Here we are again another Good Morning Mondays Link Up and another week gone by.

Welcome back everyone and I am so pleased to see you again.

It is nearly March and our summer is easing here and we have only had a couple of really hot days this month. The tomatoes are slowly ripening and the zucchinis are slowing down. We think the corn will be another couple of weeks and then it will be full on processing it because there is a lot out there (like at least 400 cobs).

I normally can my corn but this year I will dehydrate some as well as canning some. I am having a ball with my dehydrator and I am really pleased with the results.  I am dehydrating some pureed tomatoes and zucchinis at the moment.

It has been a good week, and my husband was able to be home on Monday to sort some stuff out around here.  We had piglets going everywhere and they finally caught them and put them into the wool shed were we feed them.  We have 12 weaner pigs being fattened at the moment and they will be processed in April along with a cow. This will keep us all going in meat until hopefully August. We may even sell some pigs if we can, but we will see.

Mostly we put the pork into sausages but this time we will make proscuitto and some bacon.  This will be a big job and requires all hands on deck. Our son-in-law and daughter and children come down to help which is just wonderful and it takes us a couple of days to get it all done and in the freezer.

Then we do the whole process again in August/September to keep us in meat over the summer period. We are so blessed to be able to do this and it saves us a heap on our grocery bills. The only things we are buying each week at the moment is mushrooms and bananas and toiletry items.

The apples are just about ripe and I am keen to get these processed before the corn starts but we will see. Our own tree is nearly ready and we are picking them at the moment before they fall to the ground. The roadside apples will be ready in another week but we normally stew these so it doesn’t matter if they aren’t super sweet.

I am definitely going to dry some apple slices as well, some plain and some with cinnamon, I am looking forward to seeing how these taste.

Now back to our week… we had no violin lessons as the teacher was away and my husband has been busy working long days. Our No 1 son has been home working on restoring his ute (single cab with tray 4×4) and it was great having him home. Relationships with our children are so important no matter what age they are so if I get less done because he wants to chat then that is okay.

He has done a great job spray painting his ute and it is now a vibrant blue colour – we will definitely see him coming.

He starts a shed (shearing) on Monday so he won’t be around during the day for a couple of weeks and I am not sure what work he has after that but I have enjoyed his company.

On Friday my husband and I went to Melbourne to pick up some aquaponics stuff from a guy who was moving to another state. My husband picked up a lot of great things and is really pleased to be able to start expanding our system a bit more.

We are now picking more tomatoes from in there and have just planted some more seedlings. We are picking up Rainbow Trout fingerlings in a couple of weeks to add to the system and they say they should be plate size by Christmas. Maybe we can have smoked Trout for Christmas dinner.

Trout don’t like hot water so they need to be outside the hot house and the water needs to be cooled over the summer if you keep them, but we may just eat them all instead.

While we were in Melbourne we stopped by the bay for some lunch and had a delicious fish and chip meal, sitting in the park.

It was lovely just sitting there enjoying the cool breeze and chatting. We got home late but it was a good day.

Okay onto our link up…

Our top three this week were…Name Above All Names — Deliverer by Beth Willis Miller25 Easy Ways to Save Money by Debbie at Simple Joys of Home
Strength Training for Countercultural Women by Michele at Living Our Days

Thanks again to everyone for stopping by, the link ups were down in number and I apologise if I made an error with anything.

My husband is off again this afternoon to Melbourne for the Gideon Bible Blitz. He is going down with a fellow Gideon for a couple of nights and will be home on Tuesday afternoon.

If you get time please pray for doors and hearts to be opened as they hand out scriptures at the Universities and Colleges.

We have violin lessons this week and we are hoping to catch up with a guy who has a great aquaponic system in Warrnambool to see how he keeps his trout. The rest of the week is at home and just doing our school thing.

I was blessed to be able to spend a few hours with our friends Mr and Mrs H.  Mr H is back on experimental drugs for his cancer and is having some struggles with the side effects. Please, if you can, pray that God will give him strength and also that he will be able to handle all the issues he is having. Please also pray for his wife that she can be strong and supportive for him and that she doesn’t get worn down with all she has to do.

