February 2012

I've been waiting for this day to update the blog.  Today is the day we collected our very first piglets.  They're a little over 6 weeks old - 2 males (spotted) and two females (white).  And they've been named - Breakfast, Dinner, Smoko and Supper.  We're raising Dinner for some friends who had already chosen his name before we got them.  The boys will become 'porkers' and the girls 'baconers'.  At least that's the plan.  Today has been one of the hottest days for ages (28 degrees) and they had a rough and exposed ride home in a trailer.  Thankfully they soon settled in, ate, drank and scrapped with each other over a marrow (not dissimilar to the kids, though to be fair, they haven't actually ever come to blows over a marrow).  Fingers crossed they're still there in the morning.  The pig-proofness of their enclosure has yet to be tested...



 

The turkeys continue to grow and show no obvious sign of superior intelligence.  They've been moved to a new residence - formerly the chicken run.  Despite the area being fenced, including a hot wire, they managed to escape from day 1.  Luckily they're unbelievably easy to round up, so we returned them each time.  Now we just leave their gate open so they can come and go as they please.  However it seems they feel obliged to exit the enclosure over the fence, and re-enter through the gate.  Maybe they like the buzz from the electric fence.  When they're out and about they spend alot of time in the wetland. 

 



The Council have been doing some mapping exercises and restoration of wetland areas remaining in Marlborough.  We're expecting a visit from the guy who is coordinating the wetland project in the hope he can give us advice (and as a very long shot - possibly even funds) for managing it.  Once the cattle are gone in a couple of months, we can start to look at fencing and re-planting.  Our wetlands are fed by a natural spring somewhere, and stay wet for pretty much most of the year.  It'd be really great to restore them; a lovely way of honouring this land.

The veg garden, despite mammoth neglect on the weed front, is actually quite productive.  I've never grown such big carrots (eat your heart out Karyn - feel the carrot-envy).  Tomatoes, leeks and corn are OK, beetroot fantastic, beans stunning.  Spuds probably would have been more plentiful with an occasional water.  The courgettes and pumpkins are also thriving (should be some spare for the pigs) and the gourds are prolific.  I'm hoping that those pigs will develop a taste for gourds because I couldn't bring myself to plant just one or two.  The extra seedlings were just too gorgeous to compost and there was space. 

Once I get Lazy Mazy the caravan glammed up (looking like next year at the earliest), we'll take her for a weekend to the Onamalutu Domain.  Less than 2 kms down the road, it's a picnic area and DOC campsite.  Some of the original NZ pine trees (Kahikatea, Rimu, Totara) which the valley is famed for remain and create an utterly beautiful and tranquil zone around the river.  There are some fabulous swimming holes, well-shaded by the giant trees.  It's a really serene and special place, and a favourite day-trip destination for many Marlburians.  The photo shows Billy at the base of one of the huge Kahikatea trees.



Whilst we're all back to work and school now, we have very fond memories of the summer holidays.  Grannie-Annie joined us in January (always a real pleasure) and was subject to the usual harassment - monopoly, cards, cricket, buying more lollies, going to the swimming hole etc, plus a few others, like a trip to the hot pools of Hanmer Springs.  The photo shows her at stunning Karaka Point in the Marlborough Sounds where we scattered some of Dad's ashes 3 years ago.  We've been lucky enough to see orca and dolphins there before.



We are increasingly contented with our little slice of paradise, even if it is scruffy and overgrown.  There's a limit to what we can achieve with limited time and money (and no tractor), and we want to enjoy it without feeling resentful of the time it takes.  I'm hanging out for getting there bit by bit.  The alternative is town-living, and it's hard to imagine we'll ever do that again. 

And finishing on a sleepy note......aaaaaaah







December 2011 / January 2012

Like most other folk we've had a busy few weeks.  This is only one of my excuses for a belated December entry.  Another plausible excuse is the the hay baler took out our internet satellite just after Christmas and we've only just got our connection back.  Combined with a very patchy cell phone signal we've had a quiet time on the technology front
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However, farm and garden progress has been made.  The photo above shows the current status of 'Joanna's Patch'.  The area extends beyond the photo and includes a range of flowering plants.  There are seahorse windchimes and a bird bath, and the wooden sign reads 'Joanna's Patch' - carved by Christmas visitors, the talented Geoff (Jif) and Rachel (thank you poms!).  Scattered around are favourite rocks and shells which will be added to over time.

