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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Happy New Year Everyone... Rock n Roll Around The Clock in Christchurch!

A good nights sleep? Seriously, dont come to Canterbury for one of those at the moment. We get good nights, and then theres Last Night.
We went to sleep just after elevenish. I say ish, because I cant quite remember when, but a goodly time after eleven. Wouldve gone earlier, but with these new type of *creep-up-on-ya* type Eqs, we got a 4.0 at ten pm. It raises the bp a bit, so we sat on a little.
Two pm, and all hell breaks loose. It was a 5.1 and in the dark of night, theyre quite nasty.
Two of us hang on and wait for Number Three to join us. Thank God, she slept through. I have not. Its been a Rock n Roll kinda night.
The unusual thing is, the weather, yesterday was gorgeous - this morning we are in a grey wash of drizzly rain and low grey skies. From the *Earthquake Sky* we  talk about, with high blue sky and weird clouds, to THIS? Odd.
But. The Garden loves drizzle and grey clouds!!
Just not too much of it please, cos we need the heat for our fruiting plants... And our growing ones.
The Pumpkins are looking great, the fruit of which there are two at the moment have other buds appearing...
The Tomatoes are looking promising, some are quite sizeable, though no sign of the blush of red yet.
Speaking of red... Scarlet Runner Beans are blossoming everywhere. I have borlottis sizing up, but they are somewhat hidden by  enthusiastic Albenga Oxheart tomatoes at present.
Our Sunflowers are doing their thing, getting taller and taller. One is well over six foot, and has grown considerably since Christmas Day when we measured.

So while the Earth turns, and the weather changes, and we Rock On, its mainly all good...
I can do without the five oclock starts, or the rolling and rocking, but it does make you realise how lucky you are!

Happy New Year,
I hope 2012 brings you Joy, and Peace, and Happiness.
And that your Garden brings you much the same, and your Gardening Year is fruitful and trouble-free.
Oophs there we go again, Rock On Cantabs!

Love,
E BUTTERFLY
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All Day Rain... Working Indoors

Rose Front Lawn. Not its name, its location ;-)

A brilliant wet Wednesday.
The Chance of All Day Rain is what Miss 5 told me she had heard on the news. Funnily enough, she was still snoozing when the weather forecast was on, but she is right so far... All Day Rain.
Which is a good thing, and a bad thing. The good thing is the garden gets a decent wash of rain. The bad of course, is that Im stuck inside having to attend to Housework and Other Inside Work.

Doesnt matter that Im procrastinating. This is the second coffee, Ive sat here and dawdled through the listings of plants & pots on Trademe. Ive checked in to Ooooby to see whose around. Ive read about when & how to harvest Garlic. Sigh. The dishes are half done.

Garlic On the Rise

Ive fed the cats, and the worms...

Odd isnt it, the cats do bugger all, nothing... and get fed twice a day and they whine about their food quality, quantity... the wind chill factor, anything at all.

The Worms... are far and away more productive, dont ask for a thing, and eat anything theyre given... and never say Boo... Which do I prefer? :-)
This is what I laid my eyes on first thing this morning. Im captivated.
Thank Nature! A truly beautiful thing!


Now to see if I can get a poppy head with viable seeds... I hope so. Theyre gorgeous :)

I snuck down this morning to check out the pumpkins.

Murphys Law, and I find myself putting compost around the base of the pumpkins, chocka block full of wormies. Nek minnit... Next minute, I see a big fat Lady Thrush pecking out the worms... Epic FAIL on the composting...

And WHERE on Gods Green Earth are my Furry Purries? Not doing their job, saving my worms from birds... Theyre all blobbing around the Catmint or lazing under my window  waiting for it to open so they can be fed... Theyre being fed too well!
Well enough of my chatter.

Today is the middle of the last week of school for my Mister 11 and Im so looking forward to having them all home... and picking our own tomatoes to eat, lettuce, onions, and all the rest...

Love,

E BUTTERFLY



Whats New Pussycat? -- Sunday Snow...

Whats New Pussycat?

What's new pussycat? Woah, Woah
What's new pussycat? Woah, Woah


Pussycat, Pussycat
I've got flowers
And lots of hours
To spend with you.
So go and powder your cute little pussycat nose!


Pussycat, Pussycat
I love you
Yes, I do!

You and your pussycat nose!

What's new pussycat? Woah, Woah

What's new pussycat? Woah, Woah

Pussycat, Pussycat
You're so thrilling
And I'm so willing
To care for you.
So go and make up your cute little pussycat face!


Pussycat, Pussycat
I love you
Yes, I do!
You and your pussycat face!

What's new pussycat?
Woah, Woah
What's new pussycat?
Woah, Woah


Pussycat, Pussycat
You're delicious
And if my wishes
Can all come true
I'll soon be kissing your
sweet little pussycat lips!

Pussycat, Pussycat
I love you
Yes, I do!
You and your pussycat lips!

You and your pussycat eyes!

