Cold and Wet

The last day of summer; predictably it was grey and wet, which is fine because it was decided by an unspoken but unanimous agreement that it was going to be a lazy day. We did work on a few projects but it was a good day for just being together and as we worked all weekend i think we needed it.

Scratching the surface.

WEEK 4.
This week I got to help carve the sign for Dragonfly Downs.
It started as a lump of wood but now it is becoming a work of art (made from a lump of wood).
I got to chisel away at the dragonfly.
I used a wooden hammer thingy (my mum says it is called a mallet).
I will post a picture of this when it is done.

How does your garden grow?

Just a quick update on what is actually growing here...

The three tomato plants that were given to us by our lovely shop landlord Jim have flourished.

Rhyannon named them Red, Orange & Green (see pic below).

We also planted a tomato out that grew in our compost heap (Rhyannon named this plant Pink).

We have got tomatoes fruiting now as well as figs, olives, plums, blackberries, beans and pumpkin.

Our potted herbs are going really well especially the chives, basil and parsley.

Unfortunately Bowie ate all the strawberries in the upside-down planter.

Hugo does most of the watering of the tomato plants and herbs so I took these photo on behalf of him.

Red, Orange & Green.

Potted Herbs & Beans.

A new friend for Bowie

Bowie & Ziggy Stardust say "Hi".

Ziggy is so cute!

Yummy Hay

Week Three

Today we got a new pony called Ziggy Stardust.
It was very hard to get Ziggy to come home with us.
It took an hour and fifteen minutes....But luckily Ziggy is here.
The good thing is that Ziggy and Bowie are already friends.
Ziggy is much smaller than Bowie, but he is fully grown.
He is so cute and fluffy.
My mum fell in love with him when she was driving past his paddock a little while ago.
She named him in her head and kept stopping to pat him and take photos of him.
Now me and my mum get to collect more poo for Dragonfly Downs.
Caleb thinks that it is a gross job (I just read his blog).
I think collecting horse poo is quite fun. You should try it one day.
It is good exercise and good for the garden too.
It is also better for the horse to get that stuff out then to keep it in.

Sisters, Poo and Stuff.

Week Three: My sister's job was to fill up this see-saw with pony poo until it was full.

I am very glad this was not my job. Unfortunately I did not get any photos of her doing it...
Just the finished product. It looks very pooey. What a great job for sisters.

We also got to wear our dragonfly down shirt, that we designed a few days ago.
This is the front of my t-shirt


















This is the back of my t-shirt --- >

The great day of planning!!!!

Today I did planning: Lots and lots of magnificent planning.

Today I planned with my best friends Mr.Scissors and Mrs.Pencil and the color paper kids. It was a huge celebration when Queen grid paper arrived!

Today's festivities included lot of scribbling, writing, cutting and coloring.

P.S. Sitting down relaxing was also an important part of today's amusements.

We used grid paper and a colour key to position different parts of the garden. We had to think about the size that plants would become and how big paths needed to be.

Lost & found

We went for a bush walk on our property and found lots of interesting things for the garden.
Fallen branches from a recent storm (only ones from along the path), bits of wood, metal, broken crockery, machinery parts and tyres.
We brain-stormed different ways to incorporate these into our garden :

• As garden edging
• Mosaic pillars
• Garden arch
• Raised beds
• Statues & Sculptures
• Sun-dial
• Plant supports & frames
• Minor fencing
• Things for Fairies to play on!

The Compost Bin of Best

We made our compost bin out of pea-straw bales.

The Compost Bin of Best (or as I like to call it C.BOB) is close to the house. We have a small bucket inside our house and when it is full we place all the stuff in the bucket into C.BOB.

The things we put into C.BOB are weeds, scraps of food (not meat), organic waste, small amounts of paper and hair, fluff and stuff.

Our 1st Day

Today we started our new family kitchen garden. This is our journal of our efforts!

A few days ago we chose a spot right next to the kitchen, which meant Molly & Jet (our dogs) had to move out of their area. As a side project we will be constructing a new dog run for them (but more of that later).
We left Bowie in the yard  to eat down the grass and add some horse poo (well, pony poo really)!!!

Today we:

• Elected members for each job                                                                                       
• Photographed the areas around the house
• Measured the garden
• Measured the dog yard & calculated materials required
• Named our garden ...."Dragonfly Downs"
• Cleaned out rubbish
• Collected Horse Poo
• Weeded (wow there were so many!)
• Sourced materials
• Drew a garden design
• Started a garden budget
• Purchased some plants
• Started an online blog (& managed to change the date & time)

Blackberry Picking

Today we did blackberry picking at Bee Flats, which is part of our property.
We had to wear gum boots and gloves and we also brought a basket.
I almost collected forty berries.
It was a lot of fun.

I can't wait until the red and green berries turn black.
This is me and my brother Hugo picking the ripe berries.

Monster Weeds

Today I, Caleb Sebastian III; foreman of this realm, declared that all weeds in the land of Dragonfly Downs should be exiled henceforth and any resistance would be met with forceful removal by means of a deftly wielded axe. Begone noxious pest! Leave these lands forever and burn in the fires of purification.
Any weeds who attempt to grow within these boundaries will do so under pain of death by herbicide.

Our Rammed Earth House.

We didn't build it, but we love to live in it!

Tiny Pony: Heaps of Poo

Another thing we did today was collect horse poo.
It is not very stinky, but for one little pony there is lots and lots of poo.

We collected poo from the Bee Flats and Bowie Boundary section of our property.
So far we have collected three wheel barrows full and put it into Dragonfly Downs our kitchen garden.