July 2023

Wintering down has been happening, despite the winter curve balls of shorter days with some dodgy weather.  Can't complain though.  Europe is experiencing a massive heat wave and we're finally having a run of sunny fresh blue-sky days after lots of wet wet wet.  I'm trying to enjoy the chilly mornings, log fire evenings and long soaks in a hot bath as these'll be a dim and distant memory soon enough.  

                                                     

On the livestock front, we're still awaiting the departure of Apollo, who's life in Onamalutu has been extended by many weeks because of butchery short staffing.  Triton is continuing to thrive, and even Kratos is improving.  He's certainly growing and is lively enough, and struggles with his front legs when getting up off the ground seem to be easing.  Luckily he didn't join Nike and Triton when they had an adventure in the wetland.  He may never have made it out of that boggy ground, though I believe he missed out on a good time.

The bees have made their own decision about what's ahead.  The one remaining colony, which had been very vibrant and verging on aggression, was destined to be transported off the property to be looked after in my absence.  Sadly, it hasn't survived the winter, and at a recent check it was gutting to see a relatively low number of small bees huddling around a few frames.  It was queenless and with no young brood, so won't be going anywhere.  That's one less thing to worry about while I'm away, but I would have much rather have kept both the bee colony and the worry.  Fellow beekeepers Derryn and Jane have both lost their colonies this year too.  

                                                            

My monthly flower hunt has unearthed some more gems in the depth of winter.  The single pink hollyhock flower is perhaps a little seasonally-confused, but the weedy but nonetheless beautiful white achillea umbels don't seem to mind the chill, or any other weather for that matter.  The pinky viburnum and the delicate white wintersweet blooms are in the newish driveway bed that was planted during the shed project.  Alongside the colourful reddy foliage of the native horopito, they're a lovely welcome to the property.

  

The flower gardens around the house are sporting their winter blanket of lucerne hay, and very tidy they look too.  Won't be long before the spring weeds make an appearance so I'll enjoy the sense of order while I can.  Just the final touches to the newly turned over former herb garden to do and everything around the house can be ticked off.  I decided on the grassy plants Lomandra Lime Tuff (approved by Charlie), and they are planted and secured in a weed-matted bed.  Those final touches include shifting numerous rocks, and ordering, collecting and spreading new gravel to fill in the gap.  Not a quick job but hopefully one that will save lots of weeding time in the long run.

  

The vege garden looks stark and formal.  Most of the beds are now covered in weed mat weighed down with rocks, including the central circular paths.  The asparagus zone has been nourished with sheep poo and covered with straw, and the raspberry beds are awaiting the same treatment.  I'll do a final weed spray and hedge trim before we leave.  Madam Cholet is fully weed-free and straw covered.  On my list is to repair the gaping hole in her roof, but that's been there years and never reached the priority position because it's a two person gnarly task.  

 

The weedy grasses around the woodlot trees have been strimmed.  Most of the trees are surviving, though many aren't yet thriving.  I'm putting that down to the horse arena hardcore they're planted into, assuming that those whose roots have breached the rocky substrate are able to get on with the task of growing rather than simply surviving.  They look healthy enough though, just stunted.  In the pictures are a healthy enough pine nut and kowhai.

                                                    

The citrus trees are fruiting - not ripe enough to eat yet, but plenty to share.  They had a severe short back and sides too, so it's great to see heaps of fruit remaining.  I've pruned them so they're more like trees than bushes so you can see their main trunk.  Guessing that'll be a long-term mission.  It's way easier to mow the lawn when their branches aren't draped all over it.

Peter and I decided to do a bit of training for our forthcoming Coast to Coast walk and headed to the Pelorus river.  We did what felt like a vertical walk up to the Trig K lookout and were rewarded with stunning views of the Pelorus valley.  Happily not a blister between us, so that's training and wearing-in of boots in one trip.  I think that's how it works.  We're relying on picking up some fitness on the walk itself.  Probably not the best strategy, but there it is. 

I'm still waiting formal news of a new job (feels like I've been saying that for a long time) but not really too worried.  We're fairly pre-occupied with getting the house and land sorted out for our house-sitter - definitely not a kind of lock-up-and-leave property.  Most of the tasks would have been worthwhile whatever our future plans, so there's no sense of wasted time.  We are starting to get to the end of lists, and I'm hoping to be able to do more shifts before leaving the country if time allows.  We've started saying our goodbyes to friends and colleagues whose paths we may not otherwise cross.  It sounds like we won't be short of visitors when we get to Australia, which is heart-warming.  

Roll on the next chapter of our lifestyle sentence-free lives 💚