Choko

 

This is one super productive plant.

It's around 15 years old now and the vines reached around 10 meters long after I harvested heaps for mulch on top of collecting tips for greens. How's that for biomass? I gathered the vines today for a final mulching session before they die back with the frost.

We have been eating the fruit for over a month now and add them to lots of curries and stews. They are also great fried, roasted, pickled, with rhubarb in a crumble and you can eat them raw.

As a plant they create the most wonderful deep shade over summer and then die down with the first frost. Dropping all of their fruit for collection.

My sheep love to eat leaves and vines and the chooks and pigs eat any surplus fruit. This year we had half a trailer load!!

Rasins?

 

Raisin trees are a great easy care tree.

The raisins are the very sweet swollen base of the flower stalks. Sweet and crunchy.

These trees self prune, are an amazing bee tree (buzzingly so), creates beautiful shade, fast growing, deciduous and can cope with dry.

Am propagating more this year to spread amongst my chestnut and avocado orchards.

Winter tea

 Lemon verbena is an amazing addition to a cold or how brew. 

Before the frosts I harvest, bunch and hang. All winter long a few leaves can be added to teas.

I grow lemon verbena with citrus, other deciduous trees and with rhubarb, comfrey, mallow, berries....

Planting, planting, planting.

 

And another round.

Native broom, bottlebrush, wattle, and hebe as in photos.

Then rice bush, brunia, poplar, tagasaste (always) cardoon, jacaranda......and loads of perennial flowersand herbs.

So grateful to everyone who has brought flowers and foliage and has contributed.

Bamboo

It's not just  me that loves hanging out in the shady bamboo understory.

The violet patch is thriving...........and I found evidence of some one making potions.

This is one of my timber bamboo groves. As I harvest every year there is  room to move, play, set up hammocks... 

Out of the sun, next to the stream, rustling leaves... what more would you want?

Hedegrow update

 Eucalyptus doing well.

Mulched around them today.

Then planted around 50 understory plants -Hebe, caprosma, tagasaste, rose geranium....

Proudly all propagated by me. It feels so great to be able to raid the nursery and deliver wheelbarrow loads of plants around the property.

Flower delivery

All bunched up and ready to go!!!

This is my car every Wednesday evening as I deliver fresh flower bunches to Cafe Coco.

Mixing it up

 Nothing like a good guild of plants.

Sunflower seedlings on left where planted into a cover crop blend of seeds (peas, lupins, spinach, oats, crimson clover, wheat, buckwheat...) The sunflowers provide shade and then when harvested the cover crop grows until I'm ready to plant the next crop. Diversity of food, height, roots....

And well the flowers on the right are just a riot. All taking up different spaces and places. Shadign and feeding the insect life and soil in their own unique ways. Loving the purple millet and am going to save so much seed this year.

Buckets of learning

  

Its not just learning how to grow new things, but learning how to pick and process and how much you get from everything.

Am getting buckets of flowers and have so many bees.

Chrysalis everywhere!!

 I am on high alert in the garden at the moment.

There are so many of these beautiful treasures hanging everywhere. And I mean everywhere. I have swan plants scattered throughout the garden and loads more zinnea's (butterflies love these the best) and other flowers than ever.

Weeding is now worrying after I pulled out some plants with a chrysalis on -yes my weeds are big.

Its time consuming to check each plant before mulching.

What an amazing problem to have!

I am a flower farmer?

Even though I'm trying to grow enough flowers to sell I cannot help growing as much food as I can squeeze in as well.

The lettuces and parsley are loving the dahlia overstory -not that they get much choice. They seem to be flourishing and I reckon its partly because of the summer shade.

By planting them it also meant the soil was covered quicker too.

Can you spot the sunflowers behind? 

It is blowing me away how many flowers I am adding to our gardens without compromising food production. 

Poppies and bumblebees.

What a time waster. I spent so long today watching big fat bumblebees trying to land on flimsy floaty poppies. A crazy dance.

The poppies keep just out of reach as the draft from the bumblebees wings pushes it away.

There where a few successful landings by the most persistent bumbles.

The poppies petals only last a day due to this persistent pestering.
 

Mixed bed full!!

This bed has, pansies, strawberries, rosemary, dahlia starting to grow, chives, chamomile, lambs ear, a whole lot of weeds, jerusalem artichokes in the back and every now and then a wine cap mushroom pops up too.

 

Sharp tools

Just finished doing a little sharpening on my favorite tools.

You never know how blunt they are until you sharpen them.

It makes things so much easier/quicker.

Lots of planning underway so my pencil sharpening has been a lot more regular.

Baby blues

New road = new fences and new opportunities.

These Eucalyptus are going to be a canopy in a hedgerow to provide; shade and shelter alongside paddock, more foliage diversity for my foliage business, make beautiful scented bath teas, provide pollinator food, capture nutrients to be given back to paddock, stabilize bank, add diversity and provide a sight screen from the road.

Underneath will go comfrey, hebe, caprosma, rose geranium

Also in hedgerow will be bottlebrush, manuka, macadamia, native broom, tagasaste.....

 

Recipe box sort out.

 I love my recipe box.

I get a lot of grief about it though.

Mixed up with; peach wine, gouda cheese, choritso sausage, brawn, sourdough starter, chilli sauce and tomato soup recipe's are some more very important ones.

Like; fish hydrolysate, fermented pant juice and dilution rates for plant extracts. I reckon they are all important things to cook.

Mud

There is nothing like the feel of mud. 

This mud has been hiding underground alongside a spring. Bright blue when you first uncover it but it changes color as it gets exposed to air.

I love how these guys have used it!!

Supplejack nest

Verdict. Too small. We are off to make another so we can sit in it.

 

Happy solstice

 A beautiful frosty start here followed by glorious sunshine and gathering.

Solstice ramble salad for lunch.

New happenings

 While the digger was diggering the children where playing. 

MUD!!!

So many colors and textures usually hidden.

What a day. We have been waiting for the digger to come for a while so to be finally working with it was amazing. A full on day exploring potential and change. Being open to possibilities as they emerged. 

Now on to those trees.

Guavas

 We are never far from a snack around here -especially when you have children/harvesters visiting!!

 It's guava time and the Tamarello, mandarins and last of the apples are still around.

Fire

 

Full moon eclipse.

  

A super blood moon eclipse warrants a night in the tipi. 

So beautiful. So lucky to have seen this. Just after the eclipse a heavy fog settled down. 

Scaffolding

 Need scaffolding.

Just go and harvest some!!!

This is one of my favorite plants to visit. 

Its nestled in a small food forest with; Cherimoya, Banana, Sugarcane, Kefir lime, Fejoa, Pine nut, Avocado, Passionfruit, Loquat,....and of course since we are harvesting sunlight some solar panels.

Eco printing

 

After my adventures in using kokowai I had a go with eco printing. 

My favorites where liquid amber leaves and eucalypt bark. Now we have fancy covers for our tipi mattresses.

And am looking around with new eyes at potential new dye sources.

Kokowai

 Kokowai.

This is the colour of this land. Ngati pukeko. 

This is one of my first attempts of dying cloth with clay from this whenua. 

Mordanted with raw milk then soaked in clay.

Usually I avoid white clothes. Now I am on the lookout!!

Happy harvest

 Ours was spent with the best of friends. Sharing kai, clay creations, great conversations and of course music late into the night.

We ended up staying in the tipi overnight. Breakfast was leftovers and foraged fruit.