June 2021

It's been a very wet June, especially at weekends, and this has curtailed many outside activities.  It's raining again now, despite a more optimistic forecast.  I'm thinking it may be a day for candle-making if that sun don't shine.  There is plenty of work to do in Sam's old bedroom in the garage, but we have Airbnb guests so we can't get in there yet.  And realistically, there's no hurry (unfortunate really, because this also reduces our motivation).

 A few jobs have been squeezed in, but no great shakes alas.  The horse arena beds are now weeded and most of the autumn leaf fall has been swept up and deposited on the beds-to-fallow.  The paths will be weed-sprayed once it's dry enough.  Then it'll be the pea straw blanketing, though those bales are going to be pretty tricky to lift now that they're sodden.  The former grain beds have been covered in bits of the old living room carpet, and the same will happen to the currant beds once they've had a horse manure boost.  The old currant plants were well rooted and digging them up reduced the soil bed volume and what's left is likely in need of a nutrient supplement.  

 The place is looking quite a bit tidier, though the task of sorting out all the equipment like bird protection cloth, stakes and old seedling pots chucked in and around the Gin Palace is yet to be done.  It will be a satisfying task when complete, but the enormity of it at this stage is quite overwhelming.  Sorting the beehive hardware is also on the list, and some of the old boxes and frames will be burned.  I've had some of this equipment since I started beekeeping, which according to my blog was November 2011 (nearly a decade of beekeeping!).  Some of the boxes are rotting, not good for bee protection.  Let's hope there's a long enough gap between the rains to get a decent fire going.

The beehives have been wintered down and sadly one of the colonies is dead.  It was originally from a swarm and totally thrived last season.  There was no queen or brood when I checked, so the bee activity around the hive must have been robbing bees.  The hive was great when I inserted the varroa strips a few weeks earlier, so I don't really know what happened to it.  That leaves me with one colony (the split and re-queen from Derryn), and the top bar hive.  These are both full of healthy bees that are very busy when it's warmer.  

 

My friend Shona has been getting on with beeswax candle-making, producing absolutely gorgeous items like the sheep candle.  She's keen to get hers to market.  I've been ordering beeswax from local honey company Putake for her and also to boost my own supplies.  Putake are moving location soon, and guttingly, the wax-making arm of the business won't stay in Blenheim.  We've ordered heaps of wax in case we can't sort out a future supply. Peter's holding a 5kg block of their beautiful gold.

 The Christmas tree had a serious prune, and actually looks OK.  It was a Karyn-style prune that looked like more had come off than remained.  Its lifespan will be extended if it can accommodate this kind of severe pruning on a regular basis.  It's quite a relief to postpone making a decision about its future, as we're all rather fond of it.

 The livestock are coping with the rain, but none too impressed with it.  The cows are now separated into two groups.  Nike and Pandora have their own paddock, and the others are elsewhere.  Athena was supposed to be with the girls, but couldn't be persuaded in the moment and we figured it wouldn't matter anyhow.  They all bellow loudly for their morning and evening hay, and any time in between that they spot the presence of someone who could feed them.  In the mornings they're alert to the twitching of curtains or the switching on of a distant light - they can't be fooled.  Attis is definitely the naughty one, managing to find a way into other paddocks whenever he wants.  He has yet to truly learn that this might mean he is denied his hay. Apollo is the same as ever - endearing, but several sandwiches short of a picnic.  Noddy the bull is a bit of a bully but only noticeably so at mealtimes.  He's old enough now to snort aggressively and be intimidating.  I won't go into the same paddock, and even Peter is cautious when he's around.

The gourds have been placed on a pallet on the sheltered outside table.  None of them are touching, and it's been fascinating to observe the process of curing, which looks very much like rotting.  Some of them are growing their characteristic mould patterns (like the one in the photo) and others are just beginning to change colour in places.  It might look like rotting, but the browner ones are lighter, sound more hollow and have a solid woody feel.  What an amazing phenomenon.  The succulents I planted in the terracotta pots are happy and reproducing, and they'll eventually look great planted into those curvy, organic, voluptuous gourds.

