June

Lavender field as at end June 2011


Vegetable garden as at end June 2011


Winter is now in full swing. I can't really complain because we had such a long summer and mild autumn. But now it is quite cold. Still, we've only had one real frost so far, so it's not as cold as it could be I suppose.

We've had the fire going every evening, and noticed a lot more success with it than the first year we were here. The main factor has been bringing the firewood inside and letting it dry out for 2-3 days before using it. As well as just understanding the way fire works, the best placement for the wood in the fire, how to get optimal heat at the beginning and slow it down as the room warms up, etc. However in the last few weeks we have been going through so much wood each day that I'm having to bring it inside every 2-3 days and it's not having the chance to dry out as much as it needs to before we use it. We are also very quickly going through the carefully split and stacked wood that P and I sorted last month.

Got a book out of the library about composting, and read it trying to learn more about it. The book said the way we've been composting (i.e. burying our scraps) is called trench composting and basically ineffective when it comes to making something to put on your garden, unless you actually do it IN the garden. Well, I'd pretty much figured that out for myself as the pile was not growing, and the only thing that was growing was the scraps. We had corn that had sprouted from a half eaten cob that was buried. I carefully dug these out and transplanted to a tub on the deck. So far so good, they are still alive but not growing any bigger. There was also an avocado growing, which I very carefully dug out and planted in the ground near the citrus trees. I find it ironic that I have tried a few times to grow an avocado from seed in a glass on the windowsill without success, yet one that got thrown out and buried in the ground actually grew into a tree. It has grown quite fast so hopefully we'll be growing our own avocados to eat in a few years. I know it's probably the wrong time of year to transplant these things but I needed to move them out of the compost.

I have also tried to make a new compost pile using layers of lavender clippings, the neighbours pony poo and sawdust, rotten wood, plus food scraps, vacuum contents, fireplace ash and paper. I built up a few layers of each. Didn't even use up half of the available materials but the heap was getting big enough, plus it was starting to rain, and I thought I’d wait a few weeks and see how it did before using the rest. So far it is looking good and healthy, but hasn't changed much either. The lavender clippings aren't breaking down much. Mind you the weather has probably been too cold for anything to happen. Should add some more layers on soon.

Have decided not to plant anything else in the vegetable garden now until spring. Didn't get around to it in time and now I think it's too late. The only thing growing is the mustard seed and it's doing really well.

Have had lots and lots of rain in the last couple of months. In April (I think) I started re-digging my trench in the lower paddock but didn't get very far before I had to stop. Then the rain came and has pretty much rained ever since. The paddock has been very waterlogged and boggy. I won't be able to get back to it again until summer probably at this rate. The pukekoes and ducks are enjoying it though. Have seen a male and female duck hanging around together a lot. And at the beginning of June I saw a mother duck leading about 6-8 babies behind her, walking through the paddock together. Haven't seen them since so guess they were just passing through.

-M

May

Lavender field as at end May 2011


Vegetable garden as at end May 2011


May began with three of P's friends coming over to give us a hand shifting logs, rounds and firewood out of our bottom paddock. We hired a log splitter and P and I took turns to split the wood we already had, and the guys split the stuff they gathered and took it away with them. I looked at all the wood we had split and estimated we had a couple of years worth there. Now I'm not too sure.

Over the course of the next week we moved the split wood into the newly cleaned out woodshed and stacked it nicely on pallets. P had put up polythene to catch the drips, but had to modify it a few times as the wind and rain got hold of it. It is now fairly water-tight.

Not content with just building a new woodshed, P is now working on a carport to keep the tractor and bits dry. His first attempt, using a large tarpaulin as a roof, didn't work very well. So he's back to the drawing board but not out.

Also at the beginning of May T came around and we pruned the lavender.

In April we were complaining about the lack of feijoas this year. Our neighbours gave us a whole bagful. And then this month our trees suddenly started dropping an abundance of fruit that I hadn't even noticed on the trees. We had so much I didn't know what to do with it all. I discovered making it into a feijoa juice drink was quite nice. Scoop the pulp of four feijoas into a bowl, add a quarter cup of sugar, and pour some boiling water over the top to dissolve the sugar. Leave to cool. Once cooled, strain the juice into a jug and top up with cold water. It's pretty much the same recipe for making passionfruit juice too, but we didn't really have any of those this year.

We bought a new ride on lawn mower from the Lifestyle Farmers Field Days at the end of May. A John Deere. We've been using the tractor to cut the grass pretty much since we moved in here, and it really rips up the ground. Also can be tough to manouver, and feels a bit scary driving on the slope under the fruit trees. I've wanted to get a real ride on mower for ages, but the one I really want is probably upwards of $10k. We deliberated for a while before deciding to get this one as there are good points and bad points. It’s slower than the tractor but can get a lot closer and turn in smaller circles. It mulches the grass and spits it out to the side unfortunately right under the adjacent row of lavender but at least it doesn’t leave great clumps of grass behind like the tractor does. It did a good job on the hill under the fruit trees. So far I'm pretty happy with it. We also bought a leaf blower as it was recommended to use one of these to blow the grass clippings away from the mowing deck everytime you finish using it.

The vegetable garden is empty at the moment. My next job is to plant some broccoli and spring onion seedlings (no more trying to grow from seed) for the winter and put more mustard seed down in the rest of the garden. I'm going to give broccoli another go over winter when the cabbage moths aren't around and see how it goes. I'm also going to make up some proper compost with the horse poo and sawdust the neighbours gave us, the rotten timber from the old woodshed, and the lavender clippings.

