people always suppose that when i grow up i'll be an accountant, lawyer, astronaut. stuff like that. but what i really want to be is a dancer for a rock n roll band...
22.9.09
sometimes i'm too cool for clothes
like painting
or going down the slide
or generally just hanging about.
13.9.09
SpRiNg
out on the bike spring's heavenly scents assault the nostrils, both left and right. apricots and peaches waft past me, subtle and yet sublime. spring. green. and pink.
today was an entirely barefoot day for both me and capt c. we were the both of us in the garden this morning from before breakfast (which was weetbix (for c), if you're interested) even though the ground was still a bit chilly beneath our nonstockinged feet first thing.
we fed the chickens, collected the eggs, ("ai-ee" in calix speak) watered the seedlings in the glasshouse; gave the pirate her biscuits. all business.
if we were living in europe, or in the northern hemisphere, we would be excited about the shades of may-green that acompany spring. this used to please me when i was there, being a may-child and all. but here, in the republic, and on our little peninsula, there aren't that many deciduous trees about to notice it being re-greened.
autumn slinked past. autumn isn't fragrant!
but spring!
oh, those lucious, fresh buds!
of course, the problem with spring is the fact that it's not cold! barefootbicycling at night. which really means that i lost a glove on the way home cos i wasn't wearing it!
but at the end of the longest winter in the world ever i'm not complaining.
(aren't they all the longest???)
we're kinda hoping that our wee man will be nappy free by the end of the summer. already he has enjoyed several afternoons sans couche. his announcements are always mal-timed. 'peepee' he says, afterwards. but, as with other things, he is fascinated with everything that papa and mama do. he mimics our every move- from cleaning teeth to visiting the toilet...
my little man, ever the socialite. we made a new friend the other day; pascal introduced himself, offering his hand. hand extended, calix did likewise.
and tonight, as the night drew on, i noticed c was getting tired. -do you want to go home? i asked, he nodded. and after we had dressed ourselves for the bicyclejourney back to the republic (500m) c went round the room and personally said 'bye-bye' to everyone there (being careful to offer a kiss to the girls).
only half french?
xx
mama b
today was an entirely barefoot day for both me and capt c. we were the both of us in the garden this morning from before breakfast (which was weetbix (for c), if you're interested) even though the ground was still a bit chilly beneath our nonstockinged feet first thing.
we fed the chickens, collected the eggs, ("ai-ee" in calix speak) watered the seedlings in the glasshouse; gave the pirate her biscuits. all business.
if we were living in europe, or in the northern hemisphere, we would be excited about the shades of may-green that acompany spring. this used to please me when i was there, being a may-child and all. but here, in the republic, and on our little peninsula, there aren't that many deciduous trees about to notice it being re-greened.
autumn slinked past. autumn isn't fragrant!
but spring!
oh, those lucious, fresh buds!
of course, the problem with spring is the fact that it's not cold! barefootbicycling at night. which really means that i lost a glove on the way home cos i wasn't wearing it!
but at the end of the longest winter in the world ever i'm not complaining.
(aren't they all the longest???)
we're kinda hoping that our wee man will be nappy free by the end of the summer. already he has enjoyed several afternoons sans couche. his announcements are always mal-timed. 'peepee' he says, afterwards. but, as with other things, he is fascinated with everything that papa and mama do. he mimics our every move- from cleaning teeth to visiting the toilet...
my little man, ever the socialite. we made a new friend the other day; pascal introduced himself, offering his hand. hand extended, calix did likewise.
and tonight, as the night drew on, i noticed c was getting tired. -do you want to go home? i asked, he nodded. and after we had dressed ourselves for the bicyclejourney back to the republic (500m) c went round the room and personally said 'bye-bye' to everyone there (being careful to offer a kiss to the girls).
only half french?
xx
mama b
5.9.09
community barter
something i've always dreamed of is being self sufficient. it's a little more complicated than just growing a few veges, and while we may be able to have our little urban homestead we will never be fully selfsufficient on 500m2. we can try. we've planned and built a vege garden with fruit trees, we have chickens and we dream of bees. we've small pencil sketches of solar hot water heaters and solar ovens, but we'll never be 'off the grid'. we can't produce milk, nor wheat, nor chocolate!
but we can swap!
our neighbourhood edible garden network has set up a weekly swap-meet for all things edible. the philosophy is if you've produced it, bring it along!
