June 2013

Life’s been a bit quieter on the farm lately, or maybe the shorter days are creating an illusion, tricking us into believing that we’re doing less because we’ve got fewer daylight hours.  We’ve had plenty of very frosty mornings, and also plenty of rain.  That’s made it harder to get outside jobs done, but has given us the opportunity to do some thinking and planning.  At least the shortest day has passed (and celebrated traditionally with the planting of garlic), so I guess we can start looking forward to spring.

We’ve been greeting some new animal additions.  Another litter of rabbits (beautifully tucked up in their fur nest) - congratulations Galadriel!  My bad dreams and lost sleep over the young kits either floating away in imagined floods, or frozen to death during a minus 6° night have happily not eventuated.  It seems that they’re tougher than they look.

Plus a new heifer.  She’s a gorgeous Speckled Park cross, who now goes by the name of Hera* (Greek Goddess of marriage).  She’s just 6 months old and is very petite next to the others.  She travelled down from the north island and was picked up by Peter and Lucas from the holding yards in Blenheim.  She’s a feisty girl (maybe already living up to her namesake), and it took them ages to load her onto the horse float.  They’d chased her round the paddock many times, and were about to give up when Lucas’ Iphone came to the rescue (see - they do have their uses after all).  By using it as a torch, the horse float was illuminated and Hera trotted in.  On arrival at our place, she ran over to greet the other cows, only to find that they ran away in fear - the not-so-butch Butch leading the way.  It was quite a sight, the 3 large cows running away from the tiny little one.  Anyway, all was quickly resolved and very soon Hera became one of the herd.

 

The fruit trees in the orchard have now lost most of their leaves, and most of the low hedge has been transplanted into the veg garden.  A couple of new fruit trees have gone in too – a very pretty loquat, and a mulberry to replace one which didn’t survive.  We plan to get the sheep into the orchard so they can enjoy the range of herby weeds and hopefully tidy the place up a bit.  Optimistically they won’t be interested in the leafless fruit trees.  One of the ewes was limping, and we’d made plans to round them all into the race and check her out.  Of course she then decided to stop limping; hopefully it was just something like a small rock stuck in her hoof.  So far our animals have remained healthy and reproductive despite our lack of farming knowledge.  Maybe more good luck than good measure, but fingers crossed it lasts at least until we have a bit more know-how.

Some visible progress in the veg garden, with another mandala and 3 new fruit trees in a newly-created oval bed.  The idea is that these trees are hedge-like, contributing towards the ultimate wind protection of the as-yet-virtual tunnel-house.  They are all modern hybrids - a plumcot, a peachcot and a tomcot, which shouldn’t grow too big and which will be under-planted with strawberries (including delicious alpine strawberries which will be able to run wild).  I also couldn’t resist buying 3 blueberry bushes, and am in the process of developing a bed for them.  I’m digging in a sack of peat which ages ago was bought cheaply from a garden centre’s closing down sale.  Hopefully it will nourish and provide a good pH for them.

The woodlot is now much more than a twinkle in our eyes.  We’ve identified where it will be (at the back of the property near the river boundary), sourced the necessary fencing, collected about 60 young trees and marked where they will all go.  Just simply a case of actually fencing and planting.  Probably a few more trees will be added as we go along.  Kahikatea and black beech are not available this year from the local native nursery, so they will have to be added next year.  There are 3 ‘sugar maple’ trees, from which we’ll be able (allegedly) to tap maple syrup in 5 years, plus some other trees for colour, like liquidamber and witch hazel.  It’s very satisfying be planting so many trees, can’t wait until they’re established.

It’s come to the end of an era for the chooks.  Bob and Bob Jnr are no more, so the flock will have to hammer out its new leader – find the new Bob.  Their processing and eating was another time of mixed emotions for me, but not anyone else of course.  The pigs will be with us until early next month.  I’m still much less attached to them as I was to last year’s pigs.  This seems to be a process, because I haven’t deliberately tried to withdraw from them.  Their numerous adventures out of the run haven’t been endearing, and have led to many fortifications.  This means that we avoid going into the run because it’s not easy to get in and out.  We throw food in from the outside, and only really go in to add more hay to their bedding and sort out their water.  One of them once bit my hand when I was repairing a probable escape route.  It was more of an exploratory bite than anything, but has made me more cautious about going in.  Their current feeding troughs are wooden, which the pigs play with, moving them all round the run.  They also don’t have drainage, so when it rains the troughs fill up with muddy water.  They don’t seem to mind, but we’d definitely prefer an easier and cleaner way to feed them.  We do have plans for a new pig run, which should be better designed for access and feeding.  It’s on the to-do list after building my veg garden shelter.

