Gearing up for the growing season

One of the bonuses to moving to Northland is a longer growing season

This year I am dreaming of the harvest 

Tomatoes, Capsicums, Chillies, Eggplants, Watermelons

.... and the list goes on

As you can see I have already started

I used my hot water cupboard to get them started ( covered in clingfilm),  and prepped to plant by the moon calender only to find while telling my neighbour that I got my dates wrong.... I planted on the days it said "do not sow seeds"...shame!  Luckily my mistake made little difference and my tomatoes germinated in 5 days!

Then I transferred them out into our cold frame... which is still in construction

It works a treat and is warmer than the hotwater cupboard!

Also I've been planting.....

 Camellia Hedge

And getting ready for deliveries of topsoil and wood shavings for my gardens.

So far we have done well on the budget...

 Mike has made all of our gates 

and alot of the fencing materials, the calf shed and chicken coop were made using left overs from home renovations and bits and pieces from old jobs at work..... which has been ideal, because we have had more money to spend on planting

This is where the entrance to my vege garden will be.

But you will need to use your imagination....

the two plums trees arching towards each other over a wooden gate...hedge's on either side and a path that meanders through a tiered vege patch, then the path continues past a feijoa hedge and down the hill under large trees to our pond.......

lots of work to do, but I'm sure the rewards will be worth it.

Love in every stitch

Saturday night I finished threading in the last loose ends and thought about how this could be of some comfort to its new owner.

My best friend's mother what recently diagnosed with a Grade 3  aggressive invasive cancer.... and before we knew it, she had undergoed surgery followed up by several rounds of chemo.  

Being so far away I wanted to send her something to show her that I cared and was thinking of her.

I needed something that would be useful, which is when this hat came to mind

 Thinking about her sensitive skin, I knitted this using Rowans Organic Cotton/Wool, and size large to make a loose soft hat band.  The colour is to match her amazing blue eyes.

I can honestly say, that love went into every stitch....

as it took me a lot longer than most hats would, and there were a lot of cables involved.  But the thought that receiving this may just brighten her day a wee bit, spurred me on.

Pattern: Snapdragon Tam

By: Ysolda Teague

Now that these pressies should hopefully be in the hands of their new owners I can share my creative endeavours over the past couple of months.

Introducing Mr Monster and Baby

(my imagination is seriously lacking.. help?)

Made using this pattern here, I'm hoping my nephew will enjoy them just as much as I did creating them. 

he's likely to come up with better name for them too!

Then hearing that my niece was born into a such an unusually cold summer in the uk, I knitted up a last minute woollen cardy.....

pattern here

Hopefully her mummy doesn't mind the hot pink that I chose!

And a little bit of bling.  I have an excuse as it's my first niece.

Once that was done I finally stopped procrastinating and attached the buttons on these booties and ribbons on this bonnet

And a bit more bling!

And lastly to top it off I made a poem to be sent with Dotti the mouse.... thats when I got a little carried away 

 The book was to encase the poem and insure it didn't get thrown away with the packaging... afterall I never paid much attention in English class, so writing this poem was a big deal.... 

And just incase you're wondering about the poem.....

 sorry I'm not sharing!

For some more creative spaces see here

Dare I say it!

Yesterday I felt like superwoman

After sending  the boys off to school, I started my day

I fed the calves - now 2 weeks old... 4 of them

Fed the chickens

Started lugging barrows full of stone to make 

a pathway to my front door

Midday I fed some electrolytes to one of the calves as a precautionary measure.......
using my mothers intuition.

Continued with the said 'path'... determined to get it finished.... which I did! Yay!!

It doesn't look like much.... but there is 13 metres of it.

In the end I was counting the barrel loads down 10, 9, 8 etc

Two weeks of rain and clay was my driving force.

Afterschool, my neighbour held down this calf, 

whilst I played nurse, cleaning pus and such from its ear tag

It may look cute but its been a problem from day 1.

Then the afternoon milk feed

And to top it off I tended to a sick child all day.... 

with a little help from Nick Jr! 

It doesn't sound very caring...but she was rugged up all day and slept most of it... I assure you tending to her actually was a welcomed relief to the monatonous shovelling of stone

As for today.....

I nursed my sore back and shoulders and took it easy.... 

though I did scrub the front steps and of course there are still those daily calf duties.... 3 weeks and counting!