-M

April

Lavender field as at end April 2011


Vegetable garden as at end April 2011


Autumn finally began in April with a run of cold and wet weather right at the beginning of the month, which was a real shock to the system. We lit our first fire of the season about halfway through the month, and at the end of the month I noticed snow on the Tararua Ranges one day.

Finally got the tractor going and mowed the grass. The grass around the house hadn't been done for a month and a half, the grass in the lavender field hadn't been done for two and a half months. It was almost as tall as the lavender.

P and I cleaned out the old woodshed. The previous owners of the place had kept their firewood thrown in a heap under the ramp which leads to the back door. One corner is well protected from the elements. The other corner is both exposed from the side and from gaps in the decking above. We have been slowly going through their pile of wood, until what we've been left with is the stuff from the exposed section, which is half rotten. We cleared all the wood out, kept what was good and got rid of what wasn't. Am left with a nice tidy floor, and a big pile of compost from all the dirt that was at the bottom of the woodpile.

P then used polythene to line the ceiling to prevent drips, and made walls to protect the wood from the side.

Still continue to gather heaps of walnuts. Have started getting feijoas now too. Ended up having to throw out half a dozen cucumber/zuchhini because I'd forgotten about them in the fridge and they'd gone bad. What a waste. Harvested four pumpkin.

Nothing left in the garden now. The carrots and spring onion seeds I planted never grew into anything. However the mustard seed I planted have done well. One section of the garden is growing well with mustard. I must plant more in the rest of the garden. Am also considering trying brassicas one last time, to see if they do any better in the cold weather.

The neighbours have given us a big pile of pony poo and sawdust. That's the big pile of stuff you can see in the front of the vegetable garden photo. I must get around to composting that or doing something with it.

-M

March

Lavender field as at end March 2011


Vegetable garden as at end March 2011

March has been a month of preserving. This month I have made:
* Two batches of blueberry muffins
* Pickled cucumber, cucumber jam, frozen cucumber (yes, sounds weird but it seems to work), two batches of tzatziki
* Zucchini muffins, zucchini and chocolate cake, frozen zucchini
* Apple jelly, dried apple slices

And despite all the preserving, the zucchini and cucumber plants just keep producing fruit. They do seem to have slowed down quite a bit in the last week but there are still fruit growing. Not much else is growing in the garden though.

Harvested a small amount of small potatoes. Think my experiment of re-planting last years spuds hasn't worked too well. Next year I will buy seed potatoes.

The pumpkin has slowed down its spread. It still has lots of flowers but only 4 pumpkins are growing. A lot of other people have also commented that they are getting lots of (male) flowers but no (female) fruit. It must be the weather I guess.

The corn I planted is not doing well, but I have noticed some growing wild in the compost, so what's up with that? The broccoli is full of holes. The capsicum was growing well and then I found the plant on the ground, the dogs must have knocked it over and broken it. I managed to salvage four small capsicums off it.

Have had a reasonable harvest of tomatoes from the plants on the deck, but not much from those in the garden. Don't think I'm going to do Roma tomatoes again. I planted them because I thought they were good for making sauce, but the fruit are all ready at such different times that I haven't been able to get enough to make any sauce with.

The passionfruit vine has not been doing well this year. All the leaves started dying off and I don't know why. I'm worried I may have accidentally sprayed it with weedspray, so I've been very reluctant to try eating any of the fruit (which doesn't look all that appealing anyway). The feijoas aren't fruiting either (but at least they're not dying).

We have had a bumper crop of walnuts this year and I've been checking every couple of days lately and coming back with armfuls. Don't quite know what to do with all these walnuts. It's not like they need preserving I don't think. But it's also not something we usually just eat (they're quite expensive). Maybe I should make some baklava.

During January I was busy with the kids and unable to mow the lawn. In February I mowed it twice to try and get it back into condition. And then the tractor broke down. It just won't start. Not sure how to fix it or who can do it. So in the meantime the grass is again growing longer, and longer, and longer. Not to mention the grass in the lavender field which hasn't been mown since the beginning of January. I did some weed eating but the grass is very, very long.

Have attempted to plant some winter crops. Cleared one plot of weeds and scattered mustard seeds, a winter cover crop. In another plot I dug two trenches and planted carrot seeds in one and spring onion seeds in the other. Have never had much success with seeds so am not sure what to expect. The trench seems like a good idea though, to funnel rain, water and dew towards the seeds that need it. And to mark where the vegetables are planted.

Autumn officially started at the beginning of March but it has turned out to be a lovely, warm month. The only hint of autumn has been a few very cold nights but these always lead into very hot days. In the last few days I have noticed one or two trees with leaves turning yellow which seems strange given the warm weather, but I guess it is a sign that winter really is on the way. I'm not looking forward to winter but I can't complain because we've pretty much had five months of summer this year.


