Seeds are sprouting
Seeds are sprouting by Week 3!!!
I’ll have to admit that I’m pretty high this week now that I can see sunflowers and beans sprouting up out of the dirt, made a friend who eats vegetarian and makes her own bread, put my first order in with an organic co-op, and met a mid-wife in the natural food store. Jacinta’s “leaps” include learning to jump (beginning the process), swimming in the spa, eating peanut butter and mango chutney sandwiches, lots of carrots and brown rice, trick-or-treating, and saying, “thank you, meow, duck, kiwi, uh-oh and hat.” She’s really starting to understand directions. It’s so great to tell her to put something back and watch her do it. Matt has successfully hooked up our internet after spending days on the phone with the internet folk, begun drawing up the official house plans to submit to council after discussion with a builder friend, begun the interviewing process, started his lawn-mowing career and hooked up his first water pump from the dam to transport water up into a tap in the new orchard garden.
This week was a planting week, very productive actually. After creating the teepee in our orchard garden on the hill, Keith and I planted 3 passionfruit vines to climb up the poles. I later planted beans to climb up the remaining poles and sunflowers and corn to grow between the poles. The beans and sunflowers have already come up, within four days! Strong sun and water are incredible creations(: We hung a wind chime in the teepee for Jess to play with, but it doesn’t seem to be as fun as walking and splashing in the newly watered dirt. On Halloween we planted two lillypilly trees (this is a native berry) and an avocado tree, no significance on the date. The first on November brought my huge seed order in the mail and began the major veggie planting.
In my smallish garden next to the house (about 100 square feet) I did some heavy interplanting. The theory I’m trying out is this: if you plant a huge messy variety of veggies, herbs, and flowers, in some sort of order but not in rows, leave no bare soil and mulch constantly, then you won’t have to water or weed as much and you’ll avoid major pest infestation. I’ll give it a few months and reassess. Thus far I’ve planted corn, watermelons and canteloupe together. I planted the eggplants, broccoli, tomatoes and capsicum (peppers) all directly in the soil (this is risky….) and mixed them up with marigold and mountain spinach seeds. I planted a small block of carrots between the tomatoes and sunflowers. I planted a few wavy lines of lettuce and arugula behind the sunflowers for some shade as it’s very hot already and it’s spring! I’ve hilled some more melons, some zucchini and cucumbers. We’re using a few old double washtubs to grow herbs and strawberries in this plot and plan to extend the garden by another 3 feet. I did most of the planting while Jess snoozed the afternoon away because she hasn’t quite learned how to walk on the paths yet. This may not happen soon… I suppose I’ll need to make more than a few sacrifices to the birds and bugs, but some to Jacinta’s wandering feet.
On the community front this was a good week. I now have a library card, a bank card, and a Medicare card. (I’ve been here for 3 weeks, I am a “temporary permanent resident” and have free health insurance, poor America). I rode into town and explored a bit on my own paying visits to a few shops: first off, the natural food store. I enjoy combing the aisles looking for the few things I could afford. Food is a lot more expensive here. One extreme example: a can of organic black beans was $4.50!!!! (about $3.50 US). I then had my first visit to the Bottle Shop and began my education in Australian wine. At the post office I discovered aerograms (pre-stamped paper which is then folded to become an envelope) which will be an inspiration for me to write snail-mail. Upon return from this trek into town, I successfully made it up the hill on my bike with a basket full of food without stopping to walk the last 100 yards. Finally!!! I had tea at a friend’s house and found we had a lot in common. She gave me seeds to plant from her garden and hope for finding a community of friends that have similar ideals. Jess had a blast taking over her 3 year old’s toys, roaming the garden, munching on cookies and jumping on the trampoline for first time.
At playgroup I got to know a few more women, a really neat Irish lady, and another lady who is just starting to build a strawbale house. I’ve signed up for a women’s camping weekend in December. I will have the chance to hear the stories and wisdom of a few aboriginal elders, to explore the river and rainforest environment, and then respond creatively to the sharing through art, music and writing. The camp is on a hundred acre certified organic property on the banks of the Kalang River. It is mostly sub-tropical rainforest. There are beautiful walks and abundant wildlife. Much of the wildlife in this region is nocturnal and includes wallabies, sugar and feathertail gliders, quolls, flying foxes, possums, greater gliders, owls, nightjars, microbats, water dragons, pythons, goannas, and frogs. It sounds rough, aye?
