There is something about a rainy Sunday afternoon that makes everything slow down.
The garden gets a drink, the animals settle in, and for a little while, the homestead seems to exhale.
This particular Sunday, De Wet picked up his guitar and sat down with the puppies.
Luni was curled up behind him on the couch, while nine little Maremmas sat completely mesmerised by the music. For a few quiet minutes, there was nowhere else they needed to be.
Outside, spring was quietly arriving.
A little red-backed fairy wren danced through the chilli bush in the morning sun, while the yellow grevillea and purple orchid burst into colour, bringing even more birds and wildlife into the garden.
Dad’s special heirloom tomatoes are beginning to ripen in the kitchen garden, and one of our old chicken coops has found a new purpose as a garden bed, freshly planted with capsicums for spring.
Around here, we like to give things another life wherever we can.
The banana trunks left behind after harvesting our bunches now form part of the garden border, slowly breaking down and returning potassium and other nutrients to the soil.
Even the weeds from the dam have a job to do.
De Wet clears them regularly, helping keep the dam healthy while giving us an almost inexhaustible source of nutrients. One bucket goes to the chickens, and another goes into the food forest and garden beds.
It is a simple little cycle, but these are the systems we love building here — where one part of the homestead can become a resource for another.
And somewhere amongst all of this, De Wet has been finding time to create.
Between massages, puppies, farming and everything else that seems to fill our days, he has been disappearing into the workshop and making beautiful things from wood.
This week we released his new handcrafted phone amplifier through Wildhorse Woodworx, along with our new Wildhorse Homestead Father’s Day Kitchen Box.
Then, because apparently there wasn’t quite enough happening, I managed to take a tumble while feeding the puppies.
No puppies were harmed.
My pride and my hip were not so lucky. 😂
Thankfully, I happen to live with a massage therapist.
And the homestead didn’t stop for my little mishap.
We’re moving the chickens again.
The next section of the garden is being fenced off, ready for them to spend spring scratching, fertilising and clearing the ground. When summer arrives, we’ll move them again and let another part of the property benefit from their work.
It is easy to think of homesteading as growing food and keeping animals, but so much of it is really about learning to notice.
Noticing what the land is giving you.
Noticing what can be reused.
Noticing when something needs to rest, move or change.
And noticing the small moments that make all the work worthwhile.
A fairy wren in the morning sun.
Tomatoes ripening from a seed saved and treasured by Dad.
Puppies listening to a guitar on a rainy afternoon.
A garden bed beginning again.
Nothing really stays still here.
Everything gets another season, another purpose, another chance to grow.
And perhaps that’s the part of homestead life I love most.
We’d Love to Hear From You
What little signs of spring are you noticing where you are?
I’d love to hear about them in the comments.
If you’d like to follow along with the seasons, the animals, the gardens and all the imperfect little adventures in between, you can also join the Wildhorse Homestead Circle. It’s where we share a little more of what happens behind the scenes here, along with stories, ideas and seasonal inspiration.
Come grow, relax and play with us at Wildhorse Homestead. 🌿
Thanks for spending another week with us.
