BONSAI UPDATE  

Date: Saturday 20 March 2010 @ 7.04PM

So I have been watching my bonsai seeds grow over these past couple months and three are doing well and the fourth is kind of a runt, but seems determined to live. I'm happy enough with the turn out. I didn't know how many seeds would grow. They've gotten to the point where I can't keep them in the original pot anymore. They're getting quite tall now and their roots were already beginning to become entangled. It was a delicate operation separating them.

I'm going to try and raise a couple in tea cups and one in the orginal container. We'll see how they like their new homes. It'll be trickier to water them without a drainage hole so I'm going to have to be quite careful not to over-water or under-water. Here are a couple of photos.








In terms of nature-y things I'm going to try growing some other seeds that I have in the potting mix I bought today. The gallery Tom did some work for in Newtown has plants growing in plastic cups. I think it's fantastic. I'm going to give that a go. I'd like to try growing some at home and some at work. :) I'll update on how that goes.

BONSAI / BUSH BASHING  

Date: Wednesday, 27 January 2010 @ 9:56PM

I had two days off this week and it's only Wednesday. Yesterday was Australia Day (public holiday) and today is my normal day off. Yesterday I was able to do something I've been wanting to do for ages, visit Nurrangingy again. Tom and I took our bikes on the train and I showed him around. The place is a public bush reserve but it's an intensely personal place for me. I did lots of growing up there. I rode over there a lot as a kid with my brother, made friends with the blacksmith, and fell in love with the bush. I used to go there on my own when I got older, not to catch guppies in the lake or start small fires with my brother with the free firewood provided, but to sit and read under trees in hidden groves off the side of bush tracks. I'd bring garbage bags and pick up all the litter inconsiderate people left lying around. I'd watch the bush change, I'd smile as I'd run into various kinds of animals - kookaburras, eastern water dragons, turtles, I even saw a red belly black snake once.

Our trip was a little less thrilling, mostly because I took us on the wrong track. The one we went on was too narrow, with too many bushes to catch and snare us while we rode through. It was a bush bash on bikes. Tom received some minor wounds (read = a scratch). I was annoyed with my memory... perhaps I'll go back another time and find that other track? Anyway, the thing with the bush is that it changes. Trees fall over or are cut down... places that were once accessible are no longer. I don't much like concrete bike tracks. I like the bush ones so I guess that's the price you pay.

I love gum trees. I love their grey bark and washed out green of their leaves on hot days against the blue sky. Grey, blue and green. I guess I should have asked Tom to bring a camera so I could photograph some of what I love about the bush. Next time. Tom was so supportive. He could have complained. It was hot and tiring and the bush bash really isn't what normal people are into... but he was wonderful. In fact he showed me how to spray water out of taps using the palm of your hand rather than your fingers in order to make it reach further. :P We had quite a few water fights. It was too hot not to get soaked at every opportunity. Then when we got back to his place we went for a swim. He showed me how to push off from the side of the pool under the water. I'm slowly becoming less afraid of being under water. :)

Anyway, bonsai! Jason gave me a bonsai plant starter on my 23rd birthday. I kept meaning to do it but you know how tomorrow never comes... so I did it tonight, well, started the process. The seeds are in a premade mix so you just sit it in a saucer of water until it's absorbed it all and then let the growing begin. It's jacaranda trees. I hope they do grow, and not die after a few months. They require a fair amount of attention in the first year (so the booklet was saying) so we'll see. I really like jacaranda trees... and mini ones? So much awesome! I'll make updates on it's progress. :)