There’s been lots going on at home in the last few weeks. On October 30th there was a dusting of snow on Mount Riley (1314m), but since then summer’s been trying to get her feet under the door. More than adequate rain but plenty of sun too, and no shortage of the usual spring nor-westers. It was 30 degrees yesterday, and the combination of sun and rain means everything’s growing. Hay making won’t be far off – it’ll be good to get that done well before Christmas for a change.
On November 14th, the people of Kaikoura and surrounds experienced a massive 7.8 magnitude earthquake. Kaikoura was dealt massive damage, and has been pretty much cut off. We’re a little over 100kms away and it was bad enough here. Pictures and ornaments were thrown around, but thankfully for us, nothing worse. The computer survived to tell the tale. Some of the wineries have had significant losses (all that wine…) as have other Blenheim businesses. Wellington also bore a hefty brunt and there are many buildings will need strengthening or bulldozing. Several aftershocks have been pretty huge quakes in their own right. State Highway 1, that links Blenheim to Christchurch, has been so severely munted that it may never re-open. That beautiful coastal road. The only current road route to Christchurch is via the inland Lewis Pass and adds about 3 hours to the journey. We’ve had to make alternative travel plans for our Christmas visitors (Kaja, Michael and Melissa) and for Lucas to get out of Christchurch for the festivities.
The earthquake was soon followed by extensive rain. The resulting flooding temporarily closed
State Highway 6 – the route between Blenheim and Nelson, adding to the chaos
caused by the destroyed coast road. The wetland
had a good dousing and provided quite a playground for the cows. On the whole it’s been good to have plenty of
rain, especially after the recent droughts.
We were the happy recipients of two Jersey cross cows,
re-located from Wairau Valley to here.
Karyn and Greg chose the smallest of the pair, in the hope that that’s a
temporary size only. In the absence of a
Greek God of bicycles, he’s named after the God of transport – Hermes. We finally
settled on the name Heracles for his partner in crime. They’ve quickly made themselves at home. Heracles has already proved his worth by obviously
responding when Athena and Hera were on heat.
Both heifers were finally artificially inseminated so hooves crossed
that was successful. As the smallest,
Hermes is bottom of the pecking order, but he’s working out that if he spends
time with Dionysus, then mischief can prevail. Dionysus found his way into the vege garden
one day, trying (we think) to get closer to Hermes who had been separated from
the others at the time. He was chased
out through the gate, then turned round and hopped straight back in over the
fence like he’d been doing it all his life. He’d better not be teaching the others that
particular trick. He has also shown both Hermes and Heracles how to break into
the chook run. No idea why either, but
apparently bird netting is delicious.
The same weekend that the cows arrived, we also collected
pigs. Karyn and I drove out to Nuggety
Creek in the Wakamarina Valley to collect 4 gorgeous Wessex Saddlebacks. They came from a free range farm where the
pigs roam anywhere and everywhere. They
were about 10 weeks old when we picked them up, and bigger and sturdier than
any pigs we’d raised before. It took a
while to work out we had 3 boys and 1 girl.
In keeping with our other ‘classic’ name choices, they’ve been named
Nemo, Bruce, Crush and Darla. Darla is
the smallest but the feistiest. Like all
pigs they love weeds and have shocking table manners. They’re great entertainment value.
On the maintenance front, we’ve had another load of lime
spread, and we’ve re-painted the house with preservative. Dull, boring tasks but necessary. We last painted the house 5 years ago, not
long after we moved in. We have a longer
ladder now, so it was a tad easier this time.
The lime has only been applied to half the property because a
miscalculation meant that double the dose was applied. In the big picture it wasn’t a bad mistake,
because there’ve been many years without lime.
It just means that next year the other half of the property should also
receive a double-dose.
Since the chooks were confined to barracks, there was no
longer an excuse no ignore the flower garden.
It was finally weeded, watered, rearranged and mulched with barley
straw, and is now looking quite beautiful.
It’s filling out with self-seeded annuals, and the perennials have begun
to flower. The paeonies are more
glorious than ever before; even the roses are looking (and smelling) quite
lovely.
The orchard is very much looking like an orchard. Some trees, like the plums, are fruiting
away, whilst others are less abundant than last year. The Broxwood Foxwelp cider tree looks healthy
though isn’t laden, and the brand new Cidre Bisquet tree fruited its little
heart out but they didn’t set. It’s not
looking good for cider this year.
Luckily there’s always next year.
The bees swarmed again, and also went to a new loving home. Same hive, quite amazing that any workers are
left, but they definitely are. Each hive
now has an extra honey box on top, so they shouldn’t be able to complain about
limited space. I’m hoping to take the
first batch of honey off at the end of the year when there’s no risk of tutin.
November 21st was Dad’s birthday. Usually I choose some flowers from the garden
and gift them to the sea off Karaka Point in the Marlborough Sounds, where we
scattered some of his ashes. That wasn’t
possible this year, so instead they were thrown into the Onamalutu River, where
they danced a while before being taken downstream.
Lucas starts his new job at the end of the month. Sam has been accepted by the NZ Army as a
band musician, and Billy has taken up a chef apprenticeship. He has yet to be eligible to sit his
restricted driving licence, so we’re having to do the drop offs and pick-ups,
but no more school bus runs. Ever. Not quite flown the nest, but definitely
those boys are moving into new life phases.
I’m not feeling old at all…