the radish trees come full circle

Let me tell you a story about the radishes that went to seed.

They turned into tall and pretty radish trees.

Then they turned into a mess.

 

I chopped them all down. And spent the next three days taking the 5 or 6 seeds out of each pod. The barrow of pods never got any smaller. There must be a better way.

We took all the pods off the plants.

We put the pods into the cooler. I got in with my new blue shoes and started to smoosh the pods hoping to release the seeds. A radish pod poked through my shoe and hurt my toe.

Nigel got his bare feet in the cooler and carried on where I left off.

We put the smooshed pods though the colander. Hoping to end up with seeds on the other end.

We ended up with more than we bargained for.

Blow Dryer to the rescue!

And we have seeds.

Lots of radish seeds.

the cats may be smarter than the humans

 The other day I was watching my cats eat their evening meal. When Mama Luna was done she started scratching all around her food dish. Apparently this is an instinct. In the wild the cat would cover its food to hide it and save it for later. I thought, Oh silly cat, she is trying to hide her food, doesn't she know there will be more food later. I feed her twice a day!

Then I thought, hmmm maybe I am the silly one. She is showing her little kittens how to survive if they are ever left on their own. She is passing on ancient cat wisdom from the beginning of cat time!

We humans seem to be the one creature on this earth who doesn't learn from our ancestors! With every new generation we start over, thinking we know it all. I mean there are people today that think vegetables somehow magically appear in the supermarket. All washed and ready to eat even!

Then yesterday we noticed Mama Luna was hissing at the two remaining kittens. Whats that about?

Google to the rescue!

Mama cats will "encourage" their kittens to live their own life when they are old enough. She will do this by hissing and nipping and kicking of course. She is basically saying," Look here child, I have taught you all you need to know. It is time for Mama to be her own cat again and time for you to  go out into the big wide world and fend for yourself." She knows they are ready for it even if they dont.

Bet some parents wish they could do this with their kids!

Cloud and Townsend would be impressed with cat boundaries.

the news from the garden 4

Brandywine and currant tomatoes. We have enjoyed one brandy wine so far, another is ripening in the green house. And we collect a small handful of currant tomatoes each day. Can you believe how cute they are?!  There are hundreds on the plant.

Quite a few Zucchini coming. Not overwhelming yet. The round ones are fun. Scallopinis! All the onions are harvested. Peas are almost done, it is getting a bit hot for them. Beans are just starting. Gherkins are coming along nicely. I will try to pickle some soon, unfortunately all my dill has died!

Marigolds are having a party in the garden. We started them from seed and they are doing great!

Stripey beetroot! Nigel found this somewhere. It says heirloom so we might let the rest go to seed and see if we can get some more of them.

This Yellow Sunsine Pumpkin was the size of a plum when we left for parachute. 10 days later and it is bigger than my head. It is the only on on the vine so far and we are not sure if we should leave it or cut it off and more will grow. Any pumpkin experts out there?

Eggplants are not happening. We had three lil ones on this plant before parachute. When we got home lil worms had made homes in them! So we cut them off to try again. Lots of flowers, but no eggplants yet.

the pallet party

 We went to a 21st party the other evening. Now, for the non new zealanders. A 21st is a kiwi tradition. It seems to be to fall somewhere in between the american high school graduation party and a wedding reception! It is celebrating the individuals entry into adulthood and is often a very formal affair. At least the ones I have been to. There is always lots of good food and speeches. The one we went to the other night was for Nigels 3rd cousin. Her grandparents own a wood recycling place and the party was held there. It was decorated all with old pallets! The walls, the table, the planters, the bar. Very cool idea! I was pallet inspired.