Bird song & childs play
The kids are running rampant in the backyard on this crisp winter afternoon as Nana and Papa try to keep up. Eastern Rosellas and Little Corellas squawk in unison as they zoom overhead. The noisy miners join in the backyard chorus, no doubt pestering some naive trespasser. It's a full symphony, a cacophony of bird song and childs play.
Barely a leaf remains on our orchard in front of me, but their departure has cleared the sightline to our burgeoning citrus trees. Finally lemons are back! Alongside some teeny-tiny mandarins, plump blood oranges and a fully loaded lime tree which seems to be perpetually budding.
I've been turning to our garden for tea most recently in a bid to cure my obligatory winter congestion. I have been steeping lemon verbena leaves in a big teapot to sip on and it feels like a medicinal liquid hug. Before all the leaves disappear as the days get cooler I must harvest the lot to dry indoors to see me through to Spring. Rogue lemon balm has also not escaped my pillaging and I'm enjoying educating myself on all the wonderful herbal remedies that exist in our patch. Having natures medicine cabinet just outside the backdoor feels exciting and new, a lense I have up until now never looked at my garden through.
Plants are truly wondrous in their abilities to nourish and heal and I love that I get to share my new found interest with my little nature warriors. Just this morning my daughter knocked at my studio window with a cup in hand asking for a sip. In these little fleeting moments I know deep in my soul that we are raising them right.