The beginnings of a New Pond in the Mandala

Here's a blow by blow of the creation of our new pond in the central bed of the Permaculture Mandala Garden.

We've simply (he he he! - I mean "Aaron! simply") dug out our shape and after removing rocks and sharp stuff, placed a 2m square piece of pond liner - the heavy-duty stuff over the space, filled it with stream water (innoculated with all the goodies that come out of stream or dam water!) et voila!

In a later blog, I will update with pics of the further aesthetic beautification of the pond - we are currently sourcing and accumulating various logs, and rocks, boulders (small!!) and driftwood to create potential dwelling spaces for frogs, lizards and all manner of hungry prey in the hope that they will gobble up our unwanted insects of the non-beneficial kind.

And, of course, Luke, our faithful friend looks on, approving the plans...

Inside Play on Rainy Days

Lately, we've had some quite inclement weather, lots of 'fuzzy' rain and chilly days and that has led to more inside time.

And here are a couple of the things Phoebe has been doing. We have some beautiful 'STOCKMAR' watercolour paints and nice paper for Phoebe to create paintings with. These paints come in an intense concentrate in tiny bottles and are diluted with water in small jars. Here she has brought inside a beautiful Monarch butterfly, which she found dead on the ground in the garden and is noticing the different patterns and colours the butterfly has and is trying out a butterfly with dark "Monarch" edges.

Another of Phoebe's inside pastimes is to create necklaces. She really appreciates the lovely beads she is given and spends hours (lots of focus!) deciding their order and then threads them up. All her (toy) friends have at least 1 beautiful beaded creation made by Phoebe.

Mum, I need a Trailer for My Kids!

One day last week, Phoebe decided I needed to attach her wonderful old wooden trolley-cart to her (now a bit small) three-wheeler because she needed a trailer for her "kids".

...finally, after more than a bit of persuasion, Phoebe trotted off in search of possible items for the attachment and came back with a long piece of twine.
In just minutes she'd worked out how to tie the two together and was in behind the handle-bars, dragging her "trailer" about the garden (excuse the lack of lawn-mowing in this pic!!)

Summer Splashing...

Whilst outside this evening the rain is dropping in a steady dribble and the temperatures are now decidedly Autumnal, I thought I'd share this pic from a few weeks ago when it felt to me as if the Summer was eternal, the heat infusing everything.

The sheer joy and sanguine, Summer lightness of two little girls running across the lawn, leaping over a water sprinkler.

Phoebe's younger cousin, Chloe, is waiting fairly patiently for her turn, summoning up the courage a few times and then letting it rip - giggles and delight.