Internet is running poorly from my house so images will be added later.
CORN SEEDS AND WEEDING
Today I planted corn in spleft over space in the vege patch. We originally had two rows of corn, but in hind-sight, that probably isn't enough for six families. Still the left overs in teh seed packet were not enough to fill the space so have to get another packet of Yates Corn seeds to fill it up.
I also started the arduous and never ending task of weeding the garden by house (again) with my WWOOFer Franzisca's help. Such a lovely young lady and it is a real shame that her visit has come to an end.
THIRD MEAL
When we were in the garden 'tidying up', we noticed the abundance of beetroot leaves, knowing that they can be used in salads we were wondered if older leaves could be used for anything. I think sometimes you ponder things at just the right time... as my wwoofer Franciska said, that she has sautee'd them with onions and put cream with them... so that night we gave it a try and I have to say I loved it. We had only sour cream at the time and it was fantastic, I loved it and would defini do it again... cream, sour cream, yoghurt or cream cheese would work fine. At the same time I made sage & oregano gnocchi (from scratch), also a fantastic dish thanks to Cindy making it when she was here.
SALAD GREENS
Now that the initial bulk planting of seeds has occurred my planter box is all mine again. I now have in my planter box, lettuce, basil, corriander and chive seeds. Already the lettuce and basil are showing.
CONTEMPLATING COFFEE
Over night it suddenly dawned on me that one of the mum’s in our new entrant class at school (with my 2nd son just starting) owns one of our local cafe’s.
Next morning I found her and she is happy to store up their coffee beans for us, and also the scrap food for the pigs/chickens… now I just need to find a whole pile of buckets.
For anyone travelling near Waiuku or the Glenbrook Steam Train (very close by), they are by far my favourite cafe, not only for the great food, but the setting is so lovely. Take a look at their facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Calendula-Cottage-Cafe-and-Gardens/154673477902098?sk=wall
PEPPERMINT TEA
One of the most lovely treats that my visitors have given me was a use for peppermint.
For Xmas last year I was given a peppermint plant, from a family visiting from Israel. Through them I was introduced to peppermint tea and frankly it is amazing.
Now that my plant has grown big enough to start using more frequently I am very excited… So much so today’s Mummies in Gummies ‘meeting’ I got the old Baileys teapot out to enjoy a brew.
MANURE
Liz and V talked about getting the horse manure today… after V left, she decided to go and scope out her source… LUCK… there was some sitting by the side of the road. She managed to pack in 5 bags and Liz ran up and managed another 8. Will be great in the compost and in the garden.
Although the stuff we need for between the rows etc is the sawdust or hay the horse farms take out of the stables. This is what we really need on the tops of the tyres to grow our pumpkins… MUST GET ONTO THAT.
MORE PLANTING
Remember we are feeding 28 people…. so yes more planting
This time a few extra potatoes in the area’s that didn’t seem to take. A few more peas, the odd onion seedling that did actually grow, Pak Choi and low-growing silverbeet.
the pumpkin plantings got another step closer. The tyres are now full of stuff to be compostede and in a few days ‘fingers crossed’ we will have horse manure / saw dust delivered to pop on top to grow out pumpkins in.
The plan is to grow them vertically, but of course it wouldn’t matter if it grew over the compost too.
We girls have had great giggles over the potential use of our old bras ;)
WATER TESTING
No I don’t mean the pH levels… but rather whether water is simply getting through the sprinklers.
Even after Trina’s great effort five of the sprinklers were blocked with ‘new’ algae.
Poor Liz had to stand in the ‘rain’ to see what was and wasn’t working.
At least it was a good day for it.
BAMBOO TEEPEES
Trina and Tania had a great time cleaning the bamboo shafts that Lin's hubby Bill had cut for us. They made a great laugh out of rotating and cutting the bamboo... but I wasn't really privvy to it so I can't quite understand the analogies.
Any way, we made some great teepee type support structures for the peas and beans which are getting up there in size now.
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