Welcome to the TGN Forums!

123457

Comments

  • IrisB
    IrisB Posts: 142 ✭✭✭

    Hello from the other end of the world!

    I moved to New Zealand about 25 years ago to be able to live a self-sufficient lifestyle. Originally I'm from Germany, so I'll contribute some posts in German-NewZealand language.

    I'm living on a large, organic lifestyle property which allows me to go foraging for all sorts of goodies several times a day. We also have a vege garden, orchard, glasshouse, berryfruit cage and some lovely animals - chicken, ducks, geese and cats to be precise.

    I used to travel a lot to the USA and had friends and clients in many States but due to world developments, I now have to stay here in New Zealand for a while. So I'm glad for this opportunity to stay in touch with you all on the internet.

  • Aria Coleman
    Aria Coleman Posts: 3

    Hi all! I'm Aria and I'm a newbie at this forum.

    We've bought a small house near London, so I've decided to make our own garden. It turned out cool! We grow some veggies and berries, also we like growing flowers.

    I was lurking this forum a bit and decided to join. Glad to be a new member.

    Nice to meet you all here. Have a great day!

  • Torey
    Torey Posts: 5,679 admin

    Welcome to TGN @Aria Coleman! London, England or London, Ontario?

  • Aria Coleman
    Aria Coleman Posts: 3

    @torey England :)

  • Nicoleburba
    Nicoleburba Posts: 58 ✭✭✭
    edited July 2020

    @Iris_Brueck I am sooooo jealous !!!! It is what I dream of when I buy a lottery ticket. :))

  • LaurieLovesLearning
    LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,573 admin

    @Iris_Brueck @Aria Coleman Welcome to our forum!

  • Joette
    Joette Posts: 17 ✭✭✭

    Welcome, @Iris_Brueck. Your place sounds wonderful! When you say ‘glasshouse’, are you referring to a greenhouse to grow vegetables? Or do you actually live in a glasshouse?

  • IrisB
    IrisB Posts: 142 ✭✭✭

    Thanks @Joette Conger . I spend a lot of time in the glasshouse, so friends have joked that I live there. AND - admittedly it does even have a compost toilet, so that I can stay there for longer. Actually the main reason for putting this unusual glasshouse feature in, was to deal with the "compost ingredients". The glasshouse is reasonably big and creates a lot of compost ingredients. And it seemed silly to carry them all to the compost outside. Yet, wasting valuable glasshouse space on a compost seemed silly, too. So the compost toilet solved all problems at once.

    My ex-partner and I have built our own homes on the property with the so called "light earth method" - basically a timberframe house with straw and clay infill. More clay on the sunny side, to have heat storage capacity and more straw on the colder side to have more insulation. Luckily we build 2 of them while we were still married, so each of us has one solid home to live in now - and we share the glasshouse for growing.

  • IrisB
    IrisB Posts: 142 ✭✭✭

    Thanks a lot @Aria Coleman. Looking forward to lots of fun and interesting exchanges in this forum.

  • IrisB
    IrisB Posts: 142 ✭✭✭

    Dear @Nicoleburba no need to be jealous. There was absolutely no lottery ticket needed, just determination and quite a bit of work. We went to New Zealand in our twenties and fully trusted that if need be, we could just as well travel back. Admittedly in your twenties you dare a few more things than later in your life. So I'm glad we did it.

    The only time I ever really regretted the move was this year March and Covid19 lockdown. Never in a million years had a expected a situation that I could not fullfill my promise to my parents, that if they do need me, I'd be there in 36 hours. It usually takes about 36 hours to get from my home in New Zealand to their home in Germany. Yet, when my mother did need me in March this year, I was not allowed to travel. This was a massive shock. And I have no answer for it.

  • IrisB
    IrisB Posts: 142 ✭✭✭

    Glad to see someone from Europe @Aria Coleman. Sounds like a nice garden. Do you grow flowers for enjoyment or for eating?

  • Nicoleburba
    Nicoleburba Posts: 58 ✭✭✭

    Dear @Iris_Brueck , it takes strong determination to change the life style. I think it is really awesome what you have done. I don't have enough time left. 😀My retirement is approaching, and I am not ready to take this change. I hope that grownetwork and communication with people in it's forums will make a difference.

