Wildcraft Farm

PEEK A BOO, AROUND THE FARM

Over the next few weeks I will be sharing lots of new stitching creations, so I thought I would go "off course" for this post and show you some special photos around Wildcraft Farm.

This Tuesday is the day that a horse race will stop our Nation.  The running of The Melbourne Cup. 

I thought you might like to see a favourite picture of our own racehorse in residence - Beautiful Bubsy!  Her stable name is actually Cherub, but she answers to Bubs, she is 13 years old and is a Thoroughbred.  I believe she did go through the paces to become a racehorse when she was little, but lucky for us her future was to be the prized mount for our Jessica.

That bottom (butt) you see to the right, belongs to Delta, she is a 21 year old New Forest Pony, and a bit of a bossy boots.

A few years back she was a champion in Barrel Racing and Gatework.  She has started to show a few grey hairs around her temple and chin (but we don't mention that!), and when her favourite riders are on her back (Maylan and Holly), she gets so excited she starts off with a little skip.  Recently Jessica started riding her too, she's discovered Delta is a totally different riding experience and has to control her "yippppeeeess" in front of Bubs when the 2 of them are racing around the paddock.

Delta is Farmer Rowe's horse when he and Jessica go for a trail ride - when he would rather walk around a large fallen log, Delta thinks otherwise and the next thing he knows he is airborne and hanging on for dear life as Delta gracefully glides over anything she thinks the two of them can handle.

And when it's all over there is tack to clean, horses to brush and tired girls to have a quiet moment of thanks with their horse ... this is my favourite photograph, I'm going to get a large copy framed, so even when my girl is grown I can remember those special days ...

 

Thanks for letting me share a little of our "horsey life".  Hope you back a winner on Tuesday, but if your horse doesn't win, just know that sometime in the future (down the track!) there will be a carefree life waiting for them, with lots of spring grass to enjoy (like red cordial to a toddler!).

Talk to you soon, Janet xx
 

Time For Some "Me Time"

My darling daughter is away at camp until Sunday night, Farmer Rowe is busy building "another" igloo on our farm (and I'm hoping he doesn't come looking for me to ask for help - or maybe I'll just hide) ... so I'm thinking that I'm going to dedicate this weekend to ME!

Now if you are from one of my favourite shops (also known as my customers), then you are probably saying .......... mmmmmm Janet, sounds lovely but WHAT ABOUT ALL THAT NEW STUFF YOU HAVE BEEN PROMISING???????

Well in light of my latest addition to my weekly activities (more on that later), I'm finding that my creative work feels more ME than "business", so I think I will feel quite relaxed fine tuning all these new products this weekend.

So what's my new activity?  Well, when you work where you live, it can get a little too much sometimes - even if it is 20 acres!  And as my work has got busier over the years I have felt a little too confined to the farm.  And as you know I like to talk,  ...... so my poor customers (who I love dearly) will often find a quick 10 minute chat when placing an order can turn into a good hour of catching up.  For years my friends and family have told me to spread my wings a little more - and for the past 3 weeks I have been doing just that.

I now escape the farm for 3 days a week (just 5 hours a day) and work at a local Community House.  I cannot begin to explain to you the amazing joy and happiness I have when working there, and each night Farmer Rowe and Jessica have their ears filled with all the news and funny stories of my day.  On the Farm-Front I have been able to reschedule and delegate and now find that my working life at Wildcraft Farm is actually coping really well with this new change.

The absolutely best bit about working in a local Community House is helping people all day long.  Everyone is friendly, happy to chat, grateful for the work we do to help them out, it is so much fun planning interesting courses for our education program (problem is I want to do all these courses too, may need to cut back on sleep time to fit it all in).  The other day a gentleman asked if we would consider offering some more cooking classes, so that's going to be fun to research - and the other day I "had to" scrapbook for a few hours while I designed posters to display around The House to advertise some of our Christmas classes.  I am so fortunate to work with another fellow stitcher/crafter/lover of all the kwerky things I do and a genuinely lovely woman .... I just got lucky big time with this gig!!!!

