Brigitte’s autumn hideaway

Posts Tagged ‘trip’

In New Zealand we celebrate the beginning of Spring with the first day of September.

In October the farmers and veterinarian will be busy with lambing.

This lovely sheep had her lambs much earlier.

I enjoy the warmer days for small walks not far away from our house.
This by example is a way up to a summit.

The broom will be covered with yellow blossoms soon and is so high you can’t see anything.

On the top you can catch a glimpse of snow by the faraway mountains.

We have no snow down here but instead a lot of blooming trees and flowers
Our garden is full of interesting animals like this live bearing ‘copper skink’ which can be found only on the North island of New Zealand.

Our rabbits are also developing great and Fluffy is one who we take inside from time to time. He is Aileen’s favorite except for Anna of course

We enjoy the last days of winter and are looking forward for an exciting Spring

Our march was wonderful with all the fairs and trips we made.
In Martinborough we saw this cool Pizza truck.

It was an amazing fair with hundreds of booths.

We also made a visit to a Steam festival in Featherston!

David made 9 rounds with the little steamy and Aileen was her happy self in the jumping castle

Before the cold comes we will enjoy our weekends in the sun with some more trips

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!

At the weekend we made another trip to the end of the road (we went there to collect some mullein blossoms)

On the way was this lovely creeping mallow (Modiola caroliniana) I never saw it in Austria (guess we have only the pink ones over there)

On the path grew a plant that smelled like chamomile not sure what kind it is. Maybe you can help?

I also don’t know what this tiny plant is… maybe it it will bloom soon

On the path grew some ragwort (Senecio jacobaea) which is very poisonous for cattle and other animals…

… but not for this Cinnabar moth caterpillar who eats this plant to BE poisonous for predators so they don’t eat them.

This river is very high when it is raining and look how dry he is now…

… it is important to be thankful for the water and use it wise. I will post some ideas later.

In this riverbed we found interesting green stones as well as a stone with a koru pattern on it.

On the way back we came by by this thistles which are ready to put into a paper bag for collecting their seeds. As far as I know all thistles are edible (if you don’t mind the scratchy harvest) and high in minerals and vitamins. You can collect the flower heads and boil them in water. I also pickled the flower heads which tasted like mini artichokes

If you collect the seeds, shake the paper bag well when it is full of seed heads. Then cut away one edge of the bottom and collect the loosed seeds which are falling out.

If you live in an area like I do it is good to collect all the thistle seeds (or flower heads or even the whole plant) because they are invasive to our beautiful New Zealand. So you really help the environment by eating the weeds

This is a Cape goosberry (Physalis peruviana)

You can make jam with the ripe yellow-orange fruits which contain Vitamin A and C.
But be aware because the flowers are poisonous! Also the foliage and the unripe fruit are harmful if eaten!

Christoph discovered this gorgeous plant!

It is a teasel (Dipsacus)! In my home country the roots were used against warts, fistulas as well as Jaundice.
According to the book Encyclopedia of Herbal Medince teasel was used as diuretic, sweat inducing, stomach soothing and gallbladder problems.

It also says that the water that collected in the leaves was called ‘Venus’s bath’ and thought to be beneficial for the eyes.

The mullein was blooming and I …

… collected a jar full of blossoms to make an oil.

At home I filled it with olive oil to make a antibacterial oil for ear ache.

Ah, yeah, on the picture you can see the stone with the koru pattern

Please click here for a link of the whole process of making this special oil and other info.

On the first January we went the long drive over gravel to the end of our road.

We saw some calves who looked so cute.

Especially this one got my attention and I thought without ear marks it could be a buffalo child

There are many high grasses and here and there we found some baeutiful thistles looking like little artichokes.

A little stroll and we reached the mullein patch we had visited before. (Please click here for a link to an older post)

The flower buds were still closed.

We collected some plants with roots to put them into water at home so I can collect the flowers every day for a week or two.

At the end we had a really big bag for tea and medicine. Please click here for a link to the other blog where I write more about the use of mullein.

On the way back we saw a Tree Tutu.

All parts of this plants are poisonous. So be aware to teach your kids not to touch the plant or eat it’s berries!

At home David helped me to make some tincture

Here is a pic of our leaf and root tincture which will be ready to use in 6 weeks.

We also made a yarrow oil which we use for insect bites or sprains.

And the red clover went into a water infusion to drink as a sweet yummy anti cancer tea. When ever you see red clover pick it and make an infusion it is worth it