Cowboy Boots & Broken Fingers

Not Listening

January 12, 2016chrissyb 8 Comments

Here’s where I found Summer this morning.

Wrong side of the tape Summer!

She would like it known that she disagrees with management’s plan to ration grass as a precaution against drought later this season. As a result she made a unilateral decision to dine at the All You Can Eat buffet in the Top Paddock.

Awesome menu over here.

Sigh. I guess she failed to grasp the moral content of last week’s bedtime story The Ant and the Grasshopper. Bonnie stayed on the right side of the tape ~~because she is a good girl~~ because she is short for her weight which rules out both jumping and limbo dance maneuvers.

Note to self: Put sorting out the property’s disconnected mains electric fencing system high on my 2016 project list. The solar charger is losing power in this cloudy weather.

Rain on the Mediterranean

January 9, 2016chrissyb 2 Comments

Sorry New Zealand, it seems I jinxed the weather this summer by planting a little Mediterranean garden corner. Who knew I had such contrary meteorological power?

For the month before the rain came, this sad little north facing corner behind the pool was devoid of life. Even most of the weeds had given up trying to make a go of things. The previous owners had assigned it a Mojave Desert aesthetic, which they’d extended to several of the other borders around the house. Those interested in replicating this style should dump driveway gravel over non breathable soil-mat, and drench the result with weedkiller on a regular basis. A few yukkas are allowed, along with a random fig tree planted about a foot away from the deck! Yes. Really.

BEFORE: By this time I’d already pulled up some weed mat. You get the idea though.

In fairness I can see why they found this corner a shoo-in for the desert look. Those rocks face north and on a sunny day heat up to frying temperature. The soil is sandy and doesn’t hold water. It’s a location worthy of a Bear Grylls survival episode.

Eventually I think it could be a nice spot for capsicums and eggplants. In my previous garden they never quite got enough heat for the fruit to ripen before the end of summer. Here I’m hoping those heat storing rocks might steady the night-time temperatures and boost development. First though I need to rebuild the soil with the worms, microbes and organic material that perished during the years of Suffocation by Weed Mat.

In the meantime I wanted some useful, attractive plants able to tolerate the existing conditions. This is what I came up with.

AFTER: They will grow, honest.

Yes, it is quite underwhelming just now with those titchy little seedling plants. This is a real life, low budget blog not The Block. Use your imagination. I have rosemary and lavender in there, with thyme as a ground-cover. What do you think?

The lavender is ‘Hidcote’ (which I think has the nicest flowers and scent) and the rosemary is an upright variety called ‘Tuscany’. The thyme plants are all cuttings from the various thymes (common, lemon scented, and silver) that are planted in the mini herb and veggie garden which is just out of shot around the corner. Promise to blog about that soon.

They are all plants that like a thin dry soil, but the recent deluge has been nice to give them a chance to get roots established before the anticipated dry summer. I am wondering now though whether I could single-handedly avert this predicted drought by planting more lavender? Farmers willing to contribute to extensive experimental garden centre purchases please sign up in the comments*.

*Look, you’ve got to admit it was worth a try.

Rain Day

January 1, 2016chrissyb 5 Comments

Rain on New Years Day! I feel very happy sitting inside with my cup of tea watching those lovely droplets falling on the orange grove, irrigating the orchard and the paddocks, and filling up our water tank.

Beautiful rain

The grass here has been drying out and turning brown over the last few weeks so it’s a relief to have rain to (fingers crossed) stimulate another flush of green. Drought is predicted for our part of the country over summer; a scary prospect for this novice farmer. We still have hay in the shed, but Bonnie and Summer eat like — well, like horses actually — and I have no idea yet how much grass will be enough.

Essential farm equipment #1: raincoats

Relying on tank water is also new to us and keeps me very connected with the weather. During these recent dry times there’s been a little query in my head each time I turn on a tap. ‘How much do we have left in the tank?’, ‘Is this flush my last?!’. Of course I knew living in town that clean water was a limited resource, but when it keeps coming out of the tap endlessly it’s easy to become just a little complacent. I like being self sufficient for water and the sense of responsibility that engenders.

Essential farm equipment #2: gumboots

Earlier today, when the rain was a drizzle rather than a downpour, I was working on a garden project. Once the rain eases up and I can take some less waterlogged photos (it’s going to be my Mediterranean garden corner so a modicum of sunshine would be appropriate), I’ll write my first before and after post, just like a real blogger!

