Minnie catches a bee swarm

Kia ora Guys,



Minnie gave me permission to blog the photos she posted on Facebook about

catching a bee swarm.  The speech bubbles indicate her words, I've just cut and

pasted her story .  I think its very very cool.  

"Kia ora Donna,

you are welcome to put a write up on there. I can email you the photos or you can get them off facebook. I am not a bee keeper as such. I have only gathered 2 swarms before, but we have hives on Kapiti Island and I have been involved with them a little bit. We have had a couple of hives before, but I didnt do any of the mahi then. I have a friend that is showing me the ropes. If you have any questions just flick me an email or fb message.  Cheers....Minnie"

"Just collected another swarm......thanks again to Janine Gardiner for being photographer A1+. :-)"

"Just collected another swarm......thanks again to Janine Gardiner for being the photographer

"Standing on the roof of Amo's car.....reaching up, sawing a couple of small branches off so I could get to the swarm. Then broke the branch so swarm could fall into the cardboard box sitting on car roof."

"And here they are before going into their new whare"

"And I only got 1 bee sting! Oh ouchie too! I was too lazy to put the whole bee suit on. Won't be so lazy next time. :-) And thanks to Tumanako Clark-mackie for helping me take the bees to their new whare and being photographer number 2"








I just wanted to say a big mihi

 to Minnie and her

 photographers, for sharing

 this on FB and allowing me to

 make a blog post out of it.

  I've been wanting to get

 bees for a while now, for

 pollination and honey.  Its

 inspirational.  Didn't you feel 

a even a little bit scared?  and

 yet you'd have to be calm so

 the bees stayed calm.  Very

 cool.  Thanks 

The last photo is a video link- I'm not sure if I'll be able to get it to work.

Gardening is political

Gardening is political.  

Freedom for me is providing food for my family.

Empowerment for me showing people how to provide for themselves.

Passion for me is that I utterly believe that home grown food is better for the human body than mass produced monoculture. 

Amazing to me is that other people catch it.  They have faith in it and give it a go.

Me getting carried away explaining something,
with dirty hands, at home in the garden

They heal themselves in the garden.

They spend time with themselves in the garden.  People spend time with their family in the garden.  

They are proud to reconnect with the land.  Its a spiritual thing.

They feel hesitant about the rules and expectations and what things “should” look like. They are ever hopeful and optimistic.

Tino Rangatiratanga for me is deciding to feed the mauri of the soil that feeds my children.  My whakapapa, my genes will be strong in their healthy bodies.  

It’s my choice to not support mass agriculture wrecking the planet and producing a few rich, while keeping most people under nourished. 

(opps...blinking radical side, gotta watch that popping up from time to time.)

Check out this amazing whanau in Pasadena.  

http://urbanhomestead.org/journal/

Oh and I've invited a few people to guest post, so hopefully they say yes and we build a pool of interesting, skilled, experts, in all areas.  As I know many of you have many and varied talents, if you're keen to be involved, have a notice, a panui, or something to say, please make use of the comments below each post and or flick me an email; horowhenua.kaikai@gmail.com.  I'd love to hear form you.

The story of a quince tree

 The quince is an old fashioned fruit.  I love it.  Some say it's an acquired taste.  We bottle it and have in on cereal over the winter.  Its tart and turns pink when its stewed.  I particularly love Quince jelly a floral smelling, pink jam- especially on toasted rewana or a bread like Vogels, and also the paste on a cheese board.  In Palmerston North and I suspect all over New Zealand, the Quince tree does really well.  Its also a root stock for other fruit trees like pears.  Here's a little mihi to our Quince trees.

Early Oct

Its still cold in October, but there's a shift going on,  Things are just starting to get moving in the garden.  Inside the Quince tree the sap rises and the buds pop and out come the leaves and very shortly there are blossoms ready to bloom.  They start off tucked in a spiral in October in Palmerston North.

late Oct

Ahhh, the blossoms open, this is the joyful time of tulips and daffodils.  The insects wake up and get active.  The flowers are visited by many insects including butterflies and bumble bees.

