Here is Poppy. She is a Jack Russell Terrier. But I think she thinks she's a sheep dog.... or I should say a chicken dog.
The other afternoon we were all out in the yard. Robin was fixing the door on the chicken run and we had let the hens out to run around the garden for awhile. The children and I were in fits of laughter as we watched Poppy interacting with the hens. She was quite intrigued with them for awhile, and would cautiously approach them, and if they moved, she'd jump back. She's all bark that girl, but scared of the hens if they get too close. One of the more bolder hens (I think it was Betsy Trotwood, but we are still sorting out who is who, but if it was Betsy Trotwood then she fits her name perfectly, for it was a very Betsy Trotwood thing to do), got close enough to peck Poppy on the nose!
We are still waiting for the hens to lay eggs for us. I am starting to wonder if it has something to do with the water bowl I temporarily have for them. I stole it from Cricket (our black Lab) until I can get down to the store to get a proper water bowl for the hens. I'm really not trying to put them off laying.
But Poppy thinks she is a chicken dog. She spent the entire time trying to round them up. My camera is not the best, but I did get a few shots of her pathetic attempts.
Apparently her mother likes to round up people! Poppy is supposed to be a pure bred, but I'm starting to wonder.....
Last night I was thinking of all those old western movies we used to watch when we were children, and how so much of the trouble was over water rights. It seems nothing ever changes - mankind still fights over water. We have a bit of a fight on our hands at the moment with our local council, the head of which is the Mayor.
I was awake in the night writing letters to the mayor or trying to think up a new way we neighbours could band together to take on the local government. It's also incredible to realize how gullible some people are in thinking that the local council will always be there to help them.
I don't think that a letter will make any difference, nor will any action taken on our part - so this is my little protest right here. In spite of our so-called democratic society, it really is in name only - we the people don't appear to have any power over the powers-that-be, whether it is local government or central government. They're all 'tarred with the same brush', as my grandfather used to say.
We have a water problem in our new neighbourhood. It's not a lack of water, but too much water. With all the rains lately a new Spring sprung in a back pasture, and overflowed through two properties (almost flooding my friend's house), and rushed down the road, covering the road with water in two places, and creating a flowing stream of water outside our driveways.
This is a new subdivision, and the original owner has copies of letters he wrote to the council when the subdivision was being planned to explain the risk of this Spring which pops up every now and then. His letters were ignored and the council have failed to do anything about it, creating this problem now and threatening our homes.
A meeting was held by the council in our street last night to discuss the matter - or I should say tell everyone what was going to happen. My husband went along. The council will not admit that they were at fault, they want to dig a great big trench right across the front of our properties and under our driveways to carry the water away. We want to know who is going to maintain that trench, and we want some accountability shown by the council.
Several of the neighbours raised the issue that the council are at fault, and the man had the temerity to suggest that if we wish to take the matter further we will need to contact our lawyers! This is fighting talk, if you ask me... and they jolly well know that they're at fault. I would like to know if the Mayor knows what his little nazi is suggesting. One thing I learned when I lived in the USA from the man I used to work for, is that it's always better to side-step these little powerhungry beurocrats and go straight to the top. I also now realize why my grandfather always used to swear (unusual for him) when local government or politics was mentioned, and why my father-in-law only lasted one term on a local council. It is not a place for men of integrity, it would seem.
My husband said that the little council man was trying to drive a wedge between us neighbours last night, but thankfully, due to our little bonfire and the fact that we have all met socially, we are all friends, and we're all on the same side of the fight. We will see today what is to be done about it - we are thinking of calling a meeting with the neighbours again to see how we can get the council to admit responsibility and show some real solutions for us. If nothing comes of it, we might just have to settle for a letter
Arggghh - it almost makes me mad enough to march down to the council buildings myself and demand an audience with the mayor. An outraged pregnant woman is not something he would deal with everyday, I think.
I bought some wool on Saturday to make a little baby hat for a friend having her first baby in the USA in a couple of months. I love it when I get to knit for friends in the Northern Hemisphere in a season where I normally would not be knitting. All the wool is on sale because we are coming to the end of our winter.
I also found some lovely glass bottles with stoppers at Freedom Furniture for $4 each. I plan on making Leanne's ginger beer this summer for the family. I only got three bottles this time, which will not go very far in this household, so maybe every week I can get a few more.
I started sewing Meredith's dress for my brother's wedding on Saturday afternoon while the children played outside, and Robin mowed the lawns - having to mow the lawns for the first time this winter is a sure sign that things are warming up! It was freezing cold with a bitter wind outside and I dug up the last of the potatoes for a roast dinner. The new potatoes will be going in soon.
