Putting Down Roots Series II

Examples from my 100 days project

In my last post I showed a couple of quilts that were inspired by my paper cutting 100 days project.  They are showing at Kings Theatre Creative for the next few weeks, along with the quilt I'm showing today called 'Belonging'.

Belonging by Charlotte Scott 43cm x 55cm $195 

This quilt is a nod to landforms that have dominated the areas where I've spent much of my life.  Kapiti Island is the first.  It dominated the horizon in the area I grew up and whenever I see images of it something twangs inside me.

Kapiti Island.  The original uploader was Grutness at English Wikipedia - Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons., CC BY-SA 3.0

The other peak that fills my horizon these days is up the far end of the Waikare Inlet.  It's constantly changing colour, sometimes wreathed in mist, occasionally covered in cloud.  I don't even know what it's called and can't find it on a map, but it forms one of the backdrops in my daily life.

These are the two areas in New Zealand where I've spent the longest time, where I've put down roots by growing up in the area or by moving there and consciously deciding to make my life there.

Belonging (detail) by Charlotte Scott 

I don't think I'm done with this series yet.  There are more variations with the branch and root imagery that I'd like to try.  Different ways of saying what I'm thinking or feeling.  And I like that it's the sort of symbol that has rich meaning for others too.

E noho rå!

French braids on a Sunday

Sunday (yesterday for us), was awfully windy.  I stood for ages trying to catch a picture of the gusts visible in the trees outside my lounge window.  Eventually I caught a shot that almost shows how breezy it was.  We did manage to get out and plant another forty odd kanuka trees without getting blown away.  The ground is getting dry now so that will be the last tree planting before Summer and hopefully these will survive - kanuka are pretty tough.

I spent most of the day pottering around in my studio.  I was having a play making a french braid table runner.  The instructions are from a book I borrowed from my guild library, "French Braid Quilts" by Jane Hardy Miller with Arlene Netten.  I made my strips half an inch narrower and now I feel the centre square is a little big in proportion.  I think it's calling for a simple appliqué motif.  The points along the edge will all get trimmed straight and I'm undecided whether to bind it in the deep red or the dark blue?  Any suggestions?

For lunch we had green slime soup for kids, pea and asparagus soup for adults.  Isn't it a glorious colour!  Very yummy too and the kids have no idea they are chowing down on asparagus (they won't touch it in it's recognisable form).

Then keeping with the green theme, I ran the kids a bath.  If you have reluctant bathers like me, a splash of food colouring can be a good motivator.  It's probably a better use for food colouring than actually in food!  It doesn't stain the bath (it might if you have old porcelain or deep scratches) and it only stains the kids if you use too much.  Of course, once my kids are in, they never want to get out....

It's nice to have a normal weekend.  No obligations, no visitors staying, nobody to cook for except your own family.  Hope you had a good one too.

Growing Things

We spent the weekend growing things.  We grew the wood pile for next winter and it's higher than my head now.  There is something very satisfying about having a good stock of fragrant wood drying.  Maybe it harks back to caveman days when fire was safety, warmth and food all in one.

We didn't grow these, but we did plant them.  Fifty baby Kanuka trees that will become a hedge/shelter belt and will shield us from the view of the neighbours.  Grow babies, grow!

And my quilt continues to grow slowly.  I've been glue basting the birds on and will soon be appliquéing them with a straight stitch.

I hope you had a productive weekend too.

Weather Window.

I took these pictures after the rain stopped yesterday.  It was early evening and the light was glowing yellow.  You can see the overflowing stream in the paddocks of the first picture if you look hard.

It was a lovely fresh feeling to see sunlight after so much water from the sky. 

Today we have had a few showers but I managed to get a handful more trees planted and a grapevine too.  Tomorrow I have a kid-free morning and I just checked the weather forecast - a blue sky day.  I'll be working hard, trying to get the last of the trees in the ground because the weekend weather is not looking flash.

I'm knackered.

But not too knackered to show off!  All the bare-rooted fruit trees are planted, mulched and staked - but not tied yet - no hurricanes tonight please.

