The Last Sunday of the Month

On the last Sunday of the month the tiny hamlet of Puhoi holds its Farmers' Market. Now don't be misled by the 'tiny hamlet' description,  this upper class enclave has a museum, a one-room library, a pub, a hotel and a general store. It also has substantial monies. It is located a good 20 minutes closer to Auckland than my more middle class town of Warkworth and caters to a more upper class resident.

I figured it would be both fun and educational to attend their monthly farmers' market. So Dan and I loaded up the girls and off we went. No, we didn't forget Yael and Jesse. Yael is nursing a whopper of a cold and Jesse always hangs around his food source.

It was a drizzly kind of day and since it is still winter here, there were only a few market stalls open but the variety was there. We had a great olive oil stand with all kinds of olive oil and lime, or nuts or peppers, or whatever. We bought a bottle for Yael which she loved and took back with her to Auckland (probably so I couldn't sneak some).

There was a display of outdoor wood furniture with the carpenter there. He appeared to be doing a roaring business. Dan talked for a long time with a bee keeper who will bring you hives and supply the bees. In return you sign a contract and get part of his proceeds when he harvests the honey. Since bees are always welcome, particularly as we are increasing the plants here on the farm, I think we may sign up.

There were handcrafted quilts and stuffy toys, plants of all sizes, silver jewelry with upscale prices and a soap maker. I couldn't resist this one; I bought a cinnamon soap. It smells great. I'll let you know if it actually cleanses as it seasons me. Perhaps it'll put a little spice in my life. Sorry, I never could resist a pun!

Puhoi wisely places this market next to a playground and various kids of all sizes gravitated there. So did ours. I spent a lot of time pushing swings and watching all the activity. Lots and lots of people brought their dogs. But these were different breeds than those I see up in Warkworth. Here in Warkworth I see lots of working dogs - by which I mean herder dogs. In Puhoi I saw what I can only assume are pure bred animals of breathtaking beauty but bearing little resemblance to working dogs.

Before we left, we visited the library and two lovely ladies oohed and aahed over the girls. One lady showed us a refurbished rocker - child size - and asked Alessia and Naavah to be the first children to sit in it. They were quite honored and I think it was the high point of their visit. No, the high point was definitely their fresh-squeezed orange juice. Squeezed right in front of them. Can't beat that for value.

We had so much fun and learned so much from talking to the stall owners that I hope we can make it a regular part of our monthly schedule. When we got back, we all talked about ways to enlarge our farm operation and we voted unanimously to finally  take the plunge and get some chickens. I'll let you know how that works out in the next blog. Til then!

The Market Garden

 I have spoken before about our massive garden, aka The Market Garden. It has so taken over our lives that we have very little time for anything else. It is a gigantic project and the whole family (except for 6 month old Jesse) is put to work.

 

I have bought a ton of seeds and propagating trays and Dan salvaged a perfect square window which I am using as a cold frame. The first seedlings are in. They are mostly cool weather crops such as spinach, radishes, pumpkins, and peas. While we are awaiting their arrival on the farm, the garden progresses.

 

Dan pictured a large (He sure achieved that!) garden with zones and walkways. He hired someone to put in the poles that will hold up the netting and serve as guides for the planking. The beds will be raised and we already have had 2 deliveries of top soil, mulch, gravel, and compost. All of these are wheel barrowed into place by Dan and now by Yael since Dan’s back went out. Are any of us surprised? Dan works all the time and something had to give.

 

I pretty much smooth out paper and babysit. What paper? Glad you asked. When my household goods were shipped here from the States, everything, and I mean everything including paper clips, was wrapped in white paper. Needless to say, we have a lot of it.

So Dan decided to use it. We smooth out the sheets of paper, cut up the cardboard boxes and spread the boxes and the sheets over the weeds inside the garden. Then we spread hay, then compost and top soil and finish off with the mulch. By the way, I use the royal “we”. I smooth papers; that is my total contribution. But a vital one, I’m sure.

 

The Jumper

Dan has been very busy working on our massive garden plot. One of our neighbors refers to it as The Market Garden. But he took time out to move the steers from paddock #1 aka Mt. Everest and asked my help. I put away all that vital stuff I was doing - cutting quilting squares, eating toast and honey, listening to Rod Stewart - and put my shoulder to the wheel.

Literally. My job was to park my car above the route to the quarantine paddock, rest my shoulder against the car, and wait. The plan was that when Dan rounded up the steers and sent them my way, they would have to turn down toward the correct paddock. And the plan worked. Well, 3/4th of it worked. Three steers moved out smartly and trotted down the hill. The fourth ran straight at the fence into #2 and clambered over it and sprinted away.