So after a creative day at The House, I now come home and feel extra inspired with all my designs and products.  I've given some old favourites a revamp and designed a whole new series, plus some others.  I should be able to share photos in a few days.

Oh yeah, one thing I think I will need to add to this new lifestyle - I told Farmer Rowe the other day that I think I need a wife!  He didn't think much of the idea.  I thought he can still have me, but I want one of my own to cook, do all the housework, make and pack the lunches, pick up Jessica if I'm running late, do the shopping, hand me a drink when I get home from work, open up the recliner chair and just tell me to sit and relax while she takes care of things - doesn't sound too ridiculous to me!

Oh well, I can dream - Wishing you a creative day, talk to you soon,

Janet xx

PS - OMG, I can't believe I've actually gone and done something I vowed I would never do ..... I'm now on Facebook!!!!  But more on that next time - Night Night

GOOD MORNING FROM FALLS CREEK

It's a beautiful day here on the mountain.  The blue sky is out, as it seems to have appeared each morning, so we are hopeful that our final days here will be great for the skiers in our group.  We are now a party of 12, I'm the only one not skiing this year.

You may have noticed that my last post was a reaction to my BF Keri jumping on my blog, BEWARE, she is now thinking of things to share and feels another post or two is in her near future .... I'm hiding the laptop!

I can't decide how to start my day, stitching or some much needed bookwork.  I'm quite exhausted as we all stayed up very very late playing Pictionary - 4 teams of 3, it's a new version of the game and we were incredibly noisy, luckily the next lodge is just far enough away not complain.

Sorry, I'm having a bit of a brain freeze, I know there is lots to talk about, so I think I'll go stitch (brain couldn't cope with bookwork anyway), and I'll be back a little later with some real chat.

Have a great day,

JANET X

(PS, and I'm sure Keri would say Hi, too!).

 

Warning: NEVER LEAVE YOUR COMPUTER UNATTENDED!!!!!!

Actually I should clarify that statement, never let your friend know how to get into your blog site and your password when she is playing with her laptop and asking you random questions!

We have escaped for a few days from our usual life and hope to enjoy some fun in the snow with friends.

While the senior members of our family take care of all things Wildcraft Farm, I am excited to be enjoying my time NOT SKIING, but doing loads of stitching and designing amongst the quiet, while others get cold, wet and sore (these are things I don't enjoy about skiing) and hopefully having the time for some creative inspiration.

I do believe they will actually have a FANTASTIC time because the snow is plentiful and tomorrow we are expecting blue skies by lunchtime.

As the computer is close at hand, plus I have my camera (and remembered my download cable) I will share some pics over this mini-break.

Do you like the snow?  I remember as a little girl my Mum and I were walking to Nursery School (I think that's the same as Kindergarten) and it was the beginning of December 1970 (ooopps, does that give my age away??).  It was snowing hard and we had to walk up the hill from our house in Belfast, Northern Ireland.  My Mum had a good hold of my hand and she "encouraged" me to keep going with stories of the very warm country where we would be living in a weeks time (Australia).

Nowadays I enjoy an annual visit or two to the snowfields in Victoria, but I don't think I could live with it for months at a time.

Okay, BF Keri has discovered I'm blogging again, and has asked if she can make a repeat visit and drag out stories of our adventure ...... I'll think about it and be back in touch tomorrow.  Need some sleep so I'm up fresh and early for some stitching fun (just designed a couple of new pieces, goal is to have all done before I return!).

