Some stuff for my son.

To my son you are 12 today, I remember your birth well. I'm sorry that the next year or two was a blur in the post natal depression haze. I still feel the guilt of putting you in your cot and saying firmly "go to sleep" only to discover the next day you had a raging ear ache. You were a pretty content baby except in the middle of the night when you thought you were starving. Even back then you were a bit of a daredevil on your bike yelling "look Mum" to show me your skills. When you were 2 you nearly died from a bee sting. It was so sudden it was like being sucked into a parallel universe. One moment cooking dinner and the next calling an ambulance only to have them not answer me each time I asked if you'd be alright. You grew very close to your Dad when he became a house husband through injury and I went to work. You are an awesome talent, artistic and musical with an insane daredevil streak. The stunt bike you are longing to get at Christmas time is not being given to spoil you but because we understand that you seek thrills, Dad and I intend to let you experience the physical thrills you seek so that you may never seek them in drugs. Not much longer to wait for your bike. Please don't ask me to go on the tandem skydive with you either!

Tiger worms-look away if you're squeemish

In response to spinningayarn.


I have a fairly functional worm farm but am still learning too. I'd leave it till they come to the food before you add more food. See mine in the photo below they've eaten most of their food and are all working on what food is left there. Don't let them dry out and keep something over the top of it all cos they don't seem to like the light, it helps keep them moist too. I use a hessian sack or wet paper/cardboard. I get quite alot of little fruit flys in mine, I think it's because I over feed it a bit but have also read that it might need a very small sprinkling of lime, but haven't got round to it. They prefer mushy food but I give them all sorts. I never give them onion or citrus though as they don't like it. Mine seem to be enjoying a recent layer of shredded paper.

Hope that was some help.

Garden notes Nov

I would've liked to be crafting or gardening today but I was trying to be conscientious and finished off my work from last week and went to a meeting.

Made it out to the garden when I got home though. Mowed the lawns and used the clippings to suppress the weeds. We had a good deal of rain and wind yesterday so it was a perfect time to put mulch on. I'd been putting off tying things up and I found almost everything tall in the garden had fallen down. Bit of a bummer, the poppies and sunflowers had been looking great. Fixed them up as best I could and took the laterals off my cucumbers . It's the first time I've done that. They just looked like they'd do better if I thinned them out a bit. Hopefully it will ward off the powdery mildew for awhile. I have arranged a trade with a friend of mine she gives me fresh cows milk once a week and I'm giving her fresh veges. It's a great incentive to keep up with all the work in the garden.

We're eating these lovely stripey beetroot in salads. Fresh peas, spring onions, cabbage, broccoli, a few potatoes, zucchinis and waiting patiently for raspberries , cucumbers and tomatoes. Still watering the garlic when necessary and looking forward to digging it up round Christmas. Sowed a few more carrot seeds, planting basil and melons and corn. Lady bugs are dealing to the aphids and I'm feeding everything with "worm wee" whenever I think of it. Should be sowing brassica seed but as we run out of water they get too stressed and then bugs attack so will leave it until January.

garden

This weekend the fore casted bad weather didn't make it's appearance until ...... 9am this morning after I'd unpacked all my gear at the market.
Blessings though, it started softly, I had hot coffee, talked with happy people and after I packed every damp thing back into the car the stall holder next to me who had packed up too, gave me this delightful bunch of peonies. Aren't they divine?

I made a foolish mistake when we moved into our house. It had been vacant for two years so the gardens were a weedy disaster, there was evidence though that the house had been occupied by a keen gardener. Wild pumpkin plants amongst the long grass where my garden is now, little paper bags of seeds in the shed and bulbs which were still trying bravely in long neglected gardens. I vowed to myself to not disturb the garden too much to see what came up. I hadn't yet learnt patience (still learning) so it wasn't long ( a couple of days) before I started clearing the small garden outside my kitchen window. I found what I thought were the roots of helebore's which I'm not fond of underneath the thick grass and ruthlessly hauled them out. It wasn't till I saw a poor lone leaf of a peony pop up the next year that I realised I'd slaughtered peonies not hellebore's. #1 lesson -patience. Learned the hard way.
I'm also learning a silverleaf lesson at the moment, I might have mentioned (moaned) that I got a greengage plum from the nursery which had silverleaf, anyway I didn't recognise it straight away. The tree got mournfully cut out of my garden but not before it had spread the dreaded silverleaf spores around. I thought I must have spread it on my pruners but I found that it spreads by airbourne spores getting into winter pruning cuts. Trees are especially vulnerable if the weather gets damp while the cuts are fresh. ARRRRAH so now I must decide if I should cut the infected cherry tree out. Ouch. Then what do I do if anything thing else shows up with it. Decisions, decisions. So that's hard gardening lesson # 2 -get rid of silver leaf quick. Oh and #3 might be don't be lazy sterilize the pruners between trees just to be certain.