May you all have a great week, may you be blessed and may you take the time to give and share your faith with others.

Numbers 6:24-26 “The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.”

Here we are again, another Good Morning Mondays Link Up. Welcome and thanks for stopping by.

How have you been and what have you been up to this past week??

We have had a busy week and I am glad that this coming week will be a bit quieter.

As last Sunday was Valentines day my lovely husband got me some beautiful red roses delivered during our morning cuppa after the service. It was a lovely surprise and I was very touched.

Sunday afternoon we visited our Uncle and Aunt in Portland and the men and children went fishing and I spent some lovely quality time with our Aunt. We get on so well, and have a good time together. We had only an hour together when they came home from their fishing trip. There was too much weed in the water and they didn’t even wet the lines.

It was a late night by the time we got home and it was definitely hard to get going on Monday morning.

We had our Bible Study on Tuesday night and then we had violin lessons and tea with our friends of Wednesday night.

By Thursday both children were very tired so we took a day to recuperate and managed to get some music practice done and a bit of house cleaning. No 2 son has picked up a cold so it was hard again for him on Friday so he took it a bit easier.

Saturday was piano lessons as usual and I got another lovely surprise, that was two for the week.

As it was my birthday our lovely son-in-law and daughter and their children came down and were waiting for us at the cafe where we had breakfast. What a lovely gift to see them and spend the day with them.

Now I don’t mean to brag, but I am very hard to get, I normally sniff something out before it happens, but I didn’t this time and I was totally surprised to see them sitting there with a sign that said Happy Birthday Grandma.

Then they all came out home for the afternoon and we had a good time just chatting and talking. I definitely had a great birthday and was very blessed by my family. Our younger two children and their dad went shopping and bought me some lovely little gifts. I got some chocolates and a beautiful scarf and a couple nick knacks to put on my windowsill.

After all the excitement this past week I was really happy just to have a rest on Sunday afternoon and I know the rest of the family was too.

We have started picking some tomatoes this past week and although there aren’t a lot going red yet it is wonderful to see them starting.By Sunday afternoon there were even more there. We have had very mild weather this past week and even a whole day of drizzle. The next week is going to be warmer which is great for ripening tomatoes.

We even picked our first one out of the hothouse and I took the photo using the same lens that the real estate agents use to make rooms look bigger. This tomato was quite small, not a cherry but a little bit larger.

Okay our top three posts this week were… 7000 Reserved by Cheryl at Homespun DevotionsA Thrifty Week at Harvest Lane Cottage #54 by Laura at Harvest Lane CottageThe Art of Home-Making Mondays by Jes at Strangers and Pilgrims on Earth

Thank you to all of you for linking up and sharing your posts with us all. What a wonderful blessing to be able to share part of our journey with others.

This week is definitely going to be a quieter one and I am looking forward to being home everyday.

Both children have new piano pieces to learn and they are always excited when they get new music and it keeps them interested.

My husband is busy at work this week fixing a board in a wool shed and I think our No 1 son will be home for a few days before starting another shed. This will be nice, it is good to have him home to talk too.

As usual I am interested to hear how you are going and to hear how God is working in your lives.

I am planning something new to start in the next few weeks, and I am just ironing out the wrinkles.

Have a fantastic week with whatever you are doing and may you all be blessed.

Numbers 6:24-26 “The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.”

An InLinkz Link-up

You will find me linked up at some of these great blogs

Hello everyone, welcome back to another Good Morning Mondays Link Up.

What a great week we have had, I must remember to always tell you in BOLD CAPITAL LETTERS what I want to get done because it seems to work :-).

We actually achieved 5 whole days of school and although it wasn’t always fun, it was good to sit down and get started.  The highlight of our school days was definitely our new Bible Road Trip Curriculum by Danika at Thinking Kids Press. It was so wonderful to discuss the parables and explain them to the children, to see them understand and then to practice our memory verses together. The memory verses were challenging for me (grandma brain) but doing it together was such fun.