Yesterday, we went into town for our church service and Meredith got stung by a bee while playing outside. It flew right down inside her dress and stung her on her chest. We didn't have any antihistamine at home, so we ran into the shopping mall where the pharmacy is and bought some. They were so nice in there - got her a little drink of water and cut the pill in half for her. She is not allergic to bee stings, but she comes up in big welts when she gets bit by any sort of bug - mosquito, sandfly, bees. It's still quite red and sore this morning, so we'll keep an eye on it.
In the afternoon, our lovely neighbours popped over to look at our hens. They got hens the same day as us and have been getting 3 eggs every day. Ours haven't laid yet, but we're expecting it any day. They've been ruffling up the straw in their nesting boxes.
My neighbour is a vegetarian - she used to be vegan before she met her husband (who is a meat lover), so she's relaxed it a little bit, but I was telling her that we are thinking of trying vegetarian meals this summer to save money on meat which incredibly (in this land flowing with milk and honey and meat), is skyrocketing. So she bought over 3 recipe books for me to look at, and there are some yummy-sounding salads and things in there. If we can feed ourselves this summer, and just put as much of my husband's income onto our mortgage, all the better. If that means going without meat, we'll do it. Of course, we will treat ourselves to a big fat turkey at Christmas. She was telling me that you have to take Brewers Yeast (I think that was what she said) to give Vit. B12 which will suit me fine. I remember as a child having to take a Brewer's Yeast drink to combat hayfever, and as I can't take hayfever medication while pregnant, this should help.
I have absolutely no idea really about how to cook with variety on a vegetarian menu - a bit like my gardening skills really - so I'm quite keen to learn a new way.
My neighbour also told me that she and her cousin (who lives a couple of roads away) are interested in doing a type of co-op vegetable planting and would I be interested? Would I ever!! This is something I would love to do and had thought of but didn't know how to go about getting other people into it. It would mean that each of us would mass plant something (say pumpkins), and when they were ready to harvest, share it with each other, and they would do the same with something else. I actually read about a community in the USA doing this in the old days in an old Country Woman magazine and have been running it over in my head since then about how I could get something like that started. So I hope it gets up and going.
It's a beautiful Spring morning here today, so I must get into our school work so we can go outside and enjoy the sunshine later on. I am feeling so much better these days. The nausea is only really intermittant and I have started taking a pregnancy vitamin again, and I'm wondering if that is helping keep my energy levels up.
Robin got the new job he applied for and starts in two weeks time. We are not looking forward to him going back to a 9-5 job, but it will be nice to have a regular income coming in for awhile until we can get our business up and running. So I have two weeks with him at home to get some odd jobs done before he's gone during the day. It will be a huge change for us all, especially Theodore who, at 3 years old, doesn't know anything different. Some women don't like having their husbands at home all day, but I have really enjoyed it and I'm not looking forward to the change of him being gone all day again. But, hopefully it is only for a season.
This is just a test, because my homeschool memoir that I just wrote didn't show up on the last 100 postings list on the main page. Not sure why - it has appeared on my page ok. So, lets see if this works.
Goodness, when I think about our homeschool plans, I have an ideal, perfect picture in my mind of getting up early every morning, getting into our lessons by 9am and having a full day of perfectly timed, perfectly run, good obedient robotic children who smile and say, "yes Mummy, of course Mummy, three bags full, Mummy" all day long until 3pm when I let them out.
I don't really desire this - well, not anymore that is. I have had a perfectionists mindset in the early days of my homeschooling, but I think I'm starting to get out of that now - more out of necessity than anything else. We've kind of been doing unschooling these past two terms while I got over the morning sickness, and now this term while I try and get my iron levels up to a range where I actually feel like turning the page of a book.
The New Zealand school year has 4 terms in a year. Each one broken into approximately 10 weeks, with 2 weeks of holiday in between. At Christmas time, we have around 6-8 weeks of holiday. This is the peak time of our summer. So our school year generally starts with the new year or shortly thereafter.
I have big plans for 2009. Our baby is due mid January, so we'll all be on holiday which is quite good timing really. I am going to drop most of the children's extra-curricular activities for term one while we settle in with the new baby. This will mean dropping French and Art, but we'll keep up my daughter's ballet lessons on Saturday and my son's tennis coaching - also on Saturday. We'll pick French and Art up again in Term 2.
Meredith (6) has ballet every week and Hugh (8) has tennis coaching. We'll keep these up next year probably.
