Spring Inside the House

I've been busy the last week or so trying to give our house a new lease of life.

I feel that the best way to do this is to add natural elements. I have been adding house plants, foliage arrangements and displays mainly by recycling items from around the house.

I'm especially fond of moss at the moment. I'd especially like to grow a moss display inside. I'm not quite sure how I'd go about it, but wall or a table display would be ideal.

This is a photo I took on a recent walk in bushland, nearby our property.  The moss is almost an irridesent green. Perhaps I could make an artwork using this image if I can't create the real thing!

Spring Time at Silver Spear

Spring is in the air. The weather is improving although our typical Spring winds are still a little bitter - a remind that winter is only barely behind us.

We have started off a Spring clean in the garden by doing some earthworks. 

We were fortunate enough to be able to use a neighbours digger for a reasonable rate and rope in a friend visiting for the weekend to operate it for a few hours.

We were able to achieve a few tasks with the digger: levelling out the driveway a little, reshaping an area in front of the shed and shipping container, pulling up a path and some tree stumps, shaping out a slippery slide track and moving the play equipment further up the paddock

My beloved broken concrete path which I laid down in January had to go. It looked the part, but with small children and elderly using the path, it was not safe or practical for use.  The digger made quick work of its removal and the broken concrete pieces will be re-used for retaining along the edge of the garden.  For now we will stick with the fine gravel until concreting is affordable.

The digger has left a bit of a mess, but it was well worth the work it achieved. In a couple of weeks the grass will have grown back and we will have improved functionality of our outdoor space.

It feels like real progress - a great start to Spring and lots of warm, sunny days ahead.

Getting The Balance Right

When you don't get work/life balance right, the house starts to look like this

The annoying thing is, time is not really the issue - it's the prioritising that has let me down.  I have been so focused on work and putting it first instead of dedicating the time to catch up on tasks that I have dropped the ball.

I'm disappointed that in one week I have abandoned my household routines and just given in to the mess. It has not been helped by the kids being unwell and camped out in the lounge the past 3 days, but that's life and if I can't work around that - then my house will never be clean.

I've also felt more mentally exhausted and less like doing cleaning (especially the laundry). I really struggle with laundry. There are so many steps in the process and it is never ending :-(

I need to get stuck in today and tomorrow and get prepared for the week ahead otherwise the problem will only compound itself. Time to roll up the sleeves!

Bacon and Pork for the Freezer

It's been over 2 weeks since our pigs were slaughtered.  After a week our pork had been processed and then yesterday we picked up our bacon and hams. 

It was the first time that I had raised animals for food and I must admit, I had my reservations about it. But ultimately I have come to terms with it (as a meat eater I am not oblivious to the fact that I eat animals - whether they are home reared or not).

I now have a deeper understanding of the process, I appreciate that the meat our pigs provided will nourish and sustain us and I know that they were treated humanely during their lives and in death.

The meat is excellent quality, tastes superb and was cost effective to produce. I'd say over all it was a successful and rewarding project. 

Flooding Hits Taranaki

24 hours of torrential rain caused some pretty dramatic flooding across Taranaki, including our small rural community.

Our road was impassable for several hours, our property however was relatively unscathed.   Here is a link to a post from the property owner of Jury Gardens (2 kms down the road), with pictures of the flooding on their Tikorangi property and the road to our property.

http://jury.co.nz/tag/flooding/

I'd say we made the right call to wait a few hours till the water had receded to make the crossing!

A torrent of rain water cut through our pig pen (you can see the channel it carved through the dirt in the pic below) but otherwise this didn't cause any inconvenience to the pigs.

The rest of the region was not so fortunate. Waitara only 10 kms inland from our property experienced flooding through the west side of the town as drains and sewerage systems struggled to cope with the deluge.

Fortunately the Waitara river flood protection held up and saved a major catastrophe.

http://i.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/69564880/wild-weather-and-floods-in-waitara-as-taranaki-hit-by-downpourshttp://i.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/69564880/wild-weather-and-floods-in-waitara-as-taranaki-hit-by-downpours

I don't envy the clean up that some people have on their hands at the moment, but on a whole I think we were very lucky the flooding was not more severe.

Shades of Winter

It is officially winter and the leaves have left many of our deciduous trees.