  • IrisB
    IrisB Posts: 142 ✭✭✭

    @Nicoleburba, yes, it can take strong determination to change the life style. That is why I'm pleased I've done it in my twenties - was a lot easier then.

  • VermontCathy
    VermontCathy Posts: 1,987 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @Brueck.iris "The only time I ever really regretted the move was this year March and Covid19 lockdown. Never in a million years had a expected a situation that I could not fullfill my promise to my parents, that if they do need me, I'd be there in 36 hours. It usually takes about 36 hours to get from my home in New Zealand to their home in Germany. Yet, when my mother did need me in March this year, I was not allowed to travel. This was a massive shock. And I have no answer for it."

    I'm sorry to hear that you couldn't help your mother. I hope that things ended up all right.

    My husband and I live about 2,000 miles away from my mother, and a similar distance from his parents. So far it has worked out, but my husband did have to fly out to help his parents a year or two ago.

    We do not have as much control over our lives as we like to think. We unconsciously assume that we'll always have access to everything from food and toilet paper to electricity and communications to easy travel to our families. But sooner or later, we discover that what we took for granted is not always there.

  • Annie Kate
    Annie Kate Posts: 680 ✭✭✭✭

    @frogvalley wow, that sounds like an ordeal! I've only had a little concussion and my daughter with many concussions helped me deal with it since I wasn't thinking straight either.

    @torey I never thought of carrying arnica, but I will do that. Can it spoil?

  • Annie Kate
    Annie Kate Posts: 680 ✭✭✭✭

    Welcome, @GardenGrub ! Yes, moving to a new place is a big adjustment, garden wise. I find it hard to get used to the climate and hard to identify which weeds are poisonous and which are OK to get behind on.

    Thank you so much for the calcium water recipe!

  • Annie Kate
    Annie Kate Posts: 680 ✭✭✭✭

    @MelissaLynne Oh, wow! I am glad we live where we do! But you seem to have the chicken safety system well under control.

    I was always able to let my littles play near the garden or help with things; kept the poisonous weeds away and taught them not to eat rhubarb leaves and just let them graze and admire and catch bugs. But we didn't have adventurous explorers and they could be counted on to stay close by. And, like I said, we have no cougars. That's a big difference.

    Sorry for the slow response--I'm still figuring out this platform and just this week figured out how to find answers to my posts.:)

  • moreyshadypines
    moreyshadypines Posts: 72 ✭✭✭

    @Jannajo Welcome! I'm from Buffalo, NY - if there is one thing Buffalo is famous for, its the weather. Thank you for the recap of your journey. I respect the efforts you have put into your journey.

    @marjstratton deer are not good listeners, as you noted. One thing they can hear is an electric fence. Inexpensive, easy to install and the deer don't get injured, they just move to a different area. Works like a charm. I have a 3/4 acre food forest, its been there 2 years now and not any trouble from the deer. I live in the middle of the woods and see them every day, they have no fear of me and I have to wait for them to move before I can walk the paths - brassy, they are. :) But the electric fence, they respect.

    Good Luck!

  • Torey
    Torey Posts: 5,679 admin

    Hi, @Annie Kate I was referring to the homeopathic remedy Arnica. Not a herbal preparation. So, no, it can't spoil. They should be kept away from extreme heat for any length of time but that is all. The more common homeopathic remedies (Arnica is one of the most commonly used remedies) can be found in most health food stores. 1-3 doses is usually enough to treat a concussion, depending on the severity. The small vials that remedies come in are easy to carry in a purse or hiking bag or first aid kit. Apis is another good one to carry for insect stings & bites.

  • marjstratton
    marjstratton Posts: 1,132 ✭✭✭✭
    edited August 2020

    @moreyshadypines Good idea about the electric fence. My local garden clubs frequently have presentations about how to deer proof your garden but I have not hear electric fence mention. Watched one of our deer proudly prancing across our field and just take a flying leap over the barbwire fence without any break in its stride. They really are magnificent creatures. And definitely brassy!

  • mcmom1
    mcmom1 Posts: 6 ✭✭✭

    Hello All, I live in SE Texas. I keep typing and deleting what I want to say, so to sum it up HELP!!! I have about 240' of raised beds. We had found a pic on the internet years ago, my dream 'kitchen type' garden. The garden is beautiful, the plants on the inside are struggling. I'm a re-novice gardener. I had the most beautiful, healthy soil garden about 15 years ago. I didn't prep my soil correctly, this time, so I'm paying for it in so many ways. I just pulled my spaghetti squash and zucchini because of vine bore worms...I caught the moth in the act😡 Honestly never ran across one before, At first glance I thought it was a red wasp. Marjory mentioned a woman named Leslie in her welcome e-mail, if you could direct me to her that would be great.