I took out after the 3 steers while Dan chased down the jumper. He gave up pretty quickly and joined me in putting the docile bovines into the correct paddock. Then, leaving me to guard the gate so the 3 wouldn't leave while the gate remained open to embrace Mr. Jumper, Dan headed back to paddock #1.

I waited. And I waited. And then I waited some more. Finally Dan arrived. Alone! It appears that the jumper decided he liked the thrill of the chase and jumped another fence. This one into an adjoining farm. We didn't know these people but they have a huge farm and Mr. Jumper could be anywhere.

Dan drove the quad over to the farm to see if he could find our steer but no luck. We got hold of the estate manager who does not live on site and arranged that we would drive the docile three to the neighboring farm, hopefully linking them up with the jumper and then herd all 4 back to the quarantine paddock.

This involved using the main road and was quite a hairy undertaking. Or so I was told. I remained at the house babysitting. Yael said they never could have done it without the aid of the estate manager and his fabulously trained dog. I've got to get me one of those. All I need is about $4,000! Perhaps later.

The end of this story is that the next day, the jumper was picked up and sent to auction. He had always had a wayward spirit as you can see from the above picture, and now he would be going to a larger farm with more stock where, hopefully, he would settle in. Our remaining 3 steers seem quite relieved to have him gone. And so are we.

You may be wondering why I chose this picture to open my blog. It's pretty simple. This is the biggest (pun intended) thing going on at the farm. Remember all those blogs about our drought? This is Dan's answer. Since it is seriously huge, we may never have to worry about the pond drying up again. The stock will always be watered and our new, massive garden will always have the water it needs to keep on growing.

But the process wasn't simple. First we had to have a road cleared from the shared road through the orchard, through the sheep yard and around to the back of the red, red barn (see above). Then a deep pit had to be dug, levelled, gravelled, levelled again and raked.

Then the water tank itself had to be delivered and left on its side. And finally, 3 men with machinery had to manuever it into position and lower it into the hole. Quite an undertaking. But we're not done yet.

Don't ask me how that last picture got in there. I can't figure it out and my techie guru, Yael, is feeding the baby so you'll just have to admire the gates to the new barn as well as the tank addition to the red barn.

Dan still has to install the gutters, filter system and machinery to make it all work. I'll keep you informed.

Moving Right Along

Things have been moving right along here lately. Our driveway is finished and is fabulous. No more potholes, no more mud slides, nothing but solid gravel. I think the kids could even ride their trikes on it.

The porch has steps again and the first coat of enamel is on and hard. Of course, one of the handrails is not yet attached but one can’t have everything and we rarely use that porch anyway. In the Spring we plan to put a bench out there and survey our domain. If we ever have the time to sit down.

So far our days are spent standing up and running from one job to the next. We have our first lamb of the season but several other ewes appear ready to pop and that calls for added vigilance. I don’t quite know why since there is nothing to do but call the vet in case of trouble but we all feel better checking the flock frequently.

The yearlings have settled in as if they had been born here. Dan and I shifted both flocks and the steers last week and it all went pretty well. The steers were the easiest. They trotted around the paddock, shied at the gate, and played hard to get but then ambled through and started grazing. No problem there.

The old flock (with all those pregnant ewes) was pretty placid too. The borrowed ram ignored us completely and the rest had that ‘above it all’ look they get whenever I come anywhere near.

The Suffolk sheep are wild beyond belief but even they eventually made it into #2. They ran up hill and down, outflanking Dan as they went. I had the tougher job of standing beyond the gate to prevent them from bolting down the wrong paddock. I did very well. I could apply for a job at Buckingham Palace as a Guard any time. "We also serve who only stand and wait". Dan gotten pretty winded tho.

I spent a few days down in Auckland with the family and an unanticipated additional day due to a dental emergency. I had not left enough food for that additional day for Smudge (cat pet and mouser extrodinaire). So I fretted that she would leave home and never return.

This led to a number of derogatory comments from my son and my daughter-in-law. Some of the kinder were to the effect that no cat ever had it so good. That I paid more for Smudge’s food then they did for the kids’ food. Not true but this Hill’s Science Diet is ridiculously expensive. But the best was that Smudge in 2 short months has gone from a sleek, slim cat to a ‘rotund’ tubby. Not true; she just has a very thick coat.

So I get back to the farm and race up the steps to my apartment and fill the food bowl. Then I go help Dan unload the car and put away groceries. When I return to my room, the cat bowl is half empty and Smudge is sitting there washing her face. I pick her up for a hello cuddle and she belches right in my face. Perhaps I have been overfeeding her just a tad. Til next time!

Nothing To Do

The other day I was speaking to a friend on Skype. Once again, thanks Skype, I don't think I could exist without you. I am, after all, very far down under here in New Zealand.

Anyway, my friend asked how I could bear it: living on a farm with nothing to do and nothing ever happening. So, here is an open blog to all of you dreamers who think I am spending my time eating bon bons and watching the rain fall.