This ornamental cherry tree in Rosemary's Garden has not yet succumbed to the cold and wind. It is still shades of red, yellow and burnt orange - just beautiful.

There are some truly lovely plants putting on a display at the moment. 

This hebe 'Beverley Hills' with vivid variegated leaves and mauve flowers is stunning.  It's bigger brothers in the garden are also looking the part.

I'm happy with the progress being made on my new garden out the front. I've added a bowl shaped pot of violas set on a plinth made from an upturned pot and some painted mushrooms for colour and fun.

This playful little jester sculpture made by a local potter is another new addition to the garden

 We have even constructed a wood mountain sculpture for the front lawn made from eucalyptus branches.  The plan is to grow some climbers up the main supports and over the top.

My potted colour near the front of the house is doing its job.

So is a sculpture I constructed out of old glass light fixtures I have picked up from local opp shops. They add colour and interest in an otherwise dull corner.

There is always an endless list of to-do's for the garden, areas that need attention, mulching, pruning and planting. It does feel like is is starting to come together at last. I love seeing the garden grow :-)

Time for Bed

It has been a busy day. I have spent a few hours in the garden and much of the rest of it in the kitchen either preping meals or cleaning up after them. I have been bending and moving a lot - I know that much because my legs and back are really feeling it.

The last thing you feel like doing at the end of the day is making beds, but Sunday is our day for changing the bedding and if I get too caught up on other things, then that is what happens

:-( 

I paid special attention to making our bed  tonight, even though I was feeling tired and less than happy about another chore. I just love that feeling of getting into a well made bed and for a few sweet minutes I get to admire it before it gets all messed up.

I'm also pretty fond of my winter quilt. I bought it from Wallace Cotton a few years back and it fits our King bed really well. I love the warm tones and I think it fits my modern country style nicely.

Beetroot in the Ground!

I was going to plant seed for my beetroot crop, in fact I still will, but I have opted for seedlings for this first crop, to get a head start.  

We have had great success with sowing seeds in the past and it really is more economical - it is just a time factor.  

My 10 plants will not provide me with nearly enough beetroot for the winter. I will be using the leaves for salad as well as the root once they are large enough, so I'm going to need loads of plants. Better hunt out those seeds.

Plants That Make Me Smile :-)

Ahhhh, a sunny afternoon at last. I managed to hunt out my gumboots and take a look at the garden.

We pulled out the sodden tomatoes and zucchini plants to make way for winter crops and have planted the fig tree I bought Hubby for his birthday.

I have mowed the front lawn, trimmed the goat's hooves and trimmed back some plants that have finished flowering for the year.

Surprisingly there were a few still in full flower and I can't help but smile to see them in all their splendour. My little chrysanthemum is a mass of flowers.

And some of the cape daisies are also doing super well.

Even the gazanias are still throwing out some sweet blooms. This one really caught my eye.

And the silver spear, a quiet achiever, while not flowering looked rather striking with the sun shining down it's long stems.

One of my favourite additions to the garden are my faux bull rush stems. My Mum made them herself. They look so real positioned in a reed bush in the front garden and I can enjoy them all year round - Thanks Mum!

Winter is on it's Way

The last week or so has been very wet and cold with a polar blast moving up the  country, reminding us that Winter is most definitely on it's way.  Our mountain ( Mt Taranaki) had its first snow of the year and it was a pretty good dusting!

#mounttaranaki

http://i.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/67733284/First-snow-of-winter-falls-on-Mt-Taranaki

The vege plot has halted its growth and the rest of the garden is looking rather sad and waterlogged. We will be pulling out the tomatoes and zucchini plants in the next week or so to make way for some winter crops. I will certainly miss the produce until our next crops come in. 

I have retreated indoors, not much gardening has gone on since the cool weather arrived. I've traded my gumboots for ugg boots for the time being. Hey, I'm sure the plants would prefer to be indoors too if they had a choice! 

Making Silver Spear Stand Out

Sometime ago I named our property 'Silver Spear' (after the mass plantings of Astelia - Silver Spear in our garden), I had envisioned doing more with the idea and in some spectacular fashion creating an identity, an overall theme that brought all my concepts together.

