Organically grown produce in the Western Bay of Plenty
it’s definitely been good weather for ducks and Labradors this autumn. Plenty of water in the rivers, saw some really high levels in July that stripped all the moss and plants off the big bolders in the main channel. Big rain.
We had perfect weather and plenty of help to get all the mulch down on the blueberries and the weed matting throughout the orchard. Friends and family came to help, some brought tractors, some brought trailers, some brought wheel-barrows, all brought shovels.
The team cracked on giving us time to get the organic fertilizers down, clear up rubbish around the place, set-up, test and run the irrigation across the bays. A really productive day. A good lunch with a selection of gourmet sausages and caramelised onions went down a treat, Loki was on hand to keep the place tidy too.
The aim of this mulch is try and reduce the nitrogen content, keep the plants cool and to retain more of the water once we get into the Summer season. Evidence from the States shows this can improve production too but our plants are too young to know yet. I’m sure they’ll be very appreciative of all the work being put in. Loki seems impressed.
The days are getting longer and the sense of optimism is returning as it looks like an early Spring is on the cards. We’ve still got leaves many of plants as the frosts have been mild to non-existent on the farm this year…. so far.
We’ve been working to get the irrigation system ready to start up again. You start off thinking it will be a quick job and slowly becomes days of effort and fault finding to figure out where the problem is. Life’s a journey, more to learn every season!
Raven and skittish are the two horses on our property. Raven the big black one is very tame and brave. Skittish on the other hand is brown and grey and well skittish (nervous and not very brave around humans). Although she’s a scaredy-cat she is still brave enough to eat grass where we are with raven. Raven and skittish are inseparable from each other raven looks after skittish and is always ahead of skitts ( skittish ). I love the sound of them galloping up and down the field they live in. As soon as skittish sees us She gets behind raven, raven will gallop up to us and allow us to pay and stroke her. I really love the horses, I will be sad to see them go if someone buys them.
– lilttle-blue 💙
Loki is our family dog and he’s a Black Labrador, just had his second birthday.
He’s cute, loving and happy to play with us all day long. Eating is his speciality, he will do anything for food… Everywhere he goes he leaves a trail of black fur and he’s a big lump, especially when he jumps on my bed at night!
Our neighbours often come over to say hello and the kids have started naming the various looks, moods and behaviours they see over the fence. So far we have:
Drama Llama, Alarma Llama, Obama Llama, Farmer Llama…
Watch this space for more updates.
