Can’t wait until the full movie is released…
Easter 2016 at Little Duna
Wow!! It is Easter already!! Been a long time since my last post and so much has happened…
(why do I always seems to be starting my blogs by apologising for not having updated the blogs??)
So here is a quick catch up since I last blogged up here… We have been to Little Duna heaps, it was hot over summer, we moved the camp closer to the shed, it was hot over summer, we visited the Violet Town Market twice, put a solar panel on the shed to provide lights inside and power for the water pump, it was hot over summer, the generator broke down again, had a lot of rain and beautiful sunsets in the lead up to Xmas, we fixed the generator which was lucky because we needed the air conditioning with it being so hot over summer…. phew!
Right, so now you are all caught upand it is time for Easter. This year we were lucky to be joined by our friends and family with 25 people camping with us over the long weekend. I’ll try to list them all by name in no particular order… there was Craig (me), Fiona, Zac, Tara, Jess, Kate, Paul, Matty, Emma, Clare, Stuart, Bridget, Tom, Rosie, Louise, Ben, Natasha, Oscar, Lucas, Paul (another one!), Mel, Scarlet, Ethan, Paris and Sienna!! What a troop!
It was fantastic and the entire place had a buzz to it. Everywhere you looked there were children riding bikes, siting in swings, playing table tennis in the shed or just milling around. This was why we bought Little Duna, to share the experience with friends and family. Was an awesome weekend although I feel I never sat for more than a minute as there was always so much to do! I always wanted to be a Park Ranger and now I was in a park of my own LOL. Of course emptying the toilets filled by 25 bums was a shit job, believe me!!
Anyway, rather than write about the weekend i thought I would just share a lot of photos as they say a picture says a million words, but before I do I must show this video of our project for the weekend, which I am very proud of. An instant on gas fired hot water outdoor shower! Turned out fantastic and was very popular with so many dirty bodies. Have a look…
And here is our weekend in photos. Enjoy 🙂
Quad bike captured by Ethan
Easter Egg Hunt
Easter Egg Hunt
Easter Egg Hunt
Easter Egg Hunt
Outdoor Shower
Outdoor shower at night
Loving the new shower
Fire!
Zac hard at work. I though he was keen to head home early??
Craig helping Oscar fix things around the block
Happy Kids who just found a tonne of Easter eggs
Easter Egg Hunt
Easter Egg Hunt
The kids
Zac and Matty in the swags
Last night camping
Off to hide the eggs
Fun on the Quad Bike with Fiona, Tara, Jess and Emma
Oscar, Jess, Emma and Tara
Ethan thought the shower was pretty good
Oscar, Lou and Lucas
Ethan learning to ride
Peace
Yum
Lucas
Oscar
Rosie
Walking to town
Paris and Melissa
Oscar Lou and Lucas
Marshmellows…YUM!
Just Lovin’ it
Oi you two get a room!
The dining room
So we came up here for a holiday and Craig puts us to work. What the?
Cuddles with Mum
Lou, Ben and Lucas
Ben and Oscar
Tom helping Dad set the tent up
Table tennis championship
Lucas
Oscar
Matty and Ruby
Terrible triplets
Building a shower
Matty was so keen to head home
tents going up
Lou and Ben’s House
Lucas
Lucas
These swags won’t set themselves up you know
The girls house
Oscar
Oscar
Oscar
Oscar
Lucas
Table Tennis Championship
Table Tennis Championship
Tom helping Dad set the tent up
Tom helping Dad set the tent up
Tom helping Dad set the tent up
Oscar
Rosie
Exploring
The dining room
The dining room
The dining room
The dining room
Louise, Ben and Lucas
Louise, Ben and Lucas
Louise, Ben and Lucas
Stuart
Bridget and Rosie
What’s that?