On the family front, we are enjoying Keith’s willingness to teach us about the land, the trees on it, the birds feeding on the flowers and trees. Keith has been collecting odds and ends for us for the past 9 months, one of which is an entire church which we will use to build our house. If we ever need something we first go to Keith to ask if he already has it. Nine times out of ten, “it’s filed under miscellaneous somewhere in the shed.” The “shed” could mean it’s anywhere on this great 5 acres, sitting in piles at a few end of the property. It’s a new game for us to play, but for Keith, give him 5 minutes and it’s found. For example, Keith and I were teaching Jess to walk on the paths in the garden yesterday, and I said, “Jacinta, let’s go look for a broom so you can sweep the paths!” Keith “Pop” says, “Ahh…I’ve been saving something for you, I’ll go have a look.” Five minutes later, he comes back with a baby-sized straw broom. We’ve gone garage saling together the past two weekends and gotten some good deals, today, a stereo!!! Mary “Grandma” works at a retirment/nursing home and lives in Kempsey (45 minutes away) Monday through Friday. Today we attended a celebration of the opening of the new nursing home which she manages. After playing through speeches and dancing to the band and choir, Jacinta tasted about 5 different Australian pastries.
Politically speaking…it took me about 5 years of voting life to become passionate about American politics (not meaning I enjoyed the politics but cared enough to want to influence them). It will take me a while to understand enough to become passionate about Australian politics, and hopefully by that time I’ll be able to vote! For now, all I know is that the prime minister John Howard follows the US and Britain like a puppy dog. Right now he’s trying to pull a George Bush and change legislation for terrorism without explaining exactly what the threat is, but just that the threat is great and warrants compromising civil liberties. The debates in the House of Parliament are vicious here. They yell and scream at each other and speak their minds, they also get thrown out for going too far, but just for that day. A few of the five states are harshly disagreeing with the national decision and are letting all of their colors show. I hear that Bush’s approval ratings are 35% now, as they should be. Too bad it took those 15% this long to understand the havoc that the Bush administration could wreak on the rest of the world, the environment, and our own people.
On a more positive note, Jacinta is still a chirpy little girl. We celebrated Halloween here in the house since Aussies don’t celebrate Halloween. Her grandparents found her a fairy costume which she put on over her purple dress, and spiced it up with some snazzy purple plastic beads. She then knocked on our bedroom door and got a cookie from Matt, knocked on Grandma’s door and received a kiwi from me, and ended with a knock on Pop’s door and got another cookie in her purse. That’s the way I like it, total control and no candy!!!
Jess has learned to give great kisses at bedtime and when she wakes in the morning. She wakes with so many things to tell us, as if she needs to make up for the few hours she slept the night before. She is starting to have some rhythm to her day, she wakes at about 7, greets everyone, goes out on the veranda, (most often: Pop and Jedda the dog, eats oatmeal, drinks tea in her tiny cup, and then lingers around while we drink our tea playing with the dog and her ball, watching ducks and lately, she loves the turkey. If it takes me over an hour to get her outside to play, she stands at the screen door and bangs on it to get out. We’ll spend time walking, picking flowers, collecting eggs, digging in the dirt, maybe go for a bike ride, play with toys and snack all morning long and then she’ll have a nap at about 11 or 12, sleeping between 1 and 3 hours…..rhythm??? For her, yes!! She whines at the refrigerator when she’s hungry and when given her bowl of food takes it to her high chair, slides it upon the tray and waits to be put in, this is shocking as she used to despise her high chair. She still plays with her food when she’s done, but can get the spoon in her mouth. She helps me make dinner too. She can now peel garlic, it’s quite funny though because she likes to taste everything, even the garlic and ginger root. She likes to take the raw veggies one by one to daddy, in the other room. She can entertain herself for a while now, it’s so fun to watch and listen to her busyness. She likes to toast at dinner time and make everyone say “cheers,” before each sip. Then it’s a trip to go watering the plants, bath time and bed time, by about 8pm. But she still wakes in the night…. it’s 11pm and here she is, needing a cuddle. Good night y’all.
