Things what I have learned and done in 2011
I have been doing thingses since I moved to the Manawatu:
- Learned my way around Feilding and Palmerston North.
- Made regular contact with 5 new families with kids.
- Looking after chickens
- learned what chickens like to eat
- put leg rings on 10 chickens
- collected over 70 eggs
- raised 5 baby chicks
- bought six 8-week-old roosters
- watched a mother chook keep her babies safe from a wheeling hawk
- learned how many days it takes to incubate an egg.
- Researched humane slaughter and butchery of chickens
- Learned to make pizza dough, and found I can feed my whole family an evening meal for about $4.
- Learned to cook on a wood stove.
- Gardening
- Learned why you don't plant broccoli in the middle of butterfly season
- got a bumper crop of radishes (which I will sow more sparsely next time)
- ditto the carrots
- learned how to plant kumara
- found out the hard way the importance of keeping chooks out of the peas
- embarrassed myself on Facebook by not being able to recognise a potato plant :)
- learned how to construct a "hot compost" with horse manure.
- Learned that cicada nymphs live under ground and eat roots (until I dig them up and feed them to the chooks muahahahah)
- Learned to tell the difference between jaguars and leopards... and bobcats and lynxes.
- Learned that even on Death's door hedgehogs retain their appetite - and the local vets euthanise wildlife free of charge.
- Joined a book club and read an actual novel for a change.
- And spent time with real grown up women!
- Hand-sewed a garment (pair of pyjama pants) for my son.