Rosie
Rosie
Rosie
Louise and Lucas
The building begins
The building begins
The building begins
The building begins
Digging holes
Digging holes
Yep, looks deep enough to me
The building begins
The building begins
The Dining room
The Dining room
The Dining room
Just chillin’
Marshmellows…YUM!
Marshmellows…YUM!
Marshmellows…YUM!
Fire!
Kate surveying the handywork
They thought this was good until I pointed out I used this to cover the toilet hole!!!!
Camp
Oh I got muscles…
This side too!
Swing
Paris and Scarlet
The public toilets
Rosie
walking to town
walking to town
walking to town
Rosie
Rosie
Rosie
Oscar
walking to town
walking to town
walking to town
Found a rabbit trap
Happy Birthday Tara and Jess
Happy Birthday Tara and Jess
Happy Birthday Tara and Jess
Happy Birthday Tara and Jess
Happy Birthday Tara and Jess
Rosie just tried the shower
Sunday was not only Easter, but Tara and Jess’s 10th Birthday. Happy Birthday girls and hope you like the karaoke machine!!
Sunday afternoon Fi took the girls back home to see Matilda for their birthday.
Happy Birthday Tara and Jess
Until next time I’ll leave you with this beautiful sunset over the Little Duna Dam.
Sunset over Little
Categories: Adventures
Tags: Easter, Little Duna, Paris, Park Ranger, Violet Town Markets
3 Comments
Flyboarding
Ok, so granted we are 1 year on from my 40th, but I was lucky enough last year to be given a Flyboarding experience from the Stiles, Magner’s and Waldron’s. Problem last year was I went and got my tattoo over summer (Yes I have one… shock horror and all that but now that the whole world knows…. let’s move on!) and that meant I couldn’t swim until about Easter, then it got cold, then it was winter and well… somehow it was a year later when as the weather started to warm up I realised that I had better get it booked in before it expired!!
So last Sunday, we made our way down to Port Melbourne where I got to have a lot of fun pretending to be ironman as the family watched on.
Company was Go Flyboard (http://www.goflyboard.com.au/) and below is the footage they took from a drone buzzing around me. (I had no idea the drone was even there!!!)
Awesome fun and if you get the chance you should all add it to your bucket list. Wasn’t as hard as it looks and the company said the oldest person that has had a go was a 75 year old lady!!! If she could do it so could you!!
Thanks for an awesome experience.
Boy’s weekend at Little Duna
I can’t believe how long it has been since I was last up at Little Duna!! Somehow months had gone by with the last visit being the end of May, so I was a little nervous as Stu and I rolled up the driveway last Friday night… what would we find? Would the Shed be ok, would the doors still be shut? Are the caravan’s still there? Had a tree fallen on them? Had the place flooded???
So much could have gone wrong in the months since I was last up there….. luckily everything was exactly as I had left it 🙂 Just a little more leaf little around the paths and man was it green!
Anyway, as you will have guessed this weekend was a boys trip to Violet Town. Due to some poor planning… unfortunately Paul was only able to join us for Saturday night, but Stu and I managed to make the most of what was an awesome weekend to be outside.
We arrived about 9:30pm and quickly setup the camp and got a roaring fire going. Was a little cold, but soon enough we had settled in for a few cans.
Next morning we woke to the birds singing and the sun shining. Wasn’t hot, but wasn’t exactly cold either!! We setup the pergola and cooked up a feast of bacon, eggs and sausages on the BBQ.
After breakfast, I informed Stu we had a little housekeeping to do before we could just “chill out”. First job was to fix the quad bike!
If you can remember back to Easter, I had spent some time fixing the missing bolts on the wheels only to have the suspension snap again. Luckily Paul (Kate’s boyfriend, not Paul who was at this stage late to a boys trip…) had offered to have a go at welding it back together. The job he did fixing it was sensational and it came up better than new!!
Still took Stu and I a good hour or so to change it over. Once done, it was time to ride… I jumped on, turned the key and pressed the electric start and….. nothing!