Kitty-Pop helped me a bit with the gardening. Mainly that involved sitting where I wanted to plant something and insisting on being the first to walk on the paving slabs.

‘Move to the left a bit with that lavender plant, slave’

Then she retired to a dry spot on top of the barbecue to give her directions from there. Never take gardening advice from a cat, they’re always wanting more catnip and less kale.

Happy Christmas

December 25, 2015chrissyb 7 Comments

Hope you’re having a splendid day wherever you are and whatever you are doing. Happy Christmas from all of us here at the farmlet.

Summer and Bonnie eating their Christmas lunch after a walk in Seven Acre Wood.

KItty-Pop resting. She had a busy day supervising her staff.

It’s been very relaxed here. Darling Daughter is visiting from Auckland. She came with me for a little kayak jaunt along the stream, then rode Summer through the woods while I led the somewhat exercise resistant Bonnie.

In the next few days I’m looking forward to pottering around the place prioritising projects for next year. I will be blogging about that soon. First things first though, dinner is on the table here. I’d better run!

Cat and Mouse

December 21, 2015chrissyb 2 Comments

Not to be outdone by the old dog in the vermin reduction stakes Kitty-Pop has been running a parallel operation from her base amongst the tack shed hay-bales.

Yesterday she was spotted on the driveway with her mark. If you’re sensitive to the sight of kitty kill I suggest you squint your eyes up a bit and you probably won’t even notice The Body. For the less tenderhearted amongst you, consider this a rodent version of Spot the Ball.

Spot the Vermin

I’m impressed she caught it. Some of the ponies’ mineral supplement had been left out on the bench, and given the state of the bag this morning I would say that was one supercharged mouse. Fortunately Kitty-Pop managed to squeeze in a bit of a kip later in the day.

Kitty-Pop mimes the actions to Sheldon’s song

Or did she? Don’t be fooled by the appearance of total relaxation. I’m pretty sure she’s just practicing her tactical breathing.

Letting Go

December 13, 2015chrissyb 3 Comments

I finished work at my salaried job a bit over a week ago. From here in I’ll be counting on the income from one day a week of self-employment in Auckland, and a similar gig — though at a fledgling stage — in Whangarei. There are a couple of part-time contracts on the horizon, as yet unconfirmed.

We haven’t quite got the Auckland house on the market yet either. Don’t get me started on why; it’s a long and irritating story involving a deck rail and a council building inspector. Upshot being there’s still that mortgage to service for a a few months.

Maybe it would have been more sensible to wait for financial certainty before ditching the government job. Over the years though I’ve learned that the process of radically changing your life is like working a flying trapeze; in order to reach the place you want to be, you must first let go of the safety you’ve been holding onto.

Reaching for what comes next

Right now I’m suspended in the space between swings, but it’s ok, I’ve been here before and I know I just have to s-t-r-e-t-c-h.

Patience Rewarded

December 7, 2015chrissyb 4 Comments

It worked! There is one less rat under the chicken house, and this old girl is the reason. See, it’s true, good things do run into the mouths of dogs who wait.

Quietly triumphant

I was going to post a photo of the dead rat, but on reflection thought you might prefer a portrait of one of the recent batch of chicken babies. Cute chicky vs chewed rat? Mmmm, let’s just say it behoves one to uphold a certain aesthetic standard.

We call her Solo — she’s five weeks old and practicing roosting

To date five rats have been caught in the rat trap too. Don’t tell Ella though, we like to preserve her fantasy that she’s the only thing ~~standing~~ lying between us and the rat king.

Chlorinating the Gene Pool

November 30, 2015chrissyb 10 Comments

We didn’t want a pool. In fact when first viewing this property I believe I said something to the land agent along the lines of ‘Damn, how much do you reckon it will cost us to fill that in?’.

I did a few hours of research on ways to repurpose unwanted swimming pools, and while there are some interesting suggestions (rainwater harvesting, aquaponics, sunken veggie gardens…) nothing quite seemed to fit. Requirements for garden water and any future aquaponics projects are already taken care of by the stream, and we are not short on space for cultivating edibles.

I concluded that other than providing a possible containment pit for naughty ponies it was looking like more of a liability than an asset.

