September 2015

It was my special birthday on August 23^rd – half way towards getting a card from the queen, as Sam kindly pointed out. Peter and me decided to have a weekend away and opted for Nelson as our destination.  The boys were left home alone and in charge of the animals.  We spent a lovely Saturday meandering around the market and then the shopping mall, before heading back to the motel for DVDs and chilling out.  It was such a luxury to be able to spend ages in a 2^nd hand book shop and a spa bath without anyone getting bored or whinging.  On Sunday morning, Peter took me to my surprise birthday destination – the airport at Motueka for a sky-dive.  It was a fantastic and truly memorable day, and very worthy of a special birthday celebration.  Thank you Peter – great to know that you can still surprise me after all these years!

Other memorable presents included knit-your-own-gumboot-cuffs and a bee necklace.  There was a wheelbarrow of assorted poo – specially selected by my chief poo-picker Billy, and on the same theme, this stunning painting of a turd was created by the talented Emily (to her ‘mad auntie Silke’).  Aw shucks, you lot know me so well.

Happiness is…..planting seeds, with all their seductive promise of abundance.  Though I’m wise enough to know that the promise may not quite match the reality, it remains a favourite pastime.  This year I’ve started some seeds off in the house in a miniature heated and covered seed-tray.  Last year some early tomato plants got frosted in the tunnel house, so no plans to repeat that.  So far cucumber, melon, gourd, tomato, pepper, aubergine (egg-plant), Echinacea and nasturtium have germinated, and I’ve just sown some brassicas and asparagus.  Some have come through nicely and are already potted on.  They’ll go into Madame Cholet after the current cold-snap, ensuring that they’re not close to the walls where frost damage is more likely.

The horse arena has progressed a little.  Four olive trees are planted and staked, and some very reluctant weed-spraying was done prior to laying down weed mat.  Proud of finally getting round to planting the trees, I splashed out on a length of expensive jute tree-tie.  It wasn’t enough to secure the 4 trees, and I’ve no idea what possessed me to pay dearly for it, instead of using the usual old ripped T shirts or bits of crappy rope lying around.  So I untied it all and re-fashioned it using baling twine extensions.  A much more satisfactory outcome all round.  Spurred on by this success, the remaining posh jute was used to re-stake the nut trees too – they should now be much better able to withstand the spring winds which are probably on their way.

The lambs are ever-robust and have found their way into the wetland on several occasions.  I’m prepared to let that go, as long as they keep out of the vege garden.  We’ve only recently stopped feeding out ‘sheep nuts’, and the flock still turn up religiously when we feed the chooks to see if there’s anything for them.  The ewe mother of the single lamb is the tamest – she’ll even tolerate me patting her head.  The lambs keep their distance.  Maybe they haven’t yet forgotten the indignity of tail-docking and vaccination. The photo shows their strategy for sheltering from the rain.  Here's hoping we don't have to move the trailer in any hurry.

Hera’s getting rounder in the abdomen, and we’re hoping that’s not our imagination.  Her calf is due mid/late October, assuming that she’s definitely pregnant.  The cows (and we’re mostly blaming Zeus) have now destroyed 3 gates.  Recently they took out the gate to the tiny paddock behind the house and were happily munching on the stored hay in the shelter.  Billy and me had to persuade them to return from whence they came.  Zeus was surprisingly cooperative, and it only occurred to me afterwards that we were lucky he wasn’t having a bad hair day.

We had 6 roosters and 4 hens, and so much carnal carnage there were occasions when it was like a porn movie out there.  When it verged on episodes of what appeared to be gang rape, it was clearly time to do something about it.  So now we’re down to 1 rooster (the new Cornelius) and the 4 hens, and a bit less space in the freezer.  And a much smaller chook-food bill.  They still free-range every day, and so far have kept to the orchard area.  They can continue to free range until the time comes when they discover the vege garden, then their activity will be curtailed. 

