Monday 23rd May

Another beautiful Autumn day in the bay. Ok, it could be a touch warmer, but you can’t have everything. I was hoping to be out of the shed early enough this morning to get some of those misty river and field sunrise through the trees type pics, but we had a long morning drafting out cows.

Anyway, had to go into Collingwood this afternoon, so took the camera along as usual.

I spent most of today pruning, well, that implies studied thought and concentration, how about, cutting back and hacking, the grapevines. I thought I had 2 vines, but once all the overgrowth had been removed, I found 4 vines there, buried in the growth. All been cut back as hard as I could, with luck, and a good spring, I should be getting a better grape harvest next year.

Cut the Wisteria back as well, and got 50 cuttings planted up from it, depending on the strike rate, I may be getting into production in a few months.

Sunday 22nd May

It’s taken me nearly all week to get back to normal here. I didn’t think the stress of going up to Auckland was that bad, admittedly the thought of seeing my daughter again after nearly 7 years of silence from her didn’t help, and just being in Auckland after the solitude and peace down here.

Still milking in the mornings, 572, the half horned cow and 814 are prime numbers for my cowhide mats and freezer. 814 managed to kick me Thursday morning and I am fairly sure I have a slight fracture in my wrist now. 572 and the half horn got together in the bails this morning, and did their usual back off, wait and try to get back in the bail, I saw 572, then grabbed the wash hose, 2” waterhose with full pressure, and got both of them as they started to go back in the bail.

You don’t have a lot of fun milking, but when you do, it is worth it.

I’ll have to get a morning off soon, Mike turned up this morning to change the gates on the herd, and I had a chance to see the early morning sunrise. Wish I’d taken the camera to work, the mist was over the river, and slowly settling into the bush on the hills. With the sun rise, it looked bloody spectacular.

Now that it is settling into winter I can see the garden and trees as they are, and what needs pruning, removing and replacing. Some of the early pruning I did when I got here has been good, now the leaves are gone I can see the structure and what I have to build on.

I picked up a supposedly small gardening job last week, it took me all week to get it started, the aftermath of the wedding had me comatose for the week, but anyway. Nice garden at the Naked Possum side of Bainham, trees, roses and lots of shrubs, all over grown with weeds, and no pruning done since it was established. I spent 3 hours on Saturday just clearing weeds from 3 of the gardens and pruning the roses in one, filled 2 trailer loads of rubbish, and it looks like I have a lifetime job ahead to bring it all back into shape. So, 3 – 4 hours a day a couple of days a week, will be good.

I’ve been trying to pay my account at Takaka for my Kenwood blender for 3 weeks now. When I picked it up, Andrea said she didn’t have the invoice, I could pay it next time I’m in town. I went in last week, she was away and I was told, no worry, next time you’re in town. I went in on Friday, Andrea was out, got told the same thing, said I’m not often in town, maybe once a fortnight?, got the Takaka reply, that’s ok, whenever you’re in town.

You really have to love living here to appreciate the feeling you get from the shop owners and everyone in the Bay.

Tuesday 17th May

Finally back home after the weekend. I thought it was going to be a disaster, Friday morning when I left wasn’t looking all that good, the Aorere was rising, we’d had a week of heavy rain, high tide was due about 9am, so I was more concerned with getting past Collingwood before the river and the tide decided to join up and block the road.

Left home at 5.45am, didn’t have to be at Nelson till 9.30, but didn’t want to take chances with the roads.

First bit of good luck was at Nelson Airport. I’d arrived at some ungodly hour, way before I needed to, in the dark and rain. Parked the Pajero, got my suitcase out, backpack, and wandered over to the Terminal.

I was sitting there getting terminally bored, there isn’t a book shop in the airport, and I’d forgotten to bring one, when I heard my name being paged, to report to Security. Wondering wtf have I done this time, went over, and the 2 guys there asked if I’d come from Collingwood, said yes, and got told I’d left the lights on in the carpark. Thank you Nelson Airport Security, it would have been a miserable Sunday night arriving back to find the battery flat otherwise.

Friday Afternoon at Damians was a bit hectic. He was slightly stressed out, trying to organise everything, beer kegs to pick up, chiller unit to get, food etc, but we all coped with it.

The rain was a fair nuisance, showers, then clear, then more showers, but the forecast for Saturday was for sunshine and clear periods.

Saturday was brilliant sunshine, ok, still a bit cold, but warmer than here. Everything got done in time, other than the minister being an hour late. The Bouncy castle house thing for the kids arrived, and that kept the youngsters amused for most of the day.

