Sweet Mary

Last night I ran a Sweet Mary stall along with a dozen or so other stall holders as part of a fundraiser for a local kindy. All the stalls looked great and the people visiting were lovely but it wasn't the greatest night in the way of sales. What was great was talking to people who stopped by my stall and getting myself in the mood and fired up for the fairs to come over the spring and summer. The next one for me is The Central Hawkes Bay Festival. I will be one of many stalls at the Pukeora Estate from Sept. 3-6. It promises to be fabulous! Click here for details. Annie balancing effortlessly on a fence post watching the sheep... The sheep watching us watching them. Not sure what the lambs are nibbling on but it must have been something delicious. We are surrounded by apple orchards and each spring a few sheep and their lambs are left in the paddock and feijoa orchard to eat grass and generally tidy up and feed the vegetation. This is the view from my kitchen window - not bad.

The last few days I have been happily sewing in preparation for running a Sweet Mary stall at the Shop by Chocolate (a fundraiser for Te Awanga Kindy) being held at the Clive Rugby Club tomorrow, 20th August 7-9pm.

We are having lovely spring weather here in Hawkes Bay at the moment. Our home is surrounded by tall trees and those tall trees seem to be filled with all the local bird population. Those birds are just singing their hearts out with the joy of this milder weather and the promise of the beautiful days to come. I hear them early, before I even notice the light and right now I can hear them at dusk in the bamboo. So loud when we first came to live here and almost a bit "Birds" but now I love the sound and enjoy it. Back in July I blogged about my room with a view - its dusk right now and from that room I can see the full moon high up through the trees - magic. The photos above and below are of our vegie boxes. The lettuces, though slower, have grown throughout the winter and we still have cavelo nero, coriander and one lone brussel sprout plant. My weekend work also involved planting out the broad bean seedlings, a real favourite for our family. I love the garden work in the sp...