The days can just run away, can’t they? It seems like only yesterday we were priding ourselves on being totally caught up with the Sage Words posts and now, three plus weeks later, we’re remorsefully wondering just how those intervening days, during which writing to you lovely folk wasn’t prioritised, were actually filled.
On the plus side, we’ve spent a bit of time filling the freezer with end of summer bounty
and the preserves shelf in the pantry is beginning to fill up, too.
The formidable Goat Herd/Milk Maid team have begun a couple of building projects making use of the old deck wood
(a potting table and a new milking stand) which they can now finish thanks to the latest Homestead purchase (hand sawing can quickly lose its appeal).
We’ve had a run of wet days which, whilst breathing new life into the autumn garden, has also allowed time to be spent on inside projects – re-purposing old towels into flannels (face washers??) and hand towels, a Goat Herd original whittled key holder, and a blanket that just keeps growing.
Farm Girl has gained a couple of Guide badges and completed mini Country Studies on the United States of America and England; Wales is currently being investigated. The beauty of this is we all get a better understanding of places we’ll be visiting in T minus 5 months, 17 days – the excitement is growing by the day and the sole pupil of The Union Homestead School for Colourful Thinkers has a gift for sniffing out places for our Must See list. Llandudno Pier, look out!
In the paddock, Geraldine has made a full recovery and is back to her bossy, funny, headstrong self – not for all the ruby chard in the garden was she was getting up to show off her wonderfully healed, gloriously asymmetrical udder – and Leia swings from being grossly relieved she is no longer head honcho and utterly outraged at the very same.
Time has also marched on in the coop and our three chicks have now morphed into feisty, brave, no nonsense Yoko and pretty, cuddly but bird-brained Zinnia…and a bloke. With their naming we find ourselves at the end of our first run through of the Union Homestead alphabetical naming system.
Embarrassingly, we’ve failed to document (until now) three Sage Words;
The Goat Herd served up Mary Berry’s Coffee and Walnut Butterfly Cakes with Leonardo daVinci, The Bean Counter was true to his thrifty self and “Coach” John Wooden’s words, making use of the courgette glut to whip up a decadently rich Chocolate Courgette Cake, and Farm Girl flew utterly solo for the first time in the kitchen. Her bread and garlic butter combo would have melted even Paul Hollywood’s heart – particularly if he had joined us to peek around the door (having been banned from the kitchen) to witness his trademark kneading in action.
We would hate to give you the impression that it’s been all work, though. We’ve finished watching the entire four episodes of Hart of Dixie (Yay! Zoe ended up with Wade after all) and the 2012 and 13 series of The Great British Bake Off. There’s been a great many deep-and-meaningful conversations around dinner table, a huge amount of belly-laughs, a couple of undignified battles, and a scattering of heart-melting moments like that mentioned above too. Planes have been cleaned, children taught, and a great many hours put in filling Autumn-bugs-and-colder-morning gaps in The Bean Counter’s work roster.
All in all, it’s been business as usual here on the Homestead but we’ve missed you and your news. Next on the list is a proper catch up. I’ll just put the perc on.
Union Homestead 
Was just thinking of you lot today, so glad to see the post. Love the construction projects – bet the milking stand will be a boon. Facecloths. We don’t have flannels at all here. I only know the word because of being raise on British kid lit (Enid Blyton, Ransome, et al). Wow, FG is growing up too fast – solo in the kitchen. She made bread by hand? Wow again. You got a new kitchen just in time :). So much productivity, and I’m impressed with the pantry. TV – a new TV version of Anne of Green Gables has been produced; I think it’s a mini-series. I wasn’t going to watch (the 1985 production was as good as it gets – I thought). However, I thought this new version was excellent – love the girl cast as Anne. If you can access it from NZ, add it to your watch list -http://watch.cbc.ca/anne/season-1/e8abfc85-670b-4034-b39c-54aba9c0ce43. I may have to turn to the GBBO because I have been dealt a blow that has cast me into the depths of despair (to quote Anne): I can no longer access Country Calendar from here – for 2.5 years I’ve been watching it through TVNZ One’s online service but for some reason that stopped working in November, and the customer service people told me in a one liner that it’s because I’m not in NZ. No more sunny scenes in the Marlborough Sounds, no more fantastic working dogs or tussocky Middle Earth landscapes to mitigate the damp and gales and gloom that is winter here> sigh> . Sounds like even if we don’t hear about it on the blog, family life is rolling on regardless – and I’m glad there are belly laughs. And heart melting moments.
Alas CBC obviously went to the same seminar TVNZ did as I got a very blunt “Sorry, you are trying to view this from outside Canada” went I went to investigate the link you sent.
Love that Country Calendar is a sought after glimpse of NZ. As a kid I hated it – barely allowed to breath during it and as far as I was concerned it was booooorrriiinngggg. Admittedly it was pre-colour TV and the only grape vines in Marlborough were in grandparents backyards 🙂
Facecloths – got it. I find these little differences in terminology interesting. Counterpanes, doonas, bedspreads…it’s nice that the world is not totally homogenised.
Here the days are slower to get started and daylight saving is ending soon so I’m guessing the end is in sight for your damp, gales and gloom of winter. Hoping you have your shares of belly laughs and melting moments too 🙂
Great to hear from you again and catch up with some of your doings. Lots of lovely photographs to help us be in touch. Don’t leave it so long next time.
Glad you liked the photos. I’m often very embarrassed by the quality of them.
No need to be embarrased, they do the job very well.
You have been busy, indeed! Glad to see you are still running and kicking 😉
Yep, still here…just being a little lazy in documenting it 🙂
ooh ooh, you are coming to Wales! I’ll have the kettle on… do call in for tea and cake if you are in Aberaeron!
We’re always up for a cuppa and cake 🙂 Things are pretty fluid at the moment; we’ll know more when we actually get going 🙂
That is a very happy looking goat. Thank you for the update. I hope that winter approaches gently.
Autumn seems set on handing us drizzly weekends at the moment. With everyone excited to try out the new saw, the mood has been seriously squashed by conditions that don’t mix well with electricity. Ah well…
So good to hear from you all again! That saw looks wonderful! What a pity you haven’t been able to use it as much as you would like. My husband has recently bought an electric saw and a rechargeable chain-saw. I am surprised that we have any lengths of wood left anywhere round the house and garden! A good collection of sage words and yummy food. Wow! That loaf of Farm Girl’s is beautiful!
Hi, A very apt quote from ‘The Hart of Dixie’ (whatever that is!) as you will indeed be flying! As a result of her studies, Farm Girl may be able to take on the role of tour guide, shepherding you all about.
She is utterly up to the challenge 🙂