In the last week of August we welcomed Japanese boys Kakeru and Mikiru to our home.  They travelled over with around 40 fellow pupils from Jissen Gakuen school in Tokyo and were here for a week of English Language immersion.  They were billeted out to us, though attended school at the usual times.  Being the end of winter put the dampers on a number of activities we usually offer to guests, but we were determined to get some fishing in.  Happily our friends Jeff and Vanessa Hammond also had 2 Japanese boys, and they took them all out with Peter and Billy on their boat into the Sounds on a fishing trip.  At home they particularly enjoyed numerous games of table-tennis, table-football, Mr Bean DVDs, as well as the obligatory PlayStation.  They were prepared to have a go at everything and were really lovely company, despite the language difficulty.  We hope that one day we might be lucky enough to see them again.

Sam’s band activities have been newsworthy lately.  He was interviewed by the local paper and they published a half-page article and photo.  The Brass Band has a concert coming up for which he’s the poster-boy.   As the current NZ National Soprano Cornet champion (slightly long story), he’ll be doing a solo and a duet.  It’ll be quite an adjustment for us when he leaves home next year.

Despite the chilly nights, we’ve been getting our fair share of stunning sunny days.  Plenty of rain too, and finally some visible pasture growth.  Sam’s already mowed the lawn twice, and it‘s nearly ready for its next trim.  Spring blossom is popping up everywhere and bulbs are flowering.  The wetland has been a happy recipient of the rain and is looking stunning. The weeds are already onto it – they never miss a trick.  It seems I’m beginning to get my come-uppance for my laissez-faire approach to the vege garden of late.  Partly that’s been because of the focus on the horse arena, but also that we’ve occasionally escaped the life-sentence block and done other stuff, even a bit of guilty day-time reading.  Have we reached a watershed in the natural progression of the life and work of a small-holder?  Or have we perhaps lost our marbles?  Spring will no doubt have its revenge. Moo ha ha…

August 2015

It’s still mid-winter of course, but that’s frankly beginning to feel like a pretty poor excuse for never-ending cold weather.  We’re getting a bit over the numerous freezing nights and frosty mornings during what’s been our chilliest winter so far.  Complaining is not usually necessary between about 10am and 4pm when we are blessed with fresh and vibrant sunshine.  We’ve also had some rain, which the land still needs, so there is an occasional reprieve from the cold.  It’s rarely wet and cold together, though the nor’wester winds can blow in uninvited any time.  Talking about the weather again – hmmm, my Englishness is never very far away.  However, it’s also true now that much of our lives outside of work are weather-dependent, so we do have another feasible excuse for weather navel-gazing.

On the ‘getting on with jobs’ front, we’ve been seriously tardy.  Shorter days and too much paid work have contributed to this, as has a lack of urgent in-your-face tasks whilst the land appears to be tucked up and sleeping.  

The day after I posted last month’s blog, we got the first lambs of the season – twin ram and ewe lambs.  They were followed by another set of boy twins and finally a single boy.  The first twins were born one hideously rainy night, which we’d heard is potentially more risky than extreme cold.  They were dripping wet and shivering away when I spotted them, so I tried to gently coax them into the hay barn.  I ended up having to pick them up, one under each arm, and then carry them into the barn.  It was a heck of a job getting the mother ewe to join them there, and for a while I wondered whether I should have intervened at all.  Seasoned farmers don’t interfere with lambing, as the general rule is that you’re more likely to make things worse.  Anyway, all was well in the end and the lambs are now robust and energetic and beginning to get into mischief.  We’re a bit disappointed with having only one girl, but probably not surprised.