Lettuce: 6
Brassica: 2 but probably won't eat them because of all the caterpillars
Tomatoes: Still growing but not much fruit
Zucchini: 1 plant and going strong
Cucumber: 2 plants and going strong
Pumpkin: 4 fruit growing
Corn: 1 in the garden which I don't think will grow any corn and some sprouts in the compost
Blueberries: Got one good harvest in February, then forgot about it for a few weeks and the berries were all gone.
Walnuts: Have gathered about 2-3 fruit bowls full so far


-M

February

Lavender field as at end February 2011


Vegetable garden as at end February 2011

The first two weeks of February were spent weeding the lavender. Weeding and weeding and weeding. Harvested half of it on the 10th and the rest on the 19th. Got a pretty good yield from the Super, but not as much of the Grosso as I may have expected, perhaps we harvested a bit late. However there was absolutely no way I could have finished the weeding any sooner than I did. I spent many evenings weeding after the girls went to bed, including one evening in the pooring rain.

The poor lawn suffered from the four weeks of school holidays and then two weeks of focus on the lavender. When I finally got a chance to mow, it was knee high. I had to mow two consecutive weeks in a row just to get it back into good condition.

Although I spread the planting of lettuces out by planting one a week, they still all came ready at pretty much the same time, and one ended up going to waste because I didn't pick it in time. Planted some more lettuces but they are still small so we don't have any at the moment. Next year will have to spread them out to maybe two weeks and make sure I keep planting more even when they start to be ready to ensure a continuous supply.

The zucchini and cucumber plants are doing very well. We currently have approx 10 of each in the fridge and will have to do something about it soon.

Have picked about 2-4 cups of blueberries. Have made one batch of blueberry muffins and still have lots left. Gathered lots of walnuts. Planted some more broccoli and corn.

We don't have an apple tree on our property, but bought a share of an apple tree at AgResearch in Palmerston North. Have picked about two fruit bowls full of apples and now have to do something with them.

Potatoes: Are ready to be harvested
Lettuce: Original 6 harvested, 6 small ones growing.
Brassica: Ate one of the original broccoli, the other one went to seed. Ate one of the cabbages, the other one never really grew (too many potatoes in the same plot). The two cauliflowers never really grew for the same reason. Planted another two broccoli in a different plot. All of them have been ravaged by cabbage moths. Have decided I'm not going to grow brassicas again. Even if they do grow, I'm very reluctant to eat them because of the number of caterpillars on them (can never be completely sure I've gotten rid of them all before cooking them).
Tomatoes: The ones on the deck are growing well, the ones in the garden are growing slowly.
Zucchini: 1 plant and going strong
Cucumber: 2 plants and going strong
Capsicum: 1 plant with approximately 3-4 fruit
Pumpkin: 4 fruit growing
Corn: Discovered that the place where I chose to plant them is also the place the dogs like to sit when they are watching the neighbour's yard. Tried planting another couple somewhere else, don't think they will do well though.
Strawberries: Keep forgetting to check on them.
Blueberries: Got one good harvest with lots more fruit still to turn the right colour.
Walnuts: Have gathered about a fruit bowl full so far


-M

January

Lavender field as at end January 2011


Vegetable garden as at end January 2011

January has been a very hot month, with a few spots of very wet weather to keep the weeds growing. I have also been stuck at home with two preschoolers for the entire month and not been able to get as much done around the place as I would like. And it's probably the month where the most stuff needs doing.

I haven't managed to get down to the lavender field at all to do any more weeding. I mowed the grass once.

One thing I have managed to do is a lot of weeding in the vege garden and the herb garden. The zucchini and cucumber are doing very well. The lettuces did very well and almost all have been picked now. Have started planting some more to see us through the end of summer. The broccoli have been attacked by something (I assume cabbage moths although I haven't seen any). Have a pumpkin plant taking over half the garden and spreading like crazy, didn't seem to have any fruit but have just noticed two finally growing. Plus two other plants which grew wild and I transplanted into the vege garden. The tomatoes are not doing well at all. They are growing, but very slowly. Probably because it's been so hot and dry a lot (and I didn't water them) I guess. Have got some growing in the garden and some in containers on the deck. The swan plants on the deck are also not doing well. They both had caterpillars on them in early December, which ate all the leaves and then disappeared in search of more food. One plant died as a result but the other managed to come back from the brink. Now they have once again been subjected to an onslaught of caterpillars, as well as aphids, and I doubt that either will survive this time.

Potatoes: Still got heaps. Some of them are almost ready to be harvested.
Lettuce: Have eaten 4, 2 ready to be picked and 1 new one growing
Brassica: The original 6 are struggling along and I have planted 1 new one in a different part of the garden.
Tomatoes: Not sure of the exact count - about 4 in the garden and 3 on the deck
Zucchini: 1 and going strong
Cucumber: 2 and going strong
Capsicum: 1
Pumpkin: 3 plants, 2? fruit
Corn: Have planted 1 plant so far, with 5 more still in their punnet to be planted out one a week (or fortnight?). When I see how large the corn are in the fields around here, I think I started these too late.
Strawberries: Keep forgetting to check on them.
Blueberries: Keep forgetting about these too. The bird netting keeps blowing off in parts so I think we've lost a lot
Plums: Got a dozen or two fruit off it before they were all gone
Walnuts: The tree is starting to drop its nuts, have gathered about a dozen so far. Looks like it will be a good crop this year (if I remember to go and gather them regularly)

I feel bad that I haven't had much time for the garden over the summer. Hopefully with the kids going off to school/preschool in February I will be able to get back into the swing of things again.

