When The Rain Tumbles Down In July.

Yesterday I blogged about comforting things in cold weather.  Today I have decided to go with a bit of comfort music.  My parents both came from farming backgrounds.  My grandparents on my Dad's side were huge Slim Dusty fans.  I always associate Slim with growing up.

So - for a Saturday morning I have this.



And I hope everyone enjoys it, but particularly my farming friends and colleagues.  Farmers have always been resilient people.

(Also - I am Rewinding with the lovely Al Tait at The Fibro again this weekend.  Click here if you want to visit the links.  There is some good stuff!)

Listography - Decisions.

Kate over at Kate Takes 5 has come up with an interesting theme for this weeks Listography.  The 5 Decisions You Are Glad You Made.

Like most people who have made it to their mid thirties, I have made lots of decisions along the way.  Some good and some, ahem, not so good...

So - here we go.

1. Having The Farmchildren

I could really just repeat this 5 times and it could take all my best decision spots.  Deciding to be a Mum is undoubtably the single best thing I have done with my life.  I adore The Farmchildren.

2.  Marrying The Farmer


It is coming up to ten years since I first met The Farmer.  We were together within a few weeks, engaged within a year and married within another year.  You know what?  Given that I still quite like him, I'm planning to keep him!

3. Getting A Good Education


I feel very fortunate that I was able to go to Uni and get an excellent education.  I think this has given me so many options in life and means that no matter what happens I am always in a position to be able to support myself and my family.

I was involved in a conversation recently with some other farmer's wives about going to Uni.  One of them said that she said she wouldn't have studied if she knew she was going to marry a farmer and work with him on the farm.  I disagreed with this because I really think that any education is worthwhile, even if you don't use it for its original purpose.  To have your horizons broadened and to have been taught to question and analyse events around you is something that shouldn't be taken for granted.

4. Learning To Cook


I can't tell you how glad I am that my mother and Nanna taught me to cook early in life.  I can now do it pretty well and it is an important life skill.

5.  Not Letting Decisions And Plans Always Be Set In Stone


Over the years I have realised that I have made some decisions on the spot, in a split second and that I then went on a completely different path than I had envisaged.  I made these decisions because they just felt right and I have never regretted them.   Sometimes I think that, rather than me choosing my life, it chose me!

Summer Sunset

Farmgirl And Faux Fuchsia

The gorgeous and very stylish Faux Fuchsia has a wonderful blog that I read almost every day.  Farmgirl loves to come and have a look because FF's blog is always full of "pretty things".  Farmgirl honestly thinks FF and Barbie are one and the same.  (I did point out that FF has much better taste in shoes than Barbie).  She wants to be FF when she "grows up".

I think she is already on the right track.

Farmgirl and FF both love the colour pink and can rock a pink dress in any situation.

Fairy Farmgirl

End Of Harvest 2009

Farmgirl is also a big fan of pretty shoes and unchipped OPI polish.

Unfortunately Farmgirl is not so good at doing her own nails.

Farmgirl Manicure in Blue Texta

I think Farmgirl is a pretty cute little package though...

I hope everyone has had a lovely Wednesday.  It has been a super busy one so far here.

Listography - My Wedding

Kate over at Kate Takes 5 has chosen a wedding theme this week.  I have tried to write this post several times and blogger keeps suddenly eating it.  I have therefore decided to write it in bullet point form to limit the number of words available for random deleting (take that blogger)

Random Wedding Facts

• Huge wedding, lots of people, a dozen in the bridal party
• Anglican Church in town and guests on school buses to The Farm
• Way too much drinking, dancing and misbehaving (from guests and bridal party, definitely not bride)
• Drunken bus trips for guests back to town where we had booked out every possible form of available accommodation
• Wedding was summed up by close friend as "Lovely service and then huge piss up in a tent with very fashionable guests". An old family friend of The Farmer said he hadn't been to a wedding like it in 30 years...- think he may have been politely saying it was not super trendy and cutting edge.
• Wedding was in pre digital photo era so images on this post are very dodgy.
• Massive hangovers for many people next day.
• Would not actually change much as was wonderful, wonderful day

The Tent

5 Things I would Change

1. Would not have drunk three quarters of bottle of vintage champagne between ceremony and reception.  Had a great time at reception but some bits are kind of hazy.

