A New Leaf

I’m guessing it isn’t an edible mushroom…

It’s the last day of winter… time to get up close & personal with the garden.

Baby snow pea:

Grandaddy snow pea:

This may or may not be Basil finally growing in the pot:

Broccoli babies:

Camelia:

Freesias popping up alongside the path - we’ve never seen these before because they’re planted in amongst Lavender. The biggest Lavender I’ve ever seen - it was around 4 - 5 meters tall when we moved here! Last year I chopped it back right to the ground so I guess Freesias and other plants can come out of hiding.

Random stuff… There’s a sunflower in there, which just turned up out of nowhere. There’s a spinach plant which I don’t expect much from - it was actually rescued, roots and all, from a bundle of refrigerated spinach I bought from the supermarket! It hasn’t grown in weeks, but it hasn’t died either…
There’s also either the beginnings of a Californian poppy, or a weed. And then there’s ice plant which broke off from my main plant. A surprise pot of all sorts!  Can someone tell me… is that really ice plant? Because everything I read about Ice Plant shows that chunky one we get at the beach, this is really small.

My first Spaghetti Squash seedling coming through… it wasn’t there yesterday, and I could swear it wasn’t there when I was having my morning cuppa either. Looks like a fast grower!

Spinach, planted ages ago, which grew nicely to start with but hasn’t changed at all in a good couple of weeks:

Spring bulbs - yay!

Are these Strawberry seeds doing something??  Or have I got some nicely lined up weeds coming through?

Self seeding Sunflower babies - they really mean summer to me! Love them.

Anyone know what this is? It’s growing in my front garden. Very pretty.

Veggies in the back garden:

And my little red whatnots (perhaps someone can tell me what these are called too?):

Ah, it’s so nice to finally have some PLANTS to show you all… maybe that’s the end of bare dirt photos

Anyone else want to get up close and personal in their garden? Send me a link if you do

87 year old NZ Gardener of the year. All natural - you go gal

I spent many hours enjoying the garden today - here’s the latest:

The garden that started it all. It’s doing ok, but the potato plants have been knocked around too much by the wind & hail we’ve had lately. Some were snapped right off So I’m down to just two plants which may or may not survive. However there are still some seed potatoes in there waiting to do their thing so I wont run short of spuds.

Spinach and Cauli are growing around the edges, just babies so far.

The front veggie garden. Poor old Jeremy the gnome is broken. No idea what happened but his body is no longer attached to his legs. He’s just resting and pretending not to be legless now!

Jeremy has a bit of colour to keep him company - a nice red whatsimacallit. I can never remember what those things are called! It was just a dollar at the supermarket, and I love a bit of colour in my garden

There are now three pea plants growing along that fence. I wonder why one of the seeds grew so fast and furious and the others took ages and are still only about 3cm tall?

If you look hard here you’ll see baby sunflower plants. That’s not what is meant to be growing in this garden, but how cool There are at least 6 or 7 of them popping up now and no doubt more to come. These are all self seeded from last year. A shame, because I brought 2 packets of sunflowers this year. (one multi coloured and one red, so at least we can still have some normal ones).

Seeds seeds and more seeds! Left to right: Broccoli, red sunflowers (back of seed tray) and Moneymaker Tomatoes (front of seed tray). Spaghetti Squash in the larger pot at the end. Pumpkin in the pot front left, one last small pea plant in the middle, and another pot of pumpkin to the right.

I planted lots of pumpkin seeds because they’re from a supermarket pumpkin, not good seeds. We shall see…

White alpine strawberries at the back, Red Alpine Strawberries in the middle, Strawberry Spinach front left, and Capsicums front right. All looking a bit boring so far, but not for long.

And now for the scoop on poop:

Poo… Horse poo, purchased off the side of the road for $1 bag. Beauty! That’s GOOD poo! I got 8 bags and I’m looking forward to giant healthy vegetables (Do you hear that, Veggie Garden?!).

