It’s a deliciously quiet Saturday morning. The animals are sleeping in, basking in warm puddles of sunshine before they get up and start feeding. Bear and I have had our coffees and chatted about our plans for the day, and I’ve got my to-do list ready.
It’s been a good week of healing and rest and work, with each day bringing along something interesting to do.
I finished building and launching an Etsy shop for a client, Wilde Prairie Rose, who makes beautiful chain maille jewelry. I loved working with her, doing photo shoots of her exquisite work, writing descriptions, and making sure everything runs smoothly. She’s a kindred spirit, so our meetings were held in parks and on verandas, photo shoots conducted in the woods and gardens. It was brilliant, and I’m so excited to see her flourish.
I’ve been doing a lot of product photo shoots lately, and have found it so fun. I love being outside, so getting to spend hours in the sunshine, setting up delicious and beautiful products to photograph, has been sheer delight. I finished a project for Harrow and Finch, photographing their wonderful hampers filled with scrumptious products from the Granite Belt region. If you love things like Spanish Onion Jam, Raspberry Vinegar, and luscious Garlic Olive Oil, you’ll find lovely hampers here to send to friends, co-workers, and employees.
When I’m not working with amazing clients, I’m at home working on our dear ol’ farm.
My first two harvests of elderflowers are dried and stored, looking so pretty in a red-topped jar.
The heaps of pineapple sage and mint I planted are doing so well, lush and green and smelling wondrously fragrant.
This week I spotted my first asparagus of spring, and that makes me so happy.
It’s strawberry season now, and we’ve been eating heaps of them. Yesterday we were so tired and, it must be admitted, a bit cranky, so we stopped everything and had strawberries and cream on the veranda. It’s amazing how something so small can make such a huge difference. We continued on our day with merry hearts.
A couple of weeks ago I put our roosters into the Apple Orchard to clean up all the weeds for me. They did a splendid job, and yesterday I hauled load after load of soybean mulch to cover the ground and keep the roots cool and the weeds down. The roosters are spreading it out for me – they really are fabulous creatures – and today I’ll shift them into the Big Orchard to tackle the weeds there.
My favorite project this week was wood-working with Bear. He is an artist and designer himself, so I love when we can do artsy things together. This time we designed a new cheeseboard/cutting board for my Etsy shop.
Bear etched the design on the wood in pencil, then I cut it out and together we sanded it. I do so love the smell of freshly cut wood, and the look of clouds of golden sawdust billowing in fragrant piles at my feet.
I’m so delighted with the new board, with its curving lines and handle that fits in the hand just right. We use ours for a cheese platter/cutting board, piling it with cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, olives, smoked ham, and crispy crackers, then setting it between us while we watch a movie or have a chat.
Click here to purchase one of your own, and feel free to request personalizing or a custom design.
This morning I spoiled us with sourdough French toast slathered with sour cream and piled with with fresh strawberries. With a big day ahead of us, a decadent breakfast is definitely in order.
As I finish my coffee, I run my eyes down my to-do list: move roosters, water gardens, do laundry, cut out new boards, bottle-feed goat, harvest radishes. It’s going to be a good day.
What work is bringing you pleasure these days? xo
I love the sound of your day. Asparagus is my favourite season. I call it that as we get to enjoy it twice a year of we travel overseas at the right time.
How wonderful to get asparagus TWICE a year, Tandy. 🙂 That would make me happy too. 🙂
Strawberries and cream is a great idea for a bad mood buster. Our neighbour gave us a shopping bag half full of strawberries that came from a farm. At first we thought there were far too many because we’re not big strawberry lovers. Then we tasted one. They were the sweetest juiciest strawberries either of us had tasted in our lives. Because they were so fresh they lasted quite a while and we ate the WHOLE LOT. Amazing. We’ve had two bunches of bananas (from our trees) to share with our neighbours and have had two lots of strawberries in return. One of our neighbours is old and I love giving her some of the bargains I get at the markets.Sharing food is such a wonderful thing.
Awww, I love that, Jan!! We’re big on trading and sharing food too. My Brisbane friends have tropical things I can’t grow, and I have the cold weather things they can’t grow. It’s so exciting to swap delicious things. 🙂
There is nothing better than a vine-ripened, home-grown strawberry and I am hoping to have bushels of them next spring in Greece. . .hopefully my plants will still be alive when I get back!
I hope you get heaps of them too, Jackie!! 🙂
Those strawberries look so fresh and good!!
https://bloglairdutemps.blogspot.pt/
Aren’t they beautiful, Ruth? 🙂 They tasted fabulous too. 🙂
Your work is always so beautiful! I love coming here and seeing all the wonderful things you create – it inspires me to no end!
Thank you, dear Sosae! I always love hearing from you. 🙂 xo
I’m enjoying our first sunny day for ages here, and planning a fresh, green salad, full of the first asparagus of spring for dinner. That makes me pretty happy. 🙂
Mmm, that sounds lovely, Amanda. 🙂 Love fresh asparagus!
Love how you celebrate the little things…
Thank you, Sally. 🙂 It’s what keeps me going.
What an industrious week you’ve had and once again, WOW… amazing pics Lovely. The cheese board is stunning, I do so love your designs. My strawberries are also ready to pick, but they are so small, bursting with flavors but teeny. Wonder what I gotta do to make those bad boys big?
How wonderful to have such flavorful berries, Anna. 🙂 I never have luck with strawberries out here – too many birds and mice to carry them off before I get to them. 🙂
My goodness those strawberries look delicious. I must go over to your Etsy shop. I would love to be able to do more product photography. I seem to have wandered away from it this year. Enjoy the rest of your week.