Firewood Squirreling

"Set your life on fire. Seek those who fan your flames."  Rumi

 

 

This weekend I started with the firewood collection.  Last year I bought a truck load of firewood, but as my backyard is a mess, it is stored at a friend's house.  So this is just one boot load of wood, might last a month, as the weather is still mostly warm.

 

 

But when stacked on the front porch, doesn't make much of a pile.  In the new garden design, the steps down to the back yard will have a big firewood shed underneath.

 

Boundary Rejunvenation Mk 1

Plant No. 1 in the 'Boundary Fights Back' wars.  This is a hebe, a lovely NZ native which will have white flowers in spring, and attract the bees.

 

 

When we were transporting it home from the garden centre, it fell over and a biggish branch broke off.  No matter!  Now we also have a whole lot of cuttings.  These might be donated to the bee enterprise for pollen gathering before the manuka starts flowering.

 

Hedge Hair cut

 Before

 

Imperfection is more perfect than perfection itself

Elizabeth Beaver

 

After

Boundary Devastation

Disaster or Opportunity?

 

 

The neighbours employed some tree choppers to 'trim' the boundary trees (mine) that hung over to their side, with very strict instructions to cut to the boundary line.  These used to be full and lush, an excellent wind block, and beautiful.

 

 

I am grieving, these trees were at least 50 years old, some 100.  The trees that survived are, well ...sparse trunks.

 

So...planting opportunity?  On my side of the boundary - some natives - hebes, lemonwood, plus fruit - feijoas, apple, tamarillo.  Lemons, for the lemonade I need to make?

Dirty feet

I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet.

Ghandi

 

 

Bunny Love Lessons

We have a bunny. Who lives in a bunny mansion, inside (called Fred, and a she, so slightly gender confused).  Now, for those that know bunnies, they are not the most responsive of animals.  Bunnies make no sounds, not purring, or squeaking, or whimpering, or growling.  So it is very hard to gauge their emotions.  With a cat, or a dog, you can usually be pretty certain what they are feeling, but not so, bunnies.

 

 

Our bunny spends her time sleeping or sitting, mostly.  Not a lot looks like it happening in her mind.  Very zen.  But sometimes she comes out of her mansion and then she will do a little ballerina dance, jumping in the air and sort of patting her feet together.  Totally joyfully abandoned.

 

 

But the thing that bunny loves THE MOST, is a cuddle.  A skirtch on the head is all good, but a full out cuddle - the best!  She sort of scrunches down and snuggles in, pressing against you. 

 

So...bunny life...just chilling, a little dance sometimes, and plenty of hugs.  Not a bad recipe for a good life, at all.

In Tune with Time

Gardens are a great way to reconnect with the seasons.  You watch the new shoots in spring, flourishing in summer, and gradual die back in autumn.  Nothing can be rushed, everything has its time, as old as the ages.

 

The other aspect of nature I reckon we have completely lost touch with, is time.  The rising and setting of sun, the natural diurnal rhythms. We have alarm clocks, and artificial light, and daylight saving, and 9-5 jobs regardless of the seasons or days.

 

So, when I went camping at Easter, one of the parts I really enjoy is the need to be in tune with the sun.  When it is dark, it's dark.  There is no more cooking, reading by torch light in your tent only goes so far.  Dark is for sleep, sun is for awake, as simple as that.

 

Sunrise behind the sand dunes

 

Sun coming up over the sea, magic!

 

As Easter is at the equinox, this means 12 hours dark.  Imagine! 12 hours to lie in bed and sleep!  Such a luxury in our age.  And to actually see the sunrise over the sea, and take the time to just watch it, total bliss.

 

Sunset over the campsite

Living Well and Bread

One of the things that I find the most satisfying and wholesome feeling, and that fills me with a sense that all is well with the world, is making bread.  I agree with Ms Fisher:

 

“Perhaps this war will make it simpler for us to go back to some of the old ways we knew before we came over to this land and made the Big Money. Perhaps, even, we will remember how to make good bread again.

It does not cost much. It is pleasant: one of those almost hypnotic businesses, like a dance from some ancient ceremony. It leaves you filled with peace, and the house filled with one of the world's sweetest smells. But it takes a lot of time. If you can find that, the rest is easy. And if you cannot rightly find it, make it, for probably there is no chiropractic treatment, no Yoga exercise, no hour of meditation in a music-throbbing chapel, that will leave you emptier of bad thoughts than this homely ceremony of making bread.”
― M.F.K. Fisher, How to Cook a Wolf

 

I've tried lots of ways over the years, had a bread maker going for a while (easy), did it the old-fashioned knead-for-10minutes (hard) way.  But now have discovered sour dough.  Absolutely delicious, but hardly any effort.  Although it does take a couple of days in duration, the actual time involved is just a couple of minutes off and on, throughout the time.

 

So here it is in pictures:

 

1. sourdough pre ferment, takes 2 minutes to mix, then sits for 8 hours

 

 

2. mixing the main dough, just roughly together, no perfection here.  Sits for an hour.

 

 

3. Then you get your wet hand in on the action and knead/fold it a bit - for those who have made bread the hard way, this is NOT kneading, just a little play.  Sits for a couple of hours.

 

 

 

 

4. I shape it and put it in a banneton, which is a fibre rising container.  Then I stick it in a supermarket bag and put it in the fridge overnight.

 

 

 

5. In the morning I turn the oven on first thing, tip the loaf out onto a baking sheet, and cook it for 35 minutes.  Fresh bread as I come out of the shower - so delicious.

 

 

 

 

And yes, it leaves you filled with peace, and empties you of bad thoughts.  Sour dough with homemade honey, even better!  I can't wait for sour dough and homemade scrambled eggs though.