Poo?  Beach poo? Well ok I don’t know what this is, but it was all over the beach and it looks fantastic. It turned up after some rough weather and I scooped up a bag of it to take home. Looks like great mulch / compost. Today I went back and got two more bags. I’ll take it easy because I don’t really know what’s in there. (Though I can safely say that it’s mostly broken up bits of plants & driftwood).

Poo… the real stinky kind: my boarder has been offered a place that’s bigger and more suitable for him and his son. BAD poo. *sulk*

We can survive this for now - if he chooses to leave - because I have a friend moving from Australia in a couple of weeks who will be staying here ’til he finds his feet. That could be anywhere from a month to maybe 4 - 6 months. So at least I have time if I need to go house hunting or boarder hunting.

I think life would be easier if we didn’t have to worry about boarders - so if Rob goes, and when Ben goes after him, I think it’s time to move. eek. This will mean leaving my garden behind (nooooooo not my babies!) and leaving my house behind (bugggger! I love this house) and trying to find a place that will let me have lots of cats.

*freak out*

Poop!

It’s now been over 2 months since I gave up Shampoo - and I’m still impressed with baking soda & Apple Cider Vinegar. I have learnt a few things in that time:

• Less is more. My hair looks best when I use the BS & AVC only twice a week, and just rinse in the shower other days. I was reminded of this little lesson just a few days ago when I decided to wash it a day early before going on holiday. Instead of nice clean bouncy hair I was left with oily grotty uncontrollable hair, and that lasted for most of the time I was away. Note to self: *nothing* is worth reaching for the BS&ACV a day early.
• Less is more in other ways too. short hair is so much easier! I would have said this even if I was still using shampoo - short hair dries faster, feels lighter, and is all-round easier to look after.  I do miss having it long enough to tie up properly though.
• White vinegar does the job. While in Auckland I used BS & White vinegar to wash my hair and it was fine :)  I’ll stick with the ACV at home since I have it and I’m used to it, but it’s nice to know that white vinegar works.
• Don’t be shy! I didn’t like to tell people that I didn’t use shampoo in case they thought I was a dirty hippy - but so far I’ve found only positive reactions. It seems a lot of people are worried about the crap they put in their hair, and a few go on to try it themselves.

All in all, the no-poo trial is a success. I even gave away my collection of shampoos & conditioners. It’s reminded me that I don’t need to put up with things just because ‘everybody does’. I’m now only using deodorant a couple of times a week, almost never using soap, sticking with my chemical-free garden, and only bringing out cleaning products once every few months. For everything else I’m finding simple and mostly natural replacements that are better in so many ways - I’m not sending many chemicals down the drains, I’m not wasting money on crap, I’m not putting as much crap into my body, and I’m looking after my planet and everything on it.

Y’know what - it feels good to take this road!

On Saturday afternoon Kiddo and I grabbed our bags, kissed the cats goodbye, and hopped on a plane.  Auckland, here we come!

It had been horrible weather for days so it was a relief to see it clear up just as we were due on the plane.  I really wanted good weather for the flight, seeing as it was Kiddo’s first plane trip. We were in luck - it was gorgeous.

Here’s our house - can you see it? No, I can’t either - it’s buried under cloud. But it was cool to be able to see our area from the sky.

We also saw a Cloud Dinosaur. Ohh-er!

Saturday night we had pizza from Hell (No, really it was the best pizza ever, choc-a-block with toppings on a yummy gluten free base, purchased from Hell Pizza, yum!), then watched a movie with the friend we were staying with (the very generous friend who funded this trip - it was a birthday present for Kiddo).

Sunday was cruddy weather in Auckland - it rained and rained and rained some more. So we voted for inside activities and ended up at the Auckland Museum. It was actually kind of boring… and yet we still managed to walk around there for many hours.

