Posts Tagged ‘New Zealand’
12/08/2020
Jess and Conner rev up for our first round of cider making. This version had a few design flaws that was solved with our later version, which you’ll see soon. Mainly we had to beef up the cross beams because of the incredible amount of pressure exerted by the Toyota car jack. I also used sheets of thick steel for the top compressor plate, and bottom drainage plate. We did away with the Mitre 10 bucket, replacing it with a cut-off from some large thick culvert drainage pipe from a building site. It’s white and looks great. Since it was an offcut, it hadn’t been in the ground yet, so is usable for making cider. The storage contain top also has been replace by the beefy sheet of steel, also courtesy of the same building site, used with permission of course. @purenewzealand #newzealand #wanaka #lovewanaka #mountainspirit
Tags:Apple Press, Cider making, Mountain Spirit, New Zealand, offgrid living, Wanaka
Posted in Holistic Living, Lockdown/Slowdown Series, New Zealand, Sustainable Living/Communities | Leave a Comment »
10/08/2020
Our micro hydro intake with the first layer of cement anchoring in place. Notice the newly installed anchor points for the next layer of anchoring material. This intake still has no water passing over the stream bed yet, which makes it easy to work in the stream bed. Otherwise one would have to divert the water while pouring cement. We’ll just have to wait on Mother Nature. This is 60 meters above the the turbine back at our house, and we’re about 600 meters away, so it’s quite a bit of pipe to lay down.We have also use masonry bolts and chain to anchor the cement better into the stream bed. The chain runs through the hardened cement, leading to the bolts which are place on the large rocks in the stream bed. Hopefully that will keep the intake in place for years to come. @purenewzealand #newzealand #wanaka #mountainspirit
Tags:New Zealand, Wanaka, Mountain Spirit, How to, Solar, Micro Hydro, Powerspout, offgrid living, install
Posted in Sustainable Living/Communities, New Zealand, Conservation, Lockdown/Slowdown Series, Off Grid Living | Leave a Comment »
09/08/2020
Sweet chestnuts are part of the bounty at Mountain Spirit during lockdown. North America saw a blight that eliminated the sweet chestnut tree from the whole continent, although through the American Chestnut Foundation, a blight resistant tree is growing. A friend of mine, John Herrington, was the executive director for a them, and I learned a little through his efforts in the early stages some years ago. Congratulations go to the foundation for doing a great job in the states. I look forward to learning more about their success in bringing the tree back.
So we feel extra grateful for these little roasters on the wood stove during the cold evenings.
Sweet chestnuts don’t keep very long, and we’re still experimenting on ways to preserve them over the winter months. Ground up into a flour, it’s great for baking, and of course, roasted on a stovetop or wood stove, they’re the best. IMAGE: Courtesy of Jessica, who helped us while woofing during lockdown.
@purenewzealand #newzealand #wanaka #lovewanaka #mountainspirit
Tags:American Chestnut foundation, chestnuts, John Herrington, Mountain Spirit, New Zealand, Wanaka
Posted in Health, Lockdown/Slowdown Series, New Zealand | Leave a Comment »
06/08/2020
Rosehips and Hawthorne berries dry in the autumn sun. Pick before a frost and dry the rosehips berries, then use a food processor to break them up to make a tea very high in vitamin C. You have to watch out when picking rosehips as they have little stickers on them that can stick you! Use gloves and pick as many as you can. When making the tea, just steep and filter after grinding, then add a bit of honey.
#purenewzealand #newzealand #wanaka #lovewanak #mountainspirit
Tags:#lovewanaka, Hawea, how to make rosehip tea, Mountain Spirit, Natural sources of vitamin C, New Zealand, rosehips, Wanaka
Posted in Health, Holistic Living, Lockdown/Slowdown Series, New Zealand, Sustainable Living/Communities | Leave a Comment »
05/08/2020
Drilling holes into a perfectly good micro-hydro intake box! Conner, our helper and wonderful person during lockdown helps me add anchor points which will help hold the micro hydro intake to the stream bed. It will take two pours of concrete to hold the intake in place, not to mention some bolts and chains anchored from big rocks in the stream bed, going under the cement. Only a 100 yr flood event will take this out.. if that we hope!
