introducing.....

it's been a bit funny, living and working here, and getting to know the project so well that i give directions and plan new parts in my sleep, waking up at 2am issuing orders, to find, to my disgruntlement that no-body is leaping to get started! i don't know, it's hard to get good help these days....

and i realise that, as i womble on about the project,and what's been happening, and where we are getting up to, that it might be nice to give some pictorial cues to you, our lovely readers and followers, so that you can get to know the project too.

so, in the spirit of matariki, and new beginnings, and new seasons on the way, i have learned, all by myself, to upload photos! how cool is that :) i am very pleased with myself.

many thanks to our first ever WWOOFers for taking the lovely images, and a great big round of applause to me for completing this technomological mountain without throwing the computer out of the window ;p

so, as you can see, the first photo above is the main house. i live here, with the cat & the dog.

i also manage the project from here. apparently according to the cat i don't take direction very well.....

the main house is where the kitchen and bathroom facilities are, which WWOOFers can use. there is a sun deck, for growing seedlings and container plants, and where the privacy nasturtium bush is taking off.

meals are sometimes taken on the deck, particularly if it is a beautiful day, and sometimes in the evening too, all rugged up under the moon watching shooting stars and satellites. beautiful food is cooked here, some of which comes from the garden, and more and more so as the planting gets going.

caravan accommodation is available for WWOOFers - it is a 15ft caravan, and has a double pull-out sofa bed, and two singles; a small sink with a water container; cupboards; pull-out table; and a certain amount of naieve charm :)
(NB: gifts, hat, guinness and deranged grin all models' own....)

all of this timber came from the park rangers, they were having a clear out and so i swapped them a chocolate cake or two (making the cakes was a WWOOF job), loaded up the car with willing workers and the trailer, and brought it all home. the pieces are all interlocking, which makes assembly a breeze, and means that they can be taken apart. (all of the structures created or built on the property have to be temporary, or portable/removable.) currently these pieces of timber are being built up to make small vege/herb beds. they are on the northern side of the house, and get heaps of sun all day.

it is peaceful here, plenty of wide open spaces and trees,

and a time out room for when it all gets a bit much.....

the naaaaay-bours are pretty friendly....

and all in all, life is pretty sunny :)

my aim is to grow as many different medicinal and edible herbs as possible, along with veges, fruit, ground cover, and flowers.

also growing are pohutakawa seedlings, rescued from the ranger station, when i helped out with their volunteer planting group. we have planted spinifex for dune protection along the beach, done other native plantings along the coastline, collected native seeds and planted them up, and collected seedlings to grow. The group meets every wednesday morning, and works from around 9-12. contact Auckland Regional Council, Muriwai Park Rangers if you wish to join them.

so that's us :) nice to meet you all, shout out to Kat one of our first WWOOFers, thanks for your comment and hope all your plans are going cool & groovy too. Kat took many of the photos, and started the blog, as well as doing plenty of grunt work loading trailers, wheelbarrows, carting stuff around, digging and building planters, in the autumn.

we have a WWOOF couple at the moment, building a-frame plastic house in the front vege bed, and building planters with bamboo supports in the back of that section. planters are being composted and cardboarded, and the worm farm is eating and poo-ing great style.

it has been raining hard!!! haha to the weather gods who were obviously listening and sent in the clouds just after my last blog (at this stage i can neither confirm nor deny whether it was me shouting "it's CLOWNS, the song says send in the CLOWNS, not CLOUDS!" immediately afterwards! roll on spring...). anyway, there is some sun shining through, next week is supposed to be a bit unsettled, but i suppose it is late winter after all.

so there we are, a little bit of history and some pretty pictures, as well as an update,

look forward to hearing other people's garden stories,

carry on gardening

lou