My days for the past two weeks since my stuff arrived from Arizona has been spent unpacking. That is when I am not checking the stock, checking the water troughs, hiking down to get the mail, doing the activities of daily living - cleaning, laundry, etc. I do still eat, wear clean clothes occasionally, etc. etc.

Unpacking is a real challenge. You try getting the contents of a 4300 sq. ft. house into 2 rooms. I am not being too successful at it. I have managed to scatter some of my furniture into the apartment in Auckland and the living room in the big house here. But what do I do with my books and dvds? I stack them so that I look as though I'm living in the midst of some weird second hand book store.

While that has been going on, I have also been preparing the 2 freezers for the home kill which we should collect next Monday. This has involved getting a tow hitch for the station wagon, borrowing Dave's flat trailer, moving all the meat to the house freezer and cleaning and defrosting the coffin freezer in the garage. Note: there is a lot of water when you defrost a freezer and this is one big freezer. It is also a deep freezer and I can't reach the bottom of it without falling in. My solution has been to throw towels into the bottom, wait until they are saturated, pull them out with a broom handle and leave them to dry on the fence outside.

The tow hitch was Yael's contribution and Dan borrowed the trailer. So I have not been alone in all this. I never am. I am mostly an observer of the continuing construction of the garden. Dan has now gotten to the point where he and a neighbour are putting in the planks around the perimeter to keep out the loathsome possums.

The porch is still not finished. We can't paint in the rain and there is plenty of rain. The big house is heated by a wood burning stove which means we need wood. Dan takes care of that. Helping fell a neighbor's trees and getting the trees to chop up. Which he does and then splits them and stacks them ready to heat the house. I, on the other hand, have a nice little electric heater and my efforts at keeping warm consist of pushing two buttons.

Oh, and did I mention that while all that is going on, we are having the a new load of gravel put on the driveway? It seems that our poor, misused driveway couldn't handle all the moving vans and turned itself into a pitted pond of mud. Yael had to gun the wagon and surge up out of the driveway while making a sharp left turn in order not to get stuck. Scared me to death! Alessia thought it was funny.

So the next time you think of me, whiling away my time reading or snoozing in my cozy little nook, DON'T. The chances are that I am busier that I ever was back in the States. And loving every minute. Well, most of them anyway.

Strange Sentences

The other evening Dan called me. "Mom, I've been worried about you. I called a couple of times and there was no answer."

"I was out setting the possum traps."

This set me thinking. Of all the sentences I have spoken in these 68 years (I didn't speak at all until I was 2), the above sentence may be one of the weirdest. I grew up in Washington, D.C. As far as I know I had never seen a cow, definitely not seen one up close. And even more definitely, had no knowledge of possums, no desire to catch one, no blood lust to kill one. How things have changed! So here are some of my favorite strange sentences.

Yael and I are traversing Mt. Everest, AKA paddock #1, to bring the steers down for the home kill guys to dispatch them to the happy grazing grounds so we can have our next year's meat. Now that is a strange sentence. I had never linked live cows with my hamburger. Now I do and I have to say that our hamburger is delicious. Still, there is more than a twinge as my buddies for the past 2 years amble off for the last time.

Yael has graciously offered to sprint up the paddock and move the steers down in my direction where I will herd them to the next outpost.

"If I fall in a tomo, tell the kids I love them," she shouted as she skirted the tomo barricade. Now that's a strange sentence!

I have had my household stuff shipped from the states and the moving van has pulled up to our gates. Our driveway won't take the large van so they have driven a smaller van to transport my books,  bed, etc. from the gate to the house. It is a horrible day weather wise. It is cold, gray, and wet.

"The rain is coming sideways, so we'll have to pull the feeder truck in at an angle to try and keep your stuff dry." It took me a while to understand what he said and then I puzzled some more. What difference did the angle make when you have to carry the stuff across the driveway and and down into the barn or across another driveway and into the house? I still don't know but I occupy my many idle moments trying to figure it out.

When Dan and Yael went to a restaurant for dinner, placed their orders, and waited 45 minutes for the non-appearance of their food, they questioned the owner.

"Where is are our food?" they asked politely.

"Surf's up," came the reply. It seems the wait staff all booked to the nearby beach for play time and the diners were left to wait until the surf surge was over. The strangest part of this was that the owner didn't seem to feel there was anything strange about that at all!

I could go on and on. The stock boy, who in response to my query as to the whereabouts of light bulbs, stared at me fixedly and said "You're American!!" Now I wasn't in the wilds of Borneo, there are lots of us Americans here and we are all over the television (last season's shows, but still American). He had to have heard an American accent before, hadn't he? And besides, what was the deal with me being an American?

I have had a lot of strange reactions to America and my being an American. Perhaps that will be the next blog. See you later.