We've had fairly good frosts the last few nights. Not enough to ruin the asparagus but the zucchini and cannelloni beans that were waiting in the glasshouse got their leaves a bit burnt. I spent a beautiful day in the garden, I'd been getting withdrawal after the obsessive housework and visitors earlier in the week. I probably shouldn't have been gardening as the moon's not quite ready but I just stuck to squashing aphids on seedlings and transplanting the ones that needed it into bigger pots. I sorted out my messy piles of pots and trays finding heaps of snails which the chooks enjoyed. A wee while ago I planted out the first sunflowers, they have so far escaped frost damage and it's interesting to note the ones I planted with the rising moon are thriving while the others are a little crooked and getting attacked by aphids. I've been mounding up potatoes and making sure the peas get enough water so their little pods fatten up quickly. I need to get onto making some liquid fertiliser out of things like comfrey, nettles and seaweed as things are looking like they need to be fed. The worm farm is only supplying enough for the seedlings. There is a rampant hop plant in my garden! Last year I should have been more severe with it but I ignored it. It dropped alot of hop flowers which have composted beautifully where they fell but the great big underground runners are coming up everywhere so I also spent a good part of the day trying to pull them up. This week is primo for planting seeds, I'll be still sowing into pots in the glasshouse as the ground's not quite warm enough yet. I'll be putting in more sunflowers, corn, melons, basil and lots of flowers to try and attract those horrible garden pests away from my veges. I won't mention what's doing well incase a nasty frost wipes them all out tonight! When L brings the camera home I'll post some pics of what I've been sewing.

School holidays

I've got an obsessive need to de-clutter in the holidays, so that I feel in a tranquil space to sew. I should pretend I'm going on holiday so I don't get visitors in the first week. I managed to farm out the helpful children "PJ" and "Skatey boy" and have left at home "The red head " who's got earache again and the teen who refuses to get a job and hogs the computer all day.

Goals:
Sew bags for Ngatimoti festival, keep house tidy and de -clutter a bit, make some progress on weeds, stay away from town and spending money, finish painting toilet, turn the compost heaps, help Dad at the farm, restock freezer with soup and muffins, try not to yell at kids, make some moves toward getting fit.

Man I need a month!

Garden notes Sept.

I've had two questions about a picture of a fennel flower I took last year. I've replied here as I get sent a "no reply" email address when people comment. Do any other gardeners know about allergic skin reactions to umbeliferae plants?

Washing machine is still not well. Living on borrowed time.

The garden has had my full attention recently, so much so that I think I'm forgetting how to have conversations with people. We ventured out to the Steiner Spring Fair today, what a magic day for it! Does anyone else forget how to have conversation after only talking to kids and plants all week?

I've been much more strict about following the moon calender gardening this year and the seedlings sown at the last two first quarter moons are thriving. It's last quarter at the moment so I have to resist the temptation to do anything except cultivate and prune. I have little tomatoes, sunflowers, capsicums (more than half of them got eaten by slugs tho), cleome, dwarf and cannelloni beans, zucchini and pumpkins all waiting nice and warm in the glasshouse for the weather to warm up outside. In addition I put frost cloth over them at night too. They're getting feed worm juice from the worm farm but I have had to resort to a bit of slug bait as beer traps and pot ash weren't working. It's not ideal but it's still vastly better than bought veges. I can handle eating capsicum for example that I know have been all organic except for one slug pellet when they were babies. What I really need is a couple of hedgehogs but even they have their pitfalls they eat chickens given half a chance. Carrots still elude me, last lot were eaten by either slugs or dug up by cats as they sprouted. No worries peas are flowering and asparagus is doing it's thing. YuM.

This is my constant reference in spring, helps me plan where to put everything in the garden. Highly recommended.

It's a work in progress, hopefully in a few years the garden will be so well balanced I won't need anything inorganic thus achieving my sustainable goal.

My morning routine in spring includes feeding the chooks, watering and walking round the garden watching blossoms and leaves grow. Sometimes I spend so long outside that I forget the kids need their breakfast and lunches made. For the first time in 15 years I have some consistent child free days as the "red head" is now enrolled two and a half days at Montessori. Blissss!

