Good Post (no Bills), Proteas, Seeds and Strelizias.

One of the drawbacks of living on an Island in the middle of the Atlantic is that - well - you live on an Island in the middle of the Atlantic, this makes shopping a bit of a Treasure hunt - not that there is any lack of stuff but if you need something specialised Ebay and PayPal are your friends. Today was an exciting day here at no 32 (we are still thinking of a name for our house and seeing as we have great sunsets we thought to call our house por da sol - sunset house but that sounds like an old peoples home so for now it is no. 32) - the postie arrived with stuff we bought on Ebay. Whenever the postie van drives past we are always on the alert in case something is in it for us.

Well todays packages included a bench grinder wheel dresser, for me AND Tanyas seeds, this really exciting stuff as it is such a pleasure to grow anything in this temperate climate. Tanya enjoys growing medicinal herbs and our neighbour has come to understand that, when we first got here she was telling Tanya to pull out the "weeds" and when T told here they were medicinal she didnt say anything more. Tanyas main interest is complementary medicine and she practises reflexology, reiki, metamorphic technique and a newly acquired access bars, all amazing, especially when you are on the receiving end.

Well we now have Tea Tree seeds, Sea Buckthorn, Wild Cucumber, Mexican Coriander, Motherwort, Evening Primrose, Marshmallow, Ox Knee, Patchouli, Vitex, Ashwagandha, and Hibiscus sabdariffa for tea. You would think making tea is simple, but here at no 32, there is too much choice. Tea sometimes entails a trip out into the rain and wind to pick some lemon grass, or lemon verbena (simpler because it is closer to the kitchen door), sage or even nettle. T calls her herbal brew -  tea, as that is what she has always known as tea but others might call this an infusion or tisane. Tisane sort of sounds like tea, anyway.

Today we added some horse manure to our Labyrinth garden, and some sawdust for the paths of the Labyrinth. - There will be a seperate post on the labyrinth.

Last year we got some Virginia tobacco seeds from a friend who brought them from Germany and they were really successful in the Labyrinth, so this year I have lots of tobacco seeds and will be planting a lot more. Our Protea seeds in the seedling trays are sort of poking their leaves out in a few places. It is an eye opener to see Proteas growing on the Island - in fact they have a scheme whereby you can grow them for export, as well as strelitzias - both native to South Africa. Both plants are really happy here as are we.