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“Spring, Spring, Spring!” sang the frog. “Spring!” said the groundhog. 

“Spring, Spring, Spring!” sang the robin. It was Spring. The leaves burst out. The flowers burst out. And robins burst out of their eggs. It was Spring.

A calm Wellington day for collecting a new trestle table for using at the Market. This table will feature the wonderful Book Island books.

I have a secret supply of lemons from a sunny town where the lemons grow like crazy. And sometimes when I'm lucky I get a shopping bag or two full of them dropped off by my brother in law.

So when lemons come by the bag full, I juice them! But there's more to juicing lemons than meets the eye. 

Last week I took the plunge and made an investment in a new food processor. Now I won't hide the fact that it was far from the cheapest around but what I can say is that there is no substitute for quality.

Its been nearly a couple of months now since Old Blue Mundo headed south in a couple of big boxes to its new home. Old Mundo served me well. It showed me the wonders of cargo biking. I carted kids, friends and the whole family. Groceries, kids bikes and swimming gear. I even got to go on a child free date with my husband.

As cheesy as it sounds, it changed my life, and potentially my kids lives. They know that if we're going somewhere then it's normally by bike. They ask for Mundo and take pleasure in finding their helmets (be it at 7am before everyone else is out of bed) or climbing on themselves. And for me, what fun it is. How versatile, and practical it is. It's how I get around. And is my first choice for short to medium length trips.

A few months ago I finally finished a project of mine. Well, actually it was a few projects that got finished. Firstly our shed got spouting. That was a few years in the making. But the thing that fuelled it all was wanting to install a water tank and hand pump for the garden and play.

Hand made right here in our workshop by me from timber from our house renovation. Hoopla Kids does clothes racks a little differently from other stores and stalls. A natural feel.

Another note on shopping a little differently . . . This time by bike.

Normally I would take the car. But last week I took Mundo. And yes, I had the kids on board as well.

I went for only a few things . . . But it never does quite work out. By the end of the shop even I was starting to have my doubts about everything fitting on the bike. But, somehow it always works out.

We stumbled upon by accident the Flexi tub bath.

At bath time the tubs get rounded up (usually the washing emptied out) and placed in our bath. They are a really practical and easy bath solution. In each 40 litre tub we put 25 - 30 litres of water.

Having two tubs also provides a bit of extra fun. How about pumping water between them? Sharing bubbles? Or simply hoarding all the toys from your sibling!

Try reclining in the tub, feet on one side and head on the other. The joys of a flexible tub.

Great for the child that likes to sit and play and keep warm in a deeper bath. Or for a child that just won't sit down, standing holding the sides as they practice their new found skill.

Or the classic Eureka discovery.

On warm days I fill the baths and carry them outside to the deck for the kids to splash and play in. Now I'm dreaming of an outside warm tap!

Our kids have a great time in the tubs and it saves us loads of shower or big bath water.

Today we rode into town on Mundo and what did we find when we got there? Another Mundo! Kitted out with two soft spots and two sets of stocker bars. What a pleasant surprise.

While parking up a man came up to ask if he could take a photo as his son commutes with kids on a Mundo as well.

Turns out Mundo has a few friends out there in Wellington.

I used to be a religious Saturday morning vege market goer. It was our outing, Ella and I. Or I would go alone on the scooter. It is a great place to get a weeks supply of yummy food, and if for some reason Saturday didn't take our fancy, there was always the Sunday market in town which made for a great family outing by car or even better, by bike. Sometimes we even bumped into friends there! Bonus.

But time got away with me, and we lost the habit, not helped by my regular appearances at the Wellington Underground Market at Frank Kitts Park with my Hoopla Kids stall. No excuse, but I chose my battles, and staying home, having a relaxing morning and getting into the garden with the kids is the way it's been rolling over here lately.

So, to avoid stopping by the supermarket to get a whole pile of over priced produce, or alternatively just not having any because I was too stubborn to buy it at the supermarket, in a moment of busyness I thought I would try a vege box. And that turned to a few more. So when the last box arrived I thought I would do a tally up of what had arrived:

• 400g Asparagus
• 1 x Fancy lettuce
• 1 x Broccoli
• 1x Cucumber
• 1 x Green cabbage
• 1 Punnet blueberries
• 880g Oranges
• 940g Apples
• 460g Green kiwifruit
• 550g Red onions
• 520g Brown onions
• 1.3kg Red kumara
• 1 x Bunch of silverbeet
• 1 x Fennel bulb (560g)
• 2 x Avocado

So all in all a nice big box of food that generally lasts us at least a week, if not a bit longer supplemented with some carrots, bananas and sometimes some beetroot as these are staples in our house that aren't always delivered.

The cost: Vege box $48, delivery $9.

And being that I have slightly geeky tendencies I thought I would do a comparison. How much would it have cost me if I had bought this food at our local supermarket? Not organic, just the standard produce on the shelves. So I collected some prices:

Total cost for the same produce: $51.88

So, I would have saved $5.12 by buying it from the supermarket. But would it really have been a saving? If I'd been to the supermarket what would I have added to my basket that day? Chocolate at $3.50 on special? Some bread that I didn't need as I could have just baked some instead, $3.50 per loaf. A packet of biscuits? And what if I had driven there. Sure its only about 1km each way and I probably would have taken the bike. But for the sake of comparison the IRD mileage rate is 77 cents per km. So my 2km return journey cost me $1.54 in mileage.

So already I'm at $56.92 just for the mileage and the chocolate I bought and the produce wasn't organic. I'm down to a saving of 8 cents, and you know what, if I set it up as a regular order I would save $2 per box.

At the end of the day, I got a box of yummy ORGANIC food to my door which challenged me to try new things and find new ways to use new ingredients I wouldn't have normally bought. And it probably saved me money in the big picture by keeping me out of the supermarket. It suited me these few times but it won't suit always. After all, I hope that soon we will be eating more from our own garden, at least a little bit.

And I do also realise, that if I was organised I could probably save a lot more money by getting down to the vege market, and I might even have fun doing it. But perhaps that's a comparison for another day . . .

The bike that changed my perception of riding and converted me to the world of cargo biking with kids.