I’ll have to admit that I’m pretty high this week now that I can see sunflowers and beans sprouting up out of the dirt, made a friend who eats vegetarian and makes her own bread, put my first order in with an organic co-op, and met a mid-wife in the natural food store. Jacinta’s “leaps” include learning to jump (beginning the process), swimming in the spa, eating peanut butter and mango chutney sandwiches, lots of carrots and brown rice, trick-or-treating, and saying, “thank you, meow, duck, kiwi, uh-oh and hat.” She’s really starting to understand directions. It’s so great to tell her to put something back and watch her do it. Matt has successfully hooked up our internet after spending days on the phone with the internet folk, begun drawing up the official house plans to submit to council after discussion with a builder friend, begun the interviewing process, started his lawn-mowing career and hooked up his first water pump from the dam to transport water up into a tap in the new orchard garden.
This week was a planting week, very productive actually. After creating the teepee in our orchard garden on the hill, Keith and I planted 3 passionfruit vines to climb up the poles. I later planted beans to climb up the remaining poles and sunflowers and corn to grow between the poles. The beans and sunflowers have already come up, within four days! Strong sun and water are incredible creations(: We hung a wind chime in the teepee for Jess to play with, but it doesn’t seem to be as fun as walking and splashing in the newly watered dirt. On Halloween we planted two lillypilly trees (this is a native berry) and an avocado tree, no significance on the date. The first on November brought my huge seed order in the mail and began the major veggie planting.
In my smallish garden next to the house (about 100 square feet) I did some heavy interplanting. The theory I’m trying out is this: if you plant a huge messy variety of veggies, herbs, and flowers, in some sort of order but not in rows, leave no bare soil and mulch constantly, then you won’t have to water or weed as much and you’ll avoid major pest infestation. I’ll give it a few months and reassess. Thus far I’ve planted corn, watermelons and canteloupe together. I planted the eggplants, broccoli, tomatoes and capsicum (peppers) all directly in the soil (this is risky….) and mixed them up with marigold and mountain spinach seeds. I planted a small block of carrots between the tomatoes and sunflowers. I planted a few wavy lines of lettuce and arugula behind the sunflowers for some shade as it’s very hot already and it’s spring! I’ve hilled some more melons, some zucchini and cucumbers. We’re using a few old double washtubs to grow herbs and strawberries in this plot and plan to extend the garden by another 3 feet. I did most of the planting while Jess snoozed the afternoon away because she hasn’t quite learned how to walk on the paths yet. This may not happen soon… I suppose I’ll need to make more than a few sacrifices to the birds and bugs, but some to Jacinta’s wandering feet.
On the community front this was a good week. I now have a library card, a bank card, and a Medicare card. (I’ve been here for 3 weeks, I am a “temporary permanent resident” and have free health insurance, poor America). I rode into town and explored a bit on my own paying visits to a few shops: first off, the natural food store. I enjoy combing the aisles looking for the few things I could afford. Food is a lot more expensive here. One extreme example: a can of organic black beans was $4.50!!!! (about $3.50 US). I then had my first visit to the Bottle Shop and began my education in Australian wine. At the post office I discovered aerograms (pre-stamped paper which is then folded to become an envelope) which will be an inspiration for me to write snail-mail. Upon return from this trek into town, I successfully made it up the hill on my bike with a basket full of food without stopping to walk the last 100 yards. Finally!!! I had tea at a friend’s house and found we had a lot in common. She gave me seeds to plant from her garden and hope for finding a community of friends that have similar ideals. Jess had a blast taking over her 3 year old’s toys, roaming the garden, munching on cookies and jumping on the trampoline for first time.
At playgroup I got to know a few more women, a really neat Irish lady, and another lady who is just starting to build a strawbale house. I’ve signed up for a women’s camping weekend in December. I will have the chance to hear the stories and wisdom of a few aboriginal elders, to explore the river and rainforest environment, and then respond creatively to the sharing through art, music and writing. The camp is on a hundred acre certified organic property on the banks of the Kalang River. It is mostly sub-tropical rainforest. There are beautiful walks and abundant wildlife. Much of the wildlife in this region is nocturnal and includes wallabies, sugar and feathertail gliders, quolls, flying foxes, possums, greater gliders, owls, nightjars, microbats, water dragons, pythons, goannas, and frogs. It sounds rough, aye?
