Winter is well and truly upon us. Yum!! Many days of rain filled the rivers and replenished the land, and kept the chill at bay in early June. The braided Wairau River changed its braiding patterns as it usually does following rain, and though things got pretty boggy on land, there was no flooding. I haven't got out and about much in the last few weeks, but I did manage to tick off one big job from the eternal to-do list - weeding the flower gardens and blanketing them in pea straw. The last 2 bales of straw went on the herb garden alongside the garage and the raised raspberry bed. The blanketing was done between rainfalls, which has the double benefit of trapping the moisture in the ground and gently patting the straw down. Garden order prevails, at least for a few weeks.
The pruning of the orchard and assorted fruit trees is the next big task. The chainsaw pruner will make that way more fun than usual, and I'm awaiting a perfect winter's day to go ahead. My friend Jane from down the road says you should only prune on a day you could get your washing dry. That's a good rule of thumb, so hopefully a decent winter day will soon collide with some free time and a charged pruning saw.
The single yakon yielded an extraordinary volume of tubers. That was so unexpected that unfortunately some were damaged by the fork when I initially failed to grasp how wide and deep to dig. The tubers are huge - fresh, juicy and crispy, quite unlike anything else. They seem to work best as a kind of salad vegetable and can be cut into chunks or grated. We did try to roast some but it was if they didn't cook, remaining firm and crisp. They are wrapped in newspaper in a basket, and hopefully will keep like that for a few weeks. I'll definitely grow them again, but next year in a better spot alongside the asparagus. 
The Apple Cider Vinegar was strained and bottled. Each year it tastes different, presumably depending on the variety and mix of apples. Each year I make way too much, but I tell myself that's not a problem - it is vinegar after all. And it's a pretty good gift currency, especially for those who are honeyed-out.
The feijoas remaining after wine-making were frozen so they can be added to my smoothie packs. They've been the last fruit to ripen and freeze for the last few years, but next year I'll have to await the persimmon harvest. The bath was cleaned and bleached, and all the frozen produce thrown in - plums, berries, currants, melon, pear, cabbage, silver beet, beetroot, ginger and turmeric (and whatever else I've forgotten) were mixed, then bagged and returned to the freezer. That's breakfast sorted for the next few months. I've managed to keep a batch of kefir alive for years now. Each smoothie gets a goodly splosh of kefir and a teaspoon of honey. I hang onto the belief that the breakfast thing totally justifies the necessity of the 50+ fruit trees on the property.
Though our persimmon crop was 6x more than last year, that only meant about 12 fruit. Perhaps next year it'll be 120 fruit. However, Peter's workmate Kim (formerly of grapefruit fame) made good on her promise of abundant persimmons. From the first bag I took out enough fruit to make a quadruple batch of wine (20 litres), and that barely accounted for half of them. Luckily Laura nobly stepped up her persimmon consumption. Then came another boxful of bright orange balls of deliciousness that I'm currently working my way through. It's too late to freeze them for the smoothie mix (won't make that mistake next year) so I'm going to have a bash at dehydrating them. Allegedly this works well - I'll report back next month. 
Peter's been busy with construction. He's cut up all the remaining firewood rounds so we're already ahead with next season's fire stack. The firewood stand he built in the porch is perfect, holding at least a week's supply of firewood so we don't have to top up every day any more. We'll stain it the same colour as the house when we stop using firewood in spring. The whole porch is water-tight and organised, so functions better and looks tidier - a much improved entrance to the house. 
The pool room is now decked out with a pool table, and Peter has created a workbench/tool storage corner. Hopefully in time the garage will be less cluttered as various items of useful crap make their way into the pool room. So far so good. The pool table itself is very popular, even when it's freezing outside, the pool room is comfortable enough as long as you're wrapped up warm. Lucas and Peter take it in turns to win, though occasionally Laura and me accidentally get a fantastic shot in.
Amazingly, and at the 4th attempt, I finally managed to make it to Melbourne and complete the Spinning Babies Aware Practitioner course. The course was excellent, and the only downside of the whole trip was not being able to enjoy Melbourne. The short days of mid-winter and the long days of study meant that I had no free time in the light of day. I did manage to take a walk through the nearby park (Fitzroy Park) and accidentally chanced upon Cooks' Cottage. It was constructed in 1755 in Great Ayton, North Yorkshire, by the parents of James Cook (Peter's great great great etc uncle) and transported to Melbourne and re-built in 1934. It feels like everywhere we go has some kind of connection to Captain Cook!Sam and Molly have moved into their first house, and we're hoping to go down to Rolleston to see them in the next few weeks. They're delighted with this new home, such an exciting moment in their lives. Billy says he'll probably return home later in the year, so maybe we'll have everyone home for Christmas 2022. Allister, Peter's old mate from Ripon, will also be with us for a few days over Christmas - his first time in New Zealand. Plenty to look forward to whilst we're enjoying these frosty mornings and brisk sunny winter days.