On the family front, we are now parents of only teenagers.  Our ‘baby’ Billy had his 13^th birthday last week, celebrated with movie and sleepover and lots of junk food.  He’s gone from having a Northern hemisphere summer birthday to a winter one.  As I chuck another log on the fire, which has also heated the bath water and cooked the dinner, I feel deeply contented and a bit smug.  There’s a lot to enjoy about winter.

*Hera is the wife and one of three sisters of Zeus in the Olympian Pantheon of Greek mythology and religion. Her chief function is as the goddess of women and marriage. The cow, lion and the peacock are sacred to her. Hera's mother is Rhea and her father Cronus.
She's portrayed as majestic and solemn, often enthroned, and crowned with the polos (a high cylindrical crown worn by several of the Great Goddesses).  Hera was known for her jealous and vengeful nature, most notably against Zeus's lovers and offspring, but also against mortals who crossed her, such as Pelias. Paris offended her by choosing Aphrodite as the most beautiful goddess, earning Hera's hatred.

 

May 2013

 

Autumn seems to be giving way to winter far too quickly.  Or perhaps that’s just a perception, an indication that life is too busy.  Only a few frosty mornings really, always giving way to stunning sunny days with temperatures sometimes still in the 20s.  It’s such a beautiful place to watch and enjoy the seasons.  This gorgeous sunflower seeded itself just outside the house, and grew really quickly to flowering.  For the first time, we’re feeling pretty well prepared for the coming months.  The solar power works beautifully even when temperatures are low.  There’s plenty of wood for hot water, warmth and cooking, though we have yet to really get to grips with the oven.  We’ve managed roasts and casseroles (using our own produce), but it may be a while before we’re brave enough to try anything that requires finer heat tuning.  We’re also using the hob top sometimes too.

We’re even feeling quite well-prepared in terms of animal housing, though there are always still some adjustments to be made.  The chooks are in 2 zones.  The youngest ones are about 9 weeks old now and will be joining the grown-ups in a few weeks.  At least one of them is a boy - we hear him trying to cock-a-doodle-do.  It’s a cutely pathetic attempt so far, but he is declaring himself at a young age.  I’m not so fond of him when he pecks my cold hands in the mornings as I’m reaching in to collect or return their waterer.  All up, we have 20 chooks, and last week I had to buy eggs.  The laying hens (8 of them) are moulting, so are off-the-lay, and the rest are either boys or too young.  At least it was a good opportunity to be reminded that our own eggs are far superior to shop-bought ones, even free-range. 

The rabbits continue to be a delight.  The first litter of kits are now about 10 weeks old, and 3 are already sold.  The second litter are about 3 weeks old and have reached the peak of cuteness.   We’ve moved them all out of the garden in the hope that the lawn will recover - there are several pock-marks from botched escape missions.  They’re now dispersed into 4 houses in the small fenced area between the garden and the veg area.  We can still keep an eye on them from the house, though this doesn't help when you're trying to convince yourself that they are not pets.

The home-kill man came and dispatched one steer (Woody) and the two ram lambs.  The passing of Woody was even felt by the usually emotionally-detached Peter - the next day he went out with 4 apples to give the cows, and allegedly felt a pang of guilt when it dawned on him there were only 3 left.  We decided to have a go at processing one of the lambs, which is how we came to have a whole lamb carcase on our dining table.  Glenn used to be a butcher back in the UK, and he came round to show us how to do it.  I watched, and Peter had a go and he feels OK to go it alone next time.  Glenn says he’ll come back and help us butcher a pig.  It’s moments like this when it almost feels like we’re living in a parallel universe, so far from townie life that it seems unreal. 

Rambo went away on holiday for a few weeks and is now back with the flock.  It was one of those ‘working’ holidays - a kind of ‘Club 18’ with lots of shagging, so hope he enjoyed himself.   And let’s hope he didn’t wear himself out to the extent of not being able to service our ewes.  We’re hoping they may already be pregnant, but have no real idea about conception dates.  More spring lambs would be delightful.

 

The veg garden is undergoing somewhat of a transformation, though is currently in bomb-site mode.  We’ve put in 2 ‘ponds’ - an old bath tub and water trough (with Ander’s help), and added nearly 3 more mandalas.  Even if it’s just my imagination (ok yep, definitely just my imagination), it’s starting to take shape.  Peter has clad the front of the tin shed over the water pump with old half-round posts, so it looks a bit like a log cabin.  We’ll be adding some trellising onto the sides for climbing fruit like cocktail kiwis and passion fruit to grow up.  There are tentative designs for a (deckchair and gin) shelter behind the ponds, which can also double as tool-storage.   We’ve used up all the rocks, seaweed and newspaper, and will need lots more cardboard to complete the groundwork.  There are another 2 full-size mandalas to go in, plus a few smaller beds, and all the pathways need to be created. 

