December 2019

Maggie 14 years old

Which orifice did December just disappear into?  My level of garden task denial may have reached new heights.  I'm watering the Madame Cholet residents, and eating the fruits and vegetables of my labour when I have time to gather them.  But otherwise the vege garden has had no attention.  On-going intermittent rain has provided adequate moisture for everything to thrive.  This includes weeds in beds and paths, and also pasture thistles that must be on steroids. On the plus side, the flower gardens are looking fab - expanding plants and flowers everywhere.   

Christmas has been and gone, and this year it was definitely unusual.  Firstly, no Billy!  The first year that we haven't been altogether at Christmas.  Secondly, Lucas' girlfriend Laura (they arrived mid-December) had been feeling unwell on Christmas Eve, and this culminated in hideous stomach pain, a trip to ED, admission to hospital and finally an appendicectomy on Boxing Day!  Happily she seems to be recovering now, enough to celebrate her birthday today (28th) a little.  We ended up eating Christmas dinner and opening most presents without her, which was a real shame.  Her gifts for us all had been beautifully wrapped - as modelled by Sam and Molly in the photo.

A call from our next door neighbour about what to do with a bee swarm on their property meant that the top bar hive got itself occupied.  It was a decent swarm and seems to be very busy settling into the new home.  We opened the hive up 6 days after transferring the bees and they'd already built large combs from about 6 of the top bars.  I've been reading up about how to manage top bar hives and it sounds like one of the main issues is when the bees build cross-combs.  There are a number of strategies to avoid or correct this, but happily, none of those was needed as these bees seem to know what they're doing.  They had built the combs markedly over to the left side of the hive, and we had to break off some small attachments to the side of the barrel.  When we checked with a spirit level, the hive was not straight, and we think those clever bees were accounting for the imbalance.  I'm going back in sometime soon to double-check.  In the meantime, I put an escape board in the hive that was last season's swarm.  The very heavy honey box that was taken off the hive the next day contained nearly 10 litres of the best honey in the world.  The other (original) hive swarmed a few days ago, and the bees took off towards the river so were lost to me.  I'm hoping they swarmed because the hive was full of honey, and really must get in there very soon to confirm (and harvest).

Building a solar beeswax filter has been on the to-do list for a few years, and has been more on my mind since dreaming up the top bar hive.  There are a few YouTube videos showing a dark and knobbly pile of dirty wax transforming magically into gorgeous and immaculate yellow wax - using only an elastic band, a piece of paper towel, a sandwich box part-filled with water and warmth from the channelled sun.  Surely not?!  Solly, the solar dehydrator, didn't get hot enough.  But using the Sunflair solar oven to channel those hot rays came as divine inspiration in the middle of the night, and by the end of the next day, I had 2 gleaming stacks of golden wax.  Absolute alchemy.  Substituting tights for paper towels also works, and maybe reusable if cleaning them isn't too arduous.

The piglets next door came of age and we went to collect them.  Three boys (Percy, Pepa and George) and a girl (Babe) seemed to be settling in OK, but by the time we got home from work the next day, they were gone.  We sent out a search party, and eventually, Peter located them in the paddock with the cows.  What a nightmare to attempt to round them up.  Finally, Peter managed to grab Percy and put him in the trailer.  He squealed all the way back to the pig run, but it did the trick and the others followed on.  After lots of chasing around, we eventually got them all back into the run and then attempted to secure it.  We assumed that they'd escaped under the fencing somewhere, as previous pigs had done.  Then we went indoors for dinner, but when we checked on them a little later, they were gone again.  Aaaarrgghh.  This time they were easier to find and return to the run, and this time we hung around to see how they were getting out.  Turns out they are jumping pigs, whoever would have thought that? Some serious improvements using wire fencing and baling twine did the trick to keep our porcine friends secure, and there have been no repeat attempts since. 

