Papa Sam turns 32!

So, Sam had his birthday on Saturday...  He's 32 now, and wanted a cake that said 2 to the power of 5...

I didn't want him to know exactly what the design was, so I modified the concept a little

 If you're wondering, the cake is a white chocolate passionfruit mudcake.  I found the recipe on a website last year, and it's been one of Sam's favourites ever since (link to recipe)

He wanted Lego, so he got two sets as well.  The 1932 Fire Brigade (one of the modular buildings designed by Jamie Berard) and the Kingdoms prison tower rescue...  Six or so hours later, he'd managed to assemble them both.

Happy Birthday, Sam, my love!

Love from Mama Fern :)

Catch up time

Hi All

Once again, I've been lax and forgotten to update the blog for a couple of weeks...  Of course, I've been busy with Sam's birthday and our youngest turning 6 next week...  But I promise, we've been doing other stuff too

Along with my fascination with the characteristics of different plant families (which I think Sam is secretly sick of hearing about), I've been running around identifying different species of moths and butterflies and trying to introduce more to the garden.  So I got all excited when we got a friendly Tasman visitor with a damaged wing in our garden and had to take a photo.  It's an Emperor Gum Moth...  So pretty!

 We collected a little extra Lego before, during and after Christmas, which has meant long discussions about exactly how we're going to collate and store our growing collection...  Enter the interwebs

Hmm, maybe a new house with more rooms...




Not wanting things to go to waste, I made a few detours along the path at a local park, and now have a plethora of cuttings and seeds to spread around the garden.  Must remember the secateurs next time

Our guinea pigs now have slightly modified accomodation, after Sam spent hours rebuilding the hutch and replacing the wire to stop the rats getting in

My first ever sunflower has started flowering, with 3 others not far off...  I'm not sure why I never planted any before in my life, but I'm glad I tried this time.






The bergamot is in flower around the section and the bees are loving it.  I think we have 3 or 4 different plants of it dotted around

Soon, I should be able to pick the tomatillo and the cape gooseberries.  Here's a pic of the tomatillo, nearly ready







Sam cleared the gravel off half our driveway, so that we can walk on the concrete without hurting our feet.  Once we have the whole drive cleared, I'll be planting out the edges of it and tidying it all up a little.  It's already looking a lot better though.  In this pic, you can see my  second patch of rhubarb, BEFORE the chickens got to it...  It looks like lace now...  Oh well



The shoo-fly plant by the front door is in bloom.  Although, admittedly, I don't see it having an effect on the flies

 Our youngest daughter's Christmas present rose is in bloom









We've had a number of monarch butterflies hatch out over the past few weeks, and I'm trying to get some of the native butterflies to hang out here too.  So far, there's a few yellow admirals, but that's all.  Our native butterflies all prefer stinging nettle, which has meant it's been interesting trying to work out where to safely plant them.




Anyway, I apologise for the haphazard post...  There's more to come, and I will hopefully be able to write it up a bit better...  These photos have been in my camera a while!

Take care
Mama Fern

Moving hutch and jam making season begins again

We've had a bit of a problem just recently, with rats getting into our chicken coop and guinea pig hutch area.  It all turned into a big panic last night, when the guinea pigs started crying out, and there was a rat actually in the hutch with them...  So, we've had to come up with a temporary (unfortunately extremely small) housing solution until we can get a replacement hutch sorted.


After a bit of modification, we have temporary hutch Mk I.  It's a bit snug (ok, it's waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too small for more than a day or two).  They're not thrilled, but they're safe for the moment

 It's that time of year again.  Sam's work have been providing the staff with a tonne of free fruit, and the stone fruit and bananas are untouched...  Frequently...

Bubbling plum jam

So, I've started making jam.  Today, it was 4 jars of plum jam, one jar of apple sauce, and 4 jars of plum, peach, nectarine, rhubarb, apricot and apple jam.  They're on the shelf now, with the remainder of the apple and kiwifruit sauce, and my mock apricot jam (will post the recipe up next time I make this one).

Slowly filling the shelf again

The blackberries across the road are nearly ready to pick and make into jam again, so we'll be filling the shelf up soon enough

Anyway, I'm off to enjoy the ratatouille that our second youngest just made for dinner...  Yum!

Take care,
Mama Fern

Christmas 2010

Ok, so I wrote the Christmas 2010 post a long time AFTER I posted my 2011 resolutions...  Never mind...  I've been tucked up in bed for most of the past 2 weeks with a cold, so between that and Christmas, everything else has been a bit of a blur.








