The NZ Green Warrior

Who Fights For Plants .................................. ....We live in a world where there are people who fight for animal rights or citizen rights but who fights for the rights of plants to grow where they will, to not be cut or harvested before they go through their own natural cycle-i.e to make flowers, then seed, to die and come again if they are in the right spot. Humans take plants for granted. We do not notice them particularly, pull ones out of the ground which we call weeds, control them through cutting their limbs as in the case of fruit trees so they can make us more fruit or so that the shape and size fits our specifications. However without plants our species would die along with many other organisms because w e eat either  plants  or other organisms that eat  plants . Plants provide  us with food, fiber, shelter, medicine, and fuel.  The basic food for all organisms is produced by green  plants . In the process of food production, oxygen is r...

Produce from the garden         The painting on the Dairy This year certainly has been challenging on many levels for all of us in the “western dominated world countries” as we have been forced to face up to the uncertainty that third world nations have lived with for a very long time...look for example at the challenges for so many African people’s...hepatitis, malaria, HIV, Ebola diseases and even worse starvation and war with all the violence that comes with that state.....now Covid -19 just to add more problems to the mix. In NZ and elsewhere we can witness how media manipulate and exacerbate fear and politicians using that same fear to control and regulate their citizens.  Even more unsettling for me observing this years events is witnessing also people’s reaction  to Covoid-19 and seeing not only the acceptance by those citizens at the loss of their freedoms, but seeing the emotional condemnation of any citizens who don’t accept this loss of freedom o...

 More and more New Zealand children, with the support of their unfortunately "uninformed" parents along with those commercial  businesses wanting to make a dollar, are celebrating the Wiccan festival of Halloween or Samhain or All Hallows' Eve as it is properly called in the Northern Hemisphere on October 31. As a Wiccan myself for over 30 years and therefore someone who considers this day as one of my eight sabbats (special celebratory days), I am getting more and more irritated at the misuse of this festival and particularly as it is being celebrated in this country of NZ at the wrong time of the year. I have written using this blog about this issue back in 2014, but because nothing has changed and society continues to refer to this day as Halloween, as though we were citizens of North America enjoying the late Autumn instead of living in the Southern Hemisphere in late spring, I decided to inform people once again. Here it goes........................... Al...

I am proud that NZ was the first country in the world to give women the vote in November 1893, but here we are today in June 2017 hearing on our news that a young girl at primary school can not attend her school because she is menstruating, and that the school is unable to provide her with a suitable receptacle to place in her used pads/tampons etc. The same school also suggested that she go on the pill (at age 10) to control her menstruation. Only by her parents funding a receptacle  is their daughter able to attend. What is wrong with our leaders-is it male stupidity and ignorance still dominating our systems. The inability of this school in the 21st century to adequately deal with one of their students developing into womanhood just beggars belief. Women have been menstruating at various ages-younger and older-since our species evolved. And then there is the third world problem that is also affecting many NZ young women-the astronomical cost of sanitary products mak...

The view of the Air BnB cabin September 2016 at Caretaker Farm  One day a worm came into my house on a cabbage that I had picked from my garden. The worm was inadvertently captured by me. I picked the worm up and put it on my hand, examined it and then carefully took it outside and placed it onto the earth garden.  Now that I have started taking Air BnB customers I am starting to feel like the worm: picked from my garden , put on the hand, examined ("the Air BnB review") but not so carefully put back into my earth garden although life does go on when the guest has gone.  Back in October we began our listing through Air BnB: it was the 2 bed cabin under the Japanese Fir trees that was the first of the listed spaces. We charged $65 a night with free wifi and a simple breakfast. The 2-bed cabin The first couple noted the "odour"on the very used ex-wwoofer bedding so we purchased new bedding in the form of sheets, duvets and covers. The second couple ...

Urban gardening is the way of the future as more people live in cities and land for growing is occupied by buildings. In New Zealand urban gardening is starting to take off as more young people find ways to recycle waste, use parks and public spaces that have been neglected. The following story tells of what can be done to improve our urban environment. The Frontage on Lincoln Road Henderson Clark Wholesalers 2014 Limited is a company located at 6/251 Lincoln Road in Henderson which sells and repairs new and second hand appliances-stoves, washing machines, fridges, freezers as well as supplying  parts for such appliances. Inside Clark's appliance shop Its a normal wholesale/retail store within a set of unit businesses with a distinct industrial feel and the business, although with the changed ownership this year, has been operating in West Auckland for around 30 years. Why am I writing about this store?  Well its all about the garden and the plants that...

After 16 years of working as a tax law teacher at the University of Auckland I decided in January 2016 to quit my job and all the financial security it gave me for the insecurity of "something" else. Why? Because ultimately I believe that happiness and interesting challenges in life are more important than security. Further, as someone who has just turned 60 years old and who may or may not live for some years more I wanted to follow a new dream. This dream is for me to become a famous writer, storyteller, performer and wiccan practitioner. My university colleagues thought I was crazy and actually I feel very crazy struggling to live on $175 a week, being in debt up to the limit on my credit card and unable to get another job. However I tell myself that if I am truly walking my talk that I will have faith that it will all fall into place for me and that I will achieve my dreams if I put the energy in to create this new reality. Its scary though-especially when the new pow...