sillybean, sillyseason (or something)

Red currant jelly

I wanted to post pictures of all the cute Christmas presents I'm making. Problem is I'm experiencing something similar to "writers block" except with sewing. It happens to me often and usually resolves itself 24 hours before a deadline or after I've had a jolly good clean up.

A gift from my friend's mum. THANK YOU!!

and the pile of fabric which should really be Christmas presents by now.

With the end of the school term looming I've barely sat down all week, leaving me absolutely no desire for cleaning up. I've been to school performances and prize givings, Christmas party's and meetings, play dates and interviews, packed a kid for camp and done the washing when he arrived home. So, I'm pooped!

Next week, my "teen" flys to Australia on his own for Christmas with my brother. I'm a little freaked out, it will be our first Christmas apart. I decided to send him because our small town has a lot of bad influences on teenagers, drugs and alcohol mainly. A boy a few years older, from a good family round the corner, has been sent to jail after getting into trouble with the law and a couple of T's freinds broke into their old primary school a month ago which sent me into a panic thinking, if those great kids are making stupid choices with dire consequences what can I do to keep my boy safe a little longer? Answer: send him to my brother away from bad influences. Is 14 too young to drink alcohol? I think so, but T got an invitation to an end of year party from a girl I don't know, so I rang her parents to make sure they were all going to be supervised and thank goodness asked "there won't be alcohol available will there?" turns out "yes there is". He doesn't hate me for saying he can't go, thank goodness. Why make alcohol available at 14? I know I'm getting old and I'm glad that I'm un cool. I was 14 and pretty stupid once too, perhaps that's why I'm so determined to protect my kids.

Just to make things a bit more challenging L has applied for a job out of town, which means we'll only get to see him on weekends. I feel happy for him that a job has come up that he's really keen on, but I have some concerns about our kids. Watch this space I guess.

And...The red head is driving me nuts!!(we both went to "time out" this morning) He's 2 a half I know, what do I expect? But just between you and I he's much naughtier than the big ones were. I wonder if it is because they got the odd little smack when they were naughty? What do you reckon "spare the rod spoil the child"? It's against the law to smack now so we'll see won't we? I'm not looking foward to him being 14!

A new bag?

Another garden post

Succulent fresh peas are on the menu every second night. I just wish I'd planted them every two weeks for a continuous supply! They're one thing that grows very easily in my soil, not needing any special attention, just water. It's great to grow things that don't need too much attention. Carrots on the other hand do not grow well for me at all. If by some strike of luck they germinate they usually get taken over by weeds or bugs, carrot fly ,grass grubs, aphids you name it and it will find my carrots.I need to arrange a friendly swap with someone who can grow them because for five seasons they've been pathetic.

I never did get around to sorting out the aphids in the tunnel house, partly because I'm busy and partly because these guys need something to eat. This is a paper wasp hopefully she and her babies will gobble up lots of aphids and grubs. She might also eat the juvenile lady bug on the fennel flowers though, which would be a shame because they love to eat aphids. I feel so much better about letting mother nature sort out the pest control. If only she'd give us a bit of rain as well.
I'm letting alot of plants go to seed, the predatory insects are especially attracted to the umbelliferae family including parsnip,dill, fennel etc. They get really tall making the garden much more interesting and colourful too.

Patchwork garden

This blog is being a little neglected as summer settles in and Christmas quickly approaches. Middle of summer is a stupid time to have Christmas, there's far too much to do in the garden to be inside sewing or even worse shopping in town. Motueka is a tourist town and a summer work destination so traffic is terrible at this time of year, a quick trip to town for groceries can take hours during the summer months. I have had a great week though, just not alot of spare time. There were heaps of garage sales on in the weekend and I'm rather pleased with the bright tea towels I got for 50c each. I was going to cut them up for bags but I'm getting quite attached to them the way they are.
I was also a winner on Sally Anne's blog! I haven't won anything for a long time so it really made my day when I read I had won. It was meant to be because my daughter gets called "sweet pea" on the rare occasions that's she's not driving me nuts! I watched her sing solo at a performance for the old folks club on Friday. I was so nervous for her, but she was amazing. Huge credit needs to go to her wonderful teacher who nurtured the shy girl who didn't even want to go to school to a point where she'll sing on her own in front of an audience. What a treasure she is.
I Love how the garden looks in summer, it comes together to remind me of a patchwork quilt. These views are from the top of the kid's slide. I am disappointed that a new plum tree I bought seems to have silverleaf. From what I've read nothing can get rid of it and it spreads very easily. I'll be devastated if I have to start cutting trees out.
Mating stink bugs got squashed today with a satisfying crunch. I am not a Buddhist gardener! The aphids in the tunnel house will be dealt to tomorrow as soon as I decide weather it's better to make a garlic spray with the last of last years garlic or pyrethrum spray which has the disadvantage of killing ladybugs too, which we don't want. Any suggestions would be welcomed.

