October 2014

It’s been a lovely October.  The birds are singing and the paddocks are lush - a fresh, youthful green.  We’re starting to think pigs.  The spring winds haven’t been too troublesome yet, and we’ve had a relatively pleasant mix of sunshine and rain.  The trees are all in leaf or blossom, and veges are flourishing.  The main downside is that paid work is also flourishing, though daylight saving does compensate for that to some extent.

We do still have rabbits, though only the buck and 14 youngsters.  All the mothers and the entire first litter of 7 kits (pictured in last month's blog) are gone.  One of these kits outlived the others by a couple of weeks before eventually succumbing.  That was a sad day because I’d let myself believe that it was over the worst.  One of the 14 kits is blind (no eyes) but it seems to get along alright.  They’re all quite stunted and scruffy, but are lively with healthy appetites.  They’re nearly old enough to be vulnerable to calicivirus.   It’s an awful thought that the virus might still be around, though there’s nothing to do but wait and hope.  Keeping them alive in the absence of a mother always was a long shot.

Our broody hen has just been rewarded with a couple of beautiful chicks.  There may be a few more to come yet, though the hen isn’t the most dedicated egg-sitter.  It’s interesting that none of the other hens have gone broody yet.  Bob was dispatched to the freezer, leaving Cornelius as the only rooster for his harem.  Other than the broody hen, they've all been moved back to the original run.  There’s more space for them there, and the baby chicks won’t have competition for food.

Both Galloway cows have now sold and will be heading to pastures new near Christchurch sometime soon.  That means that I won’t be able to hone my Artificial Insemination skills on Aphrodite after all.  Instead I’ll have a try with Hera, though it may be harder because she hasn't yet calved.  We’re just waiting for the pistillet (insertion tool) and for Hera to go on heat, then it’ll be all-go and out with the disposable gauntlets and lube. Can't wait!

The new nut trees in the nuttery are all looking fabulous.  Their buds are bursting into delicate new leaves, so hopefully they’re getting well-rooted.  The apples, pears and cherries are flowering now, and so is the fast-growing Quince tree.  One of Ange and Matt's pear trees is thriving (photo above), the other sadly not. Comfrey is popping up everywhere, and makes a welcome addition to the rabbit food.  The orchard irrigation will have to be extended but that can be put off as long as there’s still enough rain.  It's looking really verdant and abundant - a real pleasure to look at the trees and remind myself that I planted them.  Though I've made many mistakes with planting of all kinds, I'm really glad that I stuck with the plan of getting fruit trees in sooner rather than later. Though it wasn't a well thought-out plan at the time (particularly in terms of irrigation, tree spacing and how to manage the pasture itself), we managed to cobble things together and trouble-shoot the problems that cropped up.  It's a little higgledy-piggledy, but everything's alive and looking healthy.  We should get something that resembles a crop by the end of summer.  Maybe even enough to share with the pigs.

Peter’s tacked together another couple of raised beds in the horse arena.  One of them has been prepared with newspaper mulch and any other organic material we could find.  Old hay and straw, a few buckets of top soil gathered up, some remaining compost, and, very satisfyingly, a huge volume of shredded office paper.  It’s unlikely that any of them will be planted up this year, though I did manage to find some bargain olive trees which will need to be heeled in somewhere. 

The flower garden is beginning its summer show.  There are already lots of flowers which are being visited by all sorts of bees, including bumble bees.  It’s been really satisfying to be adding plants which I've grown from seed.  So far forget-me-nots, sweet pea, echium, poached egg plant, cosmos, arnica, zinnia and poppy, are planted out, and plenty more to come which are still in the tunnel house.  There are also lots of seed-grown tansy and rue which will line outside edge of the chicken run.  They are insect-repellent plants which can be cut and thrown into the run/hen house in the hope that they’ll reduce the mite population. 

