THE HEAT IS ON...

Hi there everyone! 

Well, this week, Summer is out to show us her stuff, with a run of high 30's, low 40's temps...seriously, Im sure people have actually "Wizard of Oz" melted into the ground like the bad witch, on cooler days than this! It is steaming and though I love Summer and a bit of heat, 5 days (yes, Friday and Saturday were up there in the HOT HOT HOT stakes too) is pushing it a tad I reckon Mother Nature. 

Here's our forecast for the next few days..

 OUCH!!!

On Friday arvo, we set up our pool for the season ahead. Its just a run of the mill, plastic sucker, brought off some cheapo Aussie online site (oo.com.au) but man oh man, it is a life saver on these days!

Days like today, it is too hot to sit at the beach all day (although we do have a HUGE shade we put up)

 

That's our big shade on the right there...its 4m square so we can all fit under it and stay sun safe! Even has enough room in the centre for the kids to play in the sand out of the sunshine. 

Oh and thats our fave beach in Esperance too..Fanny Cove! Terrible name, great beach!

                              (Awesome photo by my awesome biggest sister, Lisa Palma!)

We are going to put our shade OVER the pool today, so the kids can hang out in it all day with no threat of frying, which does happen on occasion no matter how much suncream we "slip, slop, slap" on them! 

The Australian Cancer Council has a great ditto for all Aussies and those travellers enjoying our Aussie sunshine...

So dont forget to SLIP on your protective clothing; SLOP on some sunscream (30+ is the best); SLAP on a hat; SEEK shade and SLIDE on your sunnies to protect your precious eyes. Not so hard to remember and much more pleasant than sunburn or skin cancer!!! I know what I'd prefer! 

Now go and enjoy the Aussie beaches, relax in the sunshine but most importantly, look after number 1 - YOU!!!

Cheers till next time!

Tash x

ITS BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS AT LAURIANA

 

Hey hey hey..

How are we all on this amazing Summer's day? Me? Fantabulous! Why you ask?? Hmm...because yesterday I officially finished ALL - yes ALL - my Christmas shopping! 

Dont get me wrong, I love Christmas shopping, especially at the beginning, but by the end of it, my feet are caning me, my bank balance has been blown out of the water, and Im really over navigating online shops and the local shops here in town complete with the gazillions of people all on the same mission! On the upside though, my tree has gone from looking like this..

 (Before) 

To looking like this...

 (After)

And I'd much rather it look like number 2, especially when the kids came home from school yesterday and there were all these new pressies under the tree!!! I love the buzz and excitement that they just ooze at Christmas and the lead up to and the looks of pure joy on their faces as they read their name on a pressie, give it a shake (if they can lift it) and start guessing like crazy, what could possibly be in there. 

For me, our kids MAKE Christmas...I also have 10 nieces and nephews and we always have some of them or the hundreds (not really but the noise they emit sounds like 100's) of 2nd cousins my kids have! 

The annual Christmas waterfight, just wouldnt be the same without the laughter, giggles and squeals of delight from the kids, as they run around armed with hoses, buckets, water pistols & super soakers or bucketloads of water bombs they've managed to rope the big cousins i to filling so they can explode them on unsuspecting rellies, old and young alike. Pulling Christmas crackers, without the corny jokes getting told, through a giggle or snort, wouldnt be without the kids! 

And who would you get to field for the annual beach or backyard cricket match, without fit little kids, while their adults are stumbling round in a food and drink overload, thinking they'd rather go lie down and get some peaceful R&R after lunch on Christmas day??  (With the threat of a bucket of chilly water or a waterbomb being burst over your head at any given stage!)

I personally, cannot wait for the big day! We are heading off to a caravan park by the beach, with 2 of my sisters and their families, my Mum and 3 more couples and their kids too. Its going to be so much more chilled out than normal chrissy's with all the fruit you can think of, the women bustling around the kitchen in a mad flap, their husbands or any other menfolk staying well clear of there, kids not game enough to set foot within their realm and the younger crew kind of hanging back, waiting to be designated a job whilst trying to control over excited, hungry hoards of kids! Beach days, BBQ's, relaxing with fellow campers at night while we chatter away and tell yarns about our journeys and lives, making new friends & just enjoying the carefree pace of camping life. 