Currently, Meredith is doing Abeka Math and Phonics. She is really thriving on this, and I find it easy to run - not too complicated to set this up. She started with 100 Easy Lessons and then graduated to Abeka. I will probably do this with all my other children as well. What I love about Abeka is that it is colourful and attractive, has lots of games, songs and interesting pictorial activities. It really appeals to my 6 year old daughter.
I tried the Sonlight phonics with Hugh at one stage, but I really don't like their books or method. A lot of the readers have American slang and Hugh found it hard to understand.
So Meredith does Abeka for math and reading, and we do Sonlight for Science (I love their Science programme), and history, geography and read-alouds.
Hugh (8), has had a mixed year with his curriculum. We're still finding our feet with him. I made a lot of mistakes with his curriculum in the first years (my first child to homeschool), so I feel as though I'm still catching up. We hope to have a fresh start next year. He does Saxon math. I had my doubts about how well he was doing on this and was considering changing to Abeka, but I had him assessed through an independant teacher, and we found that he is actually has a math level of a 9 or 10 year old, so we will stick with Saxon!
I have tried many different spelling/grammar programmes, but I am finding Easy Grammar the best one so far.
We love our Sonlight. We ordered it early this year, and I'm having to fight off the children from dragging the books off the shelf. They are keen to get into them. Their science programme is fantastic. My children love it and are learning so much. It's very hands on, lots of experiments for them. We even grew radish seeds this year. We're about to start on corn seeds.
Even though we're going into our fifth year, I still feel as though I'm finding my way with the homeschooling, but I am a lot more relaxed about it and more confident than I was when we first began. My goals for the next school year are to establish firm routines, have good structured learning time and really just put our heads down and have a good year. I know that life happens and unexpected things occur, but I hope we can have a more settled year next year.
I have a Great Aunt who is 92 years old. She's the last surviving member of my grandmother's family. The secret to her longevity is her love of life, love of Jesus and her curiosity about life and about everyone else. I wish I had a photo to share of her - she is still slim and blonde (I think with a little help), and attractive and looks 82, not 92.
Last night my mother rang up with a story to tell me. She'd just been talking to Aunty Grace on the phone. Aunty Grace lives by herself in the city of Auckland. She still drives and cooks for herself. I will repeat the conversation that my mother repeated to me. It was about 8pm at night and apparently, according to the weather report, torrential rain had been pouring down all day in Auckland.
AG: "Hello dear. I've just gotten home. I drove out to see a friend. And as I was coming home, I felt like eating one of those hamburgers. You know. So I stopped at that place where you get hamburgers. What's it called again? Oh, you know the place......."
Mum: "Do you mean McDonalds?"
AG: "Yes, that's it. Ohhh, and I did enjoy it. And I had one of their apple fritters as well. There weren't many people in there at that time of the night, but I did see a young Fijiian-looking lady sitting by herself, so I went and sat with her. She told me she was feeling lonely and missing her mother. I asked her if she had a boyfriend, and she said no she didn't - that her husband had left her for another woman, leaving her to raise a little child, and she was finding it very hard. I said to her, 'oh darlin' - you need Jesus! ... Now, on Sunday night, you go over there across the road - there's a very nice church there with lots of friendly people who love Jesus, lots of people from Fiji and India and other places go there, and they'll help you."
Knowing Aunty Grace, she probably said a lot more than this, but my mother and I were in fits of laughter, because this is Aunty Grace to a tee. We used to love going shopping with her when we were younger, because it was always an experience. She never paid full price, always told people about Jesus, and if you got to stop in a cafe or restaurant it was all the more entertaining. I remember one time where she was not satisfied with the cup of tea the waitress brought her, so she got up and went behind the counter and made a fresh one herself - not caring that she actually wasn't supposed to be there. She seems to have no fear of people or what people think of her - that is something to be envious of.
I just love the fact that on this night she was out driving her car, in the pouring rain, after dark, in a busy city, ordering McDonalds and dining with strangers.... at 92!
My children pray every night that God will send them a horse. I remember praying this every night when I was little too. I never did get that horse, but now that we are on 10 acres, and with the price of petrol rising every minute I can see that maybe one day we might have to!
But, until our 'ship comes in', I can't see us getting a horse in the immediate future. I've been hearing from my neighbour about the vet bills, the feed issues, not to mention the $200 dentist bill she had for her pony last week. So my children have to enjoy the neighbour's horses instead for now.
