July 2018

Winter is still biting cold – a stark contrast to the UK where temperatures have been unusually sticky hot for a while now.  We've had several more runs of frosty mornings, punctuated by rainy days.  The cloudy days are the worst.  If the sun shines, even 12 degrees feels cosy enough, but if it doesn’t then the chill seems penetrating.  Gardening days are reduced to a couple of hours in the early afternoon – after the frost has melted and before the sun begins its descent once more.  I’ve even taken to wearing garden gloves to keep my hands a little warmer in cold soil.  On the plus side, the days are beginning to eke out, and blossom buds are swelling. There's still plenty of colour out there, especially in the wetland.  It's great to see the Ti Kouka (cabbage trees) we planted coming away so well.  If only the same couldn't be said for the crack willow. 

Derryn has been and done the pruning deed.  A few of the bigger trees needed their central branch taking out, a task that we saved for Peter and the chainsaw. The trees now look much lighter and better balanced, and a small pile of firewood was created.  The smaller branches are being cut up and tied into faggots (google it!).  The bigger tree stumps were daubed with blue pruning paint.  Fingers crossed that will be effective despite the drizzly rain.

Weeding of the horse arena beds and paths is pretty much done.  We’re slowly adding more gravel to boost up the gappy zones on the paths.  Now that the weedy organic matter is gone, the plan is to spray homemade weed killer (probably soda ash and water or a vinegar/salt combo – not decided yet) onto the paths when the first flush of spring weeds appear.  Hopefully that’ll ease the weeding load in the longer run.  The flipping rabbits are still digging the beds and scattering soil over the gravel paths, so it’s something that needs constant attention.

The 12 olive trees are now re-re-re-staked, compost-dressed, peastraw mulched and pruned (mainly the lower branches that sweep the ground).  They’re looking quite tidy, and all seem to be thriving.  Some are still quite spindly, and others robust.  Happily all alive despite frequent wind-hammering.  Optimistically their roots should be by now infiltrating the several inches of hard-core below their raised beds.

Karyn’s also been round, secateurs in hand, and created numerous mounds of twigs and small branches mainly from the apple stepovers, currant bushes, raspberries and cocktail kiwi. Any other plant that dared get in her path also received a courtesy trim.  That woman needs supervising when she prunes.  If you want to be left with anything other than a handful of sticks in the ground (remnants of the red rose in the photo a case in point), you need to assert yourself with frequent renditions of ‘Put Your Hands in the Air and Walk Away from the Currant Bush...’ This, from the woman who won’t let me prune the roses with a chainsaw!  Where’s the justice in that?

The original compost heaps have been emptied, their compost was strewn over several of the crop beds.  New compost has been started, so far only a thick pile of cut up twigs and horse poo.  The new compost heap in the horse arena is huge and consists of mostly weeds.  The weeding of the peppermint bed yielded lots of mint roots, some of which were re-planted, but most of which were added to the compost pile.  I’m hoping that the whole compost heap won’t become a regrettable peppermint bed in the fullness of time.  Or a twitch grass bed either for that matter… 

Walter has made his triumphant return home, though it was more ‘who the f**k are you?’ from the flock than ‘return of the prodigal ram’.  But my, how he’s grown.  He’s long-legged and his winter coat is more brown than black.  He chased the ewes around a bit at first, with Leggy bravely hiding behind the girls.  There was a brief ram stand-off, but Leggy backed off almost immediately, literally in reverse.  Lambs are being born in the region and we’re fervently hoping for some of our own.

Lazy Mazy has had a reprieve and she’s staying in the family!  Billy has decided that he’d like to do her up and then live in her, so she made a perfect 18^th birthday present.  He has temporary cheap accommodation for 3 months at Outward Bound where he works.  They’ve agreed to let him park a caravan on site and live in it after that.   They’ve stipulated that the vehicle has to look reasonably smart so the old girl will need quite a bit of attention.  We can happily help him with that.

And on the subject of special birthdays, we’ve celebrated Sam’s 21^st early.  He won’t be around at the end of the month, so we had a mini celebration at home. Just him and Molly, mummy and daddy, a turd lolly cake (as requested) and a few gifts including some Japanese whisky.  We’ll also pay for his forklift licence when he gets onto a course.

With a slightly heavy heart, I’ve decided to indefinitely postpone the launch of Kai-Dri.  Costs were mounting and the Food Safety requirements getting out of hand.  I have no desire for an all-consuming business.   I’d like to simply sell a few dried herbs on the market and online, but the overheads, upscaling and ongoing costs would make it more of an expensive hobby.  I still love the idea of solar dehydrated products, so maybe one day....who knows what’s around the next corner?  In the meantime, I’ve bagged up last year’s products – herbal teas, culinary herbs and herb salt mixes and am giving them away to friends and colleagues.  They make lovely gifts and it’s a good feeling to pass them on.

 Our bed has never looked better.  Derryn gifted me a truly precious early birthday present in the form of a homemade quilt.  It’s totally stunning, themed purple and green and garden and bees, and looks absolutely gorgeous on our bed.  Ours is an old bed and mattress (Billy was born on it) so we added a substantial mattress topper and a soft blue linen duvet cover that showcases the quilt beautifully.  Heavenly!!  Perfectly perfect for long winter nights, chilly day nana-naps, and snuggling down to drool through the just-released seed catalogues.  Spring can't be far away.