01/09/2026
AUGUST AT MISCHIEF MAKERS… or perhaps more accurately, “what on earth have we been doing while it looked like we were quiet?” 😂
The answer is… apparently EVERYTHING.
After what feels like forever, the 30+ absolutely GIANT 9–12 metre tables are finally GONE.
The last few weekends have been huge — working from around 8am until 5 or 6pm each day, with the boys, Mum, and the beautiful Al and Roz all pitching in. I think we basically broke everyone, including me!
But I could not have been prouder of us all.
Somehow we became this weird little well-oiled machine, working, laughing, dreaming and constantly talking about what this giant new space could become.
Al and Roz were just magical. Even in their tiny food breaks they were helping Miles with his trees, showing him how to tie them, where to trim them, sharing their nursery knowledge, and later dropping off pots for a future workshop and a beautiful gardening book for him.
That little bit probably sums up what I love most about this place — community, people sharing what they know, kids learning from adults around them, and everyone contributing something.
And the best part?
WE NOW HAVE ANOTHER GIANT EPIC SPACE!
Ideas already being thrown around include nighttime laser tag, markets, RC cars, outdoor events, games, gatherings and even fashion parades with a catwalk — Miles has already provided a very convincing demonstration of that one. 😂
We’d love to eventually get some grass growing through the area too and really bring it to life.
We’ve also been creating some new little spaces inside.
The old office/storeroom has become a cosy gaming room for some of the teens, while our “shop/fancy room/parent room” — still desperately in need of a proper name — is now also home to Friday CAD sessions.
Jasper has been running CAD on Fridays either one-on-one or in small groups, helping kids learn design, create things for 3D printing, understand how the printers work, or just follow wherever their curiosity takes them.
And apparently SCHOOL HOLIDAYS ARE ALMOST HERE, so Miles and I are now sitting down to work out what mischief we’ll be running.
This Friday night we also FINALLY kick off our Mischief Friday Nights.
Bring the kids, bring the parents, bring a snack and just hang out.
There’ll be craft, volleyball, badminton, table tennis, games, fairy lights, a fire, a few snacks and plenty of room for the kids to simply be kids.
Full details will go up tomorrow, but we usually kick off around 6pm and bookings will be essential.
Amongst all of that, we also managed to squeeze in some pretty special birthdays.
We had the privilege of hosting Kai’s 18th birthday here — one of our wonderful regular homeschool crew.
Kai, we are so incredibly proud of the brilliant young man you have become, and it really was such a privilege to have your 18th here with us. ❤️
Our cooking crew also whipped up birthday cakes for Forest’s 11th birthday.
We made TWO just in case one went horribly wrong…
Turns out we absolutely did not need a backup. 😂
The team blitzed it and both cakes were epic, so Forest ended up being one very lucky young lady with two birthday cakes instead of one!
Meanwhile, down in Miles’s territory — basically all things plants — things have been equally ridiculous.
There has been planting happening EVERY. SINGLE. DAY… and often into the nights.
We’ve been madly spending the last of our budget trying to get as much of the edible garden established as we can, so from here on in we’ll be saving madly and building it bit by bit.
But we’ve made a pretty exciting start.
We’ve discovered the wonderful world of bare-root trees and now have apples, nectarines, plums and peaches, with apricots still to come.
We’ve started adding bush tucker plants too, including some that apparently grow berries tasting like strawberry and cinnamon — obviously far too interesting not to try!
The dream is to turn this whole part of Mischief Makers into an edible wonderland.
We want you to walk in and be hit with colour, smell and taste.
Fruit trees, berries, herbs, vegetables, flowers everywhere, things kids can pick and taste, little hidden pockets and hopefully a whole lot of magic.
Miles has started a fairy garden out the front, flowers are going in along the property, five big apple trees are planted, potato beds are set up, garlic and ginger are in, seedlings are going absolutely crazy and we’re building a giant green snow-pea tunnel.
We’ve also planted around 150 dahlia seeds, loads more flowers thanks to Marjorie and Jo, and Deb has supplied us with giant sunflower seeds that apparently grow up to 2.5–3 metres tall.
So yes… subtle gardening is going extremely well. 😂
This is also why our general-public workshops have been quieter.
With sharp steel, refrigeration panels and equipment everywhere, it just wasn’t safe to have kids free-ranging through the property the way we normally love them to.
Our regular homeschool sessions have kept running — Wednesday cooking, Sunday night D&D, Friday CAD and our gaming group — while we finished all the heavy work.
And somehow Miles has also found time to start designing his own Mischief Makers board game.
We’ve had lots of younger kids interested in D&D, but after talking with our Dungeon Master and the teens, it became pretty clear that traditional D&D for younger kids is not exactly an easy feat.
So Miles decided to create something of his own.
It’s based around Mischief Makers HQ and our giant tunnels, with some of the fun and chaos of D&D and Dungeon Mayhem, aimed roughly at ages 8–14.
He’s designing the card decks, characters and whole little world, and even has plans for add-on decks where some of our Mischief Friday peeps could eventually appear as characters in the game.
So that has become part of our evenings too — sitting around together creating ridiculous things.
And then there is the whole other side of this adventure…
Miles and I learning how to GARDEN. 😂
Truthfully, neither of us has really planted much before, so there has been soooo much learning.
Our beautiful friends have been giving us advice, answering our endless questions and occasionally having a little giggle when we proudly announce something that is apparently completely normal.
But after years in wet Sassafras, having these warm tunnels and a slightly warmer climate feels heavenly.
Things actually sprout!
Things grow!
Actually… things are growing so fast that today I have to find a soil distributor because we’ve somehow already used up our HUGE load of potting soil.
Doh!!! 😂
Apparently our new problem is keeping up with it all.
We need more soil.
We need more pots.
And probably a slightly bigger budget. 😂
But that’s half the fun of it.
We’re learning, experimenting, occasionally getting things completely wrong, celebrating ridiculously small victories and slowly watching this whole place come alive around us.
So even though it may have looked a little quiet online…
Mischief Makers has been anything but.
Pretty standard Mischief Makers behaviour really.
And there is LOTS more coming. ❤️
