Independence Day Challenge after a busy weekend

I spent last weekend in Hamilton with the kids, hobnobbing with my sister in law and my nieces, so I’m in catch up mode. I even kept my wee boy home from school yesterday because he was so exhausted from the busy weekend.

So, once again on a Tuesday:

Independence Day Challenge Update

This is my Monday update on what I’ve done over the last week to move towards food independence. I originally read about it on Towards Sustainability and the original idea came from Sharon Astyk – read more about it here.

PLANT SOMETHING:
Seeds of Palm Tree di Tascana Cabbage, De Cicco Broccoli and Joi Choi Pak Choi (this is proving SO easy to grow).

HARVEST SOMETHING:
Lots of eggs, mustard, courgettes. I was able to harvest free windfall Gravenstein apples from an orchard when I was in Hamilton – I picked up about eight big bags! We also visited a pick-your-own berry farm and picked 2.6 kgs of raspberries, mmmmmm!

PRESERVE SOMETHING:
Not this week, but I’ll be working on all those apples and raspberries next week!

REDUCE WASTE/ WASTE NOT:
A yummy banana cake with some really old squishies and then the rest of the bunch went into the freezer for some future banana cooking.

PREPARATION AND STORAGE/ WANT NOT:
On my way home through Auckland I picked up a purebred Lavender Araucana rooster. I’m figuring that my chooks produce eggs, manure and compost and do a great job of keeping down the bugs. But if I keep groups of heritage breeds, I can also sell surplus eggs and birds for a little extra in the kitty.

I picked up my organics order from my friend and froze the extra seeds, milk powder and flour to prolong their life.



BUILD COMMUNITY FOOD SYSTEMS:
Ummm. I did go to the Hamilton Garden’s show on Saturday. They had a permaculture area with lots of interesting stands and some speakers. The kids made adobe mud bricks and petted the milking goats (I’m in love!), the alpacas and the kunekune pigs. I picked up a brochure to join the NZ Treecroppers Association.

EAT THE FOOD:
Still not eating too much out of our own garden yet. I feel I’m still getting the hang of succession planting and planting quick things as well as longer growing veges.

LEARN A NEW SKILL:
I learnt how to make seedling pots from strips of newspaper using this handy little gadget I bought from the Hamilton Permaculture Trust’s stand at the show. No more plastic punnets and they can go straight into the ground when they are ready as the newspaper just rots away.

There we have it. Now I'm off to take the wee bunnies to the vet. I've come back to find they both have yucky scabby things on their ears and from what I can find out on line I think it's some sort of mite/mange. I'm learning very fast about rabbits!