The hay was baled the week after Christmas - found a very local haybaler who cut it first, then came back to turn and bale a few days later.  Peter, Geoff and I popped (2.5 hour drive) home from our camping holiday in Golden Bay to stack it before the rain.  Rea, Mark and Ruairi who were cattle-sitting for us helped out too, and a total of 248 bales are now proudly stacked in the hay shed.  Hope we can sell them as that's about 245 more than we need.

And we did get round to turkeys!  8 white turkeys aged 3 weeks arrived in early December, one died soon after (not unusual for baby turkeys I believe) and the remaining 7 are now growing (and eating)exponentially.  They've been moved from the shed, where they refused to keep inside the enclosure, to a run in the orchard which is secured to protect them from predators.  Peter and Geoff built the enclosure using an assortment of netting and wire from around the farm.  It's very DIY but is appealing and the turkeys have given it the claws up.  From being very cute baby bundles, they are now looking more like turkeys.  Opinion is divided on their intelligence, with most favouring the 'completely stupid' rather than 'quite bright' verdict.  I'm still on the fence but I have seen more evidence for the former.







Pigs are still a twinkle in our eyes, though we have friends queueing up for a share if we do get them.  Peter's been working on converting part of the garage into a bedroom and bathroom, but pig fencing/housing is definitely on our list.  The bees are now in 3 storey accommodation and they are happily buzzing around and making honey.  I'm not sure if we'll get any to keep this year, but in my (totally uneducated) opinion, it's looking promising.  My friend Derryn, who also got a beehive, found queen cells at the bottom of a frame and is working out a plan B for if they swarm.  She's also checking her hive for Varroa mite using a cereal box and icing sugar.  All sounds a bit technical but she's confident she knows what to do.  I'm trying to read up as much as I can about bee-matters - very easy to do as it's so fascinating.  Apparently some beekeepers clip the wing of their queen bee, like you would a chook, to prevent swarming (though this may only happen in America!).  How the heck do you do that?

We're going to need lots of wood to keep warm over winter, so have begun to gather it.  There's plenty around, it's just a case of cutting it and stacking it, and we've got a long way to go.  If I can justify the expense of putting in a wood-stove (heating, hot water, cooking - what more justification??) we're going to need even more.  The novelty of log-splitting may not be altogether sustainable, though I think that chain-sawing is likely to retain its popularity.  We are now the proud owners of a tatty old ute (purchased after the sad demise of the Toyota Starlet - enough said) which is perfect for the wood-transporting job.  We would never have managed to stack the hay without it - you can't get that many bales into a Starlet.  The Ute is also a popular form of transport around the farm, holding and bouncing several boys at a time.









The cattle are growing and are becoming cheekier.  Peter was adamant that we didn't name them, but seems to have developed an understanding (or maybe even a close relationship...) with the most feisty, who he refers to as 'Strangely Brown', or just 'Strangely' for short.   In my book that's a name. 

And the vegetable plot has been sadly neglected.  It got to a point where I put off even thinking about weeding because it was too overwhelming.  I have made considerable progress since, and some vege plants (like pumpkin) seem to have thrived with the weed competition.  Some onions and carrots are lost though.  I've decided to heavily mulch with hay for a couple of months to try and reduce the most invasive weeds, then sow some green manure before it gets to cold for them to germinate.  That's the plan anyway.  The orchard is also totally overgrown, though the fruit trees are coming away, as are the herbal leys around them.  The pigs will most likely go into part of the orchard so I'm hanging out for them to sort out the weedy growth.  Probably not a great plan really.

Here in the Southern hemisphere we still have plenty of summer holidays ahead.  Three more weeks until the boys go back to school.  Rachel, Geoff, Sam and Joe are on their kiwi travels of the South Island, with Joe sporting his latest, and very cool, scar.  A go-kart accident (yes, it turns out it is possible to roll it over!) thankfully resulting in no broken limbs.  Another visitor who felt the need to try out the ED at Wairau Hospital.  And at the weekend we're expecting the gorgeous Ann to pop over for her hols from Sheffield, who at this point has no idea what we have planned for her...
The photo above is this year's Christmas cake.  The year's theme was 'our new home', with features made from coloured marzipan (not easy to get hold of in NZ - thanks Rea!).  We also created a gingerbread house with a twist - it was actually a 'ninja-bread' house and was scoffed in one relatively violent sitting.



And a final word on the meaning of Onamalutu - it's fabulous and if I wasn't already here, I'd have definitely chosen to live in such an intriguingly-named valley.

From: Te tau ihu o te waka by Hilary Mitchell & Maui John Mitchell

Onamalutu is a small valley on the north bank of the Wairau River in Marlborough.  The name often elicits queries, as the letter ‘l’ is assumed to be absent from the Maori alphabet.  According to Rangitane informants, the correct name of the valley is O-Hine-a-Mahuta, an abbreviation of Te Tete o Te Hine a Tane Mahuta, meaning ‘the pubes of the daughter of Tane Mahuta*’.

