February 2023

                                                      

February 2023 has been memorable for New Zealand, but sadly not in a good way.  The northeast of the North Island, in particular Coromandel and Bay of Plenty, were first hit by a torrential rainstorm that resulted in wide-spread flooding, and then crushed by Cyclone Gabrielle.  Loss of lives and damage to homes and properties was extensive and even more rain is impacting the clean-up.  For us in the South Island, we totally dodged that bullet - all we got was a bit of wind and rain, and an eerie sky at dusk.  Auntie Sally flew in the day of the storm and would have been significantly delayed if she'd been transiting through Auckland.  Luckily Christchurch was only affected by extra workload from re-routed flights.  She landed uneventfully on time and in good spirits.  

                                                             

As it's late summer, the gardening jobs revolve around weeding (always), harvesting, and processing.  Some tidying up has happened, and generally the place is relatively tidy, though that depends where and how closely you look.  Vegetables have been maturing and feeding us every day.  That one prolific Lebanese cucumber plant is feeding many others too.  Tomatoes are ripening and many jars of tomato sauce are filling what little freezer space we have remaining.  And looking at what's left, those tomatoes have barely started.  Beans, beetroot, lettuces and spring onions are abundant and I've decided to ignore the courgettes/marrows as I just can't keep up with them.

                                     

In Madame Cholet, the peppers are ready and the chillis just starting to colour up.  Luckily the cucumber plants have been trained up the central tunnel house supports so just need to be tucked back in every now and then.  A few melons are quietly swelling among the jungle of foliage at the back.  The bloomin gourd plant is taking up heaps of space though the foliage is being nibbled by something.  That's nearly a relief as there are several pretty large gourds, which is at least several more than I wanted - so it won't be a tragedy if they don't make it (I'll try and sound like I mean that, but obviously too many gourds is never a bad thing...).

 

Onions and carrots are nearly ready, and the leeks are fattening up.  Sweetcorn and Aztec corn cobs are just about harvestable, and the many bright orange mini pumpkins are draped around like decorations.  It is indeed a lovely time in the vegetable garden.

                                                      

My lovely colleague and amazing weaver, Iona, created this absolutely stunning vegetable basket from harakeke/flax that was harvested in Whatamango Bay.  It's been woven with the smooth side within and so doesn't scratch any contents.  It was traditionally used for kumara harvests, but here it's holding my plums.  Such a beautiful and precious gift that Iona says must be used.  I'm very happy to oblige!

                                                           

The plums were used (at Billy's suggestion) to make Roasted Plum & Honey Sorbet, which is not only a great option for an after-dinner palate cleanser, but also works well as a 'bring a plate' contribution.  The small crop of greengages was also transformed into sorbet, and so have the Red Bartlett pears in the picture. 

                                         

We made a decision that it was time for our 3 rams to meet their maker.  'Homekill' Bruce came round and did the terrible deed and we ended up with over 100kg of mutton (hence the reduced freezer space).  That included 40kg of sausages which are amazingly delicious, and several joints that we'll have to work our way through at least on a weekly basis.  We requested the fat from the butcher and the slow cooker transformed it into tallow that we'll cook with.  The picture shows it in its yellow liquid form and then it's white, solid form.   

Lucas offered to dig a hole for the remains, and unfortunately his spade hit the main water pipe to the house - something it hadn't occurred to any of us to consider.  Peter managed to fix it the next day, and this small delay allowed Woody enough time to sneak through the fence and avail himself of some of those remains.  If only we'd got a picture of him with his cute little blood smeared body.  I'm sure he had an absolutely fabulous time.    

Peter and George have been very busy with firewood.  They've now totally cleared the wood from the site and have hired a very grunty splitter for a few days next month.  Our driveway is completely lined with big wood rounds, that actually look quite sculptural. It's very satisfying to see them there as a symbol that we're ready for winter, almost a shame to split them!

I've taken on less extra shifts this month so that me and Sally could have a few adventures.  We stayed in Hokitika for a few days at the start of the month.  The weather didn't come to the party, but neither did it ruin the party.  We had a great time in Punakaiki, Hokitika Gorge and Tree Top Walk, and around Fox.  The Hokitika Beach Art Festival was just closing so we were in perfect time to check out the amazing creations made only from beach finds.  

 

One hot and sunny Marlborough day we took the Mailboat Cruise from Picton and had the pleasure of observing not one but two pods of dolphins.  The first ones were Hector's dolphins - the smallest class of dolphins in the world.  Later we were accompanied for ages by a bigger pod of Bottlenose dolphins - the largest class in the world.  It was a real treat to see them all, and other wildlife too.  There was even enough time for a brief stop at Ship's Cove - preferred NZ destination of Peter's great great great etc Uncle James Cook.  