 The peapod wine stopped bubbling so has now been bottled.  The wine itself looks quite pleasant - clear and a warm colour, but with a distinctly pea-ish aftertaste.  My belief is that this wine has the potential to improve dramatically with age.  Peter isn't quite so sure, though he does concede that the wine is vaguely drinkable (which is quite positive praise for my wines).  The ginger and turmeric combos have heaps of lees, but are still bubbling so have been left for a couple more weeks.

Peter has built an impressive extension to the woodshed.  Now we have fast-burning wood (pine) in the shed and slow-burning wood (gum) in the extension.  The combination makes for a roaring fire in these cold, damp evenings.  It looks very much like it was always part of the shed, and its roof will keep out the rain.  He may add a back wall to account for the driving westerly rain in the fullness of time if that looks like it'll help.  

We spent an awesome weekend in Christchurch with Sam, Molly and Billy.  Billy had his first Covid jab and was celebrating his 21st (gulp!) birthday.  Peter trawled through numerous fish, whisky and record shops, and I joined my former Ara workmates to celebrate Lorna's retirement.  We traveled by Lime scooters and spent time doing city stuff and going to markets.  Billy came back home with us and will return to Christchurch for his second jab.

Unable to decide what he wanted for his birthday (no fixed abode and with travel plans), Billy was happy to celebrate with a slap up meal out.  We went to 'Arbour', the poshest restaurant in Blenheim, and had 'The Many', consisting of 8 small and delectable courses.  Pus an extra chocolate brownie cake with candle for the birthday boy.  It was a lovely gastronomic experience and the service was top-notch.  Happy Birthday Billy!  Does this mean we can stop being parents now??  

The shortest day has been and gone and still the garlic is waiting to be planted.  Oops.  Surely a few days won't make much difference?  Anyway, having tasted the black garlic butter at 'Arbour' last night, I'm going to have to find some to plant.  Daffodils are flowering like it's spring but almost everything else is bracing itself for the colder weather.  A little sunshine would be uplifting please...  

 

May 2021

       We've had a killer frost this morning.  Not the first but definitely the stonkiest.  You can't help but get sucked into watching the glorious rising of mist when the sun gets warm enough. It doesn't happen until at least mid-morning, so unfortunately not a sight for sore eyes on a work day.  Luckily then there are eye-feasting compensations of either the waning moon or the morning sun hitting the horizon. 

The big vege garden tidy up is well underway.  Hedges are trimmed and weeds are cleared.  Peastraw is lined up ready to add to the beds that will be fallowed next year.  I'll wait to add this top blanket until the horse arena beds are also cleared of weeds so these can be composted in the vege garden beds too.  Though it's huge, the compost bed itself can't take any more volume.  It's chocka and I'm trying to avoid the collapse of its back wall.  The beds that will be planted next year are happily composting their own weeds.  They look untidy but eventually that should all break down.  The bulky path weeds were removed, and the rest got sprayed (never a pleasant task).  

The currant bed next to the beehives is now vacant.  Thank you Peter, that was quite a task!  The plants were all quite old and only produced a minimal crop this season.  The cuttings I took are coming away nicely, and if I'd labelled them properly, they could go in now.  I plan to have separate beds for black, red and white currants so will just have to leave them in their pots until the colour of their fruit is revealed.  Karyn - stop smirking.  Labelling isn't everything you know.  I'll compost the beds and cover them with some of our old living room carpet.

 The buckwheat has been magically transformed - milled into flour and hulls by Billy.  The amaranth has also been harvested.  That's it there in that old jam jar, the total crop.  A pocket-sized volume but least the crop also served the purpose of being very graceful plants.  The stalks were cut off and laid on an old sheet to dry further.  Then it was all beaten to release more of the seeds and sieved to get rid of the chaff.  An interesting kind of process which I'm sure could use some refinement.