Night, night, sleep tight,

Janet xxx

(PS:  and BF Keri and Darling Daughter Jessica .... )

Hi it's BF Keri,
The farmer Rowe family and the farmer Rose family are on a very special expedition. I have hijacked her blog, i have never been here before and i do apologise for any spelling mistakes i may make. We had a very yummy fried rice supplied and freshly made and packed in a zip lock bag by the wonderful Janet. I have never experienced zip lock fried rice before and i must say it was very yummy. Farmer Rose did not even complain about the corn in it. (i do have 3 persons correcting my spelling as i go) Janet is a little disappointed with me, i have gone to the other side. I have now retired my fabric stash and I am a paper collector (scrapbooking ). Is there anybody out there that can let Janet know that this is OK! Well that's all for now, stay tuned for more snippets soon.
Cheers from Janet's BF Keri.

PS. cause Janet said i had too!

School Is Back In Session

Finally Jessica has gone back to school this week.  When I discovered she was "lucky" to get 3 weeks off this term break I was originally horrified - WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO???

But we did quite a lot, ad now she is older it is easier for her to entertain herself, actually my baby turns 12 next week :( 

Some of our highlights were ...

Going to see the third Twilight movie, Eclipse (on the opening day, on the BIG screen)

Also saw Toy Story 3 (I cried, lots!)

Ceramic painting with friends at Robert Gordon Pottery (my masterpiece will be photographed to show you soon)

Jessica and my sister took off for a day in the city to see the Tim Burton Museum (the guy who directed Alice In Wonderland etc)

Lots and lots of drawing and painting, she is getting a real talent and perfecting her own unique style.

Lots of cup cake making and decorating cakes (our new mother/daughter passion)

She makes these amazing pop out photo books, did another one on Taylor Swift, and my Mum and sister Tara both got their own masterpieces for their birthdays

Jessica and Farmer Rowe took off for 3 days to Mt Buller to get in practice for our upcoming ski holiday.  It was hard for me not to be there to help her out (Mummy parenting is quite different to Daddy parenting), so I sent them off with all their food prepared as much as I can (Farmer Rowe was given instructions that food does not magically appear on the table when you are fending for yourselves, he would need to plan before he got hungry that he needed to feed the 2 of them!).  Because the ski break was mainly for Jessica's confidence, the 2 skied together the whole time (or so I think Jessica was sworn to tell me!), apparently she has come along way from her first real try at it last year, and next week there will be some long stick things amongst her birthday presents.

I think this posed shot is before the cartwheeling down the Holden Run ...

 

 

And here is an action shot (not the cartwheel variety!)

 

There was lots of reading - she had been banned from reading the Twilight Series last term at school (because re-reading the same books wasn't really what her teacher and I wanted for the entire year!) so in preparation for seeing the new Eclipse movie she was granted her wish to read them again over the holidays.

There was lots of horse riding - her horse Bubs had an absess so couldn't be ridden, so for the first time she got on her other horse (the one Farmer Rowe usually rides), Delta is a Mountain Forest Pony (14.2H) and at the ripe old age of 21 (remember horse birthdays are on 1 September) she is a champion at barrel and gate racing, so Jessica and Delta were cantering around our very muddy paddocks having a ball.  Poor Bubs just looked on, with the occasional "whinny" so I gave her some extra hay to keep her from watching and getting too sad.

There were lots more activities, my mind is a blur, but we did finish off with a repeat visit to see Eclipse again as I had free tickets to use up .... I think that's enough now until the DVD comes out!

When I had some time to myself I was busily planning all the little extra treats I have planned for my visit to Queensland in September.

In the past when I have been teaching I have been caught a little off guard when a lovely lady approaches me and starts talking about things I chatter on about on the blog, turns out she will be a blogland friend I didn't know was attending.  So this time I will be prepared, if anyone is planning to attend the full weekend, or one of the full days of fun with The Country Quilt Co, go here for more details ...  http://www.countryquiltco.com.au/index.php/retreat-2010.html

I will have a special treat for my blogland friends, so make sure you come up and introduce yourself, don't be shy.

I have loads and loads of stitching to do, but after heaps and heaps of drawing over the holidays it is a relief to finally have exactly what I want.  I'm also pleased as punch that Jessica helped out with another new design, the whole story and a picture will be posted in a few days.