Theodore (3) has a group of girls in the street who think he is the cutest, funniest, sweetest little boy that ever lived, and the other day they stopped by to show him their horse, Rocky, and let Teddy have his first horse ride. My neighbour and friend, Kat, also had their pony, Aroha so Meredith could have a long anticipated ride as well.
Teddy was quite unsure at first when one of the girls put him up on the saddle. He was asking to get off, but his girlfriends just giggled at him and told him to hang on.
When the horse took a step, Teddy said, "ooohhh...oooohhhh", then laughed.
By the end of the short little walk on the horse, he was calling himself a 'cowboy.'
He then proceeded to make his girlfriends promise to bring the horses back, and even got them to promise to bring the horses over to his birthday party when he turns 4.... which is in December. Of course, his girlfriends agreed - even offering to give everyone a ride at the party if Theodore wants. As for me, his mother - I didn't know we were going to have a party then - hadn't decided yet - but I guess we will be now! Somehow it's very difficult to un-persuade Theodore! He now talks about phoning up 'my friends' everyday, and thanks God every night for letting him ride 'Wocky' (Rocky).
Our hens arrived three days ago. Today is the day that we should be letting them out, although we haven't got the fenced run up yet. We built this hen house all by ourselves - it was supposed to be a homeschooling project, and it started out that way, but when I got sick for 3 months (morning sickness), I had to get Robin to finish it off - and for someone who is not a natural handyman, he did a great job. Even Brad (our builder/math tutor) was impressed. We just have to put the ridge on the roof, and the perspex window in, and it's all done. Thankfully, Canterbury is not traditionally a rainy area!
Here is a picture of the nesting boxes inside.
The hens arrived in two cardboard boxes from the hatchery. Theodore was very brave and carried them over to the hen house - he didn't even squeel when one of the hens pecked his thumb.
Maybe I should have made it his job to care for the chickens. But Meredith (6) asked me (before they arrived) if it could be her job and I agreed, and now I have to teach her how not to be chicken about the chickens!
Here are our six hens just arrived in their new house. The one with the white feathery tail on the roost is named Dora. We haven't distinguished the others yet, but their names will be:
Betsy Trotwood - Peggotty - Agnes - Little Em'ly and Mrs. Macawber
I have asked two teachers - one old and one young which classic story those names are out of, and netiher could tell me.
And here is Poppy, enjoying the sunshine while we put the straw into the hen's house.
Last week I joined up with this, and the first theme is to tell all about me - a kind of introduction. I'm looking forward to being part of this and meeting other homeschool mums around the world. Here's my first entry....
This week, we want to hear about YOU. The author behind the words. The Momma behind all the homeschooling kiddos. Just write up something about you, your family, and your home. How long you’ve been homeschooling and why you decided to homeschool. It doesn’t have to be anything lengthy at all, but we’d love to hear it!
I am Rachel, married to Robin for nearly 11 years! We have three children and our fourth due in January. Hugh is 8, Meredith is 6 and Theodore (Teddy) is 3 years old. We live on 10 acres in North Canterbury in the South Island of beautiful New Zealand, in a small rural community about 30 minutes drive from a main city centre.
I was not homeschooled myself. Homeschooling is a relatively new thing in New Zealand. When I was growing up the only homeschoolers I knew lived way out in the wilderness and got their lessons by radio and mail. I never imagined then that I'd be doing it myself one day - and living close to town too! However, I did get to work for a homeschool organization before I married, and my parents decided to homeschool my younger siblings in their final highschool years, so I began to get a taste of it, and be influenced by some dear, wonderful, pioneer homeschool families who inspired me.
When I did get married in my late twenties, my husband and I had been fully "converted" to the homeschooling way of thinking, and always knew that we wanted to homeschool, so I spent the first five years of my firstborn's life researching all the curriculums available. I finally settled on one, and then ended up changing it the next year! At the moment, we're using a mix of Abeka and Sonlight. We love homeschooling and the potential it offers for our children.
A very brief run down of my life before I married includes joining YWAM when I left school and spending the next 10 years of my life as a missionary. I've travelled to remote jungle villages where white skin had never been seen before - learning how to take a bath in the river very discreetly while the entire village looked on, among other experiences, and in the latter part of the ten years I was secretary to a christian leader in the USA and worked for that organiziation for several years before marrying. I have no formal training except for a few semesters at university studying for a degree in communications. But I have learned I'm not a great one for study! ;o) I have worked in many different jobs while saving for money to go on more missions trips or for study. At one point I was a copywriter for a christian radio station. I have also managed a baby/nursery department in a department store. I have done a lot of secretarial work, written a New Zealand history curriculum for a homeschool organization, been a nurse aid, written a children's book, among other little jobs here and there.
