December 2017

It's already been a scorcher of a summer.  Day after day of sun and temperatures in the late 20s - early 30's.  Plant growth has taken off, and fruit is ripening nearly too fast to eat.  Weather records have been broken, and drought threatens across the country.  We were treated to a spectacular super-moon earlier in the month - a truly ethereal event here in the Southern hemisphere.

Walter, our new ram, was collected from his former home (thanks Lucy!) and transported in our re-WOF'd and re-number-plated (at considerable expense) trailer.  The flock didn't exactly welcome him with open hocks, but he has since settled in well.  Finally and literally the black sheep of the family.  He was very curious about the cows, presumably because he'd never seen them before.  He's only 3 months old, but hopefully he'll be just about in action in time to produce some lambs in winter.

The vigorous growth has meant that we've done our hay sooner than ever before.  Our usual haymaker was unable to help this year.  An assortment of neighbours came to our rescue, and we now have 145 bales stacked in the hay barn.  This is probably way more than we'll need, but we can either do less next year or sell some.

The bees have enjoyed the good weather too.  The original colony was full-to-bursting, so I inserted an 'escape board' and over a few days, removed 2 supers of honey.  They were duly extracted (13 litres) and the delicious honey is now potted and even labelled.  In my totally unbiased opinion, it's the best honey in the world, and significantly better than last year.  The other 2 new colonies seem to be getting on well, with both starting to build up honey stores.  I haven't worked it out yet, but at least one of them is housing some pretty aggressive bees that have been quite territorial.  I've had several stings and there have been times when it's not been possible to work in the vege garden.  Buzzing around your face is one thing, but flying kamikaze and bouncing into your head until getting stuck in your hair is another matter.  Perhaps I'll have to look at some re-queening next year.  

The weeds have been seriously getting away again, so I've requisitioned some help in the form of Greg.  He's tackled some of the worst and prickliest areas of the vege and flower gardens,  There's still plenty left to do, but his help has made a big difference.  And Karyn's been quietly making good progress in the main flower garden - not just the roses.  The weeded spaces have already been filled with seedlings, including a dozen tobacco plants.

A voucher from Edible Gardens was my leaving gift from the Polytechnic (thank you lovely colleagues).  What a joy it was to droolingly leaf through their extensive catalogue and make my selections.  First up had to be another cider apple tree.  Not that I need another cider tree, but totally irresistible was one called 'Slack Ma Girdle'.  I've been looking out for a perry pear tree for years.  The one in the catalogue is grafted onto a dwarf rootstock so shouldn't get as massive as they're known to be.  The pears are too tart to eat but can be crafted into unmissable perry (pear cider).  The trees are currently potted into large bags and will be planted out in autumn, assuming a decision is made about where to plant them by then.  Two seedless grapes have filled in a couple of gaps among the vines, and a worcesterberry is in the peachcot bed.


I've finally got round to trying organic weedkiller.  The brand's active ingredient was clove oil.  It was sprayed on the weedy gravel paths around the olive trees and initially made the weeds wilt.  It didn't kill them though and now they've resumed their former vigour.   Bugger.  Back to hand weeding on my knees on hot gravel.  Weeds are busy in the keyhole beds too of course.  They won't all need serious attention as many of the vege seedlings are big enough to hold their own.  Besides. the weeds are doing a good job of protecting the plants and the soil from the worst ravages of the sun.

Rabbits have been more than a nuisance this year.  They're digging up new plants rather than nibbling them.  They also flick copious amounts of soil onto the gravel paths, and they expose deeply buried weed seeds to the soil surface. I'm trying various methods to keep them at bay, none of which involve the commonly recommended shotgun.  Spreading 'blood and bone' works for about 24 hours.  Pegging down plastic mesh over newly planted seedlings seems to be the most successful, though it's early days yet.  I don't mind sharing, but I do object to rampant destruction.  Mostly the seedlings have been replaced by other seedlings kept in reserve - one of the bonuses of being addicted to growing too many plants.

Soft fruit is on tap - strawbs, raspberries, gooseberries and currants.  The joy of collecting fruit for breakfast smoothies and beyond hasn't even begun to wear thin.  Mulberries have been and gone and were very pleasant indeed.  The birds loved them too.  Most of the orchard fruit is on its way, including several cider apples (Foxwood Broxwelps).  One of the original peach trees that fruited its heart out last year isn't looking too flash, but its next-door neighbour seems relatively abundant.  Another of life's mysteries.  There's even a handful of blossom on the persimmon tree - that's the first time it's flowered so fingers crossed.  Pretty little feijoa flowers are out too.  The sheep have done a little bark-gnawing in the orchard, but optimistically no lasting damage.  

Vegetables are also taking shape.  Some of the garlic is ready i.e. browning off, though I haven't yet been brave enough to see if it's worth digging up.  My track record with garlic doesn't exactly forecast a bountiful harvest.  Tomatoes are coming through and some are even turning from green.  The corn is gorgeous and throwing off seed heads, and beans are winding their way up the stems.  Carrots have been weed-challenged, but I'm keen to see how much that affects the outcome.  If it doesn't make a difference, then I'll be saving myself a lot of regrets.