Madame Cholet has been a hive of activity – seeds and seedlings in and out, potting on and planting out.  The seedlings are moved onto the shelves in the gin palace for a few days before being hardened-off outside.  I lost a load of seedlings early on when I foolishly planted out seedlings directly from the tunnel house.  Since then there’s only been frost-damage to a tray of marigolds, which happily look like they might recover.  Some plants will stay in the tunnel house – cucumber, tomato, chilli, aubergine and melon.  Mostly they’re not quite big enough to be potted into the straw bale beds, but it won’t be long.  

The keyhole beds are now home to onions, leeks, kale cauliflower, cavalo nero, beetroot, lettuce, purple potatoes, asparagus, Jerusalem and globe artichokes and broad beans.  Lined up to go in next are carrots and beans (runner and bush).  I did do some weed-killing of the veg garden perimeter where the pasture weeds were invading.  Not a good feeling, but hope not to have to repeat it any time soon.  I got a truck load of mulched macrocarpa (for the cost of a few beers) which has now been spread over the internal pathways.  It smells heavenly – a fresh pine scent that fills the air as you step on it.  Another load should complete the rest of the pathways and help reduce the persistent pasture weeds which are finding their way through.  The corner of the veg garden by the pump house has yet to be turned into beds and paths.  I’d planned to have done this by now, but it’s probably going to have to wait until next year before it gets proper attention. 

I'm still waiting for my new queen bee, and all is looking well inside the hive.  Maybe next time I look there'll be some queen cells anyway, and I can split the hive with those. Derryn and me have finished our beekeeping course, without completing the last modules. These were specifically industry-orientated and since we didn't want a qualification, there wasn't any point in going ahead for the sake of it.  Much as the course was enjoyable and very informative, it's a relief to not have to do any more assignments.

On the home front everyone is happy.  Peter’s making progress on several farm projects, and has even managed to get on with some thistle-bashing. Lucas is nearing the end of his course and has already been doing some design work for a company who have offered him work next year.  He’s done lots of work for the Marlborough Bee Club, including the website (www.marlboroughbeekeepers.co.nz).  Sophie is about to start her new job with Air New Zealand, having just finished her course.  Sam is gearing up to year 12 exams and Billy is just pottering along.  I’m keeping everything crossed that job-share plans for next year will materialise, so that I can be more often released to spend time at home. 

The Onamalutu River, just behind our place.

Home sweet home.  

September 2014

The arrival of the spring weeds puts a bit of a damper on the early season, but otherwise it’s great to have sprung into spring.  In contrast to this time last year, it’s been pretty dry.  A recent rain sprinkling was welcome - enough to get the weeds growing, but more is needed to thoroughly soak the ground.  Daylight Saving begins at the weekend, and I'm looking forward to more outside evening time.  I’m writing this month’s blog from Greymouth (renowned for its rainfall!) where I’m working for a couple of weeks.  Somehow I've managed to land a night shift on Saturday, so I'll get the pleasure of working the extra daylight saving hour.  No surprises there.  Since moving to the farm I’m finding it hard to be away from home, though the freedom from the daily chores is refreshing and right now it feels like I’ve got all the time in the world.

The lambs are utterly delightful and have grown rapidly.  Like the kids they like to play with the tractor inner tube.  They usually have an early evening session when they bounce up and down and in and out of the ring.  They all seem to be hale and hearty and have finally lost their tails - that took a while longer than we expected.  We've found the tails in the paddock.  Probably they've also shed their testicles, but curiously no one's found any of them on the ground!  Perhaps they have a little farewell burial ceremony for their lopped-off bits when we're not looking.

 

The bees seem to be happily buzzing, and Derryn and I spent a morning with beekeeper Phil who showed us how to use queen cups to raise queens.  It’d be great if I could separate my hive back into 2 hives and use a queen I’ve raised.  Unfortunately that’s looking a long way off as a recent sugar shake varroa test revealed 72 mites.  I was hoping for less than 10, so this was quite a blow.  I treated the hive straightaway with Apivar and will repeat the sugar shake test next week to check that it’s working.  The photo shows the mites in the icing sugar.  Yuk.