Hmm… must be a wire I said. Was while I was checking for loose wires I realised that I had left it in gear to prevent the kids from being able to accidentally start it…. feeling a little foolish, I slipped it into Neutral and wirr, wirr, wirr… over the engine turned…. wirr, wirr, wirr, wirr, wirr, wirr, wirr, wirr, wirr, wirr, wirr…
Hmm… still won’t start…. again feeling a little foolish, I checked to make sure the bike had petrol…. yep, sure enough, bone dry. I filled the tank and tried again…wirr, wirr, wirr… over the engine turned…. wirr, wirr, wirr, wirr, wirr, wirr, wirr, wirr, wirr, wirr, wirr…
Seriously?? This was getting tiresome!!!
Was at that stage I remembered that I had also turned the fuel tap off to prevent the kids accidentally starting the bike…. hate it when I do the right thing!!! I flipped the tap to on and wirr, wirr, wirr… over the engine turned…. wirr, wirr, wirr, wirr, wirr, wirr, wirr, wirr, wirr, wirr, wirr…VROOOOOOM!!! The engine roared into life!!!
Next job was to test the suspension for strength, so I did that the only way I know how, tearing off down Little Duna lane (AKA the driveway) as fast as I could. I bounced and rumbled my way down to the gate, swung the bike around and flew back up the lane to where Stu was standing by the shed “All good” I grinned, now time for the next job.
Job number two was to plant a fig tree that Aunty Pam had donated. I was under strict instructions from Dad to plant it over near the front dam, somewhere it would get water, but not too moist. We loaded the tree, the auger and a shovel into the trailer and I drove down in the pathy as Stu zoomed around the block on the newly fixed quad bike.
Found a good spot in some not too hard to dig ground, sank a quick sat with the auger, refilled it with some rich soil and planted the fig.
Was as I was putting the tree in the ground that I realised we had no way to water it, so I asked Stu if he could race back to the van to get my 10L jerry can. He raced away and I had just finished planting when I heard the quad bike heading back. He was just passing the shed, so I knew he wouldn’t be long and sat down on the edge of the trailer to wait…. and wait…… and wait!!!
After a few minuted I turned around and burst into laughter as I could see Stu filling the jerry can from the water tank!! I had great pleasure in pointing out the dam full of water right next to us when he finally arrived!!! See I wasn’t the only one not thinking straight that day!
We gave the freshly planted fig tree a good drink before heading back to camp. Stu took off on the quad bike (I think he was enjoying himself) as I slowly drove off the little mound of dirt to do a u-turn… unfortunatly I couldn’t see what can only be described as a pond hidden beneath the grass until it was too late. By the time I added power to the wheels I was stuck!
Even when I shifted into 4-Low, the car and trailer wouldn’t budge 🙁 Luckily I was able to reverse just enough to give me the run up to power out of it, but as I arrived back in camp, the car and trailer had a good spray of mud!
Last job for the day was wood cutting, including the tree that had fallen and nearly taken out the van back in May. Having the chainsaws we made light work of it and even managed to find a nice red gum hollow log that would make a good chimney for that nights fire.
Well that was our must do jobs done, so we settled down around the fire for a coffee to wait for Paul who we figured must be getting close… was about 3pm by now.
After a cuppa with Paul still not in sight, Stu and I decided it was about time to shoot some bullets, and spent the next 2 hours and about 200 rounds. We modified the targets a little as we went, and increased the distance and angle to make it a little more challenging. By the end we were master marksmen (well in our heads anyway!!).
Out of rounds, we gave the .22 a clean and put it away, and it was about 10 minutes later as we were discussing dropping the yabby net into the dam overnight that Paul finally arrived, right on dusk. Paul had come the back way up through Yea and learnt (as I have before) that the single lane highway (with trucks) and winding roads does not make it a faster trip!!