-M

December

Lavender field as at end December 2010


Vegetable garden as at end December 2010

After a very hot November, we had rain for pretty much the first three weeks of December. And the weeds grew like wildfire. Luckily the weather has been pretty good since Christmas. I haven't managed to get into the vege garden to deal to the weeds, but I've had a couple of goes at weeding the lavender and it's not looking too bad. Still lots to go though and I started with the easy stuff.

You can't really see from the photo above but I have a lot of veges growing in the garden. Everything is obscured by all the potatoes and a few weeds which have sprung up lately. The vege count this month is:

Potatoes: HEAPS. None are ready and not sure if they will be either as they are last years stock replanted
Lettuce: 6 Planted 1 a week and all coming ready now
Brassica: 6 (two broccoli, two cabbage and two cauliflower) Planted 1 a week and the early ones are doing alright but the later ones are swamped by the potatoes
Tomatoes: Planted 6 Roma but only 3 survived. Planted another 3 beefsteak. Plus 2 more beefsteak and 2 cherry tomatoes planted in pots on the deck
Zucchini: 1 Only planted one this year after the success of last years
Cucumber: 2
Capsicum: 1
Pumpkin: 2 Found a couple growing wild in the compost heap and successfully transplanted them into the vege garden where they are now growing quickly and have flowers too
Sunflower: 0 The kids planted one each but they got bent over in a storm and seem to have died
Strawberries: The shade cloth I put over didn't really work. The ones where there is no weedmat are completely covered by weeds. Keep forgetting to check on them.
Blueberries: Coming along nicely although the bird net blew off and it took me a while to put it back on again
Plums: Yes, we have a plum tree I never knew about and it is fruiting lovely this year

In late November/early December we had a family of starlings living in an old watering can that was hanging outside the front door. Every time we went outside, mummy bird would fly away. Every time she came home the babies would squawk and make a racket. But it was fascinating to watch them grow. It took just over two weeks from when they were eggs, to when they flew the nest. When I realised they were gone I felt quite sad, as I'd gotten used to mummy birds comings and goings.



P and I have finally been able to put some work in to clearing the logs and rubbish from the bottom paddock, logs which have been there since the big storm two and a half years ago. Am hoping to continue the momentum in January.

-M

November

Summer has finally arrived at the end of October. It's been hot and sunny just about every day since then. Almost starting to worry we won't have enough water to last the summer, but I don't want to jinx it because I'm enjoying the warm weather so much. It was so nice we even managed to get out to the beach one day.

Finally got some help from the neighbours to put the plow attachment on the back of the tractor and I was able to dig over the vege garden. Albeit much too late, I should have done it a month ago. As soon as that was done I took the plow back off and put the mower back on and mowed the grass which was very, very long. Over the new few days I raked up a bit of grass at a time until the entire vege garden was covered in a layer of grass clippings.

I planted all of last years potatoes back into the garden as they were growing quite nicely in the cupboard. I don't know if they will be any good to eat or not, we will see.

I also bought a six-pack of lettuce and a six-pack of broccoli/ cabbage/ cauliflower. I actually only wanted to buy one of each but couldn't. It is my intention to plant one in the garden each week and hope I can keep the rest alive in their little cell packs until it is time to plant this. In this way I'm hoping I can spread out the time that they're ready to eat. I don't want to plant six lettuces at once and have them all ready at once because we'd never eat them all.

Have also planted six Roma tomato plants along the back of the garden. I've learnt from last year and bought six (instead of two) and have spaced them all quite far apart.

Got given some cherry tomato plants by another neighbour and have planted them in a container on the deck this time around. They grew too big in the garden last year, plus by having them so accessible I hope the children will enjoy eating them more often.

The lavender now has tiny blue buds on it. I mowed the grass in the lavender field for the first time in a very, very long time. I haven't been able to get to it because the neighbour has had his cattle in the other half of the field. The grass was as tall as the lavender in places. But I am getting it back under control now. And I'm sure I'm in for another busy summer of weeding.

Covered the blueberry bush in netting again. Tried weeding the strawberry patch and covering it with something better. Not sure if it will work.

-M

October

As the weather started to dry out I was able to do some things I hadn't been able to do for a while. Sprayed weeds for the first time in a long time. Weedeated around the rows of lavender which I hadn't done in a very long time. Mowed the lawn which was getting long and used the grass clippings to mulch the fruit trees.

-M

September

The month began with rain, lots of it. It rained heavily in the Tararuas and came down the valley, flooding our neighbours across the road and taking most of their newborn lambs. The waters continued on across the road to the cafe next door to us, turning their parking lot into a lake. We were unaffected, being up on the hill. Even our bottom paddocks seemed to have escaped most of the flooding, thanks in part to my trench that I dug. In the early stages it held all the water and even as the water levels rose over the top of the trench, it still helped to keep the water in that area as opposed to flooding out all over the paddock. The water flooding over the road only lasted for an hour and then it was passable again. We were a bit late for school that day. All the farms and paddocks in the area seemed to have turned into lakes, especially in the Koputaroa and Shannon areas, but not so much closer to Levin. In some places the water was so deep that when it receeded there was grass stuck to all the fence wires, from the bottom to the top. There is one farm on the way to Koputaroa where last summer the farmer had dug a very deep trench (totally puts mine to shame, it is several metres deep). Well during the floods this trench was completely full and flooding out the top. Even a week later it was still very full. The rain lasted for several days but not as heavy as the first night.