Didn’t look this good a few months ago.

Once we arrived the pool was low on the list of priorities, and after receiving zero attention for a couple of months it slowly turned a very un-enticing shade of slime green. Whoops! We were now harbouring a health hazard. Frantic Google searching and calls to the local pool supply shop ensued. It took a good few weeks on a steep chemical learning curve to restore order and an azure blue outlook. My patience was sorely tried.

In mid-September, with daytime highs of around 15 degrees, my lovely Auntie Jean and Uncle Eddie visited. Auntie Jean swims in the sea at her home near Tauranga almost all year round. She’s no candy-ass when it comes to cold water, and thus was the first to swim in the newly hygienic pool. Jean proclaimed it ‘refreshing’*, and in honour of her inaugural dip we christened our Mediterranean blue liability ‘The Anti Gene Pool’. I remained un-convinced.

Ella dropped her rubber ball into the pool soon after we arrived. We fished it out, but every time someone swims she hangs over them anticipating a retrieve.

Recently though something has shifted. I wouldn’t say my initial assessment has entirely changed, but I’m softening. The air temperature is rising, and some days the opportunity to immerse myself in cold water has been very welcome. After Deborah and I planted the banana palm for instance, or once Giselle had finally been rescued from The Perils Of The Stream. Also a very astute friend (yes Vicki dear, that would be you), observed that when we put out a call for WWOOFers the pool might just be the asset that attracts our potential Jerusalem Cherry weeding crew.

So, who knows, the pool may yet earn its keep — for now let’s just say it’s working out a 90 day trial period.

*this term from the Auntie Jean swimming lexicon is interpreted by her daughters and nieces to mean ‘quite freezing actually’. It is sometimes followed up by the bold but equally unconvincing ‘once you’ve been in for a while you go a bit numb and it doesn’t feel cold after all’. I want to be like Auntie Jean when I grow up.

Update on the Orange Grove

November 22, 2015chrissyb 1 Comment

Just a couple of weeks ago I was showing you blossoms and bees, and now look — here are next years’ oranges on their way.

Small, but perfectly formed

We think the orange grove was planted in the mid 1980’s by the people who set up the farmlet as it now stands (previously it was probably part of a much larger farm). They must have loved citrus since we have pretty much every type you can think of — lemon (both Meyer and Lisbon), lime, mandarin, tangerine, tangelo, several varieties of orange in the grove, even kumquat and something we think is a pomelo (I’ll keep you posted).

Curiously there is no grapefruit, possibly pointing to those original owners being hypertensive. Since none of the current farmlet co-conspirators are on blood pressure medications yet (despite The Forbearing Husband’s artery clogging potato salad being a family favorite) our master marmalade maker Deborah intends to correct the grapefruit oversight asap.

Yes, I know, I’m obsessed with the bees — here is one on what might be pomelo blossom

I have high hopes for the citrus. Last month I negotiated my first farmlet barter at an eatery in Grey Lynn. I traded a couple of kilos of our limes for a glass of Chardonnay, which leaves me wondering how many kumquats equal a gin and tonic…? Interested parties with something good to swap may leave offers in the comments.

Baling Twine

November 14, 2015chrissyb 6 Comments

I’m as big a fan of baling twine as the next wannabe farmer, and always have a couple of lengths in my pockets ready for the next farm incident. The resource that arrives holding your hay bales together comes in mighty useful: an impromptu dog lead (Maisie is on heat and DJ the American Bulldog down the lane is taking a rather keen interest); a reminder as to which trees are due to be removed (tie orange baling twine round the trunk); or in true NZ Pony Club tradition as a breakaway tie up point for one’s mount.

However, the previous owners of the farmlet seem to have taken the use of baling twine to new heights. On every walk through the paddocks I find a few more pieces half-buried in the grass or adorning a gate, and in the case of one particular plum tree they really outdid themselves. This was the result of half an hour releasing branches from twine.

What did that tree do?

It is possible that liberating that tree was a grave mistake. From the extent of the bondage I can only imagine that this particular prunus has either (1) attempted to escape from the property on several occasions, or (2) has been indulging in some budget BDSM (sorry no link — use your imagination!).

Fear not dear readers, I’ve got my eye on the POI (Plant of Interest) and will be reporting back on any untoward behaviour. Never turn your back on an unrestrained Black Doris!