Rain... and rain... and rain

I think we've really had quite enough now. There's flooding and roads closed around the country and more wind and rain forecasted! The water tank is well and truly full and I think the house might just lift up soon and we'll be able to float away. Or maybe it'll just slide in the slippery mud to the bottom of the section. Liam is getting cabin fever, but who wants to take two little ones out in this weather.



We did manage to get outside with our gumboots on during a short break in the rain and inspect the lake on our back lawn, but it didn't last long before the skies opened up again.



I had a dream last night that a giant tree fell on the front of our house, I also dreamed that a tornado was coming for us (it really was stormy last night). So anyway we can be thankful that neither of these things has happened, and I can be thankful that time inside means...

...a little time to knit



...and a little time to sew.



(Of course this in between trying to stop a cabin-fevered 2 year old from pestering his little sister. )

We also popped out to get some veges later as the cupboards were getting bare. On the radio in the car they were talking about buying local produce. A man phoned up talking about how crazy it is when you drive past houses with fruit trees on the lawn that are laden with fruit that's falling off and just rotting on the ground, and then you go into the supermarket and see the same fruit for sale but it's travelled from the other side of the world.

There's two crazy things here -
1: Buying in-season fruit or veges from the other side of the world. Most imported fruit and veg has to be treated with pesticides in order to get through customs and also to keep it 'fresh' looking. Plus of course there's a large energy cost to get it here. And it's not going to be as fresh.

2: Seeing yummy fresh (spray free) produce being wasted. This is something I think about lots (especially when I see fruit laden trees on someone elses lawn!). I must find out if there is some sort of organised barter/trade thing available in my area. Because more often than not if we're growing our own veges we tend to get a bit carried away with the planting and end up with it coming out our ears, yes? And with fruit trees there's only so much an average sized family can eat off an average sized healthy fruiting tree (unless you preserve of course).
So anyway, this is turning into a long post.
I just wanted to say that when I got to the vege store I was very pleased to come away with all this nz grown fruit and veg pictured, plus some nz tomatoes and kiwifruit not pictured. Yay!



And the oranges are the sweetest and juiciest tastiest ones ever.