On the way back to the car a foreign man tried to get my friend to take a photo, but his knowledge of English was a little off. He kept saying “Same thing, use button” and then would look at us expectingly. “Same thing, use button”. “SAME thing. Use BUTTON!” And he showed me his camera. Eventually I clicked, took the camera off him and took a shot of him against the museum garden. I didn’t even start to explain that he’d pulled a funny face - as much as I’d have preferred to try taking the photo again, I couldn’t think of how to word it so that he’d understand, so I’ve left him with his funny face to remember Auckland by.

Monday was a great day for sleeping in, and so we did. Then we had a big breakfast of bacon and eggs before making our way to MOTAT (Auckland’s Museum of Transport and Technology). Neat place - another few hours of walking around and looking at stuff, a bit more getting rained on (Gotta love Auckland.. pfft).

At Motat we saw planes, we saw trains, we saw Fire Engines, old buildings, old this and old that. In the old fashioned school room we got to sit at those old wooden school desks and write with whatnot pens that were dunked in ink wells. We also saw this:

And this:

*gasp* I’m SOOOOO glad times have changed.

Monday night was a great time for a power cut, apparently. So we played cards by candle light for a while before the leccy came back on. It made me realise how far I’ve come - If we were at my place we’d have had a gas stove to make cuppas on, candles to light up just about every room in the house, a wind-up torch/radio… etc. Whereas just a short time ago I’d have been as unprepared as my friend, having to dig out a few candles and wait for the power to come on before doing anything.

Once the power was back on Kiddo went to bed with his laptop, off to write some new computer programs after learning more about coding from our host. Back in my day - I can say that now I’m an older woman lol - I would’ve gone to bed with a book. How old fashioned. lol.  Friend & I sat up and played ginrummy & Euchre for hours by the fire, sharing a pile of grapes and a block of chocolate. How’s that for a good way to spend an evening?

Tuesday saw us visiting the Auckland Zoo - which, by the way, totally rocks in comparison to the Wellington Zoo.  We saw so many lovely animals including:

That’s a Sealion - hard to tell from the pic. Gorgeous things, so huge and yet so graceful in the water. They were fabulous to watch!

Also at the zoo was someone very friendly who liked to hang around the elephants, but wasn’t really meant to be there:

He was quite tame and had quite the attitude!

Tuesday afternoon… time to go home. A shame it was all over but I was so looking forward to seeing my cats again! It was very hard to leave my boarder in charge of all of them. I missed my babies very much!

On the flight home:

Gorgeous. Absolutely stunning views the whole way.  We live in such a beautiful country!

We were both totally pooped. That was obvious when we slept right through this morning. I got up all bleary eyed soon after 12, but my son was still sleeping soundly after 1pm - even after I tried to wake him up three times. So we went to our homeschool group a little late… but at least we made it. Surprisingly Kiddo still found the energy to play at the park and the beach, I’d half expected him to sit in a corner all day!

All in all… a good holiday, but it’s SO nice to be home!

Along the path to my front door are a couple of plant pots.

One of those plant pots has a couple of my last remaining spring flowers - most of the others did their flowering last month (What the heck were they thinking? It was nowhere near spring!) so I was quite happy to have a couple that would flower at roughly the right time.

This one particular lovely daffodil was just starting to open up yesterday. Still a bit early, but hey, I wont complain. Nice to have a bit of spring in amongst the chilly end-of-winter sort of weather.

Today, when I got back from an afternoon out, I notice my flower is gone. As in GONE. A closer look reveals a clean cut at the base.

Someone actually came and chopped my budding daffodil off…! Who?? Why?? When and what the heck for?

If it was one in a bunch of 20 or so I wouldn’t care so much. But this is one beautiful flower that I’d lovingly looked after since it was just a couple of baby leaves poking out of dirt in a forgotten pot. And now I don’t even get to enjoy it in my garden, or cut it for a vase…

Ok, no big deal, but still… weird!

With inspiration from Johanna, and instructions from solarcooking.org, I will soon be able to cook without power, too.

I have this - can you tell what it is? No, not really… well it’s one of those sun-shade thingies for the car. A shimmery shiny silvery one

And Velcro dots - somewhere, I’ll have to see where the kittens hid them.