all week i'd been chewing over what i could take along to swap. what have we got in abundance? at the debut to spring we've mostly got hope, but we can't swap that!
but a quick look round and we thought- ok, we've got chickens, we've got a fab lemon tree, i've got some chutney made from last summer's tomatoes that we'll more than likely not use... and so to this weeks swap-meet we took along just that: eggs, lemons, chutney and some heirloom courgette seeds. we returned home with some silverbeet (both cut and plants) some radishes, some rosemary, 2 bottles of homebrew beer, 2 loaves of bread, some sunflower seedlings and some parsley. what a swap! our little blue eggs went down a treat! (we were even asked if we were likely to get any little blue chicks...) we swapped ideas and orders for next time- yoghurt, french bread, seedlings, more lemons and of course, more little blue eggs!
and so it's like this, little by little, that we work towards selfsufficiency. so we can't grow wheat, but we can swap our eggs for some bread.
all that's really left to do is to find someone in our community who grows chocolate!
xx
mama b
but we can swap!
our neighbourhood edible garden network has set up a weekly swap-meet for all things edible. the philosophy is if you've produced it, bring it along!
all week i'd been chewing over what i could take along to swap. what have we got in abundance? at the debut to spring we've mostly got hope, but we can't swap that!
but a quick look round and we thought- ok, we've got chickens, we've got a fab lemon tree, i've got some chutney made from last summer's tomatoes that we'll more than likely not use... and so to this weeks swap-meet we took along just that: eggs, lemons, chutney and some heirloom courgette seeds. we returned home with some silverbeet (both cut and plants) some radishes, some rosemary, 2 bottles of homebrew beer, 2 loaves of bread, some sunflower seedlings and some parsley. what a swap! our little blue eggs went down a treat! (we were even asked if we were likely to get any little blue chicks...) we swapped ideas and orders for next time- yoghurt, french bread, seedlings, more lemons and of course, more little blue eggs!
and so it's like this, little by little, that we work towards selfsufficiency. so we can't grow wheat, but we can swap our eggs for some bread.
all that's really left to do is to find someone in our community who grows chocolate!
xx
mama b
3.9.09
2.9.09
bokbok
if the rara republic was to have a dept of immigration it would have busied itself today stamping pieces of paper and issuing citizenships while the welcoming committee was arranging fanfare and the likes.
this morning the family expanded to include donna summers and the supremes: 4 lavender araucana chickens.
this breed of chicken are of south american origin and have lovely silvery plumes. their eggs, when they are ready, will be sky blue and apparently have little or no cholesterol.
but inside chickensville there was no welcoming committee. there was no fanfare, nor peace love and flowers, or any of the other means you might use to welcome your sisters. there was plain, outright, chicken warfare. oh yes, these lavender lovelies imported their fiery latin temperament.
actually, just one of them did. mrs boss.
or, donna.
their previous guardian told me it wouldn't take long to tell who was boss. and after a brief war and a set of negotiations (handing over of best perch, etc) cher (previous mrs boss) submitted.
pascal and i watched on, a little dismayed for our girls, wondering if we'd done the right thing.
as the girls faught it out cliches ran rich through my head, the girls were simply establishing the pecking order. later on in the evening cher was knocked off her perch. donna rules supreme, and hopefully, by sunset tomorrow a treaty will have been signed and we will be back to our unitednations omlettes by the weekend
xx
mama b
this morning the family expanded to include donna summers and the supremes: 4 lavender araucana chickens.
this breed of chicken are of south american origin and have lovely silvery plumes. their eggs, when they are ready, will be sky blue and apparently have little or no cholesterol.
but inside chickensville there was no welcoming committee. there was no fanfare, nor peace love and flowers, or any of the other means you might use to welcome your sisters. there was plain, outright, chicken warfare. oh yes, these lavender lovelies imported their fiery latin temperament.
actually, just one of them did. mrs boss.
or, donna.
their previous guardian told me it wouldn't take long to tell who was boss. and after a brief war and a set of negotiations (handing over of best perch, etc) cher (previous mrs boss) submitted.
pascal and i watched on, a little dismayed for our girls, wondering if we'd done the right thing.
as the girls faught it out cliches ran rich through my head, the girls were simply establishing the pecking order. later on in the evening cher was knocked off her perch. donna rules supreme, and hopefully, by sunset tomorrow a treaty will have been signed and we will be back to our unitednations omlettes by the weekend
xx
mama b
1.9.09
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