2nd anniversary.

Time flies, and it is our 2nd Anniversary!!!

The past year had been a difficult one for both Eric and I. There were much disappointments, adjustment, tears, joy, sadness, hope, frustration and reconciliation.

I praise and thank God for his blessing despite the chaos and frustration. May we continue to rest in his word and the assurance that can only come from our Lord Jesus.

To mark our 2nd anniversary, we took a day off from our busy schedule and head off for some much needed adventure!

It's been a while since we set off on a long trip. This time, we set off to the fruit farms in the mountains.

Our first stop, chestnut and walnut farm!

The day started as a wet gloomy day, there was a storm going through sydney. We left home about 9am, and was stuck in the morning traffic which was delayed by the storm. All along the way, the rain only became heavier. We prayed along the way, hoping that the rain will ease when we get there. And it did! 

3 hrs later, we arrived at Mt Irvine, Kookootonga farm.

I checked their website a week before. They had just started their chestnut and walnuts season! The trees all are laden with fruits and the grounds filled with chestnuts and walnuts to be picked. 

Why picked? 

Well, this  is how you harvest chestnut and walnut. Pick them up from the ground!

Chestnuts have spiky shell surrounding it's nut. (To stop squirrel from eating it before it is ripe.) so we he have to wear thick leather gloves to pick them up. We use our shoes to step on the shells so that those that are still stuck in the shell can come out.

The weather was clearing into small drizzle when we are out there picking.  

The farm is huge!! It has a mix of chestnut n walnuts trees.

Under the chestnut trees, you can see the nuts all around on the ground. 

Our harvest is 2 buckets full!

With a mix of chestnuts n walnuts.

A close up look of how the chestnut looks like with their spiky shell.

Unriped Chestnut on the tree.

They will explode like a rubber fruit to disperse their seeds  around.

Two full buckets!

We went back for another half bucket of walnuts after filling that two buckets. Total weight collected, 12kg worth of chestnuts n walnuts!

Drying them out at home.

The little shed where the harvest were weigh and packed.

We were starving by then. Stopped by the famous pies shop for lunch at 3pm.

My beef and mushroom pie.

It has huge chunky meat, however, the gravy was very starchy. >_<

Later we hear Chinese ppl working in their kitchen.... So that's why it's full of starch. Not impressed. 

 We also went to a veggie farm. On the far right are bok choi growing hydroponically.

Along the way, we also stop by shops to get bags of apples that had ripen from the trees!

Oh they are so sweet n crunchy!

Do you know that apples that had ripen on trees don't go brown as easily? 

Our harvest of a bucket of red delicious apples. The small ones are so cute!

Before heading back, we stopped by the egg farm to get real fresh eggs. 

We also bought pumpkins! So it's now the season for pumpkin soup!

Thank you dear Eric for the adventure. 

Kcan