Keeping On, Keeping on!

Hi from Sunny Christchurch.
Its hard to believe how different this year is from last year, weatherwise. I dont follow the weather too much, but I have a Mr 12 who likes looking ahead to see what will happen re the forecast. Its both a blessing and a curse... See Mum, I told you I didnt need a jacket, you wouldnt get the washing dry... etc.

So, is this Autumn yet? Im not a good Winter person, I dont like the cold, but Ive started mulching and composting, and bringing in the citrus trees. This year Ive made a little *hide* for them, with straw bales at each end, to protect them from the wind, and ... well, if we have snow. The white stuff... sigh. We just might?
I have a new blood orange to protect. The last thing I heard from the guy I got it from was... Dont forget to protect it from frost. Theyre worse than lemons... My lemon was in the snow in its first year and survived, but I dont want to chance it :)

Which reminds me, Snow...I need to get a new shovel. The handle  from the one I have... err,... had... was compromised. It had to go onto the new eel spear. You'd understand the necessity if you are a 16 yr old fishing nut who just *had* to try out the new spear right that night... And they caught three good-sized eels, which they baked and ate with the neighbours. We only catch what we can/will eat.

Have some new seeds for sale this year - Ladybird poppy, Flanders Poppy, Broad Beans, Fenugreek, Catnip, and a few others that still need to be sorted and packed. I have the most beautiful cobalt blue larkspur popping through, and have a new echinacea, (above - its called Tomato Soup).
I love echinacea, its one of my favourites, and Im hoping it will grow well so I can divide it up and have drifts of colour throughout the garden, because the bees need all the help they can get, and they LOVE my echinacea. Nearly as much as the Bumblebees do... Theres always a bumblebee asleep on, or slowly crooning into the flowers...

Also have some marigolds, the African ones, that grow a bit taller, and have the crinkly flowers. I dont like the smell much, but they are good for companion plants. Always cheerful are the orange and yellow calendulas or Pot Marigolds. Ive been sowing them with the children at school. Theyve been watching their swan plants being eaten up by the monarch caterpillars... and enjoying the opening of the chrysalis!

Not a lot of other news for now, things are ticking along. Im working on a few new things, hopefully one of them will develop into something wonderful....

As a companion to this blog, I have a new site now, which is organized to detail the seeds Im selling...

Youll find The Seedlist HERE

Im selling through TRADEME and my listings are HERE until I get sorted.
Ive got regular $1 reserves, so you might just get a bargain!
Can post throughout NZ for just 80c for up to five packets of seed (except beans, which are oversized)


Hope life is keeping you smiling,
~Take care~ 
From my Hearth to Yours

Earth Butterfly
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Exciting Day... Planning Stages

Today has been inspiring.
Great weather, the wind a little cool, but Ive been out with pen and paper doing some planning... It is looking good!
After meeting with Ann, I have some directives on what is required for the School garden, and we are starting with the children tomorrow to compost and plant. Cauliflower, Lettuce, Onion and Beetroot, Corn and Sunflowers, Cornflowers, French Dwarf beans, and Parisian baby carrots. These will go with what they had last season and some self-sown goodies, also a hearty looking rhubarb plant that could easily feed a class! There are plans for custard and rhubarb which can be cooked in the class kitchen areas - this school has an amazing setup!
My helpers and I will be planting thyme, sage, rosemary, chives, lavender, oh and strawberries, and weeding the class beds next week. We have plans to make pots ourselves, and the children are really keen to have a Sunflower growing competition! Russian Giants love compost, and can grow to 7 foot tall, so this is spurring them on!
Next year, it might be a pumpkin growing competition, that sounds like fun!?

We have one large feijoa tree  at the edge of one of the beds, that needs a really good haircut (prune) and Im picking will not be any good until it has another couple of feijoa trees planted nearby, as it has not had fruit in the time it has been there, and it is a good size. Some of the newer feijoa varieties self pollinate, but I think this one does not.
I have a lone feijoa tree in my garden, so Im going to dig it up and replant it over there so we can produce some fruit if we are lucky!
There are plans to build up the soil and get regular plantings of easy and short-growing produce growing so the children can benefit from their garden.  The second part of the plan includes longer term growing, such as pumpkins and squash, and berries, fruit trees etc. Ann has expressed an interest in having Chickens. It can be done, but not yet. It  is something to work forward to.
The longer term is to have a self-sustaining community garden, but this is months/years away. The plans are underway, and talking to the Principal, they are very proactive.
We are talking about planting a variety of companion plants - herbs and flowers, and introducing permaculture ideas in as we can. A worm farm,  and they have bokashi units and a compost heap already. It is exciting to see the wheels in motion!

Hope to include some photos of the area as it changes, but my camera ran out of battery power just as I took the first photo today. How typical is that?

Back into it,
Reading, Planning... Dreaming :-)

Love to You,
E BUTTERFLY
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