Author: Julie

I know who my parents are, their parents and their parents. That is just a drop in the ocean in terms of my ancestry. Around 15 years ago I went through a vigorous spate of piecing together my family tree through old family records. Looking for clues in a handwritten keep-sakes, faded names scribed...

If you know me well, that is one statement you would never have heard me mutter in my entire life. Until moving to the country. There are spiders  everywhere. I don’t like them. I cringe, I leap, I run away. Not all spiders mind you. Daddy Long Legs don’t bother me (they spin in...

You’ve heard the term ‘up at a sparrows fart’, well let me tell you, that didn’t come from thin air. While the mist lingers in the paddocks at first dawn, the sun is welcoming and the first light stretches across the meadow. The birds are alive and not just chattering amongst themselves, but heaving...

We made it! Seamlessly we packed up our life and transported it ‘down country’. Greeted by inquisitive neighbours of the four legged variety and busy birds on a mission, there’s a lot happening in our new backyard. Amongst the empty packing boxes and endless abandoned cups of half drunk tea, is one very, very...

Despite our earnest efforts to forge a self sufficient suburban lifestyle, we’re pushing the envelope further. We’re going rural. We’ve grown enough fruit and vegetables to feed not only our family, but occasionally our street during abundant seasons. We’ve fed our worm farm daily, made our own bread and have upcycled anything from a...

Well, it looks like no one is about to give me a free backyard make over any time soon…damn it, I’ll have to document my own damn good gardening project. Winter has come (and almost gone according to the calendar) and much of my spare time has been on DIY indoors. We have the...

I was fortunate to have nomadic parents who were not fazed by change nor challenge. My parents, both teachers, decided to live ‘The Good Life’ (a 1970’s British TV series for the uninitiated) living sustainable lives, living off the land. It was the mid 1970’s in NZ. As a family we moved from a...

Once upon a time in the early 1920’s, in a small New Zealand town near you, the uprising of the Self-Help ‘groceteria’ began. Unlike butchers, bakers and grocers of the 1910’s where personal service was everything, this ground breaking 1920’s initiative allowed customers to select items from shelves without assistance and pay significantly cheaper...

I found a hand-written poem. Blue, faded fountain ink in beautifully cursored lettering recounted a slice of life on parchment. Folded into perfect quarters tucked inside a 1940’s Whitcombe’s Modern Home Cookery & Electrical Guide, it was rediscovered. The book once belonged to a one Mrs Humphrey (as proudly scribed in pencil in the...

I can’t believe it! A 1929 Glaxo Baby Book literally fell out of my linen cupboard. It must have been wedged in the paneled walls for decades. Moth-eaten but otherwise readable it explains Scarlet Fever, Rickets and the benefits of Cod Liver Oil. Oh, haven’t we come a long way in medicine. In Wellington...

As we peel back the layers we wind back the hands of time (forgive me for sounding twee). Despite renovations in all directions, the toilet is staying put. End of story. With a loving make-over we celebrate our home’s first indoor loo. Before it was converted to a toilet in the 1950s, the small...

Our tramper’s hut is beginning to nicely take shape! Forever optimists, we are embracing the nakedness of sarking timber walls as the second day of deconstruction comes to an end. The peeling back of wall linings continues to uncover little secrets hidden for decades. Behind the hardboard, the old kitchen has classic tongue-and-groove paneling...

Our bungalow is about to get a whole bunch of loving, starting any minute now. Progress is taking hold! Today we were busy carefully deconstructing some late 1940s modernisations: lifting the last of the vinyl flooring to expose the matai beneath and removing false ceilings to reveal the original 9-10ft high panel ceilings with...

For all intents and purposes, a back door is just a back door, right? Not necessarily. We do giggle from beneath our woollen blankets. We don’t take anything for granted. This 1926 character of a bungalow whistles in the wind in winter. It doesn’t help that we decided to rip up the carpets (several...

It seems only fitting for a wonderful old 1926 bungalow to have a 1920’s themed garden. The front garden was important to homeowners of the 1920’s. Generally there were no front fences. If so, they were crimped wire fences (in a wide mesh format) attached to wooden posts and rails.  Low hedging would often...

I’m celebrating tonight, on a warm summer’s evening, with a glass of mighty fine New Zealand bubbles.  Why? I  have been accepted into the NZ Guild of Food Writers. The Food Writers Guild is a professional body of food journalists and others involved in writing about, presenting, illustrating and teaching about food and beverages...

While ripping off brittle linoleum to reveal matai floorboards we didn’t expect to find a time capsule! Literally, we’d rolled up two layers of carpet, an underlay and in the process of removing some very brittle linoleum, we stumbled upon a wonderful find. We expected dust, we expected threadbare carpet but we didn’t expect the...

I am so excited. We are a week away from moving into our new home. It oozes personality and has a sense that it’s been sprinkled with magic dust. What a wonderful place to call home. It’s funny isn’t it. Everyone has their own ideal home, or idea of home. To some it is...

For the past three months we have, voluntarily, for no political statement nor protest, for all good intents and purposes, become vegetarian.  Why, I hear you ask? The decision to go cold turkey (mind the pun) and do away with meat was a simple decision based on a realisation we were eating far too...

There is a lot of rain in my neck of the woods. While we don’t have to fight battles with snow as the Mainlanders do, and while frosts are unlikely, the rain has made the backyard sodden. First world problems! The garden is looking a bit ratty and bare. Much of the work this...

In a modest workshop nestled in the Karangahake Valley lay the works of Mike O’Donnell – sculptor, ecologist, spiritualist, activist and vessel maker. Known as the ‘water man’ his skilled hands create clay vessels to carry water around the globe asking the same question. “Do you remember?” It was quite an unexpected Sunday when...

The recession in Britain has seemingly put an end to the ‘greed is good’ culture. There’s a study just out this week in the Daily Mail reporting the shift in UK attitudes from wealth, to the importance of family, health and well-being. After all, “Life isn’t just about the money, honey” said someone famous,...

While I appreciate it’s not quite like throwing the slops into the street, the upcoming kerbside food waste collection trials seem to have opened a can of worms for me. Why? I’m glad you asked. As read in the NZHerald this week ‘Compost Food, Save Money‘, Auckland is about to undergo a trial. Within...