Well I need to hurry and get myself ready for some Wii time with BF Keri - we did it last year, but the last time I didn't put my runners on and I tore some ligaments in my foot .... not doing that again!

We have also taken up Zumba Classes - now before you fall off your chair laughing I need to explain .... we look nothing like the people you see on the ads for the DVDs, in fact I can't actually see any of them doing a specific dance.  Keri, her daughter Aimee and I go twice a week and spend most of our time laughing, we are getting better at it (well we can sort of get our feet in the right spot most of the time), but somehow the hips, arms, legs and feet don't all want to work in harmony together - but a full hour of dancing around is so much fun and gives me a real boost to my day when I do a morning class.  I can guaratee you will NEVER see a photo on this blog of us, but I may share some funny stories.  Thanks to the Zumba classes, along with a new eating regime, I am down 4.5 kilos in 3 weeks.  I'm really pleased with myself, quite a lot more to loose, but I've decided to give myself 5 kilo goals and rewards to keep me motivated.

Okay off to have a Wii time ... take care, talk to you soon,

Janet xxx

PS - A few of my blog friends from overseas have asked to see a copy of the front cover of my Wrapped In Chocolate Workbook so they can track it down, here it is, along with a pic of 2 of the extra projects inside.

 

 

Sorry this pic a bit dark, I'll look out another one ...

PPS - Must remind myself to fill you in on my new creative outlet ... Monday nights are now soooooo (sewwwwww) much fun!
 
 
 
 

It Is So Cold, I Can't Sew!

It is so so so cold this morning.  I think it's about 4 degrees (celcius), I am wearing a thermal skivvy top and a high neck snow ski shivvy on top of that - and I'm in my house with the fire trying to heat this room to a comfortable temperature.

I can't believe that I love winter more than summer ... I think I'll change my mind and say I prefer Spring and Autumn instead, coz it's freezing here.

Already this morning we have had many tonnes of gravel dropped down our driveway, the pot holes and the mud are making it difficult to get up and down our 250 metre driveway and the place is a mess, so we're hoping the gravel will solve the problem.

The Farrier has just turned up to take the shoes off the horses, so of course I had to be social and have a chat, my teeth chattering actually stopped this chatterbox in her tracks and I was grateful when he told me to go on inside and warm up.  His name is Russell and he is quite famous, he was on a reality show a few years ago set in the 1860s about a squatter and his family and their staff living on a sheep station - on warmer days I love to hear all the behind the scenes stories of his adventures on the show.  But not today!

Did you know that I am gluten intolerant?  Farmer Rowe and I have both found in the last 12 months that we have felt better from this change in our diets, unfortunately the yummy toast I have each morning (which is VERY expensive) seems to have run out so I'm forced to have cereal, my own recipe, and as it's winter the blueberries I normally have on top have had to come from the freezer ....... I think I've lost the plot as the berries are still so cold I'm basically eating a frozen breakfast on this cold cold day.  Okay I've had my grumble, and it's only just after 9am - I promise to be more positive for the rest of the day.

 ... hang on I'm off to get a blanket ....

Okay back now, I have one of Jessica's quilts wrapped around me, and who would believe it, the sun has just come out.

Since my last "proper" post I have been struck down with some massive migraines, and then the "hang over" days afterwards. I like some of your ideas and I'm going to investigate further.  I did unfortunately discover that reading and working on the computer would often be a trigger, so I just had to try and reduce it for a while.  My Mum keeps on at me to get a preventative tablet to take everyday, but I'd rather try some other ideas first.

My brief time away has allowed me to be quite creative, and I'll have a pic for you in a few days, it was actually a joint effort with my new apprentice designer.  I let some of my customers have a sneak peak and they all agreed that Jessica (my 11 year old) has done very well.  There is actually a bit of a story about how it came to be, but I'll save that until I show you the picture.

