So, March disappeared and Autumn has quietly landed. It is one of my favourite seasons (along with Spring, Winter, and Summer), and I'm loving the morning chills. The land is being all productive and bountiful, but time to work on it has a habit of being very hard to find. Peter had another paid week off work as part of covid-planning, and managed to achieve the monumental job of painting preservative on the house and deck. I did the gaps between the decking planks, a very thankless task that just has to be endured and I'm now in the process of treating the outside furniture. Might as well get it all done in one hit. Peter's mowed the thistles in the meadows (after a lengthy process of fixing the mower) and cleaned out the water pump. We've had the septic tank emptied - the same company as before that has 0800 FARTED as their logo - and the chimney sweep is coming in a couple of weeks. I'm writing this in my blog so that we'll have a reference point when we later forget when these maintenance tasks were done.
The biggest event of the month was the epic return of Lucas and Laura. After months of waiting, disappointments with MIQ places, and heaps of finger-crossing, they finally arrived safely. It was almost too easy in the end. Their flight landed early and there were very few passengers on it, and there were no other flights at the same time. That meant a swift transit through customs and out they popped to greet me and meet their new car (very cool indeed - a Mazda Demio just like mum's!). Within a few short days, the sleepout was re-configured, up went their desks and the 75 inch TV, and in they settled. Their dog, Woody, took a later flight and is currently in transit from an Auckland quarantine facility with Laura.
We took them out in Gladys for their inaugural fishing adventure, and though the fishing was pretty tragic (total: 4 sharks), the day was beautiful. We launched from Waikawa into the stunning Queen Charlotte Sound. Blue skies, calm waters, and hardly any other boats. Probably everyone else knew that the fishing would be hopeless. Laura is really keen to have another go, so we'll probably head out soon while the weather is still pleasant enough.
The fruit has been ripening and we have the delightful problem of what to do with the excess. Several kilos of assorted apples will go into the annual Apple Cider Vinegar batch. There are 4 batches of cider/perry on the go now and I'll be gutted if they don't live up to my expectations. I recently bottled the blueberry mead and it's quite acceptable. We've awarded it 3 stars (out of 5) but quietly I hope it'll mature into an even more pleasant tipple. The elderberry wine was racked. It has retained its amazing purple colour, and it tastes pretty good already. Better not gloat too soon though, not out of the demi-john yet.
Figs are just starting to ripen and it's an enormous crop. The tree has been blown right down to the ground more than once, but it's so resilient, coming back bigger and better each year. Also yet to crop are the feijoa. I'll be obliged to turn them into wine of course, and also I'm going to have a crack at feijoa cider (though being non-apple, it wouldn't be called that - ideas on a postcard please). I want to see what happens when I put the whole fruit through the new crusher. If it works it'll save bags of time that would have otherwise been engaged with cutting them in half and scooping out the juicy inside.
The main honey crop was tutin-tested and it's absolutely fine so has been bottled. There have been several happy recipients, including the 0800FARTED guy who was well chuffed with his honey bonus. It made a lovely wedding gift for Jenn and Jules too. 2 out of 4 hives have had their autumn miticide strips inserted, and the others will get them in a couple of days when the forecast is particularly good. It's an ideal opportunity to do a thorough disease check, and so far so good.
Vege crops are also abundant. Heaps of tomatoes, peppers, courgettes, greens, onions, and chilies to hand. The foliage of the pumpkin plants started to die back, so I harvested all 52 of the gorgeously petite and bright orange 'Baby Bear' globes. I'll definitely grow them again if they're as delicious as they look. Their diminutive size makes them perfectly portioned for me (Peter is a pumpkinophobe).
I was thinking about including some shocking pictures of the vegetable garden in its current, pre-tidy-up state. It might have shamed me into actually getting my arse into gear and getting on with some of the million tasks that need to be done before winter. But somehow, I haven't even found time for taking photos. At least this way I can continue with the old denial mindset.
Our rural peace and tranquility were disturbed by a noisy chopper hovering over the forestry land just next to our boundary. We soon realised it wasn't a rescue helicopter, but it wasn't until someone was dropped down on a rope, and a shrub was pulled back up that we worked out it must be a cannabis seizure. Duh. Apparently, the Defence Force help the police out with these aerial missions. They pulled up another plant from just over the road and looks like they were spraying in both zones. Amazing that there were 2 crops of marijuana within spitting distance of here and we didn't know about them.
Sam is heading to Gallipoli in a few days. He'll stop off in Wellington for a few days to practice with other musicians and then head out to Turkey from there. He's started to study for a degree in Music Production with my old employer Ara, in Christchurch. He'll be able to do much of his study online but will probably take more than 3 years to fit in all the study around his army work. Molly has finally got her NZ Resident visa (yippee, such a long time coming), so they could go ahead and get a mortgage if only house prices weren't so steep.
We're hoping to take a little holiday to the North Island to visit relatives Shena and Doug after Easter but will wait until nearer the time to put plans in place. Covid might yet scupper that - Omicron cases and deaths have risen exponentially in the last few weeks and are yet to peak in Marlborough. Hopefully, they will diminish in the next few weeks, but who knows what's next?
The clocks change at the weekend so our evenings will be cut short. Better brace myself to start tackling the backlog of garden jobs before Jack Frost puts in an appearance. Honing my mini chainsaw skills on Peter's neck is at least a start.