Our annual (and completely non-competitive) Christmas cake decorating came around soon after Sam, Molly, Lucas and Laura arrived.  The theme this year was 'our place', so pretty much anything went.  It was a new experience for Laura and she got stuck in with some creations of a higher-than-usual standard.  Lucas and Laura decorated the tree when the infamous Marlborough wind eventually died down and also helped Peter to erect a gazebo on the deck over the table.  We've since added some solar lights to it, so it's all very twinkly out there.

Despite being grazed by the sheep, the orchard was getting overgrown. There was nothing else for it but to get the mower out.  Not a pleasant task, but quite satisfying, and much more manageable when taking turns with Laura.  There are nowhere near as many pears as last year, and peaches look a bit sparse (but then they always do at this time of year).  Apples are abundant, as are plums, and happily also greengages.  Mulberries are also a-plenty, but have yet to turn black.  The birds will be very happy to pick them as soon as they do, so I'll be keeping tabs on them. 

The first batch of this season's redcurrants are in the freezer, and lots more to go.  Blackcurrants are ready for picking too, they're next on the list.  Raspberries have also been grazed, and some of them are absolutely huge.  Strawberries are a disappointment this year, totally the fault of my neglect.  They were re-planted through weed mat and more attention should have been given to them.  Weeds in the bed pushed up the weed mat, starved the strawberries of light, and then penetrated the cut-outs themselves.  Hopefully the hundreds I gave away have fared better.  The thyme and sage have suffered the same fate - they may be salvageable if only I had enough time to get out there and stage a rescue.

We're still eating a range of veges from the garden, although increasingly they're disappearing amid a mass of weeds.  Though it looks really untidy, it 's definitely not necessarily a bad thing of course.  What is truly gutting is when perfectly perfect veges go to seed because I missed their key triumphant moment.  Maybe one year I'll actually manage to keep my working hours manageable at critical garden moments.  Only a little dehydrating has happened.  Chamomile flowers have been picked and dried in Solly, as have a few other herbs like mint and thyme.  Many others are about to flower so I've missed that boat, at least for a while.  It's a good feeling to at least be doing some preserving.

One of my Christmas presents from Sam and Molly was an oyster mushroom kit.  I got it started straight away, on a tray in the upstairs shower.  Within days they had sprouted and must be about ready to eat already.  Totally amazing, hope they're as delicious as they look!  I've just harvested more shiitake mushrooms - incredible that they are still fruiting after all this time.

8 demi-johns of wine, some pear, some feijoa, have been racked (also long overdue).  None had quite finished fermenting, but some pear wine was bottled to release demi-john space.  It's quite sweet and very drinkable.  It was originally fermented in the huge demi-john where it bubbled furiously for ages, so despite its desert-wine sweetness it could pack quite an alcoholic punch.  In contrast, the feijoa wine isn't a patch on previous incarnations.
Feijoas are very late fruiting, and by the time I started the wine using frozen feijoas, the environment temperature was already quite cold.  Fermentation was slow, so that the wine isn't great is no surprise.   

The go-kart has been charged up and driven through numerous cowpats.  Both Molly and Laura shrieked their way through go-kart joints and returned duly splatted, though smiling.  The cows and sheep were unsure if it was friend or foe.  It may be a useful bribe when it comes to hay bale collecting, though there is not yet a date for that.  Our neighbour Ross will let us know when we get to the top of his list.




Molly celebrated her birthday on 20th December.  She had to work that day, but celebrated with a strawberry cake when she got back.  Sam has his usual 6 weeks off over Christmas and summer, and he and Molly picked up some extra work at a local vineyard/winery so they moved back home for a while.


 

The bathroom is done and totally perfect.  The bath looks great and is ideally curved to support your head at neck level - just right for headache relief.  The rainfall showerhead is more luxurious than I'd imagined.  Overall, far too up-market for us, but we'll cope somehow.

Lucas has been doing some web work while he's here.  He also got into DIY mode and constructed a weights bar out of some leftover branches and firewood.  Very creative eh?  He and Laura will be travelling to Bali in January where he'll be able to work as a digital nomad.  I'm not sure he has a career in gym equipment construction ahead...

