June 2015

I’m starting to write this blog from a not-so-sunny Westport where I have a bit of work.  It’s rained on and off the whole weekend so far.  I have managed to get out and take a walk along the beautiful Carter’s Beach where we holidayed over Christmas.  The rain held off until I was at the furthest point of my walk.  There must have been a big storm which wiped out some of the mature trees which had been holding the sand bank together.  The remaining tree roots make impressive natural sculptures.  The pathway down onto the beach has also disappeared, so I had to leap down and fervently hope that it’d be possible to clamber back up again.  It was, but there’s still sand in the car.

The weather has also caused problems along the Kaikoura coast.  I recently drove back from Christchurch and was naively enjoying the thrill of huge waves which were splashing up onto the main highway and the windscreen.  The road north of Kaikoura was closed, so I was obliged to spend a few hours killing time around Kaikoura beach and shops before heading back home.  It’s a hard life etc.  The remainder of the coastal journey was slow-going, as there were long stretches with only one lane open.  The lane closest to the sea was littered with seaweed, driftwood, gravel and rocks - some of them bigger than footballs.  News stories told of vehicles being lifted up by the waves before the road was closed.  Not a great photo - it was taken out of my car window whilst slowly driving along.  The sea is usually turquoise/blue rather than white foam.

The veg garden has been a little neglected, though the weeding (as much as I’m doing) is nearly complete and there are only a few places that need to be mulched with the burned hay.  Crop-wise it’s still productive, though this is mostly leeks, carrots, Jerusalem artichokes and some greens.  Extra rocks from Sam’s garden clearance have been added to the fruit bed walls, so they do a better job of holding in the mulch.  The stock crop of ‘Mammoth Mangels’ (above) are thriving and seem to be still growing when very little else is.  The sugar beet isn’t so fond of the cold but is still alive.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There has been progress in the horse arena, though it’s still mostly in the conceptual phase.  We mapped out the whole arena, sketching the structures already there, and realised that even with some expansion there’s still a heck of a lot of unaccounted-for space.  More than half in fact.  We really don’t want to create more and more planting beds as we already have plenty, they’d cost something to set up and then would need to be looked after.  The final decision is to fence at the mid-way point and convert the unused side, holding the entry gate, back to pasture.  This will create a small paddock which would be good for housing animals who need to be separated from their mob – like lambing ewes.  The cattle probably won’t go in until the existing young trees (which we planted very soon after arriving here) are tall enough to not be munched.  

Another gate will be put in the dividing fence for access.  Madame Cholet and some raised beds are already in position.  They will be joined by a pig pen/run, divided into 2 half runs so that the pigs can be shunted across when they’ve dug up all the greenery on one side.  We’re hoping there’re enough wood planks in the ground (originally used to hold in the horse arena hard core and gravel) to create the 3 more raised beds which will fit into the space.  Eventually, there’ll be graveled weed-mat between the structures, in the hope of reducing the maintenance workload in the long run.  We have a view of the veg garden and horse arena from the living room, so it’s a relief to finally have a plan in place which will ultimately mean that we don’t look out onto a waist-high weedy horse arena.

 

 

Our freezer is now full of tender and delicious lamb and mutton.  Though they were still technically lambs at 10 months old, the butcher and the home-kill man, Bruce, were sceptical of their age as they were so large.  Bruce thinks he might charge us more than his standard lamb-rate next time if they’re the same size!  We were a little worried that we may have sacrificed volume for quality, but this doesn’t seem to be so.  Karyn and Carol, who had a lamb each, are really enjoying the meat.  The lamb legs have been so large that one has provided 4 meals worth of meat, plus some sliced cold for sandwiches.  Lamb curry and hotpot were no less tasty for being made using pre-cooked meat.  There’s plenty of chops and mince, and a big batch of home-made sausages. 

