My Latest Pets

Here are my latest pets:

Okay, so not your usual cat, dog or budgie! But so much more useful. I was given a wormfarm for my birthday this year by my wonderful husband (and son). It is a Can-o-worms, and comes with 3 tiers, and a tap to drain off all that liquid gold out the bottom. I chose this one because my dad has had one for years and years, and it seems to work really well. We didn't buy any worms, but rather stocked it by taking an icecream container full from Dad's farm. As worms populate up to the limits of their available room and food, his farm will simply repopulate to cover the few I took out.

My wormfarm!

I also took quite a few from our compost bin. I have never seen a compost bin with lots of worms, but this one sure does beat all. It is down behind the back shed at our rental unit, and on warm, wet days is simply teeming with worms. I'm sure other days are the same, but they all head to the top of the black plastic dome on these days. It was a simple matter of rubber gloves, hand trowel and icecream container, and 4 or 5 trips between compost bin and new worm farm, and my farm was ready to go. I thought I must have taken almost all of them, but need not have worried - a recent visit showed that there's still plenty there to continue munching.


So why have worms? Well, they generally don't smell (if they do, you might need a bit of lime as it is getting too acidic). They don't need a worm-sitter when you go away. You just give them heaps of food and a bit of water before you go, and can then enjoy your 2 week summer holiday knowing your worms will still be alive when you get back. They eat food waste. I think my farm is supposed to eat up to a litre per day once it gets going, but that will probably take 6-12months. I personally hate throwing food in the rubbish. All that stinky, decomposing waste in our landfills. And so unnecessary, when it is actually a valuable resource. That's not a sustainable practice at all.




In efforts to reduce, reuse, and recycle, worms come up tops. They don't take up a lot of room. They don't make any noise. They don't need taking for a walk, and they don't require expensive vet bills. They are hard working little machines, that go about their business with almost no help from me. I just have to supply food, preferably in small bits, a little water, a shady spot for their house, and empty a layer of the worm farm every few months...which is a task I do not mind at all seeing as worm castings are rather helpful round the garden (apparently very neutral so safe to use ad-hoc wherever you like, you just cover with mulch to stop the sun leaching the goodness from them - you can mix them into soil, put them round shrubs, water a dilution into your tomatoes or strawberries, and use the same to help transplant shock for new seedlings - basically an all-purpose compost!).


I am very happy with my farm. It was something I could have now that I can use for years to come. It helps me live more sustainably, even while we are renting. Do you compost your food scraps? What's your favourite method?



Amy

Monday, 18th October, 2010

A Little Bit of Chaos

The garden got a little over run this past winter. This is not really surprising considering all the other things that were going on in my life. In saying this, however, I would like to point out that gardening does seem to bring out the random in me. I start off with major planning, which then usually disintegrates into 'just put something in the space' through the seasons. I also follow permaculture and organic principles in my gardening, which tend to make for a less tidy space. It is not that you can't have an organic, or permaculture garden that is neat and tidy and all in nice little rows. You can. The thing is, discouraging nasties involves dissuading them from taking up residence. So putting things in long, neat rows is kind of like having a neon MacDonald's sign - "eat here, eat here" it says! They can munch from one end to the other in happy contentment and fatness (I know, that is not really a word, but it does sound so good!). So, I try to deliberately break up plantings. For instance, this year we have tomatoes in 4 different rows, each with something else planted in between. Hopefully if one row gets diseased, we will still eat tomatoes.

I also let things go to seed. This is for the beneficial insects. After all, they do need somewhere inviting in which to take up residence and go to work at culling all the insects I don't want in the garden. This past winter they sure had it good, and not from any of my doing.

The broccoli went to seed. I only managed to get in about 4 plants in early February, which we have concluded was a bit early. Their main heads were very small, and ready before winter, but the interesting thing is that they continued to produce some very tasty, prolific side shoots right through winter. The only issue was that we failed to keep up with cutting and eating them, so they flowered. I am thinking of trying a few again this year to see if we get a similar result because the ones I did eat at the end of winter were delicious.

Seeding plants have a wild beauty all of their own.

Amy

Monday, 18th October, 2010

What Can You See?

Here is our front garden on a nice sunny day earlier this week.

Serene and peaceful, wouldn't you think? Needs a bit more weeding, which is what I'd just been doing down in front of the spikey plant to the left. Now look a little closer. What can you see?

Closer.

Oh, and here's the other spikey plant...

They do look rather beautiful. Fortunately for me, they were rather dozy and more interested in creating their nests in the gentle morning sunshine than in the silly human's head that got rather close. We bought flyspray. Wasps are about the only thing I will use flyspray on (nasty, chemical stuff, stinks and is not good for our world at all, so usually we just use a flyswat if we really need to kill something)...Boyo did try using a shoe on these instead first, but they were a bit hard to get at. I do feel a little mean killing the wasps, as they are simply living their own lives and minding their own business. I'm sure they must fulfill necessary jobs in the grand scheme of things (such as parasiting other bugs maybe?), but I personally feel rather uncomfortable being anywhere near a wasp, let alone having two nests right by my front door. So it was bye-bye wasps. I am now checking plants before I get too close, just in case any of their friends have similar plans.

Amy

Saturday, 16th October, 2010

Catching Up

Gardening has taken a necessary backseat in recent months (surprise, surprise!). With the arrival of spring, and the completion of my major study load for the year, I have started heading out into the garden more often. By more often, I mean getting out there at all! Our front garden had so many weeds. I've gradually been working my way through, pulling them all out of the little pebbles. Munchkin even helps most mornings. We pop outside for a few minutes wander around, and he either perches on a knee, or sits on the stones when they are dry, while I pull a handful of grass out. He quite enjoys it, but we only manage a few minutes before bed and bottle. I had so many little piles of pulled grass and weeds scattered all through the garden bed, that it felt like it was just as messy as if I'd left the weeds to start with, so I have started putting them all in a bucket as I go. When it is full, I just do a mad dash up the back of the property to the green waste pile behind the shed. Sorted.

