My eternal quest for adventure sees me at a new job as Welfare Officer for the Dunedin RSA Welfare Trust.

More about this in due course, however - here is the link to a quick TV interview for our own Dunedin based TV Channel.

Link to Niall's interview

More Anon

The Pragmatic Gardener

Imagine my surprise when I opened my newspaper and saw this!

This Bloke’s garden 2  

Following on from last month where I went on about the myriad benefits of maintaining a small garden vege plot, this month I will explain how I put my plots together and why I did it the way I did.  Now it doesn’t matter if you are used to the traditional ¼ acre, or have a wee concrete paved postage stamp.  The theory is the same and the plot will work just as well in either setting.  The point is that once it is set up, it will be a pleasure rather than a chore to maintain.

What you are looking for is a nearly level space for your plot which will be 1.2metres square (or 4 feet in the old money) that gets a reasonable amount of sun.  If you are blessed with choice, you could look for a space that isn’t too susceptible to winter frosts, is away from the nutrient robbing roots of large trees or hedges, and doesn’t get too much shade.  Chances are that if you enjoy sitting there in a deck chair, your veges will like it there too.  You will need to consider a couple of other things too in this planning stage: Can you walk around all four sides of the proposed plot? You will need to be able to reach the mid-point without standing on the plot, and if it is on grass you need to be able to fit a mower around it.  Is there anyone (Wife, Husband, Partner, landlord etc.) I need permission from? Is there an able bodied friend, neighbour, relative I can ask if I need a little help setting this up? This project may well present you with an opportunity to break the ice with someone and make a new friend.

This is the stage where you need to start collecting a few things and perhaps organise a trip to the hardware store.  For each plot you will need eight fence palings from a timber merchant or hardware store.  They should only cost $2 or $3 each, or less if you are canny enough to shop around or strike a sale. The size you want is 150mm x 1.2m x 25mm (or 6” x 4’ x 1”).  The ones I use are treated – it is your choice.  I don’t believe I have exposed myself to anything too nasty, and my veges grow very well so I have made an informed choice and because of that my plots have some rot resistance.    Yes, you can use old railway sleepers, bricks, hay bales, or any number of other things, but the advantage of using palings is that they are just the right size, all exactly the same size, and the ends are square so you don’t have to go to the trouble of cutting them yourself. While you are at the hardware shop you will need a couple of dozen galvanised nails. 75mm decking nails are ideal – they have a flat head and have ridged sides to improve holding.

If you do some research beforehand you should be able to find 40litre bags of garden compost and potting mix suitable to fill your finished plot for a reasonable price. I have done a 50/50 mix of the cheapest of each I could find and it works fine. (I can already hear the howls of protest, but all I can say is that it works fine for me.)   An empty plot will swallow 8 or 10 bags, but if you use a bale of pea straw on the bottom first you can get away with a fraction of that amount, the pea straw will break down over time and you just need to top the plots up with compost every spring.  For me there is no great science, I am just looking for an economic weed free way to fill my 1.2metre squares with some sort of growing medium.  I’ll be adding all sorts of organic goodies as time goes on so don’t stress, its not that critical.  You could source good bulk medium from a garden centre in bulk if you like – your choice again, the bags work for me.  This could also be where you get your new agile friend to help bring the bags to your plot.

You should also start saving newspapers about now.  A couple of weeks worth of the newspaper should be enough, or the equivalent amount of any other non-glossy paper based product such as cardboard.  If you don’t get the paper delivered, ask a neighbour.

Now we are ready to put this thing together.  Assemble four of your palings to form a hollow square.  Two nails through one end of each paling into the end grain of its adjoining one should be enough. Place your hollow square onto the spot you have chosen and make sure its fairly level by digging out any high spots. Check that it is still square by measuring across the diagonals – if they are the same then it is square – at least that was the case when Pythagoras was a lad.

Now you need to make another hollow square and stack it on top of the first one. You can secure them together by ‘skewing’ a nail in each side from the top paling into the bottom one.  At this point you could further secure the structure by hammering a wooden peg into the ground inside each corner.

Collect your pile of paper and start ‘paving’ the inside of your box.  You want a good thick layer (3 or 4 days worth) over the whole bottom to supress any weeds that may try to pop up.  On top of this goes your chosen growing medium – perhaps a 200mm layer of compressed pea straw with 100mm of potting / compost mix on top. Fill the plot right to the top as it will compress with time.

Next post:  Planting

This Bloke's Garden

Now for something completely different from the travel adventure theme.....  This is the first of a series of articles I am writing for our Age Concern Otago monthly magazine 'Community in Action'.  It struck me that this isn't just for the elderly - anyone can benefit from these easy care garden plots. The qualifier is that I am not an expert - what I describe works for me and has come from my own experiences - trial and error if you like.  If you need a textbook there are plenty available in the shops, library or online.  Please enjoy the spirit of these posts - you needn't take them too seriously!!

