HB Day 6: Autumn Bucket List

The school holidays have started and with so much focus on moving and the house I needed something to make sure we didn't forget to have fun this Autumn! Bucket lists are SO handy for this and they are a gentle reminder not to let a season or holiday go by without having a bit of fun and trying something new. Lets face it, they are also easy to do and cost as little or as much as you want them to.

I used some scrapbook paper, sharpies, an empty wall, some wall tack, a smidge of time, and a little help from the peeps for some ideas (and dreams). As the season unfolds you work your way through the bucket list choosing to fit things in as you can. I tack mine to the wall and then once something is completed off the list in gets taken off and thrown away ... very therapeutic!

You know without Pinterest I never would have known about using seasonal bucket lists to add a little fun into each new season or holiday. There are many wonderful bucket lists and ideas available on Pinterest or make it up as you go with what works for your family! When I first did Pinterest 365 in 2011/12, I did one for Winter and it was so much fun the entire family loved it. Sometimes you need a little bit of help to get the family organised into spending quality time together doing a family favourite, trying new things, or simply just being with one another in this busy world.

HB Day 5: Love Grows

Its been a busy day at the orphanage today, we have been removing rubbish and the scrim from the walls trying to ready ourselves for the builder tomorrow! Very exciting but a little daunting all at the same time. As time was limited today for Pinterest creating I found a project that didn't take up too much time but boy does it have lots of meaning.

In our last house we, my extended family and I, lived between two houses, both on the same property and only a metre apart but it felt disjointed and to be honest it didn't work very well as we all tended to cluster in one house ... we are a family that enjoy each others company! Our new house is just the one dwelling for all of us and its one of the things that makes the orphanage so special to us.

This house has a history of making happy family memories in the most extended form! A couple of days ago we had a visit from one of the orphans who used to live here, Mabel. She and her two sisters were orphaned very young and grew up here. This was their home until they were 17. She spoke so fondly of the house and explained how there was about 25 children here and two nuns (the matrons!). It wasn't your everyday family but for Mabel, it was hers and she loved being part of it. In fact, today she lives just around the corner as she came back here many years ago to retire! I think with such good vibes this house will surely continue to provide lots more happy family memories!

When I read the quote on this cushion made by Stacy from he blog not just a housewife, I knew I wanted to have it in my own home. The lyrics from the song Little Houses by Doug Stone are so pertinent in today's world. Everything is made to be bigger and better but surely we spend less time with loved ones and more time trying to find them! The pillow is also pinned to my Family Room and Lounges on Pinterest.

I don't have a silhouette, but I do have a $5 linen pillow and a fabric pen that would do the job ... not perfectly but remember done is better than perfect any day ;) Love the pillow, love the quote, and feel so lucky to be making and creating from Pinterest when I end up with something that is dear to my heart.

I can't thank Stacy enough for being a slightly odd child and remembering such awesome lyrics for a family room throw pillow! Her blog is awesome if you are a DIYer it is definitely worth checking out.

HB Day 4: Garden Veggie Markers

It's been raining ... All day here! This is quite exciting for us as the Hawkes Bay has been without substantial rain for almost six months. A drought was declared weeks ago so rain for the farmers is like gold raining from the sky. However, it did come with some cool air and left us hovering around the fire :)

I decided Pinterest creations were going to happen around the fire today, in particular, the creating of some garden markers. I am close to several rivers that are currently full of rocks and no water so making rock ones seemed like a logical choice.  I really liked the stone markers from homestead survival blog.  Unfortunately the actual blog no longer exists but the inspiring pictures of their veggie markers do!  The picture of them is on my Outdoor Spaces board on Pinterest.

I painted all the rocks a cream colour so they really stand out in the garden and don't get lost in the soil.  It was the perfect project to do in front of the fire as the rocks dried really quickly after I cleaned them and by the time I had painted the last rock cream the first one was dry and ready to decorate with sharpies!  I am hoping the sharpies will stand the test of the outdoor environment and last so they can be used over and over again.  Before I put them out tomorrow I think I will give them a coat of polyurethane to add an extra layer of protection.

All the rocks were labeled with the details because we planted several different varieties of a number of vegetables.  I figured at the end of each varieties cropping we could keep the rocks of the prolific veggies and toss those that didn't grow so well!  Hopefully over time we will end up with a collection of rocks that are the tried and true varieties :)  you can tell I am a novice veggie gardener because I so full of hope for bumper crops!

Thank you homestead survival blog for your cool idea for veggie markers it was the perfect inspiration for today's project!

HB Day 3: Seed Organisation

Seed Organisation for the novice gardener!

I'm a girl that likes organisation, in fact, I thrive on it. If its not organised, chaos rules and I get overwhelmed and find it too hard to get anything done! I figured if I have to charged with all things garden while my sweet my is in Singapore I am going to have to have the planting and seeds organised otherwise it just won't get done! If the seeds are sitting in a box they will probably be forgotten and I will have to spend extra money on getting seedlings as opposed to planting my own.

Thank heavens bhg have a great idea that will solve my organisational issues AND remind me when seeds need to be planted!  I love the idea of having ribbons hanging for each month of the year pegged with the seeds that need to be planted then .... what a cool idea and such a pretty way to organise them too!  The bhg idea is also pinned to my Outdoor Spaces board on Pinterest.  We do have a potting shed out the back, it needs some work, A LOT of work and you will see it next week as the overhaul on it begins.  In the meantime I have hung my handy dandy seed ribbons inside the back door.