Washing

I get so stressed when my washing machine breaks down, usually every few years. It broke down on Monday, the guy was supposed to fix it Tuesday. He came out and replaced a part and left a reasonable bill but, I didn't get a load on until last night because I was behind with everything else. Skatey boy came in and said "Mum there's someone in the house hear that bashing?" We both looked at each other scared to death. I said "hold my hand we'll check it out" (Quite stupid looking back) Anyway it was the washing machine in what seemed to be it's death throw. Relief on one hand and gutted on the other. Called back said fix it guy who said he can't look at it till Monday. Pleading about four kids didn't sway him a bit either. Unfortunately he's the only appliance guy in our town and looking back it took him 3 goes to fix it last time too. I'm grateful they're all out of nappies to say the least. I have some cool bits of fabric that I'm dying to wash up too.

From left: cool old floral curtain, fab orange sheet, and a bit of "viyella" all found at the op shops today. As well as two super cheap bits from that Spot place. Red head boy needs new long pants and shorts, have you noticed it's so hard to find cool boy fabric second hand? Hopefully the washing machine will live again on Monday.

Flashback

I visited Janelle's blog to catch up, reading this post bought a whole lot of memories flooding back about Masterton where I grew up. Castlepoint especially as it was where our family use to rent a beach bach for holidays. I remember huge sand dunes with wind blowing so had it felt like we'd blow away and the sound of the waves at night was like nowhere I've ever been since. Dad use to go diving for paua and crayfish nearby and we'd sit on the lawn gutting them surrounded by seagulls waiting for their share. It seemed like such a long trip to us, in those days I don't remember seat belts in the back of the car and my brothers and I would fight alot and stand on the seats. Probably why Dad gave a reward to "the first to see the sea". Being a farming family I think we used to go at really odd times of year. Christmas was shearing and hay baling and August holidays were lambing so I think it must have been in Autumn because I don't ever remember the weather being beautiful and the beach was pretty much deserted. I do remember Dad encouraging the farm shepherd to eat kina and us thinking it hilarious when he couldn't keep it down. Other places I remember were: the "crying onion" fish n chip shop, golden shears (shearing and wool classing competition). The horseshoe pub/restaurant where Dad use to take us to try and get us to use our table manners though I'm sure we thought we went there to play pac man and use the warm air hand dryers in the bathrooms. I remember the vet clinic near the train station, playcentre where mum took me a few times until I stuck a bead up my nose and refused to go back. I remember sitting in the car outside the pub with my brothers. Dad would bring us a packet of chips and a raspberry drink and we'd call out rude names to people walking past then we'd send our youngest brother in to tell Dad we needed another raspberry drink. We left when I was 11 but I remember going back as a teenager and working in a shearing gang going from Kaituna to Ekatahuna, I'd say it was my favorite job ever probably because I was young, fit and having a ball.

Crafters ettiquette?

Along with the other decisions I'm trying to make at the moment I've been contemplating the summer market season here. I love to sew and create things for sale but I hate the feeling of having to produce things. A friend and I recently had a discussion about market ettiquette. You know how creative people go round the market and think, I could make that, sometimes they'll even rudely state it standing at your stall, but usually they never get around to it. Market people or "stallies" will usually happily buy off each other preferring to support local crafters and appreciate the same back. I spent many years keeping my garlic plaiting technique secret as I'd seen people try to imitate it but it never looked as good. A couple of years ago I shared it with a few people who I trusted in an effort to get over my trust issues. It felt really good to share something with friends. Sometimes though great ideas get copied! I'd be interested to know what others think about it because we feel there are certain unwritten rules. Are some items OK to imitate? I do lots of knitting and sewing for my stall so I take no offence if someone else turns up to an event doing something similar. I'd probably get the pip if it was someone I knew well, or it was a "signature item". A good number of my freinds are also crafters so I think that ettiquette just comes out of respect for each other now. Is immitation just a form of flattery?


Enter online craft land. How does it then work in the craft/blog world? Is it a similar friendship/ respect thing? I've noticed bloggers who visit each other often offer similar items for sale in their shops. I've noticed tutorials which ask that you make only for private use and some that don't. What's good craft/blog ettiquette?

Try felting

I wish I could really write. I haven't blogged because alot of what I have to say in spring is the same year in and year out. Blossom, seed, rain, sun, slugs, you know how it goes.




I've really been looking inward I guess, trying to decide how best to make myself happy while continuing to support my family. I feel like 15 years of mothering has been so rewarding but I need to also reward myself now and then too.




