The potter planner

Making words with lego

Hello again, friends. Where have I been for the past two months? Like most parents during lock-down, our kids started learning from home with study packs. Getting creative with lego and playdough, made it a little more interesting - but all things come to an end. They returned to school, a few weeks ago. I'd like to say, that's when I caught-up with my property projects. They've been heckling from the sidelines, to come finish them. But I needed some unstructured time to myself, first.

I still pottered around outside - in the kitchen-garden, mostly. Noting how slowly, seedlings were growing. Completely normal for winter, but in an attempt to avoid heat and pests (still clinging to the warmth) I planted later too. Summer seemed to be hanging onto Autumn, and Autumn hasn't quite relinquished to winter, fully yet. We've been having 25 C days, (77 F) with overnight temps, close to 10 C (50 F). So no substantial frosts yet. At least the pest load, has eased.

11 April 2020

Back in April, I was surprised to find my first Cucamelon, or Mouse Melon. It seemed to take forever, but was only planted  2 months earlier. After plucking the fruit, I found more tiny flowers emerging. They're so cute and surprisingly hardy. The skin of the ripe fruit, was a little tough to bight into, and was mostly seeds as there isn't much flesh. But it still tasted nice, with that fresh cucumber crunch.

The skin on future fruit, was less tough - which I attribute to less evaporation, helping the soil hold onto moisture longer. I haven't quite gotten a flood of fruit yet. Not enough to pickle! Nonetheless, I was happy to graduate to a handful, recently. My son has eaten them too, and likes them!

7 June 2020

I'll save seeds from this lot, in case my current plants don't make it through winter. I shouldn't have a problem, you just never know what the weather will bring. I'm content so far, with this miniature cucumber's performance in containers. It seems to grow a lot of fruit, for the small space it occupies.

The leaves haven't succumb to powdery mildew either, which is a problem I normally have with cucumbers, in our climate. So it appears to be an all-round, good performer for the kitchen garden. We'll see if it survives winter though, as we haven't experienced a frost yet. We don't normally, but it can happen. I'd rather plan for a back-up (ie: seeds) than just hope for the best. As nature can be unpredictable, like that.

Oh Brother, where art thou?

I dismantled my trusty Brother sewing machine, because the stitch selection knob, wasn't turning. I've had this beauty for some 20+ years, and even made my first quilt with it, back in 2017. I eventually located the problem with a plastic part. Even found the part number online. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a supplier for the part. Not even overseas.

Reluctant to throw it away, I have it stored in a box, hoping I can somehow find the very simple part, required. I still have a few calls to make, so fingers crossed. As a surprise, my family purchased a new machine for Mother's day! A simple one, that does the basics. I've never really had a need for fancy stitches, so I'm perfectly happy with it.

I think it's a torte?

As it is with every year, May is the birthday month for both our kids. A decade between them, but still a lot of cake to get through! Mum and dad, really try to help out of course. Our daughter chose a yummy torte from The Cheesecake Shop.

Considering it was still lock-down, we couldn't invite guests to a party. We considered ourselves lucky to even get the cake. As she seems to really love the tradition of selecting one, every birthday. We clean and reuse the plastic decoration, when it's required.

Homemade

A few weeks later, it was our son's turn. He requested Oreo's, so I bought a packet of mini ones. I also cleaned his Minecraft play-set, to use as decoration. This was enjoyed very much - as was, the first cake. Although by the end of May, we were completely over, eating cake! Even with four people, a slice a day, can take several days to get through. We had TWO cakes to eat, in May.

I will have to consult with the Stork, whose idea it was, to bring them both in May - it's doing nothing for my waistline, lol.

Flowering Vinca, in the Kitchen garden

Basically, my pottering has involved quite a lot of work though. What I mean by unstructured time to myself is, I don't plan anything. After the cake-a-thon, learning from home and eventually returning to school again, I avoid lists. We need time away from them too. Given I'm so driven though, I inevitably find myself doing work.

I've been chipping away at those property projects - planting more in the kitchen garden, building retaining walls, propagating cuttings, managing my indoors plants and even getting more of the chicken coop renovation, done. Yes life goes on, even if the world seems like a confusing place at times. But it helps to avoid a list of expectations, on occasion too.

Do you find there are times you just cannot hold yourself to a list, and float through the tasks, by osmosis? I'm looking forward to reading all my favourite blogs in my list again. Catching up with your thoughts and goings on, always makes me smile. I'm sure I've missed a lot! To the food growers, plant enthusiasts, critter carers, land managers and community luminaries, we've got a lot of work to accomplish for the rest of the year. By osmosis, or by list, we'll get through it.