Broody Hen

Meet the broody hen!!!

Kept itself shut in the hen house sitting on any eggs it could find! Consulted my hen manual and have now got her locked up in the chicken tractor for 4 days.........plenty of food, drink etc, but no friends!!!!

Logo designs

Jeff has started work on our first logo - looking for  something to put on wooden crates, jam labels etc. Our first attempt - what do you think?

Picking avocados

Have been picking avocados since the beginning of October.

Picked up a wonderful telescopic picker from the Fieldays - why are the best ones always at the top?

Selling them at Waihi Beach Hotel, Waihi Beach Bakery and Falls Retreat. Lots of giveaways to friends and family....

Removing excess avocados

View of the Lower avocado paddock
 looking up toward the beehives.

View of the Lower Avocado slope
looking towards the Mangakara Stream.

During the Term 3 holidays, we made the decision to remove 12 of the avocado trees in our Lower Avocado trees. These trees were not growing well due to colder temperatures and the steep hillside slopes made it awkward to access the avocados - not to mention the number of times the cows managed to get into the area!




 A further 2 avocados were removed from the Avocado paddock to make a more effective paddock size. Ali cut them out storing the avocado wood for firewood and the cows proved an effective eater of remaining branches and leaves. John arrived with his digger on November 1st and removed the stumps - today in the drizzling rain, I planted grass....

 41 avocados trees remain - all of which are covered in flower and the bees are working hard to pollinate.




With the digger in residence for the weekend, also took advantage of removing two stumps from The Cowshed loop.

Potting around>>>>>

Spent two morning in The Potting Shed at Waihi College last week, potting up 190 manuka and 110 cabbage tree seedlings. The aim is to pot up 1000 seedlings per year, for use on the property over the next five years.  As a member of HELP, I have access to the potting shed and facilities, which I am very grateful for. Earlier in the year ( May / June) , I planted native seeds for the first time - Cordyline, Puriri, Tree Lucerne, Totara and Wineberry. Also went kahikatea seed hunting in the covenant area. Despite my best efforts and using the fridge to achieve cold stratification (!!!!), nothing looks like germinating. Have kindly been given cabbage tree and manuka seedlings from HELP....

The potting table in The Potting Shed

Cabbage tree seedlings

Manuka seedlings

In the shade house.....

Potted up and loaded ...

Computer Down! Xmas coming.....

It's been a bit of a while that I've managed to post a blog! Our I-Mac went down and has had to be sent to Auckland to be fixed..... they say it's  going to take about 2 weeks!!! Made Xmas cakes ( 1 small one for Mum!) last week - and discovered Dad's Xmas mince recipe, so took the opportunity to make 3 jars of Xmas mince too!

Driveway Bank

Very fortunate to have been donated more trees from HELP last week, and took the opportunity to clear the driveway bank of weed and plant amongst the 14 Puriri trees put in a few months ago. !! Put in 10 Mahoe along the top edge and interspersed with 18 Matipo, 20 Wineberry and 20 Manuka. Disappointed to find that something has taken a liking to the Mahoe, so put as many yellow plastic sleeves that I could find in an endeavour to protect them.