Anyway, we raced over to the second damn with a raw beef sausage as bait and dropped the yabby net in the water, tying it securely to a nearby tree. Meanwhile behind us a magnificent sunset was unfolding . The following photo I name “Sunset at Lake Little Duna” (can say that this time of year, in Summer it would be “Sunset at Little Duna muddy puddle!!).
A breath taking scenery and Paul managed to get a similar photo from a different angle that I also liked and so stole it off Facebook to post up here…
Next stop now Paul had joined us was the Violet Town Pub for a counter meal and a few beers. We also realised we had better call home before our families forgot who we were. I was sitting out the front chatting when I saw a dog that kept jumping up in the window. Obviously his master was inside having a drink and he was keeping a close eye on him!! Only in the country!!
Back at camp, we did what boys do when camping and built a roaring fire using the hollow red gum log as a chimney…
With the fire climbing high, we danced around it like drunken cavemen until the early hours of the morning… or at least I’m sure that’s how wives envisage the night and why spoil it for them!!
Unfortnatly, Paul due to his poor planning had to hit the road at 8am the next morning, and all Stu and I could muster was a grunt from our beds as he left. We woke at a more civilised time and cooked our breakfast. Had to finish off the bacon and without Paul there we had a big plate of yummy heart stopping bacon with a couple of little eggs and a sausage on the side.
We ade sure to take a picture and send it to Paul so he understood just what he was missing out on!!!
Now as I was starting to cook, Stu jumped on the quad bike and went to check the yabby net. I wasn’t there but Stu claimed that as he pulled it in, there was a small gabby clinging to the side, but it jumped off and disappeared under the water with a flick of its tail… at least that means there are some in there 🙂
Stu reset the trap, but unfortunately a later attempt to retrieve the trap ended up with a broken string… will have to wait until summer and see if we can reclaim the yabby net.
All in all it was a great weekend, and I was a little sad as we packed up to come home. I really enjoyed getting away after not being up there for so long… I think another trip may need to be planned in the near future 😉
Until then keep an eye out and I’ll give you a Gardening Challenge update soon… been a few developments on that front!!
All plants safely in the ground
We are away with our third and final contestants, Team Tara completing their shopping and planting this morning.
Team Tara took a different direction from the others planting a couple of Strawberries down the front, the first team to plant a fruit 🙂 They also have a couple of rows of snow peas along the back.
Now you might be wondering why they have so much vacant ground, but Team Tara have also planted a secret…
Shh… They have carrot seeds in the ground!
Another sneaky tactic taken by Team Tara. They were also very frugal with their spend, and Team Tara still have $5 in the kitty and a lot of carrot seeds that they can continue to plant all year round! Smart move girls 🙂
So that’s it, all teams are underway in what is shaping up to be a very exciting competition… who’s crop will land first? Will our teams stay interested? Will the plants die as the soil goes dry? Will the snails break in and have a feast?
Stay tuned to see what happens in The Great Garden Challenge!
PS – photo above was taken as a panorama, which is really hard when you are walking, so sorry if the garden beds look a little skew-if!!!
Our second team has planted
Second garden planted with Team Zac spending an afternoon outdoors. Having checked what Team Jess planted this morning, they have opted for a range of different vegetables to try to differentiate themselves from the competition.
Grandpa loaned Zac some bamboo stakes and a wire mesh at the back of their garden, planting peas along the back row. They also opted for turnips and cauliflower in the next two rows of their garden.
Now you may wonder why they only have three types of plants while Team Jess easily managed to plant four… well Team Zac have a secret…
*whispering* “Keep this between us, but they have also planted potatoes as their covert underground vegetable.”
A fantastic and very sneaky strategy by the boys!!
Already the dogs are becoming an issue, as they had barely finished planting when they took me out the back to show me and we found large foot prints through their garden!!! I suspect Ruby was trying to discover their secret… may have to do something about that before too long!!
