Feather your Nest Friday, 13th December, 2024.

We are so close to Christmas!  I literally am making lists and checking them twice!  Today I delivered two of my fruit cakes and they seemed to go over well!  Now is the time that stuff we prepared earlier is paying off!   

This week  needed to make the most of the basil that has been going well.  Pruning it back makes the next round even better.   First of all I made a batch for Chloe's family without any nuts.   It still tastes lovely.

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Then I lightly roasted a tray of blanched almonds and picked more basil.

The only bugs in it were Lady bugs!

Every time I found one I took it outside back to the veggie patch.

All the stems went into water then into my brightest windowsill.  In about three weeks  will have all these new basil plants to put into the garden.   You can't have too much basil!   Last year I made several big round of Pesto which I froze.  It has been soo good.   I have given some away too.  Both my girls and families will base a meal around it.

Justice hit the 5 week mark.  She is breaking down barriers.  Literally.   Tonight she was mooing to be fed.   I called her and she jumped the fence!!  Ok,  so  guess she is doing well!   She always has a dirty face and  have given up hoping she might have a clean face for a photo.   This is her authentic self lol.

From when she was so starving,  hollow and battling to feed to now is quite a journey!  

One of my doves has made nest and laid three eggs.  

I tried to get her to let me look at the eggs but nope.

My pumpkin and zucchini patch is taking off and heading in all directions.

I am harvesting beautiful zucchini with many more coming on.

And I have baby pumpkins!!   I am thrilled every time I spot a new one! 

My cucumbers are going really well too.  It is going to be hot Sunday so tomorrow I will be out doing extra watering trying to get ahead.  It will be 38... which is about 100. This isn't actually hot for us.  Hot for us is 45.  Which is 113 and now and then more.  But I have lost my heat tolerance and this is hot enough!

My cook up was rice, chicken kebabs and stir fried veggies x 6.  I got two dinners and Chloe's family are having this for dinner tonight.   Her boys can really eat,  they will mow this down.  

A friend told me her daughter would love the makeup/face cleaning pads so I made a set of three in her favourite colour.   That takes care of another present.

I kept working on cotton wash cloths/cleaning cloths.   

My helpers usually come three times a week.  I made them morning tea and lunch.  I try to keep it nice and interesting.  They seem to like it.  This week though I realised I had too much ham so I had ham and salad for dinner one night.  But still I thought I needed to use it up as I don't like cold meat to sit around more than a few days.   I bought a dozen nice fresh rolls from the bakery and made up twelve ham and cheese rolls and frozen them.   Thawing these out when needed and warming them in the oven will very very handy sometime.  

Doing this with sandwiches is also awesome as they can go straight into the sandwich press.  Usually with roast meat I plate up extra full roast meals... but any other left over roast meat I made up sandwiches and rolls.   For Andy I used to add mustard.  They froze perfectly.

I have been wrapping, wrapping and posting.  And I'm done!  Next week I am going to be baking treats and foodie gifts.   Now 2024 has not been a stellar year.   For many of us.  Many of us  (and this is only the ones I know about!) have been in the trenches.  A fair few people have told me they can't feel "christmassy" and celebrate.   There are families that don't even know how they will stay warm this winter,  Denise even told me there is a song about it on You tube called "Freezing this Christmas."  I just listened to it and it's an absolute disgrace.   Well,  back to my point.  The point is we need to celebrate Christmas MORE, not less,  just maybe in simpler more heartfelt ways.  The things I loved when I was little were the sparkly lights,  the carols, the joy, the excitement...  I barely remember gifts.  It was the feeling of Christmas that is "bring a tear to your eye" love and beauty.  The real reason we are celebrating.  

It is the year to forget about dust collecting gifts and help someone with their power bill,  some baking,  some pantry staples.... maybe the gift of help.  

I hope you had a good week full of opportunities to build up your home and fill it with all the joy possible.xxx