New Zealand Life

January 2013

Happy New Year and Welcome to 2013! I hope you all had a great holiday to start the New Year! Now that the old Mayan Calendar had ended (and the world seems none the worse from it), we have begun the new era: the post-industrialism era. So, welcome to the post-industrialism era as well! This month has been full of surprises, additions, and of course—farming.

This month started with New Years! Mom made amazing seafood snacks and (on my request), her delicious seafood dip with shrimp, crabmeat, water chestnuts, and much more! We had out little seafood feast on New Year’s Eve, and had the left overs on New Year’s in order to spread out the celebration time.

After our little two-day holiday, though, we once again got back into farming mode. At the 2215 South Head road property, be mowed the shed area, and cross country hill with the tractor so that we would be able to see the thistle better when they inevitably popped up again. And that leads to the job we are always doing these days: spraying weeds! We probably sprayed something like 2,000 liters of herbicide on the thistle, but it doesn’t seem like they mind that much because they keep sprouting more and more babies! We’re nearly done with our 3 20L container of herbicide (which makes about 5,000L of herbicide, once diluted), and who knows how much more we’ll go through! This month we also painted roundup around the trees in the orchard, and around the pines on the cross-country hill. I’ll need to touch up on the painting, so the newly-sprouting grass and clover with die out as well.

This month also truly indoctrinated us to the cattle business, as we wrested 1 to 2 week old calves into corners so they could be castrated and ear-tagged. To our surprise, we had 10 babies this month instead of 5, like we were expecting. Mom was wondering how this could of happened, since most of the cows had only just given birth when the bull bred them last year. She decided that our cows must have a high fertility rate. But high fertility rate or not, we certainly weren’t expecting a little red-tinged brown baby hopping away on our hills! Mom was stunned as to how we could have such a bright brown baby. I figured it would have to do with the recessive genes in the bull and cow, and it turns out I was sort of right. Mom searched for information on Angus cattle, and we found that Black Angus were actually bred from Red Angus cattle. The Black Angus bloodline was continually used, reaping the Black Angus we have today. However, because the Black Angus is originally from the red Angus bloodline, it will always have that recessive gene, and will occasionally show it through a red Angus baby. I loved our little red baby, with its little black-tipped tail and furry little body. Unfortunately, it was a boy, so we will sell it in a few months’ time.

Another big project we had this month was getting water for the cows. The summer is setting in now, and all of our pond water levels are going down enormously. PB & J had barely any water in their pond, and the pond in the very back of the property didn’t have enough water to support our herd for very long. So, Mom called up a plumber to install a water tank and a couple troughs on the property. The water tank can hold 16,095L of water, and was placed on the Knoll. We also had three water troughs installed: one in the back paddock, one by the orchard, and one next to the tank. This quickly solved our water problem for the cows, but PB&J still didn’t have that much water! So, Dad and I laid out a hose from a running stream down in the covenanted area up to the meadow pond. We’re still working on the project, and will hopefully have the duck pond full of water soon!

A lot of work has been going on at the 120 Webber Road Property as well. Mom and I went around and cut down some of the fast-growing bushy plants on the property, making the flowerbeds look much tidier. Then, I went out armed with a paintbrush and roundup in order to battle the weeds in our flowerbeds. I also filled a backpack with roundup and sprayed the road-side fence line so the grass wouldn’t grow on the electrical wire and sort out the electricity.

This month we also got screens. Now that we’re in the summer months, we have some really hot days; so, now that we have the screens we can open the doors without having 5 million flies coming in!

My garden is growing amazingly. We put together a schedule for planting and harvesting certain plants, so that we can grow things in the seasons they do best in. The chart is attached to the bottom, if you’re interested in looking at it. We only included the plants we’d like to grow, so not all the vegetables are listed. I’ve attempted to grow cucumbers in a make-shift hothouse and they should germinate in a week or so. Meanwhile, my tomato plants are growing like crazy and would’ve probably taken over my whole garden if I hadn’t put stakes up. My celery continues to regrow itself no matter how many times we cut it down and we cut down one purple cabbage, and the remaining green cabbage. Both are growing five new cabbages each and the first green cabbage that we cut is doing well. The peppers have finally taken off, and might even produce some peppers (or capsicums, and the Kiwis say)!

But that was far from the two most exciting events of the month. Firstly, Amie when “clucky”! In other words, Amethyst became broody. I was spraying roundup on the back fence line, and almost stepped on my silver-laced chicken, which was burrowed in the grass, sitting on 14 eggs!!! This was a big surprise, since we’d thought one of the chickens just wasn’t lying. She was pretty smart; as Mom says, “She didn’t want the peeps to take her peeps!” We didn’t use the eggs for human consumption, as most of them were rotten; instead, the Silkies enjoyed a special treat of egg yolks in their pellets a few mornings.

And last and most exciting of the month: we got three new ducklings!!! We got these three new Peking duckling additions from the same breeder we got PB&J from. On the whole ride home, I racked my mind for a cute trio name, and remember one that mom had come up with: Rock, Paper, & Scissors. When we got home, though, Mom had come up with an even better name: Snap, Crackle, and Pop. These were (and still are) the names of the trio of elves advertising Rice Krispies. You can see the video of them in the video tab.


As you can see, this month was full of more experiences, farming, and family additions! 2013 is kicking off to a great start! Next month might bring even more calves, the launching of Snap, Crackle, and Pop, and best of all: visitors!!! My mom’s Aunt Carol (better known as Nonnie) is coming to New Zealand to celebrate her 90 birthday!!! Not only this, but Valentine’s Day is coming up! February will definitely be a month full of fun and excitement!!!

~Julia~