I get a huge sense of satisfaction from being able to pluck a few fresh leaves from my small vege plot to make a salad and I feel self-righteous every time I pull a handful of baby carrots to supplement our dinner veges.  In dollar terms, I suspect I’d be marginally better off buying my greens from the supermarket, and I certainly have no illusions about being self-sufficient, or being an expert in the field [excuse the pun], but for me the three tiny 1.2 metre square plots I maintain have many more benefits to offer than just fresh produce. 

Physical and mental fitness, fresh air, social connectivity with like-minded souls (even if it is just exercising bragging rights over a bumper crop with your neighbour), a sense of purpose, and a source of pride and satisfaction are just some good reasons to persevere with an edible garden plot.

With our short Southern growing season it can be a challenge to grow some crops.  Enjoying the ‘fruit [and veges] of your success’ involves planning and coordinating a series of tasks, often over a number of months.  Sometimes too there are disappointments.  For those times there is always the supermarket option.  A keen though lazy gardener, I have always been interested in easier and more efficient ways of doing things.  Because of a dodgy back, double trenching huge plots just doesn’t do it for me and my gardens have no use for shovels or other heavy tools. 

Over the next few months I’ll share a series of short articles describing how I put my own plots together so you too will be able to enjoy a productive and enjoyable low maintenance and relatively cheap garden that will be the envy of your peers come spring.

Changing of the guard

Well, it has finally come to this.... after almost 32 years (nearly three life sentences) as a loyal servant of NZ Police I have taken the plunge into retirement. This has always been my aim, so there is no sudden drama that has caused this - it is just time. A month or two ago an opportunity slid into view and I managed to catch it before it fell onto the pile of missed ones. Now, as a result I am to have New Years eve off (a scary thought after all these years) and start work on the 4th of January for Age Concern Otago as their new Manager - Funding, Communications, and Community Projects. Obviously this will mean a certain amount of adjustment - starting of course with having to start making decisions earlier in the day than I am used to: "Today I will wear...." There will of course be other changes, but I believe I am well prepared and there shouldn't be too many surprises. After I have done some time and earned a little leave and good will I hope to once again be available to Red Cross for at least short term missions to wild needy out of the way places.

My last week in Colombo

The last six months have flown past. It seems like only yesterday I was experiencing my first Tuk tuk ride and gazing wide eyed at all the new and interesting things you see every time you land on a new shore. Now I don’t think twice as I roam around the city by foot or by tuk’ it has become home to me and I don’t feel like a tourist any more. Unfortunately though, having arrived at that comfortable point – it is time to pack up and return to my real home where winter still lives.

‘Zarges’ (My alloy trunk full of unaccompanied luggage) was packed last week and delivered to our logistics department where it waits for DHL to come and whisk it off back to NZ. It was a bit like saying goodbye to an old friend. When I arrived Zarges had beaten me here by a few days, but had taken over six weeks to fight its way through the red tape of landing unaccompanied before we were reunited. This time I have my fingers crossed that it will be waiting on my Dunedin doorstep by the time I arrive home. Yeah right!!!

I shouted cake this morning for my birthday. I only needed one this time, whereas three months ago two didn’t quite make it around everyone in the building – clearly we are ‘downsizing’.

My last week is all about doing final reports, closing my bank account, paying the bills, handing things over, farewell dinners, last minute souvenir shopping, goodbyes, stocking up with spices, and ‘unbolting the training wheels’ from my friend and colleague Harin who will take over as National Security Officer for IFRC.

Some of the things I will miss about Sri Lanka: The food – particularly the prawns, tuk tuks – with which I have a love hate relationship, taxi fares, the friends I have accumulated along the way, no swearing – I’ve hardly heard an angry word since I arrived, the positive working environment, friendly courteous people, eclectic architecture, and the food!

Some of the things I will not miss: Traffic, indiscriminate and incessant tooting of horns, busses, pollution, armed military presence, high security zones, politicians – I won’t go there!, bureaucracy, dog (and other) crap on pavements, motorcyclists on pavements, and breaking out in a sweat every time you blink!

Looking forward to: Reuniting with Jen, family, friends and pets, feeling the lawn between my toes – well maybe when the frosts stop!, traffic rules, preparing my garden for spring planting, dreaming up new mad schemes over a Whisky or two with my good mate Milton, fishing from our launch ‘Seagull’, settling down for a while before the next adventure, and the NZ launch of iPhone 4.

Not looking forward to: The struggle to lose the pounds I have gathered by enjoying too many prawns, the less positive aspects of my working environment (OK - work sucks!!), dog crap on pavements, taxi fares, and surly shop staff.

