Maitai Bay Camp

We went camping on the last weekend of the school holiday. We went to a campsite about 50km away at Maitai Bay. It is very popular at Xmas and New year but there were still lots of people when we went. One look in the water explained why. It was crystal clear, full of interesting creatures and fairly warm. We only stayed one night, slept very poorly on account of an air bed that was punctured!

Chantelle and Phil went for a kayak. The rest of us swam, dived or dreamed of new projects in the sand. Long live holidays. Back to work next week!

 

 

 

 

Field hair cut

Without grazing animals to keep it in check, the grass grows long and fast, especially when we have a good dose of rain around Christmas. We could not walk through the middle field or the top field and so Bob wa scalled in with his 160HP slasher to give the 2 main fields a scalp. Bob got me up in the air conditioned cab whilst he negotiated the small trees planted in these fields.

The result is shown in the third picture. We can walk across the fields. More usefully, I was able to put poles in to show where the new trees will go this winter. We used rakes to pile up the cut grass into mounds to start getting the soil ready for planting. That will make the job a bit easier when the trees arrive. The plan is to have an avenue of trees running parallel to the small valley that goes through the middle field. Natives will go on the South side of the path , then a row of figs to the right, with apples in the next row.

 

 

 

This is why we shoot pukekos

We came back from our little jaunt at Oakura hoping to harvest the corn crop. Ever since watching Bob Flowerdew running his hands suggestively through the tassels of corn plants on Sophie Grigson's vegetable show many years ago, I have wanted to grow good crops of corn. It needs rich soil and it was given prime location where the chickens had been shitting for a few months. Corn needs to be started under cover from seed. I did this in the polytunnel by the house. It needs protection from slugs when it is planted out. It got this in the form of many a morning inspection, slug pellet applications and evening a night time check when it was drizzling. Corn likes the sun to grow, and large amounts of water. Our crop got its own drainage channel and was even hand watered with buckets when it was dry. Finally as those tassels form and the female flowers develop into cobs, it needs watching for the moment of harvest. Leave it too late and the rats move in (like they did last year). Pick it too soon and it is pale and white and inedible. Get it just right and rush it to the kitchen where you have put the pot on to boil. It can be eaten within the hour of cooking to appreciate all the gorgeous juicy sugars.

What happened was that we came back from holiday just after or as it was at its perfection. The pukekos were enjoying almost unlimited acces to the garden as our friends came once a day to feed the chooks and there was no dog or anyone else around the rest of the time. So they systematically had the lot. In case you doubt my identification of the thief, thinking that I have something against to beautiful pukeko, the evidence was all around on the ground. Picture below.

The only thing that I could think of to feel better about having lost another whole corn crop was the vision of crock pot corn fed pukeko this winter.