Oh I wish I had a WOOFER

I know, I'm repeating myself. It's just that time of year where a pair of extra hands would be helpful. I've picked a lot of huge tomatoes which need to be made into sauce. I'm not sure how many more I will get as I think the plants have blight. The symptoms are browning leaves and fruit browning before it goes ripe. A Woofer could pull out the affected plants and burn them, plant some seeds for winter crops, turn compost, summer prune fruit trees, pick gherkins and bottle them, dig the rest of the garlic and clean it up, pull the shallots and string them up, pick the last of the currants and preserve them, clean the chookhouse, weed and water, then mow the lawn. They'd deserve a good dinner and a swim after that.
You'd think two teenage boys would be pretty useful around the house wouldn't you? I haven't got the knack of how to get them motivated to help. Skatey has gone off adventuring again anyway, over to Anatori to collect Paua from the sea over there. One last adventure before school starts. Can't believe I'll have two at High School, I'm really hoping Skatey will find a lot to inspire him there. The teen is looking forward to going back now that we've sorted out his timetable clashes and bought the new uniform and supplies for school. He's doing English, Math, Physics, Computer Studies, P.E and Outdoor Education so I reckon he's in for an awesome year.

Tracks

Last week I packed up all the children for a journey over the nearby Takaka hill. It is not a trip I have done often despite living in this area for much of my life. Stopping me has been fear. It's not a particularly treacherous drive but I do hold onto a quite irrational fear of edges of hills from childhood.

Our destination was through winding roads to beautiful beaches beyond, in the Golden Bay. Summer camping spots full to the brim with tents don't hold much appeal to me though the beaches, wildlife, galleries and roadside stalls will now I'm sure tempt me back again. We past Pohara, Tata and Wainui at which point I wondered why I'd waited so long to go back to the area. We thought of their Dad and how much he loves adventure, a contrast to my homebodyness, as I willed myself through the fear to set a good example to my children.

We arrived at Totarnui and spent awhile on the beach watching the waterskiiers at full tide. A girl fell off and was knocked out. It was comforting to watch the rescue helicopter arrive what seemed like about 20minutes later. Skatey found a bike park where he attracted a crowd of adoring 8- 10 year old boys to watch his unicycle stunts.

The event that bought us to the bay started at 1pm. We were there to farewell the teen on his rite of passage to manhood. We didn't know what to expect really, though the course had come highly recommended. As his mother I can't explain the experience but from my perspective it was a very powerful and spiritual journey. Boys leave their mothers for the rite of passage with their fathers or mentors, other returning "trackers" and a group of Elders, for their week long rites. As a mother you say goodbye to the boy in a ceremony and welcome back a young man as we did yesterday. It seems all involved including the fathers gained so much spiritually from the experience that I would recommend it to families with teenage boys. Our extended family and even one of the teen's teachers was there to welcome him back as a young man. The love and support was almost overwhelming. We were also very touched to see the impression it had made on the other young men involved.

For me personally it was a joy to see respectful, spiritual, kind, caring, strong men are for real.

I applaud Tracks Trust for the experience they gave our family.

Using Rotten eggs

So it goes along with hatching eggs that a few may not hatch for one reason or another. The kids now view these as quite a treat, we collect them ever so carefully so as not to crack them and get covered in the stench of rotten egg, and go for an evening stroll down to a small stream nearby.

We had a "real" farm kid staying with us this week and he certainly showed us what separates the farm kids from the townies.

You can just see the farm kid in the stream, while a former farmers daughter sits on the bank wishing she still jumped in streams, climbed trees and chased other kids with weta's and hu hu grubs.

We waited and watched for eels coming upstream attracted by the smell of the eggs, while he just waded on in bare toes only covered by orange "crocks" and broke the couple of eggs that hadn't exploded when they hit the water. Though instead of high -tailing it out of the water quickly, he stayed in to look for koura or fresh water crayfish. It was nice to see that our stream is so healthy with wildlife, he found 5 in a matter of minutes. He also informed me their Maori name was "koura" as in "Kaikoura" on the South Island East coast, renowned for it's lovely sea crayfish and whale watching. We spied about 3 eels (in Maori tuna )make their way upstream to our eggs, but they weren't as big as the ones we saw last summer. We also discussed the New Zealand place names we know which include the words Kai (food) Koura (crayfish) and tuna (eel) and came up with quite a few from the areas we had lived and visited. These give a good clue to the history of an area. We deciphered another Maori place name we know. The road where we live translates to: dog oven!! So we speculated that probably this area may have been known in olden times for eating dog. For the boys especially our evening excursion in cooperated some great lessons that they just wouldn't get if traditionally stuck in a classroom to learn local history and ecology. Parents, never underestimate the value of family life and what kids can learn by"living"

We all came home glad to have taken the time to do it.