Neudorf

The Fair at Neudorf vineyard yesterday.The setting was beautiful for wine drinking, listening to jazz and shopping for Christmas. I hear it was very expensive to get in but at least the money is going toward child cancer.
I LOVE Owen Bartlett pottery!!!! I can't afford it though. Kids to go to camp, birthdays, Christmas etc. One day though I shall have the spotty jug my heart desires. (Green below)

These country ladies took my fancy too. Not to buy, I'm one of these fair shoppers that goes around and says to myself "that's a good idea, I could make one of those" and never get around to it.
My bags looked better displayed at home, I can't quite get my stall to come together at the moment.

West Coast Real Estate

Beautiful one bedroom house, beachfront property, native timber throughout, secluded spot with awesome views.

" Skatey boy" loved the coast with his Dad, hut building and train spotting, it couldn't get better than that for him really.

Briefly

L has taken "skatey boy" for a jaunt down the west coast to visit rellies and friends so I'm without my camera for a few days. Household dynamic will be a bit different with two away, I'm looking forward to making sushi, hummus, salad etc with the meat eaters away. The teen arrived back from camp with renewed appreciation for my cooking "YAY" he said he got very bored with all the processed food they took. DOUBLE YAY.I found a new to me blog today, check out Helen's writings and craftings. And surely everyone has discovered the Sew Mama Sew handmade holiday's ideas already? Time to start making some pressies.

Rats!

Look away if you don't like rats! A couple of years ago "skatey boy" was asked what he wanted for his birthday. Axolotls is the answer he gave me and "NO WAY" was my swift reply, have you seen these dreadful creatures? I saw one as a kid and had nightmares about them for years, "absolutely anything except an axolotl" I foolishly said. "OK then rats" Oh dear I did say anything else didn't I? Damn it! Surprisingly though they've quite grown on me, I wouldn't hold them but I do enjoy bringing them in things to eat from the garden. Ralph became a $130 rat last week, I knew I should have stuck to my plan of being a vet. He's recovering well from having a lump removed from his face, I know it is extravagant to spend that much on a pet rat but I couldn't break my kid's heart.

The last few weeks have been full on, I spring cleaned the house and had a garage sale on Saturday it didn't really go to plan though as the "red head" spent most of Friday night screaming, revealing at about 3 in the morning that his ear hurt. Suffering from sleep deprivation I decided to go ahead with the garage sale anyway as I couldn't stand the boxes of stuff around for another week. It went OK but I didn't set things out as nicely as I could have and packed up in a hurry to get the "red head" to the duty Dr. Ouch there goes half the profit. I'm glad the week's over, the "teen" goes to school camp tomorrow so I get three days break from being "so mean". His friends have been making some really stupid decisions lately and getting into trouble it's only been sheer luck that T has been away on the weekend's that they've got into mischief, so I have said they can come here and hang out instead of him going with them. Mean Eh!? I've always trusted him but that pack mentality is pretty strong, I'd rather know what he/they are up to at present. I hope I'm doing the right thing, L and I aren't quite in agreement about how to deal with it all but are just trying to keep him safe and out of trouble. I hope they're too worn out from kayaking and tramping to do anything silly at camp.

Absolutely no sewing or knitting happening in these parts, a wee bit of gardening. I have harvested the first zucchini from the garden and am using my spare moments to get little things like tying up tomatoes, mounding up potatoes, weeding and watering done in the garden. L's clothes drying rack is getting put to use to dry flowers for the garlic plaits. I think it will look cool as it fills up and will be great because I won't have to wobble on a stool when I hang things up.