In pre-European times, the valley was covered in very dense bush.  The easy way to travel to and from the valley was to wade along the stream Te Mimi o Te Hine a Mahuta (the stream of urine of Te Hine a Mahutu) through a ‘tunnel’ over the dense forest ahead (her pubic hair).  To the tangata whenua the geography and ambience of that densely wooded valley has been captured in a series of graphic sexual images as given in the name.

Apparently the present name arises from a process of laundering of the sexual images conveyed in the direct translation of Te Tete o Te Hine a Tane Mahuta by shortening the name to Ohinemahuta, thereby avoiding giving offence to Victorian niceties.  The second step was due to a …”well-known and respected negro living in Ohinemahuta and the nearest he could get to pronouncing it was Onamalutu, so out of respect for him the local Maori accepted his pronunciation”.

*Tane Mahuta was the eldest son of Tanginui-e-tu-nei and Papatuanuku and god of the forests.

November 22nd and still lovin' it

Not quite fully unpacked, but I've allowed about 4 years for that so we're still on schedule.  Too much to do without the hassle of wondering what could possibly be in those boxes.

Spring has certainly sprung since we arrived and along with it the spring winds.  It's also been a wet spring for the region, which is very handy as we planted 28 trees around the property.  Oaks, ash and rowan among them, happily reminiscent of the green green forests of England.  They're known as 'exotics' here, which confused me for a while until I realised that exotic doesn't actually mean 'tropical'.   They're mostly planted well away from any easy water source, so fingers crossed they're quite resilient as we don't have enough hours in the day to do a full round of watering.
The veg garden is now fully planted, with different plants in groups totally without the foresight of crop rotation principles.  Next year will be much more organised (I say that every year) and I now plan to extend the plot to about double its size, add a small pond and a few ducks and some small fruit trees for a bit of sun shelter.  The plot is in desperate need of weeding and mulch application in anticipation of a hot summer.  Next weekend for that I hope...

And the orchard is overgrown, so I've strimmed pathways leading to the fruit trees.  There are new pets in there too - my very first bee hive.  It was a bit of an impulsive decision to go ahead with bees so soon, but it was too good an offer to turn down (story of my life).  I managed to transfer the bees from a box into my hive on my own, having transported them from an apiary near town.  I'm desperate to look inside the hive again but have been advised to wait a little longer for them to settle before I do so.  I didn't see the queen when I transferred them, so I hope she's there.

The garden around the house is coming into bloom.  Lots of roses and some stunning paeonies.  I've added some plants I brought with me as cuttings or divisions from the old house, and have just planted out some seedlings grown from seed.  They're cottage garden-type flowers - poppies, hollyhocks, sweet-peas, stock, forget-me-not etc.  They've been planted with love in memory of my friend Joanna, so the area is known as 'Joanna's Patch'.  She was an ace gardener so I hope she approves!  (Mental note to remember to mow the lawn before I take photos).
In addition to the bees, I have more pets - worms.  A small worm-farm, more like a 'worm small-holding'.  Not got any worm-wee to dilute just yet, but they are still alive.  It's a project that I have to do as part of my night class course 'Go-Organics'.  I do have grander accommodation than the current 2 bucket palace in mind, but I'm waiting till there are more worms than I can feasibly count before I do so.  And still on the subject of pets, I've been offered the possibility of a donkey called Katie.  The thought of owning a donkey fills me with tremendous excitement and fear.  I've wanted a donkey for a very long time, but I'm terrified I'll get it wrong somehow.  It's probably too soon, but Katie's current owner is happy for it to be a process.  I'm going to visit her next month to learn a bit more and will take it from there.  Peter wants a donkey about as much as he wants nits, but he said that about the dog (and probably the kids too).  My working theory is that he just doesn't know that he wants a donkey yet......

In the meantime the stream is keeping him happy.  He caught a 4lb trout on a line with a worm, such a proud moment.  I didn't mess up cooking it too badly and it made quite an acceptable dinner.

The hillsides around us are pine plantations and are currently being felled.  It looks different every day and it will be great when we don't have to hear the noises of the chain saws, trees falling and logging trucks.  The hills look bare and ravaged, but hopefully will green up soon.  There's an area of flat land next to us which has been felled and re-planted with exotics by the forestry folk.  Not sure why they chose these rather than more pines but I'm not arguing.  We're also planning to get pine trees on our property felled.  They're along the river bank in a military line and we'll replace them with native trees (kahikatea, totara and rimu) in clumps, and eventually a few tree ferns and other lower growing natives.  Another job for next year.

