Is Spring here and Summer on its way?

October 06, 2014

The past three-four months have seen us experiencing a very wet winter-On Caretaker Farm over a metre of rain was collected in the rain gage in three months and the past month of September saw us receive another 200mls on top of what had already fallen from June until the end of August. I personally am not complaining about the amount of rain as the past two winters have been dry and with dry summers also I was getting worried that our river would stop flowing and the spings that feed it would all dry up. I needn't have worried as finally this year everything feels back in balance and we are heading into summer with full aquaducts and a river at a reasonable level.

We luckily had a few long-term wwoofers over the winter staying and I am grateful for the stability and constancy that their presence gave to our continuing projects. Unfortunately the builder was less constant and didnt come at all for over 4 months so the bakery building stalled and the wet weather has meant very little has been able to be done in the garden or on the earth oven project. Added to this is the fact that Fabrice and Bryan will leave New Zealand in January and it looks like the cooking oven and kiln will not be finished-oh well as Fabrice says to me many time-someone else will come to finish this project -I just have to trust in the process.

Happily with the slight warmth in the weather and soil temperatures many of the plants in the garden are starting to grow and seed is sprouting but we need to be cutious as only 2 days ago the temperature dropped to 10 degrees which is a step back to winter days. The clematis is out around the woofer house and there are Tuis, Kereru and other birds coming into the garden to feed off the spring flowers-first the cherry trees and then the plum and peach blossom.

Early spring and the cherry tree

There are 7 foreign people staying representing France, Germany, Australia, USA and Japan so once again a united nations gathering at the farm. As always not all who come like the experience of living at Caretaker Farm and interacting with me-I try to be less rude and stressed about the work that is being done by these volunteers but it is difficult to not be negative at times especially when you can see people doing little work, not thinking about what they are doing and taking for granted that I will cook for all of them without help. So many wwoofers who come and stay are young with no skills (so many cannot even cook) so if they are not positive, reliable and engaged in the work they have to do for me I find it hard to be patient, polite and willing to spend time teaching and working with them. It becomes easier to do what I have to do without the wwoofers involvement in order to get the task done before I have to move on to the many other tasks that need to be done also.

The kitchen-a work in progress

At present we are removing the old kitchen in Dorothy's house ready for a new designed kitchen to be put into the space-it had to happen because after an accidential water leak all the old drawers and cupboards started to disintegrate and we had no choice other than starting again.

All of this activity fits with spring and the onset of summer-bring it on says me.