monthly 9 - february 2015

Oh my goodness!!!  February! What a month it was! I'm joining in again with Linda's Monthly 9 Wrap Up……that lovely look back at all the happenings in the month past. It was a warm balmy time here in northern Tasmania - a month that I would call fairly warm and almost summery but one which 'born and bred' Tasmanians would call hot. I'm sad its over because as far as I'm concerned its the only bit of summer we have each year and its simply not long enough! We did manage to have loads of outdoor parties and BBQs though, so I suppose it was a month well spent! 

So whats been happening here? Let me enlighten you……



Nourish - beans, tomatos, cucumbers, basil - our meals this month have been mostly composed of these.  All very simply prepared - tomatoes cut into chunks, drizzled with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, basil leaves and salt and pepper; warm steamed beans as a salad with oil, cider vinegar, salt and crushed garlic; cucumbers in and on everything! Oh, and potatoes steamed in their jackets with lashings of butter!!

Prepare - I never feel that this is much of a preparing month. At least not in the way that March is; or even April. If I did manage to do any stockpiling, I can't remember right now anyway, as it was almost a month ago now - that will teach me to write this up straightaway!! I did however, prepare a lot of garden for some winter planting….well, my lovely helpers did that really, and its looking so clean and weed free now!

Reduce - I'm still reducing landfill by reusing old books although I haven't made any more journals yet. All those old books are filling up my shed instead!

Green - I swear I'm going to come up with something amazing in this category one day!!

Grow - Lots! The beans produced well although I planted them so late and they only just started this month. Same for the zucchini. I think I've never had a year where I manage to get it all happening at the right time - I get the tunnel all happening and forget the beans and zuc's……or I plant a big bed of potatoes and the tunnel is left to languish longer than it should…….and so on…sigh….
Oh well, the cucumbers made up somewhat for the deficit of beans and of course the tomatoes, oh the tomatoes! We have eaten most as they come - slightly warm, delightfully coloured and enough delicious juice to dribble down chins!

Create - have I created anything? Hmm, not as much as I would have liked and not as much as my One Little Word for this year warrants! I find myself being sidetracked by all sorts of new and interesting ideas, books and thoughts and I've been struggling to keep focused…..hence my top priority this year is to focus on one thing and bring it to fruition. Easier said than done!!!
Edited to add : I have been creating this month……faces! Lots of them but not quite 29!

Discover - one morning I noticed the sound of the birds all calling a warning and when I looked out, there was a beautiful white raptor sitting on the chicken house fence. We looked it up in the bird book, thinking it must be a mutation but no, it is a morph of the Grey Goshawk. Both the grey morph and the white morph are found on the mainland but we only have the white here and it is quite spectacular to see. It hung around for 3 or 4 days then disappeared again. We were hoping it might have lost a flight feather or two for our collection but sadly, it did not comply!

Enhance - the stomachs of my youngest sons futsal team have been well enhanced this month! They came for dinner each Friday night before the game and often raided the garden for strawberries while waiting for their meal! Fortunately there are only six on the team!!!

Enjoy - we celebrated two birthdays in February, one quite by chance! Our new Helpxer mentioned that he'd had a birthday the day before he came here, so of course we all decided that that was a good enough reason to celebrate! While someone promptly lit a fire, another bought a few drinks, we whipped up a cake and got down to the serious business of enjoying a Saturday evening! I love impromptu family gatherings! Then our Layla turned 22 so another party was called for - with a fancy cake that she'd made herself!! There seemed to be rather a lot of nights around the fire pit with various people and lots of food - a lovely way to spend another February! 

What was your February like?

Stop by and visit Linda at Greenhaven Goodlife for a peek at what others have done this month.