Waitangi Day Celebrations

Last year we heard rumours that there was a ride-on mower race on Waitangi Day among the residents of our road, and indeed, we saw ourselves the remnants of the festivities and the very merry participants as we returned home that day. Having since acquired a ride-on mower - Denise, as the most practised member of the household, decided by hook or by crook that she was going to be lining up at the start this year. We found out indeed, the race was on, and we started with a 'Meet and Greet' at Mick and Sylvia's place. Now, we don't have many residents on our road, and not all of our residents have ride-on mowers, so it was great to see a generous percentage of neighbourly support crews turn up.

Rules and a route were hastily agreed upon, and our four participants lined up at the start of Waitangi Road.

Brian looking to see what the hold-up at the Start line is. It is Denise, resplendent in appropriate attire, having a quick tipple from her flask. There was a further hold-up when she felt the need to touch up her lipstick and then found her handbag was unclasped. For some reason, she thought there was a TV news crew arriving, even although we assured her they were all otherwise engaged with other more important, historical events.

First call was a short sprint up the road with a couple of driveway turns, a reverse park, refreshments, and a house and garden tour. Then away again on the next leg, the endurance stretch where it was all about how many horsepower your mower has.

Brian was an easy winner of the Endurance Stretch - by a mile and several minutes. JUST LOOK AT THAT SPOILER! And - LOOK UNDER THAT MOWER! Do you see any blades? The rest of the competitors became somewhat suspicious (when they eventually arrived at the end of this leg) when Brian came up with every excuse under the sun not to participate in an Activity Challenge of mowing several lawn strips and it didn't take long for an observant spectator to point out that not only was the mower body suspiciously high off the ground owing to HUGE replacement tyres - but there was an awful lot of fresh air and nothing else occupying that gap. On a show of hands, Brian was elimiated from the competition by the remainder of the competitors. And the support crews.

At this stage, a Scrutineer was hastily elected and serious discussion and inspection of competing machinery ensued. It was found that our flash Italian job was in fact, the lowest horsepower, so Denise got a good handicapped start on the final leg. Brian the Cheat was allowed to follow only at a discretionary distance at the rear of the field.

Mick nearly loses it showing his jubilation at coming in first on the final leg. The photographer nearly lost it as well a few seconds later.

This last leg ended up being an unplanned obstacle race. Our region happened to be hosting a National MG Annual Meet, and they were all off on a rally. We ended up with a stream of vintage vehicles weaving in and out of our competitors. The support crew did their bit and put the MG crews on their correct routes. Their directions were a bit haywire.

Denise finishing a very credible fourth on the last leg.

We all ended up back at Mick and Sylvia's for a BBQ. A thoroughly enjoyable, social day. Thanks to Denise, from now on, it is agreed, the annual Mower races will be held in costume and we will be handicapping the lower c.c. machinery. The worry of it all is that Denise is already gathering pamphlets on huge c.c. engined mowers. Thankfully, the reality of our upgrading is remote as it's not exactly on the 'getting on with things' agenda.

Guilty Wrap-Up of 2011 - Part 2

Cattle – We gained Walter and Wanda, who arrived early October, purchased from the dairy farm over the road. They are Friesian/Hereford cross cattle.

Wanda, in front, with Walter and Tansy. Wanda and Walter are now 6 months old; Tansy is nearly 5 with not much more sense than she had at 5 months old, but she has a big heart

Dorper Sheep – Casper
Astra’s lamb Casper, who arrived in June 2011, is but a flavour-filled memory in our freezer. As are Colin and Clive, born at the end of August 2011 from Abigail. Annabel had twin lambs, Cassie and Cedric, born the day before Colin and Clive, which we still have. We also have Cyril, who was born in mid November, mothered by a young but perfectly big enough, Beatrice (good old/young reliable Barry!) It really was a lambing season favouring rams; verified by many of our smallfarming friends. The only one we will be keeping (alive) from the 2011 intake will be Cassie.


Twin rams Colin and Clive, with proud mother, Abigail

Apart from that - we had our last bit of fencing done, which has certainly made things easier for us in that we now have seven paddocks and a couple of extra gates, as against four big paddocks we originally had.
The well went in so we can water the vege gardens and all the stock troughs (albeit with many metres of garden hoses joined together); we
now have shelter trees along the north and west fence lines of the house garden and orchard. Ten raised vege beds of varying areas ranging from 1x1 square metres; 2 x 1 sq. m. and two 3 x 1 sq. m were set up and filled, and what a joy it was to stand and leisurely hose. Lugging 20 litre containers of water up from the water race just a distant nightmare of the past!

