Moments

Moments are where I pause and reflect. It’s a space that sits slightly outside the practical projects and how-tos.

It’s a kind of diary, really, filled with thoughts, reflections, inspirations, and the simple joys I find in everyday life.

As an antidote to the complexity of modern living, this section is about slowing down, noticing the details, and celebrating the kinds of things that don’t always make headlines but still matter to me.

From what I’m making and doing, to the people I meet and the impact they leave behind, the ideas I’m thinking about, and what I notice in the world around me. It might not always fit neatly into a category, but that’s part of the charm. I hope these glimpses into my world make you smile, spark a memory, or simply offer a moment of connection.

winter wood preparation

Firewood, Frosts, and the Quiet Joy of Preparation

These chilly overnight temperatures mean our log-burner continues to work hard at the centre of our old homestead, keeping the ... Read More
Back to the heart of Modern Homesteading

Back to the heart of Modern Homesteading

It’s been a little while since I last posted in this Moments section. And while the updates may have paused ... Read More
1918 Influenza in NZ - Realities of the time

1918 Influenza in NZ – Realities of the time

Level 4 lockdown: I’ve been immersed in the pages of my late grandmother’s handwritten memoirs and came across her recall ... Read More
August 2019

August 2019

With Spring just around the corner, I must say I will miss my wet Sunday afternoons. Best Cleaning Tip An ... Read More
Mr Pickles

Feast Waikato

If you are up for a great foodie weekend, be sure to pencil Feast Waikato in your calendar for next ... Read More
del and cindy

The ride of their lives: my crazy parents

I am very proud of ‘seniors’ that inspire a generation half their age – a reminder that life is for ... Read More
Our backyard wedding

Our rural backyard wedding

Last week my Englishman and I stopped weeding to wed. A moment in time to pause, reflect, celebrate the adventures ... Read More
About Blooming Time

About Blooming Time

It has seemed like a very wet old winter in the Waikato. On the upside – cozy nights in front ... Read More
male kiwifruit flower

What it takes to be a Kiwi(fruit)

I think we laugh more since we’ve moved rural. We may have gone slightly mad, and while that is up ... Read More
pruning tools

Winter Pruning & Wood Chips for the Smoker

Let’s prune a tree or two, she says. It’ll only take an hour or two, she says. Well. Ahem. Maybe ... Read More
double burner wood fire

Logs, kindling, fire

Yes it’s that time of year. The cold snap has indeed snapped in the Waikato to the tune of a ... Read More
My Ancestral DNA

My Ancestral DNA

I know who my parents are, their parents and their parents. That is just a drop in the ocean in ... Read More
One step, two steps, three steps more

One step, two steps, three steps more

On our road to self-sufficiency, recycling and upcycling go with the territory. A disused tree hut in the branches of ... Read More
Upcycling Nikau Palms: for art's sake

Upcycling Nikau Palms: for art’s sake

Our beautiful native Nikau palms are gorgeous.  While naturally their fronds fall onto the native forest floor adding to the ... Read More
Hedgerow diving for spiders

Never mind the spiders

If you know me well, that is one statement you would never have heard me mutter in my entire life ... Read More
Mynah in the bird box

A bird’s life

You’ve heard the term ‘up at a sparrows fart’, well let me tell you, that didn’t come from thin air ... Read More
Smell that country air

Smell that country air

We made it! Seamlessly we packed up our life and transported it ‘down country’. Greeted by inquisitive neighbours of the ... Read More
Rural Delivery: my road to self sufficiency

Rural Delivery: my road to self sufficiency

Despite our earnest efforts to forge a self sufficient suburban lifestyle, we’re pushing the envelope further. We’re going rural. We’ve ... Read More
Food Preserves

1939 Cooking Lessons: being resourceful

I’ve had more than a passing interesting the concept of ‘waste not, want not’, which was a saying my grandmother ... Read More
outdoor table

Tree Stump Table

While well underway on a self-decreed Backyard Makeover, I am rapidly rediscovering that best-laid plans of mice and men need ... Read More
My Damn Good Gardening Project

My Damn Good Gardening Project

Well, it looks like no one is about to give me a free backyard make over any time soon…damn it, ... Read More
Living on Kawau

My DNA

I was fortunate to have nomadic parents who were not fazed by change nor challenge. My parents, both teachers, decided ... Read More
Typical Self Help Store, NZ

