hidden treasure

If I had got around to posting a personal profile, I would have said this was going to be a gardening blog, and imagined it would have been full of serious gardening talk. Fortunately I haven't yet and the possibilities remain open for anything including gardening. I never thought I would have lovely photos although the whole garden looks lovely to me. But most people don't know my garden well enough to see that. There's always a lot going on if you know where to look which brings me to potatoes.

Good seed:Bad seed. Have another look. The row ahead has new seed potato. The rows to the left and right have old seed. Notice how the potato plants get smaller as the photo recedes. That's because the back of the glasshouse is colder because of all the glass that is missing to about the height of a sheep. At the right you can just see an old bed frame against the glass to keep the aforementioned sheep out. Well when the sheep are grazing in the paddock outside they spend a lot of time gazing in longingly. You may have thought they were satisfied with grass. Apparently not. I don't know if they cobble in the glass with their little hoofs or what but they break in and plunder. You might also think with all that broken glass they'd be schnitzel with a prank like that. Alas no. It's alot like one of those 60 second supermarket grabs; they run gobbling as they go.

If you look very closely you might see some stinging nettle. I've spent time weeding the glasshouse (after the photo) sorting the nettle into the bin for plant food later. The white plastic on the path is what we pull over the potatoes at night to protect from frosts. There's so much more to see when you know what you're looking at.

The other thing I would mention in that profile, when I do it, is that I live in a Christian Community that's a little farm with lots of houses and old hospital buildings. This week there's a crew in (MMM) putting a new kitchen in one of the houses, rewiring and insulating it too. We have turn about on morning and afternoon teas. Anzac biscuits tommorrow. We found the malt tin below in the roof of our old house. It must have come from the Wilson's Distillery at Willowbank down near the Dunedin Botanical Gardens. The previous owner was a keen home brewer. Now it's a biscuit tin. In a small house history has to earn its keep but tins get special dipensation. After all, they are always potentially useful even if not on active duty. Actually alot of things get special dispensation. It's like the garden. There's beauty if you know how to look.