My wedding

When i started this blog i intended it to record my garden as a process, from conception to realisation. BUT in a sudden resurgance of enthusiasm i feel like writing about my upcoming wedding. The theme is a "bohemian circus" and i have many pictures for inspiration, but am struggling to make my vision a reality on our tight budget. BUT where thers a will theres a way...

Embroidery

In the spirit of all things flowery, it is a very rainy day and i am working on my new "thing", an embroidery that the mother in law had tucked away in a suitcase. I am in love with the colours of embroidery floss, it's like painting with the best and most vivid thick oils.

My plants are loving this rain after all the sunshine of the last week, and it is suddenly so warm! I can positively hear them slurping up the watery goodness. A false spring me thinks, it certainly FEELS like spring, but surely not in August?!

Strawberries

Another stunner day, did alot of weeding YAY! Took Ishta to playgroup at Steiner school this morning then spent the whole afternoon in the garden planting strawberries. It was slightly a mission as i had to first move the strawflower seedlings that had sprouted up in the vege garden, then move over some compost, pick out all the centipedes for my dear son to "play" with, THEN plant the strawberries. I got these ones from the gorgeous lady at the farmers market who sells the edible plants. She is such a funny old hippy, i love her. She sells the most amazing herbs, and next week i am going to buy a blackcurrant bush from her.

My most gorgeous fiance cooked dinner tonight, and now he is going to babysit while i go to my Soul Doll workshop. We are apparently meditating on our 14-21st years tonight, which may be heavy as those were some particularly dark years for me... but its a lovely supportive atmosphere to explore them in, plus Osha always has REALLY good rosehip tea...

Indian summer?

It is a phenomenally beautiful day, it is a crime to be inside on the computer, but sean has taken the kids out and i just wanted to post a quick blog before they get back! I have some compost to spread, it hasn't rotted down as well as i had hoped. Apparently there is a real art to making compost which i have yet to delve into passionately, my style is just chuck it all in there and hope it magically transforms into nourishing crumbly goodness for my garden beds...

And check out all my seedlings a-sprouting! My gorgeous sean built this little hidey away around the side of the garage which is a total sun-trap, and my babies love it! The only downside is i think my neighbours may get to eavesdrop on all the secrets and wisdom that i reveal as i chat away to my lovelies...

Petit gardens

Aside from my larger flower bed and the two raised beds in the back, i have many little sneaky spots filled up with any type of pot, box or container i can find. Apparently bulbs do quite well in pots, as do herbs (for scented foilage) and sunflowers. And of course i have had raging success with marigolds (which are not actually for the market bouquets but for my wedding) so if everything else blooms as successfully i will be making mucho grande posies...

Lovely anenomes

The weather has been great and the moon calender says it's time to plant seeds! Yay!! I jumped the gun and got in some jade sunflowers and more calendulas and some nigella sown direct on my birthday, just cos the time was gifted to me and i couldn't let it go to waste! So it will be interesting to see how the two compare, if the seeds planted on the dark moon thrive or not. Today i will try get in some more sunflowers, some zinnias, caryopteris, more cosmos, salvia, and delphinium. And some anise hyssop for delicious scent and foliage. God damn i hope something grows... faith. I have the coolest sunflowers, apricot coloured and with twisty petals. I did the big summer order from kings seeds last week, so hard to hold off until spring, but my little greenhouse should help everything through the next month, fingers crossed! Please join me in crossing our fingers for good growing...

Birthday dinner

Last night was really lovely. Despite all the family pulling out and opting to stay home in bed due to illness aplenty, we had a gorgeous little dinner for my gorgeous little girl. We had mulled wine warmed in the crock pot and a birthday berry trifle, which are incidentally my favourites. We listened to music and chatted into the night, and Ishta provided the entertainment, just as a good hostess should, by dancing to everything from Biggie and Meth to Mazzy Star. The girl has got mad skills...

A 1st birthday table

Blowing out candles with uncle David

Hooray for me, i survived the first year.... barely. I still may not last out the day. Cant remember what it feels like to NOT be sick, and my poor angel baby is sick for her big first birthday as well! It is so gorgeous how blissfully unaware they are of the fuss, Sonny has only really just got into the birthday thing in the last couple of years. He is planning his party already - racecars apparently!! So much of what i have done for Ish is for his benefit really, she couldn't care less, although i bet she enjoys the cake (may appreciate it more than the present).

