I'VE BEEN loving this autumn weather so much.

Yes, the mornings are shiveringly cold, but they make the electric blanket and first cup of coffee absolutely exquisite.

It's the afternoons that delight me most, when the work of the day is done, and Fezzik, my Rottweiler pup, and I go for a wander around the farm, checking on the chooks, turkey, geese, sheep, goats, and other dogs, making sure everyone is fed and watered and tucked in safely for the night.

A pair of wedge-tailed eagles moved into the neighbourhood, so we have to be extra vigilant with our young stock and the birds.

It's medieval season for us, so we've spent many happy days hunkered down in the shed and workshop making all sorts of things.

Shields have been cut out, shaped, and covered with leather before getting individual devices painted onto the front.

Long pieces of timber are being cut, shaped, and sanded before getting stained and protected with multiple coats of clear paint.

I've been working with fabrics, choosing some for pillow covers to make a comfy resting area in our medieval Bedouin tent, setting aside others to make a striped facade for a new round tent that is home to a couple of our combatants.

I've been stitching innumerable black fabric ties to use in attaching tent walls and fabric facades to various tents, and making dozens of linen bags to hold the dried herbs and berries that I sell in my medieval medicine stall.

I've also been wood-burning, etching thorny designs into the handles of my sturdy hammer and a couple of battle axes for Bear.

It may seem like a lot of work for a hobby, and I suppose it is, but we love it.

We enjoy working together, taking breaks for hot soup and home-made bread rolls, visiting away as we cut leather and build up wonderfully fragrant piles of sawdust.

It's also fun to have various medieval friends drop in throughout the week to build a medieval wooden box or learn how to make chain maille or pitch in on group projects.

We have a lovely little community through medieval enactment, and I'm deeply grateful for it.