No time like snow time

What is it about snow that brings out the child in me? A quick glimpse outside early this morning showed a world of white glistening in the moonlight and I couldn't wait to get outside to take photos. I walked down to work on a road transformed into a white carpet; just my footprints showing until a van passed me. I looked for kiwi prints but not this time, maybe tomorrow!

Snow mixed with hail - so pretty

My footsteps between the van tracks

The shade house has coped with the hail okay, unlike what I presume must have been the wind at the weekend. It was disappointing to find it awry with the tensioned wires sagging and all the seedlings in the greenhouse upside-down on the floor. It was as though a giant had picked the shade house up and shaken it. It didn't seem that windy here so I'm still scratching my head, and also wondering how I can anchor it down better.

The shade house was shunted back around 400mm and lifted up on to the path

Inside was a mess with the cardboard floor rucked up and the shelves in the
plastic greenhouse fallen down

My new-fangled Rice Cube was christened a few days ago with reasonable results although I will do things differently next time. I used long grain rice and it wasn't quite gluggy enough so the cubes were in danger of falling apart. I had fun though and they tasted good!

I bought my Rice Cube from Stevens - yum, cubed sushi

I couldn't put the nori round as they were too fragile but you get the idea

Another first was installing new fire bricks in my Metro woodburner - 1 top baffle and 2 side bricks.

New firebricks all installed - easier than I thought. The white extension on
the top baffle was completely gone on the old one

 Finally some pics from my Deep Bay rat lines today...

Fungi growing on the chocolate drop bait

Close-up of above

Snow on Mt Rakeahua - looking across a choppy Paterson Inlet

Fabulous fungi

Autumn rains and mild temperatures mean fungi time! In places it's hard to walk without treading on them and walking along my rat lines takes a lot longer as I inspect the latest fungi to spring up from the forest floor, dead wood or on tree branches. A great website is http://hiddenforest.co.nz/fungi/. Some fungi are very distinctive making it easier for me to identify; others, especially brown fungi, are difficult even for the experts. Easy to take photos though and here's a selection from yesterday.

May be a Mycena, maybe not!

This one looked like a bit of sheep wool but when I looked closer
it had hyphae with fruiting bodies on it - one for NatureWatch

Close-up of above

 

This one looks like Blue-eyed helmet Mycena interrupta

More of the one above

Close-up of the fungi below

So pretty

No idea what these are - pink brains??

Fungi everywhere you look

Underneath of above

 

Non-native and poisonous Amanita (I think!!) growing under pine trees

 

Amanita emerges as a red dome, then opens out as above

Pukekura Park Fernery

It's been a few years since I went to the Pukekura Park Fernery so it was lovely to revisit it on my recent trip back to New Plymouth. The curved brick walls are a new addition since I last visited - does anyone know if they are fernery extensions or staff areas?

The series of 'rooms' range from cool at the bottom to tropical at the top. Even in May there are plenty of flowers and it's well worth spending a couple of hours having a good look round.

Pukekura Park Fernery - definitely a must-see if you visit New Plymouth

The fish pond at the top of the fernery

I don't know my exotic plants but if anyone can identify these then let me know and I'll change the captions.

 

Blue flowers from a purple 'spike' - is this a bromeliad??

Lovely orchids, some very fragrant

 

Close-up of an orchid flower

Fuchsia - what a pretty ballerina

Purple orchid flowers

Travel time

My annual visit to Taranaki went by in a blur; lovely to catch up with family and friends and to experience a very different way of life. It took me longer this time to get used to the traffic, the rushing about and not waving at every car that passed. It was neat to get back on my pushbike, experience west coast beaches and to relearn how to shop! Many thanks to everyone for making my visit fun.

View from Jen's front door

Two blue penguins on the foreshore by Gusto's

Puffball fungi in Pukekura Park

Close-up of puffball

The fountain lake at Pukekura Park taken from the Japanese Gardens

 

Michael Smither's 'Aotearoa' long white cloud sculpture in Brooklands Park
see http://www.artisgallery.biz/news_story.asp?id=6

It was lovely to wander through Pukekura/Brooklands Park again. A lot of southerners down here haven't visited New Plymouth but those that have are quick to say what a stunning park it is and how lucky the residents are to have it.

 

Pukeko feeding in lake at Brooklands Park

Dusk at Brooklands Bowl

Border Collie pup at Pukekura Park Kiosk

I also visited the Fernery in the park but will do that as a separate blog. Other highlights included a day of shopping in the rain, having Thai Green Curry at Stumble Inn (very yummy), seeing my Mums and finding an outfit to wear at next year's wedding - not quite as comfortable as polar fleece and gumboots!!

