The end result.

As a post script to my last blog about the permaculture cert 3 course.  I have received a message from the course assessor, advising me that I have made it through and achieved the cert3.  It was the one message that I have yearned for over a long and arduous time.  At this point, with all the elation I feel,  I wish to express my deepst thanks to every person who spoke encouraging words, who sat with me when I was crying in frustration, who gave me much appreciated advice, who had more faith in me than I did myself and above all rose to the moment and expressed their congratulations when the news came through.  You all hold a very special place in my life and in my heart. Know that in all you do, you too are loved.

A hiatus in life

A 3 year journey has come to an end.  The permaculture Design course I undertook in 2009 was a long and rewarding undertaking that I would not exchange for all the money in China.  Although I had followed the Permaculture lifestyle for over 20 years, doing the course has brought clarity, a greater understanding and a wider knowledge base to all that I have done during those 20 years.  On Thursday I made a trip to Gisborne in order to submit the last of my work units.  I met with Virginia at a wonderful luncheonette and during that time we went over the work being submitted and then clarified a few things.  As the drive had been a little hard on my back I decided to stay overnight in Gisborne with a dear friend (thankyou for that blessing my friend) and then drove home on the Friday.  The quiet drive home gave me a lot of time to reflect on all that the past 3 years has done for me and meant to me.  It also gave me time to contemplate the next phase in my life's journey.  I have enrolled to do my cert4 TAE, which will mean I am able to teach Permaculture once the course is done in October.  I am also hoping to do the Diploma unit in Whole Farm Planning.  After all this is completed,  the world is my oyster and the options open to me are endless.  So having said all this, why did I come away feeling like I had lost something.   Maybe this is the normal thing when you finally get complete closure on something you have worked hard to do.  Oh well, at least I have a few weeks to regroup and put a little work in on the system I am hoping will provide me with an abundance of beautiful organic food this coming summer. So out to the dairy with barrow and shovel to collect as much free fertiliser as I can for the about to be established gardens. Then to begin seed selection and decide on how I will propogate them this year.  Wasnt quite so keen on the little things I used last season, only had about 40% success rate with them. May need to go back to the old ways of using punnets and seed raising mix.

Last years propogation method using Jiffy pots, works well for smaller seeds, not so great for things like pumpkin, zucchini, melons, beans and peas.

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