 

The orchard is totally bursting into bloom and leaf.  Even the new nut trees are awakening from their slumber.  The herb garden has had a serious weed-out and is now heavily mulched with barley straw.  The remaining native plants which Peter brought home from work have also been potted on so should be easier to plant out.  I'd heeled them into some weighty soil bags to keep them alive.  They didn't all make it, so hopefully this will give them more of a fighting chance.  They'll eventually be planted into the wetland. 

 

 The veg garden is actually looking good, in places at least.  Most of last year’s crops are eaten, but some of the autumn/winter planted veg is ready - mainly spinach and leeks, and a few beetroot and lettuce which are fattening up.  There are many seedlings sprouting in Madame Cholet and potatoes are next up for planting.  The fertility of the soil has been enhanced by large volumes of delicious compost courtesy of fellow-midwife Marion.  She has horses so creates magnificent compost – happily for me in volumes too great for her needs. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The cows and sheep are happily munching on the fresh pasture, and now that our boundary fence is secured (hurray), they’ve been moved along into a couple of paddocks which we’d been avoiding for fear of wanderlust.  We’ve asked the fencer to come and fix up the interior fences too, so maybe the orchard, veg garden and woodlot will truly be no-go cattle and sheep zones.  Hopefully then it’ll just be a case of keeping on top of freeing the fence lines from grass/weed growth to stop it matting up the lower fence wires.  Persephone, the only pregnant heifer, has been sold to a new family in Canterbury so will be gone soon.  I’m planning on having a go at artificially inseminating Aphrodite in a couple of months as we still have one Galloway semen straw.  I just need to source some equipment. 

Since the veg seedlings were planted out, the chooks have been confined to barracks.  The two roosters don’t seem to be getting on like they used to, and Cornelius has taken over as top chook.  The poor hens take the brunt of them proving their superior masculinity, so one of the boys will have to go if we are to avoid their death-by-shagging.  It’s a difficult decision because this Bob is the gentlest Bob we’ve ever had – quite unusual for a Rhode Island Red.  Unlike his predecessors, he’s never shown any sign of aggression to humans.  Cornelius isn’t aggressive either, so we just have to decide whether we want to hang onto Rhodies or continue with Cochin crosses.  I’ll probably leave that decision to Peter.

The rabbits have been occupying our time and emotional energy lately.  A little while ago we had 4 litters of rabbit kits.  The first litter is now around 7 weeks old, and the other 3 were born around the same time 3 weeks ago.  All was going well until we found one of the mothers dead.  There was no warning, no obvious health decline, so it seemed to be a mystery.  Her kits were still alive so we divvied them up and put them in with the other 2 litters of the same age, in the hope that the adoptive mums would look after them.  To our dismay, the next day another of the mothers was also dead.  This was an even bigger problem as it was unlikely that these kits could possibly survive - one mother surely couldn’t raise 3 litters?  We were debating whether it was kinder to let them die or to euthanize them, when another possibility dawned.  The mother of the 7 week old kits may still be lactating.  Perhaps she would adopt them.  It was a very long shot which ran the risk of them either being killed by her or by neglect.  We didn’t predict that she’d also die a couple of days later.

A little research revealed the cause of death was likely to be calicivirus – a particularly virulent and nasty disease killing rabbits within about 24 hours and which is currently prevalent in our region.  Young rabbits don’t get it until they are several weeks old and this time of year – late winter/early spring is the commonest time for it to break out.  Vaccination is possible but would cost $120 per rabbit initially, then a $60 booster jab annually thereafter.  Not an option alas.

Probably we’d been lucky until now, but this may well be the beginning of the end of our rabbit venture.  I don’t know how many more dead rabbits I can face burying.  In the meantime we have a litter-and-a-half (10) of rabbit kits which Billy is keen to save.  So far this entails twice daily milk feeds, gently squirted into their mouths, followed by rubbing their tummies, a little stroking and then returning them back to their run which has been scrupulously cleaned and re-assembled in the dining room.  They are incredibly cute and this is generally a very pleasant task, though quite a challenge when you have to do it before work/school.  The chances of them surviving even with this level of care is still small, but the alternative would be to euthanize them.  Fingers crossed there’ll be photos of them in next month’s blog.