Mid Nov

Within less than a month we have small fruit developing.  They grow and bulge over the growing season.  Some may fall off due to weather conditions.

Late Nov

Mid Dec

The fruit has a furry bloom, and its hard, harder than a pear.

Early March

 When they start to get fragrant, and I notice the birds going for them, I pick all the ones I can reach and have a big bottling session to fill the cupboards with jelly and stewed quince.

(I really should remember to take photos of the buds when the sap rises in early spring, and also the twiggy tree dormant in the winter.  They're sorta the ugly stages- not exactly a photographers magnet)

Why would we want a local seed library?

I had a wonderful visit with a treasure of a gardener in Foxton today Linda Lake, and she has a gift with seed raising.  She has a set up with glass house and benches where she pots up and gives out seedlings to many people.  She's infected them with the gardening bug and they are terminal...haha.  She does it all for nothing, or a koha of plant pots, seed or potting mix.  Seeds are special things, they take a caring hand.  I'm always keen to connect with gardeners who grow from seed.

Pollination of an Allium (onion family) by a bumble bee

Its a complete cycle of living, growing, protecting, eating in sync with the food crops.  The philosophy of growing food from your own seeds is spiritual for me.  I am forced to care for all the important parts in the cycle, the worms, the bees, the companion plants...because they are what's feeding myself and my family.  I want quality soil and quality plants etc because I want strong children and someday grandchildren.


I've always been interested in ecology, but I'm now feeling the responsibility for seed saving. We don't want extinction for any lines of crops, we are all worse off.

Kay Baxter and my son Wipere gardening at Whitianga, Te Whanau a Apanui

A few years ago, I went up to Koanga Institute- when it was in Kaiwaka, met Kay Baxter and this led to them & their whanau moving to Te Whanau a Apanui for a few seasons where we re-established hapu gardens, at our marae, Whitianga Marae.  In terms of getting abetter understanding about the responsibility to save seed- it was there, with Kay for me.  I still have a lot of seed from this time.  I try and grow out what I can, but as a suburban gardener, you get to a point where you can't grow everything out to seed.  Some will cross if its grown to seed (e.g. brassicas and corn) And there just isn't the space.

Red stalked Silverbeet / chard going to seed

So we have to be more strategic.  Some people can grow this some people grow that, share the crops for the current season but make sure the seed lines are strong.

Pink fir Seed potatoes

 I also know its a big job, but with anything we've got to start somewhere. The local climate is a bit different here to any other place- so the crops we grow and the seeds we select to save will be different.   I don't have a huge amount of faith in governments and food legislation or even supermarkets in insuring, and ensuring biodiversity of food crops.   We've got to do it.  There are others already saving seed where they are. I just feel the crops that are important to us here, we need to look after.  I've saved mine for years, but now I think Im going to start opening it up, making them available and sharing the responsibility.

Thats sorta what I'm trying to do, one of the things Kay said was; "To look after the seeds, you need to look after the gardeners"  You need to grow more gardeners who are infected with the gardening bug, who will also dance with the seeds.

In terms of a seed library, its not my idea, I read it somewhere, but it implies a returning of seed that you take out.

I'll get my own stash of seeds catalogued and in order, so its more user friendly to share with others, this side of Christmas. I'm always happy to receive donations of seeds to add to our library and look after.   Mihi nui, Donna

Aquaponics- fish and vegetable system

Backyard Aquaponics Garden gurus 1

Looking at Aquaponics

Im having a nose around the net for aquqponics systems with the idea of having a growing and fish/ possibly eel system.  I have no idea if its legal,  where to get the fry etc, so at this stage I'm having a look.  At the PRI Australia there is an aquaponics system in the urban garden.  I don't know the fish that would work in NZ.  I don't know if anyone is already doing it here, so if any of you guys know