We had no guests over Christmas and had Christmas Day away with family. However, the gigantic tree went up but this year we restrained ourselves and only put up about 2/3rds of the usual ornaments. Still and impressive display which we would not be able to have if not for retaining a 12ft ceiling height in our lounge.

Guilty Wrap-Up of 2011 - Part 1

Sorry folks, for being such slack-asses over the mid-end part of last year. It was another wet, cold winter - endless days of leaving for work and arriving home in total darkness and a freezing house. Once our grand fire got roaring, the news was on, and a stockpot of pig peas cooking on the
stovetop for the following morning - it's easy to figure that going into our 12ft high hall into a freezing unlined bedroom to update this blog (with not very many photos due to endless early dark days) became low priority, and all sorts of trivia and programs on strange TV channels suddenly became compulsive viewing ... I think you get the picture.

Over the next few days, I'll just do quick progress updates of the remainder of 2011 to catch us up to almost March. Shame on us!!!

At last, Jennifer has worked out the framing for the new wood shed. A happy smile hopefully means she has all the measurements and levels sussed
No, this is NOT the same day. We don't work that fast as we both regrettably work full time. I think this photo was originally taken as there was an early morning hot air balloon in the sky (just above the willow trees, centre photo), but was clicked just a little late. Anyway, a photo of the north side of the woodshed and the washing (NOT the same washing as the photo above). We live in a region very popular for hot air balloons in the earlier part of the new year, with an annual festival. Unfortunately, this year's festival will be marred by the horrifying crash of a balloon earlier this year - which balloon we saw from our bedroom window just 15 minutes before it crashed into overhead power lines further north. The wood stacked on the grass is from an old macrocarpa tree we had taken down from one of our paddocks last year that we got a very kind, very reasonable, chap to split in the paddock for us
The new woodshed that Jennifer built being 'stacked to the gunnels'. (There is still a door to be made)

In late August, we had the surprise of all surprises (well, not really if you watch our TV weather forecasts) of SNOW. There actually was an element of surprise, in that nobody could believe the amount of snow that fell. It fell in town, where the older folk say they haven't seen such for over 40 years. The Rimutaka Hill was closed for over 3 days. Jennifer was one of the last few cars over from the Wellington side before they closed the hill, and reported 'It was just like a postcard from an english countryside at the top of the hill, with the boughs laden with snow'. (Jennifer hasn't actually been in many english countrysides ... it could have been anywhere at all in the northern hemisphere - take your pick)

Denise and Tansy 'frolicking and jollying in the snow'. Photo taken from our back porch An impressive, broody, moody, monochromatic photograph showing the entrance to FOSSILS RETREAT. Those are the hills (hillocks) of Gladstone showing snowy crescents

We had enough hay to get us through winter with some bales to spare. It became rather a pain with day after day of wet weather, trying to break paddocks for stock and avoid pasture being trod into mud. Over the very bad months 0f June-August, we spent a small fortune replacing leads. Main culprits appeared to be Zelda and Zita, our weaner heifers from last winter.

We have had a break from pigs for a couple of months now, but with food source coming back onstream, we will be getting another two gilts very soon. Poor old Patsy and Penny had a bit of a rough time coping with day after day of mud in their yard until one of us was home to get them out into a paddock (where, as the ground was so wet, they proceeded to plough up ... grrr!) but they were very placid complainers.

Patsy and Penny out in the winter sun, counting down their final days

Cutting up head meat (Penny's, actually, for the curious ones of you) for brawn

And ... voila ... the finished product - without the diced carrots, peas and corn so favoured by supermarkets to pad out the weight

Patsy and Penny are remembered fondly and often by us - each made such tasty bacon, ham and pork products.

Remember Flossie and Rosie? Our two renegades from last year (i.e. not Dorpers)? This is a roast from one of them.

An Early Surprise

We had a few sets of neighbours in for dinner back in early June. One happened to remark that we were early with our lambing. Oh no, he was assured, we weren't due any lambs until towards the end of August. 'Well', he said dubiously - 'I'm pretty sure I saw a lamb out there'. Earlier that day, Denise had remarked (from the kitchen) that she thought she saw a lamb out in our back paddock which housed our four (hopefully, pregnant ewes - 3 had been run with Barry, our last year's oldest ram, and Barry's mum had been with Bart - our second ram lamb). However, a quick scan with the binoculars didn't reveal anything unusual. Needless to say, all sets of neighbours' tail lights were still disappearing when we donned jackets and gumboots and strapped on the god-send headlamps, and set out for the back paddock. Sure enough, we had a lamb. Astra, one of our four base stock who had failed to produce last year, did the trick this year. The father must have been our oldest ram lamb, Barry, who has proved his fertility at 5 months.