Almost home

I'm now back at my island home and rediscovering the pleasures of a slower-paced life and checking rat traps. Back to work tomorrow and winter just around the corner :)

Earth Pilgrim

There aren't many television programmes that inspire me but the documentary on Choice TV last night certainly did. Purely by chance I flicked through the channels and the BBC documentary 'Natural World Earth Pilgrim - A spiritual journey into the landscape of Dartmoor with Satish Kumar' was just starting.

I was bewitched and so glad that Google is around so that I could find out more about this special person who had immense respect for the natural world. The following synopsis is taken from the DVD ...

'Produced as part of the award-winning Natural World Series for the BBC. The BBC’s Natural History Unit has brought the marvels of the planet to millions of viewers using breathtaking photography and pioneering film techniques.

Conservationist Satish Kumar spends one year exploring the beauty of England’s Dartmoor National Park. Satish, the world-renowned ecologist, former Jain Monk and pilgrim for peace offers a very Indian perspective on the ancient moorlands through the changing seasons. Backed by exquisite photography, he guides viewers on a lyrical and richly spiritual journey across a beautiful landscape.

Walking the moor and exploring woods and rivers, home to a wealth of wildlife including red deer, starling roosts, kestrels and foxes, Satish introduces the Dartmoor scenes and sights that most inspire him - gnarled oak woods, rushing rivers, stags in rut, wild tracts of heather, cuckoos hungry for food, the metamorphosis of moths - and contemplates what they reveal, and the lessons they hold for humanity.'

...and this review in BBC Wildlife Magazine which says it so much better than me!

Prepare yourself for a soul-searching journey. According to Satish Kumar, who will accompany you, most people don’t feel enlightenment because they never get the chance to sit and think “under a tree, which is the true sustaining force on Earth”. It would be easy to feel patronised by this film, but I came away feeling a better person just for watching it.

 So why don’t most of us know about Satish Kumar, whose face glows with inner goodness and whose ethos is an uncomplicated live and let live? He’s editor of Resurgence, the ecological magazine, but he ought to be dominating mainstream media, instead of the celebrities that represent the antithesis of everything he stands for. Kumar’s opinions about nature should be part of the national curriculum and our leaders should make his insightfulness an integral part of their manifestos. It would be a better world if Bush applied some of Kumar’s principles – and meant them: “To learn the art of frugality and simplicity is to learn the art of living” and “Lead me from falsehood to truth, from fear to trust, from hate to love, from war to peace”. 

Inspired in the early 60s by Mahatma Gandhi, 18-year-old Kumar set off from his native India to make a peaceful protest against nuclear weapons. Some 8,000 miles later, he arrived in Washington DC after travelling through Russia, the Himalayas and Dartmoor in Devon – which captured his soul and is where he returned to live afterwards.

Dartmoor’s wildlife and seasons make a suitably mouthwatering backdrop for Kumar to share his philosophies. Chanting a prayer while sitting in an ancient circle of stones is something most tv presenters would never get away with. But Kumar can. By the closing credits, you feel as though you’ve had a mental massage.'

Review courtesy of Rachel Ashton/BBC Wildlife. For more coverage of upcoming wildlife programmes visit BBC Wildlife Magazine

Despite searching, the DVD doesn't appear to be available now but someone has posted it on YouTube - search for Earth Pilgrim - A Year on Dartmoor. Satish Kumar 2008.

Satish Kumar's philosophy fits well with me and I am looking forward to furthering my education as a Rakiura earth pilgrim and learning from the trees.

Anzac Day 2013

It was great to hear a female kiwi call as I started my walk down to the Dawn Service; last Anzac Day I found a dead kiwi that had been hit by a vehicle as I walked down to the Bay which put a damper on the stunning sunrise as the service took place. This year the heavy cloud blocked any signs of a sunrise but at least the rain stopped for the service which was attended by many locals and visitors to the island. The Salvation Army Band, bagpipes plus a bugler to play the Last Post made it a ceremony to remember.

After the service I headed off to Deep Bay to check my rat lines, plus wire-brush, oil and rebait all 54 traps. Light showers turned to more persistent rain and although the bush makes a reasonable umbrella, I was pretty damp after 6 hours out in the elements - the rainbows made up for it though and catching 6 rats was a bonus.

Rainbow stretching over Paterson Inlet

The recent easterly storms have blown up a wonderful heap of seaweed on the beaches. There's a wee bit of kelp in it, along with a mixture of all the other seaweeds. Mother Nature's gift for the gardens and about the only time that I hanker for a vehicle so that I can collect it. On the way back from my rat lines I filled up 10 bags which a friend picked up and delivered. Tomorrow I'll put some on my raised bed and the rest on my compost heap.

We've had fronts rolling through for the last week with winds, showers and cloudy skies. The temperatures have been quite mild though and, with the extra protection of the micro-climate cloth and plastic greenhouse, my seeds are growing well and just starting to get their second leaves.

Eco-Store organic mesclun mix

Perpetual spinach seedlings