You and your pussycat nose!

(Tom Jones)

 

Snow!

Slush! Slippy slidey sidewalk...

Our Street!

The new Garden, complete with White Stuff!

It is snowing ~
Oh Yes it Is! Its as cold as a frogs foot, and as wet as the pond the frog lives in.
I like thick chunky snow. The kind that comes along quietly, sits on the ground and banks nicely, then goes away. Not this namby pamby cant-decide kind of snow that is weasely wet and thin on the ground... I shouldnt complain...
There seems to be snow all over the South as I look online at the weather report. Motueka to the North, Dunedin to the South, and all over Christchurch... Even Mr EB in Oxford has it apparently...The ski fields will love it :-)

Of course for the second week of the School Hols, it makes us inside like a bunch of sardines, but that is ok.

We had a great first week. Maybe the snow will decide to move on out after a couple of days...

Then we can get back to the Real Stuff... Outside.

Ive joined a Seed Swap. Im really pleased, Im learning a lot, and I have really found something I enjoy. I spent the afternoon making tiny paper envelopes to put seeds in. Ive just found glue sticking my hoodie to my arm, how creative is that?!
 Also, on OOOOBY, I found other people I can chat with about my favourite subjects - seeds, veggies, gardens, sigh. Happiness is so easily found for some...

I am waiting very patiently for my parcel of seeds to arrive from Kings seeds this week. I have the seed raising mix all ready to go, and Im going to crow now about the success of my indoor capsicums... so just hide your eyes if youre over it :-)
I raised them from seed, first time ever. They went green, grew nicely on my windowsill in my bedroom ... and now have gone a shiny red. Thanks to moving them into the room with the new heatpump...Yay!
I will have to watch them, as Miss 4 LOVES eating capsicums, and they are well within her reach.

Got to love this weather, its time for soup.. veggie is nice, but I love PUMPKIN Soup... That is tomorrows job. It lasts us just a day or two, but its hearty and filling and it keeps us warm... Yum!

Well, not a lot to report just now,
Hanging in there til we see the sun...
Dreaming of Posties with fat Seed Parcels, including our Swapsies.

 

This weekends Movie... Quite fitting title :)



Love to All,

Especially those in The North.
Come Home Soon :-)

Take care,

E BUTTERFLYXXXXXXXXX



Day Five - Still Alive ... A few Shakes in the Water...



Leaves in Liquefaction

 Day Five... Yes, still alive. Doing some helping out around the neighbourhood today. Our friend B from down the road had a huge well of Liquefaction, and a few of us helped out with the shovelling. Lots of comings and goings with the wheelbarrows, which really arent built to handle the solid loads they encounter. It took us a while, and it still isnt completely finished, will go and help out tomorrow too if required.
Liquefaction has to be the most unusual stuff. The consistency changes depending on if its shaking - vibrations just from moving the stuff from hole to the front of the section bring the water out of the core of the pile, and it dribbles into the gutter. The firm silt base goes to jelly when it is shaken, and if you put your boot in, its hard to suck it out. Its seriously weird. And it smells - in the morning, as the sun hits the piles, you can smell it, like a sulphury smell. Ick! Im sure there are lurgys that lurk in it, probably some ecoli and mushrooms... magic ones? Nah I dont know.

Still doing the seed collecting. Ive just made pumpkin soup - complete with bacon bones, which the kids loved. We had it for tea. I love pumpkin soup, not only do I get the pumpkin, but the promise of more with the seeds... yes, I know. I think Ive written enthusiasticallly about that before, havent I?...
Ive got some more capsicum seed this week too. Theyre both constants at the moment, while Miss 4 is happy to eat capsicums raw, I ll keep gathering up the seeds. And with Winter setting in, theres likely to be more pumpkin seeds too, cos Soup is cheap, filling and keeps us warm!

I was lying on the bed this afternoon, chatting to Mr EB when the earth shook. Funny - the door swung open, cats and children came thru the door! Ooh says Miss 4 That was a bit scary! It wasnt though, it was a tiddler! Theres been a few today, but thats nothing unusual. The thing I have been looking at, is that some of them have been in the water, near the shore. I wonder how that affects under the water - and the tides?  And the poor fish. Im picking it gives them a headache or two!! And does liquefaction affect what grows down there... hmm.

Another thing I noticed whilst making the soup today. Youve got to be really careful with the aftershocks and cooking on the stove. We almost lost the soup on the floor twice. Almost like the muffins I made and promptly dropped as I opened the oven to get them out. Mr EB wasnt phased at all... He picked them up with his hands and put them on the plate... Never to Mind he says. Bless him! I do love him dearly. Meanwhile I was fuming...
Well, theyre all gone, so they cant be so bad :)

Time to Wander Off and do some tidying for tomorrows events...
Landlords arrival emininent, and I hope to get some housemates...
Fingers xed. Id love the company!

All the very best to You!
Keep Warm
Love
EButterfly
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