another year

It's 6 months and 1 day since I last wrote here. So a few changes!

Time for an update on happenings... It's the 4th anniversary of arriving in NZ.

This is the start of year 5 and hopefully better things.

I am now working in Auckland... commuting here Monday to Friday... just finishing my 10th week here... initial contract finishes on 31st March but I would like it to continue.

J completes his last year 12 exams on Friday. Prize-day is on Friday 10th December. J will be getting the prize for Geography in his year. He has been made a prefect a term early. Next year is his final year. On Saturday 11th Dec., J is heading to Northern Ireland for a month. His choice to spend Christmas in the cold!

R is finishing teaching on 10th December and will be on summer holiday until late January.

Hawke's Bay has had much rain over winter and we have plentiful grass on the section. Probably too much for 5 young steers but that is good in Hawke's Bay!

All the vegetation on our property has grown well. The larger trees are becoming problems and I need to spend time over Christmas pruning a few of them.

Key point. My grape vine is producing lots of fruit so looking forward to a harvest in February/March.

We have a new cat. Photos will be posted in due course. The cat was desperately needed because of a mouse invasion over winter. Floods in the valleys drove them uphill to our house. He enjoyed catching them and bringing them live into the house to play!

There's lots more news but that's all for now.


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elm

One of the people I met at the Woodturners Guild recommended i check out a timber supplier in Onekawa. I called in on Thursday morning and discovered he had a large supply of elm. I have never worked in elm. It is a rare wood in Europe now but apparently there is a good local supply in New Zealand!

I will plan a few test pieces of furniture and call back in a couple of weeks to pick up some boards to experiment. Caroline wants a wine-rack so maybe that will be the material I will use!

woodturning

I have joined the Hawke's Bay Woodturners Guild at Waiohiki. They meet every Wednesday.

So now I will be producing lots of bowls!!!!

When I improve, you can place your orders! Will let you know. And maybe I'll post a photo.

a new herd

About 2 weeks ago, J bought 5 new steer calves. We have loads of grass with the wetter summer and it should continue growing through the winter months if it does not get too cold. Most nights it gets down to about 10 degrees.

J plans to sell the herd in October / November when prices should be good.

autumn

It's well into autumn in Hawke's Bay with most of the fruit picked and all grapes harvested. The autumn reds and golds on the trees are great but not as good as usual as 3 hard frosts two weeks ago brought down a lot of leaves.

I will be posting an update on the garden story shortly.

As we approach the shortest day, a new planting season is nearing. I am preparing garlic in the fridge to plant on 21st June.

recipes

Some of my readers out there have been trying the recipes I have posted.

My friend, Caroline wants to try some of the newest recipes. I will post more in next few days.

orienteering update

J was competing this weekend in the Hawke's Bay schools championships.

He came first in his group, beating the nearest competitor by 12 minutes.

Next major competition in the New Zealand schools championships in July.

His school won all six of the categories they competed in!

statins

I have been recommended to start a course of statins but have so far resisted. I remain to be convinced that they are a solution. Somewhere out there the pharmaceutical companies have control of the media just like the oil companies.

Some research out last week raises new doubts on advantages of statins.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/7745438/Statins-raise-chances-of-kidney-failure-and-cataracts.html

Tomato chutney recipe

I have made two batches of chutney this summer with my crop of tomatoes. The first recipe ended up being very sweet. This second recipe came from a book sent from a friend in Australia. It is a collection of home recipes compiled in the 1970's. This chutney has ended up being hot. It will work well with curries.

I have had a request from another friend for my recipe so here it is.

3kg ripe tomatoes

1 kg apples (green) I used granny smiths

500g onions

250g sultanas

600ml vinegar I used cider vinegar

1kg brown sugar

4 tsp salt

3 tsp pepper

1 tsp ground cloves

1 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Peel and cut up the tomatoes, apples and onions.

Boil all the ingredients together for 45 minutes. Then bottle and seal.

I used 2kg of tomatoes for my batch and factored the rest of the ingredients accordingly. I ended up with just over five 500ml Mason jars of chutney.

You peel tomatoes by immersing them in boiling water for a minute or so. I am so over peeling tomatoes!!!!!!!!!

Now to try a peach chutney recipe with the black boy peaches!

Layered lamb and potato bake

A few weeks ago I tried this slow cooker recipe for the first time. It turned out to be really good so I am putting it up here to share. The original is in the Holst 'Popular Potatoes' book. My American friends will have to convert the measures to pounds and ounces, etc.

for 6 servings:

800g floury potatoes

1/2 tsp salt

1 large onion

1 large clove garlic

I Tbsp oil

1.2-1.5kg (about 8) lamb shoulder chops

1 x 400g can diced tomatoes in juice

2 Tbsp tomato paste

1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 tsp dried oregano

salt and pepper

chopped basil or parsley to serve (optional)

Turn your slow cooker to LOW and coat with non-stick spray.