The pigs are next on the list, though we’ll have to do some juggling around in the freezer to fit them. Like last time, Karyn and Carol will have one each, we’ll send another pig to the butcher, and process the last one ourselves at home.  I’ve got recipes lined up to make pancetta bacon, sausages, chorizo, salami, ham, prosciutto and black pudding.  Plans to construct a cold smoker out of a wine barrel won’t eventuate in time for these pigs, but we’ve had an offer to use a neighbour’s.  We’ve been trying to find a way to cold smoke without using either gas or electric power – that rules out the available commercial smokers.  We seem to be getting there though, just a couple more things to source.

In the meantime the pigs have been getting more and more difficult to fill (food-wise) over the last few weeks, and the otherwise welcome rain has turned their run into more of a quagmire than a paddock.  They’ve trashed every food container, so sometimes we just have to put their food onto a dry patch of mud.  They don’t seem to mind, but we do.  There is an old concrete horse feeder which we hoped would solve the problem.  It has drainage, but this blocks with all sorts of debris and then fills with rainwater.  We’ll have to find a solution to this before we get more pigs.

The ewes are looking decidedly pregnant and we’re wondering when we might have the pleasure of beautiful baby lambs.  Last year’s lambs were born in the July, so maybe it won’t be long.  Hopefully they’ll pick a good weather day or night to give birth.  Then we’ll have to start keeping an eye out for a replacement ram – ideally one that actually sheds all its wool.  Either that or think about growing on one of our own ram lambs (assuming we get one). 

 

 

The cows are mostly managing to behave themselves, though Zeus is getting more mischievous.  He has been known to take a gate off its gudgeon pins, resulting in the need for a few fix-it jobs.  Hera’s looking more rounded in the belly.  Hopefully there’s a gorgeous calf growing in there.  We still haven’t managed to coordinate either ourselves or an AI technician to inseminate Athena, which is quite frustrating.  We’ve been using heat detection pads on her butt so at least we have a better idea of when she’s on heat.

 

This month has been relatively quiet on the farm.  Few jobs are urgent so we can slowly work our way through what we’ve got.  We’ve even had the luxury of an occasional weekend day off farm-work (mostly weather-driven), and the tantalising promise of a lie-in when the pigs are gone.  I’ve taken on lots of (too much) extra clinical work – a bit beyond making hay while the sun shines, which was the idea.  I’ve ended up with a total of only 2 days off this month, and my working days include extra travel in the form of 2 trips to Westport and 2 to Christchurch.  Hopefully that’ll mean enough earnings to actually take some leave in July.  Lucas will be home for a week and says he’ll help me with glamming up Lazy Mazy, the caravan.  Here’s hoping we can lavish on her the attention she deserves.

Back at home, Billy’s had his 15^th birthday.  He chose a normal vanilla sponge cake this time – quite a change from the usual fantastical cakes that the boys have requested over the years.  I iced it with butter icing which Billy said looked ‘professional’ – quite a coup there.  There’s also been some fantastic news on the job front for Peter – a promotion to ‘Bottling and Warehouse Manager’ in the winery.  It’ll probably mean longer working hours for him, and therefore optimistically fewer for me.  I’m guessing not quite enough to turn me into a lady of leisure.  Still, anything’s welcome.  Who knows what projects I’ll come up with when I’ve got more thinking time? The photo of Peter looking like a plonker wearing my glasses was taken by Billy.  I'm beginning to worry that Peter will die before me - how will I ever find my glasses if he does??

 

 

It’s the shortest day today – mental note to think about getting some garlic planted.  So far so good in terms of getting through winter.  It’s a real luxury to not have to scrimp on the firewood.  Dark and cosy evenings in by the fire are a kind of forced relaxation zone, which we all need.  Here’s hoping there’s enough daylight hours to get our winter jobs completed before spring arrives. 

No words of farming wisdom come to mind, so I’ll finish with this poem by Dorothy Parker which has really tickled me:

“I like to have a martini,
Two at the very most.
After three I'm under the table,
after four I'm under my host.”

