It has been a winter of discontent. Or more not of a lot of content appearing on this blog. Good lard, it’s not a case of lack of material to work with… when you open yourself up to the wonders of writing a blog about plants it’s more a case of far too much to write about. Sometimes it’s just all a bit overwhelming. And I’m not the most organised tool in the shed.

Surrounded as I am with half finished posts, witicisms, facts and stories like scattered leaves, I realise I’ve got to start pulling it all back together for Spring approaches and it shall be spectacular. So in order to get myself all correct, I thought it be best to come clean, lay out what’s been on my plate, what I’ve been working on, gnawing on and generally having a good chew over.

Seeds

Working on the concept of a Wellington regional seed bank. I’ve been meeting people, discussing, planning I’m about ready to call a meeting for those enthused about the idea.I’ve also been increasing my knowledge on the whole subject of seed-saving and helping others to do the same, including finishing up a course. There’s also been work on some written resources to help make these plans a reality. And looking to put a new seed range together.

Seedy Sunday

This has changed course a little, Kapiti is no longer having monthly Seedy Sundays. But a Spring edition is planned for September 19. Keep up-to-date at the Seedy Sunday NZ blog.

Local resources

If you’re a gardener you need to think local. You need to know about the factors that affect your garden. You need to know about the climate, soil, plants, pests, treatments, techniques that are available to you and how they may work where you are. You can’t get that information from books published in the UK or the US or even Australia. My quest has always been to get the information about NZ to NZ gardeners. It’s really hard finding the truth, dispelling myths and trying to get decent info out there, but I’m working hard to facilitate this.

Main focii: Soil, Worms, Food plant varieties in NZ, Seeds, Garlic, Herbs, Food distribution channels in NZ, Native support species.

NZ Food Forests

Still keeping the candle burning on this. Gathering resources, researching, growing things, talking, reading… Always looking for examples of what others have done, so let me know what you’ve been up to.

LovePlantLife Blog

Yeah, I’ve been a bit slack but I’m hoping to bring a lot of stuff together on all these topics in the next couple of weeks. Stay tuned.

Kapiti

The Kapiti community has a lot of problems. I’m putting most of the blame on plans to put a four-lane highway through the middle of it. But there are other things – bad behaviour by elected councillors (Dale Evans is thankfully long gone but there  are 3 others I can’t wait to see the back of), infighting within local groups, resource concerns and a lack of community engagement. All typical of most communities, but given the current climate and the fact I live here – of major concern to me. So I’ve been trying to call on my activist and info-junkie background and help with the local causes I believe in. Only in a support role, mind. But I’m damn sure the Kapiti district isn’t going to be improved by running supertrucks through it.

Networking

Always looking for on-to-it, active people who are similarly-inclined to help collaborate on projects of mutual interest and help shape the world into a place that we really want to live in. So feel free to email and say hi – maybe we can help each other.

Special secret project

To be announced at a later date but where I’m putting  a lot of attention at the moment.

Whanau

Keeping the loved ones in green veges, dispensing seeds and gardening advice with wild abandon and continuing the chase for exemplary culinary experiences.

Garden

Installing more shelter trees, two more fruit trees and lots of raspberries. Keeping the worms wriggling, enjoying lots of lovely growth and dreaming of a beautiful summer ahead.

Work

Oh, and I work fulltime in Wellington as a content wrangler for a government department.

So that’s me. There’s a lot of me. This is where I’m at. Oh and I need to get my driver’s licence – my husband insists. So sometimes I may be a bit slow to reply to an email, my posting might be a bit late, I may disappear for days at a time planning, scheming and mumbling. That’s just how things are. But don’t be afraid to get in touch. I have a gmail account and the user name is loveplantlife or you can leave a comment below.

~ Anna