    I've been watching video's, reading articles, books...I have so many recipes for the 'best' soil that I'm suffering from information constipation. I so wish I would have found this site back in January...It would have saved me many months of purchases of this and that. I'm eager and excited about learning 😁

  • JodieDownUnder
    JodieDownUnder Posts: 1,483 admin

    @mcmom1 welcome to TGN. Yes, it seems overwhelming to get started on this journey but there are lots of great experienced people on this forum and the presentations are excellent, you never stop learning. The only solid advice I can give you regarding your garden is to love and nurture the soil. Treat it well and it will reward you. Compost, compost, compost, mulch, mulch mulch. You can never have enough. The compost adds nutrients, microbes, structure, water holding capacity, oxygen. Enourages worms, growth and abundance. The mulch keeps your moiture in, weeds out and adds organic matter to the soil. If you've not composted before, check out a course/presentation on this forum. If your soil was shipped in by a garden/landscape supply company, you never know where it came from. Could be contaminated, poor soil and sold to you as garden loam. World-wide there are some dodgy operators! If you think prep was the problem, pull everything out, dig in some manure and mushroom compost and spread some mulch on top. Let it rest a couple weeks and start again. In the mean time start composting. A Ph kit is a worthy addition, test the existing soil, hey it may be just an imbalance and the addition of lime and organic matter may be all you need. And lastly, if you go out to your garden feeling grateful and calm, instead of frustrated, you will definitely be rewarded in so many ways. All the very best, you got this.

  • IrisB
    IrisB Posts: 142 ✭✭✭

    Welcome to this community. And I believe this was a really good step because we can help with more than just internet information. Every garden is different! And every situation is different. That's why you can't simply implement what has worked for someone else. You need to be able to ask questions and compare if you are in a similar situation.

    So firstly: Breathe and appreciate that you have amazing opportunities. Many people would love to have your size of raised beds.

    Then: How many of them do you really need right now to grow AND HARVEST what you really need. How much space can you devote to just keep in a soil improvement stage for months or even years?

    In summary simple question: What minimum achievement would make you smile at the end of this month?

  • Torey
    Torey Posts: 5,679 admin

    @mcmom1 Welcome to TGN! Have you checked out TGN's Academy? There are gardening courses and one on "Nutrient Dense Soil".

  • mbulfinch2
    mbulfinch2 Posts: 1 ✭✭✭

    Hi. I'm Marie Bulfinch from Conroe, Texas (near Houston) I've dreamed of gardening for my own food supply all my life because of the experience I had when my mom had a garden with huge compost pile and the produce was soooo sweet and flavorful. It stuck with me all these years. I'm 67 now and finally living my dream. I started a couple of years ago with okra. Had some success with that, but not the other things.

    Watched plenty of youtube videos and having much better success this year with okra, squash and cucumbers and planning bigger starting in the fall and next spring. Love my worm farm and having fun.

  • LaurieLovesLearning
    LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,573 admin
    edited August 2020

    @mbulfinch2 That sounds excellent! If only gardening had no hiccups and it could be great everytime from the start!

    It sounds as though you are moving forward and doing well. One step at a time.

    Welcome here!

  • JodieDownUnder
    JodieDownUnder Posts: 1,483 admin

    @mbulfinch2 hello and welcome to TGN. Okra is not so popular in Australia and I'm not sure why. I love it and once it gets going, well you end up looking like okra! I just planted my first seeds today into a tray to get going this coming summer. It is certainly a nice feeling to be self sufficient and enjoying eating and sharing your abundance. Enjoy the forum, you never stop learning and the courses and presentations are excellent. Happy days.

  • Deb113
    Deb113 Posts: 42 ✭✭✭

    Hi everyone from Tennessee. Beautiful weather today, time get fall veggies in. My first fall garden here. Spoiled by 20 years in south east Texas, wish me luck.

  • IrisB
    IrisB Posts: 142 ✭✭✭

    Good luck @TNTX girl

This discussion has been closed.