Peel and thinly slice the potatoes.

Arrange the potatoes in a layer in the slow cooker and sprinkle with the salt.

Peel and chop the onion and garlic.

Heat the oil in a frying pan, add the onion and garlic and cook until the onion has softened.

While the onion cooks, arrange the lamb chops in a layer on top of the potatoes.

When the onion is ready, stir the tomatoes and juice, tomato paste, vinegar and oregano into the pan. Season to taste, then bring the sauce to the boil.

Pour the onion and tomato mixture over the lamb.

Cover and cook on LOW for 8-10 hours.

To serve, carefully move the chops to one side. Divide the potatoes between plates, place a chop on top of each and spoon over some of the sauce. garnish with some chopped parsley or basil if you wish.

Enjoy!

Monday 1st February - another kind of road-kill

It has been raining most days for the last 3 weeks... very, very unusual for Hawke's Bay summer... the countryside is a very unseasonal green! We have just had six inches of rain in the last 36 hours! Lakes and new streams abound! The wet weather and the warm temperatures has resulted in an explosion in the frog population. They are everywhere.

The usual candidates for road-kill here are possums and rabbits. On the way home from Taradale last night, J remarked that with dozens of frogs jumping all over the road, the frogs were a new kind of road-kill.

Friday 15th January - plum chutney

I made a batch of plum chutney today with a bagful of the plums. It is all bottled in preserving jars this evening.

I slow-cooked a batch of plums yesterday and put them in the freezer.

There is over two bags of plums left... more stewing tomorrow, I think.

Thanks to those of you who read my blog and sent me recipes for plums and tomatoes.

Thursday 14th January - what do politicians eat?

A politicians role in life is to appear to be in control and to attack those with opposing views. This gives them the impression of having power. Power corrupts.

They usually eat their opponents for breakfast.

When they are cornered, politicians ( and civil-servants) eat their own. They are cannibals.

That is what is happening now.

Wednesday 13th January - marketday

We sent the three steers to market today. Our grass is getting low despite the rain. We would not have made it until March/April when the rains proper should start again

It was the first cattle market of 2010 and J got a fair price for them. He is talking about buying 4 calves again after Easter.

After 3 years of drought, Hawke's Bay has been de-stocked. With our wet spring, most of the farms have surplus grass. There were hundreds of cattle sold, coming from as far away as the Chatham Islands, Taupo and Taihape. Usually stock is shipped to Taupo at this time of year rather than the other way round!

Tuesday 12th January - quail update

The quail couple now have a collection of eight chicks. They appear occasionally but when they notice human observers they disappear very quickly.

I will try to get a photograph.

Tuesday 12th January - rabbit colony

The rabbits are becoming more brave, now appearing in pairs. I have laid poison all over the hillside but it appears to be having no effect. They are eating the poison but the numbers are not reducing.

I think it is time to invite my rabbit hunter friends from Wellington around for a weekend!

Tuesday 12th January - garden update

I have not mentioned the vegetable or fruit garden for a while.

I have about 50 tomato plants growing this summer. All of them have been planted outdoors since late November. The earliest 20 are starting to produce fruit now. The later ones are all ones I have grown from seed and will be producing fruit from late February. So we should have a supply until late May. Unfortunately R and J are not tomato fans so I will be searching for tomato recipes soon to try and preserve the excess over next winter. I covered all the tomatoes with a long net last week to protect them from the birds. Yesterday we had a waxeye caught in the net so there must be a gap somewhere.

I am growing a wider range of vegetables this summer:

shallots, chives, spring onions, white onions, red onions, lettuce, tomatoes, potatoes, beetroot, cucumbers, peppers/capsicums(red and yellow), chillies and leeks. I have also planted water melons, parsley, celery, garlic, ginger, mint and mustard. The garlic is a bit disappointing for a first attempts. I will have to apply the lessons learned this year to make a better go at garlic next winter/spring! The lettuce are covered with nets to protect them from the rabbit colony which is developing on our section.

The bay tree has exploded in every direction this springtime. I had to prune it last week and throw out loads of bay leaves. My stews and curries cannot keep up with all the bay leaves! We also have a good rosemary bush.

J and I picked most of our riper plums over the past weekend. We had to harvest them a bit early as the thrushes, blackbirds and mynah birds were feasting on them. We filled 4 shopping bags with our harvest. Again, I am working out how to preserve them for later in the year. Any recipes out there? Our 3 steers have a liking for the plums too. They were eating the plums which the birds had knocked to the ground.

The strawberry crop was good this summer and I won the battle with the birds. I caught several birds in the net covering them and after that the birds gave up and moved on the the pear tree.

Our nashi pear tree is nearing its end. After blossoming well in the springtime, it has died slowly with pears left on only one or two branches. The birds are eating the fruit before it is ripe. I think I will have to cut it down in the autumn. It is the only tree to die this summer so far.