Ceremony was in brilliant sunshine, then up to the top of Mt Roskill for some more photos, then back to the house for the food.

We had a few $’s worth of fireworks that Damian and I had saved from last year, so about 8pm I was out on the front lawn setting them off. Matt arrived shortly after we’d finished them, and his reaction to being told he’d missed them was, “oh hell no, we saw them from the motorway, F******* Awsome!”

Sunday I went back around about midday, Damian and Tarsha were basically dead on their feet, the party went on for a long while into the night, and there were still a few stragglers around Sunday.

I cooked up some rump steak, roasted the potatoes that were left over, made a tomato salad with the parsley and basil left over, then Damian drove me back to Auckland Airport to catch the flight back about 7pm.

Got into Nelson at 10.35, pissing with rain, cool breeze, but totally different to Auckland, crisp air, not the humidity I noticed over the weekend.

Driving over the hill from Motueka to Takaka was a bit grim, near the top, about Canaan Downs, the cloud layer was at ground level, with rain. I was lucky to see a few yards in front at times, not the best thing to happen when you’re coming down on this side. By halfway the cloud had cleared, then it was just heavy showers from there to Bainham.

Monday was spent fixing the door on one of the polytunnels, it looked like it had got caught in the wind and popped the sealing strip, so the poly had come loose, washing, and a fair bit of sleeping.

I thought we were starting at 8am this morning, so about 7am I’m still shuffling around with a coffee, when Tom comes knocking on the door, and asking when am I going to turn up at the shed, like right now please. Hayden had decided, well, made the arrangements to have another 12 head dried off and sent over to the runoff farm at Blenheim, and the truck was arriving at 10, so they’d started at 5am, and not told me.

All good though, they had 4 in the shed, it was just getting the drafted cows prepared and sorted before the truck that was the urgent bit.

Now it’s back to watching winter set in here, rain, cold southerlies, expecting snow sometime this week.

Monday 9th May

We finally have a sunny day, the last week has been unrelenting rain. Not heavy, well not all the time, just enough to keep the puddles filled, the ground saturated and the river slowly rising.

We’ve got back to 6.30am starts in the milking shed, new grain feeder installed and operating, and the cows running into the yard in the mornings to be first into the feed trough.

The other side of that, getting them out of the bail and off the rotary is a pain in the butt. I’ve got 12? 15? Cows that persist in trying to stay on and get more grain, a few are cunning about it. They will back out of the bail, then wait for the next cow to back out, and duck their head down and try to sneak back into the bail thinking I haven’t seen them. It makes a slow start to the day when I’m continuously stopping the rotary and chasing cows off. Some will back out just with shouting, but a few others just ignore me until I spray the water hose over their ears.

All the fantails are out in force this afternoon, chasing insects, about 8 fantails dancing in the air after midges and gnats. My black one is still here, hopefully it is a partner to carry the gene through.

I haven’t seen the weka families for a few days, but they let me know they are still around each night by holding a neighbourhood discussion group outside my bedroom window at 2am.

There was a pig hunting competition based in Collingwood the weekend. I went over on Sunday afternoon to see the results. Apart from the crap weather, rain, train and more rain, it looked as though everyone got something for the pot. A few deer, a couple of goats, the kids were after rabbits and hares, and several good sized wild boars.

I’m away up to Auckland this weekend for Damians wedding, after waiting this long for it to happen I’m not going to miss it. Jesse and Kahu are Flower Girl and Page boy, I hope the weather holds out and it is a sunny and dry weekend.

Thursday 5th May

It is certainly getting into winter here, well, ok, late autumn. We’ve had a week of rain, and a few mornings down to –2*C, all the leaves are yellowing off and dropping on the grapevines and wisteria.

Garth and Chris called in for a few days on their tour of the South Island, they have been a year or so travelling with their caravan and 4wd everywhere. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t the best for them here, although the one fine day we had they managed to do the Farewell Spit Tour, and a bit of sightseeing along the Aorere and Takaka Valley.

Chris cooked dinner, and I made Turkish pide bread, which Garth decided he loved, and couldn't get enough of, especially cheese and garlic pide.

I’m still doing morning milking, a few early early starts this week, 5am, as we had work being done on the milking shed, installing a new barley feeder, and the cows needed to be out of the way before the installation crew could start. The only problem has been with trying to get the cows out of the bails now, they get an extra ½ kilo of barley with the new feeder, and several of them, including the usual 3 or four, refuse to leave the bail and continue eating as much as they can.

