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!                  

March 2022

                                              

So, March disappeared and Autumn has quietly landed.  It is one of my favourite seasons (along with Spring, Winter, and Summer), and I'm loving the morning chills.  The land is being all productive and bountiful, but time to work on it has a habit of being very hard to find.  Peter had another paid week off work as part of covid-planning, and managed to achieve the monumental job of painting preservative on the house and deck.  I did the gaps between the decking planks, a very thankless task that just has to be endured and I'm now in the process of treating the outside furniture.  Might as well get it all done in one hit.  Peter's mowed the thistles in the meadows (after a lengthy process of fixing the mower) and cleaned out the water pump.  We've had the septic tank emptied - the same company as before that has 0800 FARTED as their logo - and the chimney sweep is coming in a couple of weeks.  I'm writing this in my blog so that we'll have a reference point when we later forget when these maintenance tasks were done.

The biggest event of the month was the epic return of Lucas and Laura.  After months of waiting, disappointments with MIQ places, and heaps of finger-crossing, they finally arrived safely.  It was almost too easy in the end.  Their flight landed early and there were very few passengers on it, and there were no other flights at the same time.  That meant a swift transit through customs and out they popped to greet me and meet their new car (very cool indeed - a Mazda Demio just like mum's!).  Within a few short days, the sleepout was re-configured, up went their desks and the 75 inch TV, and in they settled.  Their dog, Woody, took a later flight and is currently in transit from an Auckland quarantine facility with Laura.

 We took them out in Gladys for their inaugural fishing adventure, and though the fishing was pretty tragic (total: 4 sharks), the day was beautiful. We launched from Waikawa into the stunning Queen Charlotte Sound.  Blue skies, calm waters, and hardly any other boats.  Probably everyone else knew that the fishing would be hopeless.  Laura is really keen to have another go, so we'll probably head out soon while the weather is still pleasant enough.

                                     

The fruit has been ripening and we have the delightful problem of what to do with the excess.  Several kilos of assorted apples will go into the annual Apple Cider Vinegar batch.  There are 4 batches of cider/perry on the go now and I'll be gutted if they don't live up to my expectations.  I recently bottled the blueberry mead and it's quite acceptable.  We've awarded it 3 stars (out of 5) but quietly I hope it'll mature into an even more pleasant tipple.  The elderberry wine was racked.  It has retained its amazing purple colour, and it tastes pretty good already.  Better not gloat too soon though, not out of the demi-john yet.  

Figs are just starting to ripen and it's an enormous crop.  The tree has been blown right down to the ground more than once, but it's so resilient, coming back bigger and better each year.  Also yet to crop are the feijoa.  I'll be obliged to turn them into wine of course, and also I'm going to have a crack at feijoa cider (though being non-apple, it wouldn't be called that - ideas on a postcard please).  I want to see what happens when I put the whole fruit through the new crusher.  If it works it'll save bags of time that would have otherwise been engaged with cutting them in half and scooping out the juicy inside.

 The main honey crop was tutin-tested and it's absolutely fine so has been bottled.  There have been several happy recipients, including the 0800FARTED guy who was well chuffed with his honey bonus.  It made a lovely wedding gift for Jenn and Jules too.  2 out of 4 hives have had their autumn miticide strips inserted, and the others will get them in a couple of days when the forecast is particularly good.  It's an ideal opportunity to do a thorough disease check, and so far so good.

  

Vege crops are also abundant.  Heaps of tomatoes, peppers, courgettes, greens, onions, and chilies to hand. The foliage of the pumpkin plants started to die back, so I harvested all 52 of the gorgeously petite and bright orange 'Baby Bear' globes.  I'll definitely grow them again if they're as delicious as they look.  Their diminutive size makes them perfectly portioned for me (Peter is a pumpkinophobe).  

I was thinking about including some shocking pictures of the vegetable garden in its current, pre-tidy-up state.  It might have shamed me into actually getting my arse into gear and getting on with some of the million tasks that need to be done before winter.  But somehow, I haven't even found time for taking photos.  At least this way I can continue with the old denial mindset.

