Kotuku

Late yesterday afternoon. We saw there was alot of seaweed at the mudflats and stopped to collect some for the asparagus bed. There were several kotuku fishing in the low tide and I saw a spoonbill, my favorite, but he/she was too shy for a photo. I scared the kotuku trying to get a close up. I use to spend ages at these mudflats as a kid, my brothers and I would go and catch eels at low tide and fish and waterski at high. As I got older I looked for birds, it was a nice early birthday present for me to see 4 of my favorites in the low tide yesterday.

My visit to ECO Fest earlier in the day had got me thinking about my environment and my impact on it as I drove home. There were lots of alternative energy displays but I just can't see a way to afford installing solar panels at our place yet. Something I've wanted for ages is a system to deliver the washing machine water directly to the garden instead of me doing it all by bucket, but they were thousands of dollars too. Hopefully the government or council will show some foresight soon and offer subsidy's for installing these systems, a no interest loan would suit me. The council were however helpful in my mission of getting a good worm farm for Playcentre, I am going to apply for a grant this week which will hopefully cover worms, wormfarm, a bokashi bucket and education in using them. So that's a step in the right direction. There were lots of nappy displays as expected, which reminded me I need to make the red head a few bigger ones to last him until potty training starts. The best part was people watching, every body at Eco fest looked interesting with orginal clothes and hairstyles. It's on again in Nelson today. Worth a visit.