Sam's been busy with band stuff and has even been on the news.  He was the bugler for the dawn Re-Opening Ceremony of SH1 between Kaikoura and Blenheim, following earthquake damage repair.  The photo above appeared in 'Stuff' and shows the beautiful sunrise that day. It's such a relief and joy to many that this key coastal road is back in action.  There are plans to build a cycle route - the Coastal Pacific Highway - that eventually will link Ship Cove in the Marlborough Sounds (where James Cook first landed in 1770) to Cathedral Square in Christchurch.  The path will run alongside the road and also veer off along the coast.  The Kaikoura earthquake that damaged the bluffs along the original road has made the logistics possible.  When completed it'll be a fantastic asset for the South Island.

The sleep out is cleaned and now ready for our Christmas visitors - Marcus, Nikki, Arthur, Jago and Freya who will arrive next week.  I'm starting to get my head around food supplies and entertainment.  I've managed to bake a vegan Christmas cake - here's hoping it tastes as good as it looks and smells.   Lots to do, most of which probably won't be done, but realistically we won't starve and no doubt entertainment will invent itself.  

Season's Greetings from our little slice of paradise.

November 2017

The snowy photo is a view of the Kaikoura Ranges taken from North Bank Road.  The date was November 9^th and 4 degrees was the forecast overnight temperature.  We woke to find that Jack Frost had visited.  It warmed up quickly, and doesn’t seem to have done any lasting damage.  There are some frosted leaves here and there, including the new-ish Thompson’s Seedless grapes (sent from the North Island so bound to be a bit wimpy in the cold), but the cucumbers and tomatoes have pulled through ok. 

The bees have been keeping me entertained.  Having acquired 2 colonies from Derryn, I ended up combining them into one hive after discovering a few dead bees at the entrance to one of them.  It was queen-less and probably the bees were starving.  Both colonies settled together and all seemed to be well for several days, until I heard the tell-tale sound of a swarm.  I hadn’t got round to removing the queen-less hive ware, and for once I’m grateful for my tardiness.  The swarm navigated themselves straight back into that empty hive-next-door.  Easy peasy.  Now I’m back to 3 colonies.  The original hive 1 is getting on nicely with building up honey supplies, so hoping for a decent honey flow sometime soon.

Flowers are blooming everywhere – that should be keeping those bees happy.  The photos show pink paeonies (pretty but a bit on the showy side) that were planted by the previous owners, and red poppies that self-seeded from those I’ve planted in the last couple of years.  Roses, rhododendrons and forget-me-nots are also in full swing.  Weeding and tidying up the main flower bed is unlikely to become a priority for a while.  Luckily it does have a certain charm as a mini wild flower meadow / jungle.

The cattle are behaving themselves, and are considerably less noisy since Dionysus had a visit from the home-kill man, Bruce.  We still have Apollo, and happily he hasn’t shown any interest in the girls for ages.  Hopefully that means he’s done his job.  We’re also hoping to acquire a new ram (sorry Leggy, you’ve had 2 years to prove yourself), a Dorper from Karyn’s friend Lucy.  The breed is self-shedding and he’s mostly black, so should stand out in our flock.  He’ll be here as soon as we get round to working out the transport. 

The water-blaster has been put to good use, and not only by Karyn.

 Two sides of the garage/sleep out are squeaky clean, as are several bits of the concrete paths around the house.  The porch is blasted to within an inch of its life.  On the down side, the cleaned bits of concrete are just showing up the not-yet-cleaned bits and this can be highlighted even more by writing rude words.  Could be ruder.

Having de-junked the porch, the next place that’s getting an overhaul is the car port.  We’ve done one tip trip to get rid of an old sofa, some crappy ancient bikes and other bits of junk.  Lots to go yet, including a defunct freezer, but it’s already a good feeling.  The photo is a ‘before’ that should motivate us to get on with the job.

Fruit is abundant and some of it is ripening.  Desert gooseberries are starting to blush, and currants,

blueberries and strawberries are coming away.  I’ve nearly finished the last of the frozen peaches from last year, so the timing is perfect.  Fruit in the orchard is plumping up, and I’m managing to get round to foliar spraying.  They’ve recently had a
shower of comfrey tea.  Next up should be seaweed tea, so hoping
to find time to do a beach trip. 

The vege keyhole beds are now nearly full, mostly with vegetables, but some have fruit and others herbs.  To my huge relief, the carrot seedlings have finally put in an appearance and are already in danger of being swamped by weeds.  The corn is starting to look glorious, such gorgeous plants at this age.  Beans are growing alongside the corn so they’ll have their own support structures when they need it.  Around 20 courgettes are in, and I’ve lost count of the number of tomato plants.  Several more are popping up from saved seed in Madame Cholet.  Karyn expertly took out the side shoots from the first plantation that are starting to flower.  She’s good like that.

Elderflowers are out and seem to be everywhere.  This year I’ve made cordial as usual, but this time the usual sugar has been replaced with honey.  The first attempt wasn’t very elderflowery, so it’s re-steeping in more freshly gathered flowers.  Perhaps I’ll have a bash at elderberry wine again this year.  Many moons ago I brewed a truly magnificent elderberry wine.  It was so disgusting at the bottling stage that it was nearly all thrown out, and I’d guess only lived to achieve its potential because I just didn’t get round to biffing it.