Now, my little mission field is the (almost) four little souls in my charge, and I am keen on learning how to simplify my life, become more self-sufficient and learn how to grow my own food and keep livestock.
I love to read, write, knit, sew, cook, preserve, garden and I have gotten the travelling, restless itch out of my feet so that now my most favourite things to do are just to be at home doing home things and having as much fun as we can while we do it.
Boy, it has been a busy week for us, and it still is. I have some photos to post from the weekend, but I haven't had a spare minute to upload them - maybe tomorrow.
Hugh had a 24 hour tummy bug on Monday - actually the first tummy bug we've ever had in this house as far as I can remember. I had to call my (nurse) mother to find out how to treat it as I'd forgotten.
Yesterday I had my 19 week ultrasound, and the baby is looking good. It was the roughest ultrasound I've ever had. My abdomen is a bit tender today - the radiologist had a hard time getting a good picture, and she was rough!. She put the due date at January 10 and my date is January 16. I saw my dear obstetrician afterwards and she said she never takes it by the scan date (dear lady). That is exactly what I was hoping for. One of my girlfriends told me she was 'flexible' on due dates which is why I was happy to go with her. I have a midwife as well, but I have a history of not progressing past Stage 1 labour without extra help, and the obstetrician is the only one who can give me that by law here in NZ.
Today we get our 6 hens - in about 3 hours time (and I haven't had breakfast yet)! And our hen house isn't quite finished, so Robin is going to try and get it done before we go pick them up, and I have to pick up the feed and the hay as well. Thankfully, the hens have to stay in the coop for at least 3 days, so that will give us a chance to get their run finished.
On Friday Meredith has her first ballet exam - first thing in the morning, so it will be an early start for us. I'm looking forward to next week - I hope things will settle down a bit and be a bit quieter.
Poppy has come home, safe and sound. Late last night, after searching everywhere for her, Robin went out to close the garage doors before we went to bed, and as he stepped into the garage a little ball of black and white threw herself at his legs. She was very wet, but very cheerful and we were very glad to see her. I don't know where she'd been, as we'd searched all over calling for her, but it was so nice to go to bed knowing she was safe and warm in her basket.
We finally went ahead with our bonfire last night for the neighbours. It was a clear, cool night with no wind - so perfect for a bonfire. Robin started about 4pm to get the bonfire set up and even made a little seat in case someone needed to sit down. Here he is with the children cutting up the long strips of wood.
One of the neighbours dropped off his barbeque after towing it over here on a quad bike and his little son and Hugh had a drive around in it by themselves. I ran inside for the camera, but by the time I got out (after hearing Teddy wake from his nap), they'd finished their little joy ride after crashing into the water tank. The boys were ok, the water tank was ok (it's concrete), but I think the quad bike came off with a few more dents on it.
Here is a picture of Meredith making a 'necklace' out of nails, and Teddy by the bonfire now all ready for the first match.
Right on 6 o'clock the neighbours started to arrive. It was a bit of a mad dash to find hats and gloves and get the coats on, but we had such wonderful time. Just about everyone came and there was no alcohol and lots of children running around and having fun with the dogs and sticks and playing on the dirt heap. Sausages and bread and tomato sauce were flying everywhere and the bonfire burned down and down and down. I was so busy chatting that the bonfire had burned right down before I had time to pull out the camera and take a snap.
It was such a lovely, lovely time. We have some wonderful neighbours. They're all so different and so interesting. The kids got into the marshmellows pretty quickly - they certainly didn't last long. By the end of the night Teddy (3) had marshmellow smeared all over his face and his hands were black with dirt. He actually had about 3 little girls running around after him, cooking his marshmellows for him. He's a charmer, that boy! We heard one little girl say to her mother, "he's soooo cute Mum." He knows it too, I might add and uses it to his advantage.
I'm actually really surprised that a lot of these pictures turned out ok - my camera is not really that good at night shots.
Meredith put herself in charge of the little toddler girls. I found her and two girls inside at one stage - one of the neighbour girls likes dressing up in her fancy dresses. Please take note of the pink gumboots starting to get their first layer of dirt. The diamantes don't seem very sparkly anymore.
Here is one of Meredith's little girls.
One of the neighbourhood men started the fireworks. I actually thought he probably did them too close to everyone - I was a bit scared and so was one of my other neighbours so we backed off a little ways, but they were beautiful and spectacular in the clear, dark sky. I wish I'd tried to get a good picture of one - but I see this one has come out ok.
