Feather your Nest Friday, 26th February, 2021.

 The week went by so fast!   We have beautiful Autumn like weather with cool evenings.  And only two days to go to actual Autumn, my favourite time of year.

My son in law called in.  He wanted to know if my sheep were mixed in with other farm sheep how would he tell which ones were mine?   I said my animals are the ones that come for biscuits and chase the car.  So when they are shearing he has to check none of my sheep are mixed in by calling and bringing out the Arnott's Milk Arrowroot biscuits.   He shakes his head!   

One of the sheep, Buddy, can never get mixed up as he does not care for other sheep.  He only likes Eddie. 

Head butting is their idea of a good time.    

Some of my "put it to good use" projects have included planting up seeds that the supermarket is giving away as mini kits.  I have everyone saving these for me.   Already I have sage, lettuce and silverbeet and spinach ready to plant out in a few days.  I have enough for a whole row of silverbeet.

I put some of my tomatoes to good use and made an enchilada sauce which was delicious and gave us a couple of meals.

Also I put basil to good use and made Pesto.  We had it with pasta on the first night and I froze some little batches portioned out for other meals. 

The last of the Nectarines also were used for lovely stewed fruit for breakfast. 

Some of these simple things are so good.  A joy to make too as the freshness and fragrance are so lovely! 

In the garden I have pulled up most of my tomatoes plants.  I have harvested the very last tomatoes as I go.   The spent plants have gone to the chickens.    They are happy.  Nothing is wasted!

I was given a bag of locally grown onions and two jars of locally produced honey.  They were both trades actually!   I traded eggs for a fleece also! 

And.... this is BIG...  we now have a beekeeper!  Someone we have known for many years is a bee keeper and he is setting up some hives on the property.  Annually we get a bucket of honey as a trade.   Also he will help if we have trouble with bees ie a swarm moves into a shed.  I am so happy about this!   There is a flower on our gum trees that makes very good honey apparently.   Also we have Manuka here and so local honey contains some.   This was a major addition to our food production!

We now have a rabbit proof fence around my yard where I grow pumpkins.  This year I had major rabbit problems.   So now this lovely yard I have is rabbit proof!  

And I now have a special chicken coop for my young Wyandotte chickens.   It is beautiful!   

Tomorrow I will get hay into the nesting boxes and on the floor.   But we are nearly there! 

I am working on my freezers and trying to use things up and re arrange as I go.   It's too much to face in one day so everyday I have a kind of use it up challenge and organise a section.  Ultimately the goal is to have things much neater,  fit more in and to have an inventory.    You can think you have a lot in the fridge, freezer or pantry but then when you remove packaging, wasted space and put it all back you don't have as much as you think.   I worked this out in my old house.  I thought I had such a well stocked pantry.  But when I had a big clean out, put things in jars, removed things that were not food (ie the sandwich maker and all kinds of odds and ends...) the end result was I really didn't have as much as I thought I did.  It just looked full!  That is a bit of a false sense of security. 

Every week I am going to try and include additional reading that is encouraging, lovely and useful.  This week I will mention Jess at Strangers and Pilgrims on Earth.   You will feel happy visiting with Jes.   Also she has extensive beautiful free things to print,  pantry and cooking advice, recipes for beauty products and ways to use up all kinds of left overs such as citrus peels.     Anyway, something Jes said caught my eye.   It was perfect for this time.   She said :

"Though I'm dutifully aware of all that is going on in the world (Matthew 24:42) I'm also dutifully choosing loveliness today (Philippians 4:8)

How about you?" 

Yes!   We need to do both.  The Prudent see danger and take cover. (Prov. 27:12) and this means we need to be watchful.   But we cannot let anyone steal our joy.    Our path is helped by that fact that we have full instructions and we know what to do.   Our power is enormous as we set the tone in our homes, create the best sanctuary we can and care for our families.   It all makes so much difference.  A reader told me last week how her niece had been told at school terrible things that led her to believe she will die in a year.   She was so terrified as she believed it.   I would be confident I could guess what this teacher was talking about.  I think it is a crime to take away a childs hopes and dreams for the future.  But it can happen to us too even as adults!   Some time on mainstream TV can lead you to the same conclusion.    We have to guard out hearts all the time.    

One time in primary school my little brother came home with a book to read and so each evening Dad would sit and read it with him.   Only after a couple of chapters Dad said this book was so subversive that he stopped reading it and wrote to the teacher.  He also said my brother was to have a new book to read. He saw something very bad in that book for a small child and said no, no, no.  

Probably the teacher didn't like my Dad too much.  But we have to say NO.  No, no and no.   We have to guard our hearts and minds and look well to the ways of our households.  And look at the joy that comes from that.  And peace, order, security and countless other good things.   

How did you build up your home this week?   Were you able to put something to good use and make the most of it?   If you are in the north I hope you have managed in the freezing weather.  xxx