Rainy day seed sort out

A rainy day is the perfect opportunity for a seed sort.

All of the old ones from the seed drawers will be fed to the chickens and replaced by new -which have been hanging above the fire finishing their drying.

This years labels are blue so it will be easier to see at a glance how old they are.

Beans

My four new types of beans -thanks to Setha's seeds.

These guys are dried threshed and ready to be stored for winter stews and soups.

View from the shower

The taro for giant umbrellas above your head -great for when it is raining.

The shower water drains into a shallow swale that starts under your feet. There are also tamarello, banana and assorted native shrubs and ferns creating a beautiful guild and privacy.

Bringing in the sheep

Bringing the sheep into the yards is just a call away. Because I move them most days they will follow me quite a way (as long as they are not too hungry and there is not too much food along the way).

Convolvulus Hawk Moth Caterpillar

This guy is so beautiful -found it on my kumara. Hopefully it pupates in time for winter. I am harvesting my kumara now so will need to put it next to some Convolvulus. 

Kaanga Ma

Winter goodness waiting to be hung from the roof.

Seed sieves

Just showing off a new toy from Crafty Gatherer. Thanks Tess and Marco.

It has made sorting seeds much easier.

Winter cover up

As I harvest in the autumn a cloak of green manure is sown to cover any bare earth.

This cloak will;
-out compete weeds,
- keep fungi strong (as the mycellium can only stay alive for a short time in the soil without their host -plants),
- maintain a good soil structure by stopping weathering, holding soil together with roots and those of fungi they host,
- providing shelter for soil insects, food for decomposers like worms when mulched and provide nutrients/mulch for next springs plantings (this green manure is lupin and broad beans for corn crops).

Taro flower

These guys are beautiful. It is the first time they are flowering and they are all doing so profusely. They only last for a few days but for the last month there have been flowers non stop on all of our taro.

As they are the screening for our bathroom our whole bathroom smells sweet.

Teamwork

Teamwork!!!
An old culvert was blocked and after a few days of excavation we found most of the old concrete had broken.

Working with royalty

It is very powerful to know you are an important part of a system.

This is a newly hatched Queen bumble bee in my garden. I have attempted to define the roles we play below.

She will; pollinate a few plants while she builds up her reserves for overwintering and then in early spring when out of dormancy, build up a brood of worker bees that will pollinate my garden all growing season.

I have made; nesting boxes for her 'mother' and then her to raise their brood, sure there are overwintering sites for her, made sure there are food sources available for her and her mother when they need to build reserves (early spring and autumn), sure of a diversity of food crops throughout the whole growing season to support the whole nest of workers, there is clean water and no pesticides or herbicides used.

A touch of purple

In my sea of green Hyasynth bean vines provide a splash of colour. They ramble up trellises and fences.

The pods of the bean are not very nice to eat but the flowers have graced our salad bowls all summer and provide endless bee food.

Austrian Hulless pumpkins

Austrian Hulless pumpkins.
These guys are for seed alone and need to sit for a few weeks to 'cure' before I open them and dry the seeds for winter. I have started growing these again as I have a new garden now so can grow more variety and still save seed.

Living Design Process

 

Wow!!! Thanks to Dan our Living Design Process Deep Dive has been recorded. What a great few days.

And here is a link to the lovely feedback from Catherine Dunton-Mcleod -thank you.

Spoons

Just a snapshot some of the wooden spoons that have been made by family and friends lately.

Seeds

Cloth bags are great for collecting, drying and processing seed. My greenhouse has lines of drying seed at this time of the year. It makes me feel full inside to know I have the strongest seed of my favorite plants ready for next year.

Seed saving is a true abundance. To be able to generate more and more seed each year (lines and quantity) means I can scatter them around my family, friends and community.

Who needs money bags. This is my security.

Caterpillars

This has been a crazy caterpillar year!!

I think that the wet winter killed off a lot of our overwintering Queen wasps which then in turn have not been around to keep caterpillars in check. It is very different. 

I have noticed lots of moths and butterflies in my garden pollinating for me and there has been a late season explosion of ichnid wasps, Potters wasps and other solitary wasps who have been enjoying caterpillar feasts. I would much rather have these guys around than the Common and German wasps.

This is the pupa of the Convovulous Hawk moth that likes munching on Kumara, Convolvulus and all in that family. I have not noticed much damage on my Kumara so left this beauty to do its thing.