The day of the flooding


One week later

Later in the month, when things dried out a little bit, I attempted to put the plow attachment onto the tractor so that I could turn the ground over in the vege garden in preparation for planting new vegetables. But no matter how hard I tried, I could not get it on.

The Foxton Spring Fling was held at the beginning of the month, marking the beginning of spring. While we had some very cold days, this winter feels like it was more mild than last year.

The weather may be getting warmer but we have had a few very cold nights, with a couple of mornings where there has been more snow on the Tararuas than there was on any morning in the middle of winter.

-M

August

This month I finished my work digging the trench in the bottom paddocks. Our neighbour in front has mentioned a few times the tree stumps in our bottom paddock which borders his but it just hasn't moved high enough up my priority list. I had a go at it a couple of months ago but it is hard work with just a shovel and my own strength. He mentioned he had a friend with a digger, and the friend came over and dug some big holes and buried all the tree stumps. Just like that. Took a day or two, compared to how long it would have taken me with a shovel. And just 10 metres away was my little trench which I had been feeling pretty good about, and now it feels pretty insignificant being the width and depth of a shovel, compared to what a digger could have done.

For the last year and a half we have been diligently burying all our food scraps in the compost bin. And in a year and a half the pile of compost has grown by exactly nothing. It is still the same it was a year and a half ago. I think we must have created a pretty good worm farm but not a very good compost pile. Heard somewhere about layering horse manure and grass clippings in the compost, both of which we have in abundance. So I spent an hour or so one day shovelling up horse manure from one of our paddocks (from our neighbour's horses) and raking up grass clippings after I mowed. Too soon to tell if it'll make any difference or if I've done it right.

Ate some of the cherry tomatoes and zucchini I pickled last year. Both turned out very nice and very zingy.

-M

July

Twas a very cold month with us lighting lots of fires and shivering in the mornings and evenings.

My big assignment for the month was to dig a trench in our bottom paddocks. The water flows downhill from our neighbours (and probably at its source from the Tararua foothills), through one paddock, under our driveway, through another paddock and off to our neighbours who are pretty much at the lowest point. As the water goes through our paddocks it seems to pool and make the ground all around very muddy and boggy. As we had had a few weeks without rain, I attempted to do something about it. I dug a long trench going about halfway across the lower paddock, following the line of water. I dug it about a shovel head wide and deep. Any more than that was just too difficult, especially when tree roots got in the way. It took me a couple of weeks to complete it. On the other side of the driveway, the slightly higher side, I didn't get very much done because it was still too wet and too overgrown. However, when it did rain my trench worked well and filled up with water in the trench only and not all over the grass.

Early in the month the first jonquils began poking their heads out of the ground, and I saw the first of the spring lambs. Noticed a couple of Kereru birds hanging around the house.

-M

April, May, June

Winter is now in full swing, having had several frosts around here and snow on the Tararua Ranges. Some trees started losing their leaves in early April and were bare by the end of April. Others still have red and yellow leaves on their branches now.

It has been very wet for the last several months so I haven't done a lot of anything in the garden. I finally sprayed the weeds all around the property about a month ago. Went through 15 litres of weedspray all up. They are slowly dying.

The zucchini finally stopped fruiting at the beginning of May and we ate the last one last week. Still have heaps of frozen, pickled and dehydrated fruit to use so don't think we'll need to buy any for the rest of the year. The cherry tomatoes still continue to bear fruit, although the other tomato plants haven't produced much at all. I picked so many cherry tomatoes we couldn't eat them all and a lot of them went off. I tried pickling some. Not sure how it turned out as it is still maturing. The six broccoli I planted in March never really grew very big. I picked two of them last week for one meal. The ones I grew over summer were several meals in each plant.

We have had a lot of feijoas off the tree this year although not sure if it was as much as last year. I made a batch of feijoa jelly as we'd run out of last year's apple jelly. It is alright but not as good as apple jelly.

We have had about half a dozen passionfruit grow this year and none of them have ripened. We had another pumpkin plant grow wild out of the compost. But no pumpkins grew on it. I think it was too cold.

The celery is growing well. The orange and mandarin trees are fruiting again.

Have spent a lot of time over the last few months shifting logs from fallen trees. The bottom paddock is still full of debris from the big storm two years ago. I've been shifting and tidying as much as I can but it's a lot of work and the big stuff is going to need a chainsaw before I can shift it. Also a few months back some contractors from the power company came and topped our trees as they were growing too close to the power lines. They conveniently cut the branches up into small sizes but left them all lying in the paddocks, so I've been slowly shifting them too.

We have been using the fire a lot lately. It has been working better than it did last winter. Discovered a large part of the problem last year was bringing the firewood directly in from outside and putting in on the fire. It was too cold / damp to burn very hot. This year we've cleared a large space near the fireplace and are bringing in about a weeks worth of firewood at a time. We're going through it very quickly though which worries me.

We got a new dog a couple of months ago. Another Border Collie, a girlfriend for Tim. Now we have two dogs, two cats and two kids. A full house.

Other than that the main activity around here has just been one of maintenance. Keeping the grass and weeds down as much as possible, which is difficult when it is so damp and too cold to dry out. And for now my main priority is just keeping warm.

-M

February and March

Well, summer is now over and autumn is here. It was a very short summer. It lasted from mid January to mid March. As well as making me sad because I lover summer, it has also meant production of some things has not been as much as last year.