Calendula cream 1

I'm pleased that a few friends are going to try the Halloween spider biscuits. Could you tell that the spider body is a raisin? I'm searching for Christmas edible ideas now for our Playcentre Christmas baking stall. Let me know if you all see any quick sure selling ideas, I'm thinking good old shortbread, truffles, gingerbread men and the like.

Somewhere in blogland late one night I saw the suggestion to do entirely handmade Christmas gifts. I wouldn't be at all popular with my kids if I included them but for friends and family it would be do -able. Basil in the garden will be ready for pesto. Herbal ointment for others.On a dry day pick a loosely packed jar full of herb flowers, petals or leaves. Calendula is a great one to start with as it is a good all round skin healer and is very gentle. Comfrey leaves could also be chopped, but because they are quite moist can often promote mould. Lavender flowers are good, strip them off the stalk. Others I use are yarrow, chamomile, elderflower, rosemary, st john's wort, native manuka and kawa kawa. I'm not a qualified herbalist so will not recommend certain herbs for certain ailments but there are many books you can get from the library and make creams for eczema, dry skin, cuts, scrapes, bites, hemorrhoids,massage etc.

Here I'll show the method, it's called cold maceration. Once you've packed the dry petals cover them in oil of your choice (not nasty old salad and cooking oil made in china) I have used olive, almond and grape seed all of which have their own healing qualities and little odour. Avocado would probably be lovely too. Use a skewer to get all the air bubbles out by going down the side of the jar and squeezing the petals back a bit, you might see if you look closely in the picture. Do this until you can't see any more bubbles rising, it's really important as the air promotes mould. Fill the jar right to the top and put a lid on. Set aside in a dark place for four to six weeks. The oils or constituents in the plant that are soluble in oil will be absorbed into your carrier oil. Start with a wee jar first so if you do get some mould growth you don't have to chuck away heaps. My teacher would check hers weekly and just scrape off any mould growing, you could do that if any occurs but the perfectionist in me couldn't cope with that. Another thing to remember when gathering herbs for medicine is to be in a serene or appropriate state of mind. Don't do it when you're stressed or angry as these energy's may be imparted onto your medicine. Sing, smile, pray, visualise, meditate or whatever is appropriate to you.

Next step in six weeks you'll need some natural beeswax, try the beekeeper at the local farmers market or the health food shop. Alternatively you could use the oil as is for massage etc or in aqueous cream but I'll go into that further later.

All Hallow's Eve

Not really a Kiwi traditionBut I quite like scaring them. I was going to do skeletal gingerbread men but ran out of time.
Spider biscuits provoked a good reaction anyway.

Walk in the garden

If you came for a walk round my garden this afternoon I'd be pretty excited to show you everything that's happening. Down the back path past the chooks the raspberries are about to open their flowers and sunflowers and nasturtiums line the back fence, I hope the frost doesn't get them I heard on the radio there might be one tonight. The old ironing board recycled to become a table holds lettuce and beans waiting to be planted. Further down the fence a boysenberry is tied to the fence. I love all the flowers in the garden at present, most of them are white and hold promise of beautiful fruit and berries to come.
Cherries, their sight a real delight. Hopefully these promise fruit just after Christmas, a wee bit of time for me to prepare to stop the birds stealing them all. This will be their third season in the ground and the first that I'll be allowing fruit. The first two years I pick flowers off all my fruit trees so they can put all their energy into putting down good strong roots.
Elderflower opening, a beautiful scent. Some of these will be for tea and herbal cream some left to grow into berries.
A splash of orange, Calendula in the flower garden. Many people are asking me to repeat a herbal cream making workshop I did last year. I thought I'd go through the steps here on my blog as well for future reference. So if you want to join in, initially you'll need to find a patch of Calendula, Comfrey, Lavender, Elderflower, Yarrow, Kawa Kawa, Manuka,Chammomile or any other herbs you have growing which are soothing for skin or have antiseptic qualities, there are heaps. Have on hand ready for a dry day some olive or almond oil a clean glass jar with lid and some wooden kebab sticks. I think a good time for collecting herbs for storage is when the moon is rising or full but since it's been so wet we'll just go for a good dry fine day. I'll keep you posted.