Home…

To have a covered front entrance, after years of none, is still something I am so incredibly grateful for, especially when there is a house full of teenagers. The rain has been pretty constant lately and we grab the fine spells when we can.

Yesterday Rich, Pica and I went for a hike. On a clear day you can normally see for miles, the mist had rolled in and gave it a mystical feel, luckily we know the path well, would be very easy to get lost up there.

My vege garden is well into hibernation but still growing some hardy herbs, potatoes, spinach, lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, rhubarb and there are still lemons on the tree, (leaving them there until needed)

The carrots I pulled up and processed. Below is the first lot I did, we now have a whole shelf of frozen flat bags of grated carrots ready to go into stews, soups, couscous etc etc

When Luca was a baby/toddler I used to make up smoothies that I froze into cubes for use with baby cereal or just as a drink. Making them again for his breakfast to ensure he is getting enough vitamins minerals and proteins is proving a success. This one has fresh spinach, banana, frozen berries and fruit, (cheaper by far than fresh), yogurt, honey, milk (you can add tofu for more protein). Trying to keep up with his food intake and make it nutritious is a challenge, when 2-minute noodles are a teenager “go to”!!!!!! Keeps well in glass jar for 3 days so make in big batches.

Two-minute noddle’s still high up there, but at least he adds a fried egg to the top 🙂

These two spend a lot of time in this position over winter. They both prefer this couch apparently, so have given up disliking each other and have learned to share.

However, at night for a short while Vida still does her job with great success…

With the wet days, lots of reading is happening. The book Luca gave me, and the magazine is a subscription my brother gave me, both great! I love to read, don’t do nearly enough of it, working on changing that.

Rich spends downtime researching how to do things, much to Pica’s delight…

Then when the sun comes out, he builds the next project. The latest, a wood fence up by the barn/ top paddock area. Up until now we have used a temporary one to cordon off the pony area from the sheep area. Secret would periodically break through it, (she is beyond smart), but for the most part it worked, however it looked very ugly. Well, it has now been replaced by an attractive wooden fence and gate that Luca and Rich stained this past week. Functionally it is working so well, much easier to do the feeds in the morning and evening.

This is the view from that area looking back toward to house. Hereweka, (Harbour Cone), is in the background. It is an old volcano. We have climbed it before, but not for a while, need to do it again!

Today was a glorious winter day and I spent it in the garden tidying up, preparing for a mulch load and looking at what plants I need to finish areas off.

These two looking their best on a day like today, it is the perfect spot for them!