The ginger and turmeric were also harvested, and the total sum of the crop was marginally more than was planted.  Hmmm, maybe the Onamalutu climate can't really be manipulated to suit these tropical plants after all, even with Madame Cholet's tender care.  Anyway, there was enough to make a 5L batch of Ginger Wine and another of Ginger and Turmeric.  One of the methods involved boiling and the other steeping.  I opted for boiling this time, as it's quicker, but would be keen to try the steeping sometime.  I couldn't find a recipe for Turmeric Wine and did have a moment when I wondered if that was a message from the universe - if no-one else has ever made it then probably there's a good reason.  But then again, maybe there isn't.  And on that note I went for the compromise of Ginger and Turmeric.

Some of the olive trees have actually produced a crop this year, that might have been worth harvesting.  They have produced olives before, but very sporadically.  I'd kind of given up on them really.  The trees have been providing wind protection and decorative height, but if they may actually crop properly, then I'd better work out what the heck to do with them.  There is a community press in town, but they require a minimum volume and unless you have a massive amount, there's no guarantee that the oil you get comes from your own olives.

The calves continue to be delightful and have been behaving themselves lately.  We've been feeding out hay on frosty mornings.  They're finally getting more interested in eating the hay, rather than lying down on it, and still like to come over for a head-stroke.  Poseidon, Billy's steer, will meet his maker next week.  Then we'll start keeping Noddy, Attis and Apollo separate from the girls, Athena, Nike and Pandora, as we don't want any teenage pregnancies.

I finally got round to dipping pine cones in wax to use as fire-starters.  The first batch got melted soy wax from the remains of a big candle that was past lighting, and the next batch got dipped in precious beeswax.  They make very effective fire-starters, ideal for getting the fire going quickly.

 

The Aztec corn was cut down, and I noticed that some of the cobs were more filled out than I’d thought. Happily quite a lot of the precious corn is retrievable, enough to make flour and to plant next year's crop with.  The colour palette of the kernels is less varied than last year, more of a purpley range, but that won't affect their use.

 The fabulous autumn colour is hanging in there, but undoubtedly on its way out.  I'll go into the beehives on the next warm day to take out the miticide strips and do the final wintering down. I'm optimistic that the remaining outdoor tasks will be completed before spring, though once the hives are sorted, that's the priorities dealt with.  

The new window which can be opened (unlike the old one) in the garage sleepout has been fitted, so we'll finally be able to convert that little room into a proper bedroom.  The sleepout itself can then be used as more of a living area, and in time can accommodate Airbnb families, rather than just couples.  I'll also be able to run my birth classes in there.  The electrics, carpet and painting will need to be done first, so we won't be short of a winter project or two.

We're really excited that Lucas and Laura now have plans to come back to New Zealand to live, rather than Australia.  The sleepout might well have them as occupants until they decide where they'd like to settle.  Molly is still in the process of getting her NZ Residency - already a long process with no obvious end in sight yet.  Billy is temporarily living with her and Sam, in the hope that this will increase his chances of an earlier Covid vaccine, so we're home alone (yippee....) for now.  As a health worker, I've already had my Covid vaccines.  I'm now good-to-go as a Covid and flu vaccinator and have got some work doing flu vaccs in early June.  Once the next batch of Covid vaccines arrives in the country and Group 3s become eligible, those clinics will be run off their feet.  The Trans-Tasman bubble has burst a few times since being created, and Melbourne is back in lockdown - world normality still seems a long way off.  Aside from the news, including the heart-breaking scenes from India, things all feel pretty normal around here.  Definitely time for us to smell the roses and count every one of our blessings.

“Spring passes and one remembers one’s innocence.
Summer passes and one remembers one’s exuberance.
Autumn passes and one remembers one’s reverence.
Winter passes and one remembers one’s perseverance.”

                                              — Yoko Ono

April 2021

This blog is being written from the absolutely beautiful Whatamango Bay, where we're having a mini-break.  The photos were taken when we arrived, and there was no rain in the forecast.  The Sounds can't have got that memo because the next day was quite a wash-out.  Peter had a crack at fishing off the jetty before the wind joined the rain and stopped play, while my little jaunt around Picton shops wasn't affected.  We had a very relaxing break nonetheless, and the view that took in Karaka Point, was amazing whatever the weather.  