Tags:New Zealand, Wanaka, Mountain Spirit, off the grid, Micro Hydro, Powerspout, offgrid living, How to Hydro
Posted in Sustainable Living/Communities, Holistic Living, New Zealand, Lockdown/Slowdown Series, Off Grid Living | Leave a Comment »
05/08/2020
The Powerspout micro-hydro in action last spring during its initial trial run, when we had a running stream. During Lockdown, it was Conner’s and my job to build a more permanent footing and structure for this gizmo, and to secure the intake. More on that later…stay tuned. We’ll show you images and text of this hydro system, called the Powerspout, how we set it up, how the company configured the system to our water flow and drop, (called head) and how it works now that we’ve got water flowing in our stream. It’s the perfect dovetail to our solar. Tons of sun in the summer and tons of water in the stream in the winters.
Tags:Hawea, How to, lockdown, Micro Hydro, Mountain Spirit, New Zealand, off the grid, offgrid living, Powerspout, Wanaka
Posted in Conservation, Holistic Living, Lockdown/Slowdown Series, New Zealand, Off Grid Living, Sustainable Living/Communities | Leave a Comment »
27/07/2020
Using a rope ladder as part of the daily obstacle course. We added a new element every day.
It was clear early on, that lockdown with a child at home from school, was going to require creativity. We were going to have to come up with some activities. We decided to create an obstacle course by adding a new element every day. We started by taking some old climbing rope and making a rope ladder with alternate foot loops. Make sure you make the loops big enough so they’re easy to slip into, and not too far apart. It was surprising how much rope we used! #purenewzealand #lakewanakanz #wanaka #mountainspirit #kidsactivities #obstaclecourse #challengecourse
Tags:Activities, Children, experiential learning, lockdown, Mountain Spirit, New Zealand, rope ladder, Tipi, Wanaka
Posted in Children and Nature, Lockdown/Slowdown Series, MSI News, New Zealand, Sustainable Living/Communities | Leave a Comment »
24/05/2020
Lots, and lots of apples. We have 111 fruit and nut trees, most of which are apple. Conner and Jess helped us with this year’s harvest.
We then made apple sauce, butter, apple cider vinegar and maybe we’ll get at some apple crumble before we’re all done. Later you’ll see our trial and errors at making an apple press and the final results! Yum.#purenewzealand #lakewanakanz #wanaka #lovewanak
#mountainspirt #applecider #mountainspirit
Tags:apples, cider, Farming, Mountain Spirit, New Zealand, off the grid, Wanaka
Posted in Health, Holistic Living, Lockdown/Slowdown Series, MSI News, New Zealand, Your Food Supply | Leave a Comment »
24/05/2020
All of our images in this series will be in mostly chronological order, except for this one, which tells the story of how we all fared by the wind-down of phase 3 into phase 2.
Our lockdown bubble was my wife Amanda, our son Dexter, and our two “Woofrs” (willing workers on organic farms) who we took in the day before lockdown here in New Zealand.
We lucked out with Conner and Jess, professional farmers from Maryland, who rode out the uncertain times with us. This shot was taken the morning the left for another Woofing position. They worked hard on many projects here at Mountain Spirit. One of which was the design of the apple press pictured here. More on how that came together soon!
On another note, I’ve got a bit of background in photojournalism and newspaper writing (United Press International, local papers etc), so I hope to provide you with some useful and entertaining posts going forward. Amanda will also be posting. I think you’ll enjoy her perspective.
So that’s the lockdown crew.
#purenewzealand #wanaka #lovewanaka #lockdown #mountainspirit
Tags:lockdown, Mountain Spirit, New Zealand, slowdown, Wanaka
Posted in Health, Holistic Living, Inspirational People, Lockdown/Slowdown Series, New Zealand | Leave a Comment »
17/11/2019
Amanda Richards, Summit of Mt. Roy, Wanaka, New Zealand
By Alanna Ketler of Collective Evolution
While it may seem obvious that a good hike through a forest or up a mountain can cleanse your mind, body, and soul, science is now discovering that hiking can actually change your brain… for the better!
Hiking in Nature Can Stop Negative, Obsessive Thoughts
Aside from the almost instant feeling of calm and contentment that accompanies time outdoors, hiking in nature can reduce rumination. Many of us often find ourselves consumed by negative thoughts, which takes us out of the enjoyment of the moment at best and leads us down a path to depression and anxiety at worst. But a recent study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that spending time in nature decreases these obsessive, negative thoughts by a significant margin. Read more….
Tags:#lakewanaka, #lovewanaka, Amanda Richards, Brain study, Health, Hiking, Mountain Spirit, New Zealand
Posted in Health, Holistic Living, Mountain People, MSI News, New Zealand | Leave a Comment »
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