There’s a new gardening segment on one of my favourite radio shows. Simon Morton has been keeping bees and chickens in his backyard for a while but now he’s put in a new vege patch. Photos and podcasts from the earlier shows are here.

I’m so grumpy today.

I’m thinking I might make a t-shirt that says “Consensus among scientists is NOT a conspiracy!”

Or maybe: “When my son is forty there will be NO more oil left” (with a picture of my young, cute, son underneath).

*sigh*

I’m going out to plant more carrots and chase the damn cats off the garden. Honestly, the compost heap rat is more help in the garden than the damn cats. At least it eats snails!

This is really lazy blogging but October has some fun and interesting things happening in Wellington. This is copied from the October newsletter of the Sustainability Trust:

Upcoming Events

October 24: International Day of Climate Action

Climate Change Festival – Noon to 5 pm, Food, stalls and live music will keep us going throughout the day, with many opportunities to let our leaders know how you feel and to find out more about what you can do right now.

Come to Wellington Waterfront – Odlins Plaza (near Frank Kitts Lagoon/Mac’’s Brewery)

Bike Ride – Come to Queens Wharf in Wellington City at 9.15am as we”ve organised a special ferry to float us across to Days Bay in Eastbourne where we”ll begin the ride round the coast back to Wellington City for the festival. We”ll pick up cyclists in Petone (meet at westernmost pull-off to Petone beach), Ngauranga and then join up with the fabulous Frocks On Bikes at the Railway Station

Please contact Christina for more information: christina.bellis3@gmail.com

Public Participation Sculpture – A ”flash mob sculpture” made by the people – yep, that’s you – to celebrate the many ways that we can reduce our carbon footprint and reach the target of 350ppm – the world’s best hope for a stable climate. For more information, visit http://intersect.ning.com/events/give-it-upfor-the-climate?rsvpConfirm=1 or e mail: take.heart.jo@gmail.com.

October 31: Innermost Gardens Creating Healthy Soil Workshop

In a healthy soil there are literally hundreds and hundreds of species of soil bacteria, soil fungi, and many other microscopic soil critters. A single tablespoon of healthy soil might contain over a billion beneficial soil microbes.

This workshop presents number of different microbes and their role in creating better health for your soil, plants and you. For more information on this workshop please email expressionofinnermost@gmail.com

October 31st 10- 4:30 pm (Rain date Nov 1)

Where: The Old Bandoliers Women’s Bowling Green. Lawson Place, Mt Victoria

Bring: Lunch, good footwear, sun cream, water, something to sit on and laughter. Cost : $15 or what you can afford.

I think I’ll definitely be going to the soil workshop! I love the Sustainability Trust – and not just because they fully insulated my house last year for $500 ;>

The good news is that bamboo skewers do keep the cats and the birds out of my garden.

The bad news is that it is now very hard to weed without poking myself. A lot.

Week 5:

I am the stupidest, most disorganised gardener. I have no excuse either – I’ve read enough books that I should have learned something by now. And yet, planting decisions are still being made on impulse when standing in front of the seedlings at the supermarket! And because the planting is so haphazard and unplanned, we’re having trouble finding space to dig the Bokashi bucket in each fortnight. What should be happening is a carefully planned sequence of digging in, resting, then planting – and it should be happening so the whole garden is progressively fertilised (as in the Permaculture Home Garden system but with Bokashi instead of chickens or a compost pile). But it’s not.

I also have to get tough on the cornflowers which have self-seeded throughout the garden. I love them and have a hard time digging them up when I really should.

Plant something: perpetual spinach, onions, flat leaf parsley, coriander, lettuces.

Harvest something: still just rainbow chard and parsley.

Preserve something: nothing this week.