Anyway, that is two out of three now planted and the competition is well underway. Team Tara is next, knowing this is a marathon and not a sprint their slow and steady approach has now given them a great opportunity to “know your competition” before they decide what to plant. I can’t wait to see what they do!!
Check back again on Monday, by which time all three teams will be planted and the waiting and watering game will begin.
Team Jess take the lead…
Well we are away with the first of the vegetable gardens purchased and planted.
Team Jess were the first out the gate, opting for the tactical advantage of being first to the shops and the freedom to choose anything they want to plant.
Unfortunately they were so keen to get planting that they had finished before we returned from getting a haircut, so I wasn’t able to take any action shots.
Oh well… they have their garden planted with Carrots, Parsley, Lettuce and Snow Peas, and have opted for seedlings to get themselves started.
A wise use of their budget with the total spent coming to $18.35, however they wisely chose to purchase some dog safe snail pellets which I have refunded for $4 as I think we may as well share them across the teams.
So Team Jess is away with a budget of $5.65 remaining. Well done team 🙂
Team Zac is next this afternoon, so I’ll try to get some photos of their progress to share. More to come later today.
The Garden Challenge – Time to come clean
Well I hope you have enjoyed reading about my cunning scheme to get my kids to grow vegetables… I would love to say everything is going to plan, but the truth is…. I’m making this up as I go!!!
So, last night I decided it was time to come clean to the poor Grandparents that had been roped into this challenge with no idea what it was, what they had signed up for or a little pre-warning that they were being volunteered. So I wrote an email to Grandpa (Laurie), Granny (Vicki) and Nana (Maz). Here is what I sent to Granny Vicki (the others were the same just with the names changed):
Hi Vicki,
Thanks for agreeing last night to be on Jess’s team and a part of our vegetable garden challenge.
You are probably a little confused and wondering just what you have signed up for, so I thought I would send you and email with a little more details.
So, this all started on Sunday when I came home with 3 vegetable garden kits and set Zac, Tara and Jess to work in the backyard assembling them. I gave them my drill and said work as a team to put them together.
Things started badly as you would expect, however before long they read the instructions and started to work together. Sure enough before long they had assembled the gardens. While I would love to say they filled them with the dirt as well, we were running out of time, so I had to chip in and help to fill them with lovely 3-way soil… I’m still sore and will be paying for days to come!!!
You can see a photo of the result attached. Zac’s Garden is on the left in front of his window, Jess’s on the right in front of hers and Tara’s in the middle.
So, yesterday when I came home from work, the kids all found an envelope on the bench with the attached letter and a $20 note. The result was your phone call last night asking for help. I listened to all 3 calls but I think some were a little clearer than others!!! Attached is the letter they received so you can read the instructions to.
Anyway, you are now on team Jess and your role is to mentor and guide Jess in developing and growing her garden. As I mentioned, she has a budget of $20, but if she needs more she can be encouraged to do jobs to earn more by discussing with Mum and Dad. Of course if you want to contribute that is up to you.
Also, there is no limit on how much time you can spend working on your garden with Jess, feel free to reach out anytime to get an update, or drop by to see how it is progressing and make sure they are watering and weeding. There are no real rules around the challenge, but remember this is Jess’s challenge and the prize… well see below…
So, why am I doing this?
Well, for one this started as a way of encouraging the kids to get off the electronics and interested in something outdoors. Who knows maybe they will develop a green thumb and find an interest in gardening??
Why are you now involved? Well, let’s face it you are way more experienced at gardening than I am. Also if I told them to do it they would see it as a chore. My hope is that by roping you in they will see it as fun, and hey a little emotional blackmail might help to keep them keen as I know they would hate to let you down. Also, it is a great way of developing an interest that they can share and discuss with you.
So what’s the prize??? Lots of yummy fruit and veg for our dinner tables and a money can’t buy experience that they will remember forever (just don’t tell them yet…)
Thanks again for agreeing to be involved and good luck with your planting. I can’t wait to see the results.
Cheers
Craig.
