Hi All,
A good day today. First visit, which was a chicken pre visit, was postponed till hopefully next Friday.
Next visit was to *Mary who has 4 children and is keen to get some growing knowledge to help feed her whanau. She was thrilled at what we were planting which has changed a little. I am still doing spinach, lettuce and silver beet but as we are moving into Spring I have added 2 different tomatoes and a courgette with stakes. Today I was able to give almost all from my own seedlings. This warmth and constant rain means things will grow like they’re on steroids…just look at your weeds! *Mary was tickled pink that we gave her the bokashi and the fridge bags too.
*Mary has taro growing and she explained how to harvest and cook. She showed me that she saves all the potato peelings and plants…(throws over the lawn) …so I suggested she plant them in some old tyres that were there. She’s also got another bed she salvaged from somewhere and I said I would find her some seedlings from my stash if she gets it filled with soil.
Next visit was Chloe, who is home schooling her son and has 2 younger ones. Recently moved there, she’s stoked at the size of the backyard and it lends itself perfectly to hens. She has scrounged bits of pallets, lots of cardboard and some chicken wire from the inorganic collections on the sides of roads and we talked about how she could fence off an area. She said her step Dad will be willing to help. Included in what she has found is a hen coop like ours, but in a sad state. I initially wondered if we let her repair that and save that money to go towards another home for hens, but actually it’s in such disrepair, I think we should just go ahead and get her a new one as planned.
Chloe has grown heaps of stuff in large water bottles cut down in prep for her move here and is very keen to learn anything. There was an empty veg bed there as well so if she gets that sorted I am happy to help her get seedlings in there from my stash as well. She will contact us, when the fencing is organised and we can get the new coop to her. Chloe already had a bokashi bin but wasn’t 100% on how to use it so I explained it to her and she’s keen to give it a go.
From here I went to Kim who has the tiniest patch of lawn I’ve ever seen. On her deck she has been growing lettuce, spinach and cauli, but the containers are pretty small and they will start to stress in the summer heat I am sure. We talked about the benefits of a raised bed over containers. A lovely couple, her partner is also very keen to get a garden in.
Rākau Tautoko 