May 2015

April 25th was the 100th anniversary of the Gallipoli landings.  We attended the dawn ANZAC service in Picton.  Us and a few hundred others.  Like most commemoration services around the country, it was very well attended.  We should have better accounted for parking, and this was about only time when we were delighted to have to park miles away from an event.  The service was lovely, even from a distance, and Picton was simply stunning at daybreak.  Sam was playing his cornet and marching with the band in Blenheim, so we went onto that service too. 

Back home, I’m slowly working my way through the vege beds, either wintering them down or re-planting with winter crops.  Probably I need to stop planting, but somehow I can’t.  I was obliged to rescue some cabbage seedlings which were out-growing their little 6-packs and were reduced to merely $1 per pack.  Surely we’ll eat 12 cabbages over winter?  Once I’d mentally committed to buying them, it was easy to justify getting a pack of onion seedlings since I was going to be planting anyway.  I’ve been looking for a smallish tree to replace the maple which we used to decorate with Christmas lights until it blew over in a storm.  A dwarf gingko talked me into buying it – all ancient, gnarly, mystical, and medicinal - right up my street.  I got it in and staked within an impressively tiny amount of time.  Since I might as well be hung for a sheep as for a lamb, 2 feijoa trees also found their way into my shopping basket.  They are heeled into the vege garden until they can be planted in one of the new horse arena beds.

The horse arena is looking a lot tidier since Jorgi came and spent a day clearing it.  There’s plenty more left to go so we’ll probably ask him to come back another day.  We’ve acquired 12 compost boxes (thanks Karyn!) which will work well as raised beds.  The plan is to get them in position in the horse arena and plant them up with olive trees.  The horse arena is starting to take shape, but it’s a big area and we haven’t yet planned what to do with all the space.  Here’s hoping that it will evolve organically and be all the better for our lack of foresight…

The carrots in Madame Cholet are finally looking unmistakably like carrot seedlings.  Very few of the peas germinated, though they’ve probably provided a good many meals for rodents.  Some tomato seedlings have germinated from the tomatoes left to rot.  I’m intrigued about how they’ll progress over winter, so they’re staying put.  The temperature in there is still reaching the late 20’s or even early 30 degrees most days.

The new bed in the vege garden is complete and keeping cosy beneath a layer of hay.  It'll be good-to-go for next year's crops.  I've acquired more of the winery steel support structures (thanks again Karyn!) so it'll be home to tomato seedlings in spring.  It should be beautifully nutritious soil, having been the base for a huge compost pile for the last year.

And talking of clearing, Sam had a pretty good idea.  There’s a large raised bed in the garden which kind of just sticks out into the lawn.  It’s home to a gorgeous Acer (of the maple kind, not the computer!), a large overgrown Daphne, a wild Rose, numerous bulbs and zillions of weeds.  It sits above the septic tank access, which causes anguish for the bloke from ‘0800 FARTED’ when he comes to empty it and has to scurry in the undergrowth to locate it.  It bothers me from time to time when I can’t help thinking it’s a bit of a weedy eyesore but it will be months before it reaches the top of the priority list.  Sam’s idea was to clear it and re-claim it as part of the lawn, and since it was his idea, he’s got the job.  The maple tree is staying and the bulbs will be re-homed.  The rocks which raised the bed are being re-used – some around the fruit beds in the vege garden, some around the ponds, and the rest will await their fate.  Everything else is compost.  Once completed it will optimistically reduce some of the garden workload and provide a more significant fire break around the house.

And talking of fire, the Onamalutu valley has been alight again.  Much less dramatic this time, but a lot closer to us than the last fire.  It was a ‘skid fire’, allegedly the formidable result of the composting process! The forestry practice of burying unwanted logs and branches in huge holes means that there’s lots of both composting and combustible material.  That compost can get hot enough to spontaneously combust is an amazing concept.  In this case the fire was blamed on some recent light rain which accelerated the composting.  5 hours of choppers and monsoon buckets and a night of heavy rain weren’t enough to extinguish the blaze, which burned like a bonfire overnight.  The photo shows how close to us it was.