Wine has featured in our trips out (and also at home, eh Sally?).  We did a wine and platter tasting at Framingham and went to The Bottling Company HQ to watch Peter and Billy hard at work. Sally heads back to ole Blighty at the weekend and we'll miss her happy company at home.  

                                               

I'm still running, and still not getting any faster.  I am covering more distance now though, usually 5-7kms a run, 3 times a week.  Early morning is always the best time because the road is quieter and it's not too hot.  And also the scenery can take my breath away more than the running.  

Sad news from England is casting a shadow over our general contentedness.  We're deeply hoping that Nick's remaining time is both long and positive, and very much look forward to seeing him later in the year. Kia kaha Nick from us all in Aotearoa New Zealand 💜 

 

January 2023

       

Christmas was certainly considerably busier than last year - both quiet and busy are enjoyable, especially when everyone is chilled and busy-ness activities are shared.  Alister's easy company brought the total to 8.  We'd put names in a hat and each person got one present for another.  That cut costs considerably and helped to focus more on just relaxing and pottering.  We switched egg roulette and a water fight for a sack race and egg-and-spoon race, in which dubious methods were used for victory.  Gladys took assorted groups out on successful fishing trips and one day they brought back a huge bag of green-lipped mussels which we ate the same evening.  Amazingly even more delicious when so fresh. 

As there was no room at the Inn, Sam and Molly bunkered down on camp beds in the Womb With a View.  Greyhound Lexie takes up quite a bit of space so she bedded down in our lounge, and lodged with us for a few days after Christmas when Sam and Molly walked the Queen Charlotte Track.  Apparently greyhounds only sleep with their legs up like this when they feel safe!  

                                     

Sam and Molly helped dig up the flower garden elephant garlic one very wet day.  These garlic plants must be self-seeded as I've never knowingly planted them, nor the potatoes, tomatoes, and parsley that also pop up among the flowers.  It was quite a crop, and adds to an overall fantastic garlic season - even the ones I actually planted have done well.   Some have been peeled, sliced, and dehydrated then blitzed to make garlic powder, a very handy ingredient for the days when you don't have much time. 

           

Flowers continue to brighten and invigorate the garden.  The abundant dahlias have taken off and are putting on a huge and delightful spectacle everywhere you look.  The Abutilon bush is now towering high - a perfect height to enjoy the hundreds of vibrant orange flowers and the constant stream of bumblebees that call by.  The pretty pale-yellow Scabious with its ferny foliage is flowering its little heart out in the half-wine barrel.  It feels like every day there's another outburst of colourful joy to behold.  Beautiful.

Stonefruit is having a really crap season, and not just at our place.  The crazy wet weather we've been having is probably the culprit as crops all over the country have been affected.  There are a few damsons and plump Hawera plums and even fewer greengages (nooooo!), no peaches, and no Black Doris plums.  It's gutting on the one hand, but on the other, maybe those trees could use a more restful season without prolific fruit production.  Cider apples are also having a bad year.  Cooking and eating apples, and pears of all kinds are the only orchard crops that are really enjoying themselves this year.  

                                                         

Grapes are swelling and we'll have to decide whether we'll bother with netting them this year.  We've had mixed results in the past, but this is quite a good crop so may be worthy of a little attention.  

Weeds are having a ball, as usual.  The floods that we've had in the last two years have significantly increased the pasture weed load, and that's pretty depressing as it's a lot of work to sort out, whichever way you do it.  I spent a miserable afternoon hand-weeding out the willow weed from the orchard where it was threatening to take over, especially along the new trench.  As it's a waterway, spraying with chemicals wasn't the answer, but big patches elsewhere on the property will have to be sprayed.  So will the thistles that are more abundant than grass in places, and other new weeds which may be problematic.  We managed to keep the hay paddocks relatively clear of thistles, and that was a big enough task.  It's an issue that most of our neighbours are struggling with too. 

                                                       

Molly spotted a plant that had been one of her childhood foods.  It's called purslane and apparently is so nutritious, it's a super-food.  To the untrained eye (mine), it's a bloody annoying weed that infests the driveway and vege garden.  Molly carefully dug up some prime samples (of which there were many to choose from), potted some up, and cooked the rest with garlic and soy sauce.  And actually, they were pretty good, a pleasant surprise to us all.  Alister shared that he'd never before had weeds for Christmas dinner, so a brand-new experience for him.

