The elderflowers are blooming, so that means cordial time again.
Every year I think to myself I need to make than what I do.
The children love it as so do we, so refreshing on a hot afternoon.
We also made some borage ice cubes, borage is very refreshing, almost with a flavour of cucumber and of course it's so pretty.
Click here for my cordial recipe.
Three of her favourite things.
Blossom,
Carrot Cake
&
Foxes.
Happy birthday Sadie.
It's been a while since I shared my play dough recipe.
Hugo loves his play dough, we keep it in an air tight container in the fridge....it seems to last forever or until the new colour or scent is in order.
When Oscar turned 4 years old we gave it out as a party favour and it was a huge hit.
if you would like to make some play dough take
2 cups boiling water
2 tablespoons cream of tartar
2 tablespoons cooking oil
1/2 cup salt
2 cups flour
Natural colouring or a few drops of lavender oil or glitter
Mix first 4 ingredients, then beat in the flour and add your colouring.
Knead well, adding more flour as necessary.
Hand dyed eggs using purple cabbage, red onions, brown onions, beetroot and turmeric.
We have been buying raw milk from a local farmer and Ian has been experimenting with making his own mozzarella cheese.
Practice makes perfect.
Oscar putting the money into the 'honesty box' at the milk shed.
Raw milk...... yet to find better containers than recycling milk bottles.
Where the milk comes from.
One of the steps in making mozzarella.
Stretching the cheese in hot water.
A ball of handmade mozzarella.
Something I use to do regularly with Charlie and Sadie was to our own pasta,
but I haven't made it for a while now.
I had forgotten how simple, fun and delicious it is!
1 cup of flour, one egg and 1 egg yolk.
Make a well in the middle, put the egg into the middle and gradually push the flour into the egg.
You can do it in a food processor too, but it's not as much fun.
A pasta machine is a must.
Put the dough through each setting starting at 7 and making your way down to 1.
Then decide to make spaghetti or fettuccine. Oscar made both.
Lightly flour the pasta so it doesn't stick together
Cook as usual
My friend Jan from Lavender Abbey bought in some of her gorgeous locally grown lavender buds into the cafe for me this afternoon, along with a recipe for lavender hot chocolate.
First you need to infuse the lavender buds in the milk
Once infused the lavender is stained and then you can add the chocolate
A dollop of cream and enjoy a decadent treat with a delicious hint of delicate lavender.
Super easy bird feeder using oranges, fat and bird seeds.
A little messy, but just have the kitchen sink with some warm soapy water ready.
To Make:
Remove the flesh of an orange (eat later in a fruit salad)
Mix together some fat and birds seeds together in a bowl.
We used maize, sorghum, barley oats, wheat, millet and hulled oats.
Squash into the half oranges and insert some wooden skewers.
The skewers help to lodge the feeders into the tree.
Place into a bird friendly tree and quietly wait for the birds to come.
So we are finally in the cafe and have it up and running. There hasn't been much time to take a breath, but it's good to be in and slowly make our mark on it.
There's so much we want to do right now, but time and funds will force us to stand back and take our time ~ which is probably good.
It was a fantastic day for a bug party!
Lots of little bugs running around....
Sadie was the official face painter.
Lots of bug food at hand. Strawberry ladybirds, worms in jelly, beetle juice, butterfly sandwiches and grape caterpillars.
Chocolate mud cake for the birthday cake ~ decorated with huge chocolate rocks and served on a slab of wood.
For the party favours I made homemade natural play dough with a bug surprise!
Fabulous day!
This is our story of growing up in New Zealand
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