April 2022

The last-minuteness of this blog can be blamed on the dreaded 'Rona' which finally made a visitation on the Powell household.  Peter succumbed first, along with a number of workmates (10 out of 14 staff - of the remaining 4, 3 had already had it), and then passed it onto me a few days later.  We've both had a decent dose, though different symptoms.  We're well over the worst now, just a bit tired and snotty and coughy.  Hopefully that's our immunity properly boosted.

  

Before Covid (BC) some tasks did finally get crossed off the monumental list.  All the vege garden beds are weeded, hedge-trimmed and most have green manure seeds sown around the remaining crops (in the hope there's time and warmth enough for them to germinate).  The fig tree bed has become the new compost area, and it's pretty high in weeds already.  I'll add a few bags of horse manure when most of the weeding is done - still the flower gardens and horse arena beds to clear yet.  Hopefully the actual compost bin will have usable compost by spring.  

Cropping of vegetables is ongoing.  Silver beet, cabbage, purple sprouting broccoli, and the last courgettes and tomatoes.  There's also a quite impressive crop of Mammoth Mangels, grown from scattered seed, that can boost the livestock nutrition over winter.  Madame Cholet is still hosting heaps of peppers and chillis, and the ginger and turmeric have yet to be harvested.

The beautiful Aztec corn has also been harvested.  The one single plant that was missed by the rabbits in the first sowing had grown to an impressive plant.  It had 6 stems, and each grew 2 heads of corn.  Presumably this was a deliberate strategy to ensure that it could pollinate itself.  The remaining cobs grown in the second planting ripened later, and interestingly, none of those plants had multiple stems.  All up there's still a reasonable total crop volume that's being dried and will eventually be ground into corn flour.  Next year I'll do my darnedest to get the seedlings in the ground and protected earlier in the season.

The gourd foliage started to die back one cold night, so they were harvested as part of the tidy-up.  Not so many this year - quite a relief.  There are only so many days of your life you can justifiably commit to the interests of gourd art.  They're still endearing though, and I'm not sure I'm ready to lead a gourd-free life just yet.

I spent some satisfying hours clearing the broom from the new woodlot.  I'd been putting it off for ages, imagining it to be a thankless task.  Bring on the Stihl mini chain saw!  Once I'd worked out that it was worth grovelling around in the undergrowth to get to the main broom trunk, it became deeply joyful to take out those dastardly woody weed stems.  One cut on the right place and ...'TIMBER', again and again.  We bought a new bad-ass weed whacker and Peter chopped down heaps more weedy growth.  The woody branches were burned in a fire, along with some other crap lying around the car port.  Finally, 27 new trees have been planted! They are a mix of Kowhai (from Jane and Al), hazelnuts (from Shona), stonefuit (from Karyn), Pine Nuts (from Jenn) and a Horse Chestnut, that have been lovingly watered and nurtured in pots for months.  Such a good feeling to get them planted.  I'd been gifted some sheets of wool packaging from a few people who get supplies of 'My Food Bag'.  They were cut down to squares and are now providing a mulch base for the new trees.

Feijoas are on tap.  I had a bash at crushing whole feijoa and then pressing them.  There was a concern that the juice may be bitter from the skins, but although it looked like pond water, it didn't taste too bad.  That first batch is bubbling away as feijoa cider, and that hideous green/grey swamp look is slowly improving.  Whether it will make a drinkable nectar is doubtful, but gotta try these things.  I'll also get Crusher Clare onto the next batch which will be skinless.

The fig tree has created even more of a bumper crop than ever.  Can't fault its enthusiasm for life.  It's a shame it's too late in the year to solar dehydrate the abundant fruit.  The tree will need a very serious prune to keep it in check. Laura loves figs, but even she can't make any kind of dent in the volume.  What's a girl to do then?  Fig wine, of course.  The initial bubbling 'must' absolutely resembled a bucket of vomit - always a good sign in wine-making (in my vast experience), though it looks quite acceptable now it's now strained.  The hallway cupboard is full of various bubbling alcoholic potions.  I'll have to get on with some bottling (probably the elderberry wine) to release demi-john space for the next round of racking.  

We were enjoying 'Cards Night' with Lucas and Laura one evening, when we heard the unmistakably-near mooing of a cow.  Pandora was on the driveway and trotted happily into the paddock when we opened the gate for her.  But how had she got out? There were no open gates and no breaches in the fencing that we could see.  Worse, a check on the other cows revealed that Nike was missing.  We scoured our property and the roads each way but no sign.  In the end we had to go to bed and resume the search in the day light.  We found her unharmed the next morning on the river bank behind our neighbour's property.  She'd managed to get over a dodgy bit of fencing, and was easily persuaded to return to the herd.  We can only assume that Pandora also went the same way, breaching the boundary fence and then finding a way past the neighbour's property, out onto the road and back down our driveway.  That's quite an adventure and pretty miraculous that she got back at all.  Maybe there's another explanation - I'd love to have been a fly on the wall.  Meanwhile, Noddy is on the list to meet his maker.  Peter thinks that both Nike and Pandora are pregnant as there's been no sign of heat for a couple of months.  Noddy is becoming quite bull-like with lots of snorting and aggressive stances, and we have avoided being in the same paddock as him for quite a while.  He was once our baby though, and it'll be sad when he's no longer around. Hopefully his off-spring will bring much joy.

The final tree to crop is the persimmon and that's only a small crop again.  Last year the possums finished off the few fruit that it produced.  We haven't had much possum damage this year so here's hoping they're not just hanging out for the persimmon.  Once it's ripe, the whole orchard will reach the priority list for a serious prune.  I'm looking forward to doing the job with my chain saw pruner, though some of the branches will need attention from a grown-up chain saw.  The trees in the photos are the stunning mulberry and the fruit-laden medlar.

Once the flowers stop flowering and the flower garden is weeded (might be a way off yet), pea straw will be put down.  I managed to find a relatively cheap pea straw source so it's all lined up, good to go for when that magic weed-free moment arrives.  The dahlias and cosmos have been prolific, and also notable is the orange abutilon which has been in constant flower for months, and is much beloved by bees, especially bumbles.  It nearly died over winter last year, but has come back bigger and more beautiful.  Fingers crossed it continues to thrive - it's got a place in my garden for however long it wants to hang around.  The native Jasmine, that had the unfortunate accidental pruning during a hedge trimming episode, has come back fabulously.  It's now once again making its way across the chain, so hopefully will be glorious in spring

Pre-Rona, I'd ordered an inversion stool so I could do head-free 'headstands'.  Lots of health benefits apparently, and quite a lot of fun.  I'm looking forward to getting back into it once my Covid sinuses and headaches are fully cleared.  Woody, Lucas and Laura's dog, finally arrived safely after quarantining in Auckland.  Hitherto he'd been an apartment dog, and is now very much enjoying his new freedoms.  So much more space and excitement than he's used to.  Maggie is uninterested in him, quite a blessing in a way - at least no argy-bargy or separation needed, though I think Woody would love more of a play-mate.  I'll get some pics of him in next month's blog.  Sam is currently in Gallipoli.  He was delighted to be selected as a band representative for the ANZAC Day dawn service in Turkey.  Such a proud moment for him and us.  Hopefully we'll catch up with him and Molly soon.   

Anyway, too much gassing.  Time to winter-down this month's blog.  Bring on May!