All the poplar and willow poles are in.  Little soldier lines of stakes.  They are close, but we figure we will get a better shelter sooner - and hubby is itching to use the chainsaw in a few years time.

My tree-planting hero.  We are in sight of the finish line, with only about 100 trees to go.

We've already lost a couple to wild rabbits so I sprayed the remaining ones with our super duper rabbit repellent. 

5 eggs

150 mls acrylic white paint

(I actually don't think the rabbits will mind what colour you use)

600 mls of water

Mix well and spray over your seedlings with a fine setting.

Heavens! What was I thinking?!

Back when it was sunny and hot and I needed shade.

Back when planting season was a long way off.

Back when I was enthusiastic, keen, fired up.

Back then I ordered trees.  Lots and lots of trees.

100 Manuka

100 Kanuka

32 Wineberry

30 Totara

32 Blackwood

20 Wharangi

32 Norfolk Island Hibiscus

30 Weeping Bottlebrush

30 Cabbage Tree

32 Five finger

20 Whau

20 Copper Sheen Teatree

5 Pinoak

5 Liquid Amber

5 Silk Tree

(And we've already planted all the poplar and willow stakes)

Time to pay the piper. 

We won't be answering the phone today, we'll be too busy planting trees.

(Actually, we're taking it in turns.  One plants till they get tired, then they come in for a rest (which means supervising the kids), and the other one goes and plants.)

PS - someone asked me if the poplar and willow stakes had roots.  Nope, they are just sticks.  You keep them in water until it's time to plant and you just have to make sure you bang them into the ground the right way up ;)

Free is Good.

So I mentioned that things had happened while I was away, and that I'd tell you about them over a few posts.  One of them was more bunnies being born, check.  Another was my flax seeds that I'd given up on ever germinating. 

I sowed these when I picked them from their pods several months ago.  I dutifully watered them through the drought and then when nothing happened I started ignoring them.

My native plant propagation bible "The Propagation of New Zealand Native Plants" by Lawrie Metcalf, says that you should sow Phormium seed when fresh and germination usually occurs within about 4 weeks.  Hmmm.  Maybe it was the drought.  But anyhoo, now that the temperature has dropped, they've all popped their heads up.  Yay.  I love flax - it attracts the tui, grows well in damp ground and is hardy as all heck.

A mature flax (although they get a lot bigger) with immature flower stalks.

I also have more free trees.  These are transplanted Tagasaste (Tree Lucerne).  I found a little cluster growing (from seed from our shelter belt) in the bare clay where our shed extension is going to go.  I dug them up, separated them and potted them up.  And they all seem to have survived.  These trees prefer well drained soil and so don't do as well in Northland as they do in somewhere like Canterbury where I've seen them growing great guns.  But if you pick your spot right they do pretty well.  They are short lived (8-15 years), attract native birds, nitrogen fixers, flowering now (great for winter bee food), good stock fodder, good firewood and only grow to about 6 metres - very manageable.

Loquats (yummmmmmmy) and Manuka.  Loquats grown from seeds and the Manuka (bee food, firewood, fast shelter) potted up from seedlings growing in my Mother-in-Law's pot plant. (Yes, those are strawberry flowers in the background - not holding out much hope for berries in winter though).

Propagating isn't as hard as I thought - if you start with the easy ones anyway.  Give it a go and if you end up with more than you need, then give them away as gifts, donate them to a school, plant them on a boring roadside.....you'll think of something!

Plans for the Day.

These are willow and poplar stakes.  They turned up while I was away so they've been soaking in some water in our chillybin - there were too many for a bucket!  In fact, to be precise, there is 180 of them.  20 are for the neighbour (we combined our order to save freight) but that still leaves 160 to be planted.  Luckily they are pretty easy to plant - bang a metal pole into the ground first to make a hole, then push the plant pole into the hole.  Make sure it's firm and protect it from stock, then admire it in spring when it breaks out in leaves. 

It's sunny outside this morning so looks like a great day for some tree planting.

Hope you have a great Saturday too.