Boys - being boys - decided to make their own fire a little way off from ours. They made a teeny little circle of stones and put some paper and wood in it and carried flames on the ends of their sticks from our bonfire to theirs. They had fun and nobody got hurt. Here is a picture of Hugh by the boy's bonfire after everyone had gone home.
And our three children finishing off the remainder of the marshmellows after everyone had gone.
Everyone said they had a wonderful time, and how nice it was to meet all the neighbours. It's going to be such a lovely little community. If I do a rough guess I think there were about 44 people there including the children. There were only about two families who couldn't make it. We all said it would be nice to have something in the summer again - in daylight this time!
It is nearly 11pm at night and my dear husband is out searching for our 8 month old Jack Russel dog, Poppy.
We had our neighbourhood bonfire tonight, and she was having a lovely time going around and meeting everyone - the children just loved her. Then the fireworks began, so Robin shut Poppy and our other dog - the Labrador - Cricket up in the garage. All was going well until Cricket decided to go crazy jumping around, and somehow - I don't know how he managed to do it - jumped high enough up on the wall, right where the buttons are for opening the garage doors. And out they both came and Poppy must have bolted then.
Cricket ran straight up to the fireworks, so we were busy trying to get him back into the garage. Poppy is such a feisty little thing - she's not timid, so I'm hoping that she's just hiding under a hedge around here somewhere and will come back in the morning. The kids were praying some very sweet prayers tonight that she'll come back.
We are Royalists, my husband and I. We love the Queen of England and the Royal family. We might not like some of the things they do - in fact we might not like an awful lot of the things they do or condone alot of their behaivour, but we still love who they are and what they stand for and what they are to us historically.
We still have the Queen on our money here in New Zealand. We are still part of the Commonwealth and we still sing God Save the Queen. We love watching all the pomp and circumstance on the tv too. If there's one thing that the Brits know how to do properly, it is that they know how to put on a show with class and style, and with the grandeur that alot of these traditional ceremonies deserve.
I read this yesterday and heard this, and I say "Bravo Prince Charles". It's great that there is someone left in the world who is fighting to be the voice of reason among the armies of the insane and wicked multicorporations who are fast-tracking the world to food shortages and famine.
One day I would love to visit Prince Charle's garden at Highgrove. It's on my list of things to do before I'm too old to get out of my rocking chair. I also have his (very expensive) book about Highgrove on my birthday/Christmas gift wishlist. He's the organic, self-sustaining wannabe guru, and I want his garden. His money and his staff would also be a big help.
My 6 year old, Meredith, loves Little House on the Prairie.
And she keeps asking if she can have a dress like the church dresses that Mary and Laura have in Season 1 - you know the one where Ma makes two dresses out of that pretty blue floral that she buys on impulse one day in Mrs. Olsen's store.
Well, this Christmas we have decided to have a handmade Christmas and make our gifts for each other, and I thought I'd make Meredith a Little House on the Prairie dress with the bonnet as well. I have a good bonnet pattern, but I don't know where to get a pattern for the dresses. Does anyone know a good website or a good pattern number that has a dress similar to this?
This year I have doubled the size of my vegetable garden. I not only want to feed my family from it for the entire summer, but also to be able to give some of it away and to sell some of the surplus at a local farmers market, so I'm planting so much more than I did last year, and I'm trying out new varieties too.
My garden is on a 5 year rotating system and goes in the order of Legumes, Potatoes, Roots, Alliums and Brassicas. Some of the crops, such as zucchini can be planted in any of these beds. I am doing the usual vegetables such as potatoes, beans, peas, lettuce, pumpkin, zucchini, beetroot, carrots and spinach and tomatoes, but this year I'm also trying a larger crop of corn. I was told that it was difficult to grow corn in Canterbury, but my small crop did quite well last summer, even though I got them in late, and my neighbour's corn did very well also, so I'm doing a whole lot more - we love corn on the cob!
I'm also trying garlic and onions this year, a few different varieties of beans and peas, lettuce and lots heritage tomatoes. And I'm going to try growing jalapenos (have loved jalapenos ever since I lived in the USA and they are not common here), and aubergines. Have you ever tried sliced aubergine cooked in oil and salt? MMMMMMMMmmmmmmm - it's divine!
I'm also growing luffas for the farmer's market and I'm trying nasturtiums to impress my dinner guests with when they eat my freshly prepared salads.
