Goosey Goosey Gander

Whither do you wander?  Upstream and downstream …

Spring is on its way with the weirdest surrogate mothering arrangement, again this year, on the farm.  What happened to Daddy Drake?  Did Honky the noisiest goose ever, fight him off?  What compels a bedraggled Goose specimen to assume the role of chief Duck Defender?

 The black swamp hens (Pukeko) are paying all too much attention to the little ducklings, for my liking. The peril of eels under their wee legs in the stream doesn’t bear thought. All of that weed in the stream should have died off with the frosts.

We did not have a true cold snap this year; a few token frosts, a smattering of snow on the ranges and sometimes an eerie mist wafting up the valleys in the early morning then dissipating into the harbour. That’s all.

New Zealand food prices are exorbitant this winter and I am a strong advocate of the 100 mile food gathering philosophy.  Who wouldn’t be around here? The Bay of Plenty: maize flour, every semi tropical fruit, avocado and olive oils, a host of vegetables and best of all - WINE!!! Morton Estate winery is a five minute drive away. My vege garden is sporting a new fence –well, nearly finished.

We have enough home grown vegetables and salad greens to keep us well fed so I have started planning for the summer.  A trip to Kings Seeds on a Friday morning gave me the inspiration to plan to plant a few more annual flowers as well as more vegetables for Nikki’s wedding.  (We’ll still be raiding the roadside dahlias though!)