Ultrasound

We're having a baby. Here's a video of an ultrasound view 19 weeks in.

Rugby games or design and innovation.. what are our priorities?

In Dunedin and the Otago region there is a controversial issue with a fight brewing, to build another rugby stadium instead of an Institute of Design.

StopTheStadium has documented an amazing break down in process regarding the stadium idea, to the point that most people here must think there is corruption in our local, regional and national government processes. I suspect it is more like shrewed business people taking advantage of public, media and administration blind spots while initiating the project, and using that to build up and create unstoppable momentum for their short sighted aims. In short, its a classic case of lobbying for a project where the gains are private and the risks are public.

I can't for the life of me see the worth of building an international grade rugby stadium down here, but I can certainly see the sense in developing the Institute of Design. It will certainly cost more to build the stadium than their spokespeople have publicly announced, and considering we can't fill the stadium that already exists, I don't see any evidence that another one will suddenly boost interest and sustain it long enough so as to fill the seats until the debt is paid off.. I might see the sense in an upgrade of the famous "Brook" though. Even if Dunedin did turn into the capital of the South with a population big enough and cashed up enough to be able to pay off the thing, I honestly can't see what improvement it will bring to Otago industry, business, education, imagination and over-all sustainability.

Another, far less controversial proposal is on the table at the same time. The Otago Institute of Design, but the public funding pegged for that is being pulled!? Even without knowing any more about the Institute than its name, it is far more obvious how such a thing would contribute to Otago's economic, industrial, business, educational and sustainable development.

Otago Polytechnic and Otago University are bringing their design departments together to form a new Otago Institute of Design. By pooling their expertise and resources they are creating a centre of excellence for design right here in Dunedin. This initiative will also take collaboration between design educators across NZ and the design industry to a new level, for instance, with their high-tech prototype and modeling facility that will be the most comprehensive currently available in Australasia.

But wouldn't you know it, the Federal Government looks set to withdraw their 12.5 million dollar loan to develop the Institute, instead directing their funds to the rugby stadium to the tune of 15 million!

I can't work this out. Rugby stadium / Institute of Design which one will have more bang for its buck when factoring in all bottom lines? When our local economy starts to feel the pinch of international trade and resource depletion, and we are in need of fresh and new innovation, what will help us? A game of rugby or a few thousand designers developing new technology and testing new ideas?

The only good thing I can think of about the stadium is that with its huge glass cover, it will make a great biosphere to grow the food in that we can longer import because the ships, trucks and trains needed new parts and different fuel.

This letter is sent to:
The Minister of Finance Hon. Bill English b.english@ministers.govt.nz
and Prime Minister, Hon John Key j.key@ministers.govt.nz
cc. Hon Anne Tolley, Minister for Education a.tolley@ministers.govt.nz

New Zealand Polytechnics

Click to Play

After seeing Roger Stack's tour of Tasmanian Polytechnics, I thought to myself, "man! I know more about Tasmanian Polytechnic geography then I do New Zealand". So I set to work mking my owb version of Roger's Google Earth video just to study up on where NZ Polytechnic's are situated. Oh, and I learned a thing or two about Google Earth while I was at it.

First music track is some way old country by Ernst Thompson care of the Archive.

I stuffed up the credits in the video for the second track. It is called Thinking of New Zealand, but is by Adam Wojtanek - care of the Archive again.

I'll load up a new version with the correct credits tomorrow.

Thanks for the inspiration Roger.

Year of the Ox

The neighbors suggested we go down to the Chinese Gardens and see the fireworks show. It was a great evening, and the fireworks were awesome!

New door and a gate

Put a gate in the fence between the neighbour's and us. We visit each other often, trade food, and generally help each other out and a gate has been talked about for a long time. We plan to combine energy and produce a lot of food this year I think.

I also put a new door in the back of the house. We picked it up for $40 from Hall Bros (really cheap!). It has a big reinforced window in it so the entry hall gets light now. Even at night, the outside light gives good light through the window.

Lighting is an interesting design challenge in the house. Obviously we have replaced all globes with pearl energy savers at the lowest wattage we could get (11 Watts, still looking for less), and now its a matter of positioning the lights so that they give the maximum amount of useful light. Right now for example, we have 1 light on. It lights the lounge room and the kitchen slightly, as well as our bedroom through the glass doors. I've already mentioned that the outside light lights the hall, and the kitchen light lights the deck through the windows. I don't think there is ever a time we have more than 3 lights on. Thats 33W per hour as apposed to 180W per hour if we had normal light bulbs, or 360W or more if we used twice as many lights. This, combined with fire heating (and cooking), gas, a very small fridge, and no entertainment system is probably why our energy bill averages $45-$50 per month right through the year.

