Keeping warm

There's nothing more comforting than a cosy fire on a cold winter night.  Ours is going constantly now, so our living area is an ambient 21C twenty four hours a day.  It's lovely sitting in front of the fire feeding the little Master in the small hours of the morning, watching the glowing coals, snuggling together on the sofa.  And it certainly makes it easier to get out of bed on frosty winter mornings.  Little Miss Gosling does a mad dash for the fire, and warms each item of clothing in front of it before putting them on.  The only draw back is fetching wood each day - no easy task in the rain with two little ones.

Miss Gosling helping collect firewood

Clothes swap party

I kept hearing about clothes swap parties - my sister went to one, I read about them in an eco newsletter, then again on a simple living / frugal living website. There must be something in it, I thought, and sent out some invitations.

It was tremendous fun.  People brought along clothes they hadn't worn in ages or had such sentimental value they wanted them to go to a friend rather than the op shop.  We hung them on racks, or folded them in piles, admiring as we went. When everything was organised, we dived in to try things on.  There was such a lot of beautiful clothing - everything from Cue work dresses to royal blue jumpsuits made out of parachute silk (whoever wore that?!  It's gone into Miss G's future dress ups.) 

The afternoon wore on but there were no signs of fatigue.  As we tried things on and built up our piles of treasure the kiddies ran wild outside (there were ten of them under five).  We kept our energy up with coffee, cake and red wine, and when all was done two hours later, we each had bundles of "new" clothes.  It was like shopping for free in your own lounge room.  The funny thing is, afterwards nearly everyone said to me they felt guilty because they had brought such old, ordinary stuff and taken home real gems... just goes to show beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

And one last note - when it was over there were six green bags of unclaimed clothes.  I took them to St Vinnie's that week, so everyone's a winner.

Mount Schank

We recently took the goslings for a walk around the rim of Mt Schank.  It's one of the youngest volcanos in Australia, last erupting only 4500 years ago.

It's a short but steep walk up (mostly stairs) and then about 2kms around the top.  Whatever the weather is at home, it always blustery and threatening to rain whenever we're there, but worth the risk.  The views stretch to the sea in one direction and over farmland in every other.  Beautiful.

Cloth nappies

I'm a big fan of cloth nappies. Over the last two years we've experimented with all sorts of designs and combinations and without a doubt Baby Beehinds are the best. They're super absorbent, they don't leak and they have fitted both goslings from about 2 months to 2.5 years (I got the multifits which mean you don't have to buy different sized nappies).

 I forked out a LOT (nearly $700) for a complete set of nappies and covers and boosters but I've done the sums and we broke even when Miss Gosling was about 12 months old.  It would have been sooner but she was in disposables overnight and for 7 weeks while we were away from home. According to some cloth nappy advocates, it costs about 4c per cloth nappy for the water, electricity and detergent it takes to wash them. Compared to about 40c per Huggie. And we use rain water, and a cold wash, so I'm guessing it's even less. It's a no brainer.

We do put the babies in Huggies overnight though. I found the cloth nappies always leak overnight, even with a booster. And it's not a good idea to use nappy rash creams with them, because they clog up the cloth. So one Huggie and some bottom cream overnight keeps the babies dry and prevents nappy rash.

Cloth nappies drying on the verandah clothes line.

Now I've got two babies in cloth nappies and winter is fast approaching. The flip side of super absorbent nappies is the time it takes for them to dry. Since the cold wet weather set in, we've lit the fire and got out the drying racks. The nappies dry in about 24 hrs in front of the fire. That little hassle, combined with my growing aversion to toddler poo, is motivating me to toilet train Miss Gosling. That adventure will start soon. I'll keep you posted!

For all your cloth nappy questions:

http://nappynetwork.org.au/content/about-us

Mount Gambier has a natural parenting group as well - lots of mums with experience of cloth nappies, as well as homeschooling, immunisation issues, organic food for kids etc etc.  Message me for more details.

Chooks

"Bl***dy pesky chooks!" is frequently heard at our place, usually from me at the kitchen window.  Every morning and afternoon they make their way to the verandah, scratching up the flower beds on the way and covering the paths with mulch and poo.  If the dogs are about, the chooks persecute them, nipping their ankles til they leave, then eat any biscuits left in the bowls, drink their water and do some more pooing.  I am constantly scrubbing it off.  Yuk.  It is certainly a chore I could do without.

Still, I love them.  Their antics are endlessly entertaining and their clucking and crowing and the very look of them fossicking about is charming.  The eggs are a world away from those you get from the supermarket - the whites actually keep their shape.  And they are very easy to keep.  Here's a photo of Miss Gosling helping clean their house out.

A gift for Miss Gosling

I always start sewing projects in a fit of enthusiasm but become discouraged at about the point when I've spent more time unpicking than I have sewing.  This project went surprisingly smoothly, maybe because I did it all by hand.  No machining necessary.

I saw some lovely hair clip holders at the Library's Art and Craft Market. (The market is fabulous but takes a break over winter.  They'll resume monthly in spring.)  Even though they were reasonably priced I thought I could make one with what I had at home.  Everyday Miss Gosling was going through a performance searching for clips in various places and insisting on wearing particular ones.  I'd spend AGES trying to convince her to wear whatever I had in the bathroom drawer.

So I downloaded an image of a strawberry from the web, enlarged it, printed it out and used it as a pattern.  I had to read a web tutorial on how to do french knots, and didn't waste any time practising on a scrap, I just put them straight onto my strawberry, which might explain why no two knots are the same.  The beads act as a weight, and they were from some broken costume jewellery.

Anyway, it has proven to be a very useful little addition to our bathroom.  All the clips are there on display and she can pick whichever she wants to wear.  And when I find them in the car, under her sheets, in her pockets and stuffed between cushions, I just pop them back in their new home.   Happy 2nd birthday Miss Gosling!

Kalangadoo Farmers' Market

All I know about Kalangadoo is that it's surrounded by apple, cherry and potato farms, and that it now has a small but quality farmers' market.  

We pootled along to the inaugural market this morning to find tables laden with organic apples, vegetables, preserves and crafts.  Luckily most of it was indoors because in typical SE style, the weather was divine yesterday and miserable today.  The drizzle put a bit of a dampener on the sausage sizzle and coffee stand outside, but didn't take away from the quality and range of produce available.  I bought a jar of ruby red, crystal clear crab apple jelly and a forest of silverbeet.  

The market will be on weekly and you can find out more on their website.

http://kalangadoofarmersmarket.com.au