I have been starting to look a bit more into my Chinese heritage since my father passed away recently.  To be honest, I never really thought that much about it and usually, if anyone asked, I would say I was Cantonese for easiness sake.  Actually, I am not Cantonese and I don’t even speak Cantonese.  I am Hakka….well, you are probably thinking that you are none the wiser being told this information…anyway, it is significant because Hakka people were traditionally farmers and within their social structure, it was the women that worked the fields (subsistence farming) whilst the men worked in the urban areas (for money).  Interesting that the Hakka were the only Chinese that did not practice foot binding…probably because the women had to work outside.

Anyway…my convoluted introduction was just to add another layer of interest…maybe Munchkin is going full circle and getting in touch with her ancestral roots?!!  😉

Okay, more pictures:

Gnome has been pruning trees (probably about 3 to 4 times a week) and gathering the wood to make charcoal.  The previous charcoal container was over-flowing so he had to make it larger and sloping to allow better access.

The tyre garden is working out well especially when the ground is so boggy right now.  We are stashing taro in between the tyres in the hope that the geese overlook them…so far, so good.  The geese have a very healthy appetite when it comes to roots like taro and we are careful to hide them from their plain sight.

We are also developing a grove of pitahaya (dragon fruit) on tyres.  The cactus is trained to grow up the posts and once they reach the top and start dangling…which usually takes about 9 months…will produce fruit.  So far, we have about twelve of these and I am aiming for about 20 or more plants.

The tyres are filled with seaweed (courtesy of Panda…thanks!).  Right now, with full on rainy season, it takes about a week for the salt to wash out of the seaweed…once washed out, the cactus is planted and attached to the post with bindweed vine.

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