November 2017

The snowy photo is a view of the Kaikoura Ranges taken from North Bank Road.  The date was November 9^th and 4 degrees was the forecast overnight temperature.  We woke to find that Jack Frost had visited.  It warmed up quickly, and doesn’t seem to have done any lasting damage.  There are some frosted leaves here and there, including the new-ish Thompson’s Seedless grapes (sent from the North Island so bound to be a bit wimpy in the cold), but the cucumbers and tomatoes have pulled through ok. 

The bees have been keeping me entertained.  Having acquired 2 colonies from Derryn, I ended up combining them into one hive after discovering a few dead bees at the entrance to one of them.  It was queen-less and probably the bees were starving.  Both colonies settled together and all seemed to be well for several days, until I heard the tell-tale sound of a swarm.  I hadn’t got round to removing the queen-less hive ware, and for once I’m grateful for my tardiness.  The swarm navigated themselves straight back into that empty hive-next-door.  Easy peasy.  Now I’m back to 3 colonies.  The original hive 1 is getting on nicely with building up honey supplies, so hoping for a decent honey flow sometime soon.

Flowers are blooming everywhere – that should be keeping those bees happy.  The photos show pink paeonies (pretty but a bit on the showy side) that were planted by the previous owners, and red poppies that self-seeded from those I’ve planted in the last couple of years.  Roses, rhododendrons and forget-me-nots are also in full swing.  Weeding and tidying up the main flower bed is unlikely to become a priority for a while.  Luckily it does have a certain charm as a mini wild flower meadow / jungle.

The cattle are behaving themselves, and are considerably less noisy since Dionysus had a visit from the home-kill man, Bruce.  We still have Apollo, and happily he hasn’t shown any interest in the girls for ages.  Hopefully that means he’s done his job.  We’re also hoping to acquire a new ram (sorry Leggy, you’ve had 2 years to prove yourself), a Dorper from Karyn’s friend Lucy.  The breed is self-shedding and he’s mostly black, so should stand out in our flock.  He’ll be here as soon as we get round to working out the transport. 

The water-blaster has been put to good use, and not only by Karyn.

 Two sides of the garage/sleep out are squeaky clean, as are several bits of the concrete paths around the house.  The porch is blasted to within an inch of its life.  On the down side, the cleaned bits of concrete are just showing up the not-yet-cleaned bits and this can be highlighted even more by writing rude words.  Could be ruder.

Having de-junked the porch, the next place that’s getting an overhaul is the car port.  We’ve done one tip trip to get rid of an old sofa, some crappy ancient bikes and other bits of junk.  Lots to go yet, including a defunct freezer, but it’s already a good feeling.  The photo is a ‘before’ that should motivate us to get on with the job.

Fruit is abundant and some of it is ripening.  Desert gooseberries are starting to blush, and currants,

blueberries and strawberries are coming away.  I’ve nearly finished the last of the frozen peaches from last year, so the timing is perfect.  Fruit in the orchard is plumping up, and I’m managing to get round to foliar spraying.  They’ve recently had a
shower of comfrey tea.  Next up should be seaweed tea, so hoping
to find time to do a beach trip. 

The vege keyhole beds are now nearly full, mostly with vegetables, but some have fruit and others herbs.  To my huge relief, the carrot seedlings have finally put in an appearance and are already in danger of being swamped by weeds.  The corn is starting to look glorious, such gorgeous plants at this age.  Beans are growing alongside the corn so they’ll have their own support structures when they need it.  Around 20 courgettes are in, and I’ve lost count of the number of tomato plants.  Several more are popping up from saved seed in Madame Cholet.  Karyn expertly took out the side shoots from the first plantation that are starting to flower.  She’s good like that.

Elderflowers are out and seem to be everywhere.  This year I’ve made cordial as usual, but this time the usual sugar has been replaced with honey.  The first attempt wasn’t very elderflowery, so it’s re-steeping in more freshly gathered flowers.  Perhaps I’ll have a bash at elderberry wine again this year.  Many moons ago I brewed a truly magnificent elderberry wine.  It was so disgusting at the bottling stage that it was nearly all thrown out, and I’d guess only lived to achieve its potential because I just didn’t get round to biffing it.

We’re starting to make plans for Christmas, and in particular for our Christmas visitors.  By the time Marcus, Nikki, Arthur, Jago and Freya arrive, I’ll have finished one of my paid jobs.  Hopefully I’ll have had a little wind down time too.  We’re also looking forward to spending time with our boys, who amazingly will all be home at the same time.  The next 2 or 3 weeks are ridiculously busy work-wise, then things should start to ease off.  Hope not famous last words.