To all my New Zealand friends out there, so happy for you all with your great World Cup success .... don't you just love it how the Australian's have decided to call it an Australasian success story!!!!!!  I'm not feeling too confident about the Aussie Guys (apparently they are nearly the oldest blokes in the whole competition), so when our time finally comes to leave the competition, I'm hoping the "Australasian" team will still be in it to win it for "us all".

Can't remember if I've mentioned it before (brain freeze from the cereal!) but I'm off on a trip to Queensland in September.  The lovely Suzanne as The Country Quilt Co has invited myself and Brenda Ryan from Thimblestitch to have a weekend of fun at Brookfield (25 minutes west of Brisbane).  I'll hunt down the brochure and let you know more, I believe it's Friday 3 September through to the Sunday (or just come for one day).

Oh my giddy Aunt ..... it's soooooo cold, just had to nip out and chat to Russell (he is the male version of a chatterbox, boy we can talk).

Okay, if you remember, I had a competition going.  There are 6 prizes to be won, and I believe Jessica has selected the following ladies from her entry box ...

Heather Chandler

Angela Holden

Shannon Linde

Judy, CatNCart Crafts

Debbie Kelly

Dianne Kellock

Congratulations ladies, if you can contact me with your mailing address I will ensure they are all in the post very promptly.

Now I would usually have a bit of a gap inbetween, but not this time - there is another competition coming up, so stay tuned for that one.

Farmer Rowe has just come back from his morning travels so it's time for a warm cuppa after this frozen cereal.

Keep warm (or stay cool if you are in that part of the world),

Janet xxx

(ps, fingers are too cold to keep typing, but I will give you some of my "dreams" next post, and comment on some of yours, ttfn x)

 

SORRY, CHECK BACK IN A DAY OR TWO

Sorry I've been away longer than expected.  Have had a health problem and just getting back to speed, promise to be back in a few days with results of giveaway and lots of news (prior to being in my sick bed).  So check back in a day or so.

Night, sleep well,

Janet x

(ps, yep even on my bad days I can have a "ps" - anyone got any good remedies for migraines ... I mean the ones where you think your head will explode, nausea and eye sight basically zero, and nothing seems to work ....... I'm at my whits end)

Spread The Word & Win A Stitching & Button Giveaway

I'm half way through my working day (although it often can spread out until 1am, having started at 9am, but with interruptions inbetween), and I'm trying to decide if it's a good and productive day, or have I barely made a dent in my poor TO DO LIST.

So I'm doing a little on-line analysis while I wait for my very filling lunch to stop making me feel a bit too tired to get back to work ... wow that's a great excuse for not working, best not share that one with Jessica.

My working day started very well, fine tuning my photography for LIVE YOUR DREAM, I must have been concentrating very well as I resisted the temptation to sing along to the radio.

A quick call from a friend (who is also one of my customers) which involved talk that was business and pleasure, good news on the WRAPPED IN CHOCOLATE front, with more ladies unable to resist the temptation and orders are coming in daily to fulfill their chocolate & stitching indulgences.  We also swapped email pics of my final framed shot of LIVE YOUR DREAM, so that has now been finally put to bed, it's great to have friends who you know will be honest with your work, so when they tell you THEY LOVE IT and HAVE TO STITCH ONE NOW, you know they really do love it.

Before that call had finished another came through from a friend with a shared problem, lots of discussion and advice while I tried to fine tune some more artwork .... 58 minutes later I got back to work with just the radio for company.

Then the upholsterer arrived to tell me that my new leather couch had a problem that could be fixed and not to worry, so that 20 minutes did come with good news.

Another call from a friend with some great business advice, plus discussions about lunch, shoes, heights of our children .... all essential to be discussed I can assure you.

