Work and Play

What a weekend!  It started very relaxed (and early) on Saturday morning making sourdough bread.  After my lovely husband woke up we made porridge for our 2 hungry little boys - then the real breakfast began (that the little ones were too hungry to wait for).  Home-kill smoked bacon, poached eggs and Hollandaise sauce, all served up on the last of the sourdough from the pantry.

My 3 year old presented me with chocolate and a tin of heirloom seeds - perfect for his green thumbed, choc-o-holic Mumma.  We all mooched around the house in our PJs till noon when Pappa Bear made a batch of sweetcorn fritters and I whipped around and mowed most of the back lawn.  A job I had been meaning to do since that last lot of bad weather passed.

We spent the rest of the day at my sister-in-laws, the kids in the paddling pool, Dads chewing the fat over a beer and Mummas looking over the chickens and emerging seedlings, all enjoying the spring sunshine.  A birthday feast followed - chips, home made fried chicken and coleslaw with home made choc-swirl icecream and lemon meringue pie - YUM!

BBQ Area Before: Overgrown with Ivy, a pile of bricks in the way and layers of dirt and leaves

BBQ Area After: Ivy controlled by Nana last month,
bricks (and clay discovered underneath) removed, brick floor re-laid then dirt and leaves shoveled out

The next day, it was action-stations in the garden preparing for my Free Range Foodie event next weekend.  Chopping down old diseased trees, moving clay and dozens of bricks to clear out our BBQ area, taming vines and re-enforcing edges on our raised gardens.  The kids both helped the way kids help best - stealing tools away, taking rides in the wheelbarrow and stomping in muddy puddles.  The boys even took their bath in the garden that evening - they were too muddy to take inside - so the big fish tub of warm water came out to them.

My awesome birthday present =)

 Our days efforts were rewarded by dining on fresh veges from the garden and pork chops on the BBQ - all sitting around mumma's other birthday present - a new outdoor dining suite.

After catching up on my cooking shows I fell into bed exhausted, happy and just a little bit older.

More to follow this week on my pending Free Range Foodie Mediterranean BBQ.