Update for late August

Sorry guys for the absence and lack of posts.......! Don't know where the time goes.

Have been busy in the garden now that the weather has improved and we are not sloshing around in a whole lot of wet mud!

Trying to make the most of the soft ground by planting lots of plants/trees. G has been busy with the trees, putting in a lot more native shelter/hedging trees, although it will take a while for them to look established getting them in the ground as we know is paramount! I've been putting in some flowering plants/shrubs that have been sitting around in pots for too long.

Spring is just around the corner and the plants and flowers are starting to look good. I have several rosemary bushes and the bees (mainly bumble bees) are loving the flowers!

Bubble bees are going crazy on the rosemary

The clay bank by the side of our garage is now looking a lot more presentable, with the geraniums/pelargoniums, irises and an unidentified plant with daisy type flowers huge and pink - does anyone know what it is? I think it may be South African ?daisy or similar. Growing really well on the ugly clay bank.

Clay bank now covered in flowering plants

This plant is doing really well, huge pink flowers

I'm also busy preparing the ground for Spring planting, doing much-needed weeding (ugh!) and getting some seeds going in readiness. Namely tomatoes and chillies on the 'must-have' list. Will attempt to grow lots of pumpkins for pig food this year.

Oaty slice/flapjack/muesli bars

In the kitchen my latest favourite is a flapjack type muesli bar. I got the recipe off River Cottage Everyday (their episode on Breakfast if you are interested). It's basically melted butter, peanut butter, brown sugar, then added oats, seeds and dried fruit, baked in the oven. This morning I bought some Chia seeds to try out in another batch, and this time will use almond butter instead of peanut, and coconut oil instead of butter. Will be interesting to taste the difference from the first recipe. Handy to have a healthy snack at the ready instead of reaching for the biscuit/cake tin!

Have a great day!

Just a few good things for today - Friday

Pumpkin - actually this is for our pigs!

Pumpkin pie! Definitely NOT for the pigs!

Lovely fresh lemons - thanks L!

Beautiful orchids

A good read

Hope your Friday is shaping up well. It's a bit overcast and windy here on CTF. Have been outside to plant the last 2 packets of the Spring daffodil bulbs - way late I know but I have had them in the fridge so they should hopefully come up OK!

Update for mid July

Life has been fairly busy recently. We're on the last day of school holidays and after a nice break from class D is ready to go back! The first week we spent a few days down in Auckland, visiting the zoo and a crystal museum, and caught up with reli's.

D with huge quartz crystal

A very tame parrot (Kea)

This week just gone wasn't quite so fun however, as I was unwell and got to spend a couple of nights in hospital! Nothing major though, and I'm on the mend. Just not so exciting for the wee fellow, although by default he did get to visit a few playgrounds en route to visiting the Docs and the hospital!

Consequently, this has put a bit of a halt to doing much outside, which is a real shame as I have loads of things to plant! Will have to get into it as and when.

At least the garlic is in and coming up, and I dug up the last of the carrots. The swedes are getting a good size now, and I'm still getting lots of herbs from the garden. The broccoli is also doing well:

The daffodils I planted out a while back are starting to come up. This lot are in a lovely wooden barrow handmade by G's late Uncle:

Hope all's good with everyone, look forward to catching up on your blogs in the coming week.