2010: looking back

My humble apologies for the lack of recent activity at Fantails and Fibrolite. I have been distracted by a new hobby - idling. After spending much of the last year in intense activity, I have now ground to a halt and have taken up the art of doing nothing.

If you want to have a go at this commendable past-time, click here for inspiration. Alternatively, you could waste a few minutes at least on this page, contemplating what we have achieved and experienced in the last twelve months.

• January - our new crop after last year's grapefruit - chillis
• February - Jasper and Jemima join the household after being rescued by the SPCA
• March - our first ever A&P show - it would be nice to think we could enter something next year but I don't think we're quite ready for that...
• April - more new arrivals - six chicks - a bit noiser than J&J but more productive too
  
• May - huge numbers of mushrooms and toadstools appeared during the first rains of the autumn - we stayed away from the red and white ones but some of the "oyster" mushrooms were fried up, against my better judgement
• June - more signs of autumn
• July - I did it myself! Fed up of clattering the pan lids around the cupboard, I applied some kiwi ingenuity to fix the problem
• August - unfortunately we didn't get any pigs but next door's escapees did amuse us for one evening
• September - great excitement - our first egg!
• October - the truck went down to the woods this month and we learnt a bit about off-road driving - useful for taking old pallets down the hill to the chicken coop to build a run
• November - peacocks prowled around our deck, preening themselves, on a regular basis this year
• December - apart from our visitors, the highlight this month had to be our new arrivals - three little chicks

So goodbye to 2010 and Happy New Year!

Succulents and See

Blooming Bromeliads

I'm always fascinated to see what other people have created on their lifestyle blocks so was thrilled to stay at a B&B which doubles as a bromeliad nursery. Aloe Aloe Gardens, just outside Kaitaia, has a five acre hillside garden dedicated to exotic plants and dotted with huge volcanic rocks and chunks of glass from the old Pilkington factory.



Better still though, Kevin is a keen diver and cooked some amazing food for us - fried paua, tuatua fritters, butterfish...

Stone Store

Cottage Garden at Treaty House

Farmyard Fun

Lots of livestock ideas at Sheepworld... I'd really love a donkey even if they're not much use for anything.

Playing Possum

Sheepworld is one of the few places where you can get close and personal with a possum. We've only seen them in the dark on our land, high up in a tree, scampering away from the torchlight.

It's better that way as I feel less guilty about putting the poison out. I just have to keep telling myself that they're nasty little creatures who eat the baby birds.

Shearing at Sheepworld

I watched the shearing carefully at Sheepworld for about the third time but I think we'll need to call in the professionals once we have our own flock...

Sheepworld!

My trip up north with my parents started at the same place as our first NZ road trip - Sheepworld!

Fortunately this time our campervan didn't break down and we weren't stranded there for three days waiting for a replacement. Instead, we enjoyed the sheep show and then headed up to Whangarei. I left longing for a dog and a flock of sheep all of my own though.

Splat!

James found this owl-print on the bedroom window recently. We looked down but couldn't see anything so can only assume the morepork flew off again. Glad the window wasn't open!

Hot Chick

New Life

One of our hens went broody about three weeks ago and we weren't really sure whether she was going to have any success. We candled the eggs with a torch though and could clearly see something in one of the eggs. So we left her to it.

And then one morning James went down to let the chickens out and found a lovely little chick in the nest box. The next night we could hear chirping from a second egg and saw a little hole opening up. And in no time at all, we had a third chick, looking a bit tired and scruffy but just fine.

The last chick has fluffed up now and we've installed mother hen and her brood in a coop in the garage to keep them safe from the roosters. Let's just hope these three grow up to be girls!

Mistle Thrush Family

I was supposed to be doing a bird watch last weekend but I spotted this nest of mistle thrush chicks in the magnolia tree just off the deck and spent more time watching the chicks being fed than I did counting other birds.

Last Supper

Here's our crazy chicken - and the other hens and roosters - enjoying a dust bath the day before he got the chop. He made a much better coq au vin than he did a pet.

Rabbit v Peacock

Rabbits in the grass...

Starburst 2

Sheep with kingfisher

Thermals

Wasp on a nest on flax

I've been away from home for most of the last week or so and thought I'd pick up where I left off. When I returned to look at the wasp's nest a few days after I took the last photo, I found a wasp in residence, laying some eggs in the nest.

Wasp's nest on flax

Raising the beds

6 foot posts, 60 cm deep - the conventional specs for fencing in NZ and part of the design for our raised beds. Too much like hard work with a spade and so we eventually hired a hydraulic post-hole borer. He was in charge of digging, I scooped out the rubble. Now we just have to screw it all together.

In the Pink 4

I found these flowers on the edge of the site of the raised beds. It's almost a shame that they're going to be covered up soon.

Starburst

Peonies

Visitation 3

Visitation 2

Visitation 1

Hello? Anybody in?

