Winter workshops & The quiet work of the season

Last Sunday we welcomed another wonderful group to the barn for our sourdough bread making class.

It was an afternoon spent talking all things flour, dough and bread, with plenty of questions, hands-on learning and, of course, the smell of fresh sourdough filling the room.

Monday brought our usual trip into Warrnambool, delivering a few orders before the girls headed off to their music lessons.

In the evening we held our final winter workshop at the Warrnambool Community Garden, where another eager group learnt how to make butter, yoghurt and labneh.

With that, we’ve wrapped up our winter workshop series. It has been a pleasure sharing these traditional skills over the past few months, and we’re now looking ahead to our six-module Becoming More Self-Sufficient course, beginning in August.

We’ll be offering the course here at the barn, as well as in Warrnambool and Colac, and we’re looking forward to another season of learning together.

The rest of the week was filled with those jobs that are well underway but never quite seem to reach the finish line. We continued pruning roses and fruit trees, tidied the strawberry beds, mowed a few lawns whenever the weather allowed, and, above all, tried to stay warm and dry between the passing showers.

Fridays have become one of my favourite days of the week. While the weather does its best to keep us indoors, the barn kitchen becomes a welcoming place to be. Cooking and baking fill the day, the warmth of the kitchen is appreciated, and there’s something comforting about preparing good food while listening to the rain outside.

There aren’t many vegetables left to pick now. The cold and wet have slowed the garden right down, reminding us that every season has its purpose. Winter asks us to be patient. It gives us time to prune, repair, prepare and plan before the busy months return.

Winter can certainly be challenging, but it also has a quiet rhythm of its own—and before long, we’ll begin to notice the first signs that spring is on its way.