2. Choosing stunning bridesmaids not best idea. Hard to look like uber glamourous bride when surround by supermodelesque bridesmaids  (Have truly gorgeous friends, love them all to bits so would choose them again - but would make them wear sackcloth and ashes).

Here is a photo of bridesmaids helping me dress (actually one is helping me dress, others busy making sure their tits are correctly placed in their dresses - very, very important if bridesmaid to avoid random boob flashes)

Mmmmm

3.  Wedding photos on dusty gravel track look fantastic.  Unfortunately wedding dress not as fantastic afterwards.

4. Would have not missed bus trip back to town.  Apparently this is when all the real gossip worthy events occurred.  And I wasn't there.

5. Would not have missed next morning in town.  Apparently various guests and members of bridal party were spotted doing walk of shame very early the next morning in various state of dishevelment. Locals still talking about it.

That's all.

PS Bridesmids - all jokes aside, you guys rocked then and still rock now. Mwah.

Giveaway Winner!

Thank you to everyone who entered my CWA cookbook giveaway.  I was worried no one would enter so was very excited to see I got 30 entries.  Yay!

I used random org to pick a number and it came up with number 7. The person who left comment number 7 was Fiona from Cattle, Kids and Chaos, which made me giggle because I had already mentioned her in the blog post.

So Fiona - you are the lucky winner.  Email me your details when you get a chance and I will post you the book.  I know it will get lots of use in your house.

Everyone enjoy their Wednesday.

Here are some roses to brighten your day....

Peace Roses

100 Followers On The Farm: Giveaway Time

I promised myself that if ever managed to make it to one hundred followers on this blog I would have a giveaway.  I realise that, in blog terms, a hundred followers is not huge but here on The Farm we are excited!  Yay!  So I have decided to celebrate with a giveaway.  Regular readers would know that I have the utmost respect for the CWA ladies.  So I decided to give away one of their books.

Look - isn't it lovely.

CWA - Cakes

To enter, all you have to do is follow Life In The Country and leave a comment or send me an email.  On 27th April I will randomly select a winner and announce it on the blog.  I am happy to post this book overseas too, so international entries are welcome.

In other baking news, I promised Fiona at Cattle, Kids and Chaos that I would link to the recipe for my almond cake from the last post.  It is a Belinda Jeffery recipe and if you press here it should take you to her website (which is gorgeous by the way....)

Friday - Yay and Double Yay!

So glad it is Friday this week.  Long, long week here on The Farm.  A super busy weekend is planned.  I will be cooking up a storm and having a very exciting morning at the local fete.  Stay tuned on Sunday for an update...

I am also Rewinding At The Fibro.   The theme for this week is Waiting.  I think the post I linked up has a tenuous link to that theme at best, but I won't tell if you won't.

Enjoy your weekend everyone.

The Farm, Looking All Hip And Funky

Saturday Morning - The Cavalry Has Come

It's Saturday morning on The Farm and I am very excited because my parents have come up from Perth to help out for a few days.  A big double Yay for them!!  We have had way too much to do recently and we are all loving their help.  The Farmer has suggested they stay for several weeks....They have decided that a few days will wear them out enough!

So far they have cleaned my entire house while I was at work, cleaned up the garden and my Dad has gone off to help with the burning off.  He was very excited about this prospect as he is an ex-farmboy himself.

Today we are going to do lots of jobs and then have home made pizzas for dinner.

I had better go as I have promised to make The Farmchildren pancakes for breakfast. I am also rewinding at the Pink Fibro this weekend.  Pop over to Allison's blog and have a look at all the links.

Random Pretty Things

Friday Night - Yay

I am loving the fact that I have made it to Friday.  To be honest we have got lots of work lined up for the weekend but Friday is still Friday in my head.  My biggest decision this evening is between Australia or New Zealand in the wine stakes.

Mmmm - big decision.

Wine - White, Yay!

I think NZ has it tonight.  Oyster Bay here I come.

I also received a gorgeous prize from Brasilian_Babe over at Motherhood Career Fashion.  Look at this stunning bit of gear.

Lovely Tote Bag

It is wonderful and woolly and I love it.  Thank you Brasilian_Babe!

