June 2014

Approaching the shortest day on 21^st June can mean only one thing – the seed catalogues will be out soon.  Perhaps I’m a bit weird that this is a highlight, but I know there are others like me.  This year is particularly exciting because we should have a greenhouse up by then – actually it’s technically a tunnel house.  It’s 6m x 2.35m with doors at each end and a couple of vents.  The photo shows some of the site clearance.  We‘ve decided to tuck it behind the Gin Palace, instead of the original plan to put it in a corner of the horse arena.  That means that the native planting which was supposed to eventually grow and provide a protective hedge is now too far away to do that.  A windbreak will be erected on the north/west sides, and Peter has managed to bag several posts which will do the job of supporting the windbreak fabric perfectly.  The new position will be more accessible and also closer to the tap.  I have plans to have 2 half wine barrels, one filled with water, and the other with poo, both of which will serve to absorb the day’s heat and release it during the night.  I have other plans too, but I’ll stop now.

It’s been relatively quiet on the animal front.  The cows are enjoying their extra hay feed-outs – they can spot Peter coming home and line up along the nearest fence mooing.  We’re hoping that the 3 girls are pregnant, though still some doubts about this.  Aphrodite should be due in August – we’re hoping but not holding our breath.  Zeus is getting pretty big and has started to dominate the herd a bit more.  The sheep are independent and as usual move with ease between paddocks as if the fences aren’t there.  We have yet to ‘dispatch’ the 2 remaining last year’s lambs, who are fast becoming mutton.  Hopefully there’ll be the pitter-patter of tiny lamb hooves in a month or two.   The rabbits are all healthy and we’re expecting some rabbit kits in a couple of weeks if our rabbit-sexing skills have worked.  Dammit - that’s a pretty big IF.  

The chooks are now down to 2 roosters (the newest Bob and Cornelius) and 8 hens.  These are the youngest hens and they’ve recently started laying.  They’ve been getting more destructive when free-ranging, which is a shame because it means they don’t get to free-range every day.  We’ll probably reduce to 6 hens as otherwise it’s too many eggs.  We’ve been getting more and more efficient at processing, which is handy because chicken is making a welcome meal change from red meat.  One chicken can provide our dinners for 3-4 days – one roast, possibly one day of leftovers, followed by 2 days of soup.  We’ve found that cooking in the slow-cooker after being prepped with a peppery rub makes them succulent and tasty.  Some of the birds are 2-3 years old so it’s great to have found an easy way to make the meat tender.

The veg garden weeding is slowly getting there, but of course it’s like painting the Golden Gate Bridge.  The weeds are gradually being tackled, and happily I’m not feeling overwhelmed by the volume remaining.  It’s still messy and I had decided to use some weed-killer around the perimeter where the surrounding pasture weeds are creeping in - but haven’t done it yet.  It doesn’t sit well, especially now the bees are around.  Maybe I won’t do it after all.  The veg seedlings are coming away, and we’re still abundantly supplied with carrots, beetroot and the stored spuds.

The driveway has had its gravel make-over, and it’s quite a transformation.  Peter took a day off work to help with the spreading, and afterwards we moved Lazy Mazy from under the car port to around the back of the sleep-out.  There’s a 12V socket in the sleep-out which we’ll be able to plug her into, and the car port is now being used to protect the ute and Sam’s car from the weather.  Plans for Lazy Mazy’s make-over are still more conceptual than real, but I have taken the necessary step of buying a couple of foam mattresses. 

Some of the beds around the house have been tidied up, with straggly grasses pulled out and shrubs planted.  There are some old favourites of mine from the UK, like Pieris, Hellebore and Ceanothus, as well as a gorgeous protea which I just couldn’t walk past because it’s called ‘Burgundy Nipple’.  It sits under the house eaves with some frost cloth on chilly nights.  Peter has ingeniously crafted some low fences made of woven willow harvested from the wetland.  There are also some small Teuchrium hedges and cuttings from a dwarf Hebe to hedge the bed along the front of the house.  Hopefully that’ll keep the bees happy.  Barley straw is mulching the areas completed so far, but it’s not finished yet and now the tunnel house has arrived it’s dropped down the priority list.

We’re still waiting to ‘get a bloke in’ to sort out the fencing.  The weather hasn’t helped here as there’s been lots of rain.  We have got round to a new kitchen sink (cue the crappy kitchen sink jokes) as the old one was small, didn’t drain and had a leaky tap which had been gently rotting the cupboard below.  We don’t have a dishwasher so more sink space is practical. You can tell it’s new because it’s still really shiny.  Shame it doesn’t make the washing up any more enjoyable.
 

Our 'baby' Billy turned 14 on June 17.  Part of his birthday experience was a trip to Christchurch with Peter to watch England play the Canterbury Crusaders.  They took Lucas too, and stayed at his place.  They were hoping to catch up with Chris Ashton, one of the England squad and nephew of my dear friend Pats (his mad auntie Patsy).  They couldn’t find him, but whilst looking for him they ran into the beautiful Dan Carter instead.  Peter had the gall to ask him if he knew where Chris was!  England defeated the home team soundly, with some spectacular tries. 







It's hard to believe another month has passed and that we're now looking towards spring.  Another few projects are developing, including planting a 'nuttery'.  What a great word.  There are a couple of hazelnut trees at the back of the orchard already, but plenty of space for few more.  I've been researching them and think that some sweet chestnuts, almonds and walnuts would work.  Possibly even macadamia, but it may be too cold for them in this valley.  Some nut trees (like the American Walnut) shouldn't be planted in an orchard because their roots contain a chemical which inhibits the growth of apple trees.  Bare-rooted trees are just coming to the nurseries, so I'll see what I can find. 
Happy days.