Water out

We now have all water outlets installed. Next job water in.

Gourd wall

Another unfolding.

This one is taking a life of its own as our climbing gourds and hyacinth beans grow up a bamboo trellis. The no-dig garden is shallow and it will be good to see how the plants cope over our hot summer.

This is an edible wall that will provide shade and privacy over summer when there will be more people using this place.

Mud

I love the way three separate materials turn into one. Sand, pumice and
clay with a little stomping and then some rolling with a tarp makes a mix strong enough to make a wall.

This mix is one of the last that will be mortar for our toilet wall.

Ari and I spent the afternoon today putting up a few more layers of bricks.

Food forest

It is a food forest!!!

One of my criteria for a food forest is that they should give the workers (including me) food from the outset. Why else would you spend time there while you were waiting for the trees?

This will eventually be a guild of citrus.

In the meantime in the succession of things we will be eating pumpkin, tomatoes, chilli, sorrel, spring onions, mellow, dill, buckwheat, strawberries...........

There is also plenty on offer for the pollinators and co.

Corn flower

Early morning corn flower.

I love the miracle of corn. Each of these beautiful red hairs is the female pollen receptacle. The male flowers are at the top of the corn plant and the heavy pollen blows down to this female flower. Once each 'hair' catches a pollen grain it will then fertilize one kernel of corn.

Part of the beautiful dance that is corn.

This is my Popcorn that I have had for over 12 years.

Honey harvest

Harvest time.

If we harvest before Christmas we can be sure there will not be poisonous Tutin in our honey. This stuff can be eaten straight from the comb.

Passion vine hoppers suck the sap from the Tutin bush and then in turn bees harvest honeydew from the hoppers. This is especially true during hot summers so after Christmas all honey harvested needs to be tested.

As bees categorize nectar as they store it in their hives then Tutin honeydew can be  concentrated  in small areas of the comb. After Christmas comb honey is a no go.

Corn Understory

This year I planted a dense understory of Red Clover under my Kaanga Ma.

Because this is my sandy top garden I also sheet mulched the paths with long grass.

Two types of mulch to cover the soil, hold moisture and mix up the diversity of flora and fauna. I will keep an eye on the 'living mulch' and possibly turn it into sheet mulch as needed.

The edges of this bed are also planted out with beans and squash.

This garden is an isolation garden to keep some of my seed lines separate.

Corn is up

Corn is up.

Corn needs to be planted in blocks for good pollination. I usually plant four rows minimum. The inside of the beds are kept well mulched.

Frogs

Frogs in the pond are an indicator of life.

Life in that the land is healthy as they are very sensitive animals.

Life in that the weather is warming and I need to get a move on with summer plantings. When the frogs start singing every night I know it is time to strat planting straight into the warming soil.

Kumara beds

Succession at work.

This is my overwintered Kumara bed.

Mustard to clean the soil, feed early wakening pollinators and build up ladybird, parasitic wasp, and hoverfly populations.

Wheat for carbon rich mulch and mychorrizal connections.

Both to keep soil covered and keep weeds at bay.

Next step is to sythe the wheat, broadfork the soil, pull out wheat roots, plant tipu and then mulch with wheat tops. Done.

I only prep a bed when it is ready to plant.

Native hedge

Even though this hedge is in the middle of a busy area (Zone 2) there are no perennial edibles.

It is amazing how fully tuning into the context can give unexpected form. I think this space would have been totally different if I had not used Living Design to allow it to unfold.

This is to be a thick screen to stop eye contact between road and private space. It will be better without people harvesting or even looking for food. Some food plants have been used in the gardens succession but eventually is will be a garden nobody will notice as it supports the many happenings that take place around it.

Entrance design

To do the design we first decided on happenings. Then we mocked them up.
To carry two buckets easily. A gradual stiffening throughout the day. The pictures tell a lot.
Patterns were helpful too. Talking path -so people can easily see where to go.
Shedding path so as you go you can unload vegies to be washed, dirty clothes at tubs, gumboots at back door...........

Raspberry mulch

Rasberries like their mulch acidic. 

These guys were lucky enough to be planted on land that had been grazed holistically for years. I just loosend soil with a broadfork where we were going to plant each cane. Planted rasberries and a little comfrey and then sheet mulched with old fridge boxes an pine needles.