Feather your Nest Friday, 3rd July. 2026.

A new month!  And the second half of the year!

I had one set of plans that were changed and I had to pivot,  take a leaf out of Clare's book,  and get on with plan B.  I did it too and it worked!  I got stuck into a series of home projects.  This was the thing to do as it rained and rained and rained.   I decided to pray it would rain enough for my little farm creek to run.  That has only run twice since I lived here.  To me if it ran it would be a big blessing.   And it kept on raining.  And I kept on cleaning.   🌧

I also got on with making the most of produce I have.   

The broccoli was my second harvest from my garden.   It is so nice!  

I made Lemon Cordial... my electric citrus juicer was doing most of the work!

I decided to completely deep clean my fridge.    I told Vicky... pray for me I'm going in!  

Now it smells of vanilla and every time I open it I am happy! 

Then... I emptied the cutlery drawer, washed it out,  replaced the divider and culled a lot of random things that had accumulated.   This drawer also needed a repair ... that was done too.

This all was ridiculously satisfying.  Do you find getting things in order in the home has an uplifting effect?  Even if it is one drawer,  one surface.  I think it makes me feel as though I am winning, as opposed to losing lol.

One night I just couldn't sleep.  I was thinking about my last kitchen and the great island I had.  It was 1.30 am.  It struck me. Why don't I have a kitchen island here?    The one I had before and loved was from Ikea.  I got online and ordered one.  When I finally slept and woke up I wondered if that was a dream or real?   I had an email that said your IKEA order will be delivered Friday!  Oh goodness!  This is going to be a game changer for my kitchen! 

My cook up was meatballs and cherry tomatoes from summer (from freezer) and capsicums and onions from a friend. 

This was so delicious and fed the whole tribe including myself. 

I made some date loaves.  I gave one to Mum and sliced up the rest for the freezer.   This way I always have a piece of cake when I really feel like one but it is not out looking at me either.

I made two trays of baked apples.   They were so delicious.  This lot went to Chloe's.

(Water is added to the pan before baking.)

Tom came over.   One of our projects was to pot up some broccoli seedlings.   First we made the brown paper pots.

We got around three plants per pot as they are pretty small.   This lot was for his Mum who is planting a big covered in garden.  

I have moved some around into empty containers I have and will keep on potting them up for the swap table and to take to church.

Today I went to town with my friend.  It was a very good day.   For several years in a row I've had my eye on an orange tree.   It is the largest orange tree I've ever seen.  Each year I suspect no one picks them.  As you know mostly I go and knock on the door.  But for some reason I was intimidated with this one.  But today my friend was with me.  We agreed we were going to go knock on the door. 

At least if I was going to be murdered we would die together.

Well, ask and you shall receive!   A very nice man opened the door.   He has a dog like Sparkie.   He was most happy for us to pick the oranges.   We both picked as many as we could carry and it made no impact at all.   They are ripe and smell gorgeous.

So while you are winning why not keep going?   We asked if we could return with a ladder?   Picking sticks?  The whole nine yards.  He said sure!    I said well what can I bring him... I thought of cake, jams... and I remembered my broccoli seedlings.  He was very keen on getting broccoli.  I said ok I will bring you a tray of broccoli seedlings next week.   A deal was made.

If we picked half of this tree... it would be bags and bags of oranges.  We truly hit the jackpot.  We felt as if we had won the lottery.

I am going to begin juicing oranges tomorrow but next week I will make cakes as well.

And...  my creek began to slowly come in today.  Like JUST.  It was not there last night.  It was not there early this morning.   Just before lunch the trickle began.  So far it is just a little bit.  It's not much of a creek but it is my creek!   I think in a few days it will be flowing properly.  I am planning to have boat or rubber ducky races with the kids.

I also have wetlands and soon the water birds will arrive!

When I got home my Ikea packages were in the shed.  So that is the next project and I can't wait!  

Going through everything and all my pantry work had produced lots of donations to the thrift store and my pantry is so much better.  I know will know exactly how many I have of each category.  But I am still going.  I just keep doing something every day.

Because I am in organise and clean mode I am loving Hannah's Happy Home.  She is like vitamin pills for cleaning and sorting.  So lovely and so motivating.  I am building such a nice selection.   What I appreciate is all of this glorious edifying content.   

Have a wonderful weekend.xxx