I hope everyone is having a great Friday evening.

PS - I just saw the news about the earthquake in Japan.  Isn't it horrible?

A Mop, A Rewind And An Award.

Well, we have made it to Friday night here on The Farm.  Yay.  Now the most exciting news of the week was the fact that I won a mop.  A mop, I tell you.  I was very excited about this.  Look here it is.

My New Reveal Mop

Doesn't the mop look like it should have a bit part in one of the Iron Man movies with all that cardboard mop amour type stuff?  It is super cool because it has a squirty bottle thing so you don't have to bend down to wet the floor or use a bucket etc  It is made by Rubbermaid and I won it on Caz's blog The Truth About Mummy.  

So - if you are in the market for a mop, this one is the business.

In other bloggy news I am also rewinding at The Pink Fibro this weekend.  I have linked up a post about the beach.  Pop over and look around.

Last but definitely not least, the blog has received a Versatile Blogger award from Manana Mama.  She has a great blog about life with her two gorgeous little muchkins.  It is well worth a look if you get the chance.

As part of this award I have to tell you three things about myself.  (It was seven but I did that not that long ago so like Manana Mama I am going for The Readers Digest version).


1.  I am a Pisces.


2. I am petrified of snakes.  This is a problem living on a farm in Australia.  I have got braver and will now take one on with a shovel or polypipe but only under extreme circumstances...


3.  My favourite flowers are roses.  I love all roses, but particularly the home grown, nanna style, sweet smelling ones.


I am going to pass this award on to Sherry at Hello Vintage.  She has a beautiful blog about all the things she finds in second hand shops, garage sales and the like.  Now anyone who knows me (or my Mum) knows I love a good garage or clearing sale.  Visiting Sherry's blog is a bit like going to a really good garage sale with no rubbishy stuff.  I highly recommend it.


So there we go.  A bit of a mismash of a post.  But that's OK.  It is Friday after all.

Farmboy Is "In A Relationship". Or So I Have Been Told.

Farmboy had a new haircut yesterday. He has asked me to blog about it because he thinks it is super cool. (And obviously it is!).  The hairdresser put product in it and everything.

Look.  Cool rock star spikes.

Uber Funky Farmboy Hair

With A More Sensible Back

In an earlier post I mentioned how Farmboy is a ladies man.  He proudly told The Farmer and myself the other day that he was "in a relationship".  After a quick double take and trying desperately to look serious, The Farmer asked him what that meant.  He looked at The Farmer like he was really stupid and said "It means I have a girlfriend."

Now Farmboy is six.  And the "girlfriend" is six. So we think it is unlikely to be a long term relationship....

I hope everyone has a great Saturday.

Also - Manana Mama (who has a fantastic blog)  gave me a lovely award.  I promise I will get onto it soon.  Thank you Manana Mama.

Weekend Rewind At The Pink Fibro

Here it is again.  Once more I am linking up with Allison at The Pink Fibro.

I have linked up my driving post.

Pop over and have a peek at all the links...

Weekend Rewind At The Pink Fibro

Once again I am rewinding over at Life In A Pink Fibro.  I have linked up a post about the weather.  Pop over and look around....

Rewinding With The Pink Fibro

Once again I have linked up with the Pink Fibro for a weekend rewind.  The general theme was a post from March of any year, but I am not yet the owner of a blog with that much maturity! So I have linked up an early post about Farmgirl and a bottle of Revlon foundation.

If you get a chance pop over and have a little look see at the links.

Soap From SSG, Some Blog Recognition, Introducing The Hunter Gatherers

We have had a great few days. On Tuesday The Farmer picked up the mail whilst he was back at The Farm for some meetings (we are still doing lots of admin, even on holiday).  He came back with a parcel. For me.  Yay!  I love a good parcel (particularly one I didn't purchase for myself on the internet...)  The lovely Sydney Shop Girl had sent me a special prize I won in her giveaway.

The most exciting thing about this parcel was its smell. It  smelt gorgeous and Nanna-like before I even opened it.  Regular readers of this blog will know about my strong inner-Nanna.  Hence a parcel that smelt of scented soap was always going to be a hit.  Even The Farmer liked it, his ute now smells lovely after driving with the parcel in the cab, just like a Nanna's bathroom only without the crocheted loo roll covers...