Produce garden coming along

This is a great time of year for gardening. Our produce garden is getting better, with more of a focus on perennials this year, as well as fruits and berries. Next year, maybe livestock! Here's some photos:

Cutting fire wood

The power line fellas came around and dropped a tree in the front section a few months ago. I went down there and put my tarp over it all as a kind of claim to ownership, because the front section doesn't appear to be ours. People might get to thinking the wood was up for grabs.

I eventually found a chainsaw to loan and cut it all up. We probably got about 2 months worth of wood out of it. The next few days I cut up the vine covered trees out the back. At least another month of wood in that pile too. I quite enjoyed using the saw :)

firelogs

Well, the wind, rain, snow and cold is driving in on Dunedin today, and we're all thinking about heating. Here's my story so far...

Last week I ordered $100 of "dry, eucalyptus firewood". The fella came and tipped it on the lane in front of my house and served me the bill plus delivery fee. (I'm still getting used to the quality of service in these parts). As I was shifting the pile to a better place I couldn't help wondering how heavy and wet it felt. The delivery fella was long gone and anyway, I'm sure he would've palmed me off with some remark like "sweet as mate" or "nah, its as good as gold". On the first day we tried to use it we were bitterly disappointed. Hard to start, a log actually kills the fire if its not hot enough! This stuff is still wet and green!

So we went and picked up a few old packing pallets from the hardware stores that give them away. Pallets come in pine, oregon, and even eucalypt! After breaking them up we have good heat. I'm very reluctant to waste the expensive load of firewood on the flame if it is not properly seasoned, and there's no way in hell I'm going to drive our power bill up from a nice $40 per month to well over $250 per month just through electric heating! (our neighbours hit $420 last month!!!)

Enter the firelogs we found down at the warehouse. We discovered these things for the first time this week and we're liking them! Made from compressed sawdust and although the box says nothing added, I suspect they have paraffin wax in them. These things burn hot and long! I estimate that one firelog burns for about 1 hour. A box of 8 costs $6, and you could make a box go one night in a good firebox. So by my estimates it would cost $180 a month to burn firelogs. It costs about $120 a month on delivered firewood.

For $60 extra what do we get?

Ready to burn, cleaner to burn, better heat, excellent cooking coals, very tidy, no chop chop, easy storage, easy portability, feel good for using a waste product...

If we could find dry seasoned wood, we'd probably go for the cost savings over the firelog - unless we find a cheaper supplier. We really like having a fire, it is miles better heat and more reliable than our neighbour's air conditioner. And our firebox seems to cost about the same to run as an airconditioner. I think we'll be planting a few eucs down the front section this winter - they might come in handy a few years from now...

Winter crops

I put Broad Beans (seed), silver beet and celery (seedlings), in my zone 2 yesterday. I should perhaps put more BB in as I only planted about 20 along a trellis.

I planted seeds for baby carrots and onions in tires up in my zone 3. The potato tires worked well through summer. I got a pretty good yield considering the condition of the soil and my lateness (again) but must of all I have noticeably better soil after the potatoes. I'm hoping for great carrots and onions now, and have a theory that the tires will help keep the soil a little warmer (if that a good thing for carrots and onions?)

I put seeds for spring onions and chinese broccoli in my zone 1. I'm still looking for miners lettuce and sorrel. I also put in a range of herb seedlings (Thyme, rosemary, lemon balm, oregano, russian (tarramond?).

After all this, I'd really like for people to come around and check it out! I am totally in love with this whole process, and the fact that at the age of 32 I am finally getting to know where food comes from. As well as feeding my wife and I (hopefully) the whole process has been very therapeutic.

Deck and doors just about done

It took a while, but we finally have the deck and doors in and boy has it made a difference! We can now hang outside in comfort with plenty of space to spread out, and plenty of sun to soak up. We have planter boxes all the way around for our herbs and perennial salads and the like, and over them we will plant fruit. The sun is now bouncing in off the North deck and straight in through the glass doors which has noticeably improved the passive heating inside. We've had 1 week of wintery weather already with outside temps down to 6, but inside was comfortable and warm without heaters. Of course when the sun goes down we need to start the fire, but the warmth inside lasts through the twilight well into dark. We are both very pleased with it.