One of my ideas was to make a sign for the property.  Perhaps something that could be mounted to the front gate, or over the front porch (or both).  Something welcoming, rustic, homemade and fun, but not tacky.  This could involve some creative design and maybe a little help from some friends (with skills :-)

Another idea is to plant our narrow verge between the road and fence line along the front of the property with silver spear, or at least the verge on either side of the driveway to create a feature planting.  There are already a few plants under a tree up my the roadside and they are doing well.

My biggest concern is whether the mature plants would grow out over the roadside and create problems with visibility when exiting our driveway.  This is illustrated by our neighbours verge.  They have planted a variety of flax and other native plants and it has caused an issue with visibility for us as the plants have matured.

We have combatted this by having a mirror installed opposite our driveway, but we don't really need any further safety issues.  Perhaps lower planting nearer the driveway and then planting Silver Spear further down the hill would work better (currently where we have gorse and weeds sprouting up!)

I could also look at planting up some large pots with Silver Spear to place around the property, they are a great contrast plant and look striking against dark colours, like black, brown, red, burgundy and navy.  Pots are a big expense, so maybe this could be an option further down the track.

The existing plantings of Silver Spear could be further enhanced by planting darker / redder tones of plants around them to create contrast and interest (like below)

I have plans to start potting up the mass of smaller Silver Spear plants we have growing on the property.  A small plant in a garden centre will typically sell for about $14.95 each.   If I could sell a couple of hundred plants at half or even a third that price, It would go a long way towards paying for other plants, mulch and gravel for paths in the garden.

Home Sweet Home

We have just returned home after 4 days away over the Easter break.  It was lovely to get away as a family and being in different surroundings was refreshing and invigorating. We stayed at my Brother and Sister in Law's place in Auckland. They have a beautiful home set in a secluded bush setting, which we were lucky enough to have use of for the weekend. The views over the bush and city beyond are just stunning.

I've come home with renewed enthusiasm for our home and garden. I will admit I have been struggling to find the motivation to work on my household projects on a daily basis. It seems what I really needed was a break from the daily grind and to come back with a fresh perspective.

Home always feels sweet when you have been away from it.  I want to use this momentum and get some ZB and LB (zero budget and low budget) makeovers underway to inject some life back into our space. I've got my sights set on the lounge/dining/kitchen space. It will mean I need to get super creative, but I'm feeling pretty good about it :-)

4 Lovely Eggs a Day

Our small brood of 4 layer birds is now at full production. They all lay at odd times, the last one after 4pm in the day! We're not sure why she is a late layer, but she does still lay.  They all stick to the one nest too, even though there is a second box available. 

All our chickens were raised from being day old chicks. As chicks they need a warm environment (we use a box with a lamp for heating) until they lose their down and grow their first adult feathers. After that we house them outside in a separate hutch until they get big enough to be introduced to the rest of the flock.

We feed the chickens a blend of kitchen scraps, layer bird pellets and grass.  The pellets contain a lot nutrients and shell hardener (presumably calcium of some form). We occasionally provide grit aswell.

Owning chickens is such a joy. We have kept chickens for about 7 years now. They earn their keep producing eggs and good quality fertiliser for the garden. Best of all chickens make our spot in the country feel like home.

Porky and Bacon

Our pigs Porky and Bacon have been with us for two months now and are doing nicely.  They have rooted around and turned over the ground in their yard eating all the grass that once grew there and chewed up shallow roots and tasty shrubs.

Porky (the boar) will stay for another 3 months before we slaughter him for pork, while Bacon (the sow) will stay a further 6 months before slaughter to make bacon and Christmas Ham. 

It all sounds a bit macabre, but I currently  purchase and eat farm reared pork and bacon from the supermarket (as many people do) and I would be a hypocrite to say that it is cruel or unfair.

I am happy with the manner of our pig's existence, that they are fed and watered well, have space to do what comes naturally and shelter to sleep out of the elements. Providing they are humanely slaughtered, I feel confident that the process has been cruelty free and fair (as much as it can possibly be).

Keeping pigs has been a satisfying experience but there are challenges ahead. As the pigs grow, so do their appetites and making sure we have an ample supply of free scraps is a job in itself. We occasionally top up their food with store bought grains, but this is costly and not ideal - the pigs don't enjoy it as much either.