 

The veg in the original mandala beds has benefitted from the extra nourishing attention.  Never before have I grown such huge cauliflowers, and the leeks, beetroot, spinach, cabbage, broccoli and yellow bush beans are fabulous too.  Carrots are feeding us several times a week and we’re still getting through the potatoes.  There’s plenty more to come, including onions, Jerusalem artichokes, kale, Brussels sprouts, purple-sprouting and broad beans.  I even got round to harvesting some tobacco leaves, and have hung them indoors to dry for now.  It’s such a beautiful plant which I couldn’t resist growing, even though I’m not a smoker.  I might just have to take up smoking so I can reap the benefit.  Alternatively I guess I could encourage my kids to smoke - after all it is organic tobacco!

 

The pastures are looking great - fresh, green and lush. 3 paddocks have now been re-sown with a mix of grazing herbs, so hopefully enough to keep the cattle and sheep going without much supplementary feed for a few more weeks. The original hay paddock (the biggest paddock) is in need of a good clear out before we can use it for hay again. Several piles of pine waste ended up in there, and though some clearance has been done, there are still lots of twigs, sticks and other debris which should be more visible in winter. More of the native plants in the wetland are apparent, fingers crossed that hundreds more put in an appearance as the weedy growth diminishes in the cold.

 

Hopefully winter will reduce the number of jobs on the hit list, but there’s no sign of that so far.  Young trees are still growing in bags, awaiting transfer to a woodlot zone which is yet to be created.  Transferring the soft fruit plants from the orchard into the veg garden is becoming another priority, as is sorting out fencing and adding a gate to get better access into the back paddocks.   Then we have to work out where we can house next-years pigs (assuming we get more next year - if they continue with their Houdini missions, we may think again).  We’ve read that you shouldn’t keep them on the same plot for more than 2 years.  Occasional housework wouldn’t go amiss either (but then, when wouldn’t it?).  Etc. etc. etc….Time to go and get on with something. 

 

 

 

April 2013

For a while it was starting to look like the drought was breaking, though not really much rain here.  But in the last few days we’ve had persistent rain, heavy at times and have now turned back into a bog.   At least our water worries are alleviated.  Plenty of underground water and it turns out that the stop/start of our water supply was related to the pump filter getting clogged up.  Peter got phone advice and fixed it on the spot.  The woodstove’s been lit, food cooked on it and in it, and baths are back on tap. 

The rain is seriously highlighting that some of our animal houses are not completely water-proof.  The pig house remains clean and dry, though most of the run is a quagmire (and a bit smelly too).  Some of the rabbit and chook houses are now sporting very unattractive tarpaulins to keep the sleeping-quarters dry.  Peter’s done some work on them, and plans to do more once vintage is over (very soon).  The improvements to the accommodation will also make them more mobile and accessible, which optimistically should reduce time needed to get them fed and kept clean.  We’ve just worked out that we’ll need 4 rabbit runs to house all the different ages/sexes.  Gandalf will get a bigger run to himself, the females need one each, plus one for kits which are weaned but not big enough to sell or eat. 

The baby rabbits continue to eat and grow.  Belladonna, the younger NZ White doe-rabbit, has added her own brood - another nest-ful of kits.  These are still way too young to leave the nest, and until they do, we won’t know how many there are.  This time we were alert to the early signs of her plucking out her fur.  We removed Gandalf immediately and provided lots of hay for nest-building.  Gandalf is doing his ‘I’m not impressed’ act again.  Perhaps he has to look after himself when the women are raising their young.  The other kits are now 7 weeks old and are vigorously growing and gorgeously cute.  We’ve been researching how to sex them.  It’s not an easy task at this age (and everyone has a tale about getting this wrong) but we do need to know so that we can advertise them for sale.  The plan for those that don’t sell is to go in the freezer.  We’re going to ask $30 each, so should re-coup costs relatively quickly.  Either that or have lots of delicious rabbit meals.  At least it would make a change from sausages, though they are still retaining their popularity...

