On Friday we became aware of the pitter-patter of tiny hooves - our very first animal was born on the property. I was away in Nelson for the day and got an excited call from Billy on my way home. We temporarily named this lamb ‘Friday’ and he was soon joined by ‘Sunday’ and Monday’. It is indeed a privilege to be among the guardians of such beautiful lambs, and we have one more ewe yet to birth. They are totally delightful, playfully springing around, always close to their mums. Gorgeous time-wasters!
On the subject of babies, we’re also hoping for some chicks. My friend Derryn has 2 broody hens but no rooster. We have fertilised eggs (unless Bob turns out to be seedless) but no sign of broodiness among the hens. So, Derryn’s girls are sitting on some of our eggs, and they should be due to crack in the next week. In the meantime we’re still getting around 5 eggs a day, which is way more than we need but makes great gift currency. Bob has become quite aggressive, but that doesn’t affect us much because he seems to enjoy pottering around his patch. Some of the Mrs M’s occasionally still escape, but Bob has always remained inside the run.
The soldier pines are all down, though some are yet to be processed. The paddocks are quite damaged and will need considerable effort to clear it up before it is safe to use machinery to make hay. The horse arena is a perfect place for oodles of firewood storage. There are also pine cones galore, and plenty of woodchips and wood shavings which will come in handy for improving the soil and lining the chooks beds. They’ll also make good gifts to fellow gardeners and chook-keepers. We’re planning to hire a big grunty chipper/mulcher to deal with the pine remains and the crack willow which is in piles around the wetland. Among the piles of waste pine there is still plenty of useable firewood, so it’s another task to get that chopped and stacked. Today we planted a few native trees (Rimu, Totara, Kauri and Lancewood) in clumps where some of the pines were, in the hope that we manage to look after them well-enough that they survive. More native plants will go in next winter, plus a woodlot, more nut trees and fodder trees.
We’ve still been getting more rain than usual, but the warm temperatures mean that everything is growing. The orchard trees are all happily springing into life, as is the herbal ley and the pasture plants around them. Probably I should just say ‘weeds’, but there’s a fantastic variety of plant-life there, even if it does look like an overgrown mess. I plan to find time to get round to a tidy up once the veg garden is in a maintenance phase. In the former pig pen, the potatoes are starting to pop up. There are tens of kilos of seed potatoes in there (plus some in the veg garden) which should keep us going most of the year. And in my tiny lean-to greenhouse there are veg and flower seedlings coming through. Scattered around it are other seedling pots which can’t fit in. I’m just moving them around, in and out of the greenhouse, in the hope of a good seed strike rate.
The bees have succumbed to varroa and what’s left of the colony has abandoned the hive, returning only to scavenge the remaining honey. The hive was about half way across the property on its way to a new spot in the veg garden when we noticed fewer bees. It’s very sad, and partly reflects my inexperience. I had treated the hive for varroa and checked it a couple of times, but it wasn’t enough and I may have missed some early signs. There are many tales of hives lost to varroa, so I’m trying not to totally blame myself. I have my name down on the list for a swarm, and am thinking about hiring another hive and learning more from an expert on-the-spot rather than going alone.
There’s still plenty of water in the wetland, which continues to hamper the clearing-out progress. The native plants are happily showing signs of growth. We just have to make sure they’re not swamped by the grass which is rampant now that it’s not being grazed. The cattle are desperate to get in to this lush grass, and have been able, on occasion, to find a way through. They’d been wising up to the electric fences going on and off for the woodsmen chopping down the pines, and found the places where the fencing was damaged. This has created opportunities for adventure and we’ve retrieved them from various places off the property as well as on it. One memorable evening we had to round them up from just outside our neighbour’s driveway, and guide them along the road in the pitch dark using car headlights for visibility. Peter was resplendent in dressing gown and gumboots.
As a happy (though probably short-sighted) result of cashing in some of our pensions, we’ve decided to go ahead with solar power. It turns out that our next door electrician neighbour, Karl, is just setting up a company which is importing solar panels from Australia. The price of these panels has halved in the last 18 months, and it’s promising that they’ll significantly reduce our power bills. We’ll stay on the grid, and sell excess power on sunny days back to the power company. Our garage roof faces nearly north, is at the best angle, and the fuse box is inside – all in all a perfect place for the panels to go. A couple of lovely trees which are shading it will unfortunately have to be felled.
Quite an exciting month really. It’s a good feeling to be connected to nature, particularly during spring with its anticipation of abundance. The new lambs are entertaining us all, particularly Billy who has always enjoyed the country life. Billy sometimes entertains us too, and this photo shows the sign he put on the toilet door when he was cleaning it as part of his weekly chore. All we have to work on now is encouraging as much effort into the cleaning as the sign-writing!
