Long time coming, long time gone.

My idea for this blog, simply hasn't gone to plan.

Over the Christmas period, my Dad got very sick and had an emergency operation. He's on the mend now though, thank god.
We got robbed, they took a lot of things.
I also had my lovely, beautiful dog, Quileute get hit by a car and pass away. :(

This year I have spent quite some time, trying to get back into the swing of things. I haven't been motivated at all to do any crafting and have spent quite some time, trying to get over a bad bout of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. But, with that said, I am finally on the mend and ready to turn this blog into everything I have wanted it to be AND more!

To start that off, i'd like to give you an update on the garden.
It was the worst spring/early summer we've had in a long time. Most of my plants failed this year.
Around 90% of my plants died or didn't produce anything eatable.
With Dad getting sick and my CFS playing up, I have let my garden go. It looks more like a boxed off weed patch!
My plan for when I feel up to it, I'm going to get the weed eater out, weed it back to dirt, get the rotary hoe out and dig it all through. Then I will work on getting my winter veges in!
Ive left it too late to sow a lot of veges, so I thought i'd just have to suck it up and buy some punnets.
Ouch.

I guess sometimes in life, things get tough. I've had a lot of bad luck lately. But, I also feel like we make our own luck. With hard work, motivation and hope, I feel like I can turn everything around and make this one kickass, homesteading year!

I hope everyone is having a healthy and happy year so far.

Camille xox

Sorry!

Sorry for the long gap between posts everyone!

Last Sunday was my 21st birthday. Within the last two weeks I had been very busy getting everything ready for my party.

LOTS has been going on in my garden. Many many many weeds to tackle daily and also fighting a war with an unknown pea plant eater!

I have completed my leather moccasins and have started a pair for my best friend.

I will write a post tomorrow about what has been happening. I'll include photos taken with my new Canon 600D Camera (thanks Mum and Dad! xx). It takes STUNNING photos.

Hope y'all are well and enjoying this amazing spring weather!

Love,
Camille :)

You little....

It's official, I'm declaring war on ALL Black birds!
Just the other day I watched a very crafty Black bird fly into my raspberry bush and steal a perfectly ripe berry. That berry I had promised to myself as an after weeding treat.

So, as you can imagine it was time to shoot off to my local Plant Barn and pick up some bird netting!

On Thursday night, Alex, (my amazing other half) and I made some wire coverings for my peas. It appears that the many Diamond doves that spend their days in my garden, have a sweet beak for my pea shoots.

Birds 1. Camille 1.

While I was at Plant Ban, I picked up some more punnets of seedlings. I bought;
Corn
Lettuce (Iceburg and Tom thumb)
Mixed Bell Peppers
Strawberries
And I bought a Peppermint plant. My father and I both suffer from really bad gut problems. I've been reading lately that Peppermint Tea can help calm things down. We might as well give it a go!

I finally got around to planting my Golden Tamarillo the other night, right before the crazy heavy rain started. Plus side, I didn't have to water it afterwards!

Lately I have been working on a pair of Native American High top Moccasins. I sewed a pair last year. They turned out really well. The only thing I could fault was the thickness of the leather. They were far too thin. So this time around I've chosen a thicker leather. Of course I didn't think of the fact that hand sewing a thicker leather would be MUCH harder. Luckily, I have an awl to pre-punch my holes for sewing!
I left last years moccasins plain, but this year I have two beautiful rabbit fur hides that will look fantastic as a trim! I'm quite excited about finishing these and wearing them for my 21st birthday on the 24th of this month.

 The pain begins.

I am also in the middle of sewing my aunt a pair of moccasin slippers. I've had this small slipper business running for awhile now. My aunt ordered two very custom pairs. Both have required me to alter my pattern greatly. Which has lead to many confused moments and coming close to tears at least twice. However I really can't complain. I'm making money from something I love doing!!

 This pair was a birthday present for my sister

makeupper.co.nz 

Check out her blog. It's fantastic ;)

Which brings me to another fantastic reason to homestead.
Home business.
Making money from something you love doing, the simple way.
It could be sewing slippers or selling your extra produce your garden provides you. Anything at all!
There is something very grounding about selling a product you have put your heart and soul into.
Now, it doesn't have to be about the money at all. For me, it's about sharing something you have created from scratch and put effort into, to bring joy to someone else. The cash is just an added bonus to help me keep my hobbies going.

I hope you all are having a wonderful day! I'm going to head off into the garden and snap some pic's.
I'm suffering from two sore ears at the moment. Why do I have to get a head cold in the middle of November?

Love,
Camille xx

First post!

Welcome to Homesteading in the City!

My first ever blog where I will share with you my gardening, sewing, bottling, baking and everything else I do in order to become as self-sufficient as possible!

My name is Camille.
I'm 20 years old and live in Auckland, New Zealand.

I have always had a passion for self-sufficiency/living from the land naturally/simple living.
My parents have always referred to me as the 'hippie kid', which I have always felt proud of.
Unfortunately, living in Auckland has hindered my ability to become fully self-sufficient in terms of simply not having enough space to grow, raise and harvest. With that being said, there is nothing out there stopping me from trying my hardest to grow as much produce as I possibly can, sew as many clothing and household items I require and live as close as I possibly can with nature and the land!

I can't wait to share with you all, my ups and downs of simple living!

To start off this blog, I'll share a few photos of whats been happening in my garden this week.

 It was time to hoe the winters growth out of the garden and start planting. 

Thank mother earth for the manly help. That machine scares the living daylights out of me.

 A quick snap of the veges awaiting planting

 Plants lined up and ready to go

 My garlic growing nicely

I hope you all will enjoy my blog and check up weekly to see how I am doing on my long road to self-sufficiency.

Wishing you all well,
Camille xox