The fruit bushes gifted by Ange and Matt have all been re-homed.  The pear trees are in the orchard, some of the raspberries were claimed by friends and the remaining raspberries, currants and gooseberries now have their roots in new beds in the horse arena.  They are raised beds (no chance of digging through the hard core under the gravel) enriched with more of Marion’s compost.  They’re constructed from the wood planks which held in the horse arena base.  We figured we didn’t need them to do that anymore, so they are resurrected and put to a different use.  There are more to dig up so other beds will be created.  In time hopefully they will hold feijoa, citrus and olives, and anything else that comes to mind.  Maybe eventually sunflowers or grains.  Peter’s also working on plans for a second pig run in the horse arena if he can cobble together enough building materials. This will mean that we can rotate the pig accommodation – which we’ve read is a good way to reduce the risk of disease build-up.  We plan to get more piglets towards the end of the year.  Hopefully there’ll be an excess of fruit by then to keep them happy.

 

Sam has attended the College ‘Formal’ for which he required a suit and a haircut.  The usual deal applied – he had to submit to being photographed if he wanted our financial contribution.  It’s never easy to capture him smiling, and this was no exception.  He’s in the local paper fairly frequently with his musical events, and only one so far has pictured him with anything other than a frowny scowl.  Whatever….

 





My favourite quote of the month came from a speaker at the NZ College of Midwives Conference in Hamilton at the end of last month:
‘Words cast spells.  That’s why it’s called spelling.  Words are energy – use wisely’. 
This really struck a chord with this word-lover, even though I’m guiltier than many of word over-use.  These blogs just aren't getting any shorter, despite it being nearly 3 years worth of entries.  Here's to the next 3 years of happy memories!!

 

August 2014

Beautiful Maggie

The days are getting longer, though we’re far from being done with frosty mornings.  Madame Cholet, the tunnel house, keeps cosy warm though.  The seeds I planted a little while ago have germinated and are coming along well.  Some are about ready for either pricking out into individual cells or planting out directly. Several more seeds are sown, including some flowers.  The straw bale beds don’t look much different, but it was very easy to create holes with my hand and plant some tomato seedlings.  Inside the bales it was warm, soft and soil-like.  This is definitely my favourite phase of gardening – beautiful delicate seedlings with so much promise and no disappointment yet.

    

   

All of the ewes have had twins, but sadly we were faced with the old adage of ‘where there’s livestock there’s dead stock’.  The last ewe to birth had a ram and ewe twins.  The ewe lamb died during its 2^nd night, and we’re not sure why.  It was quite a wicked night – wind and rain followed by a frost.  Perhaps the lamb got separated for too long from her mum.  Peter thought that she’d had an unusual bleat, so there's a chance it was never meant to be.  She’s buried in the wetland under a kahikatea seedling.  There was a little ceremony, a celebration of her short life.  A few tears were shed.

The remaining 7 lambs are all boys.  They’re robust and old enough to be mischievous, and can get through the fencing into the veg garden.  There’s not a great deal to nibble in there, but they’ve enjoyed the beetroot tops and the brassicas.  Their utter cuteness means that it’s impossible to be cheesed off with them for long.  Every day they have a sequence of happy hours, charging and bounding around the paddocks, closely watched by their mums.  With the help of Karyn (shepherd) and Emily (the Vaccinator) we rounded them all up for tail docking, castration and vaccinating.  We decided to go ahead with tail docking of our new lambs until we’re sure that they’re all full-shedders of their wool – which Wiltshires are supposed to be.  We’d previously assumed this to be the case, and then ended up mutilating the poor critters with our hand shears.  Castration will allow us to keep the boy lambs for longer, and we were advised by the vet that we probably should vaccinate if we’re lopping bits off.  There was a modicum of chasing around to catch the lambs, but essentially it all went rather smoothly.  For us at least – the lambs weren’t impressed.