But, I really really really have to post what we got for ourselves and the kids for Christmas.  So, here goes:


Our girls got skirts and tops from me that I made myself.  I'm almost over sewing for the moment, but really proud of the results.

A search of rose names on the internet found us a nice little David Austin rose called "Rosa Evelyn", which, is beautifully scented, rather pretty, and nicely, named exactly what our youngest daughter is.  So, she was delighted, and the garden has yet another supply of rose hips for jam and tea.

Sam and I both got into painting mode, and I made a picture of a lemon tree for my parents (which I duly forgot to photograph).  And Sam took on a family inside joke, making my mum a painting of a frog shot to bits (she has nothing against frogs, apart from the fact that frog presents deluge her house once or twice a year)

I didn't forget our boys with my sewing, but I was struggling to find patterns...  So, I made them 3 pairs of shorts for using as pyjamas

 

Papa Sam got a bulk box set of Lego and two Lego trucks, which he built up as quick as he could.  The trucks have been put together now as his own personal road train.

And I wasn't left out of the Lego gifts.  I got the Apple Tree Cottage set from Sam and the kids, and now that I've built all 3 houses at least once, Sam and I have moved on to making other things and displaying them on our bookshelf in the lounge

Lighthouse made during Creationary

We bought a fair few board games for the kids, with Lego Creationary being the favourite so far, but after Christmas, including gifts from family, we've added the following to our board game collection:

• Twister
• Lego Minotaurus
• Game of Life
• Barrel of monkeys (3 of these)
• Uno
• Phase 10 dice
• Cranium dice (awesome game!)
• Alphabet Soup
• Yahtzee (score pad)
• Sequence
• Another chess and multiple games set
• Foosball
• Star Wars Risk
• A few jigsaws

And probably a few more I've omitted from the list.  So far, the big winners are Foosball, Creationary and Cranium dice

Our eldest two got a whole heap of extra Warhammer Fantasy miniatures, while the youngest two boys got more Lego, which I would take photos of, but the constructions change too quickly!

Sam also bought me two cross-stitch kits, which I will hopefully post completed pics of in the next few months...

Um, folding chairs from my parents, a devilishly good cupcake book from my inlaws and a whole heap of other goodies rounded it out, but I honestly can't remember what else!  All in all, it was an awesome day, with lots of the people I care about most in the world, and a Christmas to remember


I hope everyone else had just as good a Christmas

Love to all,
Mama Fern

Mama Fern's New Years Resolutions

Yeah, I know, it's a sad little concept, but I actually made New Year's resolutions.  Although, this year, I've deliberately thought them through and come up with things that, if I wasn't already doing them, I've put things in place to kick them off anyway.  So, it's more of a list of things I've been saying I will do this year, but actually written on the blog, for the world to see!

• Sew 10 items of clothing
• Learn a craft and sell at least one item made using it
• Paint 5 paintings
• Make sure that every one of our kids gets an hour of my time completely focused on just them at least once a month (this doesn't count the joint activities that we spend hours on every week, or school holidays, when it's easier to spread your time)
• Read (and blog a list of) at least 50 books
• Grow 5 plants from cuttings that I've never grown before
• Make my own picalilli - I keep saying I will
• Learn 3 new skills that help me live more sustainably
• Get all the family photos on to the walls or at least into photo albums
• End 2011 with leass than 4 months of debt repayment remaining (and then get NO FURTHER DEBT, unless it's a mortgage)
• Send Christmas cards and bake a Christmas cake

Yup, boring, but I think it's pretty achievable...  Now, on with the New Year!

Happy New Year, all

Mama Fern

Garden update... Annuals and stuff.

  









Just a quick update and some random pictures of progress.

Mama Fern is doing some Potting. See Fern Pot, She Pots good. All the tomatoes and a whole bunch of plants got repotted.

Greenhouse halfway through Mama Fern Potting.

zucchini, corn and been are growing awesomely.

Corn and Beetroot planted.

Pumpkin Patch #2 prolifically growing.

Pumpkin Patch #1 Even more prolifically growing

The Pumpkin Patches will merge soon. Must remember this year to keep each plant to 3 or 4 fruits. But they are going like gangbusters.

Pineapple Sage has doubled in last week.

Coloured Chard

Leek Flowering.

Mercury bay weed on the world's smallest berm.

Semi-rural feel to the rest of the street.

The Swale. seriously dumb idea by the council.

Mama Fern added some lavender to make a hedge.

see the Lupin growing nicely.

Scarlet runner bean flowering by front fence.