When I opened the parcel it was even more exciting.  SSG had also sent me some extra gifts for The Farmchildren.  Thanks SSG, they were super excited.  Keep an eye on your mail box, something from The Farm will come through post holiday, I promise.

Gorgeous Special Nanna Soap, Perfect For Knicker Drawers

In other happy news I was quickly checking my blog comments on Tuesday night when I saw that the lovely Allison at Life In A Pink Fibro had mentioned me in her Australia Day Honours Blog list.  I was completely thrilled by this, as I have loads of respect for Allison.  Her blog is fantastic and she writes beautifully.  It made my day, Allison, thank you.

We also had some really good friends arrive on Tuesday evening to spend Australia Day with us.  They have given me permission to include them in my blog and we spent some interesting time coming up with suitable identities...  He is an excellent SCUBA diver and catches lots of crayfish and stuff, so I have decided on Hunter Gatherer, Mrs Hunter Gatherer and HG Boy.

Anyway Hunter Gatherer, HG Boy and The Farmer went diving on Australia Day morning and came back with some of these.

Fresh Crayfish

Hunter Gatherer and Mrs Hunter Gatherer used them to make the best seafood pizza ever.  I should have taken a photo but forgot (I was celebrating Australia Day with a couple of glasses of Tasmanian bubbly and this always plays havoc with my photo taking).  The Hunter Gatherers are brilliant cooks and are responsible for my best seafood recipes.  Hunter Gatherer was the one who put me onto the cray marinade in my last crustacean related blog post...

All in all we have had a fantastic few days.  Our holiday is drawing to its end but I am feeling ready to get back to The Farm and get stuck into what is going to be a huge year.

A Blog Award - For Me!

I love reading Fiona's blog over at Cattle, Kids and Chaos.  Like me, she lives on a farm, and I love hearing about her adventures with her gorgeous family.  I especially like the fact that she is so upbeat and positive about living on the land.  I think it is really important that people get to hear about the positive aspects of country life as, so often, only the negative side makes the news.

She very kindly gave me an award for my blog and even called me stylish!

As part of the award I need to list seven things about myself and then pass it on to three other bloggers.

So here goes.

1. I am almost 36 years old.  This fact surprises me regularly.  On the inside I feel exactly like I did at about 18. Only with more wrinkles. And a couple of kids. And a husband. And very occasionally a bit more wisdom.
2. I prematurely developed a grey witchy streak in my hair at about 23 years old but refused to succumb.  I have an excellent relationship with the local hairdresser to keep the Cruella De Ville look at bay.
3. I have only one sibling and that is my brother.  He is a great guy, who loves to surf.  I am very proud that he is my brother.
4. I did actually grow up in the country.  Both my parents are from farms and my father worked as a bank manager.  We moved from country town to country town until I was at high school.  I completed high school and university in Perth and moved back to the country at age 26.  This was how I met The Farmer.  I have been in the country ever since.
5. I believe that women are often an under utilised resource in the country.  So many women have many and varied skills.  I love it when I hear of country women really getting amongst it and making a difference in whatever way they can.
6. I am not crafty.  At all.  I greatly admire people who can do crafty things but know I am not one of them.  
7. I used to be quite anal about having a very tidy house.  And then I had The Farmchildren.  And the wheels really fell off the tidy house wagon.  I still have to remind myself that it is OK to have some mess and that I don't want to be the type of mother who never lets the kids do anything messy.

Now as for the three blogs I wish to pass this lovely award onto...

Life With A Fussy Eater - Fussy Eater's Mum is passionate about healthy eating and has struggled to get her daughter to eat anything other than sausages.  I love her blog because it is informative and she is very realistic in her approach.

SEMI EXPAT IN OZ - This is a lovely blog about an English woman who now lives in Melbourne.  She is superstylish.

St Johns Wood - Georgie lives in the hills near Toowoomba.  Her blog is gorgeous, I particularly love her photos.

So there it is.  Thanks again Fiona.

I Went Online Shopping. Again. Farmboy Turns Six. Blog Love.

