Feather your Nest Friday, 10th July, 2026.

Well... here we go again.  It was another epic week of produce.   Maybe a record breaker.  😊

I continued to use things that came in and made up a batch of Lemon Butter.   Tom filled a sponge and once it was topped with whipped cream he had a desert for his family.

He also took home a jar of Lemon Butter for on toast in the morning.  So that was ten lemons put to good use.

But the star of the week was the orange.   Last week we had picked oranges and asked the man if we could come back with a ladder....  and lived to tell the tale....  

My friends tall husband and our long ladder saved the day.  

My friend and I had prepared our trades/gifts for the man.   He was most happy.  I think we may have sewn up the deal for the future.  He threw in a pumpkin!

I took Jam and Broccoli seedlings.

Today we went back with lumps of steel.  Yes steel. 

It ended up being 120 kilos.  (More than 240 pounds.)  And plenty were left on the tree for others.

I call this success!  

So far we have shared with the church family today and with St Vinnies yesterday.

Every day I am juicing.  Every time I go to Chloe's I take juice.  Chloe gives back the empty for a new full one.

Next week I will make orange cakes and lemon cakes.

I picked more broccoli in the garden and also took some for a lady at Mass today.   This is ganging up on me so I will need to cook some or make soup.

I potted up stacks more Broccoli seedlings and took some of those to church as well and another tray to the swap tables.  I have so many I will do this again next week.  Gosh they went over well, so did the oranges! 

There is another lady at church whole loves nice books to read. She has the same taste as Mum.  So when Mum finishes a book I take it to this lady... which equals about three a week.   She then passed them on to her sister and they both get som much joy out of them! 

This wee was sunny almost every day.  Water is laying in the paddocks from last week.  So this sun is making everything grow!  It is wonderful.  Tomorrow the rain gets going again but we all have backloads of vitamin D all week and boatloads of vitamin C thanks to oranges!

In the op shop I found a big box of embroidery threads.   Some for hand sewing but most machine reels.  The entire collection was $3.

I knew this stuff is expensive and grabbed it.  

AND I got a brand new thermal cooker for $10.  I thought with electricity becoming a big issue this could be a very good thing to have.   Now I need to study the book.

I found a sweet little jug some fabric plus my friend gave me the most gorgeous fabric ever! 

Last week my kitchen Island arrived.... it is now put together and in the kitchen... next I need to settle it in and set it up.  I love it!  

If you have been following along you will know on the first day of the war in the Middle East I decided to put my head down and work on my pantry and preparedness and put up any food that came my way.  From that day to this (Feb 28 - ) produce has come at me like meteors.  I came home from an outing and this pumpkin was sitting on my veranda rail.  Like a calling card I knew who would have left it.

I was also given a bag of onions.   

So this week it wasn't less,  due to it being mid winter and all... it was MORE.    AND a man arrived late afternoon to stay the weekend in the cabin....  he came with a huge heavy box of vegetables...  It is dark now and I was unpacking groceries from the ute and I have not even unpacked this box to see what is in it!   But it is another 10 or 15 kilos of veggies!  I will take some photos of it tomorrow as I wash and sort everything.  I am excited to do this but I have reached my limit for today! 

I am now up to hundreds of kilos of free food and all I did was hear God say "don't look over your shoulder" and to get on with my work.  So that is what I have done all these weeks and still this is the  case.  I would never have though this possible.

In my old blog (The bluebirds are Nesting) I shared how I first began my pantry.  I started with a weekly budget of $8 which I turned into $16 by buying things that were on half price specials.  After a year it was absolutely amazing how many supplies I had! 

Currently Patsy at A Working Pantry  is having a $5 a week pantry building challenge.   You can absolutely build a deep pantry with a small amount.  And a challenge is fun so I am in!  A Working Pantry challenge.     I will post there weekly how I did.  The time to start a deep pantry is five years ago but failing that it is now.   I am still learning  so much that I can immediately implement from Urban QLD Homestead. She had four videos this week I can use!  Right now!   There is more to do than hours in the day but if I write myself a list I seem to get a lot more of it done.

Tonight Chloe gave me a tray of Parsley seedlings.  I will pot them up to gift and trade when they grow up a bit.  Then I think I will get back to cotton wash cloths as they were a great trade item.

Next week I have a lot of apples that need using.  I've had hints to make more apple crumbles!  I like that idea so I will see how many I can get!

I hope it was a good week for you.  My thoughts are on stewardship.... wise investments (on many levels) and how there is so much joy in small things.   

Tomorrow we celebrate Chase's birthday.  He will be four.  Before that I plan to sleep in!  xxxx