Weekend Adventures

This weekend I went down to Hamilton to share some free range pork I have in the freezer with my Mum. The roast was amazing, much better than what you get at the supermarket, and has made me even more enthusiastic to get sorted and get on a farm. We finished it off with some delicious tapioca pudding which is such a lovely pudding to have on a cold night.

We visited the Hamilton Rose Gardens, in particular the 'Sustainable Backyard Garden'. I try to visit it regularly as it is such a good example of what you can do on a small patch of land. The Hamilton Gardens website tells you that it was established in 2001 as a demonstration of permiculture and what can be achieved in a average suburban garden. It has worm farms, a chicken tractor that moves around a cluster of vegetable beds, a range of fruit trees, and water recycling, but my favourite feature is a pergola that has a grapevine growing over it with beehives sitting on top. It is such a good idea and keeps the bees flight paths out of the 'human conflict zone'. I'm going to build something similar when I get a house.

I also attended some Spaniel Hunting Dog Trials, which was a new experience. It was amazing watching how the dogs worked the cover, flushing out pheasants. It was a pretty cold day but the sausages at lunch made up for it, they were delicious! I also managed to sneak some kowhai seeds I saw on the ground, and am soaking them now to be planted one day on the farm.

We visited my Brother who was home alone with his partner and kids off visiting family, and it was well worth the visit! I brought cakes and doughnuts for breakfast (which he wasn't too impressed about since he is on a health trip) but left with a big bag of lemons, grapefruit and oranges off his tree, and a rhubarb plant! Fantastic deal! I've stewed up the rhubarb stalks that were on it already with some apple to pop in the freezer for future rhubarb crumbles, and the citrus are destined for marmalade. I promised my brother a jar, and made a deal with my Mum that I'll swop her a jar of marmalade for a jar of lemon honey. I guess thats how all barter systems came to be.

Finally we went and drooled over some rural properties for sale out west of Hamilton. I wont talk too much about it because I am trying not to think about it or I will just get depressed about how far away it is until I will be in a position to buy one. Baby steps.