Flower still life again cos I made a mistake uploading.

Smiley side up

I was going to sit down and write how I'm feeling low and lethargic, but I guess to dwell on those kind of feelings gives them more power somehow.

Instead I'm reflecting, I'm resting and I'm making a smile. I am blessed too. I have four beautiful healthy children, my own home, food in my garden and I made my first sale in my Felt Shop today. So what's not to be happy and energetic about? THANK YOU if you read here.

The garden is taking off. Last year's scarlet runners are popping up, zucchinis, cucumbers and tomatoes are flowering. Beetroot is being grated into salads, succulent peas packed into school lunches and the stink bugs are mating on the mustard. I need some pantyhose from the op shop to start tying everything up. We had very strong wind yesterday which flattened lots of plants and ripped a window off teenage son's bedroom, frame and all. No insurance wood too rotten.

I spun the mermaid coloured wool, it's not plied yet I'm trying to decide weather I should ply it onto itself or spin some white or gray to ply it with. I have plied up some adorable forresty green I wish I had enough for a jersey for skatey boy but I think there will only be enough for the red head. It's waiting to be washed and wound up. So can you tell what I did all weekend?

Tracy is the winner. Thanks for commenting everyone, it is so nice to be introduced to new people and their blogs and to hear from old favorites who you wonder are they're still popping in for a visit?

I've had inspiration from a friend in the last few weeks and it's exactly what I need with my sewing machine away.

The spinning display at the school fair sparked an interest with my skatey boy. He hassled me until I got my wheel out and dusted it off. He spun some lovely crude wool. There is something very special about beginner spinner's wool the way it gets really fat and thin then very twisty and almost untwisted, gives it a great rustic charm. Teenage boy ofcourse couldn't resist a dig at younger brother I'm sure siblings cruel words must have a long term effect. Gosh it's tiring.

Anyway the wheel was out and I'd had an invite to get together to do some spinning yesterday so I guess it was inevitable that I would feel inspired too. In the 70s when we lived on a farm my Mum was a great spinner and crafter along with all the other things a farmers wife gets to do. I first learnt to spin after watching her wheel go round and round all my life when she was put in hospital for almost 8 weeks with complications of pregnancy which devastatingly resulted in the death of my younger twin siblings. I missed mum so much when she was away. I connected with her I guess by fiddling with her spinning wheel which I wasn't supposed to touch but I did lean to spin. She is a great crafty role model. Being with my group of friends yesterday reminded me alot of the get togethers I went to with mum as a child. Very enjoyable. Something about crafting with a group of women rather than on your own feels much more fulfilling. Afterwards I came home and dyed some mermaid coloured wool and sat up very late spinning.

Our kids have been very busy this week with their school production practices and performances. For PJ it's twice as busy with her tap dancing show in the same week so we've had extra practices for that too. Add in sport and their Dad home to get them over excitable I've not had much time to breathe or think quietly.
Tuesday morning was very disappointing I went to put my little plant stall out by the road and found someone had stolen the beautiful money box L had made me. It had been attached very securely to the cart so they must have been pretty determined. I'm not so worried about the few dollars they got out of it I'm just disappointed at the thought that it might have been someone in our small community. Later in the day a parcel from Christy at Lil Bit Brit arrived in the mail and cheered me up a little. Thanks Christy, perfect timing. I'm not sure weather to put my stall out again I have quite alot of plants still but might find room in the garden for them. I will miss the pocket money though.
I've done about an hour sewing and gardening this week, it feels very odd. Worse still I can't actually think what I have achieved. Perhaps the children have had quality time with me I don't recall any yelling or stressing this week.
The sewing machine is making a funny noise, tomorrow it will get a check up. I strongly suspect that the red head has stuck a pin somewhere he shouldn't have.
Add a comment if you fancy a new bag, (see previous post) I'll draw it after the weekend.

Garden and giveaway.

