Whanake and The Trig

On Thursday, our free day, Dave and I decided to take a little nature walk up the ridge across from the front of the house.  The map on our wall labels it "Whanake," and says it has an elevation of 305 meters (1,000 feet).

We almost couldn't find the trailhead, but a friendly gentleman on a bike showed us the path and told us it would lead us to "The Trig."  What's a Trig?!?  I enjoyed a silly adventure looking for The Trig, as well as some beautiful views and interesting learning opportunities about the New Zealand forest.  Dave has been in NZ far longer than me, so he was able to show me some interesting aspects I wouldn't have noticed.

How about spider webs so strong they can catch fish?

Or a tree that has a very unique defense against parasitic plants?

Or how about a creature that started its life around the time Lief Eriksson landed in North America, 1000 years ago?

Finally, here are some photos from the day:

Enjoy!

House Tour

Thursday was a free day, so I had plenty of time to play around on the computer, including uploading photos and making a video tour of my temporary home here in Tuateawa.

Welcome home!

Love is in the Air (Stick Bug Sex)

This might cross the weird line for some, but I thought it was neat.

When Dave and I were working on the spa bath deck, I happened to notice a stick bug on the roof post of the gazebo.  Then I noticed that there was a smaller stick bug on her back!

stick bug sex.  he's got his "arm" around her.  awww.

When both sexes of stick insect exist, the female is always larger.  The smaller males are always more difficult to identify than females, and in some cases, impossible to identify unless seen with a corresponding female.

attempted coitus interruptus?  suddenly, the female stick bug started walking away from the male while they were still attached!

When reproducing sexually, the female will often carry the male on her back for several hours to a few weeks (!), pausing their buggy sex only to lay eggs (they can eat independently during this time--just picture a buffet of leaves instead of strawberries and chocolates).

she dragged the male up the post.  somehow, he held on while waving around his little "arms."

Ladies, have you ever wondered muttered under your breath that you wished men didn't exist?
Well, in some stick insect species, males are not known to exist, or to occur very infrequently!

Elbow Grease

As beautiful as Tuateawa is (and it's beautiful), there's a lot of work to be done here.  We work either on the land doing projects directly related to conservation or at the resident house doing projects to make life more enjoyable for the folks doing the conservation work.

Dave did a great summary post of some of the things he's worked on here.  This is a very quick outline of some of the work I've done in the past 2.5 weeks.  It's definitely not a complete list...  actually it's based on the projects for which I have pictures!

Trail Clearing:

(at the land - one of my favorites)

Planting Flax:

(at the land - flax is a really important plant for stabilizing ecosystems here, especially wetlands and flood plains.  this was the dirtiest i've been in a long time)

"Tree Love:"

(at the house and the land - digging up seedlings, settling them into the nursery, & prepping to transplant them)

(one of my favorite projects)

Building a Spa Bath...

(at the house - a spa bath will make working in the winter much more tolerable, and the cool, damp winter months are the best times to plant seedling trees here.)

...building the deck of the spa bath:

(the "ol' fashioned" way - with a hammer and saw)

...bricks and mortar:

(building the structure to contain the wood fire and support the vat)

(the woman in the picture is laura, not me)

So there you have it:  good days of work in the fresh air and sunshine.  Not always glamorous or interesting, often uncomfortable, always tiring.  Yet for every tree I settle into our little nursery (we prepped 92 the other day), I think of the future, when that little eight-inch seedling will stand eighty feet tall.  I probably won't be around to see that day, which is both a humbling and reassuring thought.

Good Morning, Sun

One of the residents here has a background in marketing and media, and she's been taking a lot of photographs and video of life in the Valley.  One morning last week, we had to wake up before the sun to take care of some issues on the land.  She took the opportunity to create a time-lapse video of the sunrise over the water from our deck.  This is 20 minutes of video condensed into 30 seconds.

The birth of a new day.  Enjoy each one.

Pita Bread

I'm on food team tomorrow; I'm planning on making homemade hummus with homemade pita bread, and I've got some sprouts started as well.  This is my first time sprouting (don't really like sprouts; maybe they're better when they're very fresh) and my first time making pita bread.  I made the pita bread today, and they turned out so well.  It was so easy!

Homemade Pita Bread
Makes 16 breads

Ingredients:

• 4 tsp. yeast
• 2 tbs. sugar (or honey)
• 2 1/2 c. cups lukewarm water
• 6 cups whole wheat flour
• 3 tsp. salt
• 2 tbs. olive oil

Directions:

If using active dry yeast, "wake up" the yeast by mixing it with the water and sugar and waiting ~10 minutes, until frothy.  Otherwise, mix dry ingredients, and then add wet ingredients.  Mix with a wooden spoon, and then your hands.  The flour should all be incorporated and the dough should not be sticky.  Knead for at least 10 minutes.  Lightly coat the dough in olive oil, place in a large bowl, and cover with a kitchen cloth.  Allow the dough to rise until it's doubled in size (it took three hours for my dough to rise).

Preheat the oven to really freaking hot.  At least 400 degrees, 500 degrees if your oven goes that high.  Also heat up your baking surface (cookie sheet, baking stone).  Punch down the dough.  Separate into 16 same-sized balls.  Allow the dough to relax for 10-20 minutes.  Roll out the dough balls with a rolling pin to ~1/4 inch thickness on a floured surface.  Bake in batches until puffy, 3-8 minutes.

My first four pitas.  Only two puffed up...  later batches were more successful!

Hints for puffy pitas:

• Make sure your oven is really freaking hot.
• Don't open the oven door while they're baking.  The steam in the bread will help the breads puff up.
• Don't roll out the breads too thinly.  If they're too thin, they won't puff up.