living large in a small town...

Cobargo is a really quirky small town..

(for years townsfolk have tried - in vain - to get local council to build disabled-access public toilets.

Peeved that yet another opportunity slid by, one local made an excellent 'statement piece'
on a vacant lot on the highway... hee hee hee.... )

I love how you can go up town for an ordinary morning's swim training - 

and come home with five extra kids 

(which is just what we did today - this is what community is all about)

on a hot hot day with lots and lots of kids 

 what do you do?

make lemonade/lemon cordial of course!

lemon cordial sams creek style

1 litre water

750g (or a bit less) sugar (raw, white or caster sugar all works)

juice 6-8 lemons (juiced this is about 500ml)

add water and sugar to a saucepan - heat and mix until dissolved  - continue to heat (stir continuously) but don't bring to boil. remove from heat and allow to cool at little, add lemon juice. bottle in sterilised jars.

lemon cordial may be added to still or sparkly water (mmmm FIZZY and refreshing) 

then we played with clay....

(I am totally rubbish with clay - but kids don't care!
they just have a blast squishing and moulding and letting loose with the creative juice!
I only wish I managed to get a piccie of Ivy's submarine with buttons - too cool!)

After a couple of days of hot aussie summer sun beating down
the garden is looking a bit wilted and sad

after dinner we head off to the 'pumpkin patch'

on the back of the ute (natch)

The pumpkin patch is the field about 500m from the house (cucurbita - eg pumpkins/squash are promiscuous little buggers and need an exclusion zone of a good 400m from other cucurbits to ensure no cross-fertilisation.... we are saving pure 'Waltham' butternut squash seeds for Bega Seed Savers so it's important to ensure nothing is going to cross with the heritage variety)  In our pumpkin patch by the bank of Sams Creek we also have mounds of watermelon ('sugar baby' and 'big red') and rockmelons ... they are all just coming up - bless 'em

each little mound is hand watered - by carrying water from the creek

up and down and up and down the hill we go with bucket and watering can in hand

of course one must skip flat stones across the little pools of sams creek  

every time we get to the bottom of the hill...

hard work isn't hard when you're having fun together...

then it's home to bed 

ready to face another wonderful summer's day

...