Amy
Saturday, 16th October, 2010

It Stinks!

Okay, so I did at least start out the day dressed nicely. That was before Munchkin managed to puke down my arm, my back, my right leg, my right sock and shoe. If you are wondering how it all managed to get there, I was kneeling down, picking him up off the floor and it all went up and out just as I put him up to my shoulder...most of it landed on the back of my leg.

I now stink of vomit. And I can't escape. Boyo is still asleep in our bedroom, so I have to wait until I can change my clothes. As he worked till midnight last night, then was woken by Munchkin joining us in bed before 5am (I was trying to get another hour of rest out of him, but as he was wide awake and rather twitchy, it did not work!), I don't think Boyo would be particularly appreciative of another wake-up before he's ready!

As my current outfit includes my jeans, aka my 'nice' trousers and one of my few nice tops that fit, I will be reduced to my usual track pants and sweater for the next day or two while these get washed and dried. There is a bit of a washing pile up with today being Friday (usual washing day plus Munchkin's mountainous daily piles) so it may take awhile before I get my clothes back. Hopefully I will get to wear them for more than a couple of hours next time round. Ah, the joys of parenthood!


Amy
Friday, 15th October, 2010

Munchkin's Entertainment Program

Thursday, 14th October, 2010

Munchkin's Entertainment Program, aka Mummy's Exercise Regime

I am currently having 2 week's holiday. All my assignments have been handed in. Yay!!! Everyone else is out on Practicum. I have been given a late prac, much to my relief, to allow a few more weeks for Munchkin to get older before I have to leave him at home for the 3 week prac. So I now have 2 weeks to recover and recuperate before studying for exams, then going on prac myself.

I have hence started my exercise regime. This is not a set-in-concrete kind of regime, but more of a what-can-I-do-today-that-increases-my-activity-and-fits-around-the-baby kind of regime. Munchkin, of course, does not even realise that Mummy is trying to improve her weight and fitness and overall sense of well-being. Munchkin thinks that this is all for his enjoyment. He is quite happy to have some extra entertainment.

So in the mornings, Munchkin and I head out with the front pack for a 20min walk. This is very beneficial for my butt and thigh muscles with his extra 8kgs straddled across my front. Muchkin loves going outside, so this is merely an extension of the time we were already spending wandering around our yard. He's a very happy chappy every time he sees his woolly hat, because he knows that means we must be going out somewhere!

My other standard options are:
Swimming. This requires Munchkin and Daddy time while Mummy does a few laps at the local pool, hopefully once a week...did my first one since pregnancy on Sunday and really enjoyed it, though I did not enjoy the feeling in my arms and legs the following day!).
Dancing. Munchkin just LOVES movement. Doesn't matter whether it is us or him moving, as long as someone is and preferably to music. Arms especially seem to be entertaining. So the past 2 mornings Mummy has danced to a Beach Boys song while Munchkin watches with great delight. My dancing would never win any awards, but it certainly gets the blood flowing, the breath puffing, and the baby giggling.
Pilates. I have a short 10min routine to do, which I will hopefully manage every second morning before Munchkin wakes up. Didn't quite work yesterday, so I ended up doing it in 2 or 3 stints while he played on the floor after his breakfast. Never mind. Still did it, which is the important bit.
Walking. Lots of walking. Munchkin has been walked in his pram/stroller since day dot almost, so quite enjoys it when Mummy and Daddy strap him in and head out along the boardwalk. We like to go most days, provided the weather is okay.
Gardening. It is a digging time of year, with gardens needing to be prepped before planting. As almost no gardening happened over winter, the work I might have otherwise spread over a few months is currently being done right before each successive planting needs the garden beds. My current gardening day is Mondays, and I head off for 1 hour while Daddy watches Munchkin...this method being about 4 times more productive than an hour spent in the garden with the baby. I dig, and weed, and dig, and add blood and bone and sheep manure, and dig, and did I mention dig?? The digging is the bit that's really good for my arm muscles. Any arm muscle work is probably helpful when you consider I am a lightweight 160cm tall woman carrying a baby who is currently over 8kg and 66cm tall...he kind of sticks out all over the place and invariably ends up heading floor-ward as my arms give up in protest!

So that is my current exercise regime. Munchkin thinks it is all good.

Amy

Mauao

What a beautiful place we live in! Boyo and I comment on this often while out walking. We couldn't really ask for a more gorgeous location in which to live our daily lives. We do notice, however, just how easy it is to take these things for granted, to forget how lovely our area is, how close the beach is, how warm the sun, or cool the breeze, and end up stuck inside, rushing from one thing to another in our day to day lives.

We went to Mauao on my birthday. The Mount. Mount Maunganui. Mauao is its proper Maori name. It means 'caught in the light of the day'. I always think of it as caught by the dawn. It is such a beautiful place between ocean, harbour, and land.

A lovely place for a rest, don't you think?

You can walk all the way to the top, on one of several different paths of varying steepness. We chose to content ourselves with a leisurely walk around instead.

The path around the ocean-ward side.

Really should do it more often. Now, how often do we say that?!? Just 2 nights ago we lay out in our backyard and watched the stars peeping through the clouds as they scuttled across the sky. And commented on how we 'should do this more often.'

When did you last take some time out to enjoy your local area? Any plans to do it again soon?

Amy

Thursday, 7th October, 2010