Supplies

This is a great project if you are a wannabe gardener but have limited knowledge on planting times.  It also uses everyday items that can be quickly put together to organise the seeds, something I am really appreciating at the moment :)  The hardest part of this project was reading the back of the seed packets and then assigning them to their appropriate month!  Most of the seeds had multiple months on them so I just attached the seed pack to the first month that germination could be done and figured
I could move the seed packet over to the next month once I had done the first planting ... sounds good in theory anyway ;)

Thanks to bhg for making this novice garden much more organised and if anyone comes over they'll think I am SO green fingered ... I won't tell if you don't!

HB Day 2: Companion Planting

The veggie patches ready for winter crop picking!

I don't have green fingers, I never have.  I find it extremely ironic that both my green fingered mum and sister are both in Singapore and I am the one here surrounded by gardens that need cultivating and planting with winter veggies.  I started with composting all the veggie patches then wondered what one should do next.  Luckily the local garden centre helped me with the guidance and purchasing of veggies suitable for this time of the year.

I know my mum is hugely into planting things next to things that help each other grow and deter pests.  Apparently this is called companion planting, a subject I know next to nothing on.  Lucky for me I am on a first name basis with a site that has the answer to every predicament, Pinterest!  If you pop companion planting into their search engine all sorts of beautiful and informing imagines come up to greet you.

Now the reason Pinterest and I are such firm (firm) friends is I'm a visual girl, so the info-graphic put together by Lifehack was just the ticket!  My workforce was of a younger nature today so I know they also appreciated the visual guide as opposed to a written article ;)  The linked image is also pinned to my Outdoor Spaces board on Pinterest.

The perfect companion planting info-graphic you can source from lifehack.

With my newfound wealth of information on companion planting, I sat down and drew a rough sketch and made a list of all the plants I had purchased.  With the info graphic I gradually made a plan making sure I put plants that got along next to one another. I also learnt that plants love having nasturtiums and marigolds around because it helps keep the pests away, so I made sure we added some of those to each garden!

Then I rounded up the workforce and we placed the plants out before planting them in our newly cultivated land! Only time will tell whether I have managed to successfully plant out our winter veggies but I will keep you updated. What we do know is thanks to Lifehack these crops have a fighting chance as they have been planted near friends and removed from foes. Amazing, even plants have their clicks. I guess all living things have their social grievances, if we could all just get along planting and life would be so much easier!

HB Day 1: The Story of My Hawkes Bay Day Placemats

This is a great solution ... EVEN for boys ;)

As with all decisions we make, each has its ups and downs. One of the downs for our decision to move to the Hawkes Bay has been "the work compromise". As a home schooling mum, we live on one income, which needless to say we value greatly! My husband, Steve, has a great job that he enjoys located in Auckland and we didn't want to give that up moving here, so we haven't. It's a one hour flight commute he does at the beginning and end of each week and lives in what we affectionately call "the box" while he is in Auckland. It is a tiny room in an apartment building, it isn't ideal but it works well enough for him to continue working in Auckland.

We miss him heaps during the week, but things like Skype, phone calls, and emails really help.  Each day Steve chats with the kids and always asks what they have been up to ... it's fair to say he gets a mixed response to this question depending on how tired the peeps are and how distracted they are by other things ;)  I wanted to make sure that Steve didn't miss out on the everyday things from not only my point of view but also from the peeps.  As always I found the answer on Pinterest!

Positively Splendid had a guest post from Kiki Creates for dinner time doodle mats that were designed to keep kids entertained before dinner was served.  The idea is also pinned to my Ideas for Organisation board on Pinterest.  She has several free designs that are free to print off and laminate for your own peeps.  I loved the placemat she designed as a comic strip so kids could draw the "story of their day".

I figured this was something the peeps would love to do as they enjoy drawing and it would provide a visual aide when they Skype with their Dad and he asks the inevitable question "so what did you get up to today".  I have limited supplies at the moment with the household in storage so I went to the local library and created a comic strip for telling the story of "our Hawkes Bay day" and printed several off for the peeps to use. No laminator at hand so the peeps, are using a new print each day.  Once the laminator finds its way to Otane I will make permanent placemats, which they will use whiteboard markers on and clean off each morning.

My thanks to Positively Splendid and Kiki Creates for sharing this awesome idea. I love ideas that provide kids with different ways of communicating and this one definitely fits that bill!

Pollyanna busy at work .. Uh, I mean play!

Photos of the Project!

Thanks to some very sound advice (thanks Jenny!) I am making progress on adding photos to my blog more easily using my iPad ... I know it's shocking that I am this technically poor but I really am! Any ho, below are some of the house and also a map that shows our move from Auckland to the Hawkes Bay. The piece of artwork was done by Brian Looker, the artist we purchased the Orphanage from and was the piece i asked to be left behind as part of the chattels. its Autumn in New Zealand so the trees are slowly losing there leaves which is a shame because they look so pretty at the moment! Later today I will post the first of 365 Pinterest inspired projects for this year!