farmlet.co.nz

We like the advice from Bill Mollison’s Introduction to Permaculture: “develop the nearest area first, get it under control, and then expand the edges” (10). When we’re feeling a bit daunted by the current disarray of the Farmlet, these words are comforting, and help us find a focus. The book also advises that the area of most intense cultivation, which needs to be visited most often, should be closest to the house. This sounds like a compelling shot of common-sense to us! In line with this advice, I’ve just started to create a herb garden right outside the kitchen door.

Iris

Our “nearest area,” or our house paddock, still has a long way to go in terms of its permaculture development. Bit by bit, we are trying to make it as productive as possible, replacing invasive and undesirable plants with plants that will produce food or otherwise be of use to us. Apart from one small potato patch over the fence, all our vegetables and other annuals are planted in the house paddock.

As spring warms the ground, our vegetables are not the only plants taking off in the house paddock. A few troublesome weeds are also coming to our attention. Over the past few days, we’ve been working at getting rid of young privet plants from around the yard. Privet is a very invasive weed in this climate, and will grow to form a wide and dense thicket as it seeds and spreads. A thicket of privet is not part of our plans for the house paddock, so those plants have to go. Once privet matures, it is very hard to get rid of, growing back from the stump whenever you cut it down. Luckily, younger plants are not too difficult to pull out.

Our first spring on the Farmlet is also bringing to light a few welcome surprises — purple irises and red hot pokers helping to hold the soil on steep banks by the driveway, and apple blossoms in the area that the previous owner started to establish as an orchard.

Becky and I are frantically trying to get enough garden space ready to plant out all of the seedlings that are coming up. We pulled back another swath of black polythene and I went at it with the shovel, as usual, breaking the clay open so we can add gypsum, lime and compost.

It all came to a halt when my shovel found a vein of sandstone just near the surface. Not broken up sandstone, but a single, solid mass.

There’s only one option at a time like this: Pick axe.

When I bought this pick axe from a garage sale for NZ$2, I sincerely hoped that I would never have to use it. But when you need a pick axe, you really need it.

Used pick axe: NZ$2. And the less I have to use it, the better!

As I gazed upon the scene above, I thought about my past life in the doomed corporate IT world. When asked, “How’s it going, today, Kevin?” by “Bob in Marketing”—I’m sure you know people like “Bob in Marketing”—my favorite response was, “Just breaking rocks all day, Bob, as usual.” I guess the Universe got me back for using that one a few too many times!