The orchard trees have been pruned and their branches tied down for shaping.  This year I've had to do it on my own, unable to coordinate with Derryn who has a much better eye for this than me.  Hopefully it's not too much of a stuff up.  Peter's sawn off a couple of big branches from the bigger nectarine and plum trees which we hadn't touched until this point.  We've heard that this kind of wood will make good wood-smoke for cold-smoking, so it'll be reserved for  that.  That does require us to actually get a cold-smoker, which is another project.  Our new neighbours (Shona and Craig) have smoking experience which we hope to tap into.  The pigs are nearly ready so we'd better get on with it. 

The reduction in egg numbers to less than one a day meant that some (4) chooks have been dispatched.  This time Billy helped with the plucking, though it can’t be said that he enjoyed this opportunity to hone an important life skill.  We now have one rooster (Cornelius II), 2 moulting hens, 2 teenage hens and 5 youngsters.  They’re all housed together in the orchard run.  They seem to have worked out the new pecking order with a minimum of fuss, which is a big relief.  The old run will receive a make-over during winter.  We originally designed the run without a wire roof, but added one when it became apparent that hawks were flying in and taking baby chicks.  It was a hurried and dodgy DIY job using some old electric fence ribbon and recycled vineyard bird netting – mostly effective (give or take a few escapees) but ugly and way too low to walk under.  Stooping at our age is no fun, especially when it involves unpleasant little tasks like cleaning up poop or catching wayward chooks.

The remaining 5 lambs are 10 months old, so it’s time to dispatch them too.  The home-kill man will come next week, and we’ll also farewell Rambo.  We’ll keep an eye out for another ram so that we get a bit of varied genetics.  3 of the lambs are going to friends, which will still leave us with an abundance of meat.  Glen is having one of them, and he’s coming round to help with the butchering of his and ours.  It’ll be a bit of a gruesome day, though no doubt made lighter with Mandy’s (Glen’s wife and fellow midwife) vivacious company.  Maggie will of course be happy. 

We’ve had a couple of big storms, but were nonetheless surprised to discover that a giant willow in the wetland had been knocked over, roots and all, totally trashing a fence.  We don’t know when it happened but it must have been an impressive spectacle at the time.  It’ll probably keep us in firewood for a few years, assuming that we can get hold of a chainsaw big enough to tackle the massive trunk.  Since firewood means heating, hot water AND cooking (indoor and out), that’s a big deal.  

I paid the ultimate price for not turning up to our beekeeping club’s AGM – in my absence I was voted in as secretary.  Bugger.  It’s an irony as I’m the person with the least amount of beekeeping knowledge and experience.  Still I guess they knew that.  I’ve just done a full disease check of my hives and removed the Bayvarol (varroa) strips that went in a couple of month ago.  Both hives are looking good with plenty of brood, stored honey and pollen. However they have very different characteristics. Hive 1 is loud and defensive and doesn’t tolerate my clumsiness.   Hive 2 is gentle and calm, to the extent that I can get right into the brood boxes before they become even a bit agitated.  Fingers crossed that they both make it through winter. 

Having picked up an ancient double-boiler from an antique shop delightfully called ‘Rust and Dust’ in Murchison, I finally got round to having a go at dipping beeswax candles.  It’s obviously quite a craft which will take some time to perfect, but even though they looked odd they at least functioned as candles and smelled heavenly when lit.  I’ve also had a bash at making some ginger wine, using an original Mrs Beeton’s recipe.  It should be ready in a month, when she suggests you stop the fermentation and mix in 75mls of brandy.  Then you can simply add whisky for a whisky mac.  I’m not entirely sure that’s the same version of ginger wine that Peter remembers fondly from his childhood, but I am looking forward to drinking it.

