Native Bees and other ramblings.

Native bees were always something we wanted to get, and luckily for us when we bought this place there was already a hive here-I think they're trigonia carbonaria. You don't get any honey from these little guys (well, you can, but it's in very small amounts and quite difficult to get, but apparently the taste is fantastic) but they are absolutely fantastic pollinators. And they don't sting, but do bite, as the husband discovered when he went to have a poke around in their hive, and got a headful of them in his very thick, very black hair.

They spend much of their time on the perennial basil, but as you can see above they're also partial to the kids portaluca. For those who know the plant yes the bees are tiny compared to honeybees, and miniscule compared to bumblebees-about 4mm long.

AussieBee are a great resource and also sell hives.

AND..........i've just stumbled across what looks to be an good homeschooling blog, Camp Creek Blog.  I've been mostly devouring Montessori resources lately so this is refreshing, and still my style.

It also seems i'm not the only one having a busyness hissy fit, it's a common theme-check out here and here. I'm feeling much better already, and think I understand deschooling perfectly now. I'm deworking myself. I've found myself slobbing around reading chicklit and lots of otherwise aimless stuff, but my mojo is beginning to show signs of reappearing. I have strictly shut myself up whenever i've started to berate myself for not jumping straight into all the personal projects I wanted to do, and just done whatever i've felt like. It's working!

But I did make this

A crocheted headband to celebrate getting my old 'do back again.

And I really need to stop rambling now-this was only supposed to be about the bees!

I have reclaimed the mojo

I haven't crocheted anything for ages. I made a half-hearted attempt at a baby blanket when we arrived here but ditched it before i'd finished the first row. I couldn't find anything I actually wanted to make-hating following patterns doesn't help.
I started a pair of pants for #5 the other day though and I think I may stick with them. I had an idea a while back on how to make pants with minimal sewing (because I loathe extensive stitching pieces together). It's acrylic as I simply *don't* handwash so don't really use longies.

And after venturing to the shops to buy the girls more summer clothes the other day and swooning in shock (once they hit size 3 everything seems to double in price-$22 for a cotton dress with three needing at least two dresses each? I think not) I decided making is really the only option. So I bought this awesome Japanese print cotton to go with some brown cotton I already had for a pinny. I think it's Holli's turn to get something-they keep track for me anyway :P