So I would encourage any of you looking for a great fun way to learn about the Bible to stop over and have a look, I am sure you will be impressed.

It was definitely good to get back into it and get a routine happening. Piano for no 2 son first and then into the books. We are just doing a few subjects at the moment, of course the Bible (most important), reading, english and math.  We will do more as the year progresses and I am looking at the notebooking method for different subjects, but I will keep you updated on how that progresses.  There are so many different things we cover, just by going outside and doing our chores and living our life on the farm.

It is a pleasure and joy to see no 2 son actually reading and writing and really wanting to. This is a first and I don’t think he has been really ready until now, so off we go, no holding us back now.

Now I know I have been showing you heaps of photos of our vegetable patch and our current harvest so I thought I would give you a break and show you a picture of our son-in-law and daughter’s instead.

I had actually been complaining to our daughter that we hadn’t been getting and photos of the grandchildren, just of their harvest so she sent me one of both.

I definitely have watermelon envy and especially when you see the children enjoying it so.

I started driving this week, only a short distance each time, but now I remember why I would rather not drive and I would much rather sit beside my beloved while he drives. Driving really is overrated, but I accomplished it which is good and now if I really need to, I can drive.

I don’t know if I have let you know or not that my leg is going really well. I don’t have to see the surgeon again and we came to an agreement that we were happy to never meet again.  I am now getting around the house on no crutches and I am endeavouring to walk without a wobble or limp – this may take some time, but I’m okay with that, really!!!

We didn’t get to our violin lessons as our violins didn’t arrive in time and the teacher’s family was sick. The violins have arrived now and we are all set for this week. These were the same friends coming for tea this week and they had to cancel so we are getting together after the children’s violin lessons this week which will be nice.

We had piano lessons and our weekly trip to town on Saturday morning, I sure could have stayed in bed but it wasn’t to be. My husband has been really busy at work and is only getting home around 7 pm each night and then it is often 8 pm before we have tea. I am looking forward to putting the clocks back an hour in April when daylight saving ends.

Saturday afternoon my husband and no 1 son were busy fixing up fences to keep the pigs in and they found a short time to play ball with us all in the back yard.My husband used to play volleyball but it has been quite a few years and he doesn’t often have time for this and we all really enjoyed it and it was just lovely outside.

It is that time of the year again where our local fire brigades burn the sides of the roads and ours got done on Friday.

There was heaps of smoke, this photo above doesn’t really show how much there was. They were passed our place before I realised they were there and that we needed to get the washing in.  At least the wind was blowing in the right direction to not taint the clothes.This is what it looks like now and although it is black it wont take long for the green grass to come through and then it will look just great.

And now just because I can, here are some adorable photos of our grandchildren.

Okay that’ll do, onto our linkup…

Our top three posts this week were…
What to do When You are Married to An Unbelieving Husband by Stephane Singletary featured by Ifeoma at Purposeful and Meaningful
My Trouble With Rosemary by Kathi at Oak Hill HomesteadFence Post with a View #24 – An Eagle’s View by Anna Pearl’s Attic

A big thank you to you all for stopping by and faithfully linking up each week. I have realised, since I broke my leg, how much time I actually spent reading and commenting on all your posts. I just haven’t been able to do that lately so I apologise but I am also grateful for the realisation of this. I definitely don’t want to put this blog over my family and my responsibilities to them.

I pray that you will all understand and give me the grace to get back on track over the next few months.

This week is a bit busy, and starts with a visit to our Uncle and Aunt in Portland Sunday afternoon and evening. The great thing about this visit is it is a fishing trip as well and hopefully we will be blessed with a bountiful catch.

Our Bible Study is on again this Tuesday night, violin lessons this Wednesday and then tea with our friends, and the rest of the week is as normal, school etc and it’s my birthday on Saturday.