The final lamb from last year was dispatched, and then butchered by Peter.  There’re plenty of lamb joints in the freezer, and another large batch of lamb sausages and patties.  Aside from a rabbit or two, that’ll probably be the last round of meat production for a few months.  We’re down to 8 chooks right now – 2 roosters and 6 hens.  Derryn is raising another clutch of chicks which will find their way here in time.  I’m hoping that our hens might decide to go broody so that we can have our own chicks.

 

The rabbits are all thriving.  There are 7 kits in the recent litter and they’re growing fast.  We had an escapee adult who went on walkabout for a few days.  We didn’t think it was in with any chance of survival – a bright white bunny among the hawks.  But with a degree of poetic justice it turned up the same morning that the ewe lamb died.  Sam and I managed to round it (eventually, despite a pretty ineffective though very lively rabbit-catching technique) into the vacant chook mobile, where we suspect it had already been making itself at home. 

The beds in the veg garden are now sorted – either covered in barley straw or growing winter crops.  Some areas of the path still need to be completed, particularly around the pump shed.  The circular fruit bed (raspberries, blackberries and boysenberries with a central ballerina crab apple and step over espaliered apples around the perimeter) is well tidy now.  The straggly berry stems are tied into the netting and the ground mulched with straw.  Hopefully it’ll be easier to maintain in the long run (thanks Karyn!).

Another garden bed has been tackled. It’s the part of the garden that makes up our view to Mt Riley and had become seriously overgrown.  It’s planted in natives which have now had a severe short back ‘n sides.  The bed itself has been widened and extended, and planted with some of the natives that Peter acquired from work and a few dwarf flax that I raised from seed.  I've got rid of an old square raised bed that sat on the edge of the garden accommodating strawberries and lots of weeds.  It’s going into the horse arena to become the first raised bed in there.  It’ll be blessed with some of the several fruit bushes that were gifted by Ange and Matt who are immigrating to Aus – gooseberry, raspberry and currant.  There were also a couple of pear trees, grown from pips by their daughters in the millennium which have already been planted in the orchard. 

The native planting in the wetland is definitely coming away, visible now from a distance as well as close-up.  The lambs can get in through the fence and pruned a few tender leaves, but damage to the natives isn't too bad. There are parts of the wetland where none of the natives we planted have survived.  The plans are to concentrate on the areas where they are thriving and plant more in those places in the hope that once established, the natives will procreate. 

The tagasaste trees in the newly-planted woodlot adjacent to the wetland must be really tasty tagasastes.  At least the chooks think so.  They've stripped every last green leaf so they’re now just sticks in the ground.  I've attempted to protect them by setting up wigwams of old wire netting around them, though it’s probably already too late.  All of the new trees have got wool mulch mats, to give them a bit of a head start before the rampant weeds kick in.

At home, Sam celebrated his 17^th birthday.  He requested a ‘double lolly cake’ – a NZ lolly cake formed into a circle and filled with lolly sweeties.  He didn't quite get that.  In honour of his penchant for creating turds, the lolly cake was instead shaped into a giant turd.  It was actually quite effective, and I’m sure there’s potential to develop the concept - chocolate cake would lend itself well to the theme.

Having gone ‘no poo’ for many months now, it was heartening to see some publicity on national TV news.  A book called ’Happy Hair’ has hit the headlines.  It’s about the experiences of using shampoo alternatives which don’t wash away your hairs’ ability to cleanse itself.  Nowadays I wash with baking soda and rinse with apple cider vinegar every 5-6 days.  In between it just gets a wash and scalp massage using water, and it gets brushed a lot more than ever before.  For a bad hair day I use a dry shampoo made of arrowroot and cocoa powder.  I concede that I’ve never been renowned for the glossy shiny slickness of my hair – it’s more of a raggedy mop really.  But it’s no more of a mop than it was when I was spending money on hair products.  Must have saved a fortune on shampoo and conditioner. 

