Timing

This is my first ever blue cheese: a Fourme d'Ambert. It tastes exactly as I hoped and it looks the part. It is great to have the first one under my belt and all my nervousness about making blues has vanished in a puff of smoke. Pouffe!

It has been a day of setting - and then responding to - the timer on my phone. And some indolence in between.

Watering started at sparrow-fart, almost as soon as I got up, to avoid doing it in the middle of another hot day. 

There is the tap/hose capacity for four lots of watering to happen concurrently, but that is usually one too many for my brain, so I stuck to three today. 

In order to keep things simple(?) I water in blocks of 30 minutes, with some beds needing no more than that, while others require two or three times as long. The trick is to remember which hose is on which bed and whether its for 30, 60, or 90 minutes, and how long the water has already been on.

It all went smoothly with no mishaps until I added the half hours needed between stretches and folds of the sourdough, which I added to the timer half way through the watering. This was the fateful fourth timed element. And everything went to pot.

I think the dahlia bed ended up being watered for two hours instead of one. The sweetcorn definitely had a hose on them for 90 minutes instead of 60. And the bamboo bed was probably shortchanged with half an hour instead of a full hour.

Happily the beans, the squashes and the sourdough were all given the correct times. Possibly...

Bean and I are taking it pretty easy again. It is a little cooler than yesterday, but more humid. 

Pity the folk in all their regalia at Waitangi, marking the 1840 signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi (The Treaty of Waitangi, between Maori and the British). It is baking up there. And it's likely that not only the weather is hot, but emotions too. 

The largest party in our newish government has acceded to the demands of one of it's (small) coalition partners that the principles of Te Tiriti should be debated in parliament, possibly leading to a referendum in due course. This is despite our now PM disavowing the demand before the election. In order to form a government he had to do a 180. It's all about power. Needless to say Maori - and most non-Maori - are furious. 

There are some fun and games at the Treaty Settlement Grounds today where one of the three coalition party leaders was 'sung into silence by protesters'. Singing: what a joyful way to protest. Maori leaders have been emphasising peaceful and unified protests. What has transpired has been inspiring and heart-lifting.

I feel that our government does not reflect our community at the moment.