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April 2 and the old girl had been kicked back to l

April 2 and the old girl had been kicked back to life after her dormant summer.

She's been dusted off and emptied out? The kettle is topped up and the hydronics are on. The bakery of wood is full again and the just picked apples are ready to be sliced and dehydrayed in her slow oven.

By October I'll be glad to put her back to sleep but today, this annual moment of lighting her belly to bring warmth into our home is such a delight 😊

Today's the day! For what you say? It's April on

Sometimes you just need to sit in the sun by the f

Sometimes you just need to sit in the sun by the flower patch to let the noise of the world fade and your own internal narrative be still.
Popping here in case you need a moment of still, gentle warmth too.
X

Off grid living festival is coming up and I'm taki

Off grid living festival is coming up and I'm taking to the main stage to talk all things huddle... will I see you there?

HOME Just four letters from the alphabet but encom

HOME
Just four letters from the alphabet but encompassing of so darned much.
For me it's the place where any pretence or performance gets left at the door. A place to go gently when it feels tough out there. A place to drink tea, debate over dinners, be humbled by the repetitive and experiment with the new.

A collection of too many things but reminicint of a lifetime of memories... places, faces, things we've done...

Amidst the humdrum of a bustling family life (that in so many ways expects everything), there's a rhythm that dilutes the cortisol spikes, settles the heart rate and expects nothing. Just you to be you....ratty and raw or rich and resplendent...or perhaps a little of both.

Things feel hard right now. "Go gently' I tell others...pause...take a breath and be ok to sink into the discomfort of the unknown. I'm utterly grateful for this place and the people who make it home 🙏

Morning harvest! 🍅 🍅 🍅 HAPPY! We've be

Morning harvest!
🍅 🍅 🍅 HAPPY!

We've been feasting on these guys fresh for the last 6 weeks so it's now time to get them bottled for winter.

Here's the sauce recipe I use:

5kgs tomatoes -we mix ours all together so we can cook in small batches more regularly rather than aiming for one variety to have enough to use at once. Sieved to remove seeds and skins - Charlie does this when he makes it but I tend to just dice them up and throw them in without sieving, I quite like the added body they offer and don't find them bitter

YOU NEED:

½ cup sugar rapadura/coconut
1 tblsp worcestershire sauce
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
1cup apple cider vinegar
12 full chillies (remove seeds if you prefer it milder)
2onions diced
6-8 cloves of diced garlic
Half tsp garam masala
Half tsp morocan allspice
Coconut oil

HOW:

Brown off onions, garlic and spices in coconut oil
Simmer all ingredients in pot for 1 hour

Blend

Simmer for a further 2 hours or until sauce consistency. Stir regularly so it doesn't burn.

Bottle in sterilised bottles and water bath at 60 degrees for 20 minutes

ART & APPLES in AUTUMN. This weekend at black barn

ART & APPLES in AUTUMN.
This weekend at black barn farm we are open for our usual berry picking and apple picking from 9 till 4 each day...but we also have the exceptionally talented Karen from @redponyclay in the barn with over 70 works on canvas + ceramics.
There are moody still life's, bold contemporary landscapes, small impressionist farm scenes, whimsical and bold coloured animals. All are framed and can be taken home on the spot of purchased.

We're at the ready with bottles of bubbles and will officially open the show at 11am.

Pop out & join us on either Saturday, Sunday or Monday 9 till 4. Karen will be here so you'll meet the artist.

Come hang with us at Black Barn farm this weekend.

Come hang with us at Black Barn farm this weekend. We are open Saturday, Sunday and Monday 9 till 4.
The apples, berries, nashis and pears are literally falling off trees, ready to jump into your basket.

The apple cider doughnuts will be fresh & the farm gate full of sorbet, garlic, farm grown tea, jam and two books that Jade can sign (futuresteading and huddle) in her almost illegible scrawl.

The walls will be covered with the vibrant, beautiful work of Karen Gray from @redponyclay and you can share a glass of bubbles with her.

The nursery trees and berries are ready to be planted into your garden and the weather is looking perfect.

Please pop in... we'd love to see you xx

Harry and Bertie have loaded up the caravan and ta

Harry and Bertie have loaded up the caravan and taken doughbros famous apple cider doughnuts to the @springditchfestival today.

Hot days, warm soil and a busy but happy soul. Th

Hot days, warm soil and a busy but happy soul. This is ENOUGH!

Almost 5 years ago to the day- when we were still

Almost 5 years ago to the day- when we were still wiping soot from our faces as the fires of 2019/2020 summer were being mopped up & the idea of a global pandemic was just begining to settle into our collective psyche) Miss Catie Payne @catieofthesouthernwild & I cooked up an idea for having regular yarns w folk who are doing bloody amazing things for our collective betterment in the hope of giving us a fighting chance of existing into perpetuity. We huddled around a daggy kitchen table in a tiny hilltop cottage that was at least three decades overdue for a lick of paint & hit the record button. We laughed a lot & learnt even more.

Catie headed off to create her own awesome poddy @reskillience_podcast a year or so later & despite the blow of losing my creative muse, I continued to chat to dead set extra-ordinary legends each week... mid last year we clocked 500,000 downloads & by the time we share the already recorded convos this year, there will be 200 episodes of human stories capturing breathtaking bravery, tomfoolery, anti-establishment vigour, political animals, calloused hand farmers, academics, critical thinkers, community builders, creatives, mothers, lovers, learners and dreamers all with one thing in common...they are living like tomorrow matters.
This season we have introduced a mini series 'stories from the heart' within the bigger series & these have been curated, produced & interviewed by Hayley Jessup @yana.academy.
To keep the convos coming we have partnered with @australian_medicinal_herbs who've committed to covering all our hard costs for TWO WHOLE SEASONS!!! Legends!