The vegetable garden is doing well. Still mostly filled with low-lying weeds but the few veges I have planted are doing well.

The two broccoli I planted grew large enough to eat (and then some) so we picked them. What I didn't realise at the time was that we also picked a lot of green cabbage moth caterpillars. Didn't discover this till halfway through our meal. Gross!!! Have totally been turned off the idea of eating our own broccoli. The two plants we harvested continued to grow more little broccoli heads off the side but I couldn't face eating them and let them go to seed instead. However that didn't stop me from planting six more small plants. This time round they have all survived, although the leaves are all full of holes from either the caterpillars or the moths. They'll probably be ready in another month or so.

The zucchini just continue to produce and produce and produce. The fruit can double in size in a day. I've been getting about one a day. We have eaten a lot of zucchini over the last two months. I have also pickled some, dehydrated some and frozen some. Consider it a bit of a test to see which way works best. Think next year I'll only need to plant one zucchini plant.

The one cucumber plant that survived has produced three and a half cucumbers (a half because the last one was very small). They were nice. Think next year I'll need to plant more than that.

The tomato plants are doing really well. Have grown very tall, over my head. The lesson I have learned though is to space them further apart because they are growing together and it's hard to find the fruit. There is a lot of fruit and I'm getting about a handful each day. Lots and lots of cherry tomatoes, which we are eating either as snacks or with dinner. Not as much of the regular toms or Roma toms. Which is a shame because I was planning on bottling them. Can't bottle cherry tomatoes I don't think.

Spent a lot of time in February weeding the lavender fields and have now harvested it. The yield was quite a lot down on last year. Last year we got 7 and 2 litres of oil (from the two different varieties). This year we got 3 and 1 litres. Think it was probably due to the wet spring and lack of sunshine. Have also made contact with the Lavender Growers Association and met some other members and learnt a bit from them.

As well as the lavender, the passionfruit and feijoas also seem to be suffering from lack of growth this year. There are virtually no passionfruit on the vine this year, whereas last year there were so many I couldn't use them all. No sure if this is because of the weather or because I cut the vine back so much late last year. The feijoas aren't ready yet but of our three trees only one is really fruiting at all.

The blueberry bush has done very well. Last year we got nothing. This year I covered it in bird netting and have gotten several cups of blueberries and enjoyed blueberry muffins and blueberry cobbler.

The strawberries have pretty much stopped production for the year. The plants on the weedmat produced lots of berries compared the ones without weedmat which produced hardly any fruit but lots of weeds. Will have to extend the weedmat before next summer.

Still continuing to drink homemade lemonade and eat homemade bread. Still continuing to mow the lawn with the tractor. Have run out of weedspray so the weeds around the property are growing quite high.

Have had a couple of families of pukekos (or pooky-yo's as V calls them) hanging around the lower fields for the last couple of months. It has been interesting watching the babies grow and develop their blue feathers. They're not particularly frightened of the car, but as soon as you open the door and they see you, they run or fly away very quickly.

-M

December and January

Well, so much for posting monthly. I probably should have posted at the end of December but it is a very busy time of year and I didn't get around to it.

Things have been going well on the property and in the garden. Sometimes struggling to keep up to date with all the chores that need doing. December was a very wet month. The first half of January was kinda wet, kinda windy and not all that warm. Summer weather probably only really started in mid January and boy is it summery now. And I'm NOT complaining. But the sun can be harsh so we've spent a lot of time inside anyway. The temperature inside has been around the 26 degree C mark most afternoons. Meaning that outside is even hotter. I'm finding it quite comfortable :-) K and V got a trampoline for Christmas so in early Jan when it wasn't raining we spent a lot of time on it. Now that the weather is a bit too hot we haven't used it as much.


Haven't planted anything more in the vegetable garden. Other than last years spuds which have been growing in the cupboards and are now growing quite successfully in the garden. Meant to plant corn and capsicum in January but have left it a bit late I think. Tried to plant some carrot from seed but haven't seen anything come up yet.

Most of the vegetable garden is covered in low growing weeds. The areas where I have planted veges I have kept free of weeds but not really bothered too much with the rest of the garden. I've almost encouraged the weed growth around the lettuces so that the rabbits won't notice them. Actually I think the rabbits are happy enough to eat the lawn, which doesn't worry me. As I was clearing weeds one day, though, I discovered a zucchini plant I thought was dead, and a cucumber plant I thought was dead. I also found another broccoli but it did not survive my attempts to uncover it. So that brings the total number of plants to:

Potatoes: Heaps
Strawberry: Heaps
Tomatoes: 5
Lettuce: 2
Broccoli: 2
Cucumber: 1
Zucchini: 2
Celery: 6
Rhubarb: 2

The potatoes are in various states of readiness. It's great to be able to walk out to the garden and dig a few up when needed. Still also in various sizes too, with the majority being small.

The strawberries are fruiting well. I did some major work to weed around them early in Jan and decided that perhaps I should have laid weedmat down before I planted them. So I've now laid weedmat down under a third of the plants. I haven't covered the whole bed as it's a bit of an experiment. I'm not sure if the black plastic is going to be good for the plants or bad. It may make them ripen too quickly or maybe even burn. I know there were some I saw from a distance that were ready but by the time I picked them a couple of days later they were a bit past it. I ended up making muffins out of them instead.