The boys are keeping happy and enjoying the delights of country living.  We invested in a farm vehicle - a go-kart.  It's designed to be a farm ATV with a bale shelf and tow bar, but is low to the ground, seats 2 with full harnesses and has a roll bar.  We're hoping that this will make it safer for boys (big and small!).  It's our very early Christmas present, and probably the most popular thing we've ever bought.  That it breaks down most occasions it's used means they can't use it all the time and that's certainly an advantage from my perspective.  Many a peaceful moment in the veg garden destroyed by the roar of the passing go-kart and shrieks of joy.

The cattle are still alive and seem to be content.  Except for the day when one boy left the gate open and we came home to one cow on the road and 2 in the garden. Not a happy moment but quickly resolved after much parental tutting and shrieks of horror.  Though they are grazing away, we still have plenty of green pasture which will no doubt be yellow pasture in a few weeks.  Some of it will make hay (must get round to finding out how to do that) and we really really need a plan about what to do with the rest.  What dastardly things will happen as a result of leaving pasture ungrazed?
We're still hoping to get some piglets and I've located a potential source for after Christmas once we're back from hols.  We're also researching turkeys and have made some preliminary accommodation preparations in the orchard.  A few extra weeks of spare time and energy would be great but, like everyone else, I'm dreaming.  But I am happily dreaming and in a lovely head-space.  Not a single yearn for city life yet.

Moving In

The day finally dawned.  Many years of wishing to 'live somewhere beautiful' has happened.  Five years ago we emigrated from Yorkshire to Marlborough on New Zealand's South Island.  We settled in the small town of Renwick, just a few kms from Blenheim.  We had chosen our community well, and were keen to remain connected to Renwick.  The garden was big - much bigger than we were used to - but it wasn't 'land'.  The wish to live rurally became stronger, and after months of unsuccessfully trying to sell the house, we were unbelievably lucky to be offered a house swap (via TradeMe). 

We are now the proud owners of 8 acres in the scenic Onamalutu Valley.  Wildlife so far has included wild goats, rabbits, kingfishers, tuis, harriers, spur-winged plovers and shell ducks.  The Onamalutu river is renowned for trout and eels.

With some trepidation, the next part of the journey begins.  What the hell do you do with 8 acres?  My farming credentials to date include the care of one dog and a few chooks.  Not sure if the kids (3 boys) count, or the tropical fish.  We have acquired 3 steers and they are still alive after 6 days and we've managed to move them to a different paddock, so hopefully we've learned something.  And I do have a long-standing passion for small-scale vegetable and fruit growing.  And lots of ideas for self-sufficiency.  Most of these ideas require funds of some kind (solar hot water, wood stove, wind-power) or are potentially hazardous (scything, grain thrashing, donkey as quad bike alternative) or unrealistically time-consuming (milking a cow, turning milk into butter then clarifying into ghee as fuel for vehicles - absolutely no idea how to do any part of this).



I'm beginning with what I know.  There is an area perfect for an orchard, with a few fruit trees already.  I'll be adding another 6 trees and sowing a 'herbal orchard ley' using seeds from Koanga.  It'll be just the usual - a few apples, pear, plum and peach, plus a mulberry tree which I bought because of the old nursery rhyme (and because birds love the fruit).  A few raspberries, blackberries, gooseberries and currants can go in too.

And some of the veg patch has already been rotovated and a double compost heap built (thanks Peter).  There's plenty of manure around the property, including horse poo from the 2 horses awaiting their new premises.  Come to think of it, we haven't managed to kill them off either.  I'm paying the kids hard cash to do some serious poo-picking for composting purposes.  We're currently in negotiation for the value of a barrow load of manure.  There are potatoes chitting and seeds sown under cover. 

Livestock-wise, we're thinking pigs and turkeys, but only when we find out what we have to do for them.  The steers will be beef in about 6 months, and we'll probably get more next year, and a few more chooks.  I'm also thinking about grains and beans as possible cash crops, but managing that will probably require me to give up work.  Hmmm, perhaps a retirement project then.

In the meantime, just waking up to the sounds of birdsong and watching the movement of sunlight from dawn 'til dusk across the paddocks and through the trees is enchanting.  It's a magical priviledge to live somewhere truly beautiful.  Bummer about the unpacking....

This blog will diary the process of turning us townies into rural folk - the good, the bad, the ugly and the smelly.  Or will we pack our bags and head back to the nearest city?