Orchids and Wildflowers of Eneabba

This month the orchids and wildflowers around Eneabba have been putting on a full show for us.  These are some of them spotted the past week!

We’ve spent a bit of time looking for Orchids in the area and found a few already we’ve never seen before which is so cool.  Wesley is my enthusiastic hiking partner and will follow me into even the thickest of bushes!  I’m loving that he’s agreeable (for now) to come out and see the flowers with me.

The past week we went out to a friends house for wine and woodfired pizza, which was such a nice evening.  Wesley played with the kids and we hung out chatting into the darker hours.

Here are a few items pictured here in no particular order:

• Daddy Long Legs Spider Orchid
• Hybrid
• Crimson Spider Orchid (quite small compared to the others)
• Bee Orchid
• Blue Leschenaultia
• Pea Flowers
• Drosera flowers
• Banksias
• Bearded Dragon
• Some kind of pink smoke bush – which is soooo pretty!
• One monkey jumping on the bed
• The Coorow Greenhead Road which takes us to the ocean
• The front porch of the house which is going to be getting a lil makeover soon

We also bogged our ute while we were out looking at some of these flowers.  Oops!

Orchids in Eneabba

This past week has been very nature filled.  It’s been really glorious spotting the orchids now that the rains have really set in.  The winter appears to finally be here as this week we actually had the heat on!  Before Mike arrived I was wearing a tank top and shorts most days and wondered if it was going to stay in the mid 20’s for a long time.  Nope!

Wesley was not feeling the huge change in weather last night.  The tin roof of the house sort of amplifies the sound of the rain falling so it’s pretty loud.  To him the noise along with the wind and lightning were just a bit too much!  He had his mum and dad with him to cuddle to sleep.  I snuck off into his bedroom to sleep alone and woke to see Mike and our wee lamb cuddling asleep at 6.30am.  It was such a sweet moment to savour.

It’s been exciting out in the bush, as we’ve spotted 3 new species to us.  The hairy stemmed orchid, the coastal banded orchid and a Queen of Sheba (not flowering but soon to be – pictured above).  Most of the species were found in a Wandoo forest not far from the farm.

See that ant in the photos above, how unusual does it look?  I’ve never seen one with its colouring before.

Wesley has been joining Mike and I together in the bush, and Tessa and I have also spent a bit of time together looking at orchids too.

Nature here is just astoundingly diverse and surprising.  You never know what you’re going to see!

Pictured in this post:

• Bluebeard Orchid
• Greenbanded Orchid
• Wandoo Forest
• Strange Ant
• Hairy Stemmed Snail Orchid
• Mike hand building his new beehive boxes (he’s expanding our 5 to 20!)
• Queen of Sheba
• Multiple unopened mystery flowers/orchids
• My shoes and a large fungus nestled between them

Wildflowers, Frogs & Jumping Spiders in Warradarge, Western Australia

This preciously small jumping spider was found along a fire break track that I was following during some time spent solo in the bush a couple of days ago.  There were two spotted along several kilometres.  Not sure of the identity just yet…An unusual flower?Early in the week to celebrate this little boys second birthday I took him to the ocean.  We also ate raspberry pancakes for lunch with maple syrup.  Mike was away for the official day but is home now and we’ll have a little party for him on Sunday with cake and his mates.  I can hardly believe that our little darling has turned two!!  Found this tiny frog in the yard today whilst mowing the lawn.Also found this crevasse dwelling jumping spider in the grass later in the afternoon after the lawn mowing massacre.  The ground was just a scramble of insects trying to find new homes or prevent theirs from being looted by opportunists.

Heres to being open.

Life on the farm is simple, minimalist and starting to shape itself toward being a sustainable little treasure.  We’re excited to now see progress as we take the small but inevitable steps toward a life with less and more good wholesome home grown food.

Our chicken coop is nearly finished, the lawn is drought hardy, the compost is heaped to the brim and the plans for the next phase are nearly under way.

Lately I’ve helping the community rally together against the Fracking Industry (as that fight is unfortunately still ongoing and will be a long process) in partnership with Lock the Gate, immersing myself in the joys of raising Wesley, copywriting from home and learning alongside Mike that the potential to make inner change is huge.

We have both been reading a number of books on mind development, cognitive decision making and positive communication.

Do you ever read books like this?  What’s a book you’ve read and felt really resonated with you?

For me the #1 is The Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer – it’s simply given my mind a real shake up.

This is another year that is going to be filled to the brim with love, adventure, open hearts, cuddles, dancing, singing, photos, hiking and plenty of learning.

Lesuere National Park – Western Australia

It’s no secret that Lesuere National Park is a place that I love dearly.  It’s 2.5 hours North of Perth and only a 15 minute drive to the ocean front town of Jurien Bay.  The park is sprawling, vast and incredibly beautiful as it stretches across 272.4 km² of conserved land.

We are lucky to live only a 25 minute drive from the park.  Which means I get to see it often!

I’ve only just scratched the surface and stayed on the marked trails or along the edge of the lazy 14km road that takes drivers on a slow moving tour of the landscape.

This past Sunday I ducked out alone, to savour some time in the bush completely without distraction.  It comforting to know this place is protected with a Class A conservation status (it’s been protected since 1976).  People will be able to enjoy it’s natural wonders for decades to come!