Structurally it is solid as! We have 2 x 300mm round 3.6m posts that are sunk into very clay ground around 800mm (basically on bed rock each). They are held there by 8 bags of 30kPa concrete (4 in each).



The 2 150x50 beams attached to their tops span 1500mm to the next 2 posts which are 100x100's sunk in over 600mm and held again by 30Kpa. The beams span another 1500 to 3 anchor posts that hold a beam coming off from the house.



The joists cross the beams at 400mm intervals, and also span 1500mm with 400mm over hang. I put noggins through the centres of the joists for a bit of bracing. The 40x100 decking is finished with decking nails, with facing around the joists.



Around the back there are 150x50 and 100x100 bearers on posts and an old concrete retaining wall. The 150x50 joists are spaced 400 and span the 1200 space between the bearers. Then the ground steps up under the deck, requiring posts, 100x100 beams, and 50x100 joists. The posts span 1500 in both directions so that the bearers span 1500, and the joists do as well. These joists are also spaced at 400.







The doors are second hand Rimu timbers from Shaw's Yard and were framed by Shaw with treated pine. They sit in what was a window space.



The windows needed replacing, as did a number of weather boards due to significant rot.



I have used Aluband sealing tape to seal up all around the door frame, under the foot, and across the top flashing. There is now pink batts in the walls all around the door. The doors themselves swing clean and easy.

Now I need to plaster and paint the new gib inside, and build a railing around the high points of the deck. We plan for 150x50 posts standing 1500 high with a dressed cap for a railing across the top. We'll use Suntough panels on the outside of these posts with at least 1 shelf running low so we can use the cavity in the railing for plants. The 1500 should retain some of the privacy for next door without us losing sun through the doors.

Base Map

Our first assignment for the permaculture design course has been to draw a base map.

A base map is a drawing that captures everything that is in place already on a property or space. It includes buildings, fences, trees, hedges, pathways and driveways, power lines and pipes... things that are in place.

Here's my Base Map:


Google maps does a pretty good job at capturing it too...


View Larger Map

so, we're on a steep NNW facing block that is reasonably sheltered from all winds, although the cold Southerlies can touch our front pretty hard... but now I'm starting to get Sector Analysis about it, which is what I should be focusing on this week:

A sector analysis map is a drawing that depicts what is happening in that base. What is the sun's path, what are the wind and rain directions, where are the main areas of people activity, where are the shade areas.

Harmony Farm visit

Here are some video's I captured from the Permaculture Design course field trip to Harmony Farm.

peta hudson - harmony farm and where to find information



Harmony Farm



Field trip to Harmony Farm - microclimates



Peta Hudson - Permaculture teacher



Participant intros - Permaculture Design Course

Concrete steps

Our front steps have now been tidied up so that we have better access to the front yard. We still have to render the concrete now, but here's a little update and how we did it:

We bought about 20 metres of 150x20 mil rough sawn pine for the step form. (150 is a perfect step height).

Because steps want to be at least 300 mil deep, and we needed a side wall, we also bought about 6metres of 250x20 board to make up the diagonal side walls.

If you look closely, you might be able to see that I notched out the diagonal to hold the step form. I prolly would do this again, as it made screeding difficult, and removing the form difficult. The little square boards you can see on the side wall and the batten brace were easily anough to hold the step form.

It was a last minute decision to pour yesterday. We hired a 6x4 trailer ($30), and lined it with plastic ($14) to pick up 0.6 cubic meters of ready mix ($130). It was a hot and windy day, so we have to be quick with it. Mike from next door brought over some buckets and we chain carried it into the form.

We moved quickly with this, placing rocks to fill out some space and ensuring that the rocks were placed well away from the sides. We had the pour done in just over 30 minutes.

Estimating an hour for the mix to start hardedning in these conditions, we wasted no time leveling off the pour using straight timber to start and a trowl to smooth. About then Sarna and Chico arrived, surprised to see that we had already done the pour, but in time for the leveling.

It was a little fiddley doing this actually, and it turned out that we didn't quite have enough (short by 1 bucket load). So we skimped on the side wall to make sure the steps were full.

About 30 minutes later we had the basic leveling done. Sunshine went and made sausages and drinks while everyone else finished the smoothing of. We didn't mess around with it too much towards to end, basically just getting it to the right level.