What's everyone else doing for Christmas this year and do you go WAY too overboard with the food, resulting in eating leftovers for days afterwards or are you, like us, going for the laid back approach this year???? I'd love to hear your plans x

BAKING BEAUTIFUL BROWNIES

Yesterday I baked zucchini slice.

Today I baked brownies. Not just any old brownies but my fave dark choc brownies with raspberries on top..yum!

This is such a simple recipe and the one i use all the time..and I mean ALL THE TIME! I am forever baking brownies because they are positivley inhaled here! Pete loves them, the kids love them, visitors and I love them!

Recipe for Divine Dark Chocolate Brownies

(I make a baking tray sized slab of them or they are inhaled almost before theyre out of the oven! Halve it if you want to)

Preheat oven to 180 degrees (celsius)

400g good dark chocolate (I use the plaistowe stuff)

500g butter

Melt these 2 ingredients over a low heat, in a medium sized saucepan. Whisk occasionally. Set aside to cool slightly.

Meanwhile, combine 

3 1/4 cups brown sugar

2/3 cup cocoa powder

2 1/2 cups plain flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

8 eggs

Keep about 1c full of raspberries - fresh or frozen - to top the brownies with. 

When the choc/butter mixture has cooled a tad, combine that with the other ingredients and stir thoroughly. Pour into a greased & lined baking tray, top with fresh or frozen raspberries & pop into the oven for about 35/40 minutes. 

note: The original recipe said an hour but I like them gooey and sticky, so I knocked it back and just turn the oven off and leave them in there for a few minutes before taking them out and leaving to cool on a cake rack. If you like them drier, cook them for the extra 15/20 minutes.

Serve alone with coffee or jazz them up a tad with a dollop of doubke cream or a good quality vailla ice cream, and yes, if you havent figured yet, they are rich and they are decadent but theyre also delicious..

Enjoy x

Below is a sneaky peek of the finished product..now go BAKE!!!!

CHEEP CHEEP PITTER PATTER

Heya...

Guess what??? We are 'egg'specting....woohoo! (Chickens that is!!) one of our black sussex chooks is sitting on about 10 eggs and we are watching and waiting excitedly for them to hatch, the only problemo being we dont know when she 1st sat on them cause we couldnt find her! Now we have moved her and her batch of eggs into an old aviary that is snake/goanna/rat/dog safe and the kids have been awesome feeding and watering her each day. 

 Here she is on her batch of googies! (Note the empty nest box beside her....? That is where we moved her eggs to after we found her cause she was in prime tiger snake/goanna country, and the next day she had rolled them all out and was sitting on them on the ground in front of the nest box. Crazy chook! Luckily there is a lot of straw and  woodchips on the ground in there to keep her warm and comfy.)

Will check back with any exciting news as it happens!

Cheers till then, Tash =)

WHAT'S HAPPENED AT LAURIANA SINCE WE LAST MET???

Hiya!

Wow..how slack have I been??? No posts since late August! SLACK with a capital S! Hmm...a little trip down memory lane here. August 22nd saw our precious number 3 tinlid, Miss Lily, turn 8! Honestly, time really does fly when your having fun..=)

Miss LilyPie blowing out her candles

Lily's 4 tier rainbow cake...what an awesome Mum she has!!

A week after Lily's birthday party, the kids all had an excursion to the historic Moir Homestead, about 30kms from our house. It was a great day which the kids all loved and the parents had to hang around for the day because its a 4wd track in there. I took the opportunity to take some happy snaps down there!

Parents and kids getting safety talk beforehand..

 Our fave tree at the homestead, a magical massive Morteon Bay Fig! Who would need toys to play with with a tree like this outside your house (although it would have been a fair bit smaller back then).

Afterwards, the kids, teachers and parents got a treat...a swim at our fave beach in Esperance ~Fanny Cove~Id say this is the most action the beach has seen in a while.

Next BIG event on Lauriana,was the arrival of Big Red, our new CASE header. (The comb was on the trailer elsewhere, in case your wondering). The kids got the 1st look through as they do.

During the school holidays, we just hung out around home and did a bit of this and that (a fair bit of sheepwork and getting ready for harvest to crank up).

