The mercury hit the national high of 20 degrees today, and it's been a glorious weekend. We celebrated our birthdays by taking a boat tour in the Marlborough Sounds, to Motuara Island. There were heaps of dolphins en route, and the bird life was spectacular. We hadn't been to Motuara Island for many years and it didn't disappoint. The sun shone all day and the sea sparkled. We also took a wander to nearby Karaka beach for a yarn with dad. 
Back on the farm and the spring tasks are building up. We've made a start on cleaning up the outside of the house, beginning with some water-blasting of the house eaves and garage. What a difference that's made, though there's still lots of stubborn lichen that will have to be tackled another way. Karyn always has first dibs on the water-blaster, just a case of pointing her in the right direction, then getting out of the way sharpish.
The land is still pretty wet as it has rained every few days. Getting hay bales up from the main hayshed closer to the house can only be done when there hasn't been rain for a few days, and then only with the ute in 4-wheel drive. We're still feeding the cows twice a day and they're still demanding. Hera went through a phase of being a bit aggressive - taking gates off their gudgeon pins and mooing very noisily in long continuous spells at all times of the day and night. As she seems to be perfectly fit and well, the only other conclusion is that she was on heat...finally. Maybe just maybe the selenium supplements are kick-starting her fertility. Another month should confirm that, but she'll have to wait longer for Noddy to be up to the task of impregnating her. He's about half her size.
Birdlife around the property is unendingly joyful. Pukekos arrive when the ground is wet, usually in a small flock of 5 or 6. They sometimes come right into the garden, like the adventurous one in the photo. They like you to keep their distance so photographing them is challenging. I'm still waiting for Kingi to find a new fave branch nearer the house. And my mate Blacky (the blackbird) and his missus are often bickering - she usually gets the upper hand in their fights and hangs onto the prime territory. Tui and Kereru are often around too. Relatively recently they've been joined, on sunnier afternoons, by foraging honey bees and less-than-welcome sandflies. A recent check of the beehives (when we had winter guests in the sleepout) found 2 healthy and thriving colonies. Yeehah!
Madame Cholet is poised ready to host this years tender crops. She's a far cry from the jungle of overgrown tomatoes and weeds that she was by the end of summer. I've managed to germinate some chilli and pepper seeds, so hopefully they'll be big enough to plant out in a few weeks. They've been germinating in the house to keep them away from slugs and snails. Slug pellets and bait traps are down, but am thinking it's wise not to tempt those slithery critters too soon. The soil/compost is watered most days, in the hope of regenerating the microbes and beneficial creatures and resuscitating the old soil. There's plenty of horse and sheep poo in there, plus the new compost. I'd like to grow more ginger and turmeric this year, and have another crack at aubergines and rock melons, but will start with a couple of tomato plants.
The compost is from the big pile at the back of the horse arena, that has been breaking down under the cover of an old trampoline mat. As usual, it hasn't been turned, ever, but simply leaving it long enough seems to work. It's dark and crumbly, and I'd guess, totally delicious. I'll use some of it to make a big batch of seedling potting mix, along with river sand, vermicompost and coir. 
I'm waiting for my ordered seeds to arrive, and in the meantime have got some of my existing stock started. So far so good - lots of brassicas, swede, onion and beetroot have germinated. The pleasure of seed-raising is always utterly awe-inspiring, and definitely one of most favourite garden tasks. All the promise and none of the inevitable disappointment rest with those tiny seeds and their delicate shoots. New life and amazing potential.
There's still lots of work to be done getting the main vege beds ready. Those with green manure (left photo) need to be dug over, and it's likely I'll use the rotovator on a shallow setting to chop up and bury the growth. The other beds will be weeded (a huge task - the photo on the right shows one nearly completed that has taken about 6 hours and numerous sore muscles to get this far) and nourished with a top dressing of compost and sheep poo. The green manure seems to be a better alternative to using pea straw. It's much cheaper at least, though the comparison of soil quality remains to be seen. I wouldn't use a rotovator in a bed full of weeds, but using one to disperse non-weed organic matter should work well. Here's hoping.
The flower beds have gained a bit of height in the form of 2 standard Lace Lady Robinia, that used to live in half barrels at Karyn's place. They were outgrowing their pots and there was a very good forever home for them here. One is in the main flowerbed and the other in the new zone beyond the pizza oven. They're staked already, and even been perched on by a tui. The rescue plants will be transplanted in a couple of weeks, after the next forecast cold snap. They should fill that bed up nicely. 
The elderberry and greengage wines had long stopped bubbling and were finally bottled. The greengage wine was first up, and frankly disappointing. I used a yeast for plum wine and wonder if that was a mistake. Though technically a plum, it's quite different from its red and juicy cousins. Maybe it'll mature in the bottle. The elderberry, on the other hand, is, unbiasedly, triumphant. It's a gorgeous deep colour and tastes like a 'bought boxed wine' (thank you Peter for that complementary analogy). Peter took it into work to see if anyone could guess its origins. They couldn't but were suitably impressed that it was a non-grape elixir. Sometimes referred to as 'Englishmen's grapes', elderberries have been used to make wine for hundreds, possibly thousands, of years. And at 12.8% alcohol, this batch is in the right ball park for commercial wine. Right now, Peter is experimenting with the concept that homemade elderberry wine is more sleep-inducing than any other wine. I'll report on that study in due course.
Instead of birthday cake, Peter got a giant pork pie. I dug out a traditional recipe with hot water crust pastry, and used the last of our pork mince from the freezer. It looked impressive and didn't taste too shabby either. Just me to sing him Happy Birthday as all of our off-spring are out of the country. Lucas is still living and working in Melbourne, Sam has just finished a month of performances at the Edinburgh Tattoo and is spending a bit more time sightseeing with Molly. Billy bombed Marcus' family holiday in Athens for a few days before flying to Switzerland for a few weeks of work. A weekend in Picton doesn't quite compete, though not without its charms and it works for us.
On a final note, we received some hilarous birthday cards this year. The one from Kaja (below) is perhaps the most depressingly entertaining. Yeah....thanks for that Kaja!! Didn't really need the reminder.
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