Another month, another natural disaster. They're really stacking up these days. A massive rain storm hit the Top of the South. Westport was expected to cop the lion's share again, but though they were hit, it wasn't their turn to be annihilated. Beautiful Nelson was the bull's eye, with the Marlborough Sounds a close second. There is currently no road access in and out of Nelson, other than via the Lewis Pass - a scenic drive of several hours. There is no word yet on how long it will take to fix SH6. A number of communities along the way are totally cut off, as are several Sounds communities. Many properties in and around Nelson and the Sounds are yellow or red-stickered.
We absolutely dodged that weather bullet in our little corner of paradise, though it didn't feel like that when the rain kept coming and the river kept rising. We had plenty of warning and had moved the livestock to our highest ground. Our property was already half-lake when the brown Ohinemahuta River was visible for about 3 days, but incredibly it didn't actually break its banks. I left home for work cautiously at 6am on Saturday 20th August, driving through a couple of road rivers and past several slips until a huge tree blocked the road. I was grateful to have the decision made for me about not proceeding. Had I got further down the road I'd have reached the enormous slip near the start of North Bank road that blocked valley access for about 4 days. It'd have been awful to be stuck on the far side of the slip, or worse, caught up in it. Later that morning the power went down. We took a tiki tour of the valley and the cause of the power cut was obvious - power poles really shouldn't be at a jaunty 30 degree angle to the ground. A cable had snapped but amazingly an electrician managed to walk across the bank and around the slip to fix the cable and return power to the people.
We now have access in and out of the valley but that slip is going to take some work to stabilise. Lots more rocks, mud, and trees above are lying in wait for a smidgeon of disturbance to bring them down. With numerous roads damaged in the region, it may be some time before ours can be prioritised. In the meantime, we're just deeply grateful that things aren't worse.
Before the rain, we'd had a really cold snap, and for the first time since we've lived here, the rain lakes froze at the edges. It was a very pretty sight but it wasn't exactly ice skating territory, and it didn't last long. Hope that was good enough to kill some over-wintering bugs.
Holly, the ewe was next up to produce a lamb. We didn't realise she was pregnant, but a gorgeous little ewe lamb appeared, cousin to Skylar's lamb born last month. We managed to round the mother ewes, lambs, and Marie, the still pregnant ewe, into the small paddock at the back of the house. Marie's ewe lamb from last year (Clover) wouldn't leave her mum's side so she joined the birthing brigade. The lambs sheltered from the cold in the little hay shed, in little hay cocoons, presumably created by their clever mums. Marie birthed her twins within days - a boy and a girl. All lambs are healthy and well-mothered by their mums and there's a total ratio of 3 girls:1 boy. Perfect, though yet to be named. The whole flock was rounded up into the orchard when the severe weather warning was forecast. We'll round them all up again in the race this weekend (weather permitting haha) to dose with selenium, dock tails, castrate, and a bit of coiffure. Despite the rain, this has been the least anxiety-provoking lambing season we've had. Always a heart-warming joy to have delightful lambs be-doinging around the place.
Before the storm, I'd managed to mostly complete the vegetable garden weeding - a feat unmatched in previous years. All the fruiting trees have been seriously pruned, including the olives. Even the raspberries and blackberries are cut back. Prunings and leaf fall have been cleared and the vege garden and horse arena are actually looking a little bit tidy. Copious quantities of horse manure were dumped onto the top of the compost in the fig tree bed, so now that's effectively closed down to allow the microbes to do their magic. 
Garlic is already popping up, and I've taken a gamble and planted some carrot seeds. It's probably too early, but at least the soil is moist. Some bed weeding had to happen to create suitable planting space. Water-logged soil made this tricky, but Laura was keen to help. She's cleared her own bed and has also helped with mine. She also joined me in digging out compost from the main huge pile next to the hay shed. We had to clear the un-composted and woody organic matter from the top to reveal delicious chocolate cake compost beneath. Several barrow loads have made their way to the planting beds we've cleared, and there's plenty more. We've also cut down some of the green manure plants in other beds and will dig that in over the next couple of weeks. It's such a good feeling to actually be one step ahead of garden tasks. Planting space good-to-go before there are even plants to put in is unprecedented and utterly joyful.
