Spring on the Farm and a Dam full of ducks - albeit briefly

Spring has arrived with the Friesas

Spring has finally arrived officially and right on cue, we cut our first asparagus spears and friesas. There are l a lot of very wet areas on the paddocks and some surface water refuses to dry up, but grass is growing albeit slowly and the cows can eat the hay thrown at them without crushing it into the mud before they get it all eaten. We have a guava bush that has lovely ripening fruit and of course the mandarin trees are laden with lovely juicy fruit. Even the George Washington navel orange tree is ripe and the bananas are still providing a lovely tasty treat.

Garlic patch

The very cold weather we had a couple of months ago ensured a good crop of large Brussels sprouts, however I have recently been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, so lashings of butter are no longer allowed. The leeks are nice and big with lovely firm white stems and leek and potato soup will be on next weeks menu, even though I have to watch my intake of carbohydrates. We have had a 100% take on our garlic and shallots and I can almost smell that lovely odour of garlic cooking already.

The most impressive harbinger of Spring has been the arrival of families of mallard duckling and our annual arrival of 9+ Paradise Ducklings. It really is fun watching then family trooping through the paddocks heading for swimming lessons on the dam and this year with the large pools of water in low lying areas the ducklings got a head start, without having to walk all the way to the dam. Needless to say the resident hawks are on the prowl for a free meal and they make the journey a hazardous experience for all these little balls of fluff. The Pukekos who live on the dam  take exception to being invaded and they make a racket whenever the new visitors arrive. Pukekos amaze us with their ability to dig out the roots of carrot weed which grows prolifically at this time of the year and as the roots are similar to parsnip roots in colours and shape, they have to dig really deep. Every day there are little mounds of weed leaves strewn over the ground and it sure saves a lot of weeding. Mind you we are not enamored when they use the same technique on our valued vegetable plants. (All my new season plantings of small asparagus seedlings have disappeared already.)

Guava bush

Our blueberry plants are coming away with a rush and hopefully will provide  a tasty treat for later, (blueberry muffins come to mind!) I am looking forward to the arrival of new bright green leaves on our deciduous trees, the oaks in particular are an annual treat and I can see that the Macadamias will soon have their delicate racemes hanging down like Christmas tree decorations. The little silver eyes are keen to eat as many guavas as possible, so netting is required. (I couldn't net the bush too early as it contained a beautifully made nest, with Mum and three eggs, so I had to allow her an exit.)

Chopper Spraying

# (3xdays later)

 This morning the neighbors started their paddock spraying and because they have such a large farm (and a relative with a helicopter) and this means they don't have any damage to their still very wet paddocks. I dare not use my little Kubota tractor as we still have a lot of extremely wet areas.

# UPDATE!

Today we have no ducklings left except our (Paradise flock) and our resident Pukeko family have had a disastrous week. Torrential rain produced a very flooded river and the ducklings were either swept away during the night or the hawks/eels have eaten them. The baby Pukeko is missing and when I looked at the latest compost hole in the garden it contained the body of a mature Pukeko who was lying at the bottom of the hole! Either he fell in during the night and broke his neck or he has eaten some lethal possum bait, which although hidden in a bait station, might have been accessible to a determined bird. We will never know! 

A very empty woodshed!

#Further Update!  Today the coldest September days since records begun. A decent frost this morning and only 2c promised tonight. More firewood required but the shed is almost empty and it will be fine for a few more days yet!

A Grandson Turns One and we compare Life changes

Grandad & Aidan on his birthday

I recently had the pleasure of attending my youngest Grandsons 1st birthday and what a joyous occasion it was too! He lives in Auckland so I don't get to see him as often as I would like, but regular emails and phone calls to his Mother keep me posted on what is happening in their household. His brother Ronan who is approaching the age of 4 has suddenly made huge gains in both speech and reading ability and these two lively youngsters no doubt  promise many years of family escapades within the family unit.

It was intriguing watching his reaction to the other children who gathered for his birthday and although he was reticent at first, he soon started interacting with them, especially when it became time to open presents. He sure let everyone know that HE was going to open HIS gifts and although brother Ronan was allowed to open some of the birthday card envelopes, it became a tug-of-war with the gift wrapped collection. I guess at least with two boys in the family, they will be able to share many items in the future without too much difficulty, unlike families with girls who prefer dolls to trucks!

Ronan helping with the presents

It made me think of my own family, where we had 4 boys and one sister (although we always thought of my Sister as an honorary brother, especially when we needed a guinea pig to test any new invention we made) My older brother Dennis and I were a team until he left home as a young teenager to go farming, my Sister Carna and I were very close in age, so we got along well and my two younger Brothers Bruce and Roger (our baby) became another team. A major influence on our lives was the fact that our extended family lived close by and we spent many joyous moments with Grandparents, Uncles and Aunts and I feel sorry for the changes that have occurred over the past decades where families live in other locations far apart from each other.

On the drive back home I kept thinking about the changes in our society over the years and wondered to myself what sort of a world young Aidan would find on his 21st birthday. (I invited all those at the birthday party to attend his 21st and promised I would do my best to be there as well!) Whenever I start talking about my own childhood, I am contstantly reminded by my audience that we just couldn't compare what happened in the 40s and 50s with today's challenges and that we have improved beyond belief as far as health issues go.

Aidan's Elmo Cake

When I started school. NZ had just come out of a very costly war and rationing of certain goods was still in force until the early 50s. We also had Import controls and because the population was still small in numbers, the prospect of getting a job was a lot easier, especially as the country prospered on the back of our farming exports. NZ lead the world in childcare (unlike the shameful statistics of today) and the Plunket Society featured in every corner of the country, including difficult to reach rural communities. I remember when we had an epidemic of polio in 1947 just before I started school and some children became afflicted with this cursed disease until the Salk vaccination regime was made available in about 1956. I believe schools throughout NZ were closed for 4 months at the height of the epidemic. Measles was quite rampant too at one stage and I remember some new migrants from England who lived in our street becoming infected soon after arrival and my Mother took charge of looking after them. Some of my school friends were sent to a Health camp at Pakuranga during school holidays.

That cake tastes great!

Thank goodness many of the childhood diseases are mostly under control, although we read in recent news of whooping cough and other old style diseases reappearing and  I have been reliably informed that if we can get our immunisation rate a lot higher, it will make a difference. So it would appear that although things were vastly different way back then, we still can't assume that today's world is far superior. It just isn't so!

Like my Father before me, I probably cannot conceive how different the world will be in two decades time when Aidan turns 21, I just hope that the world has learnt a few more lessons by then. I certainly hope so!