So that’s it, I came clean… The challenge is still on and given I’m making this whole thing up as I go, I’m sure we can invent some prizes along the way, ie: First to sprout, biggest vegetable, first crop to be eaten etc etc
In chatting with Grandpa last night, he suggested I Blog it so that we have a record and others can share in the journey, so that is the reason for the last 3 posts. I’ll do my best to document the progress up here, and I’m sure we will have lots of photos to post as well.
Hope you enjoy following our Vegetable Garden Challenge and are excited as I am to see what Team Tara, Team Jess and Team Zac grow 🙂
PS – would love to here your thoughts about the challenge or ideas the kids should try… add your comments below.
Categories: The Garden Challenge
Tags: Granny Vicki, Team Tara, Team Zac, Vegetable Garden Challenge
1 Comment
The Garden Challenge – My Scheme starts to grow
On Monday at work in between moaning and groaning about the pain I was feeling from shovelling dirt (beginning to sounds like 3 children asked to put garden beds together!!!) the next part of my scheme began to sprout. I knew I needed help in growing successful gardens or the kids would very soon lose interest and that would defeat the entire purpose of this challenge.
What to grow? How to grow it? How to give the kids enough room to own their garden while giving them all an equal amount of support??? If only I had a way to tap into more experienced gardeners…..
Ahaaa…. an idea began to form…
Later that night, as I arrived at home, I dropped three envelopes on the bench. One for Zac, One for Tara and One for Jess.
I called all three to the bench and watched as they opened their envelopes and began to read…. below is an example of what Zac received (they were all the same, just the names were changed)…
Dear Zac,
Congratulations on the completion of the stage one to earning a green thumb, the team event with your sisters to assemble a vegetable garden. While it was a slow start, you all came together in the end and worked well as a team to achieve and complete the challenge.
Well, that was the easy part and now it is time for stage two. Design and grow a sustainable vegetable garden. In this stage, you will be competing against your sisters to see who can create and nurture the best vegetable garden, and who will have the best crop of farm fresh vegetables.
This may sound like a daunting task, but the good news is you don’t have to do this alone as you are lucky enough to have access to some very wise gardeners who you can recruit onto your team. Your Grandparents, Grandpa Laurie, Granny Vicki and Nana, are all very experienced and would know what to do to help and advise you, but remember this is your challenge! So…
- Discuss with your sisters and agree which Grandparent will be on your team.
- Call your grandparent tonight, explain the challenge and ask them if they would be on your team and help develop your garden.
- Attached to this letter is $20. This Is not for lollies, chocolate or computer games. This is your budget for buying seeds or plants. If you need more money you will have to figure out how to earn it.
- Agree a time with your chosen Grandparent and ask them to take you out to buy your plants or seeds and to plant them into your garden.
- You must take a selfie of you and your grandparent that Dad will put on your vegetable garden to identify your garden.
- Water and watch your garden grow with pride.
While you can ask Mum or I for help, this is your challenge and it is up to you, and your success will depend on how much effort you are prepared to put into it.
Good Luck and I can’t wait to see what you can achieve,
Dad.
Was fascinating to watch their expressions, beginning with confusion, moving to excitement as they found the $20 and disappointment as they realised what it was for, then excitement again as they reached the end of the letter…. they then all calmly and very maturely discussed who would be on whose team….
….yea right!!! A fight broke out and I had to intervene explaining that a discussion does not mean you keep repeating the same thing over and over, just getting louder if someone says something you don’t agree with!!! Wasn’t even about who, but simply that it wasn’t being discussed and agreed on by everyone!!
Anyway, I helped them come to a mutual agreement and everyone was very happy with their chosen Grandparent. Then the phone calls started…
Tara was first ringing Nana (Maz) who agreed to be on her team, and they set a date for next Monday to go and buy seeds together. Tara was very excited because as she pointed out Nana has some very big vegetable gardens in her backyard, so she must be the most experienced!!
