Kayla and Tim got married in February, at a beautiful ceremony on the beach at Ngakuta Bay, which is along the northern coast of the south island, on a spectacular road called Queen Charlotte's Drive. The entire wedding party was barefoot, in formal attire. The bride and groom wrote their own vows and it was beautiful! The weather was perfect.
The only glitch came at the beginning: a chartered bus was supposed to bring the guests, so they wouldn't have to make the long windy drive to the ceremony. All the guests got on to the bus, and halfway there, it broke down! No worries; the driver just called for the company's other bus -- which arrived, filled up with petrol, and then broke down! No, really. Imagine an entire wedding, stranded by the side of the road, in formal wear, hitchhiking. Fortunately, Tim's cousin owns a cab company. Everyone arrived laughing, and no one freaked out - not even the bride or groom, and it was perfect from there on out. There was a lovely reception afterward back in Blenheim where Tim grew up. All in all, a great day and an auspicious beginning to their lives together. We wish them so much happiness.
Two days later, the Christchurch earthquake destroyed most of the city. This was absolutely devastating. Luckily, it didn't affect us directly. It has been amazing to see how much support has materialized. The support has come in many forms: money, clothing, food, toilets, accommodation, volunteers arriving with shovels and wheelbarrows, benefit auctions. Everyone has been incredibly generous; we are proud to be living in such a place.
Life has been good to us. We had two beautiful little calves born this year. Terry is a mutt of a mongrelly thing, born to a Jersey/Freisan mother and a Murray Grey/Charolais father. She is as sweet as pudding, and she always comes running when we have some food for her.
The other calf, Brush Russell, is BB's daughter, and her father was a purebred Jersey straw. She is the prettiest thing ever. We hope to keep her as a milking cow. She is Bessie's grand-daughter, so she will inherit the farm when she gets old enough.
Goldie arrived this spring, when it became clear that Blaze was lonely. Goldie is a box-terrier/golden retriever, and she loves you. She's worthless as a farm dog, but she really, really loves you.
Zim has been making more cheese. He built this cheese press out of scrap lumber, and it makes cheese rounds that weigh about ten pounds.
Levi picked up guitar, and he's really good at it!
Tim and Kayla and some friends came around one day to help us move 1500 tires. These were in a pile at a nearby farm. We plan to use them to build our house.
Over the Christmas holidays, Zim's family came for a visit.
We had a lovely day at Elephant Rocks, near our house.
Zim went with them to Wanaka, to show them the scenery.
This is Rob and Levi, exploring a gorge on the way to the West Coast, called the Gates of Haast.
Uncle Rob is a singer/songwriter, and one of his songs had its austral premiere at the Oamaru Intergalactic Ukelele Ensemble's holiday concert.
We have had a steady stream of WWOOFers staying in our cottage, helping with various aspects of the farm. It's amazing how much more work gets done when there are a few more people doing it. Finally we have made some real progress! It has been a great pleasure meeting so many really nice people from all over the world.
Besides the Wwoofers, our friend Lynley is helping out.
This summer, we had an unbelievable number of wild mushrooms. We dried and froze about 14 pounds of mushrooms. Delicious!
When the harvest arrives, it sometimes brings along a guest or two. Look what's crawling toward the lettuce...
After last year's mammoth garden experience (too big, too far from the house,) we learned that a little patch of earth right behind our house was decidedly better.
We had heaps of tomatoes in our tomato house. Some of them were rather plucky.
We had a lot of ripe tomatoes, but because the chilly summer turned into autumn rather quickly, we also had a lot of green tomatoes. Hence Gail learned two marvelous new recipes: Curried green tomato pickles and green tomato relish. Yum! Next year we'll have to plant extra plants just to make sure we have enough green tomatoes!
Zim has been taking a plant propagation class, and has assembled a forest of small trees and shrubs, each one lovingly potted and tended. We built two big nurseries to keep these plants healthy until they can be planted out. They will eventually be planted along our swales to provide shelter for our animals and pasture, and in our gully to shade out the nefarious weeds.
Gail took a year-long class in beekeeping. Even though this year was pretty awful for bees, she harvested nine liters of honey from just two hives! Next year will be even better, as the hives will be more mature, and the weather will be more cooperative (we hope!)
Our house is heated by a wood fire. In years past, we had an old Wamsler stove in our kitchen, but it was ill-suited to the task: it boiled our hot water tank, but didn't heat up the room. This year, Zim refurbished an old pot-belly stove, and we have been toasty warm ever since!
Last weekend, we decided to explore a nearby forest called Trotter's Gorge. It is an amazing place, with hiking trails through native rainforest.
Our most ambitious project to date is now underway: terra-forming! This will likely be the subject of our next post. We'll try to post it before another year slips by....
