Arrivals by post

Finally I've finished the "sweet pea" silk fibre from my friend Jessicah's shop . I spun the wool as thin as I possibly could, then I washed a black lambs fleece from my Dad. I thought it might be perfect to ply with the silk, but it wasn't as luxurious as I wanted it to be with the silk. Then I tried a bit of the grey fleece that Mum was spinning when she visited but that wasn't right either. I've since plied them together though and they work well.

I thought I needed to save up for some smokey grey alpaca fibre which would have worked perfectly, but my impatience got the better of me. I dyed some merino from my Aunt, using this method, with raw fleece instead. The resulting yarn is destined to become a lovely scarf for me.
After I finish a few other projects I have lined up.
The letterbox continued to be quite busy all week, it's lovely to go out and find a surprise waiting there. A cook book and garden book from my sister in law. I burnt my favorite cookbook on an element (did I mention that already??) So M sent me a shiny new copy full of all the best recipes for thrifty cooks. Thanks M.
A little treat for the soil too, seeds and a membership to Koanga.

Career choices

PJ loves monkeys.

She wants to work in a zoo, with monkeys.

We"re all very sad to hear that Ricky the Natureland zoo monkey has died.

I talk alot about how important it is for monkeys and other animals, to grow up in their own environment. Hoping I guess that one of the kids might grow up to be a radical environmental campaigner (because I didn't.)

Whoops we shouldn't live vicariously through our kids should we?

But my goodness it wouldn't be a bad idea for her to be a vet either. So far I have spent at least one weeks food bill, at the vet, on the dog who has earache, for goodness sake!!

RIP Ricky.

And Willow, the drops I'm putting in your ear will help you get better soon ( the least you could do is co-operate)

Jester House

A couple of folks enquired about the whereabouts of all those eels I showed recently. It's a favourite cafe of ours called Jester House . It has a special significance to me because when I was about 11 years old, long before it was a lovely cafe setting we lived there with our Mum. My brothers and I would walk across the bridge to catch the school bus each morning and in the weekends we climbed the hill with our wet weather farm gear on to slide down the waterway as if it were a hydro slide. Though a great spot we all longed for the freedom of the farm where we had left our Dad and a thousand unfinished adventures.
If you visit there now you'll be able to feed the eels for a couple of dollars, they even accept old 1 and 2 cent coins! While the kids feed the eels there is plenty of local produce to sample off the lunch menu in a garden full of fruit trees and herbs.
It is one of my must see stops in Motueka.

Old letterbox

Something lovely arrived in my letterbox this week. I'll be busy for a couple of days.

Food supply

Time for a little seed saving.
Recently I have ventured back into the garden after a summer of mostly neglect. I'm hearing that alot of people have had that kind of season. It's been our season to nurture ourselves as a family, with trips to the beach, bike rides and making efforts to spend time with extended family . Natural disasters around the world however are making me mindful that we should never take things for granted, especially our food supply.

So with that thought in mind I'm back to the soil with renewed enthusiasm. I have some seedlings started and am busy clearing swathes of weeds which are going to seed in order to make way for the winter food crops. We'll have leeks, broccoli, celery, spinach, lettuce and cabbage fresh from the garden this winter if the season is favorable. I'm sure it's not too late to get all these seedlings into the garden. As well I'm planting peas, they survive quite well overwinter if they are a couple of inches high and it gives them a good little head start in spring. There are broad beans too, not my favorite vegetable, but they have planted themselves dropping out of their dried pods where I left the plants standing since the spring. There are millions of parsnips self seeded too, if only I could grow carrots as well as I grow parsnip. Coriander,radishes, nettle and chickweed are popping up everywhere so I guess it's not so bad to neglect the garden for a season. If I keep my eyes open and clear up carefully we'll have a good selection of nourishing food for the cold months.

My Skatey boy is initiating his own learning in the area of survival by finding role models to take him pig hunting and hopefully duck shooting soon. He experienced his first real pig hunt and kill last week so if push comes to shove we'll be right for meat too.

Just quietly though , I hope he goes for deer as well because I'm not very partial to wild pork.

Blatant self promotion

School holidays always spur me on to have a bit of a tidy up.

I've filled up my shop with some of my favorite bags and booties.

I hope to add a few newer creations later on this week.

Also on next weeks agenda:

Pj would like to make the doll for her princess and the pea mattresses which we made together a month ago. You will know the pattern I mean if you have the More Softies book.

Holiday near home

There is nothing wrong with having a holiday near home. We stayed only 30 minutes from our house and experienced the contrast of autumn near the beach for a school holiday getaway.Seaside negotiations with a 4 year old:

( Fill in the blanks)

"My baby starfish,

I found it down there under the rocks.

I want to take it home.

It can live in sea water,

we can put it in the bucket and take it home,

but it's my friend,

it's a baby.

No I don't want to put it back in the sea,

it can live with me in water.

Ok I can look at the photo when I miss him"

Seaside negotiations with a 13 year old:

(fill in the blanks)

" Mum look at me,

up here.

Look I'm higher now.

Nah I wanna go higher.

Why?

No it's not.

yeah but we're not at Playcentre."

Finally a last word from Mum

"Ok if YOU get out of the tree, and YOU put the starfish back we'll go say hi to the goats and feed the eels"

Tussah Silk

I want to win the "spinning a yarn" Tussah Silk! Thanks to http://spinayarn.felt.co.nz & www.blendy.co.nz You could have a chance to win too if you go here, but just so you know I'm feeling pretty lucky.

New Season accessories

The onset of the cooler weather is excuse enough for new accessories I think. Brown and black to suit the winter wardrobe. A "dapper day bag" the pattern from Sew Liberated by Meg McElwee. I omitted the piping ( too lazy and impatient to fiddle around with that), used lovely chocolate coloured leather for the gusset, strap and top of the bag and added an inside pocket with a zip so I can compartmentalise my stuff (separate my knitting from boring bits of paper like bills to pay)

Also for me, a new orange wallet because I like orange and wanted to make the "perfect" wallet that doesn't drop change, can accommodate receipts, allows me to quickly find my library card and coupon card with out having to search though dozens of compartments. I'm pleased to have found a use for some smaller bits of leather and fabric in this project. It' s only failing is that it doesn't hold a cheque book, but how often these days does one need a cheque book on hand?

I think it's spot on, so I have some to offer at the Mapua Easter Fair this weekend.

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Blackboy Peaches

Three trees is probably two too many, they all came ready at once on the weekend. I think everyone else in the district may have them in their back yard too because I can't even give them away. Skatey takes about 6 to school everyday, the other children maybe have one a day. I collected as many as I had the time and patience to deal with and got the dehydrator out in desperation, the other kids seem to like them better dried anyway, they will probably only last a few weeks dried unless I hide some. If I lived closer to my brother I would go to his house to dehydrate, he creates his own electricity with a water wheel and windmill. He has so much power he's thinking of building a heated pool.
May be one day he'll come and create free energy for me!! Other things we have done with them is put them into fruit muffins, make a peach chutney, bottle them in syrup, stew them and freeze.
Maybe I should try a little wine making or brandied peaches....
Anyway Black boy peaches, so easy to grow form seed (stone), almost disease free, low maintenance - just give a winter and summer prune. Plant comfrey underneath.
Walah, fruit in 3-4 years.
I have plenty of seedlings if anyone wants one.