"Stuck to the computer boy" formally know as the "teen" sadly didn't join us.

Though at least I could also refer to him as "passed NCEA, stuck to the computer boy". Exam results came through yesterday.

Or to be specific, I should describe as: "often grouchy with mother, doesn't want to work, obsessed with a nice girl, talks to her online, thankfully passed NCEA, stuck to the computer, teen, lovely,boy"

hatching

Late Dec saw the majority of my chooks sitting on eggs or clucky. The three old ladies shared two eggs between them and by chance I noticed the hatching happening on Christmas eve. It's pretty mean but I whisked the 2 hatching eggs off the old girls and put them under the clucky bantam to hatch. She had six due also to hatch that day. I did this because I've let the big White Leghorns and Light Sussex hatch eggs before and found that their mothering instinct is nowhere near as strong as the bantams. They've stepped on the babies, left them out in the cold and while their backs were turned lost them to hawks and cats. By contrast the bantams puff up and attack when you come within a few feet of them. They are so hilarious to watch, the way they fuss about showing the chick some tid bit they've found. Clucking, scratching and flinging things everywhere with their feet as they call them over. Remember too if you are raising chicken to give them fresh water every day in a shallow bowl so they don't drown in it. Also while we do love hedgehogs in out garden we have to keep the chickens caged at night as my neighbour reported a hedgehog attacking her chickens again last week.So now the nests are empty and the egg production has stepped up a bit bacon and egg pie, scrambled eggs and Pavlova with fresh berries are back on the menu.

This week in the garden I have harvested: a cauliflower, about a bucket full of spuds, 1 cucumber, 5 tomatoes, 5 gigantic marrow fed to the chooks, 2lb of raspberries turned into 4 jars of jam, an ice cream container of red currents popped into the freezer, a feed of beans, poppy seeds, lemon verbena leaves for tea, St Johns wort for oil and too many garlic bulbs to count. Alot of them have some kind of fungal disease resulting in a sort of grey smelly bulb beginning to rot, they must be burnt quickly or I think the disease could spread to the rest of the garden. Their beds will have to be rotated for about 3 years, which makes finding enough space for next winter's crop quite difficult. I think it has happened because we've had a wet spring/ summer here and my garlic beds were well mulched to keep them moist for more typical dry summer weather.
Planted: spring onions
Planning: to plant more corn and leeks. Prepare beds for autumn/winter crops.
Enjoying: Watching the cat sitting under the fejoia tree for hours staring up into the tree which is flowering and wishing she was quick enough to catch herself a wax eye (bird) which is helping to pollinate the flowers.

Giveaway

This won't take a minute.
Pop over and see my friend Melissa who is having her first giveaway. It's cool Kiwiana.

Holiday

Merry Midsummer Christmas to all from the prettiest corner of New Zealand.

Sk8tey, teen, PJ and the red head will be with their Dad.

Gilly will be without her babies for the first time in 17 years.

It aches already.

Sharing

I set up my handcrafts at the "Country Occasion" a couple of weeks ago. My photography skills on my son's camera do not do the scenery justice. We were set up in the middle of the beautiful Neudorf vineyard with a view of mount Arthur in the distance, on the only fine day amongst a week of rain. Setting up- around 8am.

I missed my family to keep me company but got set up well before the fundraiser started. I had West Coast whitebait for breakfast and trust me it was well worth the entry fee. My favorite potter Owen Bartlett was there, though I still haven't indulged in one of his magnificent pieces.

The kind words said about my work were enough to make the day worthwhile but by far the best, was a European lady who saw me knitting once the crowds were settled and listening to Jazz and later good old 60's and 70's covers. She said "I'll show you continental knitting it's heaps faster"
Well, that demonstration was enough to convince me! I have been practicing ever since. It's taking alot of persistence to retrain my brain after 18 years of pretty constant English style knitting, but I am so determined to master the art. I did several rows just practicing garter stitch and then "googled" continental knitting to figure out the purl technique. Now I'm onto some pink candy striped fingerless mittens in white angora and pink homespun for a friend's daughter.
As I get older I appreciate the value of sharing knowledge freely. In my 20's I carefully guarded my craft and gardening skills and wouldn't share, but now with the example of fabulous Aunts and strangers like the one I met at the fair I realise how rewarding it is to pass it on. In a way that is why blogging continues to be rewarding for me.
I may not make it back here between now and the New Year. So I'll take this opportunity to say to all who visit:
Thanks so much for your support. All the best for Christmas and New Year wherever you may be in the world. The people who I correspond with will be in my thoughts, along with my close friends and family.
I shall be back in early January for more waffles about my garden, crafts and other stuff that I am learning.