                           

Our rural peace and tranquility were disturbed by a noisy chopper hovering over the forestry land just next to our boundary.  We soon realised it wasn't a rescue helicopter, but it wasn't until someone was dropped down on a rope, and a shrub was pulled back up that we worked out it must be a cannabis seizure.  Duh.  Apparently, the Defence Force help the police out with these aerial missions.  They pulled up another plant from just over the road and looks like they were spraying in both zones.  Amazing that there were 2 crops of marijuana within spitting distance of here and we didn't know about them.

Sam is heading to Gallipoli in a few days.  He'll stop off in Wellington for a few days to practice with other musicians and then head out to Turkey from there.  He's started to study for a degree in Music Production with my old employer Ara, in Christchurch.  He'll be able to do much of his study online but will probably take more than 3 years to fit in all the study around his army work. Molly has finally got her NZ Resident visa (yippee, such a long time coming), so they could go ahead and get a mortgage if only house prices weren't so steep.  

We're hoping to take a little holiday to the North Island to visit relatives Shena and Doug after Easter but will wait until nearer the time to put plans in place.  Covid might yet scupper that -  Omicron cases and deaths have risen exponentially in the last few weeks and are yet to peak in Marlborough.  Hopefully, they will diminish in the next few weeks, but who knows what's next? 

The clocks change at the weekend so our evenings will be cut short.  Better brace myself to start tackling the backlog of garden jobs before Jack Frost puts in an appearance.  Honing my mini chainsaw skills on Peter's neck is at least a start.

February 2022

It's the end of summer and the vege garden has had relatively little attention beyond what's necessary to keep things alive.  The weeds are doing an amazing job of protecting the soil from the sun.  That said, it's not really looking any worse than usual.  Either that or I'm not really looking.  Yep, that's probably it.  If pushed, I'd probably call it a delightful sense of disorder, with the pumpkins and gourds rambling wherever they like.  The pumpkins are a variety called Baby Bear - I thought their small size would be more practical.  There are mountains of them, gorgeous little globes of bright orange popping up everywhere.  Outdoor tomatoes, greens, courgettes and beans are also on tap.  

The large tomatoes are a beefsteak variety called 'Tie Dye' - very well named.  There are heaps more to come, so plenty more can be cooked and blitzed to make tomato sauce.  Even the nibbled carrot tops look to have staged somewhat of a recovery - here's hoping there are actually carrots under there.

 

Madame Cholet is literally a hot-house of activity and a joy to enter.  Fresh tomatoes, peppers and basil are available anytime.  The rockmelons were picked and cut up, with most going in the freezer to be used in smoothies.  The aubergines are gorgeous, and the ginger and turmeric (particularly stunning) are looking great above soil level at least.  Chilis are starting to ripen - the little red rocket in the picture is a Bird's Eye Chili.  There are a few green Scotch Bonnets, the Jalapeno are fruiting and the Carolina Reaper is flowering.  Should be enough heat there to keep us warm for a while. 

The freezers have been emptied, transferred and cleaned, so we have a good idea of what's in there.  Right now not much meat, but heaps of plums.  The Red Bartlett pears ripen first and some of them have been chopped and frozen.  There were even enough cranberries from my one bush to justify freezing.  I think they were ripe.  They'd been red for a while but went from totally, disgustingly hideous to slightly edible so I guessed they were ready. 

My new toys - a fruit crusher and press - have been put to good use. They were trialled with a batch of windfall apples, and the resulting juice was more delicious than anticipated.  Clare came round and helped and that made it so much less of a chore.  The crushing bit is relatively easy, but manually winding a press down is quite a workout.  You have to remind yourself how grateful you are that you can't just press a button.  Karyn helped with the next batch of Nashi pears, and that juice is now bubbling on its way to becoming Nashi Perry.  Clare - aka glutton for punishment - came back to help with the next batch of Broxwood Foxwhelp apples (with the addition of the small Slack Ma Girdle crop).  That's also reinventing itself as cider.  It's the first time I've had the luxury of making cider from real apple juice, so very exciting and an appropriate nod to my Somerset roots.  Clare's agreed to return for batch 3: Cidre Bisque apples and batch 4: perry pears.