Birthday gardening

Well i have finished planting all my new birthday plants, there are poppies poppies poppies of all kinds EVERYWHERE and i cant wait until spring when i get to see it all come to fruition and all these flowers in bloom. I am very much looking foward to not looking upon all the dirt and sand, the seedlings should all fill out and fill the beds nicely. I have packed everything fairly close together, now i just have to stay on top of the weeds.

We also planted the dwarf apple tree that my mum bought for me and Ishta for our birthdays, apparently has extra cancer fighting properties. I got Ishy's placenta out of deep freeze where it's been for almost a year and planted it underneath. I have been wanting an apple tree since i read about apple woods magical properties, so now i have magic wood and Ishta is forever joined to the earth...

Oriental poppies, shirley poppies, iceland poppies, and our new Monty's Surprise apple tree in the foreground

My birthday

I am trying not to feel old. I resolve to make the next 10 years the best of my life so far. I will have a fantastic party next year and celebrate the hell out of my 30th. BUT for today i will garden... yesterday i got some more poppies, ranunculus, and some cool new Niche seeds, jade sunflowers which are the most beautiful shade of white/green. I LOVE Niche seeds, i cant wait to harvest the rainbow carrots we planted months ago, which will hopefully look like this:

Book club

I have committed to holding my first book club meeting before the end of August. I now need to recruit some members, decide a theme for the first month, and decide a name. I am currently thinking "faire des folies" which is 'to commit acts of extravagance'. I plan to make everything i ever do EVER for ever and ever an act of just such extravagance. I am slightly concerned that all these french names have little to do with me and i should be embracing a theme a bit closer to home, but i'm so over kiwiana. Cant it be just part of the extravagance?

to me on Monday...

Mystery daffodil

There is a mystery daffodil in my garden. It definately wasn't there last year, so have there been garden fairies tip-toeing through in the night? I cant wait til all my spring bulbs start flowering but this one is somewhat of an enigma...

A summery...

... picture to remind me that the seasons are cyclical and before we know it we will be eating icecream in the hammock on a summer afternoon again.

Three more things i yearn for: *getting tipsy in the afternoon and giggling and giggling and dancing on the grass barefoot;
*sleeping under just a sheet;
*naked kids

Winter tree

It is impossible to capture with my quite sad camera, but we decorated the peppercorn tree today and it is a magical wonder and joy, makes my my heart operatic...

We made the decorations a couple of days ago. They are painted shells, walnut shells and seed pods. And theres some pretty beads we found lying around too.

tango

This was me and Sean last night, we were tango royalty. I cant wait to learn more... so sexy.

New Seeds

Oh Palmers, how i love to throw my money at thee... i had such good intentions, but $67 later i have ANOTHER huge tray of icelandic poppies, three of ranunculus, and some VERY exciting new seeds! Yay yay yay i have SO been wanting to try some lisianthus, apparently very good sellers but very tricky to grow well... oh well worth a shot. Feeling more than slightly guilty but also overly orgasmic right now, bloomaholic mwah? I will make it up to Sean, partly when my flower stall makes MILLIONS and partly tonight when i lavish him with some of the friskiness this mini spending-spree has rubbed up.
We had a most lovely afternoon today, twas Sonny's idea to pick some oranges and make juice. Actually we have mandarins and tangelos so the juice was "refreshing" to say the least but with the amount of mucous flowing around here at the moment i'd say the vitamin C shot was most timely.

So gorgeous.

Simplify...

simplify, simplify! Thats what the card said last night when we drew for a reading. Apparently that includes clearing out cupboards and drawers, clearing of benches and tables, and cleaning windows of all things. Also recycling, getting rid of excess, that means ON WITH THE GARAGE SALE!! I have too big stuff for too small house. The stuffs not big, theres just alot of it, massive amounts. I have tried bafore and failed, but this time it's fo real. I will post photos of my progress before-and-after style.

The aforementioned reading was part of a Soul Doll workshop that started last night, for the next six weeks i am joining six lovely ladies in the process of making six Steiner dolls through a process of biographical work, crystal therapy and good old fashioned stuffing. I need to find some Moldovite, apparently its good for us lost sould feeling emotionally overwhelmed and homesick for whichever other planet in space we came from...

Sweet inspiration