My poor neglected blog.

This blog feels like it was created a lifetime ago in a different reality. I was a stay at home Mum with time to indulge in my hobbies and passions. I wrote about them to connect with others and to have a voice because mine had been stifled and devalued for so long. What a lot I gained from my experience, as I wrote I developed confidence in myself and learned skills that were going to come in handy over the next few years. My life is so different now than when I blogged here. It crossed my mind as I shopped at 5pm for tonight's dinner, I gabbed per-prepared chicken (not organic) and buns made of white bread and covered with sugary sticky stuff for the kids lunches. I realised the commitments I have now and the path I am on have led me to compromise my values. This is probably why I struggle to feel contented with what I am doing at times. I am in the third year of my Bachelor of Teaching and Learning. I'm in the middle of placement with Year 1 and 2 students and I love going to school every day. BUT for the last five weeks I have spent my entire weekends in my room, planning assessing, marking, and evaluating while my kids feed and entertain themselves. I cant help but know that I'm never going to get these years back with my kids. PJ is 12 and the red head is 8, they have grown so much and we are not having any wonderful adventures or experiences like we use to. Skatey is 17 and I hardly ever see him, he's into downhill mountain biking and is really independent. He's at home long enough each day to eat and shower, but when I need him to help out with the younger ones he does. I'm really sad about my "teen" as I use to refer to him. He's 20 now and we parted company last year after disagreeing about the rules and responsibilities in my home. When I say we parted company I mean I kicked him out to get a dose of reality and he hasn't talked to me since. So I thought maybe I should end this blog, archive or delete it. Then as I wrote I started thinking it's ok, I'm changing, evolving and facing different challenges, why shouldn't I continue to keep this record. I don't know if I will write much going forward, but this is my journey and my place to keep sharing.

I thought for today I would share something in the spirit of my old blog and the things that excite and inspire me. Over Christmas I sat with my ankle up recovering from an ankle reconstruction, we did however get to have one adventure before school started again. I was inspired by some guys at Pakawau beach where we stayed who used a homemade kontiki to catch snapper. It was amazingly simple and caught a good feed. You send it off the beach with the wind and 25 baited hooks. A barley sugar lolly acts as a timer and when it melts it drops and anchor and flips the vessel around. After and hour or so you reel it in to reveal your catch. I have no doubt a good handy man like my ex husband could build one of these, it just takes a bit of kiwi ingenuity. Here's an article I found if you are keen to give it a go. Ka kite ano. Gilly

Fermenting again

 Over the summer holiday I have re-familiarised myself with the kitchen and put on weight in the process. I try really hard not to add cream, sour cream, cheese, wine or mayonnaise, but they taste so darn good. I've become quite the expert with crayfish mornay and mussel pies. I  have used the bread maker to make the dough for buns and pizza and we are very lucky that my Dads market garden provides us with  a wide range of fresh vegetables every day. We have also been making weekly trips to pick blueberries just down the road at Fuchsiadale.
So in saying all that a friend introduced me to kumbucha which is supposed to aid digestion and do all sorts of marvelous things for your body. I have to say I haven't noticed any health benefits but you never know it may be working wonders on the inside. I tastes a little like diluted, fizzy, sweet, cider vinegar. I quite like it for a nice cool summer drink. It didn't come with very good instructions but I scoured the net for the technique to grow it and I must be doing something right because it is multiplying fast. I'm not sure I could post a baby but if anyone in Nelson area wanted to pick one up I have one to spare. I also have some spare milk kefir grains which I could post within NZ. Just drop me a line.
Hope all my old gardening friends are enjoying their harvests!