BACK TO BASICS

Getting back to basics. It’s hard these days with so many things competing for our attention. Relationships, kids, jobs, homes, gardens, families…each of these call us at different times and sometimes all at once.

Blue Eyes was interstate this week – only his second time in three years, so I can’t complain – and my week was full of holidaying children and work. Which means they holiday and I work. By Friday night I was exhausted, a result of trying to hard to do everything so Blue Eyes wouldn’t have to do the house cleaning and groceries on the weekend. He told me off for this, by the way…

We decided that we needed to have a “potter around” weekend to get back to basics. It’s been a while since we’ve had time for more than upkeep in the veggie garden, so that was our starting point. We harvested some spinach (now cooked and in the freezer), pruned the roses, re-staked our beans and snow peas, thinned out the seedlings and transplanted some herbs. Just being outside in our space, breathing in the fresh air was the boost I needed.

Being the people we are, we didn’t stop there and decided to order a chicken coop for Betty, Dorothy and Gertrude, our yet-to-be-adopted laying hens. Yes, we have named our chickens already. Sad, isn’t it? (I’ve just been informed by Bear that the hens will be nicknamed Dumb, Stupid and Bird). We’ve been talking about it for ages and finally stopped talking and took action. Good timing too – we got a bargain and Bear will be taking delivery of a flat-packed chicken coop sometime this week.

Blue Eyes finally hung my glass bottles and I made some plant markers, giving me the creative fix I realised I’d been missing. And at the end of a productive day Blue Eyes cooked up some wood-fired pizzas. Back to basics. Should get there more often.