Grow it, eat it!

So one of the things I've noticed during the lockdown is that lots of people are getting into gardening!
Since we finished school i have been lucky enough to be working my way through a tree of peaches, two trees of apples, and today Iwas able to collect the first of my feijoas!
Below is a picture of some of the fruit, veges and herbs that I've got in the garden at the moment.

From the top left there is mint, lemons, bay, rosemary, cauliflower, parsley, apples, feijoa, capsicans, corn, chillies and rhubarb. Over the break ive been planning what else i could plant. Ive also been working on a website for my other job as a landscape designer. We are designing a page to help people who want to be able to grow their own food.
I thought that some of you might like to have a go at designing your own dream garden with lots of edible plants. The first step would be to make a list of all the things you want to be able to have in your garden. To get started try making a list of what you want using the following headings:

• What sort of structures do i want in my garden? (shed, glasshouse, compost bins)
• Fruit trees (apples, pears, peaches)
• Herbs (mint, basil)
• Citrus (lemon, grapefruit)
• Vegetables
• Berries
• Anything else?

Once you have a list of everything you want to include you could start thinking about how to design your dream garden and where everything will go. Do some research on vege gardens and see what ideas you can come up with.

Next time i do a blog post i will give you some ideas about how you can make a plan of your garden at home and you might be able to use that as the location for your design.

I'd love to see what you come up with!

"We are inventing the future"

"Your time is limited, so dont waste it living someone else's life" Steve Jobs

I dont often read biographies but this one was facinating. I knew Steve Jobs was one of the founders of Apple but did you know he also had a key role in Pixar - with movies such as Toy Story and Finding Nemo? He was interesting as he wasnt actually the brains behind the products he is know for like Apple computers, ipods, iphones etc. Other people came up with the design and did the inventing, but he pushed for them to be constantly the best they could be. He had the big picture and the vision. 

But he could also a bit of a jerk - he treated his staff and family badly, had big meltdowns, took credit for others work and didnt do much for others with all his huge wealth. 

He did however create a huge change in the way we now use and enjoy technology.

"Dont let the noise of others opinions drown out your own inner voice"

How cool would it be to live in a tiny house?

Hey everyone, how cool would it be to live in a tiny house right now? This is the tiny house my friend Kelly lives in. She got an architect to design it for her but she told them exactly what she wanted to have in it. The link below is a interview that was done with her a few weeks ago as she showed someone around her tiny home!

livingbiginatinyhouse.com/stunning-modern-minimalist-tiny-house/#more-12899

If you have any questions about how her tiny home works add them to the comments and i will ask her to answer them for you!

I've had fun designing my ideal tiny home - ill show you how you can come up with a design for your own tiny space - its a great thing to fill in lots of time at the moment!

When you design something big you cant draw it full size! You draw it to a scale. I'd suggest that for this design you would draw at a scale of 1:50 - that means every 1cm you draw would equal 50cm at full size. The best way to start is to draw a grid of 1cm squares like below.

Ive drawn 1cm squares which equal 50cm (or 500mm) and ive darkened every 2 squares -  which will equal 1metre.

Kelly's tiny house is about 7m x 2.5m = 17.5m2 You can make yours whatever size you want but try to keep it below 20m2.
Now you can start designing how you want your space to look. It will be really helpfull to measure things at your home to see how big they are before you draw them to scale. For instance you will probably find that a single bed is 2m long and 1m wide so it will need to be 4cm long by 2cm wide on your drawing. Do the same with sink benches, ovens, showers, toilets, couches. If you have questions about any of this put them in the comments and ill try to help out!







Ive tried to draw the plan of Kelly's tiny house from what i could  see in the video. She has a couch and cupboard for clothes on the left and then you walk through the kitchen area to the bathroom. Upstairs she has a bed in a loft area that looks down onto her couch.
I'd love to see what sort of designs you come up with - make sure you share them with me. (1sy@hornby.school.nz) There are lots of other tiny house ideas you can look up online too.
The next step will be to try and make a model of your design! Save any old Weetbix boxes you have and watch this space!

"The more that you read....."

"The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go." Dr Seuss

Hi Everyone, before I left school i raided the library and grabbed all these books! I love reading so i knew id need a few to keep me going over the break. Hopefully you have a few at home - otherwise there are a few ways you can get books to read online for free too. I would love to hear about what you are currently reading. Im going  to do a quick review of each as i finish them. 

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern. This book is Epic. It is Crazy. It is hard to describe. There are people, pirates, cats, a kitchen that makes anything you want, underground libraries, hidden rooms, stories that become reality and reality that becomes stories! If you love books you will love this book about books!

What to do with 500 peaches

Hi Guys, this is my first post about what i have been doing over the break from school. I've seen so many of your awesome posts so thought i had better give it a go myself!
I'm really lucky to have lots of fruit trees at home so i have been busy picking (and eating!) them. I've got apples, quinces and peaches all ripe at the moment so have been trying to find lots of ways to use them all up! So far i have been freezing them, have made peach and ginger jam and peach chutney. Ive stewed some apples and might try and make quince jelly! I would love to hear if you have been doing any cooking and what you have come up with!