From November 2014 in Eureka, Waikato, the extensive property of our garden including the fields, was a bonus for me with some bits of help from my partner – Peter. We bought off on a reasonable price from an elderly couple who were moving into a lovely rest home in Hamilton City because of their health failing. The previous owners prayed for the right couple to buy their home and garden, and their prayer answered.
My project on gardens in the large property was to transform into five senses for anyone, including people/children with disabilities to visit here. The five senses are smell, touch, taste, feel and hear/see. These senses are fundamental for everyone to learn about gardening such as growing vegetables, herbs, fruits, evergreen/bare trees and flowering shrubs. The primary keys to increasing any plants through four seasons – Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. My original plan on this project was 4-5 years from 2014, BUT from my right side of the body – neck, shoulder, arm to fingers started to have nerve and muscle pain in 2015. The current plan of this project is about to complete by late 2020 to early 2021. I am taking easy when I am doing the work in the gardens from time to time where there is no work to do around Waikato, including the city of Hamilton.
We have got two dogs at the moment, and the last four years we used to have three dogs. Our dogs love to walk around the garden with me, often spies on wild rabbits and chase them around the vast fields. One sunny and chilly morning, I was inspecting the young camellia hedges along the fences and our dogs walking under the most abundant tree, which is a Liquidambar styraciflua. Beautifully leaves falling on the ground and dogs love to make noises on the fallen leaves. I can not hear the crushing sounds they ran on the leaves BUT when I walked on the leaves, and I felt the crushing underneath my gumboots. The sunshine warmth us by contacting the warm heat on my face.
There are several roses around here and there in our homes. Sweet smelling perfume by bringing the scents of many rose perfume floating in the air when we walk. Plenty of climber roses along the fence and several shapes of rose shrubs in the rose garden. I planted many different types of lavenders, and from each year, I used lavender cuttings to save the cost of buying more lavenders.
We grew many different types of vegetables and fruits from 2014 to present – pumpkins, strawberries, cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuces, garlic, capsicums, radishes, watermelons, several free self-seed grapevines that were there before us, rhubarbs, cabbages and the list go on. With the fruit trees, we have are feijoas – the most abundant tree, apricot, plum, nashi, blueberry, crabapple, persimmon, figs, lime kaffir, lemons, loquats and mandarin. When we get too many fruits and unable to make more chutneys, jams so I gave some fruits away to a couple of people with disabilities who I am supporting and several schools and my workplace where there is a cookery class for low-income families/young adult. I often donated to one of the Food Banks in Hamilton, where they served many people who are low income or homeliness people come for a meal.
In the other field, there is plenty of rooms for anyone to play cricket, rugby, makeshift tennis, or to camp here overnight. Sadly not everyone able to do this except our friends used a tractor and had a picnic/having cuppa with homemade biscuits and cakes several times during the long hot summer seasons.
Overall, we enjoy living here than in the city of Hamilton. I plan to have a special open day for people/children with disabilities such as blind people, learning disabilities people or Deaf even elderly people to come here and go exploring around here within two years away. Our dogs are a great company to anyone when our dogs know if anyone who has a disability or not.
Life in Eureka 