November 2022

                            

We have been blessed with new animal company this month, somewhat filling the void in our lives left by Maggie.  Woody has canine company in the form of Charlie, an adorable 2-month-old chocolate Labrador puppy.  Lucas and Laura had been planning to get another rescue dog, but they were all way too terrifyingly lively for Woody.  Charlie is as placid as a puppy could be, and though he'll outgrow Woody several times over, Woody has territory and age on his side and is enjoying top dog status - for now at least.  Both dogs like to come into our place (obviously that has nothing whatsoever to do with doggie treats...) for a change of attention scenery and, in Charlie's case, for something else to chew.

                                       

Hot on the heels of Charlie, we're also delighted to introduce Kratos the calf, son of Nike and Kronos (Noddy).  She birthed on the date we'd predicted (yup, hard to believe).  Her udders had suddenly developed and she'd been behaving oddly.  We'd separated her from the flock in the small paddock behind the house.  There was a big bellow, and when I went out to check, brand newborn Kratos was on the ground being licked endlessly by his attentive mum, ably supported from the other side of the fence by Apollo, Attis, and Pandora.  Peter, Billy, and Laura were out fishing so I sent word of the new arrival.  When he still wasn't standing up an hour and a half later, I got advice.  Lucas had already tried to help me get him to stand but he seemed too weak and uncoordinated.  We wondered if he'd had some kind of birth trauma that was delaying his adjustment to the big wide world.  Though Nike has shown nothing but adoration for him, she didn't seem to understand that he needed to feed.  I found a recipe for electrolytes and managed to get them messily down him using a silicone funnel.  Our neighbour's daughter's boyfriend (keep up) Isaac called by and tube fed him more electrolytes, and later Billy's friend Josh arrived and tubed colostrum down and gave him a shot of penicillin.  The next day he finally got to his feet and it took a couple more days of general angst and force-feeding before he turned a corner.  He's now 4 days old and still bottle-feeding,  though has finally started to get interested in his mum's teats.  It finally looks like he'll make it!  That's the first relatively positive calving experience for us - hope that Pandora follows suit next month.

  

Meanwhile, the vege plants are also in on the action.  We've been eating asparagus and rocket leaves for a while.  Spinach will be next up, and possibly the tiny cucumbers that are forming in Madame Cholet will mature quickly.  The rabbit protection over the planted-out crops seems to be working.  That hasn't stopped the serious nibbling of carrot tops just as soon as those tops were exposed by weeding.  Laura has planted up heaps of cabbage for kimchi in the raised bed that used to house the flax.  It's still looking dangerously tidy out there, and that's totally liberating.  The remaining weeding is manageable and will happen in good enough time.  It'll soon be another planting moon phase for leafy crops so I'll get a load more seedlings out into the beds.  I took the opportunity during a root crop moon phase to plant 2 packs of carrots, beetroot, and parsnips.  Just need to keep them watered for a few days.

 The metal raised beds were weed sprayed and then dug over.  A fresh layer of compost was added and they're now ready for occupants.  The mints will go back into their original homes, but one of them is now hosting chamomile (pictured) and another has coriander and basil.  We had to add barbed wire to protect a couple of the metal beds from browsing cows on the other side of the fence who'd previously made the most of the opportunity to flavour their grass. 

Madame Cholet is nearly planted up, with new peppers, chillis,  aubergines and another melon planted today.  There's still a little space for the remaining seedlings to go in when they've grown up enough, and maybe I'll be able to squeeze in a few more tomatoes.  If I actually plant all the tomatoes I've grown from seed, it'll be tomatogeddon here in summer.  Guess there are worse things...

Flowers are equally showing off.  The bottle brush next to Maggie's resting place is in delightful full bloom.  Poached egg flowers are everywhere, as are pretty purple aquilegia.  The stunning red Rhodie by the front door is truly gorgeous, and the dreamy pink paeonies have finally opened.  The pink manuka flowers are an absolute burst of vibrant colour and I hope the bees are finding them.  I know I've posted pics of the white water lily before, but it's just too gorgeous to not re-visit.  The main flower bed behind the house is filling out nicely.  Lots of the filling is weeds but it's hard to pick that out, especially when you have dodgy eyesight.  The bed by the pizza oven is way more obviously weedy, and will soon reach the top of the priority list for attention.  

