Brigitte’s autumn hideaway

Posts Tagged ‘Christoph’

In the last post I already mentioned Christoph cutting trees to make space for our new veggie garden.
So today he was busy working on a raised bed.

It is pretty long because this will be in the back the whole length of our future veggie garden.

Christoph worked by hand to get all the long screws into the wood when the power left the screwdriver… yes, he never gives up

The finished work is absolutely brilliant!

We made layers with all the scrap material of the garden…

…and then a thick layer of our wonderful compost hip.

The last layer was made of organic compost from Mitre 10 (Later we will add some mushroom compost ;- )

When time comes we will make 3 more raised beds in the front but from back to forth.

Meanwhile I have a wonderful place for my salad, kitchen herbs and other things I will sow

We had a great day at the ocean today.

It was amazing to watch the sea water come in in waves and flooding back the river.

The waves were quite high and so beautiful. It sounds as if the ocean is a big living thing breathing in and out with every wave.

David wasn’t afraid and had fun to chase the waves which were as high as him self (yes, David is VERY fast ;- )

Aileen of course wanted to go into the water, but wasn’t allowed since the waves were to forceful.

Jonas had his fun too

And Christoph of course went fishing

I was happy to find some green treasures. I just love the stones which contain green minerals. They remind me of moss agate a stone which combines my love of herbs and mother earth.

Since the waves were to forceful and Christoph came empty handed we girls enjoyed our pick-nick which we luckily brought with us

Croco even brewed a coffee on the burner and we enjoyed good food and the beach of course

It was an awesome day and we hope to go again soon.

On the way back I made a pic of Lake Ferry…

… and the Tasman sea.

We also saw this beautiful ‘Haunted house’

And I was so lucky to find a big patch of cattails!

Summers can be hot and dry and we all have to use the water wise. You can help by bathing your kids in a herbal bath (use a big container as bath they will like something unusual and you can teach them to be water wise in an early stage ;- ) and then use the water for the garden.

Peppermint geranium or other scented flowers smell really beautiful in a bath.

You could also collect the water when you have a shower. Stand into a suitable container (like the one in the picture below) and use the water for plants afterward.

Keep a bucket in your bathroom. If you use warm water for brushing teeth, collect the cold water in the bucket and then the warm water in a cup for brushing your teeth.
Collect also the rain water of the roof with barrels or other containers.

Cover the water collector with a fine netting or plastic foil so insects don’t drown.
With one night rain we had this little container full. We will buy some barrels so we can collect all the water we need for the garden. Don’t worry if the water is yellow or orange, that’s from the pollen which may stick on your roof.

Christoph was very busy and now all cut trees and other twigs are processed. Here he used our bench as alternative for a  saw horse

It worked well

Soooo, at the moment this blog is not up to date and I may post a few posts today…

First I like to share a short trip we had a few days ago.

While we had a sunny day at home we were surprised by the storm we discovered on the other side of the Rimutaka. It was high tide and due a blue moon the tide was VERY high. The waves came up the road and it was really an excitement.

At Pukerua bay we had an appointment to pick up… ah wait, lets show you this picture first.

Aileen is very proud and know why? There are …

… two new friends from Pukerua bay in the box!

We bought two Flemish giants. They are female and sooooo cute!

They were very hungry and it was pure joy to see them feeding at the carrots

Aileen choose one rabbit she called Emy…

… and this is my Rosie.

Every day we bring them outside after having some play time and in the evening we take them in again so we can play again (AFTER the kids had tidied up. Looking how long this rule can survive ;- )

We just love our new friends!

Christoph has his special way with Emy who is much calmer then Rosie.

Rosie is always curious and …

… hungry! Christoph had a good laugh ’cause I am always hungry too

Things in our garden do well even without water in this hot summer days.
When we started to cultivate piece by piece of our garden, I sow some Amaranth and now he finally comes out through the soil (he really took a long time to show up)

Not far from him there grows St. John’s wort in a sunny spot. He already starts to bloom and I am looking forward to next year where there will be a nice big patch of it

Our Kidney beans also stretch their heads out.
We had a good laugh when David went inside to bring a big can of ‘Backed beans’ (our Earthquake aid) and asked me to open it so we can sow them
He had seen me soaking the Kidney beans over night and instead of cooking them we sow them together in the garden. Yes, this are the first beans my son sees grow

He is such a blessing.

David is always helping us in the garden.

And you can see how busy he can be…

There are always a lot of interesting things in the garden like this Weta…

… here you can see one back leg of this big Tree Weta.

In the morning while we had breakfast we saw another amazing animal…

… it was an Eastern Rosella! How amazing to have such exotic birds in the garden!

It is really a paradise… the kids can play and jump and run around outside the whole day.

David and Christoph also enjoy their ‘tools.’

Christophs latest wizz-bang was a lawn mover

I am glad to have David who helps me to save herbs and other things before Daddy comes with ‘the machine.’

I made another jar of red clover vinegar. If you like to know more about it, please click here for a link.

Anyway, Christoph wasn’t sure what to do with the clippings…

… but he finally found a place

Benny is also helping by munching a lot of the grass

“We did it!”

While the ‘boys’ enjoy an ice-cream, I enjoy a cuppa in MY newest treasure…

…a rocking chair! What a joy!

Happy New Year everyone!