As you know I’m a beach fan. I never tire of visiting the beach and hauling out my camera.
iPhone beach and cloud magic
iPhone morning mist at Muriwai
Back at home, my veg garden is looking surprisingly good. Winter for us means rain and plenty of it! Not that I’m complaining, as the land is verdant green and our water tanks are full.
Pineapple sage
In search of Spring
iPhone … one of the neighbours
iPhone sunset
We have been munching on small broccoli, sugar snap peas (eaten in the garden), beetroot, lettuce, kale, spring onions and herbs. I’m enjoying watching the progress of the broad beans which are now sporting flowers and I have promised them a good dousing of liquid fertiliser, the homemade variety. In fact, today just might be their lucky day! I’m eagerly awaiting the arrival of my spud order. A great assortment of the early variety, which will be dipped in liquid fert and popped in egg cartons where they will reside for a month prior to planting.
It is incredibly hard to believe that even though we are in winter we have already had a broody hen. Normally I would have laughed, scorned her eagerness as we don’t have a rooster and removed her morning and night from the nest for her to participate at feed time. However given the mite debacle last summer, and realising that mites don’t really mind whom they visit for their tucker, I was horrified.
Rescue brown shavers … hilarious girls
Hence Miss Lavender Sussex was removed from chook towers and spent a few days in solitary confinement. It worked a treat!
For all those chicken people out there, mine have cinnamon dusted in their nest boxes, lavender and rosemary strewn on the floor. Their abode ‘chook towers’ is cleaned weekly with soapy warm water with lavender oil and their poo is removed daily from the pine shavings floor. A net curtain is drawn at night to keep those feathered girls out of the nest boxes ..
I’m sitting in the office with the heater on tapping away on the keyboard and glancing at the clock. Our black cat is curled up on the floor behind me and I can hear him purring. Occasionally an ear twitches. If he knew who would be visiting in the next half hour I seriously doubt whether he would be – a) purring, b) sleepy and c) my best friend. Vets can have that effect can’t they? He’s off his tucker and we need to work out why! Wish us luck …
Happy gardening