We had a huge fall of snow on 24 July. We’ve never seen snow down this low since we’ve lived here. There were some cracker frosts for a couple of weeks after that.
Luckily for us, and much to the disgust of the children, we were in Niue enjoying the sunshine, heat and snorkelling and so missed the snow.
Monday 1 August saw the first real meeting of our garden group. We met at my place and attacked the paths around the outside of the vegetable garden. These have been growing a nice crop of grass due to us being away last year. Normally we trim the grass outside the vegetable garden fence, but as this was not done the grass outside all seeded and the seeds sprouted on my lovely paths! I decided that the easiest way to get rid of the grass was to remove all of the bark chip from the paths, sweep off the black plastic underneath and lay down plastic tiles. It was fantastic having Christine and Maria to help, we achieved a lot in a very short time. The bark chip and grass was dumped on a path between garden beds and covered with black plastic, this will kill the grass. In a few weeks, I will remove the plastic, add horse manure and peastraw and then use the new bed area for growing more wonderful vegetables.
Paul shot a yearling calf on 18 July. He cut into about 8 pieces and put them in an outside fridge where the meat aged until we returned from Niue. On 2 August we butchered the meat. It looks lovely! What are your favourite beef recipes? I’d love to try them!
Today (7 August) we were sitting at the table eating a delicious meal – roast chicken stuffed with pearled barley with roast yams, potatoes, jerusalem artichokes and onions – when Paul saw two large hares gambolling in the paddock across the stream. He went straight out and shot them. We’ve noticed that the hares have been targeting the Hoheria angustifolia – they have nipped the top off just about every single one of them, leaving the other species planted nearby completely untouched. I don’t know what they have against the Hoherias!
My favourite scented shrubs are winter flowering – Daphne odora and Wintersweet (Chimonanthus praecox). I love wandering through our garden at this time of year as the wonderful scent from these two shrubs wafts through the air.