Astra, with very early ram lamb Casper

We had a bit of a trying, busy time over this last winter, which proved almost as wet as last winter. Zita, the younger of our bought-in feeder calves last spring, came down suddenly with a bacterial infection, resulting in two vet visits and long vigilence. She and Clarissa, our Dexter heifer, who had also got a dose of it, were brought into the paddock with the barn and needed to be cosseted for several weeks. Zita went down so suddenly and was very weak - we had to continually go out to the barn at all times when we were home, every day, for 12 consecutive days and haul her to her feet and rub the numbness out of her. To top it all off, she developed ringworm, which resulted in horrid, balding crusty patches all over her. Veterinary advice was that there is really no treatment, it is viral, particularly prevalent in calves - cows don't get it - and just to let it run its 21 day course as the animal's health does not suffer. Sure enough, the whole darned mess cleared up after 2-3 weeks. Now, we are happy to report, she has made a full recovery and is looking splendid on new, spring grass.

Denise, returning back from feeding pigs, fighting off greedy Zelda

We incurred a bit of damage early in winter when we ran the big calves in the paddock with the barn. We had fenced off the haybarn with a multi-strand electric fence, and had found the tape chewed and the unit on the ground still sparking. This happened twice - thus we lost use of both battery powered units. The main culprets appeared to be Zelda and Zita. The two Dexters, Clarissa and Charlie, are a bit more timid but don't miss out on any resultant action. On one of the vet's visits, he also de-knackered Charlie (who is destined for our freezer end of next year).

Damage caused by weaner calves to one of our electric fence units. Not content with just chewing through the tape and knocking down the unit, they also have to chew metres more tape and chew all the leads of the unit, as you can see. We could have almost bought a new unit for the amounts we have had to spend betting new wires and clips.

HUGE Catch Up

Wow! We can't believe how the time has flown. Things have sure happened at Fossils Retreat, but in wintry hours. So many animals needing feeding, so much wet, wet, wet ... dark, dark. dark ... (just like last winter), and with one of us on continual shiftwork, seems like things have come at a standstill at Fossils Retreat. And to be absolutely honest - with the house not fully completed, it has been so darned cold in the computer room - we have had a sluggish winter blobbing in front of our home supplied woodburner and Sky TV.

Denise modelling our godsend headlamps recommended by our friends Elizabeth and Teresa. Proved absolutely amazing for problem sheep feet investigations in winter hours too

We got two weaner piglets on 5 June. Winter not really a good time to raise free range pigs, especially with another very wet winter - we had lots of very-near-misses being bogged down in pig muck (on the agenda for this early summer - concrete majority of pig yard - and memo - don't run free range pigs over winter !)

Patsy, at rear, darker spots, and Penny (white head) - two sisters, purchased locally on 5 June 2011 - first day home - 6wks +

After having our ears continually assailed by indignant bellows for ongoing weeks by Bonnie and Bella, our Dexter cows; after finally financially able to get a ramp installed on the property and finding a suitable Dexter bull; a lovely local chap; Legend, arrived and seemed to pacify the two girls. Our records show that he arrived on 25 May. He is a lovely red fellow - there is a not-very-high chance but still-a-chance we may get a dun calf from Bonnie (our black Dexter cow), but will almost certainly get a Grade 1 red calf from Bella, who is also red.

Here's a shot of Legend with Bonnie at back - not a very good shot we're afraid. He stayed around 3-4 months, and as the girls ceased bellowing at us and ignoring him after the 'new boy in town' love affair seemed to end after six weeks or so, we are assuming Legend lives up to his name. Any anticipated calves will be born end of February 2012 on.

The more observant of you will note a kingfisher (at bottom left of photo) on the fence. We had several weeks of visits from many kingfishers - what a delight it was to see them vigilantly lined up on the fence posts, motionlessly intent on whatever it was in our boggy paddock that attracted them.

Let's end this post with a pic of one of the crazy residents of the household - Scruffy (aka Thelma)

Where Did April Go?

We've missed a month. We have had many memorable things happen and lots of visitors at Fossils Retreat and I haven't recorded them - it was obviously a busy month!


Well, our well (bore) is all in and paid for, with the pump securely established under cover in a corner of the garage, next to the house pump. We have a tap connected up a fence post with the hose connected. We have unlimited water - hurrah! No more carting 20 litre containers up from the water race! And we've had plenty of rain and haven't had to add any water to the veges - what we have left, anyway.

