January 2021

                         The new year was welcomed at home in party-style.  Our fellow poms are all sharing that common ground of gratitude that we live in this corner of the earth, and no longer in ole Blighty that is currently blighted by Corona.  That, and the weather.  We had a hot run of days in the middle of the month, and the forecast is for another blistering run this week.  That'll reduce the number of available gardening hours.  Luckily there's plenty of painting and other kitchen tasks to be done inside.  New carpet for upstairs will be here soon, so lots of de-crapping and furniture moving ahead.

            We also had a belated Christmas celebration with Sam and Molly, who rolled up in a campervan in early January.  We travelled with them to lovely Picton for a couple of nights, for a spot of fishing (at Karaka Point), mini golf, shopping and eating.  We got stuck into decorating the Christmas Cake and had a crack at distilling hydrosols in their new still that travelled here with them.  Pine and rose water worked pretty well, but the pear brandy, distilled from some of my dodgy bottles of pear wine was less successful, though distinctly alcoholic at around 70%.  Probably we have a little more to learn about this distillation business.

                I had an extra summer break, courtesy of my old mate Roz, in Wanaka.  I was there with the express intention of absorbing her fine wisdom and depth of knowledge about hypnobirthing. I stayed at her place, enjoying fabulous views of Lake Wanaka and its surrounds.  We got out and about in Wanaka too, including a number of walks around the lake.  It was a relaxing tonic, and productive in terms of learning.  

We're celebrating the arrival of a new lamb, born yesterday (23rd January).  It's a white ewe lamb we're calling Holly (yep, still doing the Breaking Bad theme) who is being lovingly tended and nourished by her mum.  That brings the sheep tally to 3 boys and 3 girls.  Sometime we'll have to make a decision about which ram stays and which goes.  But we can procrastinate on that for a while yet.

A storm while I was away in Wanaka unleashed the Grannie Smith apple tree outside the sleep-out from its stakes.  It's been down before, so undeterred it was propped back up again and re-secured with extra baling twine.  Then there was another storm, and this time it fell to the ground in the opposite direction.  Bugger. I've propped it and secured it back up again, but with somewhat of a heavy heart.  It'll have to be made of seriously tough stuff to survive.  I've given it a Karyn-style prune and am keeping my fingers crossed.  

                       The orchard has fared much better in the stormy weather, though there's lots of fruit on the ground.  No pigs to feed this time, so alas most of it will rot where it fell.  Happily there's heaps still left on the trees.  Maturing nicely are loads of pears, nashis, damsons, apples, plums, and others I've forgotten. The greengages are just about ripe and this lovely specimen was the test sample.  As stupendous as ever.  I'll give them a few more days then swoop.

  Vegetables are on tap and it's forever a pleasure to go and pick fresh for the table.  The broccoli is mostly all harvested, blanched and frozen.  I've had a bash at pickling beetroots using my own apple cider vinegar and they're absolutely delish, especially with feta cheese.  Mmmm.  There are zillions more so I'll definitely preserve again.  Garlic, peppers, beans, greens, peas and zucchini are also on the menu, and it won't be long before they're joined by tomatoes, cucumber, leeks, sweetcorn and caulis, and whatever else is out there.

                       Madame Cholet is doing a fine job of nurturing rockmelons.  The hot temperatures seem to ramp up their growth and I even managed to get round to pruning back the lengthier vines.  Now there are several fruits forming.  Raspberries make flavoursome snacks when I'm gardening, and occasionally some blueberries and strawberries even make it into the house. 

                            

The grains are progressing well too.  The buckwheat is flowering beautifully so I'd better get on with working out how to process it.  The Aztec corn in the raised bed isn't doing as well as the excess corn planted in the supposed-to-be-fallowing keyhole bed.  I guess the proof of the cob superiority has yet to be determined.

                

The bees are buzzing away and a further 2 boxes of the best honey in the world extracted using our new all-singin all-dancin electric extractor.  More wax was filtered using the high-tech solar oven process.  The photo shows the gradually-solidifying layer of wax that forms on the surface of the water in the pan.  It's a beautiful process to watch.  The newest bee colony, courtesy of Derryn, is thriving, and optimistically even has its first honey box.  The top bar hive, that was moved to a more sheltered site behind Madame Cholet, is queen-right and getting on with the business of expanding itself.

      

Flowers continue to delight and nourish my soul.  Kniphofia, dahlias and roses are particularly joyful right now.  Wild viola and vibrant red poppies are sprouting everywhere, and I struggle to pull up those that have rooted in the paths.  The poppy flower buds are mesmerising.  They kind of give birth to their flowers, slowly dilating until the red petals emerge.  One day I'll get round to some time-lapse photography.  

                                               

The silky oak is in flower and has recovered from its severe haircut.  It has a lovely form that has created a relaxing shady zone around the pizza oven, also providing some sun protection for the flower bed beyond.  Maggie likes to linger out there when it's hot.  We suspect she has an assortment of buried bones to keep her company.

  

The school summer holidays are nearly over, and we're not anticipating many more Airbnb guests for a while.  It's a shame to have the sleep-out unoccupied, but we're lucky that's all it is.  We're grateful that life's normal for us, even though that remains tentative.  Better get on with the day and get prepared for this heatwave.  Happy days.  