           

Madame Cholet, despite a big hole in her roof that should have been patched up months ago, is doing a great job of tending the tender plants.  There are a few sweet little rock melons forming and cucumbers for Africa, mainly from one Lebanese cucumber plant, but also a telegraph cucumber also getting in on the fruiting action.  The gourd that sprouted from the compost that I couldn't bear to dig up, is taking over as anticipated.  Its long fronds are being guided to a less sunny corner and generally, it's behaving.  There are several spectacular gourds forming and heaps more of its frilly white flowers indicating that there are a few hundred more on the horizon.  I thought it probably wouldn't like the heat of the tunnel house but turns out that was wrong.  My main oversight with letting it stay is that gourd foliage is killed off by frost.  Not in the tunnel house it won't, so it's pretty experimental territory...

        

Tomatoes are just coming on tap and are adding their beautiful flavour to the salads that are eaten most days.  Beetroot leaves, beetroot, spring onion, silverbeet, spinach, Korean radish, rocket, lettuces, and those rampant cucumbers are available every day.  Not something I'm tiring of yet.  The whole process of gathering and chopping the salad veges is a real blessing and a pleasure.

 

Other veges, like outdoor beef tomatoes, corn, pumpkin, caulis, carrots, beans, onions, and leeks, are coming away nicely.  A small number have been swamped by weeds when I've left it too long, but the weeds have also provided a good service keeping the blazing sun off the crops (on the days we've had sun).  Laura, with a little help from Woody, has also been proudly harvesting away, as well as providing her bespoke garden fairy duties.  

                          

Hay-making finally happened after a long delay caused by too much rain.  The hay-maker had planned to come mid-December, but the weather-scuppering postponed that by a month.  He's a new hay-maker for us and the bales were really heavy.  We were worried they may be a little wet but turns out he compacts hay much more than others.  Usually, there are 10-14 sheets (the correct term) of hay per bale, but he does 20.  No wonder my shoulders still haven't forgiven me.  Luckily we had Lucas and Billy around who valiantly gathered the lion's share.  Peter, me, and Laura were mainly on stacking the 139 hefty bales.  As always, it's a good feeling of self-sufficiency to get hay stacked.  

                          

Another good feeling is getting firewood stacked.  George got access to a huge gum tree on his golf course that had its main limbs chopped.  They've been slowly working away, chain-sawing chunks and bringing them home to split.  Gum wood is very solid and heavy, and makes excellent long-burning firewood.  For the same reason, it's also a nightmare to chop and split.  Peter's made some headway on the smaller chunks, but we may need to get hold of a gruntier splitter to complete the job.  

                                                    

Kratos the calf is making good progress, despite sharing some of his mum Nike's milk with Triton.  Triton's mum Pandora has never fed him, and we have no idea why.  He's managed to get a few feeds by sneaking up behind Nike.  She seems to tolerate this sometimes, and other times he gets a swift kick.  The coming-in-from-behind position is not only risky from a being-kicked perspective, but he also gets literally shat upon and is often sporting a brown head.  Poor mite.  Peter feeds him milk daily, and he won't take it from anyone but Peter.  Mostly he takes the full volume, but not always.  We're guessing it depends on how much he's managed to grab from Nike.  By the end of the month, he won't need milk feeds at all, so it'll be up to him to charm Nike or be very devious if he wants some.

The lambs are growing fast and all are not bad wool-shedders - a couple are full shedders and the others mostly just have a mane of thick wool across their backs that would be simple to snip off.  This is a real bonus as this makes them easy to manage and more valuable if we want to sell.  As we already have 3 rams on the property (Hank, Saul and Sonny), the fate of young Charles - born in August - was sealed.  We had decided not to castrate him and this was a good decision as he was snapped up when we put him up for sale on TradeMe.   He was going to a flock of ewes so hopefully, he'll be having a good time.

                                      

Lucas and Laura are working silly hours, hopefully making their own hay money as the sun contracts shine.  Charlie and Woody wander around, generally being cute and guarding the place.  Billy's still working with Peter but he'll have to make different plans when his contract comes to an end in March.  Sam's doing a 3-month army training course, possibly being a real soldier rather than relying on his trumpet as a weapon.  Peter is on serious countdown to retirement - 7 months to go.  And I'm just carrying on carrying on.  I've finally got enough content for my antenatal classes to advertise.  I had to re-brand as someone else had snapped up the name I was going to use - serves me right for procrastinating too long.  'BirthSpiel - a mind and body approach to pregnancy and birth' is now live (as of 2 days ago).  No social media yet, and I'll only go that way if I have to.  I'm optimistic, probably naively, that word of mouth will be enough in this small community.  

Auntie Sally will be heading over for a NZ holiday next week - a happy surprise request that we're delighted to accept.  We're stocking up the wine for you Sally!  We're hoping that her visit might just coincide with some kind of proper summer, which has mostly eluded us this year.  

Over and out for another month in paradise 😄