The chooks are growing, and we’ve just transferred the 5 teenage chooks (born and raised at Derryn’s) into the main run.  Fingers crossed they sort out the pecking order without too much trauma.  The other younger chicks are now 6 weeks old and will stay put until they’re big enough to join the flock.  It’s time to think about a cull, as it’s getting quite expensive to feed 20 chickens.  Over to you Peter…

Derryn came round and helped to shape and lightly prune the fruit trees, which are now looking so much better.  Some look like ballerinas with their lower branches pulled down with twine.  This should improve the tree form, allowing light in and encouraging fruiting on the lower, more reachable branches.  The orchard’s still an overgrown mess otherwise, but it’s yielding plenty of herby greens for the rabbits and the chooks.  I’ve decided to pull out the low fruit hedge/bee food plants from the orchard, and transfer them to the veg garden where they will receive more attention.  This will mean that the orchard can be easily grazed once the fruit tree leaves have dropped – that should tidy it up a bit.

The veg garden is looking much less overgrown, even vaguely tidy in places, especially the mandala beds.  Plans for developing it are progressing.  Instead of using a pond liner, we’ve decided to sink an old bath tub and a large water trough as water features, both of which were already on the property.   It’s just a matter of starting to dig.  Then it’ll be onto converting the original huge oblong beds into more manageable mandalas.  There are 20 sacks of horse manure, several barrow loads of flat rocks (thanks Sam!) and heaps of cardboard, plus a car bootful of seaweed from Kaikoura (thanks Ander and Billy - it was a beautiful day along the fabulous east coast, especially at Kekerengu).  Once the pasture growth slows up, paths will be put down using old cut-open stock feed bags as weed-mat, and cardboard, and then covering them with the wood-chips that Peter created from the mountains of willow pulled out of the wetland.  Current production of veg is still relatively prolific (even carrots), and there are plenty of veg seeds and seedlings planted for winter.
 

 

Peter is bringing home buckets of crushed grapes from the winery, which is much loved by the cows.  It has increased the cattle’s tame-ness - even Aphrodite and Persephone who have always been timid.  They are now quite barrel-shaped, so hopefully a couple of gorgeous calves to come in July.  The cows love the grapes so much they hang around the paddock gate whenever we’re around.  This makes it tricky to manoeuvre around them at pig/chook feed times, and requires extra vigilance with keeping the gate shut (eh Peter??).  They’ve also been known to lean against the chook enclosure, damaging the chicken wire.  The adventurous chooks take immediate advantage of the breaches and go on walkabout.  One day Bob decided to join in the fun, and I’ve still got the hole he tore in my jeans to prove it. 

The pigs don’t share the love of grapes.  Last year’s pigs did relish them, but this lot are much pickier it seems.  I keep giving it to them in the hope that they acquire the taste, but with limited success.   They do seem to enjoy pretty much everything else, including acorns.  Happily they were gifted a huge quantity (thanks Tania/Tania’s mum/Saskia /Marcus!) which significantly bulks out their food supply.  If you asked them, they’d be adamant that they are half-starved of course. 

The autumn bounty has provided opportunities for foraging: wild apples, stone fruit, fallen leaves (for composting) plus a bumper crop of sloes alongside the road just outside Renwick.   I’ve been collecting sloes every autumn for years, and this is the very best crop.  Some of them are huge, maybe some kind of damson/sloe cross.  They’re all put to good use in gin and vodka – yum.  I’ve also created vanilla and quince vodkas, which last year were very successful, though didn’t last long.   There are large batches of strawberry jam, quince jelly and pear& vanilla jam, and I hope that’s not the end of it.

The solar panels are proving to be very effective.  The last couple of power bills have been really small ($90 and $73) so they are already starting to pay for themselves.  The long hot summer has helped.  During the rainy days we were only generating enough electricity to boil a kettle, but now the sun’s making a comeback that will increase.  The days are shorter but hopefully the reduced solar energy will be off-set by the use of the woodstove.

It’s time to start battening down the hatches and preparing for winter.  There’s definitely more of a feeling of being connected to the land and the seasons when you live in the country.  Daily activities like the animal-feed rounds take longer, but once you get over the chore concept, it’s such a pleasure to be outside, seeing and feeling nature.  It’s hard to imagine life without it. 

March 2013



The big dry continues, and not just for us in Marlborough.  Much of the North Island has been officially declared a drought zone, and with no significant rain on the horizon, probably the South Island will follow suit.  We haven’t been affected by the water restrictions because we’re not on mains water.  Ours is pumped up from an underground well/bore, which means that we don’t have any idea how much there is.  It’s quite worrying when the flow of tap water stop/starts all the time, which it’s begun to do lately.  I’ve stopped automatic irrigation, and now hand-hose to eke out whatever supply we may have.  It’s time consuming, but not half as inconvenient as running out of water would be.