 Those bees certainly are busy, all four hives humming with activity.  I got another sting when I spent too long weeding the chamomile bed, on my finger this time so no dramas.  To be fair to the bees they did give me plenty of warning that I was too close.  One of my very fave young men, Iwan, visited with his mum Hayley, and we managed to spot the queen in the new split.  She's making great progress with her colony.

The nettle beer, now potentially nettle wine, has been racked and some extra sugar added to make it more wine-like.  It tastes OK, not really any big flavour but at least not vinegar.  There's a chance it might mature into something magnificent, and luckily I have low standards for these things.  Lucas's orange and cranberry wines have been racked and are also promising.  I'm still drinking the cider, though only 3 out of 5 of the batches were successful.  One was totally undrinkable (disappointingly that was the Perry) and another was not of a standard to give away (meaning nearly undrinkable).  The other 3 are good old scrumpy.  Crusher Clare and Roy are enjoying a selection of the finished product too.

Sam and Molly will be joining us for Christmas, so it'll be a full house this year plus Alister, Peter's old mate from the UK.  I've managed to avoid shifts over Christmas but not New Year.  It's been a few years since I've had Christmas off work, so really looking forward to a break with everyone around.  This month's blog is ridiculously early because I'm away next week in Rotorua, training with NZMAT.  Covid postponed this training by 2 years, so it'll be good to finally get it done.  It'll be straight into the Marlborough Triathlon when I get back (sounds impressive but it's very much entry level - 5kms run, 14km bike and 100m swim).  FIngers crossed I can at least complete it.  And finally... we've booked our UK flights for next year when Peter retires.  Plenty to look forward to!

                                                        

October 2022

                                                       

The month started on a happy high.  We took the ferry and road-tripped up north, visiting family and friends and sightseeing.  We'd had 2 botched-by-covid holiday attempts previously, and this time weren't taking any chances with (incredibly expensive) flights.  We drove from Wellington through the Wairarapa and Rimutaka ranges, passing through Featherston, Greytown, and Carterton before stopping off in Masterton.  The ferry was late (seems my travel jinx works with ferries too) so much of the drive was in the dusk and semi-dark.  We really liked the glimpses we got of these places so will have to go back to the Wairarapa one day.  Then we had a couple of lovely nights in Napier, doing a town tour, an aquarium visit, and spending hours in the in-room spa pool in the upmarket-for-us motel.

      

From Napier we made our way to lovely Thames.  We had a gorgeous day with Shena and Doug in Paeroa, visiting the town's antique shops and Waihi town and beach, and a meal out with our very first New Zealand friends Hilary, Marty, and Max.  And we finally took a drive around the Coromandel - something we've been wanting to do since we arrived.  Up to Coromandel town, across to Whitianga, a walk down to Cathedral Cove, and then back to Thames.  Such a stunningly beautiful part of the world.

  We headed home via Hobbiton, which was touristy but very enjoyable.  Our final stop-off was in Turangi, south of Lake Taupo, then over the desert road and back to Wellington.  We covered quite a few kms but at a relaxed pace so very much part of the holiday.  It was really good to take time away from the property, hopefully the first of many more.

                                    

Spring is in full flow with its abundant weeds and wind.  Thanks to my garden fairy, Laura, things are pretty tidy in the vegetable garden.  We have lost some seedlings to rabbit damage and late frosts, but mostly the veges are looking very promising.  Madame Cholet is hosting 3 tomato plants, 2 cucumbers, 2 peppers, and 2 rows of rocket (which I graze on every day).  Still in pots but soon to be planted into her beds are heaps more - aubergines, melons, chillis, peppers, and basil.  

