Soap & Crochet

Saffron and Honey.
(With the calendula petals on top)

Hello. Weekend is upon us again. Any plans?
At this stage I think we have a walk planned on Sunday.

More lavender – the colouring is rather subtle though.

A new batch of Applejack Peel. Smells so lovely. Have cut it tonight and the patterns are nice too.

This was from the batch of White Ginger and Amber fragrance.
I also made a batch of ‘Dragons Blood’ tonight. Mixed the red into the ochre – Not a bad combo but you’ll just have to imagine it for now 🙂

I made another batch of raspberry jam today with the latest two picks. (about 3lb of fruit)
Then outside to water and picked over a kilo of snow peas! Will have to call some cafes and restaurants in the morning to see if they want to buy them. I don’t fancy advertising them to chase single sales of 100gms each. People can be so unreliable about getting back to you and keeping meetings!

My carrots are getting bigger!
These, some of the snow peas, the below onion and some of my garlic landed in tonights stir fry dinner!

Now – on to some serious stuff.

You’ve probably noted that Australia is on fire.
Right now my best friend is preparing with her family to defend their home as the fire is heading their way. Her husband is group captain of a large area of rural fire brigades. They’ve got their defenses in place and a plan. I am so worried for them but there is not a thing I can do to help… which is awful.
Its terrifying stuff. You may have seen some photos.
The other day one of their local volunteer fighters was killed. A freak tornado-like wind picked up the back of the 10 ton fire truck and upended it onto the cabin. Young married chap with pregnant wife. Heartbreaking.
Two trucks were literally blown over in this manner and other firefighters were taken to hospital.

Thousands on the coast have fled to beaches to escape the flames and entire small towns have all, but been wiped out.

If you are not familiar with the size/geography of Australia – here is an interesting comparison that might make the scale of what we are going through a little clearer.

NSW – New South Wales is just one state in Australia.
The bushfire season started in September which is just not normal. Our worst months are January and February – December being our first summer month.

Our firefighting forces – paid and volunteer – are stretched thin. As you can imagine, volunteers are losing wages or money if self employed and are, quite frankly – exhausted.

Firefighters from Canada and New Zealand have been sent and I think a bunch from the US have just landed.

Google ‘Mallacoota’ for some images that look like we are going through Armageddon.

The toll on our wildlife is horrendous. I can’t even think about it properly.
Numbers like half a billion lost have been thrown about.
Wildlife carers are in full force doing what they can. My friend introduced me to a Facebook page where people are sewing, knitting and crocheting items to donate to carers.
Joey pouches are in big demand. Bags that hold animals like baby kangaroos, wallabies, possums, wombats etc.
Bat-wraps are another item sorely needed. I never knew about these things! The photos of little bats in their swags are very cute. But sobering to realise we are losing thousands of them 🙁
One that I can do and just started today is crocheted nests – for birds and small wildlife. I’ve got plenty of spare yarn – and hopefully once one is done, I’ll get faster at it.

Anyway, thats all from me.
Its going to be a rough weekend for a lot of people – it would be amazing if we could get through it with no more loss of life.

Take care all
xxx