A pocket full of (black) gold*

Treasure!*

Our blackberry bush is roaring at the mo! Everyday we are bringing in at least a good sized pocket full!

Would you like a smooch?!*

Gearing up for winter*

I am making a conscious effort to find creative ways to feel excited about the approaching Winter. I have always felt 'most alive' in Summer, and have, for much of my life, really just been 'surviving' Winter, to get through to the warmer months. What a waste! I am amazed I have allowed myself to keep this attitude for so long! So, this Autumn, and Winter, the little fellow and I shall be embarking on as many outdoor, rugged up, boot wearing, tree climbing, bush walking, umbrella toting, puddle splashing adventures as we can- followed by hot baths, a cosy fire, soup and stories. Oh, and plenty of hut making on really shoddy days (we live in the Manawatu- I foresee MUCH hut making!)

Behold, the SUPER HUT!*

You could fit a queen bed inside this hut! CORR!*

We have been blessed with a really good tomato season. There have been plenty of opportunities for the darling boy and I to discuss the difference between red and green. Tomato's, chilli's, strawberries. I think he was just getting the hang of it when the blackberries ripened, and now nothing makes sense!  

Roughly chopped and frozen, free flow tom's.*

THE BEST tomato sauce!*

My fabulous friend Flower (erm.. I do have other friends, I feel I must point out- but she seems to be the only one I mention here!) told me of this (above) excellent way to make use of tomatoes. Roughly chop them, add onion and garlic (though I did forget these once, and that was a whole other kind of lovely!), herbs, olive oil, salt n pep, balsamic vinegar, some sugar (or other sweetener), and roast on 100-150 for a few hours, checking occasionally, until it is all caramelised and yummi (though, you can decide at which stage you want to pull it out of the oven, depending on what you will use the sauce for), then whizz it up in the blender/food processor, and you will have the most amazing sauce for pasta, or damn near anything you like. We had some warm today with Zucchini fritters!
I have also added chilli, as we have plenty, and other times chopped raw vege's, such as Zucchini and eggplant. I have frozen a few batches for some instant injections of Summer in the middle of Winter.


And here is an (as always!) thoughtful and interesting post from the wonderful Veronica over at The Mother Magazine blog.

Wishing you all as much warmth as we can possibly squeeze out of Autumn, and then some damn good cold weather adventure! Arohanui, Tink Xx*

The Womanly Arts (and some cooking and sewing)*

I am enjoying listening to this just now. I was in the library, looking for some Qi Gong (which I didn't find...), but instead found this cd full of empowering lectures. Tonight, after the boys went to bed, I stayed up in my reasonably clean kitchen (less of a rarity these days- I swear, this organisation thing is gently being welcomed into my life!), and made Sauerkraut, and wrote this, while listening to that lovely Louise Hay (CD 1), and shall sleep much better for it. And live much better for it too, I am certain! :-).*

Mmmm... Mirky cabbage water!*

Other fermenting adventures in my kitchen include the ongoing love that is Kefir, (made by adding kefir grains to raw milk, before straining and keeping the grains to reuse), Sourdough, which I am finally getting the hang of, and am cranking out some mean-ass loaves of tasty brown goodness! (along with pancakes and crackers)

Kefir*

Sourdough Pancakes, sunday tradition for me and the ratbag*

Put it all together!*

Some clearly less nourishing kai!*

And, wonderfully, I have been managing some time in the stitch room. I'm getting my sewing groove back, after starting to feel like 'someone who used to sew'... YUSS! :-D. Arohanui, Tink Xx*

Oh! Magical time spent in my stitch room!*

Bliss*

Lucky lil' guy hardly wore a nap' all weekend!*

A few weeks back, the lil' darling and I had the wonderful opportunity to attend an Unschooling Retreat (the first of its kind in Aotearoa, I believe), being held in our other home, the beautiful Pohangina Valley. I had started (erm....) a massive, longwinded intro, but have decided instead, at least at this stage, to just hurry my ass up and put up some photo's. So here we go! Enjoy :-).*