Added to the outdoor garden beds are broad beans, Borlotti beans, Aztec corn (germinated by Karyn), pumpkins (Baby Bear), peas, snow peas and tomatoes.  These are all rabbit-protected with plastic mesh, which hopefully can be removed in a couple of weeks once their roots are better anchored. We lost several brassicas to rabbits, but more seedlings are in pots waiting to be planted out, and this time they'll be better protected.

The strawberry bed and 4 of the small metal raised beds that housed herbs have been sprayed out with yukky toxic weedkiller.  They were all totally overgrown with deep-rooted weeds and spraying seemed to be the only last resort option left.  Before spraying I'd transferred the strawberry plants into a garden bed, potted up some of the 3 mint varieties (Common Mint, Peppermint, and Spearmint).  They can be re-planted back in their original homes once those resilient weeds are gone.  

The livestock are loving the pasture growth.  The lambs are bonnie and bouncing, and very robust.  Posing in the picture are Margaret, Ann, and Camilla, still young enough to also be very cute.  The cows are huge, and the girls showing signs of being heavily pregnant, Nike in particular. We don't have a great track record of calving here, and that preys on my mind from time to time when I'm not excited about the pitter-patter of tiny hooves.

            

Flowers are popping up everywhere - lots of whites and purples.  It's lovely to see the flower beds filling up with plants that aren't weeds (though there are plenty of those too).  The ceanothus is heavenly and the Mexican Orange blossom is always a delight.  The white hydrangea is full of life along with nodding white irises that are showing off.  The native clematis that I nearly accidentally killed in a hedge-trimming event is now absolutely thriving, with heaps of happy flowers climbing up the decking post and along the chain.  Colourful fruit blossoms have come and gone too, and tiny fruit-lets are forming.

Bees are also enjoying the spring.  One of the hives behind the barn has got the Mason Jar honey box in place.  As soon as I put it on, curious bees immediately started making their way in.  I melted a small layer of wax into the bottom of each jar, not sure if this is needed yet.  Fingers crossed they fill the jars with spring honey that I can harvest by the end of the year (and thereby not be required to get it tested for tutin).  There are 4 colonies altogether out there.  Three are originals from last season and the fourth is one of the splits I made last month.  Jane bought 2 queens and both splits have been successful.  The other colony is buzzing around her place.  One of the hives I took brood frames out of for the split was queenless the previous time I looked.  Oops, almost certainly my bad - I probably took the original queen out on one of those brood frames.  But the clever bees managed to sort out a new queen because there's definitely some young brood in there now.  Lucky for me the bees know what they're doing.  I'm hoping to inherit another hive from Derryn, who is downsizing her colonies.  That'll be 5 plus one at Jane's place.  Hmm, a few more than my maximum target of 2...

The pizza oven has been restored to its former glory.  Better than ever in fact.  Not only has the repair held and its walls thickened with clay and poo, but Peter has also added a top layer of cement in the hope that this will make it more weather-proof.  The rain cover can only go on when the oven has cooled down because the chimney stays hot, and this delay has meant that we often forget to go back and cover it up.  Hopefully, the extra cement layer will contribute to its longevity.  Billy and Lucas have been fine-tuning the pizza creation process, making absolutely the best pizzas with a charcoaly, crispy base.  Yum. 

  The homemade alcohol processing is ongoing.  The persimmon wine was bottled and is very popular, even or nearly as good as the feijoa wine, depending on who you ask.  A double batch of Nettle Beer is on the go, though I've used more of a wine-making process this year, so it'll be interesting to taste the final product and see how strong it is.  Lucas has also got started with his own brews - Orange Wine (from our garden) and Cranberry Wine (from bought fruit juice). 

The month started on a high but ended on a profoundly sad emotional low.  Maggie, who would have been 17 years old (human equivalent 119) on Christmas Eve, had been showing signs of her age for many months.  Numerous days when she seemed really unwell but bounced back to her usual self within hours.  Inevitably these episodes had become more frequent and with less and less bounce back.  When she finally went fully off her back legs and the joyful vibrant light went from her eyes, we decided it was her time.  She had a very peaceful and beautiful transition into the next world and now rests under a maple tree in a place in the garden where she spent many hours.  Lucas and Billy made the charming plaque.  We got Maggie as a 9-month-old puppy from the SPCA a few months after arriving in New Zealand.  She'd already been there for several weeks and was only hanging in because the staff were so fond of her.  She was the first dog ever for me, Lucas, Sam, and Billy, and immediately just fitted into our family.  There are no words to describe the emptiness of her loss.  Life is just lesser without her.  