And soon I’ll have this:

(Image from solarcooking.org instruction page)

And then, I’ll have dinner cooked by the sun!

From what I’ve read, a lot of sun-cooked meals taste like they’ve been done in a slow cooker. Which sounds heavenly to me I can’t wait for the sun to come out in full strength so I can try it :)  We’re going to try a pizza box solar oven too, if we can get our hands on a pizza box or something similar to do the job.

I am SO loving my backwards steps in technology. It feels very much like going FORWARDS in life

I’ve been on the hunt for household items that don’t use electricity, stuff that can help save a few dollars on the power bill whilst making me use a little elbow grease :D  Getting one step closer to nature again, by taking a backwards leap against technology (which, btw, I am actually rather fond of… I’m not in a hurry to give up my computer!)

Here’s the stash so far:

Lawnmower, purchased a few years ago from Mitre 10. I’d been looking for a good second hand one for years but never found one - well, not until AFTER I paid real money for a crappy new one that is too light and too plasticy. Pfft.  It does do the job, though. Just not today, when the ground is too wet and slippery. Great excuse to leave the lawns for another day

Very cool meat / bread / stuff slicer, picked up at an op shop for $2 last week:

A beater and a toasted sammie maker that I’ve had buried in my cupboards for a while:

And coming next… my latest Trademe purchase, a hand crank torch / radio / alarm / cell phone charger. How cool is that
Uncool, perhaps? Maybe, but very very handy. In the next power cut my house will be the one that still has light, toasted sandwiches (filled with beaten egg and made with home sliced bread), and I might even be out there mowing my lawns, just coz I can.

Maybe not…

But it is nice to know I’m losing my reliance on electricity. I feel much more capable of looking after myself, my family and my house if I know everything doesn’t rely on batteries or power plugs. It’s never good to take stuff for granted.

The cycle generator power thingamy wotsit is a happening thing - we have all the parts, now we just need a day where my stepfather and myself are in the same place at the same time with nothing else pressing on our time. Heh.. this could take years! Looking forward to it though

I also have scissors… and a comb… and my own two hands… and I used them yesterday, chopping off around 70% of my hair. I am no longer a long-haired-lout. Woah.

Bagging day? Yep - if you’re having an un-Christmas, then apparently the day after is Bagging Day. According to my son, anyway!

Un-Christmas went well! My roast chook went down a treat. Just as well, because it’s the last one I’ll cook in a long time. I can’t eat chicken without seeing a live clucking cute-as-pie chook running around begging me to spare its life. Ugh.  Gluten-free stuffing worked fabulously, especially the little crunchy bits… hmmmmm yum :)  GF gravy worked great too.

Followed by Gluten-free trifle that Mum made - heavenly stuff! and GF loaf that we had in place of Christmas Cake, also yummo.

Presents! Well the make a gift idea was great - people came up with great stuff! Except perhaps for me… mine went bad! After asking the blogosphere about it a while ago, I decided on a pea seedling with some fudge or biscuits for my stepfather. The pea plant was easy, I had a good strong one at a good size. The baking, not so easy. I couldn’t think of much that he either liked or could eat, seeing as he doesn’t eat gluten or milk products.  So I went non-food. I made this:

It was a cool idea (in my humble opinion). But I didn’t have the tools to cut it to size, and I didn’t use my brain while I was painting, either. Spot the typo! I don’t like the colours, I don’t like the way the greenish background ends abruptly, or the brush marks left behind. I don’t like the uneven sized letters, blah blah blah!  Yes I’m very much over-critical of my own work. Perhaps I’ll make another one for me and see if I can make it right… that might make me feel better, seeing as he wouldn’t let me take that one back and fix it up!

Anyway, Bagging Day is a day for relaxing, enjoying the brilliant sunshine (oops - I’m not sitting at the computer right now, honest) and nibbling on yummy leftovers

I’m off to the garden with a cup of tea and a slice of cake - Happy Bagging Day, everyone!