Blossom

I was surprised to find the first blossom of the season the other day in the middle July. It's from our lonely surviving Almond tree of a group of nine we planted in winter 2008. Honestly I'm not normally such a bad tree murderer. But that was the summer I was very pregnant with Tess and carrying buckets of water up the hill in that condition in the heat really wasn't going to happen. Not to mention the fact that sheep were in the paddock before I realized that they thought the trees were very good scratching posts. I have learnt from that and if anymore fruit trees are to be planted in that paddock they need protection, when I dare try again, hehe.



In the last week or so it has been soup weather, really it's soup season so have a go they really are quite easy. For the above luscious tomato soup I used the recipe from Tiny Happy which she posted this week and served it with some yummy feta spread on a toasted roll. A very simple but a effective recipe which makes it easy to whip up quickly for an easy lunch.



And this soup I made on a whim just adding different seasoning as I went. I started with most of a pumpkin cut up into small pieces for faster cooking, chicken stock and onions, then I added cumin, thyme, and curry powder to taste (which sweetens it up quite nicely). When the pumpkin was soft I whizzed the soup to a smooth constancy with the stick whizz. And added some frozen spinach, and let this heat though and finally added some sour cream just before serving. You could use yogurt or cream instead, a friend suggested lemon juice which would also give it a lovely zing.

My Creative Space

These last couple of days have been lovely and sunny, so Tessa and I have been out in the garden. We managed to clear out some of the vege garden beds, which has been really overdue. I want to dig in some compost and blood n bone to improve the soil, then the fun part will start. Planting! I bought a few seedlings to get us started, but only wintery stuff as its still too early to get carried away. Broccoli, cabbage and lettuce.

Tessa also 'helped' feed the chooks and collect the eggs. As you can see she also discovered what is inside the egg.

Poor chooks Tessa likes to help feed them quite literally and trys to catch them and put the grain in their beaks.

Red Devil

Our little devil is so sweet she loves plums so much that she stole this one straight out of my hands. It was the last of our christmas plums. I think they might Black Doris, its a wonderful old rustic enormous tree. They are so wonderful and sweet with a delicious dark flesh and skin.


She is quite clever feeding herself and I think she knows it. Hehe

Needless to say it took a while to clean up. It is really good that Tessa is enjoying such wholesome food, there is nothing better than homegrown goodness. It is so simple to avoid the awful shop bought baby food, with a little planning of course (I know it not always easy especially at the beginning). I just put aside a little of what we are having for dinner before seasoning it. Then whiz it up with a stick whiz (I think that is what its called) to what ever consistency that baby requires and voila! For example tonight we had sweetcorn on the cob, carrots, potatoes and sausages. So I cut the corn off the cob and along with the carrots whizzed it up. Since I don't really want Tessa to eat sausages (I know they are rubbish but sometimes that all you have) I added half a can of tuna. This turned out really quite yummy with a lovely flavour from the tuna. Tessa agreed and polished off the lot. There was plenty left over so I froze it in ice cubes. This allows you to defrost what you want later for other meals when you are short of time. None of this advice is anything really new but it is good practical stuff for new parents.

Ruby Red

How can anyone resist the lucious fragrant ruby red rose 'Ingrid Bergman'. I was in the supermarket last week and it just begged to come home with me.


Not that I need anymore roses. But this rose has long stems and large scented blooms of the gorgeous dark ruby red colour that I was looking for, and its disease resistant too which is a an added bonus.

Now to figure where I can plant (squeeze) it in the garden.

More spring highlights

There is some gorgeous spring flowers in the garden at the moment. Here a few of my favourites.
The lovely soldier poppy or flanders poppy is another for it I think. It now self sows every autumn and flowers with brilliant red flowers in spring.

One of our favourite roses of which I am not sure of its name. We four plants in a raised bed next to the courtyard. They finally got pruned late this winter and are looking so much heathier this season.

And these lovely bulbs are in the same garden, I'm not sure what they are called. I think its Peruvian lily, if you have any ideas what it might be called please leave a comment.

spring garden highlights

Some lovely snaps from around our garden. Amazing colour coming out at the moment, even with just the nz native plantings.

This is my favourite flowering manuka, it is called Leptospernum 'Crimson Glory', grows 1 -2m tall and flowers for a long time in spring with gorgeous double red flowers.

Another favourite is the Renga Renga lily or Arthropodium cirratum 'Matapouri Bay'. It grows around 60cm tall and is excellent for dry shade.

Quite a rare plant in shops now a days is the variegated Karo, Pittosporum crassifolium 'Variegata'. It grows to around 2.5m a lot smaller that the standard Karo. It's lovely white varigation is perfect for lifting a shady corner and it grows reasonably slow so can be planted easily in a small garden.