Mornings are particularly picturesque times in winter/early spring here on the farm, especially when the frostiness gives way to the morning sun.  Though there are many times when I just don't want to go out into the cold and do the round of animal feeding - again - it's always a pleasure when I get outside, no matter what the weather's doing.  I'm grateful that there's always something to do, in fact lots of meaningful somethings.  It's much better than wondering how I'm going

to fill my day, or filling it with only work and screens.  Being surrounded by things that are waiting to be done is a small price to pay for the privilege.

'It is still a beautiful world.

Be cheerful.

Strive to be happy' 

Max Ehrmann (Desiderata)

                                                                           

July 2014

We’re currently in the midst of a cold snap, probably the coldest winter since being in New Zealand.  For several days every morning's had a frost, and more forecast to come.  There's no rain on the horizon, so little chance of clouds keeping the night temperatures up.  We've been blessed with plenty of sunshine though – beautiful crisp winter days.  The evenings are warmed by the wood-burner stove, and it’s pleasantly cozy inside as long as you haven’t hung around outside for too long after the sun goes down.  Mornings are the most challenging.  The frost doesn't lift from the shadier parts of the property until late morning.  We have to use a spade to prise the frozen lid off one of the rabbit runs to feed them.  Their glass water containers are completely frozen every morning, except for when it's been cold enough to shatter 3 out of 4 of them.  Optimistically it’s also cold enough to seriously hammer non-beneficial bugs and pests.

Happily the 2 sets of twin lambs born last week are being well-mothered.  They made a good decision to be born during the day, so at least had chance to be licked dry and fed several times before the temperatures plummeted.  The first twins (2 boys Peter and Tom - a Beatrix Potter theme courtesy of Karyn) were born a year and a day after last year’s first lamb (Hagrid) put in an appearance.  You forget what absolute bundles of joy they are, gamboling around the paddocks, vigorously shaking their little tails as they feed.  It’s great when they hang around within view of the kitchen window – that level of distraction almost makes washing up bearable.  The two remaining ewes will hopefully birth soon – one looks considerably more imminent than the other.

We’re also delighted to have rabbit babies, though we haven’t seen them yet.  Their mother built an impressive nest as far back into the hutch as possible, pretty much at the end of arm’s reach.  In the photo they're deep down in the straw, under the plucked white rabbit fur.  So far we know that it’s warm and wriggly in there, and await the new arrivals introduction to the big wide world.  Also we now know for sure that we have at least one male and one female adult.  We've put what we think is a female in the hutch of what might be a male, in the hope that we’re getting there with sexing.  One disadvantage of not being sure is that we have to separate them into individual hutches, which makes for time-consuming feed rounds (and the need for lots of water containers).

The chickens are getting more adventurous - not good news for their free-ranging longevity.  Whilst it’s lovely to see them strutting around in the paddocks and the orchard, it’s not so enjoyable to watch them scratch and kick the carefully lain straw all over the place.  They’re not beyond digging up new plantings either.  We've taken to letting them out mid-afternoon, in the hope that they won’t cause too much damage in the few hours before dusk.  The two roosters, Bob Jnr and Cornelius (pictured) seem to get along OK, and we’re getting plenty of eggs for our own consumption and for gifts.

Peter received an invitation he just couldn’t turn down – the opportunity to practice ‘Artificial Insemination’ on Betsy the (model) cow.  The company who provides our semen straws were having a stall at the Hokitika AgFest and bringing Betsy along.  It was a long but stunning drive to the West Coast.  The event was impressive and Betsy a joy.  I was relieved to be able to locate her cervix quite quickly – very similar to a human cervix, though I don’t usually find those via the rectum.  Peter managed to inseminate her efficiently too.  Maybe one day we’ll put this into practice on our own cows.