The 6 chicks at Derryn’s are now 5, but are growing beautifully.  And we have 5 of our own chicks too - truly gorgeous bundles of yellow fluff.  As soon as they were born, we moved them and their hen-mum into new accommodation.  We designed and built a hen house/run on wheels so it can be moved around.  It’s two-storey with the sleeping accommodation upstairs.  The stairs themselves are ultra-designer - a floating staircase no less!  It solved the problem of the stairs not trailing on the ground when being wheeled around.  Peter added some decorative features too, as you can see in the picture.

 

The farm animals seem contented. The cattle and sheep still have sufficient pasture and continue to grow. The lambs are 6 months old now, and nearly as big as their mothers. They could be processed any time really, but we’ll probably wait a couple of months until there’s less available feed. We noticed that a couple of ewes had very large udders (one particularly so). The books told us about black bag and blue bag - forms of sheep mastitis, but they didn’t appear unwell. Droopy udders, we’ve heard, is quite common in ewes and thankfully it’s looking like that’s what it is after all. Ah - the ravages of childbearing and breastfeeding!

 

And we have other babies - a nest-ful of rabbit kits.  One day there was white fur all over the ground in their run, and the next it had all been gathered up and made into a nest which wriggled.  For several days they were blind, pink and ugly, and we didn’t know how many there were.  Disturbing them wasn’t really an option for us rabbit-keeping beginners, and now they’ve declared themselves as 6 beautiful bouncing babies.    Galadriel’s the proud mother, and it even took a while to be sure about that.  Rabbits only feed their young about twice a day, and don’t seem to spend much time with their in-nest youngsters.  Gandalf was removed soon after the birth, and despite his new and luxurious accommodation in Derryn’s former chicken house/run, he seems quite grumpy.  He is a new father I guess…

The pigs drive us insane at times.  When we approach with food, they charge into the fence.  They surround us when we enter the run and can only be briefly distracted by the throwing down of food.  One sunny day I returned home with a gruesome migraine and Sam.  There was a pig on the driveway and 2 more behind the hedge.  It took a while to work out how they’d escaped, and in the time it took to attempt to secure the run, the 3 pigs had managed to get themselves into the chicken run.  It’s quite amazing that they managed to squeeze under that fence - a feat eluded by the considerably smaller chickens.  We lured them back with food, only to find they’d escaped again an hour later, and were on the road.  Holy crap!  A few days later they escaped over the fence, at the place where they’re usually fed.  Necessary fortifications (higher fence and low barbed wire) mean that now we either have to climb in or chuck the food over to them.  It depends on available time.  They’re really enjoying the sprouted grains and sweetcorn (demolishing whole plants) and have several treats in the form of apples, stone fruit and occasionally kids’ leftover school lunches.  And yep, they’re still always hungry.

 

Delicious sausages have featured in our meals lately.  After attending a ‘Pig in a Day’ workshop (http://www.preserved.co.nz/pig-in-a-day-workshop.html) and getting a hand-mincer and sausage-maker, I’ve been getting into the swing of sausage production.  We haven’t got enough of our own pork left, so I grudgingly had to buy some belly and shoulder pork and get to work on them.  The workshop also included bacon, salami, black pudding, prosciutto and pancetta, which I’ll have a go at when we have our own meat supply.  We’re thinking about processing our own pigs at home (with the help of the home-kill man and a butcher-friend) next time.  I get a sense of nausea even thinking about it now, but hopefully I’ll get over myself. 

 

The orchard and vege garden are mostly wild and weedy, but nonetheless productive. I'm finally getting more relaxed about weeds, and beginning to really appreciate their role in soil biology and chemistry. They've also provided much needed shade for the vege crops as well as food for the animals (dandelions are a new source of delight!). Some of the vegetables end up as stock-fodder too, for pigs, chooks, rabbits and worms. If they're lucky, the cows and sheep also get a look in. Unlike the children, they're not picky about dodgy-looking produce.   The photo shows one cropping session, and I'm about to harvest another batch of tomatoes to make into tomato sauce. Herbs and onions will be added, then everything roasted and pureed and put into jars to store. 

The sunflowers are nearly over, but have yielded an immense crop of seeds which will keep the chooks and the rabbits happy.  Many seeds have been saved and there’s now quite a good supply of a range of flower and vegetable seeds for next year.  The flower garden still provides much pleasure and should be even better next year.  Check out the stunning rose ‘Rosa Remember Me’.

