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. 

Bee watching!!

Watching bees.

First you have to sneek up to flower. 

Make sure your shadow is away.

Slowly hold flower and if you are gentle you can bend it towards you and get really close! 

Seaweek

WOW!!! Seaweek 2020.

This event has now been running for years. I was lucky to be invited back and to see how it has emerged.

I designed some activities that would hopefully create spaces for people to stop and interact with the beautiful harbor environment.

I believe to observe  fully (while immersed in natural ecosystems) with all of your senses is the start of so much. To freely question and then to interact (process or play/exploration) is to form connections, understandings, literacy,  ......

My hope is that these exploration possibilities sparked many wonderings.

Children’s explorations are so rich to join so we had a wonderful morning.

Bonfires

To celebrate the solstice we have an annual bonfire.
We start by sharing food from this land to honor the abundance.
We then make and shoot fire arrows with the memories of a year past.
This year a phoenix flew through the flames and then went up in flames as we set our intentions for the new year and then cooked sausages in the coals before making charcoal with what was left to return to the land that supports us.

Sausage sticks

As the nights get longer and air cooler bonfires on the beach a great evening activity.

This year there is an abundance of sausage cooking sticks.

Post bonfire

You can tell there were lots of bows made in the workshop yesterday. We will not need to gather kindling for a while.

The day after the bonfire is always fun.

We rekindle the embers and burn any remaining wood. Then we have toastie pies for lunch and hunt around for any lost arrows that have not burnt too much.

MIdwinter

This year our midwinter bonfire is a little late.

Yesterday was spent clearing out the brickyard and getting ready for a fun weekend.

It is exciting to see the 'flaps up' ready to welcome people.

Pottery

Second firing of the year.

Mid-winter

What a way to spend an afternoon. The harbor was beautiful -if very cold.

We caught enough flounder for lunch the next day and then went to the beach to warm our feet around a mid-winter, full moon, musical fire, with friends.

Warmth for the soul as well.

Brick yard

An impromptu design session at the brickyard.

I have been using pallets, hay bales and bamboo to mock up a corner cob seat with drying shelves and a mini rocket stove/kai table.

They were making pots and chatting. I was watching they way they moved in the space and then getting some great feedback.

Shelves moved higher, seat backs turned into a leaning wall and cob seats became wooden storage boxes for clay tools, tea making basics and kindling.

 I will not start this project until spring but it is great to be able to consider the design and see it being used before it becomes final.

Carding

Carding our wool.

It is a little harder to felt than some but we have been learning.

This basket full will be a pair of slippers or boots.

Friction fire

Fire by friction - Thank you Caleb.

It is addictive.

Our front porch is now covered in tinder and our wood range has only been lit once since we started with matches.

Guava

Chillean Guava are a great in between fruit.

These ones are in between my citrus and are fruiting heavily in their first season.

They are growing with an annual understory of
Kamo kamo. The Kamo kamo act as a screen so that there are some Guava left when I go foraging.

Te Urewera

One of my favorite places. A three day tramp.

New years kiln

Over Christmas we all made whistles, pots, beads and figurines. On New years eve we built a simple kiln and fired our work. New years day we re-discovered our treasure.

Pottery wheels

Christmas time.

We found two kick wheels for sale in town.
Now two people can make pots together.

The brickyard is a cool shady place to be in the heat of summer.

East cape road trip.

And the wind roared. And we played.
The official camp ground was too windy and a nice shepherd let us camp under a massive Pohutukawa tree.

The moon was full and I climbed the giant sand hills and watched the sunrise.

Underground bees

A beautiful campsite next to the beach.

A sleepless night was had by all in tents as the poor native bees tried to get out of their underground tunnels.

Potters wheel

Yay!!!
The potters wheel is go. WE just about had to rebuild the whole thing.
Ari and Toby make it look very easy. I'm still playing.

Floundering

We usually get a feed. We always have a great walk with family and friends.