Back to Back Wool Challenge

Post cards from the Back to Back Wool Challenge of 2017 at Tocal Homestead

 

The Back to Back wool Challenge has been on my to do list for years but something always comes up and I miss it. But this year I put a big red cross on the date and I finally got there. I wasn't disappointed.
Basically, for those of you don't know what the challenge is all about, a sheep is shorn, the fleece is spun and the yarn knitted into a jumper right in front of you and against the clock. This jumper that the shearer is wearing is the end product and took the ladies just a little of 6 hours to complete. The pace is frantic! As you can see, at one point, moments before the end, there is one lady still knitting while two others a sewing up.

Plastic Free July Amongst Other things

Earlier this month I was inspired by Linda to join up for the challenge of going plastic free for the month of July. Like Linda I thought it would be fairly easy as we are already conscious of our use of  single use plastic. And like Linda I was caught out a little, especially as we went on a little break to the south coast just after signing up.

Plastic really only becomes an issue for us around the purchase of food, because just about everything else is bought second hand (but there was one exception this month and I'll go into that a bit later). Most of what we buy in the way of food is fresh produce or so I thought but when it really came down to it there was the plastic wrapping on the tempeh, the tofu and the cheese. These are the three things we really need to look at in regards to single use plastic. For about a year now we have  had the kit ready to start making our own tempeh and tofu but haven't got around to it yet, and when we are milking the cow we make our own cheese so that should take care of that. But then I look in the cupboard and there's a pack of spaghetti in a plastic bag- really must get back to making our own pasta! The list goes on it really does and we pride ourselves in being conscious of these things. Really?

But that has nothing on the experience we had while on our little holiday. At home we make our own bread but had to buy it while away. My goodness what an effort to find bread not in plastic. Vegetables. Well do you think we could buy them easily? No way. We went into one supermarket and all the conventional vegies were available without plastic but my preference is for organic and that was all wrapped in cling wrap or in little plastic containers. It took us twice as long to shop and we had to rethink what we were going to eat. Thankfully a day or two later we chanced upon a market and were able to buy loose fruit and vegetables. We could have gone hungry trying to keep to the challenge.

And milk, what about plastic milk containers. I try to reuse these as creatively as possible around the house and farm, but there's only so many that can be upcycled and the rest are put into the recycle bin.

So many emotions reared their little heads...sadness, anger, frustration. We are so lucky to have an abundance of fruit and vegies growing on the farm, and a great organic shop just 15 minutes away. I can get my dry goods in paper and now they even have a bulk section so that I can take my own containers.

One thing we did buy new this month was a printer and of course there was single use plastic involved. Inside the large box was a large plastic bag. Fortunately we were able to use that to make covers for my seedling trays.

When we started our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) I was determined that I wouldn't be using single use plastic. What did people do before the invention of plastic I wonder? We use second hand plastic containers to hold things like the salad mix, tomatoes, peas, beans, strawberries etc, etc. Our customers return them to us when they pick up their next box. I also utilise plastic milk containers for this purpose also. By cutting them in half they become containers for all sorts of produce. I also use the bottom half of the container as little baskets at the birthday parties for children to carry food for the animals by attaching  little string handles.

So what did I learn from plastic free July. Well first up it was hard, and I didn't do as good a job as I would have liked. There are so many more things I could be doing and it really comes down to being more organised and make more of our food ourselves.

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And just to show you that July wasn't all about plastic I'll leave you with some snaps of our holiday...

We went to the coast and breathed in the sea air.


We treated ourselves to an apartment by the sea. This is the view from the verandah.

We climbed Pigeon House Mountain. Can you see it there through the trees?

We were a little disheartened after climbing for quite a long way and seeing a sign that said that we were not even half way there. Oh my goodness!           

 
                          

The climb was quite difficult and took us around 4hours there and back, with the most difficult part being the ladders at the very top.

I'm normally quite frightened of heights but I knew that I just had to go ahead without giving it too much thought and I'm pleased to say that I made it to the top without plummeting to my death. And the view was amazing. We were very lucky to have a beautiful clear day.

 

 

And here we are at the very top. Phew!
But of course I had to climb back down. And once again I didn't allow myself to think about it too much because descending those ladders was pretty scary.

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And on the decluttering scene I've found an old mobile phone which will be sent along for recycling.

Decluttering

Over at Rhonda's there's a decluttering challenge going on. Five things every Monday for the month and one item every other day of the week. It's a bit late in the day but I'm sure I can find five items....

I'm back. It took me five minutes.. 

a pair of pants, a scarf, a vase, a carafe and a cup and saucer.



If I can't rehome them they'll go to the op shop. So one each day for the rest of the week. can't be that hard can it? We'll see. They will go in a box until the end of the month and then make there way to some sort of reuse centre.

What do you think. Are you in? Wander on over to Rhonda's blog if you're up for it.



Maintenance and Repair

I am still enjoying my journey with maintenance and repair. I am finding it to be very rewarding and cathartic, as along the way the opportunity to declutter  has been embraced.