Spring is definitely in the air in the orchard, with many of the fruit trees sporting fat buds and some fresh twiggy growth.  The nut trees need to be better staked, but otherwise most of the fruit trees are looking well-anchored and strong.  Some of them are supporting their stakes, rather than the other way round, so definitely an orchard sort-out needs to happen.  We’ve done a whole heap of cutting back and tidying at the front of the property, around the pig run/orchard.  There’s a pittosporum hedge which had got too high and wide to manage with a hedge-trimmer.  We’ve hacked it right down to waist-height so it’s looking bare and very sorry for itself right now.  Hopefully it’ll take off again once the temperatures increase.  It’s opened up a different view and we can now see the pig run from upstairs in the house.  We just need to decide how best to fill the gaps left behind the hedge, which are now open to sunlight.  And then we need to get on with it.

For the first time, we bit the bullet and ordered lime for the property.  We had been advised that it needed liming when we first moved in, nearly 4 years ago so have taken way too long to get around to it.  We used a local company run by my good friend Jax.  A guy came in a truck and it took him minutes to spread the lime everywhere.  I have to wonder why we never got round to it before, as it was a painfully easy process.  We were left with a small pile of left over lime which was spread around the drip lines of the orchard trees.  Hopefully we’ll see a positive difference with this year’s hay and pasture growth.

The horse arena is slowly taking shape.  Jorgi came and did some more clearing, and now we’re nearly at a point of being able to put down weed-mat between the raised beds which are all constructed.  The dividing fence is in place, only a gate needed now.  There’s lots of hefty work to be done around filling the various beds with organic materials to break down into soil.  We have new neighbours who have horses so can now add liberal volumes of horse poo to these new beds.  And I'm planning on another seaweed run soon.  Some of the beds are priorities for filling with decent soil as they’ll be planted up in the next few weeks with olive, feijoa and citrus trees. The rest will be filled up then covered with hay and left until next year for planting. They will be used to experiment with grain-growing, just to get the hang of it in a small area.  It’ll be great to finally get some things growing in there. 

We finally managed to coordinate Athena's heat with some Artificial Insemination.  It all ended up happening at a busy work time for us, and I chickened out so we called an AI technician to do the deed.  In the end it was definitely meant to be as it wasn't straightforward.  Fortuitously the technician had also brought along a student to whom she explained every step of the process.  I was all ears and learnt several practical tips.  I felt slightly vindicated when she said that heifers who had not been pregnant before (like Athena) are the most difficult to inseminate.  Here's hoping that it worked and we can look forward to her beautiful calf in the autumn.

Karyn joined us to help round up all the sheep and give them some unwanted attention.  One of the ewes had very long and curled up nails on her back feet, and another also needed a bit of a pedicure.  We got them into the race, which had been specially adapted with plastic netting to hold the lambs in (a lesson well-learned from last year - thanks Karyn).  First the lambs were unceremoniously tail-docked and vaccinated.  They probably don’t appreciate how lucky they are to have avoided castration - we’ve decided to downplay the possible genetic implications and keep the best shedding of the ram lambs to be the flock ram for next year.  The other 3 boys can then either be sold as ram lambs, or dispatched in the usual way.  Then we were onto the ewes and the truly disgusting task of trimming toenails.  The vet nurse suggested that garden shears would work – it turned out that she did mean secateurs and not shears, which was a huge relief.  The nails were duly cut, and aside from a spell of nauseous heaving (for me, toenails are the most repugnant things in the world), I’ve recovered from the ordeal.

The prosciutto is hanging in the kitchen and happily no rotten meat smells are lingering in the air.  The salami only took 4 weeks and has been a success – it looks and tastes like salami, just a bit of an odd shape.  It’s not the best salami in the world, but things are looking promising for next year when I’ll be confident enough to be a bit more adventurous with the ingredients.  We’re still very much enjoying the sausages, bacon and other pork products from the freezer. Luckily for Zeus, there's still a shortage of freezer space.

Sam has been busy in the last month.  On the back of the National Brass Band competition last month, there’s been the school performance and the Southern Jam.  His 18^th birthday fell in the middle of the show, and Kevin the band leader secretly arranged for the band to play ‘Happy Birthday’ to him.  We celebrated later at home in our usual way with cake (Lolly Cake at Sam’s request) and champagne.  The Southern Jam is an annual Jazz competition for South Island schools, which always takes place in Blenheim.  It’s a lovely event, this year with 22 bands or ensembles playing over the course of a week in several venues across town (cafes, bars, wineries and schools) before the main Saturday evening event.