I've worked as a volunteer and an employee at Playcentre for many years. I've resigned from 1 of my paid days at Playcentre and it feels great! The other one I so love the people I come in contact with that I'm not ready to let it go yet.

I walked into Playcentre at 20 years old, shy and naive, I was greeted with open arms literally! Most of my closest friends I've met through playcentre, we've been there for each other through post natal depression, relationship trouble, financial highs and lows, moving and buying houses, having babies, discussing abortion, immunisation, religion, death, accidents, gardening, sewing, knitting and everything. I have no idea where I'd be now without my Playcentre family, that's why I find it so hard letting go. I know I have to start now cos in only two short years my youngest will be off to school.




This week the daughter I prayed for turned 7. The son who saved me got his drivers licence. I went to the movies with the Playcentre girls; saw "Mama Mia" and I LOVED IT! Wished I'd got up and danced. Was Pierce Bosnian serious?



We had a kid free craft day. For full time Mums it's such a luxury.



We dyed using the vinegar and food colouring method.Wet felted with thrifted fleece.

Tried needle felting with one who'd done it before,
and went away feeling totally inspired.



It's amazing just to get together and try it out. The results speak for themselves and what better way to spend a spring day than with new friends and old with good food and intentions.
PS. Broke my felting needle while waiting for photos to load. Bugger! PJ wanted me to put more hair on the dolls.

Garden notes

August has been full on with the weather and all the birthdays. I did my seed sowing earlier in the month with the first quarter of the moon. Alot of those seedlings are up and looking pretty healthy. We had a good spring rain this weekend quite warm and wet. I put all the seed trays out in the rain as rain is better for them than being watered by the hose. I think they get nitrogen from the rain?

While the "red head" was at Montessori this afternoon I potted on corn cockle, Phacelia, cornflowers and statice from their seed trays to punnets. They all help attract the beneficial insects into the garden. I separated and planted out some parsley and lettuces, then potted up my beefsteak tomatoes. My back gets sore at this time of year from bending over the seedlings and bringing them in and out of the glasshouse so they harden off. If you put them straight from the window sill or glasshouse to the garden the wind and cold is too much of a shock.I put some sweet peas into the garden too, scented plants remind me alot of my grandmother's garden. She had Winter sweet, Daphne, Freesias, Violets, Hyacinths, and Roses. I think of her when I smell any of those.

Kez asked me about frost cloth.It helps in spring to stop the frost killing plants. It's a loosely woven, white, light cloth which we get in our garden centres. We need to start alot of our more tender plants under it and things like young avocados and citrus spend the whole winter underneath it. In my old garden we used fronds of a native? fern commonly called "pig fern" draped over things to protect from frost. It was more aesthetically pleasing than the frost cloth.

The family sit on the sun room steps eating fruit and throwing the stones into this skinny wee garden next to the neighbours driveway. I let this apricot grow from seed and have espaliered it's branches about 3meters along the fence. This is it's 3rd or 4th winter and this year for the first time it has a couple of blossoms at the end of it's branches.

Giant red mustard, just because it looks so good.

Thank you : )

Thanks for all the birthday wishes, I feel a bit embarrassed really because I've been a bit of a non blogger lately, with pretty vague posts, no pictures and not alot of commenting. So I really appreciate people taking time to send me good wishes.

Take a peek at what else I got for my birthday. Beautiful spring/summery retro fabrics.

I've been making an effort to get some bags made:

This one though was cut out before winter out of an old wool skirt. I need to get cracking on some spring time ones now.

I've sort of been pottering in the garden in between working and trying to practice positive parenting. I planted some early seed potatoes which I plan to cover with frost cloth when they pop up, I put in some carrot seed, ever the optimist that one day I'll have a really good crop of carrots. I'm still holding off on planting alot of seed, the hardy herbs and sunflowers have popped up as well as the tomatoes and peppers on the window sill. I've been enjoying reading the New Zealand Gardener magazine lately the collector edition book at Christmas really got me hooked. The monthly magazine suggests to soak the glasshouse for a week to get rid of salts that might build up in the soil. I'm giving that a try as last year the glasshouse plants didn't take off very well and that might be why.

From the universe

In the free box at the op shop, a birthday present for me.

35 feels good.