Seeds are germinating - never before so early in the season but giving it a go. It started with tomato, pepper and aubergine seeds in the heated propagator inside. There was a good germination strike and those seedlings have since been transferred to Madame Cholet. Several other seeds - brassicas, onions, spinach, and beetroot - have germinated in trays in the tunnel house. I'm sowing by the moon and will do another mass sowing after the new moon. Some of the seeds are Laura's and her excitement about growing vegetables has been really delightfully infectious. She's a born-again gardener - allelujah!
The 3 beehives are heading out of winter strong. I may be imagining it, but I don't recall previously having colonies this strong in August. Hope that's not famous last words. I can't wait to put the new Mason Jar hive box onto one of them. Unfortunately, the hive at Jane's place didn't make it. It had been weak at the previous check but still gutting when no brood or queen was to be found. There was some mould so we're going to move the hive position for the next colony in case that was the problem. The boxes making up her hive were plonked on top of one of mine, in the hope that the bees clean up the mould and we can rescue the remaining honey stores later in the year. Jane is keen to continue with bees so we just need to work out the best way forward. It's a shame she's too close to just transfer one of my hives over, but there will be a way, even if we have to buy a queen and transfer some of my frames of brood.
I finally got round to grinding the Aztec corn with my manual grain grinder. Curiously the grinder created 'boobs' of cornflour - no idea what that's about! It really wasn't difficult, so no need for all those months of procrastination. The ground corn provides a pleasant, slightly gritty texture to baking. I tried out some cornbread and biscuits that worked well. Plenty more cornflour in stock now, and I'm thinking that I'll again be growing Aztec corn this year from saved seeds.
The feijoa wine - all 20 ish litres of it has been bottled, and as always, it's spectacular. This year much less sugar went into it (about 1/3 of the usual volume) and it seems to be even fruitier and more delicious than ever. Also bottled was the fig wine (drinkable but only just - probably not a natural wine partner and likely to be a one-batch wonder) and Jo's mead (very much drinkable). Yet to bottle are the 20 ish litres of persimmon wine. It's been racked and seems promising yippee!
Our birthdays coincided with being blocked in the valley. Really truly not a hardship. We did run out of bread and milk but had plenty of cake and alcohol to fill that void. Lucas baked Brownies and warm-hearted neighbours brought fantastic cakes (big thanks Shona and Jane). As if that weren't enough, Billy sent a 'care parcel' containing loads of UK chocolate bars. Possibly more sweet goodies than you can shake a stick at - even for me. It's a problem I'm keen to revisit in the future.
Spring officially springs on 1st September, not far away. The plum blossom is already putting on an impressive show, though could use a blue sky backdrop. The expectation is that the hot and dry summer that the Europeans have/not enjoyed this year will also be our lot in the coming months. That's hard to believe when you're knee-deep in sodden mud, but I reckon we're all up for a bit of happy sunshine around here. Billy is heading home next month, and Sam will return to New Zealand after an extended jaunt away with the band. Molly has got a new job working in a distillery (that's my girl...!). Lucas and Laura are beavering away, adding extra projects to their workload to make a few more dollars. Woody stayed with us grandparents whilst Lucas and Laura took a small break away in Hanmer. He'd have his parents believe that he suffered in their absence, but we have photographic evidence that it wasn't so terrible for him - eh Woody?? And Peter has started counting down to retirement. Less than 12 months now...
And I'm still (I know) working on my pregnancy classes - dangerously close now (or have I already said that?). For my birthday, Peter and Lucas cleverly made this gorgeous 'Dutch Pelvis' model that I'll use to demonstrate fetal rotation in the birth canal. I've also been gathering other props like knitted uteruses (huge thanks Jill), a swiss ball, and a peanut ball. I've completed a course making me an official KGHypnobirthing teacher, so am really running out of reasons/excuses not to go ahead. Just a small matter of engaging this arse into gear.
Hang on - isn't there another urgent batch of candles to make??