Another year in paradise is passing, and still no yearning to return to the bright lights of the city.  We can even travel vicariously through our off-spring.  We have so many blessings to be grateful for.  I guess that has to include Peter's baubles...

November 2019

I’ve been a pretty fraudulent lifestyle blocker this month.  Anyone would think there was nothing to do outside.  The end of academic year madness has taken its toll on available outdoor working hours, and when combined with rampant spring growth, the to-do list has become somewhat overwhelming.  That slightly frenzied realization that putting some tasks off will only make them more monumental has become a persistent voice. The only effective silencing strategy is denial, and that can only happen if you don’t look.  Luckily the weather gods have done most of my watering, though obviously Madame Cholet did need some input and we’ve just entered a dry spell. Our neighbour, Craig, has made a start on the driveway by clearing the old pittosporum hedge, and work has been started on the bathroom (quiet yahoo!). So at least there’s an illusion that things are happening.  The stunning blossom of the tulip tree and delicate aubergine flowers are reminders that beauty (and productivity) is in the eye of she who dares to look beyond the untidiness.

The bathroom has been stripped, de-walled and re-walled, gibbed, plumbed and swept. We’ll paint the walls and ceiling white (too hard to choose a colour) after they’ve been sealed, the floor tiles will go in and the new bathroom will re-appear. By the end of the month apparently. It’s the first big home improvement project we’ve done in the house and I’m really looking forward to soaking away the aches and pains of a day grafting on the land in the new bath.


The sleepout has been pretty quiet, though it’s quite a

relief to not add the extra housework that usually entails. It’s blocked out for most of December and January anyway, to accommodate Lucas and Sam and Auntie Sally over the summer hols. The tea hedge is coming away nicely except for a couple of plants that have always struggled. I should have taken some autumn cuttings in case they completely lose the will to live, but will have to put that on my next autumn list. The wisteria is beautiful and has several delightfully scented flowers for the first time. The citrus trees are all healthy and I’m making a serious mental note here and now to remember to water them.

Our piglets-to-be have arrived on the planet and are currently next door with their mum Polly.  She had a big litter, but unfortunately, not all survived.  We're expecting 4 gorgeously grunty piggy bundles to take up residence in our pig run later in December.  We went to meet them when they were only a couple of days old and Molly had the happy privilege of a cuddle.

Elderflowers are blooming in vast quantities.  I started with a double batch of Elderflower Cordial, then found a recipe for Elderflower Gin.  It needed to steep for a week and then strained.  The resulting concoction is quite special and there was no doubt that a follow up was necessary.  So Elderflower Gin mark 2 is currently steeping, alongside the Rhubarb Gin - the recipe of which I found whilst looking for the Elderflower Gin.  I do need to find other uses for rhubarb which grows in abundance here.  I'm likely to rule out Gene Logsdon's rhubarb suggestion, as outlined in: "Gardening in the Nude (or New Use for Rhubarb)".  Too much of a sunburn risk in the NZ climate.


Peter has been clearing the front driveway area and has chopped down a number of trees.  The photo shows it in all its ugly glory right now.  Hopefully, it'll make a joyful 'before' photo in the fullness of time.  Our firewood pile for next season will be an intriguing assortment of woods including pine, willow, cabbage tree, elders, NZ wineberry, kowhai and the pittosporum.  It'll be interesting to see how each of them burns.  

He has also been busy building my Christmas present.  The wine barrel top bar hive is now triumphantly complete and awaiting its first occupants.  It's truly an item of beauty and I'm optimistic that it'll give much pleasure in its lifetime.  I'm hoping to find a swarm as it'll be difficult to introduce bees in any other way.  I've been doing my homework on how to manage a top bar, and I'm pretty sure I'll run into a few problems along the way.  Lucky that bees usually know what they're doing.