Then we let it go a bit hard (finger hard, another 1 hour) so I could use a scrubbing brush to take out any ridges and bumps. I finally finished the surface off with a paint brush, and rounded the edges a little with the trowel.

Next morning I pulled off the form to reveal a mostly good result. The air pockets are not too serious and the rendering will finish it off nicely. The steps are all a good height and level and are strong. I need to research rendering a bit and will do that in the next week...

Pretty happy with our first attempt at concreting, and feel confident about the rest of the job around the back. Well have to get around 4 cubic meters pumped around the back ($800 + $280 for the pump :( Its very expensive, almost as much to cover the area in timber. 2nd hand pavers would be cheaper and use less in terms of non renwable material, but a lot more work... still thinking about it.

new shoots, but new pests

Took out the two broccoli today. They looked ready, but taste a little sour :( I wonder if their taste has anything to do with the soil they were in. They where in very clay soil, their leaves had been chopped by slugs, but a used no sprays... they certainly look healthy, but taste sour. Perhaps I picked them too soon or too late?

The cauliflower and brussel sprouts have a little bug all over them. The damage appears to be minimal, but I don't know what they are and so have no idea how to get rid of them.. I've done a brief search for cauli pests, but can't find anything that looks like what I have here... They could be mealybug but I'm not so sure. The mealybugs I know are more white than this grey colour, and are flatter and harder to see as bugs. These are easy to see as bugs.. note: the Internet needs a user generated image index where I can just scan images of pests categorized by their colour and size perhaps... or upload my own image for others to help identify...

Finally, we have some fruit buds on the tomatoes, and new shoots on the potato tires :)

A hole will be a slab will be a deck with an awning

So, I've started digging out for the slab. The rain has come in and halted progress. The water has highlighted the levels I have and the drainage I'll need to put in. Am planning on digging a trench along the left side (viewers left) with fall towards the viewer and so water draining away from the house. Sunshine has saved enough to buy some timber for retaining the walls. The dirt I have bee taking away and depositing down the front in an effort to level off the new front yard. The rest of the dirt will be used to level the lawn section above the scrape. I'm wanting to build a couple of no dig garden boxes there, following the idea captured in this photo:
In the picture you can see pvc pipe being used as a frame for a plastic sheet to make a greenhouse. There is a timber spine for the pipe to pass through. I suppose this must add strength. It looks like an easy and cheap way to make a greenhouse. Not sure how to seal in the ends though...
Below is the plan drawing for the deck less the awning at this stage. I like using Google Sketchup for these drawings. Its free and easy to use, building a 3D drawing.

This rain is a reminder of the need for an awning over at least some of the outdoor area we are trying to build.

native strips

As for the native garden, well I'm very happy with that. The grasses have really taken hold, and I'm kicking myself for planting so many different types. My personal favourite are the red tussock and the rainbow tussocks. Pictured here is a bunch of tussocks I can't even remember the name of. I've been pulling clumps and transplanting to other areas in the native beds, and I'm looking forward to a dense cover of these grasses everywhere!

The south side is doing very well with hebes, three and five fingers, ferns, manukas and kanukas, and a range of grasses. But the battle is keeping the weeds back given the steep ground makes mulching difficult. The trees have started over the fence line, and we even have a bit of an understory happening. I reckon it will look well established in about another 2 years.

The front is looking good, but still very young. Its another steep section so mulching was difficult. We layed boxing board over the lawn that was there, and covered it with woodchip. The woodchip has bonded well, covering the steep ground and generally holding on top of the cardboard nicely. We are putting medium to large trees in this part for privacy, and as they aren't expected to grow much higher than 3 - 6 metres, they won't shadow the house, thanks to the steepness and distance from the house.

Holidays at last. Vege garden to replenish the soul

First day of my Christmas holidays so I thought I'd build up a row of potato tyres. I'm told that its best to plant potatoes right at the end of winter.. well, its apparently summer, but I reckon its only just starting so to hell with it, in with potatoes.. lets see how they go.

The sunniest spot is up the back. I leveled off about 8 meters and lay some cardboard, then old tyres on top. We are on such a depressingly tight budget that I couldn't afford a bail of straw, and I need to terrace the back anyway. So I dug a lower step terrace and shovelled the soil from that up into the tyres. Needless to say I'll have to battle weeds :(

I think I put in about 30 seed potatoes in the end. About 3 in each tyre. The plan is to add another tyre on top when/if they shoot through and cover them with another heap of soil. That way the terracing gradually gets done, and the potatoes give a better yield. Hopefully.