Many, many years ago I had the end of the verandah, closest to the main bedroom, enclosed and the window in between replaced by French doors, thereby giving me access to this beautiful, north facing space for my craft room/ studio. (I do like the sound of that word Studio. It implies that something quite creative goes on in there).

 But it's always been a hodge podge of a room with  bits of furniture which had no where else to go, certainly not the place that would inspire creativity. And besides that it was never really finished, with architraves left unpainted. So for the past week or so, snatching bits of time here and there I've managed to make a start on revitalising this room, starting with the painting. Here is the end window still sporting the bottle green of the verandah trim..

And now with a fresh coat of paint..

Two desks ( why did I even have two desks)  that didn't really function and a sewing machine table are now gone (The desks off to the op shop and the sewing machine table relegated to the attic)  making way for one big desk purchased from said op shop. Photos of this will follow once more time has been spent on reorganising. Believe me it's a huge job transforming this room into a studio, but I know that it will feel wonderful to have this space just the way I want it after so many years, not to mention the satisfaction in completing some repairs and maintenance.

And in the meantime, as the weight of unfinished projects is lifting, I am finding delight in other corners of this little house...

Stay tuned for more stories of enlightenment as I purge, repair, and overall lighten the load of stuff and unfinished jobs they are weighing me down!

Yarn Along- Spinning up a Storm.

A long time dream of mine has been to make myself  a garment from homespun. I started spinning around 10 years ago on a wheel made by my dad.

 He built it as a challenge not entirely sure that it would actually spin. It won first place at the local show and I took on the delightful job of testing it's spinning capabilities. I was very pleased to be able to tell dad that yes indeed it did spin. I spun enough yarn to make a pair of booties. But it became increasingly difficult to get the wheel to spin consistently and in the end it would  not draw in at all. A case of balance I was told. It would appear that the wheel would continually become unbalanced and not spin. I was devestated with the idea that the wheel wouldn't spin and  I became a little disenchanted with the whole thing.

In the mean time I was gifted a fleece and of course it reignited my interest, so Mark took on the task of finding me a wheel on ebay. He found a beautiful Ashford spinning wheel. At that time we had Mark's daughter and family living with us and his daughter commented on the fact that she was waiting for an item on ebay to finish. And I said ''Funny so is your father''. You guessed it they were bidding against each other on the same wheel.What a hoot.

Anyway I got myself a new hardly ever used wheel.

I still wasn't very confident with spinning as my dad's wheel wasn't easy to use so I put off spinning for over a year. Last month after seeing this shawl over at soulemamas I was inspired to dust of that spinning wheel and get on with it and here's the result. 

And once I got started, well I just couldn't be stopped. I saw  this vest that Lori made and just loved it and thought some homespun would do for that. I liked the stripe that Lori added so I too added some stripes of blue (cause I do like blue) with yarn from my stash.

I'm just a little pleased with myself. I've managed to card the fleece, spin it into yarn and then knit it into garments. The vest is a little big but it will be fine over other clothing in winter. I'm still trying to get the guage right. Of course I should have done a tension square and didn't in my eagerness to get cracking.  And with all that busyness I have managed a little reading. the shorter days get us inside earlier, with dinner that little bit earlier there's more time in the evenings for some extra knitting and reading.

 At the moment I'm reading "Edge of The Sacred - Transformation in Australia"  by David J Tacey.  

''The cure for our ecologically disastrous abuse of the earth and our culturally debilitating racism is the spiritual renewal of consciousness.''
 

I have only read a couple of chapters but it resonates beautifully with me. How can we care about the earth and any of it's inhabitants until we have revised our sense of identity to include the natural world.
Tacey talks about how our tough macho Australian image is a defence aginst the harsh unfamiliar conditions that faced early white settlers. We have carried this image with us ever since. He talks about the sacredness of the outback and the mythic bond that exists between this land and its indigenous inhabitants. He talks about recovering the sacred in Australia. A very thought provoking read.

Looking forward to seeing more yarns over at Ginny's

What's On The Go

I sometimes think that I'm a glutton for punishment. Why do I think that it's OK to try and stuff as much as possible into one day/week/month/year.

I have been a little overwhelmed with what's going on for me lately, hence the lack of posts.

Not only is it summer, the busiest time for us gardeners, but also us preservers, sellers of garden produce etc., etc. But to add to that I'm consumed with challengers. Don't buy from supermarkets, don't but any new clothes, only give handmade gifts. Reduce waste, buy in bulk to reduce packaging, don't waste any food, reuse own and everyone elses waste, and the list goes on and on. Does anyone else feel like they have to do everything!

 Any way ,on top of that we are involved in saving our neighbours land from developers and starting an eco village. You can read more about it at littleecofootprints. Tricia has a couple of posts about it.

As well Tricia and I have a new little venture about to start. It involves  farms, small children and birthdays.

Everything is all so exciting but very, very exhausting. Not to mention that very shortly I will be a grand mother