Some tentative steps to winter-down the gardens around the house have finally started with a hedge trimming and some weeding.  There are peastraw bales lined up (at great expense $15 each - eeek - supplies have been limited this year and I didn’t get in soon enough).  Just the flower beds to weed now, which hopefully won't be too bad.  It's been a while and the weeds are pretty big, but that usually makes it easier to pull them, unless it's grass or clover. The art of optimism, eh?

 The first frost finally happened last night.  The citrus received their first organic ‘frost cloth’ spray in the nick of time.  It was a decent frost that killed off the gourd plant foliage, and thereby revealed the full extent of the crop.  A whole tableful of prime, scrumptious gourds now need to be dried for several months.  Some are huge and heavy and I'm hoping a plan to suspend them will materialise quite soon.  In the meantime it's totally soul-nourishing to look out over them, as a proud gourd-mama.  As usual, a glorious day followed the frosty night.  Perfect gardening weather meant that the process of weeding and tidying one of the vege beds was a happy task.  Now I've made a good start, I'm hoping that'll create a momentum for continuing with the tidy up. 

It’s been a lovely autumn, though we could have probably used a bit more rain.  Can’t really argue with bright, sunny days that are not too hot to work in. There have been the usual misty, moody sunrises, including the one in the photo, where the sky seems to be mirroring the colours in the garden.  

 We made a decision to dispatch our two rams, Walter and Junior.  That leaves us with ewes Marie, Skylar and Holly, and ram lamb, Saul. It’s filled up our freezer too.  Bone broth was made, and for the first time we had a go at rendering the fat to make mutton tallow.  It was an easy process in the slow cooker, so we now have heaps of clean, white fat for cooking.  The jars show the tallow when it was still liquid - oily and yellow.  The tallow can be used to make candles too, but I have enough beeswax for that.  

No sooner had we decided on the fate of our rams, my old pal Liz messaged to ask if we wanted their ram.  We got our very first ram, Rambo, from Liz, so very much déjà vu.  She’s decided not to do lambs next year, so their ram had to go one way or the other.  We were keen to change the genetics of our flock, and Hank will do the job nicely.  He’s a white Wiltshire breed and mostly sheds, except for a Mohican strip down his back.  He was straight into hassling the girls on arrival, so (hopefully) cue cute lambs later this year.  Young Saul seems to be keeping his distance from the flock - perhaps Hank is pushing him out a bit.

I’ve re-discovered our spiraliser and now have several bags of spiralised carrots, beets, broccoli stems, butternut and kumara prepped in the freezer.  They are versatile and cook quickly so are handy after long work days.  And I’m fairly sure I had way more fun than I ought to whilst spiralising.  Obviously that means I got a bit carried away...

The kitchen is nearly done and continues to be a joy.  Just the fan to wire in and the tiling behind the oven left.  The central bench is where everything happens and it’s the perfect height and size for working on.  The oven is now fully functioning and has seen its first of Peter’s Yorkshire puddings.  The gas burner is a bit of an adjustment as things cook much faster than we’re used to.  The central plate holds a wok perfectly and it’s been great to have it back in action.

 The buckwheat has been threshed and the grain separated from the chaff, using a very technical set up.  Pouring from one container into another in front of a fan blew away the light-weight chaff and husky debris.  A stronger fan might have done a better job, but the result wasn't too bad.  Next up - bribing Billy to grind away the husks and then finely grind the flour kernel within.  Then a small cushion can be made from the husks.  A very small cushion... 

 Fire restrictions have eased, so Peter took the opportunity to burn the old kitchen units and some other crap lying around.  That's created some space in the carport, in addition to space in the garage that appeared when the new kitchen stuff was shifted into the house.  Lots of old carpet and underlay will need to go to the tip, along with the old kitchen appliances that aren't worth passing on.  Some of the carpet has already been put aside to use as weed mat.  

