's Mix hahahaha....

Soon to go in beetroot, carrots, cabbages and lots of brassicas, also broad beans..... Such a wonderful time to be in the garden as it starts to get cooler.... Have a great week all, we are heading to Brisbane on the weekend to watch our grandson Mason Swim....Really looking forward to seeing them all... Blessings Mandy

FARMSTAND

Hello and welcome.... I thought I might show you our little Farmstand/roadside stall that we have out the front.... Its easy to see look for the PINK house...

Yes Pink, I have always wanted a pink house,but that is for another post when it is all done.

We have all sorts of seasonal goodies in our Farmstand, the last couple of weeks I have been busy making chutney... Beetroot, Mango' Choko' and Eggplant...Yes eggplant, sounds awful I know but it is actually really nice has a caramel flavour to it as it has Indian spices in it..

This summer has seen so many eggplants, beetroot, chokos and cucumbers...The vege garden has done well through the heat really.. We also have our eggs that we sell...lots and lots of eggs from our lovely ladies.

Blue,green,white,brown and I am sure some have a pink tinge maybe I am just wishing....

I have also been drying herbs and making tea, the tea has been really successful. The one we have at the moment has Lime verbina, lemon grass with blue butterfly flower that make it a wonderful deepblue colour. It is great hot or cold. I like to add lots of ice on a hot day... so refreshing.... We also sell..

Dishclothes made from 100% cotton so just throw them in the wash every couple of days...

Lip Balm...made from coconut oil, shea butter and beeswax..

SOAP

CANDLES

FLOWERS...This summer has seen some beatuiful blooms in the garden so I am glad to share them.. Really whatever we have excess off we put out in the stall. All the money we make goes into buying grain for the animals..We may be small here but all the animals have a job to do and nothing goes to waste.

Our veges and fruit are all chemical free, so anything I make is chemical free as well... If you live close buy come for a drive one weekend and stop at other farm roadside stands on the way...Bring an old book you have finished reading and swap it in our Book Swap Libary it is out every day.... Do you have an excess in your garden that you could sell to help with feed or seed bills...I hope I inspire you to give it a go...

I started with flowers on a table in our driveway.....Some times starting is the hardest part what ever it is... We are OPEN WEEKENDS ONLY, this suits us as we are home. You make yours to suit what days you would like... Have a great and blessed week all. Mandy