Regular readers of my blog will know I am fairly handy with the internet when it comes to shopping.  Living on The Farm I have limited access to shops.  I do try and do as much locally as possible, but if something is not available, my next port of call is always my laptop.

Through the wonderful Sydney Shop Girl I have made a fantastic new online discovery.  Victoria's Secret.  I never knew they did anything other than underwear, but they do!  Yay!  And with the Aus dollar being so strong against the US dollar it is very, very cheap.  Even with the fairly high postage. My rule with high postage is to buy a few items to even it out a bit on the per item basis.  The Farmer thinks this may be a somewhat dubious concept in economical terms...

So, anyway, after reading of SSG's experiences with Victoria's Secret I could hear my laptop calling me.  I hopped online and found a wonderland of swimwear.  Eventually after doing some sizing research I ordered a "tankini" which is just a singlet type top and bottom.  It arrived a few days ago and I must say I am really impressed.

Tankini Top

The quality is amazing and, even including the postage, they were still cheaper than a similar item in Australia.  This was without using my" buy several things to lessen postage" rule.

I love it when I find a good internet bargain...

In other quick news, we had Farmboy's cousins around for his birthday earlier in the week.  It was very small soiree and there was only four children.  They had an ice cream cake and played non stop on a slippery slide on the front lawn of The Beach House.  It was very simple but Farmboy told me it was his "best birthday yet".

Here are a few photos.

Very Pastel Icecream Cake.  With Six Candles

Farmgirl, Watersliding

Also, super exciting news.  Fiona over at Cattle,Kids and Chaos has given me a blog award.  My blog loves recognition!  Thanks so much Fiona. It made my day.  I will get onto it in the next few days.

Weekend Rewind At The Pink Fibro

Allison over at Life in A Pink Fibro is doing her first weekend rewind.  I have spent some time thinking of what my favourite post for 2010 was.

I considered a few posts.  I have always had a soft spot for my Driving Skills post.  Likewise my In The Pink  post (Feel free to click on the linked titles and have a peek)

After some though though I have decided to link up my You've Got To Have Friends post.  I am not sure if it was my best effort for 2010 but this past week has been a bit challenging in some aspects and once again I was reminded of exactly how loyal and supportive some of my closest friends are...

Baywatch: Farmer Style

Donna over at The Farmers Wife just drew my attention to this, which lots of you may have already seen.  Got to love what some farmers can do with a flowery boogie board, drench containers and some wet King Gee Style workwear....  Click here to see.

It is also worth checking out Donna's great blog for some photos of just how wet some farmers in the East got this Harvest.

A Red Dress For A Farm Christmas

I am very excited as I went to the Post Office yesterday and there was a present. For Me!  Admittedly from me too, but that is how internet shopping goes.  I had ordered a dress to wear on Christmas Day.  I have longheld the belief that Christmas is as good an excuse as any for a new dress.

Just for a little while I want everyone to pretend I am a stylish fashion blogger type person.  The lovely Sydney Shop Girl posts beautiful pictures of her outfits and I thought I would channel her.  Only for today though, I think if I posted what I wore every day people would get sick of T-shirts, jeans, boots and thongs....

Incidentally I am lucky enough to have known SSG for many years ( we went to the same Uni ) and she is just as sweet and glamorous in real life as she is in the blogging world.

Anyway, back to the dress.  I searched a big shopping centre in Perth a week or so ago for what I wanted and found absolutely nothing.  That night I hopped online and found exactly what I wanted in ten minutes. It was a sign from The Shopping Gods.  So I click clacked away and bought it.  Should I be concerned I know my Visa details by heart?

Here it is.

My New Red Dress

It is made of a soft swishy jersey.  I love it.  On Christmas Day I am going to wear it with my Holster sparkly thongs.  I have had them for a long time and they make me happy.  They have a strong "Nanna On The Gold Coast" vibe which I adore. They even have glitter embedded in the clear rubber.  If ever there is a time for plastic-fantastic blingy footwear it is Christmas in Australia.

I bought the dress from Max Shop which is a NZ based company.  The prices are reasonable, the delivery time is rapid and the quality (particularly of their knitwear) is amazing.  Their range is huge, not all of it is to my taste, but I can always find something I like....

So there you have it - what I will be wearing on Christmas Day.