New addition

Replacing the faithful old starwagon is this cute little 2003 honda jazz. Already smitten! The boys took a LOT of photos, very likely at Christopher's instigation. Suffice it to say "She's silver and she drives like a dream". Took me all of 20 mins to decide to do errands, drive to the village, visit post office, drive to IGA, buy laundry powder, drive around corner, drop off tax info, drive home.... ta-da! I love living here, I love my Jazz, I HAVE A JOB for next year.

Magic Square @ 2 weeks

Two weeks since planting, and things are growing well. The nasturtium seeds have sprouted in this large green pot. Dead-headed marigold flowers are going straight into the garden. It takes one watering can to maintain adequate moisture at the moment, and I've only had to water four times. That's thanks to some nice rain over the last two weeks. I add a heap of kitchen scraps every few days and shovel on a scoop of mulch - which takes care of the composting side of things.


Leisa asked about pest management. So far the biggest pest has been Miss Hermione. The kitchen scrap smells draw her to the compost daily, and she was seen eating from it one day - and subsequently vomiting. Cats! I manage that by making sure I cover the tasty bits with extra mulch. I am going to start harvesting this coming week... just a few leaves here and there for sandwiches.

Salad Plot

Today was planting day, and therefore the most labour-intensive part of my garden square is now over and done with. Ably supervised by Christopher, assisted by Catherine, and hindered by Hermione, all the seedlings were settled in their place and tools tidied up within an hour.

The seedlings look a bit droopy.... transplanting never does them any favours. I'm half-thinking to save seed and raise my own next time around, but we'll see how they go. There is rain forecast for this evening, so I am hoping they will stand up to the shock.

This planting grid shows which plants are where, and what their special needs/uses are. It will be particularly handy once (if?) things get a bit lush and tangled in the magic square... in due course. So far so good.

Nearly time to plant!

Whilst I haven't personally done much more to my "one magic square" since I last wrote, the boys built me a very nifty frame. The left side is my actual planting square, while the right hand side is where I'm composting kitchen scraps. The small rock pile just behind the frame is where the Time Capsule has been located.

Today I used some string and nails to divide my planting square into 16 smaller squares. There will be a different salad vegetable in each section, giving us lots of variety for picking over spring and summer. I hope to plug in the seeds and seedlings in the next couple of days.

August is the big month! Creating a professional portfolio, writing my curriculum vitae/resume, writing cover letters, applying for jobs and hoping for interviews. It's exciting to be so close to finishing my studies, and it's also a good time to sit back and rethink the whole "why am I doing nursing?" question. I've spent some time mind-mapping about that, to be sure of my direction before making any major decisions. Now I'm keen to get some offers and start planning for work next year.

I've also given some thought to what skills I still want to polish up before launching into work as a registered nurse. I've got a mere 320 hours of time left as 'student nurse' on the wards... and I want to make the most of it.