Tag: Lifestyle

Catching Up

Most of the time,  confining this blog to what happens on our property of fifteen acres works well. There is certainly a lot to photograph and research.  Over the past year I have been doing many more things which take my focus away: involvement in the community and trying to progress my artwork being two major focal … Continue reading Catching Up

Mind Shifting Moments 1: Ecosystem

As we approach the two-year mark, I want to document some of the ‘mind shifting’ moments that have occurred since we moved in.  I think I am substantially a different woman from the one who lived in the centre of the city two years ago.  The topic I have selected for this first post is Ecosystem … Continue reading Mind Shifting Moments 1: Ecosystem

Bread and Butter Pickles

There hasn’t been any posts on self-sufficiency for ages, so I thought I would share my first attempt at pickling.  I’ve tried sauces, butters and jams before, but never pickling. We had an excess of cucumbers, and the most common recipe in my cook books for using up cucumbers was ‘Bread and Butter Pickles”.  Apparently the … Continue reading Bread and Butter Pickles

Digging up Spuds!

Months and months ago, I found an old bag of seed potatoes that looked past their best. They were all withered and sending out shoots into the air.   Although I didn’t hope for much, I decided to put them in the ground to see what happened.  Miracle of miracles, they grew! Yesterday, Richard dug … Continue reading Digging up Spuds!

Begining the Discussion: A Facebook Experiment

As my Fifteen Acres blog grows and changes, I’ve been thinking more about its central themes.  I’ve settled on a couple of rules which shape my posts: Everything I write about happens on our fifteen acres of mostly bushland Through photographs and my thoughts, I’ll try to show you what I found interesting or unusual. … Continue reading Begining the Discussion: A Facebook Experiment

Familiar Faces: Wildlife, Home, and Making Contact

The first thing I do when I get out of bed each day is look out the window to see ‘who’ is there.  We recognise individual birds and animals within a species because they  seem to have made their regular patch of turf the land outside our windows.  It is their home as much as … Continue reading Familiar Faces: Wildlife, Home, and Making Contact

Playing Detective: Rainfall, Kangaroos, and the Lack of Native Flowers

Being new to this area, I don’t have a history of seasonal changes. What’s normal for these parts?  I simply don’t know.   When we arrived here in August 2012, the land abounded with native flowers, including ten species of native orchid flowering at one time.  This continued in early and  mid Spring, then as the … Continue reading Playing Detective: Rainfall, Kangaroos, and the Lack of Native Flowers

Daily Prompt: Journey – My Morning Walk

I’ve discovered the WordPress blog ‘The Daily Post’ which offers challenges to bloggers.  Today’s challenge is to photograph or write about a journey. I won’t do this every day, but today I was inspired to get out and capture the journey I take every day around our property, including the things I look for each … Continue reading Daily Prompt: Journey – My Morning Walk

Getting Back to the Greenhouse

This week, we are preparing to construct the greenhouse.  After a busy couple of months, we are finally able to focus on this.  The timing will be good as it will allow time for seeds to emerge and take root as we come into Autumn. So far, we have the front and the back section … Continue reading Getting Back to the Greenhouse

Off-Camera Moments

For this post, I thought I would  move beyond sight, and explore some of the other senses. Twelve things I can’t capture in a photo: Breathing in the scent of peppermint eucalyptus after rain, and feeling it in my body all the way down to the bottom of my lungs. Being drowned out by the … Continue reading Off-Camera Moments

Taunting Kookaburras: Photographing our environment

Every night, just when the light is too low to capture them on film, I hear kookaburras laughing in the trees.  It sounds like they are taunting me because try as I might, I simply can’t get a good photo of one.  During the day, the kookaburras call from neighbouring properties, or the opposite end … Continue reading Taunting Kookaburras: Photographing our environment

Luna and Clio’s first day in the enclosure

In our previous house, Luna and Clio had free access to a patio enclosed by cat netting.  They both love being outside, basking in the sun or chasing insects.  For the past few months in our new house, they have had to be content with sunbaking next to a full length window, or watching birds … Continue reading Luna and Clio’s first day in the enclosure

Cat Enclosure Stage 2 – Cat Netting

This weekend the weather was fine and we had free time, so we were able to finish the cat enclosure.  Essentially this meant covering the yard with cat netting and patching up any potential escape points, for example, making sure the cats are not able to get under the house, or squeeze through a gap … Continue reading Cat Enclosure Stage 2 – Cat Netting

Catching My Breath in Slow Motion

The pace of life seems to have slowed since our move. Partly this is simply because we have passed through three frantic weeks of cleaning, packing and uppacking boxes, shifting furniture into new formations that suit the new spaces, and the settlement on our former home has successfully come to a close.  Now we just … Continue reading Catching My Breath in Slow Motion