Our Agricultural and Pastorial Show

The kids had prize winning peas and Broad (fava) beans with their dinner tonight. I reminded them on several occasion's that they were the best in the district. (Tongue in cheek) Though the "red head" still didn't eat what was on his plate. He did appreciate the fish that the neighbour gave us. I text my Dad to gloat and he quipped "just as well for you I didn't have anything entered" Garden rivalry runs strong in our family!!! Makes it all the more worth the hard work.

I got up early this morning and carefully selected my best vegetables for the Agricultural and Pastoral Show. My organic peas and Beans took "first" from the old fellas who entered almost every vegetable category. My mixed collection of no less than 8 varieties didn't place, which made me all the more determined for next year.

Entering the A and P show is very "Nana" but I really enjoy it. I have missed it the past two years but set my alarm today to enter even though I really could have done with a weekend sleep in. My handcrafts also scored two seconds and two thirds making me determined to have another crack at the Nana knitters again next year.

Our little local show is great, but nothing to compare to the ones held in large New Zealand farming communities. We went with my Dad, in my (only daughters') opinion- the best farmer in the world, every year to the A and P show in the Wairarapa. It was about 5 times the size of our little Motueka show and featured real stud animals and serious farming business. Of course I was a pretty stuck up farmers' daughter when I moved here, and anything less than about 1,500 acres was a hobby farm. ( Tongue in cheek again) I honestly do remember laughing to myself at kids who said their fathers were farmers on 250 acres. I am so glad that life did take the path it did as I don't think I would have liked myself much if I had continued to be that person with those attitudes.

I do remember so fondly though those Solway Park shows with fantastic Rams, Bulls and Roosters in the 70's. The handcraft sheds were full of beautiful homespun crafts, making an awe inspiring impression on little Gilly, while the animal sheds had angora rabbits, cashmere goats and merino lambs.

Shearing displays in Masterton, the home of Golden Shears were of course supreme. A few seasons in a shearing shed as a Rousie will always remain the best of my youth. Try it, hard pysical work throwing fleeces all day, skin covered in fresh Lanolin, music and laughter, you can't beat it. Good people and good money, it's nearly the perfect lifestyle job for a teenager in my opinion.

Today my Pj loved the piglets the most. She said to me "Mum remember when I asked you for a little piglet pet?' I love piggies too. The miniature Schnauzer puppies stole my heart as well.

All memories and moments making for a pretty awesome day. Never mind the rain, farmers and gardeners LOVE it!

Insects. Goodies verses baddies

Spotted in the garden this morning, oodles of honey bees, several types of hover fly, ladybirds and tiny wee praying mantis. On the baddies list not too many aphids but a growing population of green vegetable (stink) bugs.
I do not want to find any potato psyllids and am keeping a close eye out for signs of infestation. My Dad, who has a small market garden has warned me they are on the increase in these parts and are quite devastating to potatoes, tomatoes, eggplants etc. There doesn't seem to be too much info about controlling them in the home garden except to squash them and encourage ladybugs to the garden which may feed on them. To encourage ladybugs and other beneficial insects: let buckwheat, parsnip, parsley, yarrow, Valerian, chervil, mustard,phacelia, radish etc go to seed in the garden. Also don't get too stressed about the aphids on roses because the lady bugs will want to feed on these when they get to the garden. I have also noticed hoards of wax eyes going round the garden eating aphids this spring. The article I highlighted above mentions some insecticides will control physllids including organic ones, which I suspect would be pyrethrum. Another thing I saw at a shop which imports "Trade Aid" items the other day was a bar of "Neem" soap. I thought that might be quite useful as a soapy water spray against bugs. Has any one given that a try?
I like how the garden looks at this time of year. I'm mulching as much as I can to keep the grassy weeds down as the rain has given everything the energy to flourish, including the weeds. I love that my garden is getting a much better balance of Nature being in charge.
Bugs, flowers, sweet smells and sounds, seed heads, movement and BUZZ.