 

Touches of autumn are appearing - some fallen leaves, shorter days and chillier mornings.  Sometimes we get a morning mist which seems to be providing moisture before it’s burned off by the sun.  That could explain why our pastures are still a quite green, and not completely dry-brown as much of the region is.  The Onamalutu valley is a sight to behold on these mornings, with sunny and shady spots, dappled light, and trees and animals emerging out of the mist along the river.

“Maybe if we are surrounded in beauty, someday we will become what we see”.
 

 

February 2103

Back to work big time, and really grateful for setting up the irrigation systems which are saving hours of time.  We’re still having a very dry summer, and despite a minor hiccup when we didn’t realise that the batteries in the timer were running out, the orchard and veg garden are looking lush and green.  Even my carrots are something to write home about.  Karyn is always quick to mock my carrot-growing prowess, so I made her be photographed holding some of them, extending her arm forwards like fishermen do to make their catch look bigger.  There’s more of the carrot season left to go, so optimistically they will genuinely get bigger in time.  We’re now eating only our own veg from the garden (including these beautiful purple potatoes), our own meat from the freezer, and even the fish that Peter and Billy caught.  Deeply satisfying!

We did buy a grass-cutter, a former vineyard beast which is happier on flat ground but can be chivvied along over our bumpy land.  It attaches onto the back of the go-kart, and Peter looks like a real farmer as he drives up and down.  It’s got rid of the worst of the dead grass, and also some major clumps of thistles, so we do look at bit greener than we did despite the absence of rain.  Peter’s usually joined on the go-kart by a boy or two, who are happy to help out with this aspect of land management, at least as long as it’s still a novelty.

 

Our total livestock numbers have increased by 10 - 6 chicks (currently chez Derryn) and 4 piglets who are all named ‘Poppet’.  The rationale for the name relates to what we’re going to do with the pigs.  It ends along the lines of ‘poppet’ in the freezer, ‘poppet’ in the oven etc.  Such wicked thoughts from the Bauntons.  Anyway, I’m trying not to think about that, because right now they are cuter than cute.  2 boys and 2 girls again from the same litter.  They are Berkshire/Hampshire crosses and display all the usual ‘pigginess’ of pigs.  They love digging with their snouts, and have all the table manners of, er, pigs.   They snort loudly when I’m nearby, and when I talk back to them, they shut up to listen to me, and go back to snorting at me when I stop talking.  If only the kids had such courteous communication skills!

 

The new chicks arrived on cue - 6 chicks from 8 eggs is a much better ratio than before.  They were born on January 31^st and are still gorgeous little bundles of fluffy feathers.   Thelma, their hen-mother, is doing a sterling job.  Derryn’s dad’s been busy building them a new home from one of her original designs, and they’re just big enough to free-range round the garden during the day.  Another of her hens is sitting on a few more of our eggs too, and so are 2 of our own hens (I didn't think that would happen again) - sooo egg-citing!   Our very first chick-hatchling at Derryn’s has turned out to be a boy, and he’s now big enough to eat.  That’ll happen sometime soon, if we can bring ourselves to (get Peter to...) do it. 

 

The flower garden making up Joanna’s Patch has been (and still is) delightful.  It’s probably a sign of age that I’m now enjoying flowers much more than ever in my life.  Though the garden looked sparse early on, it’s pretty much filled up now, even accounting for the storm bringing down the stunning hollyhocks.  I’m particularly fond of forget-me-not, cosmos (all colours and flavours, including chocolate), zinnias, dahlias and the rose ‘Rosa Remember Me’.  Much of my planting was geared towards providing food for bees, and there are wild bees enjoying them now.  I’ve waited too long for a swarm for my own hive (apparently there were very few swarms this year) and now it’s too late to set up a new hive nucleus.  I’ll begin again in spring, hopefully with 2 hives. 

Talking of flowers, the other stunning area of the garden is alongside the chicken run, where the sunflowers are.  Next year I’m going to grow a million sunflowers, they absolutely radiate happiness.  Soon the old flower heads will have dried and I’ll be able to chuck them over to the chooks.  The tallest sunflower in the photo is 11 feet high - Peter’s just measuring it.  Right in front of Sam is a gorgeous amaranth, and I’ll definitely grow more of them next year too.   I think it was part of a seed-mix which I chucked over the area, and I’m really glad I didn’t weed it out by accident.  The chooks will also enjoy its seeds, and maybe so will I if I can figure out how to harvest them.  I’ve also just sown some ‘chicken green mix’ - a range of seeds from plants which chooks will enjoy: plantain, minutina, parsley, cocksfoot, subterranean clover, chicory.  There was a classic moment when I was weeding the bed in preparation for the new seeds - a fork-piercing-water-pipe-fountain-incident.  We didn’t know the pipe was there, but Peter was able to fix it in a jiffy, and we’re now thinking of installing a plumbed-in water system for the chooks. 