After having great success with my American variety pumpkin, but not really enjoying the flavour of those pumpkins, I'm growing a great big crop of the popular New Zealand Crown Pumpkin. Very yummy in soups and for roasting. So I'm optimistic of a good crop this year. I love watching pumpkins grow - it's fun.
I also allowed my children to choose two varieties of vegetables for themselves to grow. Both the older ones picked the giant pumpkin seed, and I'm thinking of doing a little competition for the neighbourhood children as well. Not sure what the prizes would be though.
Meredith also chose watermelon - I don't know if they grow here, but we're going to give it a try. Hugh chose an ornamental gourd that you can make into bird feeders.
We can't wait for Spring - I can't wait to get back into my garden again. It's so satisfactory!
As I write this, it is snowing outside. Definitely not summer here. And yet again, our neighbourhood bonfire had to be postponed - not due to flooding this week, but due to snow. I wonder what we'll get next Friday.
But I had a taste of summer in the kitchen yesterday when I realized that we had run out of jam. I pulled out the 1kg of raspberries I had stored in the freezer and made a batch of jam for the family. The fact that I can do anything at all in the kitchen is a miracle - and it means that the morning sickness is waning. It's still there, but it's not as intense. I started with 1 kg of raspberries - picked locally last summer.
I love the way that 'steam' comes off the fruit as it heats up underneath.
When the raspberries had lost their frosted look, I added 1 kg of sugar. It actually seems really wrong to add all this sugar to the fruit - but I don't know any other way of making raspberry jam.
Look at that rich, beautiful colour. Red is my favourite colour. I can't live without it.
I let it boil rapidly for 5 minutes exactly, then I turned off the heat and let it sit for 10 minutes, adding a knob of butter into the jam. Apparently, this allows the 'scum' from the fruit to come to the surface so you can scoop it out. My 3 year old woke from his afternoon nap while the jam was boiling and he came out saying, "mmmm what's that yummy smell?" There's something heavenly about the smell of raspberry jam cooking. It's a middle-of-summer, hot-day-outside smell - lovely. And I am so ready for summer to get here.
And then I poured the jam into the jars. I don't actually get too many jars of jam from 1 kg, but this should last us awhile as we usually alternate breakfasts with toast and weetbix. I love making raspberry jam because it's so quick, easy and foolproof. It never fails.
We had an unusually warm day this week after all the rain of last week, so we spent most of the time outside in the garden. My husband was working on our chicken house (they are arriving in less than two weeks and we don't even have the roof on yet), when he heard one of our boys call out......
"Help. Dad! Help"
He looked over about 200 metres away and saw this:
Hugh and Teddy had been playing in the ploughed up mud and dirt (where our wheat is soon to be sowed), and had about had enough and suddenly realized that they couldn't move - their feet (in their gumboots) were set like concrete into the mud. Look at our good dog Cricket, faithfully guarding them.
I don't even know how Robin got them out, but they did eventually, he even managed to save their gumboots, and the boys came running inside - absolutely covered in mud - laughing their heads off - "what great fun, Mum" - and hit the showers. See that umbrella in the background. That used to be my prized Eddie Bauer umbrella that I bought in Chicago in 1993 - it has Eddie Bauer engraved into the wooden handle, and I treasured it for over 10 years as possibly the only girl in New Zealand to own an Eddie Bauer umbrella, and I looked after it and was so proud of it, and then my children discovered it.
I'm not feeling so crash hot this morning. I woke up with a bit of a scratchy throat and I think I'm in for a cold. I know that it is probably my own fault because I stayed up late last night with my husband and Brad - our son's math tutor, sitting around the fire just talking. And I also spent a considerable amount of time leaning out of the bathroom window in the fresh night air last night watching a golden crescent moon dip below the horizon. The stars were incredible as well - I always find the Southern Cross first, and then look for the false cross.
Brad comes every Wednesday night to give my oldest son some extra math lessons which I blogged about some time ago here.
He's actually a builder, but used to be a school teacher and he's only in his mid twenties. He stays for dinner and after the kids go to bed, we sit in the family room around the fire with dessert (usually icecream) and talk. It actually kind of amazes me, because he's this hip young modern (non-christian) guy, and we're just boring old ma and pa approaching our mid-life.
Last night we got into a discussion about spelling and grammar. I was lamenting the fact that my children's spelling is quite shocking, and how I was trying to remember the way we were taught to spell -I think it was by repitition. Spelling is one of my strengths. I'm not a perfect speller by a long shot, but I can spell better than most.
