A productive day!

How do you get done all that needs to be done? I have a notebook and write down my jobs/tasks. Most days I only get a few things ticked off but today I got heaps done. I had a refreshing bout of motivation today. My mother would be so proud...haha!

I bottled some chutney. I pulled the glass jars out of the oven and put them onto the stove top. The second one I did though cracked. I had placed it right on top of some water. A hot jar on cold water does not mix…and to think I had laughed at my mum when she did something similar when we were bottling apples. Oops.

Miss Z and I paved under the wheelie bin today. We have a stash of old bricks for a path around the house. We took the wheelbarrow and collected some from the front shed. One short we were...back we go. All done and looking much better. It was fun. Not sure how I will go getting a large area like a pathway flat and level but this small job was fine.

The calves are now eating the grass down properly. Can you see the zigzag line of eaten and fresh grass? Aj has worked out a great system for grazing them. They need to eat it down so that it comes back well. Otherwise they will just eat the new fresh shoots and the grass will grow uneven. He's a great farmer in the making I say.

Firewood!

A couple of weeks ago we had a truckload of firewood logs delivered into one of our paddocks. Just over 15 metres' worth. Today Aj started to cut and split them with Gary, the previous owner of the house and a good friend.

After six hours, the result was somewhat different...

Much of it has been split, but there are still a lot of rounds to go. Then there's all the stacking...!

To market to market

Just a small piece of history for you.

The first complete recorded version of the rhyme appeared in 1805 in Songs for the Nursery with no reference to a pig:

To market, to market to buy a penny bun,

Home again, home again, market is done.

When the rhyme reappeared later in the nineteenth century, it took the now common form:

To market, to market, to buy a fat pig,

Home again, home again, jiggety-jig.

Well I went to market, two of them, and have come home again.  Thursday's market was at our local MOPS. It was a closed group market and while I thought I wouldn't do well, compared to Saturdays Art & Makers Market in town, it did do well.

People loved the baby shoes and tee shirts but weren't overly interested in spending. I came home wondering if my items are marketable.   I need to work on how to promote my product.  There are people in this town who just can't justify spending the money that my products are worth. So back to the drawing board: Etsy site? Pay for advertisement on madeit? And then there is the possibility of putting them in a shop in Stanley called The Brown Dog. I have left samples with the new owner and am looking forward to hearing from her soon. 

My mum and Grandma are here at the moment. Great to spend Mothers Day with them both. I miss having family around so much. You can have supportive friends but nothing beats family, especially mum! 

And what did I get for Mother's day?Two beastie  beauties and  15m of firewood logs.

 Fresh mushrooms, straight from our paddocks (yes, rest assured  they are edible. I let Aj eat them first though) 

Mr T is reading his way through a stack of joke cards that Aj had as a boy. They are the typical nonsense jokes that kids laugh at but don't get. I thought this one was very appropriate for Providence Meadows. 

Q: How do you stop a cockerel crowing at daybreak on Sunday?

A: Eat it on Saturday night.

Comparison

A friend has this up on her wall. It speaks loads to me.

I often find that I am comparing myself to others. Better at craft; better at running a house; better than running a business from home...and the list goes on. 

But guess what: I am ME. No one else can be me. All that matters is that I am doing what God has asked of me, by serving Him in all that I do and taking care of my family.

Things that I am good at. Not to toot my own trumpet but because doing this is hard! You try it:

Loving God and serving Him.

Loving and caring for my husband and kids.

Listening to others when they need it.

Not compromising on things that I believe in.

Being creative at lots of things. I may not be an expert at any one thing but I enjoy what I do.

Gardening.

Preserving - sauces and jams.

Making Choc Chip Biscuits.

As I write this I am thinking about a market coming up and thinking that my things will look daggy compared to others, that she makes and sells HEAPS of earrings...But I have to ignore those thoughts and focus on what I am good at and enjoy and rejoice in those things.

Shopping local

Do you shop local?

Being apart of a small town in Tassie means that we don't have a large range of shops. We do have all that you would need to day to day living though. It would be easy to by pass our own community and go up the coast to the chain stores. You would, yes, spend more in time and fuel but the savings would surely out way that. But then what would happen to our local shops? They would go!

Why am I writing all this? We have a number of empty shops in town. It is sad to see as our town is by no means dying out but the shops will if our community doesn't start shopping locally.

I am a bargain hunter and happy to OP Shop but I have had to dig deeper of late and be the support our town needs. Plus if you only buy the things you actually need to need up saving money as you aren't tempted by all the things you don't need.


I found this non local site on the reasons to shop local and although based on Chicago I think it aplies to our town too.

Think before you spend. Can you buy it locally? If so do so and support your community!