The compost heap in the veg garden is finally covered in its outer layer of pooey hay.   It’s got lots more cow poo inside too.  Sam was in need of a few dollars, and I was prepared to pay for wheel-barrow loads of poo.  It has dropped its height considerably and is full of worms.  There are 2 other compost piles on the go, in the original compost boxes.  They’re receiving the current compost matter, and when they’re done I’ll create the next heap in a circular shape where one of the new mandalas will go.  There’s plenty of chicken poo yet to be utilised - hopefully there’ll be plenty of yummy compost to start the new beds with next year.  I’m putting some winter veg seeds/seedlings - leeks, brassicas, beetroot, parsnips and carrots - in the new mandala beds so the rest of the veg plot can be converted into 5 more mandalas (plus a pond) over the autumn/winter.  The grass in there is really lush from all the irrigation.  It’s a nightmare job to mow (though does provide great compost material) so it’ll be a big relief when it’s converted into paths between mandala beds. 

I’ve been occasionally watering the native hedge in the horse arena, and it’s coming away nicely.  The last time it was watered, I counted how many plants were visible from a short distance away.  There were 5 plants, but when I closed in and pushed away some of the weedy growth, delightfully the other 29 put in an appearance.  I’m keeping everything crossed that it’s the same in the wetland.  Happily, the plants which were the least exposed and the most surrounded by weeds, were the best of all.  The wetland plants have never been watered, but they were in early enough to experience the wet weather in winter.  Here’s hoping!

'Worm Hollow' has become a happening metropolis.  Hopefully a bit of worm heaven for the current occupants, who will be joined by more worms which are ordered.  We acquired a load of old posts which will be used as plant stakes.  Some had tatty frost protection cloth attached, which I removed, sewed and stuffed with sheep wool to create worm duvets.  Should keep out the frost and keep them toasty over winter.  Now all they need is their own stripy pyjamas.

My days begin and end with irrigation checks, and rounds of small animal feeding and grain-soaking.   I’ve got the tasks down to about 20 minutes if I’m short of time.  If I’m not in a hurry, then I can indulge watching the animals enjoy the food I’ve gathered.  The cows wander over to chat and watch the pigs and chooks devour their feed.  They’re interested in what everyone else is eating, and are now developing an appetite for comfrey and other herbs, and sometimes a few sprouted grains if they’re lucky.  They tolerate a little gentle stroking, and I jumped a mile one morning when Butch nuzzled my bottom as I was bending down to fill up the chook food box.  These are special moments and I have to pinch myself to believe that it’s really me and my life. 

D’you know - it’s magic here. 

 

January 2013

 

While we were away on holiday in the far north, Mother Nature treated us to a couple of welcome dumps of rain, and one very unwelcome huge wind-storm.  It brought down one of our favourite garden trees - a maple which at the time was decorated with solar fairy lights.  Other trees on the property came down too, and several big branches.  The electric fence was damaged, so the cows went on walkabout.   Aphrodite and Persephone returned to the property, but Butch and Woody had other plans.  Luckily they didn’t stray too far, and were rounded up by our neighbours and Murray into another neighbour’s paddock.  When we arrived home 2 days later, they obediently allowed Peter and Billy to retrieve them.  Thankfully the sheep and the solar panels had stayed put.   

For our holiday we spent a few days at a campsite by Haruru Falls (near Paihia in the Bay of Islands).   Billy caught a 10.5lb snapper, and Lucas’ and Sam’s highlight was jet-skiing.  I visited the beautiful and serene Waitangi and took a coach trip to Cape Reinga via ‘90 mile beach’ and some sand-surfing.  Then we stayed a few nights in Wellsford so we could spend some time with our relatives, Shena and Doug.  It was lovely to finally meet them, plus see more of the north island. 

The hay was cut while we were away, and turned and baled soon after we returned.  Only 29 bales this year, but we still have plenty left over from last year and have also sold a few more.  Perhaps we’ll run out and have to buy a few more, but at least we’ll have a better idea of what the stock actually need.  We’re also looking into buying a grass cutter which can attach to the go-kart.  The grass in most of the paddocks is getting old and brown and preventing the fresh growth from coming through.  We may have avoided this with better paddock management, but did have to account for the pine felling.  Maybe we’ll work this out better next year, but it’ll probably always be a guessing game.  We’ve sown new seed in the paddock with the cut hay - clover, plantain and chicory.  The plan is to improve the pasture quality like this in all the paddocks after we’ve cut the old grass down. 