Something that really has helped us this week, has been to pray before we start school and before no 2 son and I do his piano practice. We pray and thank God for the wonderful gifting He has given our son and we also pray for patience.

This has been a wonderful blessing and joining of like minds for our son and myself each morning and I can tell from the look in his eyes and the hug he gives me, that he really appreciates it.

Have a great week, and I so look forward to hearing from you all.

Numbers 6:24-26 “The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.”

Blessings to you all my dear friends. xxxx

Hi there everyone, welcome back to another Good Morning Mondays link up.

How has your past week been??? What have you been up to???

I am going to admit to you all that I am struggling with my motivation levels.  I didn’t get school started this week and we only did a bit of music practice so I am looking for any advice on how to kick start myself.

I need to get to bed earlier and then it will not be so hard getting up. I am grateful that my husband is an early riser and he is good at getting us all going.

He has been working long hours this past week, trying to get on top of a job he has on at the moment.  He has nearly finished and hopefully he will be getting home earlier than the 9 pm that it has been lately.

He took some time off on Wednesday though to take us to Warrnambool as I wanted to get some fabric from Spotlight and he needed a new seal for his milking machine.  We did have a lovely time and managed to run around and get a few errands done.

I got on top of our book work this past week, which is great. I was a bit behind so it definitely took some concentrating.

We had music lessons and we all went in to town for that, even our no 1 son was able to come with us. He hasn’t done that for ages so it was really nice to spend some time with him like this.

I spent Saturday afternoon sewing a dress for no 2 daughter and she was so thrilled with it. I wasn’t entirely happy with the collar but you can’t see the mistakes unless you are really close up. I bought a couple pieces of fabric and made the cheaper piece up first in case I had big troubles. I even made her a matching ribbon for her hair.

Below is a picture of her in the new dress, it actually looks better in real life, the photo doesn’t do it justice.  I know I say this every week, but our vegetable patch is looking really good.The tomato bushes are laden and the corn cobs are starting to form, there are even pumpkins on the vines and they are the size of a soccer ball.Last year we had good corn, but everything else was pretty dismal. We are picking at least 20 zucchinis a week and I am busy drying them. I am so impressed with how they dry and then how they re-hydrate, very exciting, the possibilities are endless.

The tomatoes in the aquaponics are still going great, but we are struggling with the other vegetables. We have found that we need to have our seedlings and seeds planted before it gets too hot, otherwise they just burn off. Our fish are growing and hopefully by the end of this year we should be able to start eating some.

I am sorry if I am causing those of you in the Northern Hemisphere to have vegetable garden envy, I sort of have a bit of that with regards to your cooler weather. Actually the weather has been very pleasant and the nights cool and we even had an inch of rain in the last week, we are so blessed.

Okay I will stop now, and get onto our link up…

Our top three posts this week were…When Life is Hard by Donna at Soul Survival8 Do’s and Don’ts to Remember During Your PMS Days by Tehila at Women AbidingMonthly Goals: February by Emily at Morning Motivated Mom

Thank you to everyone of you for linking up. I know I say it every week but it is true, I appreciate everyone of you and you bless me so much when you take the time to stop by.

What plans do you have for this week??

WE ARE DEFINITELY STARTING SCHOOL ON MONDAY and WE ARE DEFINITELY GOING TO DO MORE PIANO PRACTICE THIS WEEK.

There you are I said it in bold capital print – so I must mean it!!!

The children are starting violin lessons this week with a lovely home schooled young man. They are both excited and looking forward to it. I am hoping my husband will be able to help them with this when he can as he has an amazing ear, which I don’t, but we will see how we go.

Otherwise, there isn’t too much happening other than the above mentioned school. We have a new Bible program that we are starting and it looks great so we are all ready for that.

We are having friends over next Saturday night for tea and we are all looking forward to that.  They are a lovely family with heaps of children, which our children just love getting together with.

Well that’s it for me this week, I hope and pray that you are all well and that you are using your days to bless each other.

Numbers 6:24-26 “The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.”

Blessings to you all my dear friends. xxxx