Zac went next, calling Grandpa (Laurie) and again Grandpa agreed to be on Team Zac. Surprising but there is a bit of competition brewing here with Zac very insistent that they just had to win the challenge!! Zac and Grandpa agreed to go shopping on Saturday afternoon.
Two down and one to go, Jess rang Granny (Vicki), but unfortunately Granny wasn’t around! We tried a few times with no luck and Jess was starting to look a little apprehensive… luckily we waited until after dinner and Jess was able to catch Granny on FaceTime. Granny agreed to join Team Jess, and they agreed to head out on Saturday morning, so they could spend the afternoon planting. Jess’s face was absolutely beaming when she got off the call.
3 for 3, my scheme was really starting to grow 🙂
The Garden Challenge
Last Sunday morning, I awoke full of energy (that’s a lie) and a burning desire (another Lie) to do something different. Actually I was just looking for a quick project for a Sunday morning, but what has evolved has turned into something a little bigger…
For sometime I had been toying with the idea of a Vegetable Garden and was keen to somehow get the kids involved. So, after breakfast on my way back from getting my morning coffee, I made a slight detour and dropped by Bunnings to see what they had in the way of raised garden beds.
There weren’t a lot of options, but I did find a simple wooden raised garden bed that was fairly easy to put together and on sale, so in a moment of crazyness I made the decision to invest in three beds so the kids could have one each.
As I made my way home an idea started to form…. I could get the kids to build them as a way of getting them interested. I’ll then create a challenge where by the kids can have a garden bed each that they can choose what to grow… a scheme was starting to form…
Anyway, amongst moaning and groaning I managed to drag the kids away from their electronics by telling them they all had 5 minutes to get dressed appropriately and join me in the back yard… meanwhile I used that time to cut the slightly longer than it should have been grass at the back of the house as short as possible.
As the kids joined me, I handed my electric drill to Zac, pointed to the garden bed kits and said “I want you to work as a team to assemble three garden beds…. Go!” as I stood back with an evil grin on my face.
There was a lot of confusion and grumbling from all three kids before they finally decided to read the instructions and work together. Jess did most of the reading and directing, Tara did the heavy lifting bringing each piece to Zac who using the drill screwed the boards together. Never heard anyone complain so much with each screw… “Ooo…ahhh… my knees…”
“Yes son, it is called bending them and they are sore because you don’t need to do that often when sitting at the computer….” came the response from the evil smiling guy of to the side!
Wasn’t overly complex, but for kids that have never done anything like that it was a real challenge.
I had some weed mat left over from an earlier project, so spread it over the grass and positioned the three new vegetable gardens at the back of the north side of the house where they would get the most sunshine. We rang the local Garden Supplies and ordered 2m of 3-way soil, a mix of 2 different soils and manure. It took a little while for the soil to arrive, but once it did it was all hands on deck as we barrow’d the soil from the driveway around to the back. We were supposed to be at a party that afternoon, but it was looking like we would be late!!
Tara and Jess used their little barrow with Tara filling it and Jess pushing it while I filled my wheel barrow. Zac was tasked with moving the dirt from the front of the garden beds where we tipped the soil to the back, and before long we had recruited Mum into the mix as we were filling and dumping faster than Zac could move it!!
Thankfully the neighbour Brian poked his head over the fence to see what the commotion was and seeing me exhausted and dripping with sweat, grabbed his wheelbarrow and joined us in moving the pile. His three kids also joined in, and it wasn’t long before the garden beds were full along the a few garden beds out the front and at Brian’s place too (might have slightly over estimated!!!).
Anyway, Job was done and we were all really proud of what we had achieved. We managed to leave home for the party only 45 minutes after it started!!
The kids were all excited by the prospect of having their own garden bed, but no one knew what to do next…. what do they plant? What will work at this time of year? How are they going to figure this all out????
The next day my scheme (to use a gardening term) began to sprout…
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