The veg garden and orchard grew enormously whilst we were away.  It seems it was worth sorting out the irrigation.  The orchard is still an overgrown mess, but the trees are big enough to see that it is actually meant to be an orchard.  I double-staked all the fruit trees when I returned, in the hope that the roots weren’t too badly rocked during the storm.  Probably a case of locking the door after the horse has bolted, but they do all look healthy enough right now.  The veg garden is smothered in thistles - again. Thank goodness (or rather - thanks mum!) for the super-sturdy gardening gloves I got for Christmas.   I’m actually coming to the conclusion that thistles aren’t the worst kind of weed.  They create excellent ground cover and pull up quite readily.  I’m assuming that those deep tap roots must also break up the soil structure, bring up nutrients from deep down and provide organic matter for worms. 

An opportunity to acquire 3 free laying hens was too good to pass on, so there are now 3 brown shavers for Bob to ‘service’.   For the first few days they settled them into a small hen house/run alongside the main run before being introduced to the flock.  There was minimal argy-bargy as the chief hen clarified the pecking order, and then peace prevailed.  Now there are 8 Mrs M’s, currently enjoying an abundance of greens from the veg garden and orchard.  The little chick is still small enough to get out of the run under the fence.  S/he goes in and out regularly, but never strays too far.  One of Derryn’s hens is broody again, and is presently sitting on 8 of our eggs.  Fingers crossed for a cacophony of chicks this time.

The rabbits had a great holiday chez Karyn, where they were very well-fed and cuddled.  There’s a chance that Galadriel might be pregnant, but we’re not really sure that we’re picking up on the right signs.  On their return home, they started to burrow, which may indicate a nesting instinct, but probably too much of a long shot.  Hopefully things will declare themselves before too long.  They’re also enjoying the fresh greens.  It’s very satisfying to gather up an armful of grass, clover, peas, beans and comfrey to feed them.  The chickens particularly enjoy marrows, which is very fortunate as I grew several plants from seed and then couldn’t tell them apart from the cucumber seedlings.  3 fortunate courgette plants ended up in the very well-nourished salad patch by accident and are producing a mammoth crop.  That must mean the cucumbers are among the corn and beans, but darned if I can find them.  Perhaps they’ll reveal themselves if I do a bit of weeding in there, but I’d hoped not to.  At least we should have plenty to feed the 4 piglets who are arriving in early February.

The worms have successfully transitioned from small-holding to farm.  We acquired an old bath which we’d intended to use as a cattle water trough, then decided to plumb in some proper troughs instead.  The bath has been transformed into stunning worm accommodation.  Peter built a wooden box around it with a lid.  Some old sheets of polystyrene shoved down the sides will provide insulation for winter.  The worms will also have a very snug duvet created from some old wind cloth stuffed with our (expertly shorn!) sheep’s wool.  The vermiliquid will drain out of the plug hole into an ice cream tub, and the vermicast will be gathered to make seedling compost next year.  Yum.

 

The wetland has been seriously neglected, and a recent walk around was quite worrying.  Some of the native planting is coming away really well, but there are lots that appear to be missing.  The weeds/pasture growth is pretty dense, and the optimist in me believes that they are there, just hidden.  The new native hedge planted in the horse arena appears to be missing too, but it’s not.  Once I’d whacked the weeds down in there, the new plants were thriving.  Fingers crossed that it’s the same in the wetland.

On the family front, Lucas turned 18 on January 13^th.  It was fine weather and he had an outdoor party.  Entertainment included a swim in the river and inflatable jousting, and the food (steak, burgers, sausages, new spuds, salad) was mostly produced right here by us.  He plans to stay at home until the end of September, when he’ll go to Christchurch to study Design.  He’s working full time at the winery, and has treated himself to his first car (a sporty little Mitsubishi).   Sam’s been away on an air cadet ‘bush camp’ and Billy went camping at ‘Curious Cove’ in the Marlborough Sounds. 

 

 

I wish I had more time to dwell on new jobs in the pipeline.  They include planting a shelter belt to the west of the property, to try and protect it from the worst of the winds, and putting in more fencing around a potential woodlot area.  Planting will have to wait until autumn or winter, so no real hurry, but I am starting to collect young trees.  I’ve grown several oak, sweet chestnut and horse chestnut from seed, and have ordered seeds from native trees.  No real rest for the lifestyle-blocker/small-holder, but no regrets either…