Aunty's Garden and The Koha

Funny how sometimes the words just don't come until they are ready.

I am being patient, not everything likes to be pushed along.

Stories worth telling take their own sweet time,

like the story of Aunty's Garden & the Koha.

I am presently mindful of the fact that we are, of course, familiar with our own ways; our own knowledge we take for granted. Sometimes we can forget that others don't see the same things that we see, nor see through the same eyes. Our grandson Kaitiaki is part Maori. He has a rich heritage, woven of many colourful strands. His name means "spiritual guardian or caretaker". On his Maori side, he is fully immersed in the family & belongs...glued. He cannot dislodge his belonging even if he flew to the moon.
Last weekend he & all his school mates filled 5 buses & travelled up to the mountains to listen to stories. Stories that belong to them all. Stories not held in books but in the heart & memory of living "whanau". The Maori people know that belonging is essential to living, without it people fail & fall through the cracks & do not thrive. They also have a relationship with the earth that is of the sacred. Respect. And knowledge that I admire.
The rest of us are just sort of "scattered around the community", but if you are Maori you have a "home", a local Marae where the people come to celebrate & connect, feed the crowds & sleep, mourn & bury the dead & sometimes grow food too. There was a time when all Marae had a garden...
like Aunty's Garden just down the road from us & around the corner.

 Aunty's Garden is a lot like the Secret Garden it is open & alive & offering it's bounty in love to the whole world..

 It was planted by fine people who know the old ways & who wanted to encourage their people to eat better & feed their families well.

 In true heart, they then welcomed all.
Anyone can come in the gate & wander around the carefully tended plot & pick from it whatever they like!! Winter, spring, summer or autumn.

 I found Linda here. She'd driven 30 mins to get to the garden...
because it is all organically grown & so good.

 Who would have thought that a cabbage patch would be such a beautiful sight!

 The gardens are laid out in a koru shape...like a curled fern frond. It symbolises new life, growth, strength & peace.

 When you are done harvesting, you simply leave your koha in the box right here.
Koha...quite simply, a gift from the heart: what you are able to pay, what you feel that it is worth.
I don't suppose a chicken would fit in the box then?

 I felt so satisfied & enriched with my basket of beautiful fresh, organic "kai"

 All this got me to thinking that this little quote right here solves a whole lot of problems all in one sentence..don't you think?
"I cannot rid the the entire world of noxious problems but I can patiently cultivate the good earth around my own two feet & grow what I wish to see in my own backyard"
Jack Nordby
I think this might deal to a lot of fretting & fussing & help to keep the focus where it can actually make a difference.

With scratchy throats & snuffles around I made a jar of this...

 & it is so good! Fresh tumeric, lemon zest, lemon juice, fresh ginger root & honey.
It actually makes a jolly good dressing & marinade too & keeps for ages in a jar in the fridge.

 Somewhere, without any body catching on, it seems to me, that we lost the art of home nursing/home remedies. Things that once, every good mother could be depended on to know, were traded for the over-the-counter pharmacopia of pills & potions that, sad to say, frequently do more harm than good & soon enough we became a generation that forgot how to help ourselves.
My daughter Anna began a quest a few months back, to create a healing balm using native plants & natural resources. Her Native Bush Balm, I can truly attest, is utterly brilliant. I would never want to be without it again. It soothes all kinds of irritations, wounds & annoyances..including providing instant relief from mosquito bites, cracks under toes, rose prickle injuries, skin rashes such as irritation from the slime in the leaves in agapanthas plants. She sends all around New Zealand. If you'd like a pot & are "local" the cost is $10 + $4 p&p & you can contact me here or Anna here on her Native Bush Balm facebook page

 I was so delighted to have a visit from one of my favourite native birds the kereru (or native wood pigeon) while I was out garden fairying last week. Such beautiful colours aren't they!

Here, down-under, we have just past the winter solstice, the time the Maori call Matariki: the time of new beginnings.

Lots of life is a trade off isn't it. It's hard, sometimes to find the right balance. I think that this quote may well help in days to come. I might just pop it up on the kitchen cupboard where I can see it often. I found it on the back page of the latest Good magazine.

 I have been letting things go.
 Lots & lots of things!
And it's ok, in fact it's marvelous!
I have been busy as a bee on Trade me & sent many interesting items all around the country side.
But then Rob found yet another suitcase of precious bits & bobs. Poof they're a little musty..so they are airing. I'm not letting everything go you understand, but perhaps sometime this year we might be able to tidy our house properly again...at last!!

Thank you so much for all your terribly helpful & kind comments (& emails) on my last post.

I treasure our conversations more than you can know!

David is fine & a much better driver by the minute!!

Do you have trouble letting go of things or are you always neat & tidy & organised?

Have a lovely week my friends..a smile & a hug for you all!

 ♥♥♥♥♥