Kids riding behind the mob and my best mate, Sassy Girl x

 Lily and Ella had their friends, sisters Nikaya and Tyra come visit and stay for a sleepover! I have NEVER seen 4 girls eat so much food in 1 day!!! Hahaha 

 Ella and her crazy mate, Tyra.

 Lily and her crazy mate, Nikaya!

During the holidays,we also celebrated Kianhi's 10th birthday. 

Heres a few photos of Kianhi's journey so far in life..x

She had a party with a few friends before the holidays cause it was the only time we could squish it in and her friends, twins Tina and Sally, sleep the night.

My floor full of bodies...sleepovers are the best! 

The girls and I went for a bit of a wildflower wander one afternoon when Tyler had gone off helping Grandma do something on the farm. We found about 30 varieties of wildflowers in a patch of ground about 60ms long! 

Here are a few of them.

A little banksia, scarlet kangaroo paws and my fave, the red leschunultia plus a cutie of LilyPie with a little banksia..

 Mum came down one weekend and her and I went off to town to Lynny Ling's open garden day, to raise money for the RFDS (Royal Flying Doctor Service). Her garden was awesome and her creativity flows through her use of the mundane to enhance the beauty of her plants, including this awesome succulent filled easel (above). My fave photo I took on the day was the Flanders Poppy (below)...just stunning.

Then it was time for harvesting..our 2nd harvest of the year (our 1st being harvesting the wool clip from the merino sheep we grow). It was a bit touch and go there for the first few weeks, with a bit of rain here and there, but once we got cranked up, it was all go! Im sure Im not alone in saying that I am REALLY glad that harvest is over and done with for 2013! Kids go feral, life becomes a juggling act of preparing meals for a couple of extras, plus lunches for 7, homework time is a nightmare and us harvest widows just never seem to have enough time in the day! On the upside though, there are some pretty speccy photos to be snappedp and its great to look out the window and see Big Red chomping its way through our crops. Theres a certain buzz to harvest time, that lasts for a few weeks and then all of a sudden, everybody is crying out for the end and a break! Here are a few of my harvest photos from 2013!

Top right - harvesting barley at Newman's; Big Red under a stunning sunset, picking up canola rows in our driveway paddock; Header unloading into the chaser bin whilst harvesting standing canola; smoke on the horizon - what no one wants to see during harvest time (fortunately this was down in coastal scrub {unfortunately for us, the coastal scrub was along our fave beach}); and a heart shaped tree silhouette with a magic sunset backdrop also in our driveway paddock.

In the first few weeks of harvest, Pete and I celebrated our birthday, with a bit of rain to stop harvesting and a feast fit for kings (and queens) thanks to Grandma Jude..your such a legend! It was such a treat to not have to worry about tea for the night..all I had to do was grill the crumbed chops..yummo! 

 What a feast! Crumbed chops, salads, garlic bread, bikkies, dips, lollies and beestings for sweets & an ice coffee each for the morning! 

 In the midst of harvest, we had a ewe die and Grandma Jude found her lamb and brought it home for us. Meet Miss Aggy...on the night she arrived her, all skin and bones, during and right now!!

Pretty safe to say she's enjoying her twice daily bottles!

Now that harvest is finished, its time to relax and enjoy, so heres a few funnies to finish off this post. Take care till the next time your around =)

Cheers Tash

Workman Mark, hubby Pete and Miss Kianhi...I love PHOTOBOOTH!!! Hahaha

THE WEEK THAT WAS!

This week has been a loooooooooooong one, to say the least! Today is Friday, my very fave day of the week (cause we dont have to do homework or worry about the time for 2 whole days!) and Im reflecting on the week that was, with a cold drink and thinking about my body! 

This poor old body - all 34 years and 10 months of it - has had an absolute hammering this week. First this fluey wog, now Im getting the flu on top of that and Ive just had a completely crapola week, bodywise! I feel like Ive well and truly been through the wringer and am only just on the way back out the other side. For which I am very grateful. 

Also this week, the kids got their Farm Grandma (thats what they call her!) home from her Simpson Desert trip, tanned, happy and healthy, but a bit puffed from the time changes. 