Reduce waste: I’m trying to be more organised with my leftovers so I don’t just end up chucking them in the Bokashi after a week. I did make a pumpkin loaf with some leftover pumpkin but it flopped and now I’m faced with throwing out most of it (so really I made more waste instead of reducing it). I might try some for dessert later heated with some maple syrup and see if I can force it down that way. I think next time I’ll take the time to find a proper recipe rather than just adapting a banana bread recipe!

Preparation and Storage: The house cleaning project is stalling. It seems that I’m failing to organise the chaos; I’m just moving it around.

Build Community Food Systems: Nope!

Eat the Food: My triumph of the week was making a pumpkin and lentil soup out of the lone crown pumpkin I harvested back in May. The best bit is that it was a FREE pumpkin, self seeded from my compost bin.

My husband and I also tried a bottle of my second batch of cider. It’s very different from the first which I cannot explain since I used the same recipe. Maybe it was that the apples were in the freezer for a couple of months, or that I doubled the recipe, or that it was fermenting in winter instead of summer. I’m not sure, but it’s turned out clearer and sweeter than the first brew, just as fizzy, but not very alcoholic – which is probably a good thing!

I’m having a week off because I’m sick with my annual spring cold. I was going to post a picture of the carrot seedlings I am absurdly thrilled to finally see but I’m too sick to follow instructions for uploading photos today.

urgh. I’m going back to bed…

Gah, these are boring! But I’m having an easier time getting things done!

Week 3

Plant something: Not much this week and none of it was edible. I planted out some sweet pea seedlings, because keeping the bees happy is important too, and 80 bamboo skewers (pointy end up ;>) to deter fluffy bums.

Harvest something: It’s a good thing I love rainbow chard.

Preserve something: I made another batch of marmalade but I still have a bowl full of oranges. Might be time to just eat and/or juice them. As much as I love marmalade I just don’t think I could eat another dozen jars.

My co-brewer and I put down two new brews on the weekend – using kits this time. John did all the work while I sat on my arse and said helpful things like “you’re getting so efficient with these kits” and “would you like another beer?”

Reduce waste: I’m still thinking about my rag-rug. I’ve also remembered a picnic-blanket-out-of-old-jeans project which I started about this time last year (or maybe the year before…) and haven’t finished.

Preparation and Storage: Still cleaning out stuff. I took a load of stuff to the local op shop this week and regained the storage space from behind my bedroom door. Also, after reading The Homebrewer’s Garden and finding out exactly how high the hops plant in my herb garden is going to grow (about 13 feet!) I’m planning on building a proper hops yard for next year. I think garden planning/building counts as preparation, don’t you?

Build Community Food Systems: I borrowed a jam making pot rather than buying one just for me. It was from my mum, so that’s not really “community” as such, but I putting it down because sharing resources is fully in the spirit of community food systems!

Eat the Food: As above: it’s a good thing I love rainbow chard.

This week seemed to go by fast! The plum blossoms have almost finished and the kowhai tree is in full bloom. Spring really is here when the tuis show up to fight over kowhai blossoms!

Plant something: I planted celery seedlings on Tuesday, which was a gorgeous spring day, and some Iceland Poppies to make the bees happy. Today, I planted carrot seeds in some paper pots. I’m hoping to give them a good start then plant out the whole pots once they’re through.

A little side story: the first year I planted carrots I planted them at the wrong time, in the wrong type of soil and pretty much forgot about them for months. They were excellent! The right colour, the right shape and delicious. Plus, most of the seeds I sowed came up. The second season I tried carrots I had more or less the same success. The third season I tried (last summer – planning on a crop that would overwinter) I really fussed over them. I cleared a patch where the peas had been previously, raked through the bed to make sure the soil was “friable”, carefully planted out 3 square feet of carrots (16 per block) and even covered the whole are with netting so the starlings couldn’t dig it all up. And how many carrots did I get? Well, none yet actually. Nine are finally through though. I guess I planted too late and they weren’t able to get started before winter. This season though, I will have my revenge (and carrots)! If I do a square foot’s worth each fortnight for the next month or so I might actually succeed with some successional planting. That’s the plan anyway.

