The week that was!

It has been a busy week.

My daughter graduated with a Batchelor of Design on Tuesday night, in what was a very moving ceremony. It would have been moving even if she was not graduating, as her university still follow the 700 year old traditions which I believe are based on those of the University of  Cambridge in England.  The stage was filled with staff wearing colorful robes and academic caps of various shapes.  A Maori welcome, some musical interludes, speeches which were interesting and lovely seeing my daughter rewarded for her four years of study.

 Taken after the ceremony.

The following day at my office before the parade, which ended up being cancelled.

As it was graduation week, there were lots of parents from out of town and I was able to catch up with three friends from my Nelson life at different times. Somewhere in there I fitted my birthday and office job.

A fun week but I am not very used to lots of chatter and socialising so happily exhausted and planning a quiet weekend here at the beach at my sewing machine.

I need to learn and there is fear in the camp!

It is nearly 12 years since I gardened in Nelson and my memory has faded on how helpful a decent climate is to even the most challenged vege gardener. 

Growing veg amongst the native trees in Wilton and the wind swept hillside in Johnsonville was a mission, even with the finest compost and TLC.

As a result I have become sloppy with my distances between seedlings and planted quite closely much closer than the 40 to 50 cm commonly suggested.  Now even with it being autumn and pure sand beneath the compost my veges are growing so well  that I have a crowded patch and this is where the fear in the camp arrived.  I suggested we cook something with bok choi.  The response was "I feared we were going to have to eat those greens."

Will he develop a taste for fresh vegetables that come with the odd hole from a pukeko peck and consume homegrown with pleasure rather than seeing greens as a necessary evil.  The jury is still out.

And my lesson will be to follow the instructed planting distances between seedlings. 

Food from my childhood

Twice  in the last fortnight  I have made "Little Brown Balls."  These were a lunch box or top off treat when I was growing up and I have been making them for about 47 years.  They were made long before I knew about brandy or rum truffles or other exotic chocolate balls.  In recent years there have been adaptations but the basic recipe is just as good.


Little Brown Balls

8 Weetbix, crushed (over the years the size has decreased and it is possible to add another one or two)
2 heaped tablespoons cocoa (dark Dutch cocoa is excellent)
1 can of sweetened condensed milk (lite is fine)
1 and half cups of sultanas
Mix all ingredients together well.
Roll walnut sized balls in desicated coconut (I tend to make them larger because I get tired of the process!)

These days I add up to about 2 cups of dried fruit, sultanas, chopped dried apricots, fruit cake mix, or currants, one or other or a mixture.

My sister sometimes adds a generous number of chocolate chips which makes them extra yummy.  I added about 3/4 cup to the the last batch I made.

 (I need to learn how to photograph food properly!)

Weeding and planting...

Look what I found hiding beside the silver thyme....

Emily, the cat who used to live here, but lives next door now had been playing with a mouse yesterday and I suspect this was the same one.  Chris was able to dispose of it easily.

Today I planted drunken women lettuce, an Italian heirloom one with bright green leaves and frizzy bronze edges,  (some speculation on how this name came about!), some spinanch and also purple sprouting broccoli.  We had some from my aunt's garden last year and it was a delicious change from our usual broccoli fare.

Pukeko caught stealing tomatoes

 Sneeking in to steal tomatoes.  Is she looking?

 Tomato in mouth.

 Getting ready to fly off with the tomato.

The photo does not capture the juice squirting as he pierced it.

Our new (house and) garden...

We moved two weeks ago to a house at the beach and will be sharing our time between here and town for a few months, then the beach will be our permanent home, yay!

I started gardening as soon as we arrived, the first week, some herbs and silver beet, last week lettuce and this week pak choi and rosemary.  I also found two cheap fuschias at the garden centre for a shady spot at the back door.

We have different tastes, he likes native trees, and I like veges, herbs and flowers to pick.  I am keen to keep fences to grow beans and sweet peas against, he is keen to open the section up and just have shelter cloth.  Hopefully our small section will accommodate us both!

There is an exisiting black passionfruit vine, strawberries, lemon tree (nice not to have to start growing yet another one) tomato plants still producing and I just picked one large pumpkin.

Gardening in sand will  have it's challenges, but between purchased compost and the three compost bins, plus endless grounds from all the coffee we drink and various other organic means (pony poo, sheep pellets, shredded newspaper etc) I am hopeful I will have a productive garden.

Pukeko's will also be challenging I suspect.  They visit often and being called "swamp hens" their behaviour is very hen like, pecking and foraging in the ground constantly.  Perhaps coffee grounds will keep them away as they did cats at my last garden.

Another weekend nearly gone...

Yesterday was a lovely blue day and we made the most of a warm morning walking at Titahi Bay, and enjoyed the views of the South Island. I did not have my camera, (and sometimes my mobile allergy is a pain) so no pictures. Many of the boat sheds had people enjoying the day from couches while others were putting out to sea. The collection of old tractors that pull the boat trailers to the water are fascinating.

We did the bulk shop at Moore Wilsons and Chris made a superb casserole for dinner, one I had made in the slow cooker. He made subtle changes and it was probably even more delicious. As winter is nearly here our Saturday night DVD watching has resurfaced. "Four Lions" this time. Sad and poignant, more laughs for Chris than for me though.

Today, despite me being off colour, I have topped up the planting in the vege garden, thought it good to give the southerly something to attack next time it roars through. I also bought home my concrete pig that I have carted backwards and forwards from the South Island and around Wellington. I like they way he guards the veges.


The pot with the lemon tree returned, but cannot be photographed until I nurse it back to full health. I purchased it very cheaply when I came to Wellington in 2000. It struggled in Broadmeadows, then I moved it here in 2006 it started to grow and produce, and then on to Wilton where it thrived. However sadly since I left Wilton in August 2009 it has languished. My twice weekly visits were not enough. So I have brought it back, given it a prune, squashed green catepillars galore and purchased some Conqueror Oil which I will use when there is no wind and Chris topped up the potting mix. Fingers crossed.


This is the mess at the front door, oregano and chives that turned out to be more like spring onions. I need to trim and tidy well and truly but they are reminding me of summer and the many bees that visited so I am loathed to just yet....perhaps in another week or two.