Jude had an amazing time and came home with some awesome stories and some great photos too. Jude, her young brother Wayne and his wife Chris, left 4 weeks ago. They drove up through the Connie Sue Highway to Alice Springs, where they met up with Rob, my brother in law. They camped at Alice for a week and took in the sights, especially the obvious - Uluru (Ayres Rock). Then after the week was up, they headed across the Simpson Desert, to end up in Birdsville just in time for the famous Birdsville Races (& the 10,000 or so tourists that flock to the races each year!) They hung around there for 2 races and then baled out, headed to Poemmel Corner, where 3 states meet up and then down to Port Lincoln in SA, where Rob waved them goodbye and headed home. From there they headed back west through a couple of Ranges and down to Smokey Bay to pick up some oysters. The teoopers were going to head down to the coast from Smokey Bay, but the weather turned to crap so they headed home.

Whenever Jude comes home from holiday, we invite her to our place for tea, so she doesnt have to worry about it, and so she can tell us all the thrills and spills of the trip. Wedenesday night, it happened to be roast lamb rump and all the vegies, so score for Grandma! She had all her trip photos on her ipad and showed them off to us through a slideshow, while explaining where they were at and what we were looking at (and for an amateur, she had some great pics!)  

 The kids enjoying roast lamb with Grandma while she recounts tales of her Simpson Desert trip. (And Tyler shows us his seafood and eat it pose - lovely!)

Tomorrow we are all off to town for the weekly food shop and a few other bits and pieces we have to do, and then home to watch my mighty Sydney Swans, take on and hopefully defeat Freo Dockers, in the AFL grand final decider match, while Tyler's Hawthorn Hawks take on Geelong (Uncle Rob's team) tonight! Should be a good couple of matches and since the weather is meant to turn to crap yet again, it will be a good one to hang out inside watching footy! 

So on that note I'll say "UP THE MIGHTY SWANS" and goodbye =)

Have a great weekend and I'll be back on the flipside! 

The Weekend That Was...

On the weekend, the weather was absolute crapola. It was cold. It was windy. It rained. So we got out in the garden between the showers of rain and did a few bits and pieces. Pete did a bit of spraying round the place to take out the explosion of weeds that had come with this rain we keep getting, Tyler jumped on the ride on mower and mowed the lawn and all around the house. Out by the shed, we excavated a big bloody hole where out pool is going to live from now on.

Said hole out by our house shed. We will backfill it with sand and then compact roadbase over it to give us a firm base, put the pool up (which is just a metal framed above ground pvc variety) and then pave and fence it so it can stay there permanently.

Then Pete and the kids decided to pull up an old path that used to go out to the clothesline when his Grandparents and then his parents lived here, so in came the heavy artillery yet again to make short work of that! 

The kids decided to use some of the lawn we'd dug to clear the space for the pool, to fill in the gaps where the path was, so Tyler and Kianhi lugged chunks of lawn from one side of the house to the other and filled in my path! They did get it completely filled in after a few more loads and a fair bit of hard yakka. Now to fill it in with sand to help the lawn establish new roots! Its kinda a bit lumpy and bumpy at the moment.

When all this was done, we went for a drive to Jude's place to check her fridges and freezers, as she's been away for a few weeks on holidays & we always go and check just in case the power goes out. (Her brother and sister in lawn (that she's away with) had their freezer die while they were off enjoying themselves, and their lucky son and daughter in law had the lovely job of cleaning it out!!!) We didnt want any nasty surprises so we now check. Anyhow, on the way home I felt sleepy and just really lethargic and exhausted, so I decided to have a rest when we got home. I woke a few hours later with a splitting headache, my body in absolute agony from the inside out and all over, a temperature and I was freezing cold! Figured out pretty quickly that Id caught Pete's disease he'd had on Friday night and it was out to take me down. Went back to sleep and in between hanging my head over the toilet bowl, slept till 11:30am Monday, woke with my head still clanging and my body still aching but no temp, vomiting or fevers anymore, although I did have diarrhea & felt like Id been run over by a whole station full of buses!! Eventually I started to come good and the headache subsided this morning - well it was gone when I woke up and hasnt been back to visit yet! - and Im starting to feel a tad more human than I had for a few days. Tuesday night and I still feel puffed, Im still spending the majority of my day sitting on a toilet & Im still a bit achy, but Im on the mend. Looking forward to the last of it going away and me getting back to feeling healthy again. Also fingers, toes, ears and nose crossed that none of the kids get it..touching a whole lotta wood right now!!! 