Self Help Groceteria: NZ shopping 90 years ago

Once upon a time in the early 1920’s, in a small New Zealand town near you, the uprising of the ... Read More
We know you: Harold Edmond Humphrey

We know you: Harold Edmond Humphrey

I found a hand-written poem. Blue, faded fountain ink in beautifully cursored lettering recounted a slice of life on parchment ... Read More
Glaxo Baby Book c 1927

1929 Glaxo Baby Book

I can’t believe it! A 1929 Glaxo Baby Book literally fell out of my linen cupboard. It must have been ... Read More
pick me

Pick Me! My Community Vertical Vege Garden

Pick me! Pick me! I have been waiting weeks to introduce my vertical community fence garden to the world. Well, ... Read More
Blossoms, Bees and Blues

Blossoms, Bees and Blues

It’s madness I tell you. One minute I’m looking out my kitchen window and admiring the new season’s blossoms, next ... Read More
all taste no waste

All Taste, No Waste

The next time you contemplate throwing a stale loaf to the sparrows, scraping onion skins into the compost or discarding ... Read More
outdoor dunny

The coal store, the outhouse and the old copper

As we peel back the layers we wind back the hands of time (forgive me for sounding twee). Despite renovations ... Read More
Living in a Tramper's Hut: Deconstruction Continues

Living in a Tramper’s Hut: Deconstruction Continues

Our tramper’s hut is beginning to nicely take shape! Forever optimists, we are embracing the nakedness of sarking timber walls ... Read More
queen street 1947

1947: Auckland’s First Traffic Lights

Our bungalow is about to get a whole bunch of loving, starting any minute now. Progress is taking hold! Today ... Read More
What's behind the back door?

What’s behind the back door?

For all intents and purposes, a back door is just a back door, right? Not necessarily. We do giggle from ... Read More
Kalettes hybrid between Kale and Brussels Sprout

Introducing, the Kalettes —- ta daaaa

If you thought the Kalettes were a marching band from Dannevirke, think again…although you may soon have these beauties dancing ... Read More
#freefood

Waste not, want not: food salvage projects

One of the many sayings my grandmother crooned with a smile was ‘waste not, want not’. Surviving two world wars, ... Read More
1920s inspired garden

A nod and a wink to a 1920’s garden

It seems only fitting for a wonderful old 1926 bungalow to have a 1920’s themed garden. The front garden was ... Read More
whole nutmeg

New Zealand Food Writer, check.

I’m celebrating tonight, on a warm summer’s evening, with a glass of mighty fine New Zealand bubbles.  Why? I  have ... Read More
Auckland Star December 24, 1946

A fabulous find – just in time for Christmas, 1946!

While ripping off brittle linoleum to reveal matai floorboards we didn’t expect to find a time capsule! Literally, we’d rolled ... Read More
A place to call home

A place to call home

I am so excited. We are a week away from moving into our new home. It oozes personality and has ... Read More
Going vege

Going vege

For the past three months we have, voluntarily, for no political statement nor protest, for all good intents and purposes, ... Read More
mid winter nz harvest

A mid-winter harvest

There is a lot of rain in my neck of the woods. While we don’t have to fight battles with ... Read More
Mike O'Donnell, Tarariki Pottery

Know your bones and why the dance that way

In a modest workshop nestled in the Karangahake Valley lay the works of Mike O’Donnell – sculptor, ecologist, spiritualist, activist ... Read More
Life isn't all about the money, honey

Life isn’t all about the money, honey

The recession in Britain has seemingly put an end to the ‘greed is good’ culture. There’s a study just out ... Read More
food waste collection trial

My soapbox: kerbside food waste collection trials

While I appreciate it’s not quite like throwing the slops into the street, the upcoming kerbside food waste collection trials ... Read More
Potatoes: Our first ever harvest

Potatoes: Our first ever harvest

Talking about rediscovering the joys of digging your own spuds! Just 12 weeks ago it was just a concept – ... Read More
our first vege patch

From zero to gardening hero in 3 easy months

Our self-imposed challenge was to grow our own vegetables (from seed) successfully enough that we needn’t buy them at the ... Read More
stereogram

Buying an old Stereogram

Like an old classic car it pays to be pragmatic about buying something 50 years old and expecting it to ... Read More
kawau island vege garden

The challenge is set: home grown veges for a year!

Let’s get one thing straight. I have been personally responsible for killing every single household pot plant within a 10 ... Read More

 

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Scroll to top