24341055 28da427246b82e6efd868fafe25bda78 gardeningkiwi http://gravatar.com/gardeningkiwi gardeningkiwi http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/28da427246b82e6efd868fafe25bda78 http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/28da427246b82e6efd868fafe25bda78 thumbnail http://2.gravatar.com/userimage/24341055/72c93cef31a2612d33aecb89d05ec0b2 Sarah the Gardener gardeningkiwi Hi I’m Sarah the Gardener and I live on a small 3 acre lifestyle block in the Waikato in New Zealand, with my family: Hubby the Un-Gardener, Tim the Helper and the Joeyosaurus, Toast the Cat and 3 chickens and two roosters (I know – one has to go, but the kids cried when I suggested it.) We are smack bang in the middle of dairy country and our land used to be a swamp. It was drained in the late 1800s although when they had a whole new country to explore; why they would drain a swamp seems to defy logic! The upside is the soil is awesome for growing stuff in, the down side of is it tends to flood after heavy rain in the winter. I’ve seen carrots float away before! We are slowly transforming our land into our paradise, but good things take time. The first priority was to get the veggie garden and orchard up and running. While it is also still a work in progress its gives a great food to eat! I also love to make wine and jams and generally finding all sorts of ways to preserve my crops. I have discovered a love of writing about the trials and tribulations of my garden and my world through a recent competition, and now it is over I don’t want to stop writing. Come again soon – there will be fun and laughter and heaps of gardening related adventures! Sarah the Gardener :o) South of Auckland, New Zealand http://sarahthegardener.co.nz