When the book launched it soared our exposure & introduced us to some of our most loyal listeners - they've formed weekly pod clubs, monthly futuresteading gatherings & invited me for cake, conversation & sleep overs.
It's been a wild wide - w most episodes edited & loaded for your listening pleasure at bleary eyed hours just in the nick of time.

Our 3 latest eps feature @megandallacamina @drjasonfox & @yana.academy - such ripper listens as are the other 170 episodes!

They can be found on all the pod platforms & each ep goes for about 45 mins - 1 hour.

Happy Listening x

The rise and fall of farming life! Last week we be

The rise and fall of farming life!
Last week we began this seasons harvest with 'summer strawberry' and 'akane' coming into the barn for crunchy, sweet early season pomme enjoyment. After nurturing the trees through 6 months of potential disaster from hailstorms, frost, wind storms, insect damage or birds, it's always such a feeling of virtuosity to make it to the basket in the barn.

This year's crop is the largest we've had since planting out the orchard 8 years ago... this year it feels very real and we've watched as the little blossum's are first pollinated then forming into budlets, swelling into shape and then colouring up just in time for the sugars to come in and picking to commence. Damn it's felt good to get to this point of this long held, calloused hands dream.

Because we both still work off farm in other jobs, occasionally we are both away from the farm at the same time...today this happened and today the bloody cockies seized their chance and it was as if they knew it was Charlie's birthday and that prima apples are his favourite variety....just days away from being picked, the y have smashed nearly the entire crop.

They came in their hundreds and not only did they decimate the apples, they also damaged the trees.

Thank fully it was only the one variety so there's more apples to come but it's bloody hard not to feel like you've been punched in the guts and had months of hard work ripped away just.like.that!!!!!

Farming is a bloody tough game. Please don't ever question a farmer on the price they ask for the food they produce.

When you create a book, it dominates your living &

Love a before and after. Looking at the house fr

Love a before and after.

Looking at the house from the garden next to the packing shed and looking at the garden next to the packing shed from the house. Both 9 years ago, 4 years ago and today.

Let me introduce .....HUDDLE.....! A little book

HIGH HEAT MORNINGS Up before the sun to watch the

HIGH HEAT MORNINGS
Up before the sun to watch the world waking up. It's quiet, still and the air has the slightest chill -it'll be short lived as the days are hot!

Walking bare foot on the lumpy stones like I'm on hot coals dragging the hose from bed to bed, pot to pot.

Cuppa in one hand, meditation app in the other, sitting on the hill in amongst the orchard trees as the sun peeks above the gum tree line and tells my body to wake up and start its day.

Filling bowls with fresh berries so the kids can inhale them in seconds and raiding the veggie garden for snacks to be nibbled across the day.

Washing out to dry. Animals fed and watered. Flowers harvested and waiting

Time to go inside for a day behind the desk!

Hope your day got away with a gentle start x

On May 1 this year my new book "Huddle" will hit b

On May 1 this year my new book "Huddle" will hit book shelves around the world. 2025 will be a year that asks us to collectivise and my plan (with book in hand) is to spur conversations and sow seeds of huddling hope in the many communities I visit. It's about stepping up!

Asking 'what if? Responding TOGETHER: What if to

Asking 'what if?
Responding TOGETHER:

What if together we ensured that everyone had enough.
What if together we prioritised mental health and soil health over wealth.
What if together we valued the food on our plate and the farmer who grew it and acknowledged it was the foundation of our existence
What if together we turned education into an experience rather than a striving towards excellence.
What if together we rewrote the rules of success as happiness not status.
What if together we created love projects as often as we create industrial projects
What if together we contributed equally to building our communities to be the most incredible places they could be.
What if together we acknowledged that you feel as good when helping others as when you earn money.
What if together we decided growing food was as celebrated as growing dollars.
What if together we could spend time weekly learning skills from our elders and teaching skills to our children.
What if together we decide to normalise repairing rather than replacing.
What if together we honored our individual gifts by using them rather than sidelining them as mere hobbies.
What if together we considered the lives of those 7 generations still to come
What if together we took care of the fruiting trees on the common land in our neighborhood What if together we got to know our local bird families and protected them
What if together we hosted gatherings where we invited perfect strangers to tea because they had a friendly face
What if together we let go of the river bank and just floated with the stream, away from stability and financial return but to a place of unknown that followed our hearts
What if together we mapped the miles on everything we purchased and made a commitment to reach new localised goals
What if together we committed to only buying second hand
What if together we replace new ‘things’ with a new ‘skills’
What if together we agreed to never buy another present that we didn't know the maker of.
What if together we committed to carry our waste on my back the rest of my life.

Lets together imagine a life where some of these contemplations became reality in cohesion with other co creators.

Heart melt! Our little Jack russell puppies are s

Heart melt!

Our little Jack russell puppies are six weeks old now and soon will need to head off to new homes.

We've never bred puppies before and everyone told us it was a lot of work but while the boisterous play, chewing and endless piddling...soooo much wee, has indeed been a job, the joy has been heart filling in every way. They've started coming into the orchard with us and whe've found them plum tuckered under the canes or in the shade of the trees.
They are such ripper little tykes - each with their own personality. I can honestly say we've lived every second of the experience. I don't think the leaving part will be much fun but every journey comes to an end. Xx

HIGH HEAT DAYS: Starting right on dawn we've harv

HIGH HEAT DAYS:

Starting right on dawn we've harvested flowers for our local florist, strip picked the berries to clean up after the you pickers and will drop them off to be made into I've cream later today.

The heat is climbing fast so now it's time to head for the first dam swim of the day.

Stay 😎!

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