With the holidays –  something for the kids


Corn Husk doll  

Corn Husk Doll

Make a Corn Husk Doll taking 1 hour.

How to make corn husks  VIDEO corn husks



  • Dried corn husks or tamale wrappers (available at grocery stores)
  • Twine or string
  • Scissors
  • Pipecleaners
  1. Soak the dried corn husks (approximately 20 per doll) in warm water for about 10 minutes to soften them, then blot them dry. Next, gather twenty 10-inch lengths of twine and tie an overhand knot at one end.2. Trim the husks so that they are each about 8 inches long. Then sandwich the knotted twine between 4 or so husks and tightly tie another piece of twine around the bundle just above the overhand knot.

    3. Make the doll’s arms by rolling up a pipe cleaner in a husk (arms into position). Roll up 2 more husks (without pipe cleaners). Then braid the three together and tie the ends with twine.

    4. Take the bundle from Step 2 and peel down the husks (as you would a banana) to create a head and expose the hair. Tightly tie the bundle where the neck should be, then insert the arms.

    5. Braid together 3 rolled husks (without a pipecleaner) for each leg. Then use 2 of the inner husk ends to tie the tops of the legs to the dolls. Trim the remaining husk ends an inch below where the legs are attached.

    6. Snugly wrap a single husk around the doll’s hips, tying the ends together to secure it. Trim the knot tails.

    7. Now it’s time to dress the doll. If making a girl, go right to Step 8. For a boy doll, create leggings by wrapping a single husk around each leg and tightly tying twine around the very top. Then fringe the leggings by making a series of short snips along the outer sides.

    8. For a skirt, sandwich the doll’s body from the hips up with a few husks and secure them to the waist with twine. Then peel down the husks. For a girl doll, leave the skirt long; for a boy doll, trim 2cm from the waist. Finally, drape husks over the shoulders. Crisscross the ends in front and in back of the doll and sash them around the waist with twine.

Cherry tomatoes

Cherry tomatoes

They take care and patience to grow. With changing climate Heat, Rains, Winds makes it a challenge. At one point the heat went to 51C in the growing pods – how can anything survive this? The flowers die and they are needed to grow the tomatoes. Too hot even for the bees to pollinate.

So if there are no tomato flowers and the tomatoes won’t get pollinated which in turn means that the fruits won’t form. The tomato flowers encourage the bee to land on the flower and vibrate its wings thereby shaking the pollen from the anthers onto it’s legs.

So the tomatoes this week from Nymboida above Coffs Harbour are a bit of a miracle. They have had a stop start journey in growing. Thanks to the persistance of our farmers we have in our kitchen delicious, juicy cherry tomatoes.

Here is their story:

Cherry tomatoes Nymboida