The flower gardens at the back of the house are really starting to fill up and are an eclectic riot of colour.  The lemonwood hedge is providing a lovely backdrop, and the new Ash and Robinia trees are adding some height and dimension.  The bed beyond the pizza oven is also looking mature and less weedy.  I acquired another placenta (for student teaching) that is respectfully buried under a red hot geranium, and when I was digging the hole I spotted my favourite rescue plant that I'd thought was lost.  It's a Himalayan blue poppy (meconopsis betonicifolia) and is in flower (singular - but it's a start).  It was like finding treasure.  The stretch of natives at the side of the house is also looking more robust, and most of it seems to have survived winter.  The bottle brush tree (gift from Lucas a couple of years ago) is particularly beautiful right now.

The vegetables are growing away, and lettuce, beetroot and asparagus are ready for the table.  Rabbit damage has been quite severe, this year with a particular preference for beans.  I planted runners, yellow bush, borlotti and soybeans, but hardly any of them are left.  I have no idea why they have taken such a hit this year.  The peas and corn are fantastic, and most other edibles are at least promising.  The need to weed is ongoing, but I'll be keeping the beds with mature vege plants unweeded, so that the weeds can protect them and the soil from the sun and drying out.  It looks quite messy, and sometimes I'm guilty of over-using the sun protection excuse.  Just not getting around to weeding is a much lesser excuse on the scale of crappy excuses, so it's one I avoid especially when talking to myself. 

The strawberry and herb beds have survived their weedmat experience (mostly) and are showing early signs of crop potential.  The un-weedmatted beds will probably have to wait until Autumn before hitting the priority list, but they won't come to any harm in so doing.  The rabbits have dug up all the sage plants, for some inexplicable reason.  I'll eventually get round to sorting that out, but in the meantime there a couple of sage plants in the garage herb garden.  Perhaps those dastardly rabbits have found a recipe for sage-beans.

We finally got round to liming after a longer break than it ought to have been.  Just the 3 paddocks at the side and back of the property that weren't limed at the previous liming because the contractor accidentally doubled the volume he'd spread on the other side of the property.  Now that the lime is down we're hoping for rain, but the forecast seems to be indicating wall-to-wall sunshine for the foreseeable.  Guess we ought to be careful what we wish for.   


It was dad's birthday on November 21st and I sent some flowers his way via the Onamalutu River.  I sometimes manage to get to Karaka Point in the Marlborough Sounds, where we scattered some of his ashes in the sea.  He'd have been delighted to see the historic celebrations when the Tuia 250 flotilla arrived in Picton at the weekend.  
The event commemorates 250 years since the first onshore meetings between Māori – the tangata whenua of Aotearoa New Zealand – and Pākehā in 1769–70. Tuia 250 also celebrates the voyaging heritage of Pacific people that led to the settlement of Aotearoa New Zealand many generations before.

I have leave next week that should provide some time to think about Christmas plans as well as get to grips with the garden and clean the house.  Yeah right.  The house thing is probably going to fall off the radar as usual, but probably it'll be fine and I'll be the only one worrying about it.  UK parcels have already been delivered, just a Switzerland parcel for Billy remains outstanding.  31-degrees today, so summer is hot on our heels.  Another beautiful day in paradise.  

October 2019

This native clematis is one of the joyful contributors to the showy spring flowers.  Hopefully it'll climb its way right up the shade sail post where it'll be joined by solar fairy lights.  The stunning red Rhodie by the front door has just opened its first bloom, and the flag irises are coming away.  Several other flowers in the main bed are adding to the eclectic mix of colours.  Maybe one day I'll work out a more traditional palette pattern, but probably not. Too much enjoyment in the haphazard clashing colours for me. 

Plants that aren't flowering yet are budding and/or leafing up.  This includes most of the young trees in the new woodlot that were nibbled during the autumn cow invasion.  It looks like there may be some losses - a couple of oaks and maples - but otherwise most are coming away.  The acorns and peachcots that germinated from seed can fill up any gaps come autumn.  Late to leaf are the silky oak and the gingko, but even these are finally coming away.  Most of the stone and pip fruit blossom is now done and fruitlets are forming.  The quince tree, that had a pretty serious haircut (of the Karyn variety) in winter, is blooming its heart out.  It's hard to predict at this stage what volume of fruit will eventuate, but I'm always optimistic.  We're awaiting news of the birth or our piglets-to-be.  They'll make short work of any fruit excess.

