The Guest Nest :: Sams Creek Studio & Garden

 

It’s The Guest Nest time again. This little space has become my  favourite spot at Feather & Nest {other than bits about my gorgy boy, of course} and it’s only the second time around! Sticky beaking into real life nests and the lives of the featherers who live there is, well, a huge passion of mine. But I think I may have said that a few hundred times before….

Last month’s Guest Nester was the lovely Leah from The Inside Story. If you missed Leah’s guest nest then please pop on over here for a squiz at her beautiful creation.

This month is a Guest Nest with a difference. Today it’s all about the creative space of one very  talented and, may I add, local gal.

So, no more ramblings from me, let’s take a wander around the gorgeousness that is the lovely Rhonda Ayliffe’s creative Sams Creek outdoor nest. Over to you, Rhonda.

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Who lives in your nest?

The Sams Creek nest is home to my family - my man (Farmer Phil), our two farm- and sports-mad kidlets (Sass and EJ), the cats (Boots and Dante), dogs (Brimmer, Brody and Sarah) and countless farm and forest animals.

 

How long have you lived there?

My family purchased the farm at Sams Creek when I was 18 months old…. It had a ramshackle old home (the original part of the house was built in the last decades of the 1800s –its one of the oldest farm houses in the area). Along with the house there was a collection of sheds – each more decrepit than the last, half a dozen ancient loquat trees and one old horse. No one in my family chose to live in the rather unappealing house (no running water, no electricity, no hope – or so my parents and grandparents thought!) but I fell in love with the place and from the age of about nine I started to plot how to make it mine – in 1988 my dream came true – I’ll never leave.

 

 

What made you move to this nest?

Love – for the house/farm/forest/creek.

 

 

What is it that you love most about living in your nest?

This place (the house, the funny bits of left over sheds, the gardens, the paddocks, the creek, the forest) are a part of me. They are me - and I am this land.

 

Can you tell us a bit about your favourite space?

My very favourite space – its this place … Sams Creek.

 

 

How about your favourite feathering thing?

I’m not much of an interior person and I’m not at all into luxury or show-off items or ‘new things’. Most of my furniture was either found in the house or was handed down through the family. The house came with a collection of depression-era furniture my fav is a funny little concoction – it’s a set of drawers made from packing cases, an old sewing machine frame and cotton reel drawer pulls – its never been painted and I think it’s simply perfect. I have a little wunderkammer – a glass cabinet of curiosities (the cabinet was a ribbon cabinet from my grandparents general store in the 1940s-1970s) – in it I keep all my most precious little things – a ceramic bird I bought when I was 7yrs old, a hand crocheted jug cover my great grandmother made, a lyrebird’s tail feather, a hand beaten brass bowl with butterfly wings collected in the garden….

 

 

Could you show us where you spend most of your bloggy time?

 

Trust me when I say – no one should have to see that space (what a mess!)

 

Where is the one place in your nest {inside or out} that you feel the most cosy and relaxed?

I love our verandahs – we have a space for every season or occasion…

 

 

Can you show us around your permaculture garden and tell us a bit about it & why you’ve designed it around permaculture?

My garden is where I do most of my ‘nesting’. We grow a lot of our fruit and vege (and beef and lamb in the paddocks for the meat eaters in the house).

 

 

*** To read more about  the story of Rhonda’s farm life and to view more pictures go here: http://www.rhondaayliffe.blogspot.com.au/p/farm.html ***

I first heard of permaculture in the 1980s and bought my first book on the subject while still in high school – but I didn’t get to complete my Permaculture Design Certificate (the 72hr introduction course covering the basics of Permaculture) until 2010. Permaculture is a wholistic design system based around 3 core ethics: care for the earth, care for people, fair share. Australian David Holmgren (http://www.holmgren.com.au/) is credited as the co-originator of permaculture (along with Bill Mollison). I think Holmgren’s book ‘Permaculture: Principles and Pathways beyond Sustainability’ is simply brilliant – it’s not a garden design book as much as it is a philosophical overview of the 12 principles of permaculture. – here’s a better place to read all about it > (http://www.permacultureprinciples.com/) I’m slowly integrating all our farm/garden/studio/home according to these permy principles – I like that it’s a work in progress….

 

How does being an artist influence your feathering and nesting?

Hmmmm – My home is full of art and natural elements found in wanderings around the area: birds nests, feathers, pebbles… the place is always a little bit ramshackled as I use most of my creative energy in my arty work.

 

*** Here’s a link to Rhonda’s artworks slideshow:  http://www.rhondaayliffe.com/ ****

 

You’ve got an art studio, right? Could you show us around?

My rustic ‘shed’ studio has recently had a bit of a face-lift in preparation for the launch of sams creek bookworks. On May 5^th I will be opening the studio and garden as a fundraiser for Cobargo P&C. I have a spectacular collection of book-craft related equipment and tools – including a gorgeous C&P letterpress, a jaw-droppingly fantastic French percussion standing press (its unlikely most folk will see one of these outside a museum) oh and so much more….. you’ll have to visit!

 

 

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Thank so much, Rhonda, for that lovely wander through your studio and garden nest. I feel so inspired to get out into my new 3 acre block of nothing-but-grapevines and plant ‘till my my heart’s content.  I’m so looking forward to May the 5th when we can come and visit your nest in real life and see all of the studio treasures and book work gorgeousness that you’ve been collecting and creating.

If you live close enough to the gorgeous Sams Creek then why don’t you come along to Rhonda’s Open Studio too?

 

 

For those of you who won’t be able to make the Open Studio, here is the link to Rhonda’s juicy creativeness:

http://samscreekbookworks.blogspot.com.au/

Bring on the 5th of May!

Kim x