December 2020

No doubt much like most of the world, Christmas Day was a quiet affair.  Lucas and Laura and Sam and Molly were here last Christmas, and Billy was away.  This year it was the opposite,  just the 3 of us at home.  Covid prevented Lucas and Laura from traveling over from Seoul, and equally us going to them.  Sam and Molly had to stay at Burnham because of their work commitments, and we couldn’t go there because of mine (night shifts ☹).  Christmas Eve was quite lively though.  Karyn, Deane, Em and Greg came for dinner and games, and obviously that included Egg Roulette and a water-fight.  Karyn, who had tried her darnedest to get out of any messiness altogether, somehow miraculously managed to avoid being egged, though like everyone else she was splattered by the egg shrapnel and soaked.

          

Spring rolled into summer and we’ve already had the longest day.  The hay has been cut, baled and put into storage – all 233 bales of it.  Phew.  Much of the donkeywork was done by Peter and Billy this year, as I was working more night shifts.  We managed to get it all in just before it could be spoiled by heavy rain.  The land and weeds are loving all this rain much more than us and the animals, and there’s plenty more on the forecast horizon.

There are still a few vege seedlings to be planted out, though most of the planting is done.  There should be time for another round of planting to replace what hasn’t come through.  Bloomin carrots – nearly totally a no-show this year (surely not my mismanagement?? What?).  The first batch of lettuce and aubergine seedlings were very much appreciated by the slugs, so have been re-sown.  They should be ready for the big wide world in the next few days.  Meanwhile the spinach has peaked and what’s left is going to seed, and the broccoli, kale and silver beet will be feeding us very soon.

The peastraw in the fallowed beds is producing a phenomenal crop of peas. A much better crop than the actual pea crop I sowed elsewhere.  Roll on that peapod wine!  The grain beds are also getting on beautifully, despite rabbit/quail damage.  The buckwheat seeds were scattered randomly and have all germinated, clearly demonstrating just how hopeless I am at random scattering.  The amaranth was sown in trays and transplanted individually, and most have survived.  They’ll be a beautiful crop when they mature. The Aztec corn bed is now fully planted between plastic mesh, which seems to have kept it safe from whatever was digging it up previously.  My own Aztec seed germination rate was poor, but Karyn managed to magically grow heaps at her place.  There were way more than I could squeeze into the raised bed, and I couldn’t bear to get rid of any (each one deserves a chance to live long and prosper...), so I was obliged to open up one of the fallowing beds.  Obliged.  Yep, way more corn than you can shake a stick at.  I can hear you Karyn, but you were the one who grew too many.     Flowers and blossom continue to be profuse, and this now includes stunning water lilies.  One of the succulents that Derryn gifted is also prettily flowering outside the Womb.   The blue and white flower selection in the trough, also a present from Derryn, is looking serenely gorgeous, and I finally got round to creating a Kokedama. It's a bit of an odd shape, but I quite like it like that. 

The feijoas in the vege garden are abundantly blossoming up, such magnificent flowers that are promising a million more feijoa fruit than can possibly be converted into wine.  The orchard trees are done with their flowering and are now fattening up their fruits.  Happily it looks like there’ll be plenty of greengages this season.  Despite my limited observation in last month’s blog, the Perry pear tree has actually fruited this season - just one single pear.  It’s a start at least. 

My old mate Blackie the blackbird and his missus have successfully reared 2 youngsters.  They nested in the escallonia hedge so we were able to keep an eye on their progress.  Now that they've fledged, we're lucky enough to still see them darting around in the garden, under the careful watch of their mother.  

The problem of too many lemons was resolved by the discovery of a limoncello recipe.  Not only is it totally delicious and uses up heaps of lemons, it's also quick to make - only 4 days from whoa to go.  The lemons were roughly zested then squeezed, and the empty shells have spent a few days drying out in Solly.  They'll eventually be stuffed with wood shavings and wax before being used as firelighters. 

 

Shona and me finally got round to a candle-making session using the beeswax from my hives, and some of Derryn's that I'd solar-filtered.  Shona's an expert in soy wax candle making, and enjoyed the challenge of working out how best to make the most of the different qualities of beeswax. Using silicone moulds was definitely the way to go as the beeswax shrinks slightly as it solidifies and that makes it easy to pop out of its mould.  We had a ball that day, and are very keen to do more candle-making.  Several new silicon moulds have been ordered, and I've sourced bigger volumes of beeswax from some beekeeper contacts.     

Peter and Billy's Christmas work do was a day trip out to Lochmara in the Sounds.  The weather was a bit miserable but that didn't spoil anything.  We had a meal, drinks, and a wander around, wearing our Secret Santa hats.  Billy ended up with a pink cowboy hat that quite suited him, and he impressively managed to keep it on whilst paddle-boarding.

The kitchen is still on hold, awaiting its transformation when the new flooring arrives.  It's not pretty but is still completely functional, though who knows what will happen when Peter starts seriously playing with his Reciprocating Saw Christmas present.  He's built a perfect butler sink stand out of the leftover wood from the Womb.  The Tongue & Groove for the walls and the new pantry door have arrived and will need treating before we think about fitting them.  There should be time in the next couple of weeks.

We're having a few friends round for New Year's Eve, so I probably ought to unchain myself from the computer and re-chain to the kitchen sink and get round to some domesticity.  Those garden beds around the house won't weed themselves either, though they do look vibrant and happy from a distance and with dodgy eyesight.  

Here's hoping that 2021 becomes a post-Covid year for the world...