Monday 28 July 2014

Small Town - Kaihu, Watercress

Kaihu

Yesterday Derek was working over towards Dargaville and took these pics of the little township of Kaihu. It had a population of approx 500 people in the 1890s when Kauri milling and the gumfields were operating, but now it is a quiet little village.
Tutamoe in the background


The Kaihu Hotel - still operating

Rustic shed, beautiful mid-winter's day

Kaihu Church and cemetery

Trouble in the Garden

We don't yet have enough on our young trees to share with the wildlife...look what the possums have done in our trees!


Possum-eaten avocado


And here is the culprit
And what they are good for...
Possum fur duster for the keyboard
Possums do huge damage to our native flora and fauna - so don't feel sorry for it.


 Watercress
I always thought you needed running water to grow watercress - but read recently that it can be grown in very wet ground. I have just the spot in the old fridge we painted up for a drinks cooler for our party. Yesterday I bought a bag of it, and am going to try growing it from that as there are lots of little white roots on it.
watercress

Watercress is extremely nutritional, with more iron than spinach, more vitamin c than an orange and more calcium than milk. 
It is useful cooked as a steamed vegetable or in soup or raw in salads and sandwiches. 
I hope it keeps growing....watch this space for updates.

I hope you've enjoyed today's little snippet of New Zealand life.




3 comments:

  1. I've grown watercress in a small tub from seed. I love it.
    Here it is rabbits eating my beans, carrot tops, beets, and chard. I know how you feel about the possums! Every time someone says rabbits are so cute, I want to scream!
    I love the scene with the mountains in the background.

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  2. Thanks for your comments Cynthia, if my watercress doesn't work like this I will try from seed.

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  3. My first visit to your site, and I'll be back!

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