Working night shifts over New Year meant
that it didn’t exactly begin with a hiss and a roar. Christmas was pretty memorable though. The gorgeous Rachel and Geoff, Sam and Joe
flew into Woodbourne airport and we spent a few heady days at home before
setting off for Westport. Joe did the
karate chop honours with the gingerbread house before we all tucked in. The highlight of Christmas Day itself was
undoubtedly ‘Egg Roulette’, though the three-leggy, egg-and-spoon and sack
races were quite competitive, and the box game ‘Linkee’ agitated a few
egos. The West Coast was magical as
always. The sea at Carter’s beach, south
of Westport and just across the road from the campsite, was beautifully warm
and wavy – just the place to wear everyone out at the end of a sunny day. 
The weather has been, and continues to be
magnificent, but only if you’re holidaying.
Farming and working in 30+⁰ heat can be pretty heinous, and drought is
looming its ugly head. On the plus side,
it’s motivated me to get round to extending the orchard irrigation to include
the new nut trees. And the hay was cut,
turned, baled and stacked without any need for speed. It remains very satisfying to see the hay in
the shed, albeit stacked higgledy-piggledy.
It’s the same with firewood and food-preserving – preparing winter supplies
somehow nourishes your primeval soul and warms the cockles of your heart. It’s a good feeling.
Sam and Billy managed to locate a source of
clay in the Onamalutu River whilst walking the dog one day. It’s beautiful stuff – all silvery grey and
velvety. They’ve now increased the
volume to a wheelbarrow full, so building a pizza oven has hit the radar again. We’ll probably need to get more bricks and
some builders sand, but essentially we’re good-to-go. Just need to find a little time, that’s all…
The Artificial Inseminator has been round
and done the deed to Hera. Peter was
there and has picked up a few tips in the hope that we can do the next
insemination ourselves. Hera was definitely
showing signs of being on heat, but Athena hasn’t done so for several
weeks. There’s still an outside chance
of her being pregnant (from Zeus), so it’s really just a waiting game for her
to declare herself. All 3 of the cattle
are hefty, robust beasts.
Zeus can be a bit of a handful at times, and stubborn with it. Peter manages him with ease, but there have
been moments when he’s turned on me and given me an aggressive stare. I always make sure to have an escape
route. 
The sheep are shedding. Well, some of them are. The photo shows one full-shedder, one
partial, and one non-shedder. All the
same breed, but some must be less pure than others. We’re hoping in time to have the luxury of
choosing the best shedders from which to breed.
Hopefully the next generation of sheep will have a few more ewe
lambs. Rambo has lived on with us for
much longer than we’d anticipated, and we don’t want him to impregnate any of
his daughters, so we’ll be looking to get a younger replacement as soon as it’s
feasible.
The division of the single beehive into 2
separate hives was successful. Both
queens are laying well. The original
hive is also gathering plenty of spare honey, though the frames will have to be
moved around the hive boxes as many have a mix of brood and honey (plenty of it
capped). Though I’m managing to get the
bee smoker fired up and smoking really well, I’m still quite clumsy and seriously
upset the bees when I open the hives.
The photo shows one of the hives several hours after I checked it out. There was even still a cluster around the
hive entrance the next day. Oops.
The orchard continues to delight. Some trees are not fruiting (maybe next
year), but most of the rest are weighed down by their fruit-bounty. Even the 2 mature trees (plum and peach) that
fruited so profusely last year are again heavily laden. Some of their branches hang over the pig run,
so hopefully they’ll be gifted from above.
The plums are pinking up nicely, so are thinned whenever I’m passing for
pig treats. In time (a very long time)
the nut trees will also be able to contribute to the pig treats. In the meantime they’re leafing-up well,
optimistically rooting-up well too.
The veg garden is truly a wondrous
place. It took me a half-day to entirely
weed the beds and paths on the left side.
Much easier than last year, when it would have taken the same time to
clear half a bed. Potatoes and peas are
being harvested, along with onions, beetroot, artichokes, broad beans, silver
beet and kale. Carrots and beans will be
ready soon, and the bulbous sugar beets are becoming huge. Those in the photo resemble feet both in
looks and size. The soft fruit has also
been amazing. Bags and bags of
blackcurrants and gooseberries are in the freezer, and raspberries,
blackberries, boysenberries and redcurrants are regularly grazed.
Madame Cholet’s crops are also coming of
age. Tomatoes and cucumbers are ready,
and the chilli, melon and watermelon plants have survived the slugs and are
growing away. The basil isn’t very
prolific, nor are the pepper plants, though they have also survived the
slugs. It’s been necessary to water
twice a day when the outside mercury hits the late 20’s and above, but this is
now easily done as I’ve installed an irrigation system in there. It’s just made up of off-cuts from the
orchard irrigation – not ideal but considerably better than nothing.
This month’s blog is early only because I’m
away working on the West Coast. It’s quite
liberating to just have myself to look after, to have a little head-space. But I do miss home big time. Not just
the people, but also the place: our sanctuary. It’s the only place I’ve ever lived that I’ve
felt a connection to, and a responsibility for honouring the land. We’re really happy with the work we’ve done
so far to this end, even if it means we’re turning into unsocial hermits. In the meantime the boys are growing into
adults. Lucas turns 20 today – no longer
a teenager. Must be getting maudlin in
my old age! Talking of old age, I'll leave the last word to Rachel and Geoff:
