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 15th 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.”
Two at the very most.
After three I'm under the table,
after four I'm under my host.”