 

It's hard to believe that yet another month in paradise has passed.  We're still eating our own eggs, meat and some vegetables, feeding out our own hay, generating solar power and using firewood from the property.  Billy's even making a bit of money on the side with his 'Poo-well Ltd' cow poo sales.  My vege seed order has arrived and I'm itching to get them started.  Roll on spring.  Our lovely 'Grannie-Annie' will be here next month - we hope you're ready for us!

July 2015

July was heralded by the joyful arrival of the seed catalogues (no Peter, this isn’t sad at all.  Whatever.).  It was particularly heart-warming as it coincided with one of the coldest cold snaps we’ve ever had.  Before ordering new seeds - in the interests of thrift - I broke with the habit of a lifetime and actually checked out and listed the seeds I’ve either collected or have left over from last year.  I have to say that I won’t be doing that again - it diminished the whole seed-browsing experience.  Thankfully Derryn’s enthusiasm for seed-shopping has been infectiously redeeming.  We’ll put in a joint order and do a bit of swapping and sharing.

The pigs were dispatched with the usual degree of angst.  Rea, who named them after Shakespeare’s King Lear characters, sympathetically pointed out that it was all bound to end in tragedy.  Friends are enjoying their shares of pig products, and we managed to butcher and process one pig as planned.  Well nearly.  No Black Pudding again as the home-kill man says it’s too hard to collect blood when animals are shot.  I made some pate instead.  One huge salami is hanging in the kitchen, alongside a drying prosciutto.  The prosciutto this time has been boned-out, so it only needed a couple of weeks curing in salt.  Without a bone it should be easier to slice when it’s ready in about 6 months.  A couple of large hams were soaked in brine and then frozen along with several batches of cured bacon (pancetta), sausages and chorizo.  The local butchers are doing mostly chops, pork joints and wet bacon (Danish) from the other pig.

A couple of the hens are laying regularly.  Perhaps they know something about when spring will show up.  The youngsters are all grown up and it’s hard to tell who’s who.  There’s some rooster competition for Cornelius, including the lovely black boy in the photo.  Now that they’re used to their new home, the chooks are being let out to free-range in the day.  Optimistically it’ll take a while for them to discover the vege garden, and even when they do there are no delicate seedlings to be scratched up.  They’ll probably spread the burned hay around a bit, so may need to be re-contained at some stage. 

A wheelbarrow full of vermicompost and a couple of litres of vermiliquid has been retrieved from the worm farm.  It's still abundant with numerous hard-working worms, despite the freezing conditions.  The worm poo will be added to this year's seedling compost and the worm wee will be diluted and sprayed onto the fruit trees and early veg crops (when they emerge). 

Having failed to harvest West Coast flax when I was working in Westport (just too busy), I have managed to gather some from several plants along the Wairau River.  I’m determined to weave another basket before I forget how to do it.  I’d ordered some flax dye from an online company, and had sourced a giant, very old jam pan from good ole ‘Dust and Rust’ in Murchison.  The process requires boiling water, and with the inevitable potential of mess, it definitely needed to be an outside job.  The barbecue was the obvious place.  Mistake number one was going ahead despite knowing that the gas cylinder was nearly empty.  Mistake number two was adding way too much flax in the first batch (intending to do only one batch and not picking up on the ‘way too much’ signs soon enough).  Peter came to the rescue, cutting down a piece of galvanised mesh and weighting it with a rock so that the disobediently flapping-around flax could be submerged.  The first batch was actually a success – beautiful maroon flax.  The gas ran out before the next batch was complete, so it ended up as a rhubarb colour – pinky/greeny, though also quite beautiful.  I’m planning to pretend that was my intention.  Maybe it will work well in basket-form.

