Its April already…how did that happen?

It’s been a busy few weeks as we bask in the last rays of summer and soak up the golden days.  The weather has definitely turned, and while the days are just glorious the nights are starting to get cool.  Vineyards across the valley are finishing up their vintage, orchards are starting to display autumn colours and farmers are looking skyward wondering when the opening rains are going to come.  Lambing season has just started and a walk past a sheep paddock will see lots of tiny wobbly legs and super wiggly tails.  Meanwhile the chickens have finished molting and are now growing all their fresh downy feathers in preparation for winter – which means the egg production has slowed right down.  The first quinces have been picked, but the late figs still persist, while the zucchini and tomato plants are all being pulled out and being replaced with winter seedlings.  The preserving unit still has a few more batches of things to turn out, but it will get its final wipe down in the next few weeks before being put away for the winter months.

And in both our houses the wood shed re-stocking has been consistent over summer as we both speculate when is the night we light the first lounge room fire for the season…….

While all of that has been happening, work has continued behind the scenes on all sorts of little things.  We are hosting three events in May as part of the South Australian History Festival, so it’s all about the research for those.  We will be taking a deep dive into the fascinating stories hidden between the covers of the Barossa Cookery Book (its one of our favourite little books, if you haven’t already guessed), so if you are in the Barossa, or planning a visit, the link to ticket sales for these events is below.  We’d love to see you there!

We’ve also just finished our ‘Seasonal Pantry’ series, which was so much fun.  If you were one of the people who joined us each week in Marieka’s kitchen as we worked with some of our favourite seasonal food skills, we really hope you enjoyed it as much as we did!  If you missed it but would still like to join all the fun, the series is available retrospectively and you can watch at any time – tickets available via the link below.

So as we prepare for the slide into Easter, and all the chocolate that comes with that, we are taking the opportunity to light the outside fire pit, open a bottle of red, and enjoy the autumn evenings – because in just a few short weeks the nights will be too cold for this!

We hope that this closing of the summer days finds you with a seasonal abundance of your favourite things, and the time and the skills to do your favourite things with it!

Remember that being a keeper is a doing word, and at this time and in this season we lead the way.

You.  Me.  Us.

Happy Autum Keepers!

Cheers

Sheralee and Marieka

The dictionary defines a ‘keeper’ as a person charged with responsibility for the preservation and conservation of something valuable, but being a keeper is also a doing word.

We are the keepers.  The keepers of the traditional food skills, the regional food stories, the new ways of doing old valuable things.  And every year, at this time and in this season, we lead the way.

You.  Me.  Us.

We are the keepers.