Hello All:
This is a quick clarification…
The only one with the mouth ulcer (which has now gone, thanks to serosi tea…and not eating deep fried yum-yums….) was the Munchkin. The Gnome didn’t have them and neither did the Panda. The one who threw the wobbly and has been chopping was the Panda, not the Munchkin (well, not this time, anyway).
For those of you that didn’t realise this, there is one woodland creature (a Panda) and two deep earth creatures (the Munchkin and the Gnome) who are writing on this blog. Don’t get us confused!!
The Munchkin lives with the Gnome and both of them get up to mischief in the bush (since we both came up from deep beneath the earth to live a new life on the surface). The Munchkin is cute, bossy and likes to be in charge. The Gnome is philosophical, surly, skinny and generally not very friendly. Both are not very popular, if Blog stats are any indication to go by.
The Panda is the new kid on the block and he is trying to find enlightenment by tempering his spirit with hard physical labour, isolation and discovering his own thoughts. He is emotional and is learning to be in touch with his feelings. He likes working with bamboo. He is also very, very popular and really pumps-up our blog stats each and every time he puts up a post!! 🙂
He is so popular that we are going to have to update our About Us page to include him and give him some credit.
Okay, everybody on the same page now?
It’s official: The Blogging Wars have started and Man-Shack Panda is in the lead! If this keeps up, we’ll be making Panda Appreciation Products (PAP) as an off-shoot of Casa Mascia.
Gnome: “Dearest, there are no blogging wars…it’s all in your head!”
Munchkin: “I know…but the mere whiff of competition gets the stats up!”
Anyway, let’s not get waylaid by interpersonal blogging. This blog is about living in the bush and the wonderful things that come with the change in lifestyle. Here are some unusual greens from the farm.
Jute leaves are very nice to eat steamed or stir-fried.
Oooohhh…horse radish leaves…tastes like mustard:
We bought some chia seed from the supermarket and managed to grow them. They have mint-like fragrance and makes a nice tasting tea:
C’mon then, give Munchkin some Likes!! She is sticking to the true essence of the Blog!!
Panda’s new popularity might workout well for me too (hee-hee-hee); he gets the self-esteem boost, groupies, popularity, people thinking he is really cool and “spiritually advanced” because he can talk about his emotions, in touch with his feminine side, so to speak. AND (this is more important!) I can stop writing these stupid posts and do some real work for a change….the plot thickens…
So this morning, to Munchkin:
“The Panda is doing really well, isn’t he?”
M: “Yes, I’m glad we are getting him out of his shell…”
G: “I just thought of a great idea…”
“Yeeeaaaahhhh, what?”
“I don’t want to take the lime light away from him by writing my dumb posts…how about I take a break for a while (I can do some extra work) and let him experience the joy of popularity?”
M: “No!”
It’s too funny!! Panda is now the official celebrity of our blog!! After the weekend wobbly post, our stats are booming. I guess Munchkin and Gnome have to take a back seat…so what fun and exciting offerings do we have….hmmmm….this post is on needlework. I can hear you all groan and say, “these guys…they are two boring fogies in the bush!”
Well I am dying to tell you that Gnome is crocheting a beautiful blanket:
It’s a basket weave pattern and the picture does not do it justice. It is 8 foot wide so Gnome diligently does one row a day which takes one hour. He is aiming for an 8 foot length blanket so we have calculated that at this rate, he will finish it by dry season (April/May) next year! We definitely won’t be using it at that time so we will have to store it away for next winter. Best things come to those who wait.
So, Gnome is teaching me to crochet. I am a knitter and have had disastrous lessons from Gnome…this was about 15 years ago and I remember getting terribly upset and I telling Gnome he was an awful teacher,
This time round, the lessons have been great and I have picked up crochet really quickly. I told Gnome that he wasn’t such a bad teacher after all, and wondered in amazement at what had changed after all these years. This is what he said:
“Dearest…I have not changed in the slightest. You have changed. Before you were rebellious and contumacious. Now you actually listen!”
Oh. He’s such a smart-arse and the worse thing is, he’s right.