On the family front, we are enjoying Keith’s willingness to teach us about the land, the trees on it, the birds feeding on the flowers and trees. Keith has been collecting odds and ends for us for the past 9 months, one of which is an entire church which we will use to build our house. If we ever need something we first go to Keith to ask if he already has it. Nine times out of ten, “it’s filed under miscellaneous somewhere in the shed.” The “shed” could mean it’s anywhere on this great 5 acres, sitting in piles at a few end of the property. It’s a new game for us to play, but for Keith, give him 5 minutes and it’s found. For example, Keith and I were teaching Jess to walk on the paths in the garden yesterday, and I said, “Jacinta, let’s go look for a broom so you can sweep the paths!” Keith “Pop” says, “Ahh…I’ve been saving something for you, I’ll go have a look.” Five minutes later, he comes back with a baby-sized straw broom. We’ve gone garage saling together the past two weekends and gotten some good deals, today, a stereo!!! Mary “Grandma” works at a retirment/nursing home and lives in Kempsey (45 minutes away) Monday through Friday. Today we attended a celebration of the opening of the new nursing home which she manages. After playing through speeches and dancing to the band and choir, Jacinta tasted about 5 different Australian pastries.
Politically speaking…it took me about 5 years of voting life to become passionate about American politics (not meaning I enjoyed the politics but cared enough to want to influence them). It will take me a while to understand enough to become passionate about Australian politics, and hopefully by that time I’ll be able to vote! For now, all I know is that the prime minister John Howard follows the US and Britain like a puppy dog. Right now he’s trying to pull a George Bush and change legislation for terrorism without explaining exactly what the threat is, but just that the threat is great and warrants compromising civil liberties. The debates in the House of Parliament are vicious here. They yell and scream at each other and speak their minds, they also get thrown out for going too far, but just for that day. A few of the five states are harshly disagreeing with the national decision and are letting all of their colors show. I hear that Bush’s approval ratings are 35% now, as they should be. Too bad it took those 15% this long to understand the havoc that the Bush administration could wreak on the rest of the world, the environment, and our own people.
On a more positive note, Jacinta is still a chirpy little girl. We celebrated Halloween here in the house since Aussies don’t celebrate Halloween. Her grandparents found her a fairy costume which she put on over her purple dress, and spiced it up with some snazzy purple plastic beads. She then knocked on our bedroom door and got a cookie from Matt, knocked on Grandma’s door and received a kiwi from me, and ended with a knock on Pop’s door and got another cookie in her purse. That’s the way I like it, total control and no candy!!!
Jess has learned to give great kisses at bedtime and when she wakes in the morning. She wakes with so many things to tell us, as if she needs to make up for the few hours she slept the night before. She is starting to have some rhythm to her day, she wakes at about 7, greets everyone, goes out on the veranda, (most often: Pop and Jedda the dog, eats oatmeal, drinks tea in her tiny cup, and then lingers around while we drink our tea playing with the dog and her ball, watching ducks and lately, she loves the turkey. If it takes me over an hour to get her outside to play, she stands at the screen door and bangs on it to get out. We’ll spend time walking, picking flowers, collecting eggs, digging in the dirt, maybe go for a bike ride, play with toys and snack all morning long and then she’ll have a nap at about 11 or 12, sleeping between 1 and 3 hours…..rhythm??? For her, yes!! She whines at the refrigerator when she’s hungry and when given her bowl of food takes it to her high chair, slides it upon the tray and waits to be put in, this is shocking as she used to despise her high chair. She still plays with her food when she’s done, but can get the spoon in her mouth. She helps me make dinner too. She can now peel garlic, it’s quite funny though because she likes to taste everything, even the garlic and ginger root. She likes to take the raw veggies one by one to daddy, in the other room. She can entertain herself for a while now, it’s so fun to watch and listen to her busyness. She likes to toast at dinner time and make everyone say “cheers,” before each sip. Then it’s a trip to go watering the plants, bath time and bed time, by about 8pm. But she still wakes in the night…. it’s 11pm and here she is, needing a cuddle. Good night y’all.
posted by Matt & Shana & Jacinta & Genevieve Henry at
12:38 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home