I’ve had a week off work and have managed to fit in a few small jobs, though nothing like what I’d hoped to achieve.  Lazy Mazy the caravan has been reviewed but still awaits her transformation, as does the original chicken run and the horse arena.  The flower beds need weeding and the clearing around the acer has yet to be completed.  On the plus side, there’ve been a few enjoyable lunches and coffees with friends, and lots of long overdue and very dull housework has been done.  Batches of washing liquid and toothpowder are made, wine has been racked (bottled in the case of the ginger wine – and totally delish), camping gear sorted, even windows cleaned.  Lucas was home too, so there’ve been a fair few smokos and plenty of good food.  Peter’s had his first week in the new job (going well), so it’s been ideal for me to take up the day-to-day house/farm chores leaving him to just relax when he got home. 

Billy’s soccer game in Picton was a good opportunity to pay a visit to the gorgeous Karaka Point.  It’s a place of great sentimental value to me (some of Dad’s ashes scattered there) and was blissfully peaceful early on a Saturday morning.  The tide was high and the clouds dispersed and disappeared as I watched.  Truly awesome.  The road out to Karaka Point has been improved, making the drive less hairy than previously.  It seems that several new houses have appeared.  They’re mostly of the large, flash, designer variety and are located high up on the hills.  Probably they have stunning views, where the scenery can be admired safely from a distance, protected from the ravages of nature by height or glass.  It’s sad that human’s superior status is so often defined by dominance over nature, rather than connection to it.

We have a resident kereru (wood pigeon) who spends a lot of time in the native trees alongside the driveway.  The photo show him/her in our tulip tree.  Bird-life like fantails, tuis and pukekos have been noticeably plentiful this year, as have other less-desirable wild-life like mice, rats, possums, rabbits and stoats. It’s great to see so many birds because it’s been a ‘beech mast’ year when native beech trees produce an abundance of seeds. This occurs every 2-6 years and can be really bad news for native birds as pest species can multiply rapidly. Even trout numbers increase as they gorge on swimming rodents. 

I’d been waiting for the ewes to birth their lambs before publishing this blog, but they will have to appear in next month’s instalment instead.  It’s really quite a relief that they haven’t been born into a minus 6⁰ night, especially as their mothers show no signs of needing to bask in any available rays of sunshine.  They are absolutely disinterested in eating hay, so hopefully are getting enough nourishment from the pasture.  The cows are extremely interested in hay, and keep tabs on our movements around the house, mooing loudly if they think they’re missing out on a hay opportunity.  They’re clever enough to recognise our ute as it rounds the last bend before the house, and are very aware of when Peter is out and about.  Zeus is bigger than ever and though known to be a softie at heart, I’m definitely not taking the chance to test that out.

The cold snap has brought with it numerous magical mornings when the sun bowls in across the land.  Distinct lines of fresh green pasture gradually appear from beneath the icy surface as the warmer air melts the frost.  Some shadier parts of the property have remained frozen for days.  A close up of many trees reveals abundant lichen draped over their branches – testament to the clean air that we are so privileged to enjoy. 

Sam’s been at the National Brass Band competition, coming first in Junior (u 19) Soprano Cornet and 4^th in the Junior Cornet.  He was one of a winning 5-player ensemble and the band got 3^rd in the Marching and came 7^th overall.  Not bad for a provincial band up against the big-city bands.  Billy’s spending a few days in Christchurch with Lucas, so the house is pretty quiet.  Cupboards are stocked and firewood stacked so there should be a moment or two to relax.  Shame I’m doing ‘dry-July’ as a tipple of something would go down well. When I feel a need to do a little tidying, I’m inevitably drawn to the wise words of Martin Crawford, who has for many years been developing a fabulous food forest garden in Devon, UK (http://www.permaculture.co.uk/videos/living-land-part-1-forest-gardening):-

"Tidiness always costs you energy"

  

June 2015

I’m starting to write this blog from a not-so-sunny Westport where I have a bit of work.  It’s rained on and off the whole weekend so far.  I have managed to get out and take a walk along the beautiful Carter’s Beach where we holidayed over Christmas.  The rain held off until I was at the furthest point of my walk.  There must have been a big storm which wiped out some of the mature trees which had been holding the sand bank together.  The remaining tree roots make impressive natural sculptures.  The pathway down onto the beach has also disappeared, so I had to leap down and fervently hope that it’d be possible to clamber back up again.  It was, but there’s still sand in the car.