Saturday 30th April

End of the month, doesn’t time go quickly when you’re having fun. Or something.

I’m still managing the morning milking thing, around the other side of the shed now, taking the cups off, and spraying iodine on the teats. Once you get the rhythm going it is quite pleasant in a sort of mind numbingly manner. Although as usual the cows can be as obstinate and cantankerous as always.

There is one I’m getting to recognise as being a sly bitch, she starts to back out of the bail then looks down to see if I’m watching, then dives back in to get another feed of barley on another circuit of the shed. So it turns into a water spray and loud shouts, and most times, into stopping the rotary and almost physically forcing her out of the bail and along the race. I’ll get her number tomorrow morning and write up a citation.

We are well into Autumn now, the last week has had temperatures in the early mornings down to –2*C with frost everywhere. The hills are still clear of snow, but that is more the result of the weather pattern, no clouds or rain, than any form of management. It takes a while to warm up in the milking shed as well, about 15 – 20 minutes before I feel warm once the rotary is going around. Then it is 2 – 3 hours of constant movement followed by hosing water everywhere.

I haven’t done a lot this week, other than dig over more garden, get more seedlings underway, cabbage, broccoli and brussel sprouts for a winter crop.

I haven’t seen my weka all week, although they do still make a fair bit of noise at night. The little black coloured fantail is still outside, which is good, the others don’t seem to chase it away, as I would have expected, so there may be more of them around the area.

2 more weeks then I’ll be in Auckland for Damian and Tarshas wedding, for the weekend, fly up Friday, come back Sunday night. About time too, now Tarsha has her Pharmacuetical Degree. I get the impression it is going to be a large and chaotic crowd arriving.

I was in Takaka yesterday, a bit of grocery shopping, and took a few pics on the way home at Takaka Wharf, and the River Inn.

Tuesday 26th April

Well, the weather hasn’t improved, until today almost. The rain finally stopped on Monday, both Saturday and Sunday had high wind and horizontal rain here, so it became a tidy the house up again time.

I’m now on permanent over at Amberglen, morning milking at the moment, and in a couple of weeks more hours working on the farm as well. Sunday morning was certainly better than my effort Saturday, but still need to get a bit quicker, although as I found this morning taking the cups off, the 2 Argentinian guys that were putting on, aren’t any faster than I was, so that is some small consolation, with them being there for the last 3 months.

Sunday was a bit of a disaster zone, Hayden slept in, so Colin had to get the ute out at 6am and bring the cows in, which meant a late start, and a later finish, but it was pissing down with rain so no one was in a hurry to go anywhere. This morning was another one to match, one of the gates along the race had been left open, and the lead cows decided to take a detour in the paddock, so the quad bike and the ute spent 30 minutes trying to herd the cows up in the dark.

Some of the funny things that happen in a job, a couple of cows finally got me this morning, and I ended up with a fair dump of cow shit down one side of my overalls. No worry as far as I was concerned, it was warm, and I’m walking in it anyway so I just carried on. Hayden came around a bit later, saw me and said to go home get changed, you’re covered in shit. I just said, it’ll wash off, and carried on taking cups off. After he’d gone, Tom let out that Hayden does that to all the new people, if they do go home and get changed, they seem to get put off the roster in future. I’d picked something like that, just one of those things you put up with milking.

Finished the bench in the polytunnel, so that one is set up, apart from the watering system, which will come later. The hose will suffice for now.

I spent a bit of time making some adjustments to the roof vents, as they come, there is a fairly large gap at the ends where the “V” shape of the vent doesn’t sit flush with the rounded roof. A couple of rolls of foam insulation took care of that, and the warmer air doesn’t all escape out at night now. It was quite noticeable on a cold night, the amount of heat leaking out, like a small geyser of hot air into the colder night outside.

I’ve got pumpkins all over the place at the moment, Mike at Amberglen had a couple of paddocks of them hoping to make a bit of money off them. Unfortunately, as usually happens with crops, everyone else had the same idea this year, and pumpkins are selling in the shops cheaper than Mike can get to cover his transport cost. So we are all getting pumpkins every time he sees anyone. I’ll be turning yellow or orange if I have too many more. So far it’s been pumpkin soup, pumpkin pie, roasted pumpkin, steamed pumpkin, I haven’t tried pumpkin chips yet. I think I’ll be buying a large deep freezer soon to cope with the amount of food that is available.