On the home front, our living room has been transformed by a rug.  I managed to choose one which met with the approval of the young men of the house.  And the dog.  We’ve moved the furniture around to accommodate the bright blue rug which is now a popular place on which to slob.  It also conceals a number of carpet stains of known and unknown origin.  It should postpone the need to re-carpet for a few more years.  Sam has passed his full driving test so can now legally transport Billy around – something which we intend to totally abuse in the next few months of him still living at home.  Billy’s taken up Taekwondo again and it’s the soccer season, so there’s lots of to-ing and fro-ing.  It’s scary to think that he’ll be 15 next month.  When Lucas was that age he was behind the wheel of a car, but the law has since changed so Billy will have to wait another year.  That’s enough time for a bit more therapy!

I made my first trip to Australia this month.  Brisbane was the host town for the ‘Passage to Motherhood’ conference.  The mostly Australian audience were appreciative of my presentation (‘Does meconium deserve its crap reputation?’) and the whole conference was inspiring.  It was a sunny 24-28° and having left a frosty morning back home, it felt to me like summer was back.  It was quite a surprise when it was dark by 5:30pm.  I didn’t get to see much of Brisbane as the conference took up most of the daylight hours.  It was enough to whet my appetite to return one day though.  The photo shows the city at night from the walkway bridge over the Brisbane River.

Many wise words were spoken at the Brisbane conference.  These by Einstein were the most profound to my ears.  It’s something that I bear in mind when my tired inner voice tries to persuade me to just obliterate those weeds and pests with nasty chemicals, rather than think of a better way.

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking that created them.”

April 2015

Autumn’s definitely here.  Even some frosty mornings which have just finished off the outside cucumbers, courgettes and pumpkins.  After months of drought and hot sunny days, the cool nights and dewy mornings are welcome.  We’ve had enough rain to get the pasture growth going, and the sun shines, keeping us in the low 20's most days - especially beautiful after chilly nights.  It’s perfect weather for outdoor work.  A fabulous climate all up.

Collingwood beach

I’ve finally managed to get round to a going on a basket-making course – something I’ve wanted to learn to do for a long time.  The course took place at Collingwood, in the far north west of the South Island.  Another really beautiful spot, with plenty of West Coast charm.  Sarah, the instructor showed us how to weave baskets out of flax, and finish them off by twining the combed flax into rope.  Mine ended up very much ‘home-made’ but will at least function as a basket.  It got better as I went along, so hopefully my next baskets will be better.  There’s plenty of flax right here on the property, and heaps more all over NZ.  It’s great to have the skills to create something useful out of a freely available material.

The newest raised beds in the horse arena are being topped up with composting materials.  A stray pumpkin seedling put in a late bid but has since been finished off by the frost.  Hopefully they will turn into beautiful soil by spring, so the olive trees which are currently bedded into the vege garden can then be re-homed.  The weeds in the rest of the horse arena are above waist height so we’re really going to have to prioritise them sometime soon.

 

The chopping down of pine trees in our part of the valley looks to be finally coming to an end.  Hopefully it’ll be a fond farewell to the dulcet tones of chain saws and logging machinery which have kept us company since we arrived.  Only a few patches of trees remain on the hill to the east, though there’s plenty more elsewhere in the valley.  The hillside behind our house has greened up a lot, though mostly this is from weedy bush growth than from the new pine plantings.

A final rabbit catastrophe has ended our rabbit-keeping experiences.  The one remaining buck was being spoilt with lots of food, until one morning when he didn’t come out of his sleeping quarters.  He had been brutally murdered, and left matted in blood and with bits missing.  It was a gruesome sight.  Something had prised open the hutch roof, pinging off a couple of nails, and squeezed in to do the deed– possibly a stoat or a cat.  Maybe the roof had already been damaged by a grazing sheep unbeknown to us.  A very very sad ending for him.  The only tiny shred of consolation was that it was definitely the right decision for us to no longer keep rabbits.