Teenage son said "why can't we get veges out of packets, you know cut up or grated, like normal people"? I hope an explanation about unknown sprays, fertilizer and goodness deteriorating as soon as veges are picked will one day sink in. He's heared it all before and might be just winding me up but I'll be so sad if he grows up not sharing similar values. I told him we're normal and they're not.

I got a parcel in the mail today from Pherenike of Sunshine dew.

I'm really looking forward to a few quiet moments to read the magazines, my budget doesn't often stretch to magazines so that was a treat. Seeds as well, excellent timing, I'm itching to do some more planting. See the cool little packets with horticultural text.

And finally some new bags and I thought I'd pay it forward with a giveaway. A zip up wool bag with a doily and button. It will vary slightly from these two cos I hope they will both sell this weekend. Just drop me a comment.

Solo mum

I'm wishing I was enjoying a wine, I've had a really full on few weeks. There's been very late night sewing for yesterdays fantastic Ngatimoti School festival, early morning watering and weeding (not enough mind you) in the garden, dehydrating kiwifruit for our Brooklyn School country Fair next weekend, Playcentre work and meetings, learning sign language and the associated homework. Whoops, I'll have to cram tomorrow morning. I'm not complaining though I really like to be achieving things so it's been a satisfying few weeks also. My mothering has not been up to scratch I must admit. I flagged the reading last week in favour of getting kids to bed early so I didn't throttle them. The red head drove me totally nuts on Thursday, none of my other kids are quite like him I'm convinced only mothers of red heads would understand he is into EVERYTHING! Has to fiddle, loves attention, displays a fantastic temper,is good at winding siblings up and at the moment not making it to the toilet on time. If I'd had him first I might have only had 1 child.
I'd love to show off the bags I made for the festival but no. 1 teenage son has been lending me his camera batteries for awhile now and decided last week to withdraw the favour so I shall have to buy some new ones. I will show when I make some more bags. Also the garden is worthy of some pics it's changing every day at the moment.
Any locals who are reading come and visit our school fair on Saturday at Brooklyn School there'll be food and entertainment,books, plants and crafts and stuff for kids too of course. If that's not tempting enough how about fresh whitebait sammies? We're fundraising for a new community pool.

Self sufficiency project

Living on just under half and acre of land clearly we'll never be truly self sufficient but I'm practicing in case my circumstances change. I dreamed, but wouldn't have guessed 15 years ago as we were traveling and living in a 1963 house bus that we'd be home owners now, so..... you never know.

I've updated my side bars to reflect what's happening in the garden. I reckon if L and I were retired we might be able to live out of our garden. I'd long for meat and fresh milk though. I grew up on 2000 acres so we ate lamb nearly all year round with fresh pork,beef crayfish and paua for a bit of variety, we didn't know how lucky we were. My Dad even kept beehives and we fished for eel and trout in the river. At my Mums side I learned how to spin wool and knit, dye using plants and sew my own clothes. They gave us an unforgettable childhood to which I'm truly grateful and wish I could provide to my own kids. They have everything but the space and security that I was raised with.

What we're eating fresh:broad beans, eggs, silver beet, lettuce, peas, spring onions, carrots, asparagus, grapefruit, oranges, lemons

What we're eating from stores:berry jams, pumpkins, potatoes, frozen berries, frozen tomatoes

What's still growing: strawberries, carrots, garlic, asparagus, broccoli, cauli, cabbage, onions, peas, giant red mustard, kale, tomatoes, cucumber, corn, celery, capsicum, sunflowers, potatoes, yams, kumara, beetroot, pumpkins

Seeds sown recently: chili, beans, more corn,

Herbs growing: fennel, basil, parsley, Korean mint, mint, sorrel, tansy, mother wort, mug wort, hypericum, Valerian, lemon balm, lemon verbena, dill, caraway, echinacea, elecampane, horseradish, comfrey, bay tree, sage, white sage, tansy and weeds

Fruit trees, vines and bushes: Plums, blackboy, golden queen and white flesh peaches, apricots, cherry, mulberry, elderberry, figs, lemon, grapefruit, mandarin, orange, hazelnuts, fejoias, thorn less blackberry, boysenberry, blueberries,red and yellow raspberries, red and black currants, nashi, nectarine, home grafted apple- "golden delicious", " Hetlina" apple, mini kiwifruit, prune plum, red skinned pear.



GO GARDEN!!!