Our Book of Life

Rangikawea was our chef of the week last week. He chose passionfruit butter cookies. As I love passionfruits how could I say no! Just imagine a soft sweet butter shortbread biscuit but with a soft passionfruit flavor, mmmmm. We loved it. Here is the recipe.. 250g Butter, softened   (used margarine) 1 1/3 cups (220g) icing sugar 2 cups (300g) plain flour 1/2 cup (75g) corn flour 1/3 cup (65g) rice flour   (did not include this, just added plain flour instead) 2 tablespoons passionfruit pulp 1. Combine butter, sugar and flours in large bowl of food processor, process 2 minutes or until mixture is combined, Add passionfruit; process until mixture clings together. (we didn't use a processor) 2. Transfer mixture to floured surface; kneed gently until smooth. Divide dough in half roll each half into 26cm log; wrap in plastic. Refrigerate 1 hour. 3. Preheat oven to 160/140oC fan forced. Grease oven trays 4. Cut logs into 1 cm slices. place slices on trays 3 cm apart. ...

What do you get when there are 1500 (mostly lds) women in one place?? Time Out For Women. I was so blessed to be able to secure a ticket, thank you my dear friend Naomi!! What a great day! Some sisters from Hibiscus ward were travelling in to Auckland City for the event and offered me to go with them. That was such a great Idea. I really enjoyed some sister companionship with them. We arrived in the city with plenty of time to spare and found good seats.  Even before I walked through the doors of the Auditorium I met up with people I had not seen in years. The first of them was my roomy from college. Nadia Elkington. She was so excited to see me I think it just gave me such a boost. From then on, and unlike me, If I recognised someone,(or thought I recognised them), I went up to them and said Hello! Usually I would say, I know that person and my feet wouldn't move. Unsure if they would remember who I was. Not this day. I so surprised myself and had such a wonderful experi...

Renata has watched on for years at his siblings racing around him on their bikes. I actually thought it would be a long time before he ever rode a 2 wheeler by himself. One day when I was trying to teach him, he almost had it and scared himself so stopped so to my complete surprise and delight on Friday, I turned around at the kids excited noises to find my Renata riding a 2 wheeler all by himself... How cool is that!!! (yes he is still 3) Rangikawea and Hikawera would run close by him to make sure that he did not fall off. Sometimes a little too close,  it was so cute to see his 'bodyguards' running by him.  This was also to make sure he did not ride on the main road too. Arama was standing by too to offer support and advise to him. It was so neat to see. Now he can't wait to get out there and ride his 'big' boys bike around. Way to go Renata!

I like to think I encourage independance in our home. Helping our kids to be confident that they can do many things on their own. making themselves something to eat is one of these things. For the older boys, I have taught how to cook, the younger ones it is making a sandwich, or whipping cream, making cordial drinks (which they are sooo much better than me now)  even mixing pancake mixture.. Since we watched the Junior Masterchef competition on TV, our kids have really enjoyed getting in there. Arama has made dinner for almost the last week and a half. It was first a trade off so he wouldn't do the dishes after but he seems to be enjoying it. I am more than happy to accomodate too as they will be able to feed themselves when they get bigger - mission etc. Hikawera has also risen to the challenge or mastering the skill of getting himself something to eat. He often hums when he does it (that means he is happy). This day, I watched him place out the 5 slices of bread and them syst...

I love my daughter. She is growing up so beautifully. She worked along side me all day yesterday, then after that I snapped this photo of her. She had tied her hair up on the top of her head that reminded me of Bam Bam from the flinstones.

So, are you sick of hearing about gorse? What is gorse anyway? Well, Gorse is an abnoxious pest in the form of prickly bushes. The English settlers brought it over with them (thanks ancestors) and the seed can lay active in the ground from 40-70 years, depending on who you talk to. THe best way we know how to keep it at bay is to keep mowing down the grass so that it does not get a chance to grow. Even when it looks dead it is still just as prickly. Our house yards have lush grass with no gorse on it but where it has not been mowed for 4 years or so, we have that jungle of prickles I keep posting pictures of..... We have been cutting down the bushes to make way for our fruit trees and well just sick of the sight. Yesterday was no different. Armed with a hand saw and pruners I was determined to free the fence along side the house so we can plant our berry bushes and replant our passionfruit vines. half way there clear fenceline and an easy walk around now Proudly now I can ...

Being school holidays our kids have been hanging out to have a sleep over at their Cousins house. (our neighbours). Their family is always busy, so last Friday night when the invitation was extended to go over and sleep by the fire, there was no hesitation. It was so good to see the marae style mattresses set out in front of the TV. It has been a while. The next morning, as there was no rugby or netball due to school holidays, the kids decided to have a little fun. I have no Idea where it came from but a blow up rugby post appeared so naturally it was 'try time'. They all lined up and took turns diving through the posts for a try. Even Rakaipaka got in on the act.

Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day. We just had to be outside enjoying it.  After we did our work Arama T suggested that we go for a walk down the bottom of our property and have a look at our stream.  (we wanted to see if the waterfall was flowing bigger). I have been waiting for an opportunity to do this for a while. Arama prepared walking sticks from some of the gorse branches we had cut that morning and we were off. It was truely wonderful to walk through the bush, knowing this is our land. It was also great to experience what we used to have to travel in the car for hours to get to in Sydney growing up. The air was cool and clean. The fantails dancing around us leading the way. Happy to have us there. Everyone enjoyed it. When we reached the bottom we found that our waterhole had grown 3-4 times its original size and the waterfall could be heard before it was seen. It was soooo beautiful and of course I did not take my camera with me!!! (doh!!!!) Never mind a good excu...