So now all that remains is to eat what little is left in the cupboards, and figure out how on earth I am going to cram everything into my suitcase!

Finally I must share with you a quote I came across the other day that I can identify with:

Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside - Chardonnay in one hand, chocolate in the other - thoroughly used up, totally worn out and loudly proclaiming "WOO HOO, What a Ride"

~ author unknown ~

Not that I am particularly fond of either Chardonnay or chocolate – but you get the idea…..

Greybeard's usual day at the office

It is 6am and through the haze of sleep I vaguely hear a bell ringing in the distance calling local Muslims to prayer. Ding… ding then a pause of a few seconds, ding…ding, another pause then ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. This is my daily signal to leap off the bed (it is too hot to sleep under even a sheet) and wander through for my morning shower. On the way I flick on the jug because I cannot function without my morning cup of tea, and soak some muesli (provided of course that my fridge hasn’t frozen my milk, and the mites haven’t breached the security of my muesli packet) I live on the eighth floor of a 6 year old apartment block that already looks 20 years old, but is reasonably comfortable with tile floor and the obligatory dark stained hardwood furniture common in these parts. 

Shower, dress, breakfast and a check of the cellphone for SMS messages that arrive frequently from various media and other sources to make sure that the world hasn’t ended overnight, then off to the lift and out into the heat, noise and traffic of the morning for my half hour stroll to work. “Good morning Sir” from the building caretaker and security guards at the door. Already at 7.30am it is in the mid to high 20s and humid, and traffic is building up along with the smog. The road along which I walk to work is quite busy and there is a constant tooting of horns (the Sri Lankan equivalent of indicators and road rules). Crossing the intersections can be challenging, but at this time just as school is starting most larger intersections have a policeman directing traffic as the traffic lights just can’t cope – and in any case they are often ignored. My walk takes often takes me past several lady street sweepers who, armed with their ‘witches brooms’ are busy sweeping the footpath clear of leaves, rubbish, and just like NZ - dog poo!

Every couple of minutes a tuk tuk buzzes past and I am either tooted at or “taxi?” is yelled at me by the driver – I have given up replying. If I wanted a taxi surely I would be standing on the side of the road waving at one! A little further on and I pass by the World’s first woman Prime Minister’s house, the late Mrs Bandaranaike, then I come to ‘The Lily Petal’, a little local café that sells me for the equivalent of 70c NZ two bread rolls filled with a sort of savoury omelette, tomato, lettuce and mayonnaise – my lunch. It has become so routine that the shop assistant sees me coming and has my rolls bagged up ready as I walk in the door without a word having been exchanged. I don’t have the heart to change my order now!

I am usually among the first to arrive at the office just before 8am, but thankfully my Sri Lankan colleague Harin, has often beaten me by an hour and has turned the a/c on. I spend the next half an hour or so trying to stop sweating before changing into a fresh shirt. Another cup of tea follows along with a chat to Harin to catch up on anything that has happened overnight. Harin is the National Security Officer and will take over my role when I return to the NZ winter at the end of July. We often spend time analysing current events – what does this decision by Government mean? What happens if this person becomes Minister of Housing? etc. The rest of the morning is spent reading and responding to the 30 or so emails that have arrived since the afternoon before, and reading media and other reports online. Sometimes there are meetings to attend. There are lots of meetings in Red Cross! Often a brief update of the security situation is all that is required. Probably half of these meetings are with people outside Red Cross – UN, other NGO’s, Embassy staff, and a range of other people who all become part of our local security network as we become part of theirs.

We (Harin or I) deliver security briefings to visiting delegates warning them about what to look out for and how to avoid becoming a victim while they are here. Sometimes there are incidents to inquire into or analyse. All security incidents (from traffic accidents, to breaches of regulations) have to be reported to the security unit, investigated, analysed, and recommendations made, and records kept. I also have a variety of reports to write and keep updated so I spend a lot of time in front of a computer.

Before I know it, two milky sweet cups of tea have been delivered (10am and 3pm) and it is time to gather my bits and pieces and wander off home reflecting on the day, dodging puddles, tuk tuks and busses, and chatting to the caretaker at the apartment before checking the mail and taking the lift back up to the eighth floor. The apartment by this time has reached the high 30’s so I collapse under a fan and rehydrate with a cold can as I stop sweating again.

A quick bite to eat – often simple fare as it is cheaper and easier to go to a hotel for a proper meal every few days than cook, check the emails, write a bit, maybe watch Discovery Channel for a bit and I am likely to be on my bed under the fan by 9pm – this being the coolest place in the apartment. Perhaps I will have veges tomorrow, maybe my milk won’t be frozen by the morning……Thus ends another day.