The peaches (black boy) are doing well. They will have a good crop in a few weeks. I bet few northern irelanders have seen black peaches!

The nectarine tree is producing fruit this year. Last year there was nothing. Not sure what the difference was other than we had a wetter springtime. The fruit should ripen by the end of January.

We have almonds ripening; oranges, lemons and limes growing which will ripen over the winter months; olives developing which will be ready to harvest in the autumn.

I have three walnut trees which I have grown from seed. They will be planted out somewhere on the property over the winter months, in July or August.

The feijoa has had a brilliant blossom over the last month and there should be a good crop by May. I have another feijoa to plant in the autumn.

My grape vine is about 18 months old now and I think it is just about to produce its first fruit. I am inspecting it daily to check what is happening. You cannot live in Hawke's Bay and not grow grapes!

There are mini kiwifruit plants which usually lose their blossom in the October winds but somehow some stayed this spring/summer and we have a few fruit developing. I tested one but it was very bitter. It probably needed to develop for several more months.

Our apricot tree produced a good volume of fruit in early December. We managed to win the battle with the birds and rescue about a bucketful.

The apple tree is producing poor fruit this summer. We are living in the midst of apple and peach orchards and probably have the worst looking apple tree around. I need to find out what I need to do to improve the quality of the crop. A job for the autumn!

J and I harvested the cones from the pinenut trees about a week before Christmas and I worked out over Christmas how to extract the nuts from the cones. I have, so far, worked through about a quarter of the cones and extracted about 700 nuts. The slow extraction process explains why pinenuts are so expensive in the supermarket!

I will try to provide an update later in the summer.

Tuesday 12th January - nature notes

Swan Plant

My Christmas present from J was a Swan Plant. It is a plant which attracts the Monarch Butterfly.

Now just over 2 weeks after Christmas, Monarch caterpillars are devouring the leaves. If the caterpillars survive our menagerie of bird-life, we will be seeing more Monarchs fluttering around.

The Monarch butterfly can be seen in Napier any month of the year, summer or winter.

I might post photos here or on Facebook.

Tuesday 12th January - kirk-gate in a village

The kirk-gate story hit the general news media in New Zealand this morning with the First Minister standing aside news being reported on Radio NZ at 7am.

The story made front page of the international news section in the Dominion Post.

The radio chat shows... just like Nolan (which I listened to live last night) are all talking about the story too...

Simon and Garfunkel are making loads of money from the re-playing of the Mrs. Robinson song!!!!

Monday 11th January - gates

The Kirk-gate scandal is just the latest example of how politicians use the system for their own financial benefit... it happens with New Zealander politicians too although the police have more spine and prosecute politicians here.

It is ironic that a political party with an Ulster-Scots presbyterian voter-base should be brought low by someone whose first name is Kirk...

Tuesday 5th January - What's your number?

Mine is 7.7

I had my cholesterol tested before Christmas as it had not really been checked since I left Parkgate. In Northern Ireland I was in the 5's and 6's for most of the last 15 years and Templepatrick surgery wanted to put me on statins to bring the high number down. I refused at the time as I think some of these wonder drugs are really just being used to make money for pharmaceutical companies and as a result, health service administrators and doctors find themselves pushing the new drugs.

Do we really die of high cholesterol? Have the medical profession analysed older people without heart problems to see what their numbers are?

I was surprised to find my number is now 7.7 - which is a bit of a jump! My doctor is pressuring me to go on statins to get it down fast. I am in two minds about what to do next...

I am cutting down on cheese and eating healthier breakfasts... maybe that will be enough...

Tuesday 5th January - magical date

J and I were talking about number fun with dates on Saturday, which was 02-01-20-10 when he realised that his birthday date this year will be even more magical...

20-10-20-10

No how good is that!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tuesday 5th January - targets for the year

One of my targets for 20-10 is to find as many geocaches in Hawke's Bay as I can. There's at least 90 hidden in the district.

I first became interested in geocaching after listening to a 'thought for the day' on Radio Ulster where the speaker was talking about searching for the 'Spanish Chestnut' geocache in a churchyard on the Antrim Coast.

I finally started geocaching when I bought a GPS a couple of years ago. I have found a few in the Wellington area but so far not really attacked the home district.

I found my last for 2009 at Shine Falls last week and my first for 2010 on Napier Hill on Saturday 2nd Jan. I am intending finding the ones in the mountain ranges before the end of April when it will be getting colder... If I fail in that, I will have to wait until October...

Anyone interested in geocaching go look at www.geocaching.com

There's at least 6 hidden on Rathlin Island...

Tuesday, 5th January - Happy New Year!

A Happy New Year to all my readers...

... it's sunny and hot here...

I have been thinking lately how strange that the northern hemisperers arranged Christmas for mid-winter. A new zealander Christmas in the sun is much more acceptable!