shiny posts

harvesting the bigger kūmara

by shiny,

We've just harvested the [kūmara](crop). It needs a warm summer, and this was the first summer we've grown it in a raised garden bed instead of a bag. At first, I thought it was a failure. I poked around the roots and found nothing. We pull out the greenery, and there was only a half dozen sma...

kūmara

Keeping the bugs away with coffee

by shiny,

Ants, slugs, and snails don't much like coffee. But worms do like it. If, like me, you have an abundance of coffee grounds from staying home, you can sprinkle the [coffee](crop) around the vege to deter these creatures. It also fertilizes the plants and disappears into the soil after a few weeks.

coffee

pandemic baking - use for those eggshells

by shiny,

There's so much baking going on here, stuck at home under the nationwide pandemic lockdown -- and when we can get eggs we end up with many eggshells. These can be crushed and placed around the base of brassica like [cabbage](crop) and [broccoli](crop). Snails and slugs don't like slithering over ...

broccoli cabbages

The nets are up

by shiny,

Due to the pandemic lockdown, I can't go to the hardware store to get things. I've been in semi-isolation since the start of march, and we've been in nationwide lockdown since last week. I needed to set up the nets to keep out the white butterfly. I've had to be creative and i've had to recycl...

cabbages broccoli

Selfies with the harvest.

by shiny,

this is one way to amuse us while in nationwide pandemic lock down 

new logo concept

by shiny,

Miss 10 made this artwork, as a concept our new logo.

Recipe for kamokamo fritters

by shiny,

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7CiGyqLdu8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7CiGyqLdu8) Recipe for [kamokamo](crop) fritters

kamokamos

Japanese ginger.

by shiny,

This plant wants to take over the world. It's that pink ginger you get with sushi. It is pretty magical. It's not the root like regular ginger. Instead, you harvest the pink flower and the pickle it. That why the sushi ginger looks like a pink petal. It is a petal. I have constrained this [myo...

myoga ginger

Tomato relish from local heirlooms

by shiny,

The [Island Bay tomato](crop) plants have been finally turning red. I only got 5 seeds last year, and these sprouted into three plants. - which are now giving huge fruit. I made some tomato sauce out of these. They're great raw but they are definitely good for sauce too. I used the "fast/slow...

Island Bay tomatoes

the bumble bee appreciates this artichoke

by shiny,

I left two artichokes, to see how big they'd get. Well, they are enormous. This bumblebee really appreciated them and spent about half an hour feasting on the nectar.  [artichoke](crop)

artichokes

Automating the seedlings

by shiny,

What's better than Brussel sprouts? Home-grown [Brussels Sprouts](crop) grown by robots. The automation (aka Robots) I'm using is an open source app called "Home Assistant". It runs nicely on a raspberry pi, but I'm running it on an old laptop, which is very convenient due to the backup pow...

brussels sprouts lettuces coriander

The year of the potatoes

by shiny,

[Potatoes and taewa](https://flic.kr/p/2ioVEEy)  This year i grew ELEVEN types of potato over summer.. [Waiporoporo Taewa Potato](crop) that were [ready early](/plantings/shiny-front-lawn-pots-and-potato...

purple heart potatoes huakaroro taewa potatoes Te Māori taewa potatoes scots potatoes moemoe taewa potatoes pink fir apple heirloom potatoes Robyn Adair potatoes Whataroa taewa potato Stewart island potatoes urenika taewa potatoes waiporoporo taewa potatoes agria potatoes