October 2015

The mercury has hit the late 20’s, but only with a nor’wester wind.  When the wind comes from the south it’s usually much cooler, and the risk of frost lurks until around the end of the month.  We’re getting used to these weather patterns now that we’ve been here 4 years (gasp).  The gorgeously happy lime green spring growth is endlessly delightful, and the longer days really just mean more time to spend outside working the land.  With the exception of the cherries, the stone fruit have mostly finished their blossoming frenzy, and now the pip fruit have taken on the mantle.  Apples, pears and quince are in full bloom.  It’s very satisfying to see tiny fruit developing on the damson and blackthorn trees – bodes well for next year’s gin!  For the first time, the step-over espaliered apples have blossom. Maybe my hatchet pruning hasn’t been totally devastating for them after all.  Flowering weeds are adding to the show, and there is a sense that they’re running away with themselves and mocking me. 

We had the pleasure of Grannie-Annie’s company for a very happy couple of weeks.  We took the ferry to Wellington for the World of Wearable Arts show.  It was our first time and hopefully not our last - truly spectacular theatre.  We also visited Peter Jackson’s ‘Gallipoli’ exhibition at Te Papa – another jaw-droppingly awesome kiwi creation.  Back home we went to share some flowers and have a chat with Dad at Karaka Point. A few day trips and several thousand games of cards (including the addictive ‘Kings and Arse-holes’) filled in the rest of Ann’s time.  She was considerate enough to give our stock of Chardonnay a decent hammering.

Billy’s done some clearing up around the acer and grass seed has been sown.  There are 2 tall tree stumps behind the acer, the heads of which were lopped off to avoid shading the solar panels.   While we were in Wellington, Peter began work on a new and previously secret project.  By the power of his craftsmanship and the humble chainsaw, one tree stump is now transformed into a seahorse (my favourite creature).  He wants to work on more of the finer detail and also to carve another seahorse in the second stump. 

The horse arena is definitely finally getting there.  Billy has worked on the currently unoccupied beds, levelling them and turning the clumps of weeds upside-down to kill off the roots.  Those that remain unoccupied are the ones ear-marked for grains next year.  There are 3 feijoas in one bed, under-planted with strawberries, and so far 4 citrus – just another 2 more needed to complete the grove.  The weed-mat is down between the beds, awaiting the delivery of a load of ‘pea-metal’ (cheap gravel) next week.  There’s a new teuchrium hedge marking the divide between the vege garden and the horse arena, and a young korokia hedge along the pig-run-to-be.  A blackboy peach (a 50^th birthday gift from my students) marks the end of the korokia hedge and hopefully will feed future pigs as well as us.  Only a few of the vine prunings have rooted, so we've added 3 new varieties of table grapes.  We'll probably get a few more prunings next year and try to look after them a bit better.

Madame Cholet has been accommodating a range of beautiful seedlings.  A trailer-load of compost has been mixed into the remains of last year’s broken-down straw bales, so it’s now ready to receive the transplanted seedlings.  Here’s hoping I manage not to overdo it with the cucumber seedlings this time.  Some seedlings are ready to be planted outside too.  They're hardening off outside, so that small matter of some serious weeding is definitely in order.  I was deluding myself that the weeds are just shallow-rooted annuals and it’ll be a breeze to deal with them.  Then I calculated that, based on recent progress, it'll take around 36 hours (a conservative estimate) to completely clear them.  Hmmm.

The lambs seem to visibly get bigger and they’re all enjoying the surge in pasture growth.  The chooks are enjoying each other’s company.  Though they’re straying onto the driveway, the vege garden is as yet undiscovered by these fowl critters, so they  can all continue to free-range.  It’s a pleasure seeing and hearing them as they go about their scratching and cock-a-doodle-doo-ing.  Hopefully one of the hens will go broody very soon.

It seems that Hera is probably just fat and not actually pregnant.  She should be due any day, but though she is well-rounded, she’s not pendulous or obviously imminent.  There’s been no udder development either, so we’re bracing ourselves for no calf.  Very disappointing indeed.  Fingers crossed that the same fate is not awaiting Athena.

The bees are busily buzzing and both hives are jam-packed with bees, brood, pollen and honey.  None have attempted to make queen cells, at least not yet.  Varroa strips are in, but some re-organisation of boxes and frames has to happen.  In one hive I’ve repeated the same ingenious mistake of trapping the queen above the queen excluder.  In the other hive I’d already previously trapped the queen above the excluder and had removed the excluder.  That queen has since decided to lay her brood in all 3 of the boxes, creating a slight management issue.  It’s a very good job that the bees know what they’re doing.

Edible crops are sparse, but the newly sewn seeds should begin to feed us within a few weeks.  We’re down to  carrots (still plenty of them left), some beetroot, jerusalem artichokes and a bit of kale.  Our precious stocks of firewood and hay have just lasted long enough.  Peter’s been working on the firewood supplies.  He’s sourced some gum from trees which have been felled at his workplace.  We have plenty of pine and willow on the property, but gum burns for a lot longer than them, so it’ll be good to have this variety.  We’ve allocated a couple of paddocks for hay.  Once the truck has delivered the pea-metal (it’ll have to cross both paddocks to get to the horse arena), we’ll shut them down from grazing so that they can be cut for hay before Christmas.  And talking of Christmas, we’re expecting visitors – Kaja, Jeremy, Michael and Melissa – to join us for the festivities.  We’re also very much looking forward to a repeat visit from David, Peter’s cousin Janet’s son, sometime over the summer holidays.  He came for a few days a couple of years ago and has now returned to NZ for work.  Hopefully it’ll be possible to squeeze everyone in somehow.  

In the meantime it’s head down, bum up and getting on with work – paid and home.  No surprises there.  Sarah, one of my Polytechnic colleagues, says this quotes makes her think of me.  Love it!

“Behind every good woman is a flock of chickens”