Brad explained how they're training teachers now to focus on the creative side of writing and not worry about spelling. He said when he was a teacher if he started to spend time on a child's poor spelling that their creative writing suffered and they just gave up.
This got me thinking though - is creativity something that is born in a child, or is it something that can be developed? I think of the classic writers of old - their writing is impeccable - you cannot fault it for technique and grammar. Yet, their creative works have spanned the centuries with their timeless stories. They had a discipline in writing which has endured the test of time. Their teachers probably spent more time worrying about their spelling and grammar than they did their creative writing, and we now enjoy the fruits of those disciplines. Even Laura Ingalls Wilder - in one of her books - explains the difficulty of a grammatical question in one of her teacher's examinations, and how she solved it. Nowadays, children are tested on their creative thoughts and their process of writing, rather than the technique and perfection of spelling and grammar. And it makes me wonder if we have lost the art of writing - which as I so painfully know myself - is a cruel discipline - a harsh master. I love the creative process of writing, but I absolutely detest the restrictions that the writing imposes on me.
My niece - in her mid-twenties - was telling me recently how she trains new recruits fresh out of university for a particular field, and how she is finding that they are extremely poor spellers and sometimes even use words that are completely inappropriate and don't actually make any sense or have any correlation to what they are writing. In other words, they are just words.
Maybe there is no answer to my question. Perhaps time alone is the only judge - but I think of the literature that is popular now, and most of the authors are actually of an older generation than mine, who were most likely taught the old method of spelling and grammar and writing. I know that life experience and time is sometimes the best teacher, but think about how young Jane Austen was when she wrote, and the Bronte's - they didn't actually live long lives, yet they produced these incredible works of art.
Just my thoughts this morning as I ponder the things we talked over last night - it was an interesting and lively discussion/debate.
My husband and I are reading through it together and we are really enjoying it. It is written by an Australian woman - Adrienne Langman. She and her husband- in their 50's - uprooted from their little townhouse in the suburbs of busy Sydney and bought a 15 acre farm miles away from their family and friends with the goal in mind of becomming self-sufficient.
The book is revealing in the way that she outlines how the rising cost for oil is going to ultimately effect the cost of our food - not only food, but other vital resources that we rely on. She mentions how one day she wrote down every single little thing she did in a day, and at the end of that day added up which of those things, items used, activities etc, involved oil at some stage, either in the making of the product or the carrying out of its use, and just about everything involved oil at some point - even down to the headache medicine in her cabinet.
As an ex-city girl myself, this is all fairly new to me, although my husband and I have been slowly moving in this direction for awhile - but this book makes us feel that we need to fast-track our plans... today would be good!
She makes me realize how much a part of the consumer-driven society I have become. I love one of the quotes in there where she discovers that we are "wonderful mice on magnificant wheels". How financial security and affluence is driven by the idea of confidence, whether or not there's much money around or not. As long as people believe there is financial security, then it will remain stable, that this idea is driven by big business and governments.
I feel as though the light-bulb is only just starting to go on in my head. Before I had a vague notion of this - I was fumbling around in that direction, but this book somehow has made it all come together in my mind. I'm a daily reader of Rhonda's blog Down To Earth, and it was she who happened to mention this book only a week or so ago. I enjoy Rhonda's blog for the practical and simple ideas she has on getting back to basics and how to slowly erase the impact and the brainwashing that our materialistic society ingrains on our life and lifestyles.
It made me realize how mankind went wrong way back in the beginning of the 20th century. How all those industrial inventions were seen to be so wonderful and labour-saving, and how mankind gave himself a big pat on the back for being so clever, and I thought how very stupid we reallly are, because the making of alot of those inventions and so-called modern conveniences are now draining our earth of resources and causing wars and famines and misery and have only given a few of us such a short period (barely 100 years) of affluence and the easy life. Our ancestors had it the right way with their daily, back-breaking lifestyles, but a happier and longer- lasting and sustainable society.
As a result of all this study and revelation, my husband and I are at the crossroads of our future, I think. We have several options open to us, and it is just a matter of choosing the right path.
Adrienne Langman writes in such an interesting and easy-to-read way. It's an easy book to read - chatty, almost. I don't think it's available on amazon, but I asked at my local library and they had a new copy just in. I think Random House have it availble for sale as well.
Welcome to my blog. I'm glad you dropped in. I'm a wife and mum to 3 children. We are blessed to live in the beautiful South Sea islands of New Zealand, and I love to write about our life and the things we do on our homestead of 10 acres, our adventures with animals and homeschooling, and the little things that touch my life and those around me. I hope you'll enjoy visiting.