This is an area of garden that was totally cleared out and replanted two summers ago. It had too many roses planted in poor clay soil that looked quite old, it was in need of a restoration. The plants have established well and look quite good. The white mass of flowers are Hebe 'Wiri Mist' 50cm which is one of the better lasting hebes it keeps it shape well and is less inclined to go leggy. Behind the hebes is Muelenbeckia astonii another of my favourites, it is a very hardy divaricating plant which handles dry summers very well ( I while post a close up soon). To improve the clay soil I spread Gypsum and blood and bone around to help break up the soil and improve drainage. The blood and bone attracts worms which are essential to soil health.

fresh air and eggs

Our chooks having been laying well this spring. They are young birds and came into lay mid march at about six months old and havn't really stopped producing since.


So when I couldn't find any eggs for a few days I noticed the black chook was missing and I looked around and found her sitting on a whole clutch of eggs (see below). She was doing such a good job of trying to hatch her babies but alas it was not to be as there is no rooster to do the deed. So seven lovely eggs were collected not all of them were hers as you can see with the different coloured eggs.

I managed a spot of gardening today and here is a shot of Tessa enjoying the fresh air, what a gorgeous cheeky smile (not that I'm biased or anything, hehe).

Spring Bonus

I love spring especially in the garden. There is many lovely things about spring the blossoms the new life all around. You can feel everything waking up and warming up.



This one of first irises of the season, very pretty. I love the spring bulbs they give a lot of colour and beauty without much effort.

Even more of bonus is our first home grown asparagus. This was lovely and fresh for dinner and worth the two year wait after planting the crowns. It will be exciting when my other aspargus (of which some are purple) that I grew from seed start producing next year. This the best my vege garden has to offer at the moment sadly I can't wait to get into it soon.

A very special week

We have had quite a busy week like most people do but a few special things have happened.

My lovely MIL came down and helped prune my roses with was brilliant and quite satisfying. It is a bit late in the season but they missed out last year, so like they say better late than never. It was easier to see where to prune as the buds had already started to shoot. We pruned them quite hard but this will hopefully rejuvenate the plants. I got a good lesson in technique as sadly my rose pruning skills are a bit lacking.

I finally finished making my baby wrap, you would it wouldn't be to difficult and it wasn't really. It was made from two lengths of cotton knit fabric 4.5- 5m by 50 - 55cm (two colours look quite nice)
- These are sewn right sides together down the long sides and turned right sides out.
- Then the end are cut in a triangle shape and folded in an sewn.
- Lining up the two pieces to be measured the same width all along and pinned on a polished wooden floor was a bit tricky ( after I finished of course I had the idea to tape the the bottom layer to floor to stop movement).

After a lesson in tieing the wrap from a few local girls we took it for test walk and Tessa and I went down to see daddy at the sheep yards and help chase sheep. A success I think and I wish I made it sooner.

Yesterday I purchased my first digital camera, I'm so excited, it's red. I even managed to bargain the price and get $40 off. I am quite pleased with myself. I have to wait till Sunday to pick it up as there wasn't any red ones in stock.

A special thing happened a few days ago one of my friends had her first baby a gorgeous wee boy called Jett.

The most special thing of the week to occur was the wedding of my best friend. Now this wasn't your run of the mill type wedding. It was wedding disguised as the groom's 30Th birthday party.
At about 7pm the announcement was made that there was going to be a wedding, everyone looked around wondering who it was going to be. Then the stars of the show was announced and the crowd roared with approval and happiness.
Tables and chairs were moved and an aisle was created and we sat and waited for the bridal party to arrive. Now I haven't told you that this was a fancy dress birthday party. Someone heard the car and the music started and the guests hold their breaths and a Robot an two rocks stars come through the door and everyone bursts into laughter, the poor robot trys to melt into the crowd but it's just not possible.
Then someone does here the bridal car and the amazing surprise wedding begins. First the two bridesmaid dressed in little black dresses come down the aisle one after the other. Then the gorgeous 13month daughter of the bride and groom come down the aisle wearing the same wee dress that the bride wore for her mother's wedding, carried by her grandmother. And finally beeeeautiful amazing bride walks down the aisle wearing white strapless gown with silver threading over the bodice and skirt, carrying a bouquet of white roses and chrysanthemums.
And the ceremony began with beautiful vows written by the couple, and when it came to the rings the poor groom dropped his but picked it up quickly saying 5 second rule and everyone laughter. It was beautiful amazing wedding which I felt honored to be a part of and let in on the secret, I did the flowers which turned out quite well. From all the compliments they got. Congratulation's and I wish you all the best !!!!!!!!