I'm glad we planted lots of varieties of veges as it's given us an indicator as to what we can grow well and what doesn't do so well. Peppers and chillies just did not grow up at all, and resulted in small, sparse fruit. Our sole cherry tomato plant has produced tomatoes for China and is still producing. Spinach and silver beet thrive. Carrots are doing well - sugar snap peas and dwarf beans were sporadic sprouters but produced well when grown.


We dug up some Jerusalem artichokes in the weekend and they are to die for, yet the Globe artichokes have been very slow to establish. The yam foliage is beginning to die off so we have yet to be surprised or disappointed when we dig deep in this bed. Potatoes were okay, but many small which we thought would happen as they suffered a bit from lack of water in their earlier weeks.



Flavours were noticeably improved after compost tea was made and was fed. The compost WILL be turned and doctored up this week, so I am sure we will notice a difference in taste and growth of next summer's veges.


The berries and the fruit trees have been totally neglected, we are ashamed to say - but the asparagus bed did get weeded eventually - had better plant a few more crowns in it this year. Our citrus have adapted to their new conditions and all have blossom and shows of fruit to come. The lime tree planted in a big planter died - wrong positioning and a convenient cat toilet being the main causes of its demise. The feijoa hedge plants are doing well and have put on some growth and are currently being weedeated around and will hopefully be mulched before this week is out. We do miss the twilight hours of summer, and we are now at the time of the year when you're leaving for work in the dark and arriving home at near dark. However, the upside is that it's lovely to light a fire when you get home and blob out in front of TV and actually watch the news live for a change. It's not really cold enough for a fire every night right now, but we had our macrocarpa tree (which was felled 18 months ago) cut and split so we have wood ready. The new wood shed is gradually getting filled, and our pile of wood on the lawn is gradually diminishing. We still have one big pile of old timber and wood from the house to get through, but the skilsaw is currently getting a well needed overhaul.


We are feeling very rich and lucky in that our three freezers are full or ham and bacon, lamb and pork. We know where our meat has come from and that we raised our animals in happy and stressfree conditions, with plenty of food. And it shows in the taste.

Carving our first lamb roast. Yummm!

Brawn made from Phyllis's head. Pretty darn tasty it was, too!

More on the animals' welfare in the next couple of days. Promise!

Marching into More Activity

It's been a busy month so far, with no significant rain until the last two days, which hopefully will green up our pastures and we'll get a late spurt of growth before winter. Having just had a southerly blow through, it's really starting to feel like autumn - and to date - woefully, still no wood in the wood shed.



Jennifer working on the framework for the woodshed. Plenty of 6 inch nails and nail clamps going into this little lot!

It has progressed now to a four wall dwelling, lacking only the roof and a few bits of trim - the corrugated iron has to be cut to size and nailed on and the door will follow 'later' ... Jennifer has currently rendered herself unable to do a lot due to ongoing back pain - her condition described by one provider as 'your chassis is wearing out'! Add a strained muscle and a pinched nerve to that and you get the picture.

Anyway, the cows and calves were separated at the beginning of the month. Bella and Bonnie bellowed for a few days - both for their two calves and for a boyfriend (which we are still trying to arrange) - but the two calves, Clarissa and Charlie, were pretty oblivious. They are with our two weaners, Zita and Zelda, and are gradually getting more friendly and letting us get closer to them.

Thursday 17 March was memorable as well as being St Patrick's Day, in that our biggest, finest ram lamb, Barry - was re-introduced to Annabel, Astra and Aroha. Bart, our second and slightly smaller (although not, apparently, where it counts) ram lamb, was singled off with our biggest ewe, Abigail (Barry's mum). Both encounters appear, to date, amicable. With the full moon (and a biggie it was too, the closest the moon has been to the earth in 18 years) on the 20th, we are hoping both these liaisons are fruitful.

We have also been busy getting quotes for plumbing up our second water tank, to collect the rainwater from the implement shed. We have now arranged this, and also have accepted a quote for inserting the well (where Honk the water diviner predicted water in the back yard), supplying and connecting the appropriate pump, plus a large main water line to a tap on the fence line. Brian, our wonderful 'digger man' has rebedded the new water tank, dug the trenches to lay the water line back to the downpipe on the shed and to connect the two water tanks to equalise, then Kevin, our great electrician, rushed to lay an electric line in the same trench from our garage to the implement bay (we can get the bay shed wired up later), Paul the plumber arrived to do both jobs, and it has been all go in our back yard for the last couple of days.

Brian dug the well. Honk the water diviner was spot on, except water was evident at about 1.5 metres, or 6ft - Honk had predicted 12 ft down. Note the walls are on the wood shed now

And then we got two days of rain ...