The veg garden has received scant attention in the form of straw application to a couple of the keyhole beds and the fruit bushes.  There’s still plenty more to do, but that’ll have to wait until we get more straw.  We’re still harvesting carrots (huge and oddly shaped - we've had lots of carrots with an extra appendage, but so far this is the first 'bury me in a Y shaped coffin' carrot!) and beetroots; otherwise there’s unsurprisingly very little growth of the late summer plantings.  The compost heap has also been covered in an overcoat of straw, and the old trampoline mat re-applied on top.  Fingers crossed for delicious compost next year.  In the meantime, this year’s compost has been added to river sand, fine pumice and peat to create mountains of glorious seedling compost. 

The nuttery is no longer a figment of my imagination!  The original 2 hazelnuts are now joined by 2 almonds, 2 sweet chestnuts and a walnut (with another walnut ordered).  They’re planted, staked, mulched with straw and welcomed to their new home.  They’re all grafted trees so hopefully will crop in the next 3 years.  All you can really see in the photo are the stakes and the pallet triangles around the hazelnuts.  Also added to the orchard is another small woodlot.  The area in the farthest corner adjacent to the wetland is only suitable for plants which don’t mind wet feet for prolonged periods.  Kanuka and Manuka fitted the bill, and Tagasaste is tolerant of most soil conditions.  Also tentatively planted are four Eucalyptus leucoxylon, known for its abundant winter flowers and hence nectar for the bees.  They are planted towards the back of the area in the hope that soil drainage will be better there. 

On the home front, we've finally got round to ‘processing’ one of last year’s lambs.  The other will be processed someday soon.  Peter’s boss Stefan came round with his dad and they ‘did the deed’.  Peter then went ahead with the butchering.  Voila - some joints and chops, and then the rest minced.  The sausage-maker was dusted off and delicious lamb sausages are now on the menu.

La piece de resistance for July has definitely been the arrival and installation of the tunnel house – now named ‘Madame Cholet’ after the female lead of the Wombles.  They were the original recyclers of Wimbledon Common, and quite clearly ahead of their time.  I must confess to believing that I own 6 of their singles on records, but alas no record player.  They were last sighted in a packing box somewhere.  The tunnel house is made by Morrifield in Invercargill on the South Coast, and designed to cope with challenging weather.  It’s totally fabulous and such a pleasure to spend time in.  It’s been well-pinned down, surrounded on the north east side by wind cloth, and protected by the Gin Palace to its south.  At 6 metres long and

2.35m wide there’s plenty of growing space.  So far it has a long bed on the north-facing side, created from straw bales sitting on a bed of poo and topped with vermi-compost and garden compost.  They've been soaked and should already be starting to breakdown.  Seedlings can be planted directly into the bales, until eventually it all breaks down to create soil.  Pretty clever eh?  It’s a much better (and cheaper) alternative to carting in topsoil.  Peter’s built a bench along the south side as a potting bench.  Below it is another straw bale bed.  All good-to-go just in time for spring. 

We were delighted to host a visit from the lovely Hayley, our ‘flower girl’ who I finally got to meet.  She’s Graham’s step-daughter and thus a beautiful connection to my friend Joanna.  She’s been living in Wellington, but heading back to the UK and then onto Canada shortly.  We took a mail boat ride out of Picton into the Sounds, stopping off several times before reaching Ship Cove.  Other than a slightly disconcerting tendency for the resident mail recipients to be male, bearded and wearing a blue checked shirt, it was a perfect afternoon.  Another day with animal feeding, dog walking, wine tasting and of course, table tennis, and then Hayley was off heading south to the ski fields.  Cheers Hayley – please come back sometime!

Though it’s still mid-winter, the baby animals and the fattening buds of the trees show that they’re getting geared up for spring.  This light at the end of the tunnel is a reminder that winters are significantly shorter in New Zealand than the north of England.  That’s another good reason to be here, in our little slice of paradise.  The final photo shows the Onamalutu Valley, taken looking up the valley from near the school bus stop.  Mount Riley is the jaggedy peak and Mt Sunday is to its left.  We live among the foothills of Riley.  No complaints about my work route!  In the midst of the current array of global crises, it's a sheer privilege and a profound pleasure to be in this haven surrounded by beauty.