The weather has also caused problems along the Kaikoura coast.  I recently drove back from Christchurch and was naively enjoying the thrill of huge waves which were splashing up onto the main highway and the windscreen.  The road north of Kaikoura was closed, so I was obliged to spend a few hours killing time around Kaikoura beach and shops before heading back home.  It’s a hard life etc.  The remainder of the coastal journey was slow-going, as there were long stretches with only one lane open.  The lane closest to the sea was littered with seaweed, driftwood, gravel and rocks - some of them bigger than footballs.  News stories told of vehicles being lifted up by the waves before the road was closed.  Not a great photo - it was taken out of my car window whilst slowly driving along.  The sea is usually turquoise/blue rather than white foam.

The veg garden has been a little neglected, though the weeding (as much as I’m doing) is nearly complete and there are only a few places that need to be mulched with the burned hay.  Crop-wise it’s still productive, though this is mostly leeks, carrots, Jerusalem artichokes and some greens.  Extra rocks from Sam’s garden clearance have been added to the fruit bed walls, so they do a better job of holding in the mulch.  The stock crop of ‘Mammoth Mangels’ (above) are thriving and seem to be still growing when very little else is.  The sugar beet isn’t so fond of the cold but is still alive.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There has been progress in the horse arena, though it’s still mostly in the conceptual phase.  We mapped out the whole arena, sketching the structures already there, and realised that even with some expansion there’s still a heck of a lot of unaccounted-for space.  More than half in fact.  We really don’t want to create more and more planting beds as we already have plenty, they’d cost something to set up and then would need to be looked after.  The final decision is to fence at the mid-way point and convert the unused side, holding the entry gate, back to pasture.  This will create a small paddock which would be good for housing animals who need to be separated from their mob – like lambing ewes.  The cattle probably won’t go in until the existing young trees (which we planted very soon after arriving here) are tall enough to not be munched.  

Another gate will be put in the dividing fence for access.  Madame Cholet and some raised beds are already in position.  They will be joined by a pig pen/run, divided into 2 half runs so that the pigs can be shunted across when they’ve dug up all the greenery on one side.  We’re hoping there’re enough wood planks in the ground (originally used to hold in the horse arena hard core and gravel) to create the 3 more raised beds which will fit into the space.  Eventually, there’ll be graveled weed-mat between the structures, in the hope of reducing the maintenance workload in the long run.  We have a view of the veg garden and horse arena from the living room, so it’s a relief to finally have a plan in place which will ultimately mean that we don’t look out onto a waist-high weedy horse arena.

 

 

Our freezer is now full of tender and delicious lamb and mutton.  Though they were still technically lambs at 10 months old, the butcher and the home-kill man, Bruce, were sceptical of their age as they were so large.  Bruce thinks he might charge us more than his standard lamb-rate next time if they’re the same size!  We were a little worried that we may have sacrificed volume for quality, but this doesn’t seem to be so.  Karyn and Carol, who had a lamb each, are really enjoying the meat.  The lamb legs have been so large that one has provided 4 meals worth of meat, plus some sliced cold for sandwiches.  Lamb curry and hotpot were no less tasty for being made using pre-cooked meat.  There’s plenty of chops and mince, and a big batch of home-made sausages. 