We’re starting to make plans for Christmas, and in particular for our Christmas visitors.  By the time Marcus, Nikki, Arthur, Jago and Freya arrive, I’ll have finished one of my paid jobs.  Hopefully I’ll have had a little wind down time too.  We’re also looking forward to spending time with our boys, who amazingly will all be home at the same time.  The next 2 or 3 weeks are ridiculously busy work-wise, then things should start to ease off.  Hope not famous last words. 

October 2017

Just a relatively small and quick blog this month.  Since the last blog, we’ve returned from an Australia holiday with Mum and Nick, spring has sprung and the garden is nearly planted up.  Port Douglas, north of Cairns was our destination, and many happy hours were spent exploring the rainforest and the barrier reef.  I could skite more of course, but that would be getting too far from the smallholding concept.  Suffice to say that the photo of the reef was taken from a chopper.

We’re surrounded by glorious trees, plants, flowers, birds and bees.  Truly we are blessed to live here.  The pink of the wild strawberries and the Poached Egg flowers (with resident bee) are some of many vivid colours.  The fresh new growth of the oak trees is breathtaking against a blue sky backdrop.

The fruiting plants are either in blossom or already plumping up their fruits.  Particularly gob-smacking are the old heritage apple trees – both cider trees and the Peasgood Nonsuch are smothered in delicate and beautifully scented pink blossom.  The photos show pear-lets and tiny grapes.  Numerous currants and gooseberries are well on their way and being enjoyed in the meantime by bees.  I’ve managed to get round to kind of sorting out the orchard irrigation – though am not entirely sure it’s working as the hose has become deeply buried.  Hopefully the water will be able to penetrate through.  One Granny Smith apple tree has joined the Black Doris plum that was planted there last month.  Another (they were hard to find this year, so I wasn’t just going to get one, was I?) sits outside the sleep-out, which may end up being a temporary spot.

Peter was chopping a branch off one of the birch trees along the driveway and noticed that sap was pouring out.  He collected some in a glass and left it in the kitchen.  I thought it was some dodgy kombucha and chucked it down the sink.  When we tried again with a spile, the sap flow had already eased off.  Mental note to check a bit sooner next year (maybe early September).  I'm keen to try making birch sap wine.

We’ve just about run out of fresh veg, though some leeks have overwintered well, and the celery has very much enjoyed winter.  Finally, and for the first time I’m now eating homegrown asparagus.  It almost feels like a crime to cut them down.

The veg beds are filling nicely, as plans for developing solar-dehydrated produce are going ahead.  The tray in the photo is covered in raspberry leaves – the very first (hopefully) commercial product from my company-to-be: ‘Kai-Dri’.  It went straight into ‘Solly’ – the solar dehydrator.  The next photo shows some of the many garlic plants and the first batch of corn plants.  There are 300 plus onions fattening up, numerous beans in seed pots or in the ground, zillions more leeks, and enough carrot seed to feed the country.  I hate to admit this, but carrots haven’t yet shown up.  The first planting just didn’t come to anything, and about a month of carrot growth was therefore lost.  Not a good start to carrot triumph, eh Karyn? 

Herbs are also a-plenty.  The entire citrus stock (well, 4 plants) have been dug up and put into large planting bags.  They'll be re-inserted elsewhere in the garden - not sure where yet - so the space they've vacated can be used for the chamomile seedlings that are currently biding their time in Madame Cholet.  Rooting in the warm environment are about 40 chilli plants, which will eventually be a key ingredient of ‘hot salt’.

The bees nearly gave me a heart attack yesterday.  The 2 new hives from Derryn look to be thriving, though no brood yet.  Hope it’s just that the queen isn’t quite mature enough.  Hive 1 is looking fab, full of busy bees, loads of brood and already putting down honey supplies.  Hive 2, whose colony disappeared, was supposed to be housing a split from hive 1.  Several dead bees at the entrance alerted me to something amiss.  Inside were hundreds of dead bees at the base of the hive.  I’m guessing it was probably starvation that killed them – I just hadn’t left enough honey supplies.  A thorough check of the brood frames indicated a possible sign of American Foulbrood (AFB) – a dastardly and highly infectious disease that is reportable.  I sent photos to beekeeping friends who reassured me that wasn’t the case and confirmed the starvation theory.  Phew, major massive phew.  Had AFB been present I’d have had to dig a dirty great hole and burn hives 1 & 2. 

 All the boys managed to make it home to spend a bit of time with Grandma and Grandpa Nick. Some interesting height comparisons were made!  Also on the home front, Peter has managed to successfully raise a clutch of ‘Discus’ fry from a pair that has been unsuccessfully spawning for weeks. 

October rolls on and Christmas beckons.  Eeeek.  Hope to squeeze in at least a little time to ‘smell the roses’ between paid work and smallholding tasks.  Only enough time now to squeeze in a new word ‘Voorpret’ – Dutch for enjoying the anticipation of something exciting about to happen.