No change on the home front, though we have booked a trip to Aus in September to do the Spinning Babies Practitioner course in Sydney - COVID pending.  Peter will join me at the end of the course and we’ll spend time with one of his old mates who emigrated there decades ago from Yorkshire.  I’ve had my first COVID vaccine and just about completed my vaccinator certificate so will be able to help out in the clinics.  Right now those clinics are absolute bedlam for the limited clinicians who staff them.  It’ll mean weekday hours for me, so that’s a big tick.  

Lucas and Laura are still planning to come back to NZ later in the year, before heading back to Melbourne.  They’re hanging out for quarantine-free travel because of the prohibitive cost of MIQs.  Sam had a trip to Stewart Island with the band, where they were warmly welcomed by the 400 ish total population.  He saw kiwi and heaps of other wildlife.  Hopefully I’ll get there myself one day - it’s on my bucket list.  Billy is hoping that my vaccinator status will mean a slightly earlier vaccine for him, and there’s a chance he may be right.  The vaccines are made up in batches, and any left at the end of the clinic are offered to health staff first, and then any family member who can get there on time.  He doesn’t have any definite plans other than to return to Europe when he can.

My hypno portfolio is still coming along, albeit in fits and starts.  It’ll be cool to officially be able to add the Spinning Babies content to my future classes later in the year.  That does mean I’d actually have to start the classes first, and I don’t have a specific plan there.  I definitely want to get the lion’s share of the hypno diploma completed before I launch into another pretty big project, and I’m trying to work on a bit of life/work balance and reduce the number of juggling balls in the air right now.  I’ve started the Autoimmune Protocol diet in a bid to curtail some rheumatoid arthritis symptoms that are shouting louder.  It’s very restrictive and means that much time is spent preparing food.  Not a bad thing in itself, but still needs accounting for. 

Our winter hay and firewood supplies are well stocked, so we’re feeling ready for winter when it really bites. Bring it on. "What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness" (John Steinbeck). 

March 2021

before...

...after (kinda)

Much of our available time in the last month has been spent shifting downstairs furniture and stuff here, there and everywhere. It’s all been very much worth it as the house is pretty much transformed. The living and dining zones are nearly done, but I’m allowing about 4 years to complete the gazillion little finishing off jobs in the kitchen. Still, it’s looking great and functions perfectly. And we’ve finally got our new toy - a dishwasher.

I’ve been away for several days this month. A work training event, a hypno weekend (my last official one though I’ll do some repeats) and a gin tour. The latter was a trip to gorgeous Reefton on the West Coast, the home of a gin distillery that produces ‘Little Biddy’s’ and with grand plans to distil whisky. I went with a group of nurses/midwives and appropriately we stayed in the Old Nurses Home, currently being converted into holiday accommodation. The trip was likely the first of many gin-associated adventures, and I’m hoping that Reefton may have recovered by now...The photo shows the ethereal sunrise over the Lewis Pass en route to Christchurch.

Work on the land has been minimal, but that’s not been too much of a problem at this time of year. It’s quite a mess (distinctly an understatement) of course, but that’ll all be cleared up once the cropping is done. Preserving the abundant fruit and vegetables is always a time-consuming task and one that I sometimes have to let go of. The Bramley apples have been grossly under picked, and a fair chunk of the massive pear crop has also been left to rot. The peaches, including the blackboys, cropped very poorly this year, and that was almost a relief. There are still plenty of eating apples remaining, and these will be made into Apple Cider Vinegar just as soon as I get one of those round tuits.

  

There's still plenty of production on the vegetable front.  The photo shows one day's pick of stuff that just couldn't be left any longer.  Polly, our neighbour's pig, is still troughing on the fantastic marrows that continue to balloon, often cleverly hiding away among the lush foliage.  There can't be too many more days before the first frost, and then all will be revealed.  The same goes for the gourds too, but in their case, I'm hoping there'll be heaps of them waiting to be discovered.  Last year's smallest gourds that were planted up with succulents have been much admired, so I'm planning to make heaps more with this year's batch.