What goes cockadoodle doo at a decent hour? My 4 roosters!! Yes I have 4 roosters from our chickes. When they were little I thought that it looked like 4, and I am quietly chuffed that my predictions were right. Not bad for a first timer. I know we don't need 4 roosters so we will sort that one out later. They have just started crowing in the morning. At first we thought they crowed as arama left in the mornings - that is about 6am.  Now they are crowing later - and that seems to be when arama leaves too. A pretty good way to train your roosters I suppose. I AM grateful that they are not crowing from 3am and most of the day like their daddy! ah, simple blessings! I have been a bit bummed that I have not had ANY eggs from my chickens yet but I did gains some sympathy for them when I went to close their coup for the day ( they get to wander the land during the day if the dogs are tied up) and found this.... It has been so cold and the hail has been so frequent that even aft...

So, you always hear about what happens in the day time at the farm, are you curious what happens in the evenings?? When the sun goes down and all are washed up ready for dinner, as of late this is what has been happening.. You will often find Nauvoo being wisked around the 'dance floor' (living area) by one of her brothers, they are soon joined by 2 other buddying dancers....tonight Rangikawea was successfully 'dipping' his sister. My camera wasn't fast enough to really catch the moment but you will get the idea with these photo's.

It's holiday time again for our house, that means sleeping in past 6am and being allowed to stay up late. The kids are loving it. This morning, Hikawera came in where I was reading and shot me with the water gun, then Nauvoo surfaced from under the blankets in which she was reading with a torch. By 9am we are usually out and about if the weather is good.  This day Arama, Renata and Rakaipaka were up the drive knocking out the big humps that the rain has made,  Kawea and Nauvoo were weeding the vege garden They had so much fun together, these 2 are really getting on well at the moment! and then Hikawera and I were clearing gorse. Arama came down later and helped me.  It was a productive morning followed by their usual fun. When we were finished for the day, our 10 pear trees were enjoying the first rays of warmth from the sun in about 4 years. It was such a satisfying feeling.   Before we started you could barely see the house from this ...

I was cleaning up in the kitchen when I noticed this... The photo speaks for itself but It is so rewarding when you see those moments when your children are not only getting along, but showing how they really do love each other!!

Last week we tried a new recipe. Lemon Cake. It was really yummy. It got the thumbs up from our family. MMMMMmmmmmm

Trees, we are talking trees here on our farm. Now is the time to plant our fruit trees. There is a Nursery 5 minutes down the road so decided to go and check it out. The staff were really great and I enjoyed talking to them about all I could. The reminder of how little I know or how much I have to learn. I enrolled in a tree seminar (which turned out to be a pruning seminar) that Friday. I took Rakaipaka with me. It was really great. They have a sculpture garden we walked through and he showed us various fruit trees and gave us lots of advise and information. I really enjoyed it. The weather of course was being it's unpredictable self, rain sun and well, Hail!!! I had noticed it was on the cool side but when we were huddled under the umbrella in one of the showery times, we noticed the hail. About 5 minutes of it. I am amazed at how much hail we are getting. (more due tomorrow a low of 4 degrees is expected tomorrow. Here are a few of the 'sculptures' that we saw. ...

I love music.. I was checking emails today and since I can not seem to load my photo's off my phone for my other stories to tell I would love you to check out these songs. Hillary Weeks is awesome. You will see why when you hear these songs.  I am looking forward to seeing her at the TOFW conference in Auckland in  9 days (no, I am not counting!!) The fun ones: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6ujADXp0dM&feature=related http://tofw.com/story/184-video-dancing-in-the-rain http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6I8FCgaoaG8&NR=1 and one for my heart today.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkRo42AbOfQ&feature=related

Rangikawea has been lucky to have an extra week of School holidays. Each morning he has enjoyed waking up later than his usual 5:30am and cruising through each day. He has been refreshing company for those of us who are at home, Renata has really enjoyed playing with him. We took a trip to the Library about 2 days ago, Kawea was really excited he found some books he wanted to read. To my great surprise, he has become a bookworm! He has read 3 books in the last 2 days - Chapter books, and he loves it. Last night I couldn't resist snapping these shots before I went to bed, leaving him to read. I am so happy to have another bookworm in the house!!! ps his story will feature soon, we lost half of it so he needs to type it again..xox

I love baking. It has a therapeutic effect on me. I have been collecting recipes for over 15 years. Not too many of them have been tried so I thought I would make a new goal. I would try to bake a new dish - mains and desserts, each week. This way I will not just make desserts, and the good ones will be used again and I will share them with you. It is exciting to be able to use new ingredients I have not used before. As some my dear friends are GREAT chefs, I will happily accept any tips or variations and be even more happy to try it again!! Today, I thought I would make a lemon cream cake along with some vanilla muffins with banana and strawberry icing.  The bowls were happily liked clean by Rangikawea and Renata John. Renata periodically popped his head up and kept asking, "Is the baking ready?" Well there is only one way to stop those kinds of questions. Get him to help and he did quite happily. It went something like this: Mix the frosting....... Spread the frosti...

Waiting for veges to grow can sometimes feel like watching grass grow, but success was found yesterday. Our brocolli and cauliflour plants finally have heads on them, beans are a good 40cm tall, even my peas have pods on them and lettuce anyone? I know the weeds are growing just as good, but will get to those shortly!