Me this morning after I managed to stomach a couple of pieces of toast and a cup of tea - my first food in 48 hours, besides the water Id been skulling non stop trying to keep my fluids up. I also managed to make a no bake slice, clean my back verandah, do a couple of loads of washing, fold some washing & tidy the bathroom,in between getting heaps of rest - dont stress, I aint going to overdo it and put myself straight back to where Ive just been! 

Till next time xx

Around the Farm..

Yesterday Pete and I decided to go for a drive round and check our crops for bugs. We did the seradella by our house and then some of the canola crops on our other farms. 

 Pete bug hunting in canola.

We also went for a drive to check out our wetlands - aka paddocks!! We have had heaps of rain this season and our crops are under water in patches, especially up at our top blocks, Helmuts and Newmans. One paddock has about 60% water damage in it.

 Water damage at Helmuts...

 and at SKIN too.

We saw a bit of birdlife including a huge crane that was hanging out in one of the puddles. It flew off when we drove past..

 Crane flying off a puddle in wheat.

On the way home, we detoured over to SKIN to check out some of the local wildflowers that abound at this time of year and are out in full force at the moment because of all the rain we've had. 

 Red Leschunultia

 Scarlet Kangaroo Paws

 Not sure this ones name butI loved that it looked like little purple pom poms.

I am waiting for a wind free day - we have had some shockers lately!! - so I can go out with my camera and take some better shots, that I want to enlarge and turn into wall art for our passageway to brighten it up a bit.

Also, we have been very happy with Tyler's attitude changes this week. He is normally a grumpy bum, but we told him on Monday that he would be one of only 2 year 7's at school next year, thinking he would be super cranky about it, but he's loving the fact that he'll be 1 of 2 and his whole attitude has changed for the better, and not only at home but at school too. Tyler has struggled his way through school forever and has never liked it, but this week has seen a completely different kid emerge and its awesome! We're so proud of our biggest kid..x

Tyler and I on the day he planted his year 7 tree at school, back when we were thinking of pulling the kids out of Cascade PS and sending them to Esperance PS.

 Tyler after winning the Gibson Tigers Towel, an award given to each of the junior grades of the Gibson Football Club, for the best player of the round. 

Well done T Man!! xxx

This weekend, the weather is supposed to be horrible, so we are going to do some tidying up around our yard. I have a cheeky tiger snake in my chookpen that keeps beating me to collect the eggs each morning, so we want to snake proof the chookpen and take some of his hidey spots out of the equation so he buggers off. We are also going to do some weeding and spraying around the house too, to get rid of weeds that have taken over with the excess moisture in the soil. 

Before we moved to this farmhouse, Pete's mum, Jude, lived here and when her husband, Barrie, was alive, he bred Australian parrots and had a huge aviary complex built along the front of the lawn. Jude sold the birds when Barrie died, and then sold the aviary to another local farmer, so we had this huge cement walled monstrosity left behind, which we were going to turn into an orchard, then a chookpen and now we have decided to turn it into a garden bed, with some small trees/large shrubs along the back, a firepit and log seating in the centre and some smaller shrubs and groundcovers along the front. Hopefully the groundcovers will grow enough to drape down along the front of the cement wall - which is about 30cms high - and cover its ugliness up with a bit of colour. This 30m wide garden bed, is one of the areas we'll be focusing on and weeding out in preparation for planting soon hopefully. Its going to be all hands on deck cause its a big area & theres lots of weeds in it. Wish us luck!!!

Hope you enjoy your weekend and I'll back with a bit more of a snippet of life on the farm either over the weekend or on Monday.

Tash x

the back road

Hi there..

On Tuesday afternoon, we packed up all our gear for an overnight stay with my sister and her girls, picked the kids up from school on the way past and headed up to Newdegate, the little country town where I born and raised, for it's annual MachineryFieldDays. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newdegate,_Western_Australia - follow the link to find out more about my thriving little

hometown! Doesnt sound like much but it was THE best place to grow up! 

