I've been busy outside lately and have composed several blogs in my mind whilst I'm working; what a shame that I don't remember them when I come inside. What I really, really want for Christmas is a wireless receiver that picks up my thoughts and converts it to text - what a timesaver!
We've had good weather with warm temperatures and the grass has grown fast enough to need cutting again. My scrub-bar technique is improving on the flat but I struggle on the uneven ground. A long-term plan is to fill up the holes so that I could use a lawnmower; an easy job with Taranaki soil but almost impossible with the unrakeable clay here. Just thought of another Christmas gift idea - a magic wand that I can wave after trimming the grass that 'freezes' all growth so I don't have to do it again!!
Working outside in the late evening has a magic all of its own; the birds with their evensong, the frogs starting to croak and, if I'm very lucky, hearing a kiwi call. Yesterday a tornado-like cloud formation was worth going inside to grab the camera.
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| No tornados here - just a dark cloud being shaped by the wind |
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| The sky further round to the left |
My seed order from Kings Seeds arrived and I've had a good strike from the Oriental and Italian mescluns, Drunken Woman lettuce and red coral mizuna.
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Italian and Oriental mesclun nearest the camera; EcoStore mesclun and
red coral mizuna in other mussel buoy |
The other vegetables are growing well apart from the beetroot that grew well on top but not underneath the soil. When trimming the plants for Bokashi, I found a number of visitors on the leaves...
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| A honey bee with a damaged left wing |
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| Hmm, not sure what this is so will put it up on NatureWatch |
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| A leaf-roller caterpillar damaging the new growth on the rosemary |
A highlight for this week was
Stuff.co.nz's article on the release of 18-19th century images from the British Library. The pics are on
Flickr and although I can't find any for Stewart Island there's still heaps to sift through and enjoy.
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| One of the British Library pics, published 1870 |
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| Moa and kiwi - and is that a takahe third from left?? |