Anyway…next exciting project for two boring fogies in the bush is crocheting pineapple doilies!! They will look great at our camp ground by the pond…Ha-Ha!! Imagine us sipping cups of tea and eating cucumber sandwiches! Doilies are a must!!
Now we have to find some fine mercerised cotton thread in Belize. Hmmm…we may have to take up spinning….
The day has been productive.
Now I am at the stage of converting 8-bit signed and unsigned numbers to and from decimal numbers. A few more exercises and it will be done.
More sorghum is maturing.
I still have not done today’s row on “the Blanket.”
I analysed the bamboo structure (that Panda will talk about soon…) and that we built together. It is stronger than the first one I made by quick and dirty eye-balling and guesstimating by myself. The zip ties were a good idea, though thicker ones would have been better, the amount of time saved in not having to use string was significant. Measuring to a standard length also had its advantages in terms of evenness of the structure (apart from the inevitable bananas). I would use a shorter standard length next time; say, cut down the distance between posts to 6 or 8 feet. The next one will be better.
Also: started two new growing tables under the potato garden for…yup, potatoes.
The Panda is depressed. He sounds like Lucas from a dodgy History channel series called Alone (…given to me by the same Panda…no less!). I told him to publish his email to me as his second blog post, as therapy but I get the feeling that he is too shy to reveal his inner-most sensitivities to BlogWorld (TM!). I think he is still finding his inner Panda…
Okay BlogWorld (TM!), have a nice Sunday and think deep thoughts.
I was thinking that the best way to describe our blog is that it is a “Slice of Life.” They are snippets of conversations, ideas, farm life and our way of life. With humour thrown in for extra good measure.
This snippet is a perfect example of the Tao of Munchkin, Gnome and Panda.
The other day, Panda came at 8am in the morning to assist Gnome in the construction of a bamboo shelter for growing potatoes. There was no pre-amble and “let’s have a cup of tea first, mate.” Gnome and Panda went off to the bamboo to cut and haul. Everything was measured to the correct size. Holes were dug in the ground and work was done without the need for idle chit-chat.
The structure was made in 6 hours (separated into two mornings of 3 hours). Panda, still new to the “The Way of Munchkin and Gnome” kinda looked at us funny and asked politely what farm work had to be done for the afternoons.
Munchkin reply:
“Our farming way of life encompasses a way of life. It is not about working like a dog for 8 hours a day…”
Gnome added,
“It’s all about doing what you want to do…with focus, discipline and motivation.”
So Gnome suggested that Panda take the extra cut bamboo home and, “have fun with it…make something cool…maybe some blinds or something.”
Panda, who happens to like working with bamboo (well, he is a Panda after all) was very pleased that this way of life also offered creativity and leisure:
“This is great. I like that! I’m off then!”
He said this as he slung the bamboo poles over his shoulder.
Even though the Munchkin hasn’t said anything, this look,
at breakfast, makes these words reverberate in my brain:
“Since everybody is writing posts, you should write too!”
So, today, I put the clear tin on the potato garden; ground sorghum for flour and breadcrumbs; watered everything with horrible, stinky water; sorted out Munchkin’s photographs for blogging; put another egg in the incubator; crocheted another row of “the blanket” and now I am settling myself down to sit in front of the computer and do some coding….moving on to end of Chapter 3 quiz…
See?!?!? I wrote something…remaining bloggers together…I hope I get one of these:
rather than one of these:
Cheers! Have a good day everyone.
Today I was talked at:
Munchkin: “Since everybody is going to write posts, you should write posts too…”
Gnome: “Yeah, but I’m too busy coding right now, I’m almost at Chapter 3; and I have to move the tin for the potato garden cover I made with Panda; and there is the gate to chisel out and fix…maybe when things settle down…”
Munchkin: “Since everybody is going to write posts, you should write posts too…”
Gnome: “I don’t think I have time…maybe some other time…”
Munchkin: “Since everybody is going to write posts, you should write posts too…”
Gnome: “I think I really don’t have time…”
…but I guess since everybody is writing posts…
