Our Little Farm

Tucked away in our backyard, in the corner behind the garage and hidden by a fence...

...is our little farm. Or the beginnings of one anyway! Owen and I (with some help from the chickens) spent a few hours this weekend preparing the garden for planting.

We were lucky when we first bought our house that there was a raised vegetable garden and a small chicken coop, so everything was ready for my urban homestead dreams! After an unfortunate incident last spring, I decided to let the chickens have the run of the garden instead of the back yard (the coop is too small to keep them in all the time). Of course they totally destroyed the garden, but this year we've blocked off all escape routes and have plans to extend the coop, so the chickens will be better contained and the garden will be safe!

I want an organic garden, so I've been reading up on companion planting and have made a plan which will hopefully keep all the plants happy:

Any tips or words of advice from some more experienced gardners? Any suggestions are most appreciated!

More Bedroom Renovations

Just over a year after moving in to our house, we can finally sleep in the main bedroom! Owen and I had decided to make a few changes to the room as soon as we had the keys in our hands, but a few delays meant that everything took a lot longer than we were hoping. Owen did pretty much all of the work, with a bit of help from friends, family, and me. Things we did:

• Removed the wallpaper (which had been painted over)
• Took out the old plaster board, wardrobe door, trim and skirting boards
• Installed some insulation
• Put up new plaster board on the ceiling and walls
• Had a builder friend put in a cavity sliding door for the wardrobe
• Had an electrician friend install an extra light switch and power point
• Plastered and sanded (Owen swore this was the first and last time he'd be doing it!)
• Painted the ceiling plain white and the walls half spanish white
• Put new trim around the door and windows then painted it

Some of my inspiration for the finished room:

Photo 1 Photo 2 Photo 3 Photo 4

And the list of what I want to get sorted over the next few weeks:

• Finish restoring the chest of drawers (Owen's in the middle of this)
• Buy a full length mirror
• Frame some photos for above the bed
• Get a new light fitting that we both like (we have quite different tastes, so this might take a while!)
• Buy some artwork or a small mirror to hang above the dresser
• Make a quilt (this would be my first attempt)
• Buy some plants

Something Wicked This Way Comes

The other night I took a trek over to Lyttelton for a performance of Macbeth. Since the usual venue still needed repairs after the earthquake, the performers had found an alternative amongst the rubble of some buildings that had been torn down. A covered seating area had been set up for the audience but the rest of the set was open to the elements and included the remains of a wall, pools of dirty water, and crumbling foundations.

Photo Credit

We settled in with some chocolate brownie, mulled wine and hot chocolate to keep the cold at bay, but I soon forgot about it as the show started with a pretty brutal fight scene and carried on the intensity.

When shall we three meet again in thunder, lightning, or in rain? When the hurlyburly 's done, When the battle 's lost and won.
- Act I, Scene I 

I'd been looking forward to seeing the three witches (which were the only part I could really remember from studying Macbeth at school) and was impressed when one of them did some fire eating!

 Photo Credit

One of the highlights was the ghost of Banquo, which was so well done. The character was murdered in one of the pools of muddy water which were part of the set, and was shielded from view by some concrete foundations. I'd been keeping an eye out and was starting to get a little worried about the actor who was still lying in the water a few minutes later, and it was a cold night! But it made the appearance of Banquo's ghost very dramatic when he finally emerged from the pool covered with filthy water to stalk Macbeth.

Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more.
- Act V, Scene V

I've only been to a couple of Shakespeare performances before, but both of them have been so good that I can't wait until the next one!