Thank you Maggie, for being the bestest dog ever.  Rest in peace xxx 💕

September 2022

Unless my marbles have eluded me again, I don't believe there have been any disasters affecting our little corner of the planet - natural or woman-made - since last month's blog.  Slack or what?  On the contrary, there have been some seriously joyful moments: significant tidying has happened, the vegetable garden is nourished and already welcoming seedling occupants, water is flowing in the right direction in the orchard, the hole in the pizza oven is being fixed, a bonus lamb arrived, and Billy the prodigal son returned home.

The lamb was born to Stormy, one of last year's triplets.  She's very much a young teenage mum.  Her own mother, Skylar, is one of our original ewes, so is getting on a bit.  She's been a fantastic mum to tiny lambs but seems to lose interest when they get older and more demanding.  Stormy had been left to her own devices for a while, and maybe that's contributed to her getting pregnant so young.  She seems to prefer her own company and keep apart from the flock.  Despite all that, young Stormy has taken to motherhood beautifully.  Her lamb was born on a day of historical significance (08.09.2022) so she had to be named 'Elizabeth'.  That set a theme for the older yet-to-be-named lambs.  We now have Margaret, Ann, and twins Camilla and Charles.  Elizabeth was born much smaller than her cousins and with a distinctive black front foot.  What she lacks in size, she makes up in feistiness.  She stamps her teeny little foot to intimidate us - so cute!

 The pig run zone in the orchard has always had a tendency to be boggy, and that seemed to be worsening.  Rainwater is funneled from the hillside opposite via a black plastic tube culvert beneath the road and used to make its way to the wetland via a vaguely-formed dent in the land.  Now the water trickles across the orchard along a formed stream bed.  Our neighbour, Craig, hired a digger and created the stream bed.  It was deeply satisfying to then dig out the overgrowth and rocky mud from the culvert to clear the route to the stream bed, and watch the water flow through.  It's a task I've been meaning to do for years, in the hope that it'll improve the drainage of the pig run and contribute to the improved health of the fruit trees.  Laura helped me plant numerous flaxes into the banked-up soil alongside the stream.  They had previously been lurking unhappily in one of the dry horse arena raised beds, so hopefully, they're heaps happier in their new home.  

Another task I've been meaning to do for years is to install a water tank.  Because our water supply is pumped up from a well, we lose water when we lose power.  We have gas hobs and a woodfire that we can cook both on and in, so can cope without electricity for everything else, but a lack of water is tricky.  We keep stores of drinking water but not enough for toilet flushing or washing.  Now we have 800 litres in a tank by the house, filled with rainwater collected from the roof.  Another small step towards self-sufficiency and self-preservation for future weather events.  One day we'll add some trellising to camouflage it a bit.

While he had the digger, Craig also dug a huge hole in the hay-barn paddock that has been filled with random crap lying around.  That saved us a couple of trips to the dump in town and. has resulted in significantly improved accessibility to the carport and pool room, zones which are now unrecognisably tidy.  The digging also revealed an underground seam of clay,  enabling the repair of the pizza oven.  The oven was forgotten during the July flood and left exposed without its cover.  We were probably quite lucky that it didn't all wash away, but there was a huge hole and the surface all over was eroded.  Lucas has been keen to fix it and so far we've got the inner and middle layers in place over the hole.  It's a slow process, waiting for each layer to dry properly.  Just the final layer to go - my favourite!  It's the 'plaster' layer for weather-proofing, made of clay mixed with cow poo.  Guessing that'll be my job - there's not likely to be any other volunteers to do this mixing. 