Another gin purchase resulted in 3.5 litres of damson gin and 1.5 of rhubarb gin.  Al usually orders the gin and we split it, but this time he wasn't in need.  So I did the order and split it with Clare, who also took a haul of damsons.  Amazingly it arrived at its destination (Jane's work) the very next day from Kaiapoi.  Damsons and rhubarb (gifted by Clare) were ready in the freezer and viola!  I've also racked the triple batch of elderberry wine and it's looking promising.  Surely the most beautiful colour of any wine ever - fingers crossed it's got the taste to match.  With my track record of one fabulous batch versus several less-than-fabulous, it's not very likely, but I like to remain optimistic on the home-brew front until proven otherwise.

The main honey season is here.  We harvested another 10 litres from Jane's hive and 23-ish from mine.  Both honeys are darker and thicker/more jelly than the spring honeys, but obviously just as delicious.  This batch will need tutin testing. Sting count so far - Jane 1: me 3.  I just managed to get my rings off before my finger swelled like that.

The cows are all in together after Peter gave up trying to keep the girls apart.  Too many munted fences and gates. At 18 months they're about old enough anyway, and are very sturdy beasts.  Not beyond a little scratch and tickle and particularly attentive when pressed apples are on the menu.  We thought Nike was pure white, but her summer coat reveals black splotches over her hide.   

Jill and George got permission to chop up a tree that was already cut down at George's golf club.  They invited us along and we got another load of firewood for our stash.  It'll need seasoning for a few months so probably not ready for this winter.  Peter has already split it so it should dry quicker.  We have lit the fire a couple of times recently, more because we could than we needed to.  Tonight's forecast is for 6 degrees and autumn officially starts tomorrow, so not long until that need does actually arise.

Jane and Al invited us round for croquet.  Peter was the winner of the last game of the previous season, so technically the reigning champion.  This year Al claimed to have crafted an actual trophy, and I should have been suspicious about that from the off.  Somehow Jane and Al played pretty badly and I won.  When I was presented with the said trophy, all the ducks lined up in my head.  Can't deny that COC could stand for Croquet Onamalutu Champion.  Well, I guess you've gotta just take those wins, however spurious. That trophy is definitely one for the mantelpiece.

Lucas and Laura should be with us in 2 weeks.  The border opened to Kiwis in Australia yesterday, so this time it's way more promising that they'll actually get into the country.  The sleepout has been ready for some time, just a few finishing-off jobs to complete.  Sam and Molly are good, and Sam is heading to Turkey (Gallipoli) for ANZAC day.  Billy has found new work with a family near Barcelona.

Omicron is ravaging its way through the population and there are several hospitalisations and sadly, a few deaths.  The health service is coping so far and it's nearly business as usual, but that could change at any moment.   Peter is having another week off (his 3rd) because his company has divided their workforce into 2 on/off teams - if anyone gets Covid then in theory at least the other team can continue.  It'll be his last week off like this, and he hopes to get a little fishing done among the many life-sentence block tasks that are building up.  I'm grateful to have paid work coming out of my arse for at least the rest of March, after which it should ease up a bit.  I'm still waiting to hear if my hypnotherapy portfolio has passed, but it's a relief not to have the work hanging over my head.  A little free time would enable me to do the remaining preparation tasks for my planned 'Mind and Body Approach to Labour and Birth' classes.   

The days are getting shorter and we're ready for autumn.  There are still a few crops yet to ripen, so a bit more processing time to account for.  Otherwise, it's just the big garden tidy-ups to get started on.  Plenty of time for that, so I keep telling myself.