   

Peter's spuds are still feeding us, and we've started to stockpile acorns for our next pig project.  We don't have specific plans for more pigs, but we can't seem to completely let the acorns go this year.  We pass a number of oak trees on Maggie's daily dog walk and just can't resist gathering them up.  Interestingly some of the oaks have hardly any acorns on them, and others are reasonably laden.  I did manage to stop myself picking the elderberries this year, which is a tiny bit heartbreaking, though I did gather some for a friend who makes elderberry jelly.

 

The Aztec corn is stunning and likely to be ready to pick soon.  Those planted in one of the raised beds are a total disaster, and I won't make that mistake again.  The ones in the keyhole bed that was supposed to be fallowing are absolutely amazing - very tall and robust.  Can't wait to get a look at their colourful gems.  The buckwheat and amaranth, both also planted in raised beds, have done quite well.  The buckwheat is harvested and drying indoors, and the amaranth is maturing nicely (though hoping it either gets on with it or it's not frost tender).  The few quinoas that germinated in the second germination attempt are also maturing in one of the keyhole beds.

The citrus are all doing their usual trick of having the fruit of varying maturity at the same time.  There are heaps of new grapefruits, lemons, oranges and mandarins coming through, that'll need to be protected within the next few weeks.  The lemon needs another Karyn-style prune, but it may be a while until that becomes a priority.  

The fruit and veges that have been frozen for breakfast smoothies have finally been amalgamated, re-packed into mixed bags and returned to the freezer.  This is quite a major task that has been a painstaking process in the past.  This time I had a brainwave and cleaned and bleached the bath.  The fruit was efficiently dumped therein, mixed and re-packed in a fraction of the usual time.  Very satisfying indeed, and great to be set up for the next few months with a healthy start to the day.  

The dahlias are continuing to show their joyful longevity, and there seem to be more flowers than ever.  I'm very happy with this mini take-over, as it's as practical (at keeping weeds down) as it is beautiful.  One of these days I'll get round to picking up some straw mulch and winter-down the flower bed, but as long as the dahlias are displaying, there's time up my sleeve.  

The beehives will also need wintering down soon...actually very soon.  Eeek another priority.  There was another 45 litres of honey from the 3 hives that were extracted one very long day.  Oh boy, was I ever totally over honey and being sticky by that evening.  The new extractor certainly sped the process up, but still a heap of work.  It's all in buckets and will need bottling soon, in case it's fast-granulating like last year's.  The smallest bucket is full of honey from the newest colony - the one gifted by Derryn in spring.  Amazing that there was honey to take off such a young colony, let alone a whole super-full.  This honey is much lighter in colour than that produced by the other hives.  I've seen this difference before, but it's still pretty incredible that the honeys from the same tiny apiary can have this level of variety.  Such clever bees. 

Lexie

Billy is now officially 'between jobs' and hoping to get his Covid vaccination sooner rather than later so he can get out of the country and head back to Europe.  Lucas and Laura are planning to come over from Seoul later in the year to spend some time here before returning to Australia.  And Sam and Molly are staying put near Christchurch for now.  I've been very happily staying with them and greyhound Lexie when I attend the Christchurch hypno weekends.  Peter has been very busy both at work and home, sorting out the renovations.  He's hoping that the anticipated wine bottling lull will actually happen and he'll have a bit more energy when he gets home from work.  This year's grape harvest in Marlborough is very light (about 20-40% down) so vintage should be over by the end of the month.  No change for me, and I'm delighted to report that I'm actually getting on with my hypno portfolio - thanks to motivation from friends Vida and Roz.  England is finally making good Covid progress, but international travel without isolation costs feels a long way off.  

In theory, the small volume of life-sentence block work that has been undertaken this month should translate to a much shorter blog.  But somehow I still manage to ramble on and on.  Um, sorry about that.  It's not like there's nothing else to do, eh?   Autumn is yet to really show off its best colours, and that flippin lawn still needs mowing again.  Ain't no place like home :)