Sunday - Waiting for a Calf

 Waiting

 Big girl Lavender is a little short tempered during these the last few days of her pregnancy and who can blame her?  She is due to have her calf  tomorrow (Monday) or Tuesday and she is huge, so you can expect my next blog post to be all things cow and calf.

 I won't be going far from here until her calf is safely delivered and suckling well, so we spent the day busily getting on with normal stuff.

 I made a four kilo batch of apricot jam from fruit I had stored in the freezer. 

 

 Do you save the froth that is skimmed off the top of the jam before bottling? Waste not want not, and it is perfectly fine to eat.

 Now that all the events are finished for summer, a renovation has begun. And what a mess!

 Today's view from the kitchen sink. 

Last winter we were given an old wood stove that had fallen into a sad state of disrepair. Brian spent many hours in his workshop shed working on the restoration, while we pondered where to install it.  What was going to be a small job of placing it onto the deck as part of our outdoor kitchen, has snowballed into a major rebuild. New deck flooring, windows (yes windows), and clear sheeting across the entire deck roof.

A home grown chook baked in the kitchen wood oven for dinner tonight. Those fatty bits cut from the bacon added a delicious smoky bacon flavour to the meat, potatoes and onions cooked in the same pot. Served with zucchini cooked in butter and garlic (we still have a glut) and oven roasted tomatoes (a glut of them too), there's plenty left over for our lunches tomorrow.

Special thanks to Rhonda over at Down to Earth.  I've been fortunate to participate in her latest Writing Workshop and yesterday was our second and final Skype session with three other ladies doing the course.  I have absorbed like a sponge the experience and knowledge she shares so generously.  The course has helped me to look at my writing with more clarity,  motivated me to write more articles for Grass Roots Magazine, and who knows? perhaps a book one day.
If Rhonda intends to facilitate more of these Writer's Workshops, I can highly recommend taking part if you want to start getting serious about your writing.

And now, pulling on coat and boots for one more observation check on the mother in waiting before hitting the pillow.

I hope to have calf news for you tomorrow or Tuesday.

Cheers for now,
Sally XX