The pigs are next on the list, though we’ll have to do some juggling around in the freezer to fit them. Like last time, Karyn and Carol will have one each, we’ll send another pig to the butcher, and process the last one ourselves at home.  I’ve got recipes lined up to make pancetta bacon, sausages, chorizo, salami, ham, prosciutto and black pudding.  Plans to construct a cold smoker out of a wine barrel won’t eventuate in time for these pigs, but we’ve had an offer to use a neighbour’s.  We’ve been trying to find a way to cold smoke without using either gas or electric power – that rules out the available commercial smokers.  We seem to be getting there though, just a couple more things to source.

In the meantime the pigs have been getting more and more difficult to fill (food-wise) over the last few weeks, and the otherwise welcome rain has turned their run into more of a quagmire than a paddock.  They’ve trashed every food container, so sometimes we just have to put their food onto a dry patch of mud.  They don’t seem to mind, but we do.  There is an old concrete horse feeder which we hoped would solve the problem.  It has drainage, but this blocks with all sorts of debris and then fills with rainwater.  We’ll have to find a solution to this before we get more pigs.

The ewes are looking decidedly pregnant and we’re wondering when we might have the pleasure of beautiful baby lambs.  Last year’s lambs were born in the July, so maybe it won’t be long.  Hopefully they’ll pick a good weather day or night to give birth.  Then we’ll have to start keeping an eye out for a replacement ram – ideally one that actually sheds all its wool.  Either that or think about growing on one of our own ram lambs (assuming we get one). 

 

 

The cows are mostly managing to behave themselves, though Zeus is getting more mischievous.  He has been known to take a gate off its gudgeon pins, resulting in the need for a few fix-it jobs.  Hera’s looking more rounded in the belly.  Hopefully there’s a gorgeous calf growing in there.  We still haven’t managed to coordinate either ourselves or an AI technician to inseminate Athena, which is quite frustrating.  We’ve been using heat detection pads on her butt so at least we have a better idea of when she’s on heat.

 

This month has been relatively quiet on the farm.  Few jobs are urgent so we can slowly work our way through what we’ve got.  We’ve even had the luxury of an occasional weekend day off farm-work (mostly weather-driven), and the tantalising promise of a lie-in when the pigs are gone.  I’ve taken on lots of (too much) extra clinical work – a bit beyond making hay while the sun shines, which was the idea.  I’ve ended up with a total of only 2 days off this month, and my working days include extra travel in the form of 2 trips to Westport and 2 to Christchurch.  Hopefully that’ll mean enough earnings to actually take some leave in July.  Lucas will be home for a week and says he’ll help me with glamming up Lazy Mazy, the caravan.  Here’s hoping we can lavish on her the attention she deserves.

Back at home, Billy’s had his 15^th birthday.  He chose a normal vanilla sponge cake this time – quite a change from the usual fantastical cakes that the boys have requested over the years.  I iced it with butter icing which Billy said looked ‘professional’ – quite a coup there.  There’s also been some fantastic news on the job front for Peter – a promotion to ‘Bottling and Warehouse Manager’ in the winery.  It’ll probably mean longer working hours for him, and therefore optimistically fewer for me.  I’m guessing not quite enough to turn me into a lady of leisure.  Still, anything’s welcome.  Who knows what projects I’ll come up with when I’ve got more thinking time? The photo of Peter looking like a plonker wearing my glasses was taken by Billy.  I'm beginning to worry that Peter will die before me - how will I ever find my glasses if he does??

 

 

It’s the shortest day today – mental note to think about getting some garlic planted.  So far so good in terms of getting through winter.  It’s a real luxury to not have to scrimp on the firewood.  Dark and cosy evenings in by the fire are a kind of forced relaxation zone, which we all need.  Here’s hoping there’s enough daylight hours to get our winter jobs completed before spring arrives. 

No words of farming wisdom come to mind, so I’ll finish with this poem by Dorothy Parker which has really tickled me:

“I like to have a martini,
Two at the very most.
After three I'm under the table,
after four I'm under my host.”