The veg garden is slowly being worked through and either re-planted or closed down for winter.  The photo below shows a ‘before and after’ view of one of them which has been partly cleared.  It’s great to have copious quantities of the ‘burnedy’ hay to use as a mulch.  The corn, pumpkin, courgette and outdoor cucumbers have been harvested.  Not as many pumpkins as last year, which may not be a bad thing as there’s still some in the freezer.

Two demi-johns of mead have joined the other wines in the hall cupboard.  Peter brought home a few buckets of red grapes, mostly Syrah.  We’re going to have a go at brewing only the juice, rather than letting it sit on the skins.  This should produce a wine with less tannins, which optimistically won’t give me a heinous hangover after half a glass.  It’s a delicate pink, which will be named ‘Pete’s Pretty in Pink’.  The earlier batch of wines (pear, rhubarb and blackboy peach) will have their first racking next weekend.  They’re not looking great – lots of fruity debris - but hopefully will turn out alright.  The worst-looking batch of wine I ever made was a marrow and ginger.  Before filtering it looked like someone had thrown up in the bucket, but it went on to be truly delicious.  You can always be optimistic with wine-making. 

The rosemary hedge around the former compost circle has been planted.  Amazingly the cuttings I’d stuck in a plant pot were already rooting.  The bed will be mulched over winter, and a decision will need to be made about what to put in the centre.  This keyhole bed is smaller than the others, so it’ll have to be something petite.  I’m thinking of another herb, perhaps some variegated sage or something more unusual. 

The flower gardens need a decent tidy-up.  The tansy has gone wild alongside the chook run and is still in full bloom.  Otherwise it’s mostly the geraniums and cosmos which are still flowering and keeping the busy bees supplied.  The chocolate cosmos is as beautifully scented as ever.  Several flower seeds have been saved for next year, and many more will self-seed (and probably be weeded-out by accident).  Some vege seeds are also saved for next year. 

The pomegranate tree in the centre of another keyhole bed is coming along really well.  It was originally rescued from a garden centre sale, and was touch-and-go for a while.  It’s now bushy and is flowering.  Quite an unusual time of year for blossom, so I ought to find out more about it.  They’re pretty flowers – hopefully one day they will fruit.

Madame Cholet has been totally cleared out.  There were a few tomatoes and peppers, and several cucumbers and chillies left.  They were harvested, and then the barley straw ‘soil’ was compacted by me jumping up and down on it.  It looks more like proper soil now, and it seemed a shame to just let it sit there doing nothing.  I had a brainwave and decided to plant some peas (plenty spare and good nitrogen-fixers).  Then I had another brainwave and planted some carrot seed.  Time will tell if that’s genius or just nuts.  It does look like the carrot seeds are germinating, but they could just as easily be tomato seedlings from the ones that got away and rotted…

The last crop of tomatoes

The pizza oven is still in one piece, and still a triumph.  We’ve cooked whole meals in it – a roast, baked potatoes, roast veges and even Yorkshire Puddings.  We’re slowly getting the hang of it.  It’s one thing to cook meals made from food grown at home, and another to be able to cook it using free wood fuel.  Self-sufficiency or what?!

On the home front, the boys are just back to school.  They've both spent a few days in Christchurch with Lucas and Sophie, no doubt wearing out their internet. Sam's hoping to pass his full driving licence sometime soon, and is keeping as busy as ever with band commitments.  We're going to see the local production of 'King and Country' this week - a play about New Zealanders during WW1, accompanied by the brass band.  Billy's soccer season has started and the wine vintage has ended.  Perhaps a bit of normality is afoot, whatever that is.

This quote by Roald Dahl was on the Collingwood school classroom wall.  We're very blessed that it only takes a glance out of any window to generate good thoughts.

'If you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely'.