As for the rest of the garden, well its doing OK. I wouldn't say it's been as good as last year though. We planted much earlier for a start, so growth up until now has been slow. Because of the slow growth, the snails have really damaged the seedlings and we lost quite a lot. I reckon it is better to plant later in the season, say about now so that the growth is fast and the environment is dryer so that snails and the like have less of an impact.

As usual the spinach has done really well. This year we bought a variety that has brightly coloured stalks. It all tastes the same, but the colour does help bring some life to my very average cooking abilities. The spinach was not touched by the snails, and it is almost finished in terms of going to seed. So it is easily possible to get two crops of spinach in a season here. Think I will put another bunch in. I like eating spinach, but it might be better to plant a few weeks apart so that yields don't come all at the same time...

Our strawberries are doing well and have just started to put runners and berries out for the season. This is the second season for the strawberries. We have started a second patch down the side of the house which is already doing very well. As usual the birds are having their go, but so far there's enough to go around. I've since been told that strawberries to better in a greenhouse. Actually, I suppose everything does better in a greenhouse, if only we had one :( Not only would it obviously be a better climate for growing, but it would keep the birds off the strawberries and other fruits. I'm not yet a sophisticated gardener though, but I imagine the greenhouse would also keep important bees off the flowers. I'm not sure what plants need bee help to pollinate, but at this stage I buy new seedlings and have not experimented with propagating and pollinating...

We dug up and potted our parsley, oregano and mint through the winter on the advice from Andrew, another garden blogger in Dunedin who informed us that these herbs can run away and become a bit of a weed problem. So we're keeping them under control in pots. The parsley went to seed and I tried to keep it cut back, but it kept doing it. Now we are left with 2 very manky parsley bushes that I hope will recover to their former glory.. The mint has not really recovered from the potting insult, but the oregano is doing very well.

This season we also planted quite a few Brussel sprouts. They haven't budded yet, and I'm not sure how they do. Hopefully they won't be like Broccoli or Cauliflowers and bud one per stem. That would be a bit disappointing given all the foliage they put out! I'm pretty bumed by broc and cauli, and hardly think they are worth it with all the space they take up.

Last year's yams are having another go despite me being sure we combed every yam out of there. I like a hardy and easy to grow food like yams, and they roast up quite nicely. I suspect this yield will be very small not in numbers but in size. Last year's were smaller than their parents (from the grocer), so I suspect its one of those things that keep degenerating. I hope they are not engineered to do that!?

We also have onions going everywhere and they seem to be doing quite well. But same again, a lot of foliage for only one bulb... but at least their foliage doesn't take up too much room and seem to cope quite well in the crowded bed we have.

The tomatoes also went in early and we lost about half to a late frost. The survivors are doing well now though but have become crowded with potato sprouts from some old compost under them. I'm leaving it for now as the potatoes seem to be doing a good job supporting the tomatoes and not over crowding them.. I'm watching though. Tomatoes are another one that I've been told only ripen in a greenhouse. But they are also one that needs pollinating.. so it will be interesting to see if we get a yield from them and if their fruit resists pests...

Another newbie to the veggie beds are these beans. They really took off and again we planted them early. They have put out a good yield already, and continue to put out to date. They have not been bothered by any pests apart from me, and I've had quite a few nice dishes mixed with the spinach. Like the spinach, these might be worth staggering the planting and going for two crops in the one season given how fast they grow early on. Not sure how the seedlings would go with a late planting.. but will test it out.

The late frosts also took away a bunch of Bok Choy we had in. That's the last survivor already in flower amongst the onions. While this trial has put out quite a few leaves, the snails liked him and the others early on. That with the frosts, I'm amazed this one made it. I'm glad it did though, as I've discovered that the snails are now leaving him alone, and I've had enough to be able to cook him up. I prefer the taste of bok over spinach, so I think I'll have another go at it now that its later in the season. I'm hoping it will still grow quickly, and that my theory about the snails will hold...

One last report, this one for the green grape hybrid we have in. It is growing quite well through the summer, but no buds yet. Maybe we'll see no grapes this season. Its a romantic looking vine though and one I like to watch grow. Around it we have the strawberries, and a pretty sad attempt at a range of lettuce. I don't think I'll bother with lettuce again... Up the other end we have beetroot going very well! It was also planted early and has survived the frosts and the snails. I can see the bulbs starting to show, and have read that you can eat the leaves in a salad... quite a useful food crop that beetroot!