Anyhow, to get to Newdegate from our farm only takes a couple of hours, and if like us, you choose to 

take the bush track instead of the highway, you will go down Cascade Rd. Out here on this red dirt road, are some

of the wildest potholes and zaniest Aussie critters, and also some of our beautIful Australian wildflowers.

We have some stunning wildflowers down here in South Eastern WA, including numerous varieties of banksia, 

Red leschunultias, chittocks, kangaroo paws and a few amazingly rare and delicate orchids, growing in some of 

the toughest conditions in the country. It is one of my favourite roads in country WA, and Ive been on quite a few 

of them, but I love it's unique flora and fauna and the way when you get to the top of a hill, you can see the red

Road stretching on ahead of you for miles and miles in the distance. It really seems like the road goes on forever.

(Sorry about the grotty windscreen in the photo)

You are almost guaranteed to see some form of wildlife out there, especially around the dams, dug for

Shire water usage to do roadworks, in the morning or late afternoon. We have seen emus, gazillions of roos, brushtail wallabies, wedge tailed eagles, the odd wild dog, snakes, goannas & lizards. Quite often of it's dry out there in the bush, the wildlife comes out in full force to drink at the dams or to feed, and my sister and I counted 48 emus in 1 trip alone once. (That 48 almost became 47 too, when one decided to take on the ute! Crazy bird!)

If you ever get the chance to drive Cascade Rd, do it. I'm sure you'll enjoy the experience.

Cheers, till next time! 

Well, hello there!

Well, hello there! Welcome to our life on Lauriana Farm, that we want to share with you using words and pictures, maybe even the odd video.
We are Tash (that's me)& Pete and our 4 kids, Tyler, Kianhi, Lily & Ella.

 

pete and i ^

l-r kianhi, tyler, ella & lily

We are 3rd generation farmers on the Piggott Family Farm, Lauriana, a 2000 acre grain and sheep enterprise in Esperance Western Australia. We also sharefarm 2000 acres up the road a bit, with a German family. (We do the work, they pay for seed, fertiliser, chemical etc and we pay them for agistment. At the end of harvest, we split the proceeds - which works for us!)
My husband's Grandparents brought the farm in 1980 and moved over here from South Australia, along with my husband, his older brother and his parents; and another of my father in law's brothers, Ian and his wife Julie. Ian and Julie only stayed for a few years and then they moved back to South Australia, leaving Nanna and Papa, Barrie and Judy to run the farm.
Nanna and Papa retired to Esperance town in the early 90's and Barrie and Judy took over the running of the farm from them.
Pete and I moved down here in 2004, with 2 year old Tyler and 6 month old Kianhi - a pretty damn sharp learning curve for a townie girl like myself. I'd gone from being able to walk to the shops, to the closest shop being 50kms away; to being surrounded by people and houses, to isolation (my nearest neighbour was about 10kms down the road) & from a parent with help galore in the form of sisters, friends and my Mum, to being a fulltime SAHM, most of the time alone because my husband was now flat out learning the ropes of a 4000 acre farm! Pretty full on to say the least!!
Also, in the town where I lived, I'd seen snakes only on the roads out by farms...suddenly they were EVERYWHERE!!! I learnt to deal with them pretty quickly too!!
We settled in and then along came Lily in 2005 and Ella in 2007. Our little family home would have been bursting at the seams, but luckily in 2005, the family we sharefarm with from Germany, decided to buy more land and that land had a whopper 5 bedroom house on it!
In 2005, Pete proposed to me and we began planning our wedding day for April, 2006. Sadly, my father in law lost his battle with depression a week before we were due to get married, but we went ahead with the wedding and in front of 100 family and friends, we got married. To say the day was bittersweet would be the understatement of the year. We both had tonsillitis from the stress and the day after, we had to go and help with funeral arrangements.
We soldiered on and continue to run the farm, making improvements to fencing, upsizing machinery, getting a good bloodline into our sheep and pretty much loving every second of this life we've created.
I hope you enjoy the journey of our "life on Lauriana", with us.

A little bit on the history of the boat, Lauriana, that our farm was named after & below,

the boat herself.