It will be tough to see them go, but this is the reality of eating meat. Our children will grow up understanding where their food

comes from and the process involved.

Hopefully it will make them appreciate the work that goes into rearing their food and value the lives of the animals we sacrifice to feed ourselves.  

Goat Out and Stay Out!

Last night I awoke to the sound of banging and clattering on our front porch. Still sleepy I got up to investigate and when I opened the front door, who should be there nibbling all the flower heads off my plants and flowers - Buttercup our pet nanny goat!

I was not at all impressed. Neither was my husband who I had to wake to take her back to her run down in the paddock in the dark. I had trouble sleeping for the rest of the night. I'd wake up to every little sound thinking Buttercup was back at the house.

She is a notorious escape artist and when she does escape, she's like a kid in sweet shop she goes for all the yummiest treats, the bean vine, succulent plants and most flowering shrubs.

Needless to say we need to improve security on her run. She is a lovely pet and as a herd animal she seeks out company of other creatures and fresh pastures. I can't blame her for wanting to escape - but I can't have it.

We do plan to do some more fencing in the paddock and introduce a couple of sheep, which will be company while they are being reared for slaughter. But that won't be for a few months until we can afford to tackle this project.

Till then we are working on a plan to strengthen her run, replacing the wire that she is tethered to with chain and modifying a couple of warratah metal posts to secure the chain to the ground.  It would be nice not to have to tether her, but we have no other option for now.

Rosemary's Garden

One area of garden on our property which has been making steady progress is Rosemary's garden. Rosemary, my mother in law and her husband live with us on the property and she has a good sized garden along the road side of the house.

Rosemary has taken the original contemporary planting and has added mainly traditional style planting to fill in the gaps.  There are tonnes of flowering plants, which are small now, but will bush out to create a sprawling cottage garden look.  She also has a love of bromeliads, native grasses and succulents which have found their way into the scheme.

Eventually we plan to build a boardwalk leading from their parking space to a decked area leading off their personal living space.  Removable covers for the gas cylinders and A/C units are on the cards too as they look very untidy at the moment. Ideally the garden will be also be fenced off to give them peace and privacy and further shelter their garden from wind.

Further down the roadside, the garden narrows off and transitions into our garden.  Our small vege raised bed sits just off our deck (very handy to the kitchen) and my new patch of garden further along, which I only planted out at the beginning of Spring is growing well.

I'm especially happy with growth of my low growing grevillea, which was an investment plant.  I would dearly love to add more grevillias to this garden and I also have my eye on some of the new varieties of hebe, but these will have to wait.

It will be worthwhile waiting until early summer to post more photos of these gardens because I can see them really taking off this year and the result is going to look amazing!

See How the Garden Grows

I have been trying to put at least a couple of plants in every week. The plants have a way of disappearing in the expanse of garden. I just keep hoping that one day I will look and I will see a well planted and thriving garden.  This lot of plants cost $21.87.  For 14 plants that is not too bad. Cheaper than a bunch of cut flowers and I will get months and years enjoyment out of them.

At the moment I see bare patches, rough edging and overgrown flax plants.  I am trying to move out some of the more mature flax.  Here is an example. Three large flax were removed along the fence line and replaced with three small palms which will take time to mature (unlike the flax). I can underplant them to add colour if I choose and they will work in nicely with some of the more mature palms we have growing already.

I have a habit of working in one area and then moving onto another when progress slows. It means that overall there is no one area that has been finished and looks tidy and maintained.  It does however mean that small amounts of progress are being made everywhere.  I'm hoping it will all start to come together in the coming months. 

I don't have a specific plan which doesn't help.  It has been hard to sit down and make a plan. My planning usually revolves around what plants I can buy cheaply and I am restricted to where I can put certain plants with our exposed site. There are a few sheltered spaces around the house, but most plants have to be hardy.

There are areas that need only a little finishing off with mulch and given more time to grow.  I'm happy with the new garden bed along the front of the house. It is one of the few sheltered spots we have, but it also quite shaded and gets very little direct sun.  I have had to choose my plants carefully, so far they are doing well.

It is a labour of love, but it is rewarding seeing the garden grow :-)