Klimt and wriggle toes*

My beautiful boy and I*

Has somebody been walking on a rainbows?*

Drum love!*

One of the laid back discussions*

Kiddlies nearby, as the big folks yarned*

Sisters!*

Adventures of one Frodo ('F' theme fancy dress)*

Ferocious and the faery*

More drum love!*

Boogey time! (Action shot)*

Hey! (Hehehe! This was the view from my bunk- made me laugh often!)*

Bunting with wonderful quotes on it was hung throughout the camp. I took photo's of most, and shall scatter them through upcoming posts :-).*

Possibley the children's/young peoples discussion...?*

We made flags*

We take food pretty seriously! (Seriously- the food was AMAZING!)*

ROOOAAAR!*

One of my favorite singing groups from the saturday night concert*

Keep up!*

Sunday's timetable*

(And two of the thought provoking, and inspiring quotes).

The feeling of community was undeniable- and it was one of the most beautiful experiences of my life! I've never been surrounded by so many families with whom I have felt such a connection, it truly was blissful! And the joy I felt, being in the midst of so many families searching, and practicing conscious connected parenting, was most inspirational and heartwarming to say the least! It is so reassuring to be reminded that there are MANY other parents out there who are giving their children the respect they deserve (this comment I must elaborate on and say I felt this in relation to all the beautiful attachment parenting I witnessed, and was a part of, through out the whole weekend, from everyone who attended!).
My dreams of a world where this kind of love and mutual respect for each other is the norm, has blossomed into ... well, something far more solid than just a dream! :-).
Arohanui, Tink Xx*

Wheeeeeeeee!*

What has 11 wheels and goes "WHEEEEEEEEE!"? 

Here's a clue....

This one's for you Flower baby!

 These... (plus another)... plus this babe on wheels..

Equals this!

 Coolfun! (erm, private joke on the lingo!)

My fab friend Flower gave me these beauties for my burtday, and I finally cranked them out tonight- can't believe I waited so long! The lil' fellow and I did a super speedy mission up the road and around the corner, but until I get stopping sorted proper I will confine the skates-buggy combo to the driveway.

And, in other news, autumn is here, according to our blackberries... Yum! But, I'm still really wanting some more summer please!

I had a few glasses of wine last night, and started yet another 'serious' blog post.... So many unfinished ones. It would seem that writing about things that really matter takes far more time, concentration, practise, and editing, than writing vaguely entertaining faff! Gee, who would have thought ;-).

It'll happen, as all things do, in my own sweet time!

Hope y'all are well, arohanui, Tink Xx*

Snippets..*

Every snatched couple of minutes spent in the stitch room is soundtracked by THIS song... Obsessed- Moi?!

I am super-duper excited about THIS wonderful adventure this weekend....

Don't worry pickle, you're coming too!*

And I promise (myself mostly!) that I will actually write all those other half started posts, starting next week....! Arohanui, Tinks Xx*

D.I.M. (Do It Myself)*

Its a rather busy week this week in my world -who am I kidding, we're all busy! :-). 

I'm trying my hardest to be organised for Le Party this weekend, so I'm not freaking out on the day. I'm not much of an organiser, but I'm trying! Learning a lil' more each day :-). So I have a heap of photo's on the Mac daddy, and some bloggy posts roaming around in my head, but all shall have to wait until next week. 

BUT I couldn't help but show off what I (half!) accomplished today while the man cooked tea (a true rarity!).....

Before, with the newbies in the background.*

These chairs were fricken MANKY!(two still are. Maybe tomorrow?). Thats a sand-porridge-snot-yoghurt-dogknowswhat combo on those seats! Mmmmm....... They have been nagging at my eyes for a while now...

And after. Shiny-shiny!*

The Dadyo asked for a staple gun for Xmas (for building a clear plastic green house for seedlings). 'Hell yes!' I thought! So for a change I spent some money on him. And today I bought oil cloth (water proof, wipeable, fab for a kitchen in which a pants-less toddler likes to hang out, and help the Mama cook, and spill stuff, and is yet to learn how to say 'wees', or 'potty' until its too late!), and a lil' contraption that pulls out staples, and I made some magic! Woohoo! :-D. 

Arohanui, Tinks Xx*