May 2016

The valley appears to be recovering from the major fire of last year.  The burned trunks have been taken down, along with many others that were in close proximity to the road or to properties.  The damage to the road has also been fixed, so all up it’s a safer route in and out of the valley.  The photo was taken from the school bus stop, and shows a cluster of trees that went up in flames, and some that were spared by the work of the fire-fighting crews. 

After our recent lack of success with artificial insemination, and the inherent difficulties in working out which one is on heat when you have just 2 cows, we bit the bullet and got a new (and very charming) steer calf.  Arthur chose his name - ‘Dionysus’ (God of Wine – very appropriate thanks Arthur!).   He’s tiny in comparison to Athena and Hera, but then they are quite robust beasts.  They haven’t been altogether friendly to him, which came as a surprise as previous introductions to the herd have been sweetly welcomed.  Perhaps they’re enjoying the post-Zeus era and aren’t keen on ‘cowtowing’ to another male.

The main flower garden is still colourful, with autumn colour adding to the overall palette. The gingko is in its beautiful buttery yellow glory, and the bottlebrush plant from Lucas has been flowering its little heart out.   I’ve been reluctant to tidy up the flowers too much, so that the bees can make the most of the remaining supplies.  Millions of Forget-me-not and Poached-egg plant seedlings have come up – it’ll be interesting to see what the cold weather does to them as the season progresses.  That’s a fine excuse for not getting round to weeding and mulching.  The sign, made by Peter and Billy, tells it as it is.

The end of the fruit is nigh, but it’s still possible to find the last remnants of figs, quince and raspberries.  There are even a few feijoa on the very young trees in the horse arena.  Our neighbours, Shona and Craig, have had a bumper feijoa crop, so a couple of buckets-full have kindly come our way in exchange for honey and pumpkins. 

The veges are also doing nicely, and we’re cropping the usual wintery suspects – carrots, brassicas, spinach, beetroot, onions and some baby leeks.  There are still a few tomatoes in Madame Cholet to be harvested, and some celery which will be chopped and frozen for soups.  The veges at the seedling stage are also growing up, including Karyn’s plantings, which are now beautifully weeded so are no longer lowering the tone of the vege garden.  My parsnips still haven’t shown up, though my carrot tops are bigger than hers! 

The main raspberry and boysenberry bed has been weeded, pruned back, next year’s shoots tied up, nourished with horse poo and mulched with clover straw.  It was quite a mammoth task involving multiple arm scratches and prickles in fingers, but by ‘eck it’s great to get it done, and it looks good.  Karyn provided the technical know-how and I did the donkey work.

Other keyhole beds in the vege garden have been similarly bedded down for winter.  I made a unanimous decision to get rid of the repeating onions (not their real name which eludes me) that I like the thought of but never use, and also the Jerusalem Artichokes.  They’ll come back next year of course, but only 3 or 4 will be allowed to grow - and not the 15-20 that popped up this year.  As the only member of the household who enjoys them, the smaller quantity will suffice.  Apparently the stems make good kindling, which I’ll try to remember next year - ideally before putting them on the compost.

The low hedges in the vege garden are ready for their end of season trim, as are the other teuchrium hedges around the property, and in need of its first clip, the burgeoning korokia hedge along what will be the new pig run.  Most of the horse arena beds are manured and mulched, hurray.  The feijoa and strawberry bed needs similar attention but the strawberries will have to die down a bit more before it’s safe to cover them.  Their autumn colour is stunning – something I’ve never really associated with strawberries before.  The blueberries and the persimmon tree have also been spectacular, as have several other trees.  Perhaps it’s just a particularly gorgeous autumn for leaves, or maybe the blue skies of this record-breakingly sunny autumn are providing the perfect backdrop for the reds and oranges.

The sheep are strolling around, doing their sheep thing.  They seem to be fine except for Leggy who has been heard coughing on a number of occasions.  We’ve never drenched the sheep, and their general good health over the last few years seems to have justified that choice.  So, sincerely hoping that we don’t end up with regrets (and without lambs) this year.  It’s too soon to assess if Leggy’s already done his job and impregnated the ewes, but it’d sure be a miserable winter without the pitter-patter of adorable, bouncing lambs.

It’s been a very cheesy few weeks.  The blue cheese that we made at Derryn’s a few weeks ago is fantastic.  Was fantastic.  Must have been the way I stirred the curd.  She got on a good old cheese-making roll, and I’ve been obliged to taste-test a range of cheeses including 2 blues, feta, camembert and Valençay.  They were well-matched with the zucchini and feijoa chutneys that were gifted in return for honey.  Must get round to some serious pizza making as the oven is back in action after the fire ban.

Our already much diminished fresh egg supplies have now totally dropped-off.  We were getting one beautiful huge egg most days, just enough for an occasional eggy-treat and for Yorkshire puddings with Sunday roasts.  Optimistically the hens are all moulting and normal service will resume in a few weeks.  Either that or they’re doing a sterling job of hiding eggs.  The chick looks to be a hen, so the current Cornelius can rest on his laurels for a while.

A familiar bluey haze along the man road could mean only one thing – sloes, and billions of them.  I couldn’t stop myself from picking way more than would be feasible to steep in alcohol.  Sloe picking usually involves a fairly moderate level of arm and finger gashing, but there were so many that it was possible to avoid the inch-long thorns by picking only those on the outside.  I’ve made as much sloe gin as I dare (in the interests of liver health and alcoholic reputation), but there are still a few kgs of sloes in the freezer for gifts (yes, that means you Hayley). 

There’s much speculation about what winter will be like, after many months of El Nino weather.  It’d have been a truly perfect summer if we’d been on holiday all the time.  We’ve had some rain, but the land still needs to be refreshed with more.  The first snow has fallen in the deep south, and the ski fields are beginning to open.  Winter’s knocking at the door; here’s hoping we can hang onto autumn for a little while longer.