Blog
Weekly tales from The Outpost.
Sweating with Pride: The fences project
We’re out sweating on the paddocks, clearing off the grass and gorse.
Magical mushrooms
Mushrooms are popping up all over our paddock, and we are enjoying the hunt!
Worm farming
A deep dive into all things worm farming.
Felted foodstuffs
Take some old toys, a new hobby, and a dash of creativity.
Lockdown week two: feeling down, gardening anyway
During the second week of lockdown, I’m feeling my anxiety creep back up. But I know being in my garden helps.
Growing fresh food from kitchen ingredients
Even if you can’t buy seeds, you can still grow a lot with common kitchen and supermarket ingredients.
Lockdown week one: giving thanks
A reflection on what I’m grateful for at the start of an unprecidented 4+ week nationwide lockdown.
Controlling garden pests without visiting a garden centre
So you’ve planted a pandemic garden – and now the snails are attacking! What can you do without leaving your house?
9 things to grow in a pandemic
In the middle of a pandemic, what can you grow to keep you and your family fed and healthy this winter?
Should I buy seeds, or seedlings?
When should you use seeds, and when can you get away with a few seedlings?
Sowing seeds for transplant
Need to get some seeds growing indoors in trays? Here’s some tips from my garden.
Pricking out seedlings
Between sowing seeds in trays, and transplanting them outdoors, they need pricking out. Find out what that means and how to do it.
Direct-sowing guide
Direct sowing is spreading seed in the place you want to grow it. This is the best way of getting good results for some crops. Find out which ones!
A proliferation of pineapples
Life really gave us pineapples this week.
Our first drought
Our lifestyle block is officially in the middle of a drought. So, how are we doing?
Learning to love my garden (again)
The garden is finally turning into something I’m happy with!
A trusted tool
When you own the equivalent of 5 city blocks, sometimes you can’t see what’s going on at the other end.
Leaving The Outpost
Leaving a farm is really hard, but we managed to get away for a couple of days this weekend, and I’m happy we did.
I love my worms
Our worms are probably the animal that pulls their weight best here at Orotere. They take my snotty tissues and coffee grounds, and turn them into black gold.
Lazarus lemons
I’ve owned this lemon tree since it was a tiny stick. I’ve not always treated it very well, but now it’s living its best life.
The ducks
A little introduction to our ducks, how we look after them, and what we plan to do with them.
What’s in the greenhouse?
A look at a few of the plants I’m growing in the greenhouse.

