Madame Cholet is nurturing crops as well as seeds.  There are 4 grafted tomatoes that'll make up summer salads, and peppers, chillies, aubergines and 2 melon plants planted in the back bed.  The aubergines are looking promising this year - it'd be great to get a decent crop from them for once.  The front bed had been taking care of hundreds of strawberry plants in transit, that have now either been returned to their newly nourished and weedmatted bed or gifted to friends and colleagues.   

Progress on the raised beds in the horse arena has been happening, though I'm trying to ignore the weed mass in the beds and paths at the back that I've yet to get round to.  4 raised beds are cleared, weedmatted and re-planted.  That leaves 3 big beds plus a couple of small ones to tackle.  It's good to realise I'm more than half way through at least, even though it's the mint (pepper and spear) beds that are left.

The spuds are popping up, and so are some of Peter's that he planted in a sectioned-off zone in the pig run.  This year the seed potatoes were laid on the soil surface, with soil raked over them in traditional mounds.  I read somewhere that this takes advantage of the warmed soil in early spring, whereas burying them and then later mounding means they start off in cold soil. 

The original asparagus is sending up lots of spears, and blimey they're delish.  Every few days there's a little feast to be had.  I've made good use of my asparagus knife (courtesy of Marcus and Nikki a few Christmases ago), modelled in the photo by Karyn who is also enjoying the asparagus.  The new crowns have yet to appear from beneath their blanket of sheep and cow poo and pea straw, and in any case will have to be sacrificed to their crowns for a couple of years.  By 2021 there should be more asparagus than you can shake a stick at.  Now there's a first world problem.

I've long yearned for a top bar beehive, and now that I have some beekeeping knowledge and experience, it seems like a good time to go ahead.  Sam and Molly, who are interested in having their own hive, did a bit of top bar research and found a photo of a half wine barrel being used as a hive.  Before we knew it, Molly had sourced a good-condition wine barrel, and we were drafting plans to convert it into 2 hives.  There have been a few design decisions.  We realised quite early on that a barrel shape is not totally conducive to hive conversion because of its changing dimensions.  However it is possible to work around this, and Peter is making great (and very exciting) progress.   

The sheep have been the source of considerable heartache and self-reproach.  We have a gorgeous black ewe lamb (Marie), but have buried one ewe and 4 lambs in the last couple of weeks - a horrifying and unprecedented head count.  Marie's twin sister was rejected by her mum, but we didn't realise.  She must have been managing to get a quick occasional feed from her mum, but died at a week old one awful stormy night, presumably from starvation.  We shouldn't have missed the signs.  That same night, one of the ewes birthed a dead lamb and then she rolled over and died herself.  And finally the last ewe birthed another set of twins.  We watched for any obvious signs of rejection, but she was clearly very attached to both lambs.  What we didn't realise was that she wasn't producing enough (or maybe any) milk for them.  They were both dead within a few days.  Such rookie mistakes with tragic consequences.  Totally gutted.  Hopefully wiser for next year.

Plans for Christmas are starting to fall into place.  Lucas is planning to come over with his girlfriend Laura, and Sam and Molly will also be around.  Billy has started his au pair job near Zurich and won't have enough time off to head home.  He might hit on some of his British relatives instead.  I'll finish up with undergraduate teaching before Christmas (a big relief) and will take a clinical secondment in December and January that includes some on call.  Then Auntie Sally will be joining us in mid-January.  We had our first taste of summer today (26 degrees) - so good to have the sun on your back, though any hotter will be counter-productive to outdoor work. Gorgeous spring, a real pleasure to be so closely connected to the seasons.