Jane won an auction for 2 queen bees who flew in from Christchurch in their little plastic cages.  I had plenty of brood frames in all of my 3 hives, so was able to remove enough to make up 2 nucs.  We figured that 2 queens doubled our chances of a successful split, and have happily ended up with 2 new colonies.  I've kept one of the nucs here, putting it above one of my hives as a separate colony, and was able to spot the queen within a few days.  Jane was delighted to spot hers too.  My friend Jo in Havelock lost both her colonies over winter, so she'll be able to get started again with my spare nuc.

Friends of friends were keen to see inside a beehive.  It was a miserable day when they came, and I was keen not to expose the hive to the elements for too long.  I put them both in bee suits and I just wore a meshy hat.  It was fine until the bees found their way into the meshy hat and all of a sudden there were loads inside.  I got at least 2 stings, one on my jaw and the other on my eyebrow and was thereby magically transformed into elephant woman.  My eye got hideously swollen and it looks like I'd been punched.  This morning it's completely swollen shut.  Though it looks awful and has affected my vision, it's not sore at all, just a bit of a nuisance.  I'm hoping those anti-arthritic qualities of bee stings are really a thing.  Meanwhile, I'm writing this blog with one eye.

My garden fairy Laura has now completed the clear-out of the compost heap, weeded paths, re-weeded planting beds, dug out the raised bed that temporarily housed flax, and sown seedlings in her plot.  Some of these have succumbed to pest damage (birds and/or rabbits) but others are thriving.  I've also planted out seedlings - carrots, onions, shallots, leeks, assorted brassicas, spinach, beetroot and radish outside, and some others in Madame Cholet.  It's time to plant seeds again according to the moon planting guides, so Laura and I will have another happy session with the next batch.

Early spring is sap-rising time, so we've tapped a couple of birch trees and collected their sap.  I won't do wine again but have had a go at birch sap syrup.  Just a case of dehydrating the sap until it turns into syrup, and a log fire is the perfect place for it.  A few litres reduces to about half a jam jar.  The syrup is sweet and kinda earthy.  Quite different from maple syrup or honey.  Not sure what we'll actually use it in, but great to finally create it.

Access to the valley has been fine since the huge slip was dealt with.  The bunding worked really well to contain some enormous rocks that fell from it the day after an earthquake (Richter 5.8 with epicentre in the Sounds, so quite a rattle).  It'll probably take months before the area is properly cleared as there are still plenty more loose rocks to come down.  It was Laura's first earthquake experience.

Sam and Molly came over for a couple of days.  We'd hoped to join them in Hanmer for a brief getaway, but Peter's working hours scuppered that so they came to us.  Sam enjoyed messing around on dad's old keyboard - apparently, they're making a bit of a comeback so he's taken it back with him.  It's lovely that it's in use again.  When they returned to Rolleston it snowed - Molly's first snow experience.  It was just a sprinkling but I told them it was tradition to make a snowman - so they did!

It was our wedding anniversary on 18th September (29 years eeeek) and we went to Picton to do the Snout walk.  It's a loop walk from Picton centre. going across a pointy bit of land along the Queen Charlotte Sound.  There are intermittent sea views along the way, and the far point looks out towards Karaka Point.  I had a yarn there with dad before we set off back.  12+ kms of relatively easy walking, a really lovely day.

Billy's settling back in at home, and future plans are yet to be decided. His return means calories are abundant, from bought British food treats and his own baking.  Maggie is still hanging on in there, declining very slowly and gracefully.  Peter's still working shifts and some long hours that are pretty exhausting.  He took Lucas, Laura and Billy out fishing on Gladys on a day that didn't conform to its relatively positive weather forecast.  They managed to catch some kahawai for dinner though.

We've had glimpses of sunny days, but still heaps of rain and more than usual cloudy days for this time of year.  The long-term forecast is for a dry summer, so maybe we should be more grateful for the rain.  I'm still basking in the joy of being ahead in the garden (thanks to Laura's stellar work).  Karyn's bed is even tidy enough to not lower the tone! The clocks have changed and more evening light is definitely a gardener's blessing.  Lovely spring, the season of fresh promise, is definitely here 😀.