Hanging Out

Friends.

Gypsies

Yes for the past six to eight weeks we have moved around again from house to house thanks to family and friends who have kindly put us up or lent us their house, we have been able to 'squat' and keep some sense of routine and family life through the chaos of this renovation. After nearly finishing this renovation I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel and it is all beginning to feel like it has been worth it. So many times I have questioned the worth of it all to us emotionally and to the kids and I probably will always wonder what if we didn't, what if we did it differently, however we did it and we stuck to a plan and have seen it through. I think if it wasn't this going on it would be something else. Somehow I have this idea in my mind that moving up to the farm will slow the pace of my life down and things will be vastly different. I know in many ways it will be different - I will have a place to put our roots down, put holes in the walls and not worry and to dig holes in the ground and know that I can plant a vege patch and it wont be destroyed within months to make way for landscaping or a new house, to bake in a working oven and have space for the kids to run and run and run. It's nearly over.

The farm

Ok so I have been holding off writing anything about the avocado farm for ages, partly because it hasn't felt real and it is four months until we move there. The first time we went there I knew straight away it was I wanted to do - the abundance of flora and fauna and the amount of space for the kids to run around in sold me straight away - it just felt right. However, since visiting the property a couple of weeks ago to get shown around some more and generally be given some lessons in "avocado farming" by the current owner my anxiety level grew somewhat. The reality that we have several hundred avocado trees, 170 macadamia trees, 60 olive trees and a few citrus trees to take care of and give some love truly hit home. After about ten minutes of walking through the rows of avocados I began to feel slightly concerned about what we had gotten ourselves into in - how on earth was I going to tell the seven varieties of avocados apart, how exactly do you know when to pick them, prune them, water them, mulch them, fertilise them? This is going to be a huge learning curve, lifestyle change and the best of all a big new adventure that I hope to be able to detail through this blog every now and then.

farm girls

I have been sketching again lately and really enjoying it: drifting off into another world, dreaming of simple things.

in a funk

there's something in that coffee stain