June 2020

NZ went down to level 1 Covid-19 lockdown on June 8th, and life has returned to a new normal for many, except for those who've lost businesses or jobs.  Economically, like everywhere else, the country is pretty stuffed, and so the talk is all about work and money.  We're feeling very grateful to be no worse off financially than pre-Covid.  I'm really resonating with the old-fashioned advice that you'll always have job security as a health professional, a concept that was meaningless to me as a young person.  

Winter has really set in with a succession of frosty mornings and chilly days.  It'll be the shortest day on Sunday - that always seems to come around quickly.  We've had plenty of rain in the last few days - a relief for those who are experiencing a significant drought this year.  This rain has slowed up work on the driveway.  The digger also broke down, and this stopped work altogether except for a little titivating around the edges.  The Ti Kouka tree bed at the
driveway entrance has been extended and planted up in colourful natives.  There are a few more trees and shrubs to go in, but only after the remaining pittosporum hedge has been cut back.  It's a big job and shouldn't be made more difficult by having to avoid new plants.  We've (probably) chosen a charming kit set studio so more specific dimension plans can be made.

Work in the vege and horse arena beds has been happening and wasn't as big a task as I'd imagined.  Happily, no more weed spray was needed for the lemon balm raised bed, and like the peppermint and spearmint beds, it's dug over and blanketed with a liberal supply of poo.  Some horse poo, but mostly cow poo from the newly (though temporarily) resurrected Poo-well CEO, Billy.  The plan is for more poo, then to cover with weed mat overwinter before preparing and planting grains.  Some thought will need to go into irrigation too.  No decisions yet about what grains will be grown, but that'll be an enjoyable research process.

The Aztec corn is now fully dry and is nearly all de-kernelled.  The process of removing the dry kernels is hard on the hands.  The remaining few that are still very tightly attached to their cobs can dry a bit longer as I need that skin on my hands for work.  You can buy gadgets to do this, including some fabulous cast iron manual ones, but can't really justify the expense any more than I can a grain mill, so still desperately seeking a local miller.  Maybe one day we can build one with actual stones - that can go on the 2030 to-do list.

The strawberry bed is fertilised, irrigated, weed matted and planted with 52 young runners.  The only task left for later is to add some bird protection.  I intend to share several fewer strawberries with the birds in summer this year.  Black and white currant cuttings have been added to the existing red currant cuttings that seem to be still alive.  When I can get round to it, the blueberries will be moved to a horse arena bed where they can be also be protected from total bird theft in the fullness of time.  The bed they're in now is also infested with couch grass, so care must be taken to avoid transplanting that.  When the blueberries are gone, I can work on getting rid of it altogether.  Eventually, I'll have separate beds for new black, red and white currants from the cuttings.  It'll be a long process but should be worth it.


The other cuttings - hedge hebes, tea (camellia sinensis), daphne and mock orange are being cared for in Madame Cholet and so far, amazingly, no losses.  The daphnes are even completely over-achieving by producing flower buds.  I wasn't sure if there'd be any advantage by using the tunnel house, but maybe there is after all.


There are now 6 raised iron beds that are housing herbal tea plants (peppermint, spearmint, lemon balm, nettle, and camomile in summer) and culinary common mint.  They're all well fertilised and covered with pea straw, and are much more manageable than previously.  A couple of the now-empty half barrels are in reasonable enough condition to be re-used elsewhere, though as yet undecided.

The currants themselves have been pruned (by me but in Karyn-style).  I looked up how to prune them after I'd pruned them and luckily haven't done too much wrong.  Maybe I'll do it the other way round next time.  The woody offcuts are abundant and are being slowly cut into lengths that can be used as fire-starter faggots, probably for next winter.  

The cows are being fed out with hay most days now, and have resumed their usual endless mooing when they spot a human capable of feeding them, even if they've just been fed.  There is talk about a visit from the home kill man, so I'm leaving that to Peter.  There's no real hurry, and we probably need a decent freezer sort out before we go ahead.  I've already organised this years' frozen fruit into smoothie bags for breakfasts, and that was an unpleasant enough diving foray into the extreme cold of the chest freezer.  Brrrrr - maybe our next freezer should be an upright.

The sheep have all received another dose of selenium, their first for a while.  There's a chance that the ewes could already be pregnant, though it's very tricky to predict.  We also checked their feet, and Shaggy got a serious haircut, courtesy of Karyn (cue arse photo) and Emily.  It was a job and a half, and when done, it looked like there was another whole sheep laid on the ground.  Poor Shaggy was very patient as if she knew it had to be done.  She'll no doubt be feeling the cold now though.  The worms, on the other hand, will be feeling pretty cosy under their new fleece blanket.

There are now a number of litres of damson, medlar and feijoa gin/vodka at various stages of production.  The medlar gin is looking like a more long term process than other fruits, but maybe they'd have benefitted from being to pierced before steeping.  The medlar wine looked reassuringly as if someone had vomited into the bucket - in my experience that's usually a good omen for wine quality, but I'm still keeping an open mind.  When it was strained, it was a light straw colour, rather than the yukky brown in the bucket.  The 23 litres of elderberry, 20 of feijoa and 15 of mead have been racked, and some of these will be bottleable within a few weeks.

Last month (3rd May) we managed to trap a feral kitten in our porch.  We'd spotted him before and Karyn decided that her home needed a cat again.  He was pretty easy to catch and calmed down straight away in the basket.  Karyn and Em came to pick him up, and within half an hour of arriving at his new home, he was eating cat biscuits from Em's hand.  Probably a dumped kitten rather a feral one, just skin and bone.  But definitely, a cat who'd well and truly landed on his paws.  Dennis (as he eventually became known) is now master of his kingdom, having taken command of Karyn's dog, husband and everyone else.  He swiftly doubled his pathetic weight and has become a delightful and energetic kitten with a penchant for adorable photography posing.

On the home front, there is plenty of news.  Lucas and Laura got married in Seoul and are heading to England at the end of the month!!  BOOM.  They plan to have a more traditional celebration when the world is more post-Covid, so watch this space...  

Sam and Molly are awaiting the arrival of their first fur-baby - a retired greyhound - and it looks like it won't be far off.  Molly is between jobs and has been being very creative at home.  Her Yorkshire Puddings were so beautiful that we had to get competitive.  The photo is of my best effort so far, and I think they're an award-worthy 10 out of 10.  However, it's fair to say there is no consensus from the rest of the jury about this.  Yet.


Billy turned 20 on 17th June - so we're no longer the parents of teenagers hurray!  He's also got work at Peter's place that will be a perfect gap filler until he's able to travel again.  We took him out for a meal to Dodson Street restaurant (using vouchers gifted by Chelsea in thanks for mentoring her first year of midwifery practice - Go Chels!!!).  


Peter has been successfully selling heaps of White Cloud Mountain Minnows that bred prolifically in one of the outdoor water troughs, and also his baby Discus that took considerably more skill to breed.  They've been snapped up by local fishkeepers who we didn't realise existed in such numbers.  Some of them have bought fish from him before and several are asking what else he's got.  It's been promising enough, financially and satisfyingly, for him to plan to do more fish breeding and sales.
  
I'm continuing with my hypnotherapy studies, but we can't really make too many future plans until the world can move on from Covid restrictions.  Seems like a good time to figuratively smell the roses - light the fire, batten down the hatches and look forward to life on the land after the winter solstice.