makin' bacon

The pigs have had their worst day. 
Last year we got a mobile butcher to come and do the butchery type things. 
This year Mr. Apple and the 2 neighbours decided they could handle it...
This year I teamed up with some books, google and Pete (the Italian friend) to learn how to make bacon (pancetta, apparently).

It's been salted, now it's hanging and next week it's going to be smoked (above mentioned neighbour has a home made smoker, I wonder how that will go!).

It's time

It's that time of the year again.

Our 'season'. That is, the bare rooted fruit tree season. The trees are dug and now orders are being collated and sent. 
Our first market was on Saturday, in Violet Town (who does markets only in Winter?!). It was a good 'ease in' because it was gorgeous and sunny.
It was exciting to get a little mention in the 'Organic Gardener' magazine (page 19 if you read it).


My craft room is no longer my own, I am sharing it with the overflow of  parcels being packaged!

The last of our apples are on the trees, persimmons and pomegranates are fruiting.
It is great to grow your own fruit.

My creative space

There is a bit of sorting through fabric (that's a pretty fun thing to do), ironing, cutting and sorting into piles going on here today.

I am making a quilt out of Anna Maria Horner's 'Handmade Beginnings' book...I am just not sure whether I will crop the triangles on the sides to make in a rectangle...I might be more inclined leave it as a hexagon, or add bits (technical term) to the corners to make it a square. I will re-evaluate as I go I think.

This idea is it will end up looking something like this

.
I am still abit narky that my wristlet hasn't turned up and now my mobile phone has gone to join it, where the lost things are. 
Anyway, the most exciting thing is who this quilt is going to be for...I'll tell you soon, but at the moment, it's not my news.
Loads of other creativity going on- have a look over here.