The tomato plants are growing large. The fruit is still green. I had to put stakes into the ground to hold them up. I'd bought bamboo poles for another project and that made me realise that we have bamboo growing on our property. So I cut a few stalks down and had instant stakes for the tomato plants.

The two fancy lettuces we have are not growing very big. I had been warned that if they don't get enough water they turn bitter. I didn't heed the warning and didn't water them, and they are indeed slightly bitter tasting. Not too bad but not the greatest either.

The two broccoli we have are growing very large. Stupid admission time - when I planted them I didn't know how many broccoli vegetables grown on a vegetable plant. Given how large the plants are, I'm a little surprised that there's only one vegetable on each. However knowing that I wish I'd planted a lot more plants. Mind you I did plant six but only two survived. Putting crushed eggshells around the plants has really made a difference. We had a period of time in early Jan when there wasn't much rain. Then when it did rain, the plants nearly doubled in size in a day.

So I found one of the cucumber plants when I was weeding. It has had a few flowers but is still rather small. I'm not sure if we'll get anything off it or not.

The zucchini plants are the big success stories. There are (at a guess) 6-8 zucchini growing on the large plant and 4-6 growing on the smaller plant. I didn't know at what point the fruits(?) were ready for picking so I let them grow and grow. Now I know that it's best to pick them at the size you see them in the supermarket. I picked our biggest monster (25cm?) tonight and cooked him stuffed with tomato, onion, garlic, raisins. It was delicious. But, as I'd been warned, the skin was very tough and inedible, even after baking for 45 minutes.

All 6 of the celery plants are growing strong. The one vegetable I don't care about. Ironic I suppose. Looks like some of them are ready to be eaten. Ants on a log for the kids next week I guess.

Haven't touched the rhubarb again since early December. Should probably make another crumble before they die off.


The fruit trees are doing alright. The mandarins left on the tree are past it but the oranges are still good. Have got loads of lemons. Have noticed a couple of apricots(?) growing but think the birds will probably get them before we do. Have covered the blueberry bush with bird netting this year so that the birds don't get them. Last time I looked the fruit wasn't ready yet. The passionfruit vine has been growing back after I trimmed it back quite a lot last winter. It's nowhere near as big as it was last year. Have seen some flowers and fruit developing. Likewise with the feijoa trees, it is still developing.


Have started back down the self sufficiency path again, making our own bread and lemonade. Have been a lot more successful with the bread than when I last tried it in winter. The only difference I can see between then and now is the air humidity. Then I was getting small windowless buildings but now I've got nice big fluffy loaves of bread. The only problem with my bread and lemonade is that we are going through it too quickly. I've been making about three loaves a week and seem to run out of lemonade after a day or two (and then don't get around to making more for another day or two).


The lavender field is in full bloom. It is also in full weed. Have had troubles with the weedeater and the grass alongside the lavender is taller than the lavender. Had some friends come over for a day in January and we all attacked it together, weeding six rows. I'd already done two before they came over and have done I think four since then. That makes twelve down, fifteen still to go. Just from observation I think the plants started flowering later this year than they did last year, so I'm guessing that harvesting will be later too. I certainly hope so because I've got a lot of weeding still to do. The problem is that the weeds are in underneath the plants so I have to go along on my hands and knees pulling the weeds out from the base all along the whole row and it is very time consuming.


We have had troubles with fleas this summer, thanks to the cats and dog. Touch wood things seem to be getting better this week, following spray bombing and constant vacuuming. One difference I've noticed from last year is that we don't have anywhere near the number of flies we had last year.

Tried to get the swimming pool into a useable condition. Bought all kinds of chemicals to get the acidity and pH and whatever else to the right levels. Found the filter and have been running it daily. Been keeping the chlorine tablets full in the floater thing. The pool looked great for a day or two. Then it turned green again. So we haven't gone near it since.


All in all December and January have been quite busy months. On top of all this has been the usual maintenance of mowing lawns and spraying weeds. At least this year I have a bit of a better idea of what I'm supposed to be doing.

-M

Week 52

Well, we have been in our house for a year now. As with the rest of life it feels like it has gone quickly, yet at the same time a lot has happened in that year. I remember writing my first blog entry so clearly though. I will find it very useful to look back on those entries to know what is coming up around the place. I still remember how new it all felt back then. Now it feels very comfortable.

It is now two weeks until the summer solstice and I'm not sure summer has even arrived yet. We've had a couple of really good days lately, warm and sunny. But rain is forecast for the remainder of the week.

At least with the fine weather I was able to get out and mow the lawn which really needed it, and spray the weeds which also really needed it. The funny thing is I sprayed the weeds on Friday and they are already starting to turn yellow. Whereas during winter when I sprayed weeds it took a couple of weeks before they started to die. I guess there was a lot of moisture in the ground then or something.

Picked some of the rhubarb from the garden and made a delicious rhubarb crumble. Not much else going on in the vege garden though. This weeks total is:

Potatoes: Heaps
Strawberry: Heaps of plants, a few berries growing, a few berries eaten by something
Tomatoes: 5 (maybe 6, it looks like something is growing where the one that got killed was)
Lettuce: 2
Broccoli: 2 (the leaves on the rest of the plants have been eaten by something, don't know if heads will still grow or not)
Cucumber: 0
Zucchini: 1
Celery: 6
Rhubarb: Enough for a couple more crumbles

Overall it's not looking too good. I tried crushed eggshells around one broccoli plant (didn't have many eggs so could only do it with one plant) and that plant is still intact so it may have worked. Or maybe not, we will have to wait and see.