Harvest something: Exactly the same as last week: Rainbow chard, parsley and not much else! I made my husband use some fresh thyme in his soup instead of the dried stuff.

Preserve something: I made marmalade from oranges my grandmother gave me. I like it so much I’m going to do another batch this week.

Reduce waste: I’m making plans to use up a huge box of clothes that are too grotty to give away by making rag rugs for my bathroom. I only thought of it after my copy of Amanda Soule’s Handmade Home arrived. After I thought of it though I remembered that Nikki did one earlier this year. It just goes to show that I’m just a shameless copier.

Preparation and Storage: Still cleaning out and organising my whole house. Why, yes. It is slow. But now I’ve made a list…and after the earthquake we had in Wellington this week finishing my civil defence kit is top of it.

Build Community Food Systems: I swapped a bottle of beer (a large one) for a bottle of homemade peach wine. I’m looking forward to drinking that this weekend. I also owe some beer to a work mate who not only gave me two crates of empties but also two large jars of home-grown honey earlier this year.

Eat the Food: I’m running out of ways to eat rainbow chard. It’s a good thing I like the little leaves so much as salad.

…to get back to blogging!

I’m going to join in the Independence Days Challenge – a little late, I know! My excuse is that it’s only just spring here. It somehow didn’t appeal as a challenge back in April when I was heading into winter and weighed down by both the season and four hours extra paid work per week that I’d just picked up. I’m going to update this challenge weekly at first and see how that goes, but this first post is going to be a bit of a cheat’s one. Some things on here are from the last month, not just the last week!

Week 1

Plant something: Last week I divided all my strawberry plants up and planted them all over the place while I figure out what I’m going to do with them long term. I had thought of moving them up to the herb garden where I have the rhubarb, but then planted two bulbs of garlic in that space simply because I found two bulbs which I’d bought 6 weeks ago and forgotten about and there was nowhere else to put them. Today I planted peas.

Harvest something: Rainbow chard, parsley and not much else! Maybe some thyme.

Preserve something: This category is certain to always have something in it because I’m counting beer! I bottled a new batch of cider this week plus two batches of beer we’ve made from grain.

Reduce waste: This last week I gathered all the soft and rotting apples that the kids refused to eat and stewed them up. Usually apples at this stage just get chucked in the compost. And I at least thought as I put the cores and peel into the compost bucket “oh I could make vinegar with those peelings”. Perhaps I will next time…

Preparation and Storage: I’m cleaning out and organising my whole house (don’t laugh mum!). It’s slow, but I’m getting there. A few weeks ago I cleaned out enough of the pantry that I could fit in some 30 litre storage containers with rice, pasta, rolled oats and white flour. I feel a little more recession proof now plus it really does work out cheaper to buy these things in bulk.

Build Community Food Systems: pass ha ah ha. This is the category I’m going to have the most shame about because it seems to involve talking to other people. So don’t expect much here. If I can post something, anything, in this category over the next year I’ll be extremely pleased with myself! Actually, this week my friend John swapped some of the beer we’ve made for eggs – does that count? Plus I mentioned this at work and there was a little bit of interest in the idea of bartering food products. That’s community food systems, isn’t it?

Eat the Food: I did make a wonderful soup out of leeks, rainbow chard, parley, garlic, onions and potatoes this week. It was all from the garden bar the onions and potatoes.

I’m happy to report my cider isn’t deadly! It is rather dangerous though.
It’s turned out very sickly sweet and tastes rather like soft drink as it’s
going down but then – after a whole glass (or two) – it turns and kicks your legs out
from under you.

A jolly good use of apples I say! I’ll be borrowing a ladder tomorrow to get
the ones that are left on the tree…

This is the recipe I used if anyone’s interested: http://www.harvington.org.uk/hic/speedycider.html

(metric:
1.5 kg cooking apples
5.7 litres water
1 kg white sugar)