I'm totally inspired by my latest TV passion, "MasterChef", so I needed to create something special for lunch.  My parents are away for a few days so it has been up to me to feed the chooks and collect eggs (you would think an 11 year old could be persuaded to do this, but she runs a mile if they come near her), so it was on with my husbands huge work boots, picking up my long track suit pants and wade through all the mud to get to the chook pen.  I got 3 warm eggs for my trouble, one extra large one which I decided would be the main ingredient of a yummy lunch (that would be the one that is still making me feel sooooooooooo stuffed).

Some chopped lean bacon, light sour cream, grated tasty cheese and my one large egg became a scrumptious and massive ommelete (is that the correct spelling?), which I ate on a fancy dinner plate with my fancy fork, while flicking through a Donna Hay Cook Book.

Which gets me to where I am now, sitting here, getting back into the flow of blogging, happy to share some of the many new items on offer from Wildcraft Farm.  Lovely to read the comments and emails I had in my Inbox this morning, I'm so grateful to those that have regularly checked back to see if I am still in the land of the living.

So I've decided to offer a thank you, by offering my first give away for the year.  But I would love all my old "regular" blog friends to know too, and when I blogged a few months ago it sometimes took a week or two for some ladies to find me again .... so here's my plan:

As a thanks for being loyal visitors to Wildcraft Farm and stopping by often to see me and at the same time celebrating your on-line friendship, you can go into the draw to win a LIVE YOUR DREAM packet (with postcard, instructions, pattern and 7cm antique wooden button) .... so leave your comment first and if you tell your friends I'm still around and they leave a comment and share how they found me (they have to leave your name and blog name), you and they will go into the draw to win LIVE YOUR DREAM, so that's 6 prizes to be won.

Oh, just thought, what to write on your comment???? MMmmmmmm me thinks that I would love to know one of your dreams that you have yet to live.  I'll start to make a list of mine and share them over the next few days.

It's now Thursday afternoon here in Melbourne, so I will have the cut off time as next Tuesday at 3pm.  So when Jessica gets home from school she can draw out the lucky winners, we will pack them up that night, and they will be all ready to post, just waiting on your addresses.

So I now think I have had a VERY productive day, this lunch is finally feeling a little less full (maybe next time I will go for a smaller egg!), so I best get back to work before the school pick up, horse feeding, early Girl Guide meeting drop off, shop for dinner, cook dinner, pick up my Girl Guide, watch GLEE with daughter, get ready for busy day tomorrow, kiss the husband, hug and kiss the daughter, check homework due tomorrow ....... then maybe I'll work through till 1am to get the rest of my work done.  But I'm happy to do it, life is so much better than it was 12 months ago.

Hugs to you, Janet x

(PS - Ooops, forgot to do the one thing that makes for a comfy day .... keep a watch on the fire, so it doesn't go out .... off to find some kindling before school pick up!)

Check This Out

To celebrate this historic day (you need to read last quick post to be in the "know"), I thought I would race the clock and get my latest project photographed and uploaded before midnight.

So here is a sneak peak, it will be in the "Postcards & Buttons" range of Wildcraft Farm products.  I will take some better pics tomorrow in the daylight of the whole project, and it should be available for stores to purchase from Monday next week.

I was inspired by my daughter Jessica's reaction to the incredible performance and act of bravery and courage of another Jessica .... that would be 16 year old Jessica Watson who DID sail around the world in her little pink boat.  My Jessica was glued to the telly to watch her make her final leg home into Sydney Harbour.  We were both blown away by her maturity and level headidness (is that a word?), and she is the kind of person that I am happy for my daughter to be inspired by.

So this design is for my Jessica to always remember what the other Jessica said to all the young girls who were watching

"Live Your Dream".

More pics and news tomorrow ... I'm off to bed, night night, Janet xx

(PS - Yes, you know it really is me if there is a ps at the end!!!!  Obviously these words are for all girls, whether they are 6, 66 or 106 ... that we should all try and Live Your Dream, I know I'm at a turning point in my life, I hope you will come along for the ride x)