We still have lots of challenges ahead. For a start we still haven't done much in the way of self sufficiency. Still don't have any stock. Have been talking about getting chickens at the end of the year, it is nearly the end of the year so will have to look into it. The neighbours haven't grazed our fields for a long time and the grass is getting very long again. Waist high in places. Are considering buying some of the neighbour's lambs. Need to do some more planting in the vege garden but with the rate of death for vegetables I'm not too enthusiastic about it.

Given that the first year in the property is over, I will probably only post monthly now for the second year. I've been falling behind a little lately and finding it hard to keep up.

-M

Week 51

Haven't done much this week. It's been raining a lot again. After I got back from my holiday it seemed it had been quite dry and things were drying out. But it was just a tease and now the rain is back again.

Last week the grass looked like it could do with a mow again to keep it under control. But it was too wet. Now it definitely needs a mow but is still too wet.

Had some friends come over on Friday night. We had a wander around the vege garden and they pointed out I also have rhubarb growing there, and a gooseberry bush. There are also a lot of weeds growing, but I figure as long as they're not too big or getting in the way of the veges, I'm not going to bother with them much. We also discovered I do still have a couple of lettuces left after all, that were just hiding under the mulch.

So this week's total in the garden is:

Potatoes: Heaps
Strawberry: Heaps of plants, a few berries growing, a few berries eaten by something
Tomatoes: 5
Lettuce: 2
Broccoli: 6
Cucumber: 1 (1 got killed)
Zucchini: 2
Celery: 6
Rhubarb: Heaps

There has also been something eating the leaves of the broccoli and cucumber plants. Not rabbits, must be some kind of bug.

This week I opened the second of the jars of apple jelly I made back in April. We'd finally finished eating the first jar. There were a few spots of mould on top, but once I carefully scraped it off, it was very nice underneath. Yummy.

-M

Week 50 - Planting

Have been planting heaps in the vege garden this week. Have planted six broccoli, 2 cucumber, 2 zucchini and 6 celery (not that I even like celery but the rest of the family eats it). I planted the broccoli first and within a few hours the dog had dug most of them up. I replanted them and hopefully have managed to save them all. Luckily he hasn't touched any of the others, so hopefully he has learnt his lesson.

There are lots and lots of potatoes growing in the garden. Some have even just opened flowers on them - hopefully they'll be ready for Christmas dinner. I guess these have all grown from the potatoes I failed to harvest last year.

We also still have lots and lots of potatoes left over in the cupboard from last years harvest. Most of these are growing eyes and ears and noses, roots and shoots. I took a couple of dozen and planted them in the garden as well. No idea if they'll actually grow properly but I can't see why they wouldn't. Are these what you call seed potatoes?

So the grand total in the garden now is:

Potatoes: Heaps
Strawberry: Heaps
Tomatoes: 5 (1 got killed)
Lettuce: 0 (all eaten by rabbits)
Broccoli: 6
Cucumber: 2
Zucchini: 2
Celery: 6

Before I could do the planting I had to do a bit of weeding. At least the weeding is nothing near as bad as it was last summer when it had all gotten away on us. There are a lot of buttercups and dandelions and other common weeds I'm not sure of their names. At first I pulled out the weeds by hand. Then I discovered the hoe. It makes life so much easier, and is so much quicker. I can just pull it along and cut out all those weeds in one go. (Or if you want the rude version: "I used to just do the old hand job, until I discovered how good hoeing is, now it just takes one stroke and it's done"!!! LOL).

-M

Week 49 - The Birds

We have birds back again. Lots of chirping coming from the wall/ceiling between the kitchen and living room. Lots of evidence of birds in the guttering above the deck (bird poop, loose grass flying around, etc). Birds waking us every morning between 5 and 7.

I rescued three sparrows from the fireplace in one day last week. Must be a record.

Peter got up into the ceiling cavity and removed at least one nest, and blocked up a couple of entrances.

One of the cats got into the ceiling cavity on another occasion (no, she didn't climb the ladder - there is a small hatch from our bedroom wall into the roof cavity behind it) and had so much fun she didn't want to come back out again. But I don't know if she caught anything.

Speaking of cats, the other one managed to catch a rabbit for himself. And bring it up to the house to show off.

Have had some fine weather lately. Even the ground in the lower paddocks is starting to dry out. Have mowed the lawn and attempted some weedeating. It's still growing too quickly and feels futile.

Have eaten the first 8 strawberries from our garden. They were in ok condition but the birds had put some holes into a couple of them. The chicken wire over top of the strawberry patch continues to be flattened. I think it must be the wind rather than any animals. Shouldn't be too hard to find something to prop it up. Just gotta get around to it.

-M

Week 48

Last week I went away on holiday to Norfolk Island. Had an absolutely marvellous time. Therefore didn't get much done around the place.

Came home to find only two of the six lettuces I planted still there. I suspect the bunnies got them. Pleased to see that we still have five of the six tomatoes. The strawberries are growing too. The chicken wire that sat over top of them had been flattened. Don't know if it was the dog or what, but there are still several strawberries growing and ripening so don't think the birds got any of them.

I think we have birds nesting in the guttering above the deck again.

-M