Feather your Nest Friday, 5th June, 2026.

Firstly we are in June!  Autumn is over and winter is here!  I think each day it has rained.  Some days it rained all day!  We are very happy!

Despite this the produce continues to come.   Today was my day in town and I returned to this big box of produce on the front table.  This is from guys staying in the cabin this long weekend. 

I love this as it is like a mystery box challenge.   I have begun to plan but I need tomorrow to really think it through! 

The sweet thing was the Annabelle coffee.  😊

I could not lift this box so I unpacked it and am bring things in bit by bit.   The cabbage is huge.  It is a lot!

I started the week making some cheese and Vegemite scrolls for the kids.  One of the supermarkets sells fresh dough and on Sundays it tends to be half price.   So this made a lunch and some snacks for Chloe to warm in the oven.

Next time I might do bacon, onion and cheese.

My big cook up was a big spaghetti sauce then a pasta bake...

Also a really large GF lasagne.  Half without cheese for Mum and half with cheese for me.

I also had a dinner with spaghetti and it was delicious.

The next day when the lasagne was cold I sliced it up .... this is a bag of dinners for Mum.  The other half gave me one dinner then a heap of emergency freezer meals.

My Great Reset project was this cupboard.  It is sort of in the doorway between the kitchen and the lounge room.   I have been keeping it full of shopping bags.  

With all my new baking trays, lasagne trays and casserole dishes I filled it with shelves (with a guestimation that these shelves would fit)  and they did! 

I have been loading it up as my problem was always dishes in the freezer, dishes full of cooking, dishes I don't have back yet.   Now I have a lot more. 

I have added to this since and it is full.  It is so easy as I don't have to do a big exercise of unstacking and re stacking to get what I want. 

I went to town with friends.  Down the road from me there is an apple tree that I always watched but it was run over by a grader.  I was sure it was done for.   Also I was annoyed.  What kind of person runs over and apple tree?  But anyway inspire of this most of the tree survived,  albeit leaning to one side.

Last week I saw red.  But I needed to stop and check.  So on the way home we stopped and examined the tree up close.   There were footprints.  Someone had gone before us!   On the first side of the tree the apples were soft or damaged.  I said let's pick these anyway for the animals.  BUT on the other side of the tree there were plenty of perfect big pink apples.    Gorgeous!  The person who had gone before us had not realised this!   We really were just in time.  

While in town our friend gave us rhubarb....  and where we were parked in town we could see a pomegranate tree.  This is in the Main Street!!   My friend marched into the building to ask permission to pick them.  They were ripe and busting open.   While she did that I got bags out of the back of the ute and headed to the tree.  I knew the amber would be yes so we might as well get on with it. 😊

I have eaten pomegranate in a fancy salad and had the juice.  But I really didn't know what I was doing.   Mum said as kids they ate them sitting outside as the mess is a bit like eating Mulberries.  

So on this one day we still came home with a ton more free produce! 

I got working on lemons and made a big jug of lemon butter.   When Tom came we assembled two deserts.  The first was meringues, lemon butter, whipped cream with pomegranate on top.   The second was little pastry cases, lemon butter, whipped cream and pomegranate.  

We made enough for desert for two nights, one each for friends and farm helpers.  

In a kind of completely opposite project Tom and I went and moved the bull that is in the neighbouring paddock to my cows.  He is not my bull.  I was given the opportunity to let him come and have a visit with my cows.  😊

I hoped he might be close by as he often stands at the fence staring at the cows... but no we had to go for a bit of a drive to find him.   Only when we got close I realised how big he is.  He is HUGE.  I was hoping he was in a good mood.

We moved him along slowly in the right direction.    He didn't hurry but we got him through the gate and Tom said "well done Nana" and gave me a high five.  

I explained to Tom that that half an hour work means after Christmas my cows will most likely have nine calves!   

Once this feat was achieved...  we went and fed the cows the apples off that tree, the soft ones.

It was very hilarious as I was trying to get photos of the calves but Loui would put his head in the window and I would have to drive on a bit or do a loop around.  I would get a photo that guess who would have his head at the widow again!   Tom thought this was a lot of fun and we tried to create a distracting trail of apples so I could get photos.

These calves are so big now.  They are so heavy.  My farmer friend said they are thumpers. 

This one looks so much like a teddy bear.  She he is Bear. 

Maybe this one can be Thumper.

I am so happy they are so quiet and huge already. 

I have tried each day to work a bit on the pantry and cut out some wool.   The pantry is a huge task.  I am moving anything I can from my kitchen pantry to my room pantry.   My room pantry is not climate controlled.   These are some of the things I realised can go there....  sugar, salt, cake decorating equipment, cup cake liners, serviettes, paper towel, plastic containers, jars and bottles, epsom salts, foil containers,  tins, baking paper, foil, etc.

Having a whole room pantry is a game changer.   I do not care for houseguests.  I do not need an office.   I have beds for all the Grandchildren.   If I have houseguests I have the top house or cabin.   I do not like to wander at night, looking like the bride of Frankenstein, and bump into people.   Nope give me a pantry any day. 

As each of these categories go into that room my kitchen pantry is getting sorted out.   I just keep at it.

During all this moving around I saw I had alcohol, vanilla beans and small bottles.   So I started Vanilla extracts to use as Christmas gifts for the ladies at church.   Some are vodka, or rum or whiskey.  All work well.   This cleared out three bottles with not much in them.  Later I will fancy them up with pretty labels and tiny tinsel. Quality real vanilla is expensive so I think they will make nice gifts.

Today was groceries day and I came home with apples from the swap table.   I had a couple of lemons I picked from my own tree and I took most of those in to town to share. 

So although my own apple tree failed this year I have had so many gorgeous apples anyway.  It is so amazing I could cry.   My plan next is apple crumbles.

This is a lovely photo of Mum and Ike last weekend.  Mum could do with prayers as she has a really bad knee, is in pain and frustrated it is slowing her up.

I have lots of planning to do to make the most of all of this.    It is the weather for soup, roasts and baking, baked apples,  apple pie or crumble...  stock...   The fire is going.  If I get enough wool squares cut out I can show you how the patchwork wool blankets are going to look next week. 

It is bliss after all of this list 1/ to appreciate it 2/ to see how God answers prayers and 3/ to feel how beautiful the seasons and nature around us are.  xxx