Autumn came after a long and protracted summer that was quite frankly horrendously hot; and now we are moving into the cooler climes of winter. It is the last day of autumn as I sit here and write this and it is raining; a welcome reprieve after a very dry season. The farmers need the rain as they have begun their sowing season, going out to my Mum’s cottage you could see the dust plumes as the farmers began to till their paddocks in very dry conditions. The weather folk are mumbling about La Nina potentially forming and bringing about more rainfall but as yet there is little solid indication that this will happen – I hope that it does, the land is very parched right now and it needs hydration.
I have taken May very slowly; I have mostly just been plodding around the home doing small things as well as helping my Mum continue with the renovations of her 128 year old cottage. We are slowly restoring life and personality back into it but as with any renovation, it takes time. It has spent years not being worked on, in various states of renovation so pushing through has become something of an epic task. May also heralded thirty years since my family moved from the East coast of NSW (Nowra native) to the very different climes of the Mid North of South Australia. It wasn’t marked by any special occasion, just more of an observation of the passage of time. I suppose I could almost call myself a SA native now since I have spent far more time here than where I came from.
We are now back into market season, we’ve picked up a new one north of us in Port Augusta called ‘Desert Knights Medieval Fantasy Festival’. It’s the first year and it’s less than an hour from us, I’m so happy because we don’t have to travel too far to go it and if I want to I can go home each day and sleep in my own bed. I’ll have a list out soon of the upcoming markets for the second half of the year that Scott and myself will be involved in. We are of course part of the upcoming Barossa Medieval Fair – our biggest and busiest in our market schedule – and I do imagine this year will continue the tradition of the muddy festivities that have been the norm for the past few years. If you’re planning on going, do bring gumboots or weather appropriate footwear because it will get dirty.
Autumn is the season that I always look forward to because it means that winter is on its way; I am not a heat person, the hot weather is not meant for this fair skinned redhead with a boatload of UK ancestry (haha boatload, no pun intended but I had four ancestors on the First Fleet). I remember reading somewhere that those of us who are of UK ancestry have not had our genetic material sufficiently mutated to handle the heat of the Australian sun because our DNA comes from places where this level of sun and heat is not regular. I can’t remember where I read it but it was interesting, definitely applicable in my case because I burn redder than a ripe tomato with less than 10 minutes exposure to the sun…I mean there is also that pesky issue of a hole in the ozone layer that likely doesn’t help things. But when autumn is coming, it means that winter is not far behind and I can embrace my cosy cottage witch persona, snuggle under blankets, drink copious amounts of hot tea and enjoy watching tv, gaming and reading.
The garden is slowly being brought back to life. It has been awhile since I have felt even remotely motivated or interested in working in the garden and while I am still battling my depression and anxiety symptoms, I have found a little bit of energy to look toward it again. That will probably be a post all its own at some point but I have slowly started planting some herbs, tidying up my greenhouses and figuring out what I want my garden to look like moving forward. Unfortunately living in a rental means that you are somewhat restricted by what you can plant in the ground because if you have to move, you can’t take it with you.
May has been a very slow month for me, other than doing Medieval and Rare Trades Festival in Gumeracha; I wanted some time to collect myself, not be constantly busy and just take some space and time for myself. As I move into June I am hoping that some ideas I have I can start bringing into being. I want to work a bit more on my herbal store (this will be straight herbal remedies and the like), begin focusing more on a social media presence, blogging, product creation and even potentially starting to write another book. I have an idea for one, it’s just a matter of taking the time to outline it and begin writing. The good thing is I know I can do it, having done it before but it’s finding myself in the right headspace to do it.
Well that’s a small update of what has been happening, quite times here but as the weather cools I tend to feel more connected and I am hoping to slowly start reconnecting with my spiritual self and begin building a practice one again.
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