In the Pink 3

In the Pink 2

In the Pink 1

Swan plant - chapter 2

A few weeks ago, we put in a swan plant in the hope of attracting monarch butterflies. We inspected it last weekend and were amazed to find out that we already have a caterpillar in residence. Just need to make sure that the plant doesn't become overwhelmed with hungry creepy crawlies now...

Cicada

Every wondered what a cicada looks like? Here's one...

Hard Labour Day

This Labour Weekend, we decided to set about doing some civilian engineering and built a small extension to the chicken coop.

The chookateria was taking up a quarter of the floor-space and getting rather messy under the perch. And the water dispenser was making the sawdust soggy. So we've moved the food and water outside now and hope that the coop will stay cleaner.

The best thing about the extension is that we made it from bits and pieces that we had lying around - the chicken wire which had made the original temporary run, stakes from the trees which the last owner planted, a scrap pallet, the leftover plywood from the biltong box and some offcuts of building paper from the shed repairs.

But the most important resource was the bird seed which distracted the chickens whilst we worked.

Eventually, we'll add a self-watering unit with water from the roof flowing into a tank and then, in turn, into a stock trough with ballcock. Need a few more bits and pieces for that though.

Gooey Green Goodness

Kiwi fruit isn't quite two-a-penny but at 25c per bag, it's not far off. So I whizzed up this kiwi fruit smoothie - kiwi fruit flesh, home-made yoghurt and honey. Mmm...

Happy Birthday Joan

J's granny's birthday list consists of consumables. And so J has cooked up some pickled eggs for her which are now maturing nicely in the pantry ready for the big day (don't tell!). Let's hope she likes them...

Flaxbud

Rosebud

(...to be said in spooky Citizen Kane voice...)

Fence Line

And it's all downhill from here...

And once we'd worked out how to go uphill, we had to master downhill.



Again, low range, first gear, no brake, no clutch, tight left hand turn at the bottom. Down a narrow ravine in the middle of a sand dune in the forest. It was much more frightening than it looks here!

The trick is to put both feet flat on the floor and press hard to ensure that you're not tempted to hit the brake.

Uphill struggle

The next skill to learn was how to get uphill safely.

We were told that if you lose power part way up a slope, you should calmly roll back down the hill in reverse gear (no brake, no clutch) before taking a good run up with the gas flat on the floor.



It seemed to work - but listen out for the remarkable words at the end of this clip.

Home on the Low Range

We decided to work on another rural skill this weekend - four wheel driving. Just in case we ever need to tow the chicken coop to a different spot.

Our instructor gave us a radio and we set off in convoy into the forest.



The first skill that we learnt was "walking" the truck. We put it into low range 4WD mode, first gear, and with no brake and no clutch meandered our way around a muddy field.

Then it was time to negotiate some trees - trunks, branches, roots and stumps - as we moved at slow speed and precarious angles along a forest track.



I even managed to get two wheels off the ground at one time.

Mother Hen

We found out recently that this little grey hen was laying her eggs in the undergrowth underneath our bedroom window. She'd wait until we let her out in the morning and then make a dash for the back of the house.

But we tracked down her clutch of eggs eventually and ended up putting 20 eggs on the compost heap.

The next morning, I chased her up the hill, barely keeping up. She headed straight for the bushes where she'd been laying. I arrived just after her and then three roosters turned up. Poor old hen was confused by the lack of eggs, scratching around looking for them, and then embarrassed by all the attention. She wouldn't settle down and after a good hunt around, went wandering off to find another place to lay.

I left her alone and retreated to the house. She re-appeared under the bedroom window again and then spotted me on the balcony. I was astounded when she fluttered up to find out if I'd put the eggs up there! She eventually decided that the eggs weren't around.

And then got her revenge by laying in the middle of the border in front of the house. I had a good poke around later but she'd hidden her new egg well. I'll have to wait until there's enough of them to stand out in the undergrowth.

Mistle Thrush

Cherry Blossom at Sunset 2

Cherry Blossom at Sunset 1

Doodle Stitch - the real thing

Here's the real life inspiration for my Doodle Stitch design...


(the only difference is that the monarch butterfly isn't quite ready in this shot...)

Doodle Stitch

This is what I made when I got home all-inspired from my trips to the quilt show and the sculpture gallery recently - a doodle stitch from a kit that I found in my stocking at Christmas.

I've done a little bit of embroidery before but always from a pattern so it was fun to start from scratch this time. For those, like J (and J), who can't work out what it's supposed to be, it's a collage of scenes from New Zealand native bush. From left to right...

• Tui and a pohutukawa
• Flax with flower
• Monarch butterfly
• Koru (new tree fern frond)
• Fantail
• Kowhai blossom
  

Tomorrow I'll post some pictures of the real thing for comparison purposes...

Magic Muffins

If life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. If your hens give you eggs, you bake muffins.

My first batch of muffins were ricotta, sun-dried tomato and spinach muffins, a variation on a recipe from the ITV website of all places.