Blog feed

The simple chronological feed of all the blog posts published on this site.

From the most recent to the oldest post, follow the entire journey.

An old WW1 photo featuring 6 men and captioned 'Rangiotu Camp F.B. Hughes'.

Albert (‘Snowie’) Charles Schaeffer (WW1 23/903)

Albert “Snowie” Charles Schaeffer served in World War 1, and returned home, broken.

Five mixed cattle look at the camera on a hilly paddock.

The price of beef

A frank look at what we do with our cows.

Common kitchen foods you can grow fresh food from

Growing food from kitchen scraps

You don’t need to buy seeds to start growing food. Your weekly grocery shop is full of ways to get your garden pumping.

A stainless steel bowl containing washed peanuts.

Poor peanut performance

Turns out, peanuts don’t much love being ignored for the entire growing season.

Swan plant against a blue sky.

The dangers of weeding

Gardening isn’t all butterflies and rainbows. And even when it is, that isn’t always a good thing.

Paprika fruit on a charcoal barbeque with smoke drifting over them.

Smoking paprika

A bumper paprika crop means it’s time to make one of my best decisions so far and smoke it.

A monarch butterfly perches in a blooming sunflower.

Snapshots

A few things that are happening, or will be happening.

A solitary red and yellow tulip blooms amongst spring bulb leaves.

Lifting the spring bulbs

It’s time to refresh and re-plant the spring bulbs.

View of the full garden with a loose rooster in front of it.

A real look at the garden

An honest look around my garden beds and how they are doing right now.

The Safe H2O truck backed up to our tank.

Cleaning the water tank with Safe H2O

When we noticed our tap water was acidic, we decided to get the tank cleaned. Here’s how it went.

Shadow of a man in a hat and a woman against rocks.

On grief

A poorly-timed accident sends me spinning.

A white Dragon Fruit flower in the sun.

More things I’ve been liking

Some things that have made 2025 bearable.

The 2025 garlic harvest laid out on a garden path immediately after puling it up.

Garlic harvest 2025

Results from my much-smaller 2025 garlic crop.

A black cow with a mostly-white face and black nose stands in a paddock of long green grass and looks towards the camera.

Spare cow

In the face of a mystery, we find ourselves examining our morals.

Actual garden, November 2025

Garden planning with GardenBox 3D

Creating a map of my garden using GardenBox 3D, and how I’m using it to plan my upcoming gardening adventures.

The planted māra kūmara with completed frame, and covered in bird net.

Māra kūmara

This year I’ve re-introduced kūmara into my garden.

Coconut lemon slice.

Coconut lemon slice (new and improved)

One of my Gran’s best recipes. Now tastier, lower in sugar, and higher in protein.

Outpost Buildings chicken coop and some chickens.

Outpost Buildings chicken coop review

We’ve had our Outpost Buildings chicken coop for 8 years. How has it held up?

Sage flowering between calendula and rosemary.

Companion planting

Does companion planting actually work? Why don’t the lists agree? The science behind which plants help each other, and which ones don’t.

Standing ponga logs in the bush.

Ponga paths

The next stage in the evolution of my wee garden.

A whiteboard garden plan.

Summer garden plans

The plans I’ve got for my garden over the summer of 2025-26.

A blonde gnome flashes what's below her blue robe in a weedy garden beside some rocks. Behind her is roughly a dozen eggs.

Gnome makeover

Time to give my gnomes a glow-up!