Grow your own

An apple a day...

Well I lived to tell the tale – of the girl who moved with so much stuff it took pretty well 2 weeks solid to pack it and 22 hours straight to move it! Just between you and I….I won’t be doing that again in a hurry – no siree bob. Definitely NOT my idea of how to have a good time….still as this blog is about things that make my heart sing as opposed to those things that don’t – I am going to rejoice in the fact that I now have a much larger garden and the best part of my much larger garden is the fact that I already have some very lovely large wooden boxes with pre-planted goodies (the previous owners bless them asked us what we would like them to plant for us so it would be well on its growing way by the time we moved in).

The garden currently has growing an apple tree, lime tree, lemon tree, plum tree and nashi tree, beetroots, lettuce, tomatoes, strawberries, corn, basil, oregano, rosemary, parsley, spring onions, mint, silver beet, blueberries, zucchini, pumpkin and garlic chives.

We have already been eating from the garden and are looking forward to really harvesting some more and enjoying the sowing, nurturing, growing and of course more eating (that is the best bit) that will come with the seasons ahead.

This is a blessing that Kitty said everyday at school before morning tea – I thought it was a nice one to thank the garden for its abundance –

For the golden corn and the apples on the trees

For the golden butter and honey from the bees

The fruits and nuts and berries we find along the way

We praise and thank Mother Earth every day.

And this one before lunch –

Blessings on the blossoms

Blessings on the fruit

Blessings on the leaves and stems

And Blessings on the roots.

Grow forth and prosper!

A pumpkin in the making...

Ear have a cob of corn...

I thought it was a passionfruit..but not sure..

Hey pesky snail...leave my beetroot alone...

Captain Kitty is on the move

A Rand McNally Storytime Book

Well as I mentioned in my last post…we are well under way in terms of making a very large tree change. ‘VERY LARGE’ being the operative words because as you may have worked out previously…I have the most enormous amount of STUFF…ridiculous really that a girl could collect and squirrel away so many treasures.

Thankfully Mum dedicated a whole 3 days to assisting me with the packing – and was very polite when she mentioned a few times – how I seemed to have quite a collection of little ceramic jugs or indeed ceramic treasures of one sort or another.  Box after box after box has been filled and stacked ready for the impending move day.

We sailed and sailed for over a week, and followed our noses by day.

After a solid week (and then some) of sorting and wrapping, packing and taping up boxes I feel like the end is in sight – well the end as in the day the trucks come to take it all to our new pad. Thankfully the new pad has a slightly larger studio for me (with plans to renovate it to an even bigger space – YAY!) with a separate shed for all those garden tools, the mower and bikes etc that took up space in my current studio and the really super duper exciting bit for me is that next to the house – right on the corner is a shop for me to make my own!

I think the shop has been a long time in the coming really. Lots of the treasures and then some that Mum has helped me pack are destined to go into the shop – not all of them mind you…some are too dear to me, but still over the last few days I have said – “oh, that is for the shop”…or …”I was thinking that could go in the shop” quite a number of times. 

My husband Sam very carefully this morning broached the subject of us trying to keep the new house a little less cluttered. My response was that most of my stuff was destined for the shop – but of course we all know – once a bowerbird always a bowerbird!

A fun part of packing up all my stuff has been re-discovering things I had forgotten I had….or perhaps realizing how many of certain things I do have. Children’s books from the 50’s and 60’s seem to be one thing I am particularly attracted too and so have collected quite a few. Captain Kitty (1957) is amongst them. I just adore the illustrations and the story……

Oh, Captain Kitty, where have you been?

I’ve been sailing the ocean blue – And Tabby went as my good First Mate, and Pearly and Mew were the crew.

We sailed and sailed for over a week, and followed our noses by day, and when the stars came out at night, we followed the Milky Way.

The breezes carried us on and on till we came to the Tropical Isles, where the warm winds blow, and the palm trees grow and the natives wear sweet smiles.

I'm glad you like them, said the queen. I'll order some for you!

We saw the Queen all covered with pearls, we saw the King as well. And on his head in place of a crown he wore a big pink shell!

And Tabby said ‘Good queen, your beads are pretty and elegant, too!’ ‘I’m glad you like them’, said the queen. ‘I’ll order some for you!’

She clapped her hands and the divers dived to the bottom of the sea, and gathered twenty oyster pearls, as white as they could be. 

Then the King led the way through the jungle gay where up in the highest tree, ten little parrots the colour of carrots were having a spelling bee. 

‘Your jungle is charming, but very alarming!’ said Tabby to the king. ‘But I have been wishing that we could go fishing if you think we could catch anything!’ 

Your jungle is charming, but very alarming! Said Tabby to the King.

What a hulla-ba-loo when Pearly and Mew caught a prize all wet and shiny – they pulled in a whale by the end of his tail, and threw him back into the briny.

We dined on fish and coconut milk till the ending of the day. The cat with the fiddle played Hey-diddle-diddle to while the hours away.

‘Dear King and Queen and people, said I, the sun is getting low. We’ve really had a lovely time – alas, it’s time to go!

And now at last, we’re back again in Catville-by-the-Sea – We’ve been away, but I must say that Home looks good to me!’