Chop Chop!

Another great day at the block, today I put on my Lumberjack Hat and attacked the poplar tree that fell down the other day with the chainsaw.   

Such Fun!

So I also chopped down another 4 small pine trees, well small but really tall.  I think too many had been planted to close together, so a few of the pines are really lanky and some growing at crazy angles, just waiting to be blown over in the next storm.  I did a count and there about 30 of these trees, so I will go through and cut them down overtime, thinning out the pine trees.

So we will have plenty of firewood! For now I've just cut them at manageable lengths, and made 2 stacks under the other trees to dry. Then I just need to work out a good way to get them up the hill to the house.

I'm Lovin Summer!

Just a quick update with some photos.

I just spent a wonderful day at the block... what a beautiful summer day, beautiful blue sky and a gentle summer breeze, just perfect!  I can't really  describe the sense of satisfaction within me. It was just amazing!

A perfect day for mowing the lawns, tidying up the vegetable garden, but the trip today was really to just have a little sneak peak to see how the house if coming along, and coming along it is!

In the above photo, you can see the farmer making hay... while the sun shines.

 

The vege garden is doing well, although we are a bit tired of cucumbers, they grow very well here.  I've only had 2 tomatoes so far. But plenty more to come, they just need to ripen.

 

Don't you just want to roll down the hill in the grass? It was alive with bees and crickets.

If you do want to roll down the hill.. you do need to be mindful of the sheep poo!

 

Above is the cut grass drying, and below the farmers have just started bailing the hay, just as I was heading home for the day.

The bad weather we had last week blew a tree down. It's fallen over the boundary fence, although I don't think the tree is mine.  But being the tidy kiwi I am, on my next visit, I will get the chainsaw out and chop it up for firewood. The only issue I have is how do I carry the wood up that big hill? I guess even the early settlers that came to New Zealand perhaps had Clydesdale Horses or something along those lines to pull the logs. I'm thinking if I chop it into manageable sizes I can carry it up. Maybe one day soon I will look like a Clydesdale too!

Well that is the end of today's updated. I can't wait to go back!

UP UP & AWAY... As The Framing Goes Up!

We had a very nice surprise this weekend at the block. 

We were greeted to the bare bones of the house! YAY!

In one week the flooring and framing has gone up! Awesome! We can now get a real feel as to the floor plan/layout room size etc. It really doesn't feel as small as we had initially thought.

It looks great! We're both very happy with how it looks so far!

The above picture, is looking down hallway to kitchen/lounge.

The above is the Lounge/Living Room/Kitchen

The above is looking down the Hallway to the Bathroom.

The above picture is one of the bedrooms, each will look out to the valley.

HAPPY NEW YEAR - GARDEN UPDATE

Happy New Year To All! 

I hope you all have been enjoying the summer holidays!

We've spent the summer holidays developing the garden area, enjoying the warm sun and fresh air, finishing the day with a swim at Mangawhai beach before heading back to the city. Just beautiful. We can't wait until the house is built so we can enjoy this all a little more.

Below is some of what we have been working on. 

This is just above the vegetable garden, next to the driveway.  We have shaped one of the excess dirt mounds that was left over from the driveway excavation, put down weed mat, bark and planted it with Manuka Leptospermum Burgundy Queen and Grass Carex Buchananii Red. 

I also want to add in a small flax... I do like the Phormium Evening Glow, but I'm finding it difficult to purchase this flax at a reasonable price. So I will keep looking and add later.

I'm hoping that the 3 plants will all grow quiet nicely together, below was my kinda of idea I had with the colours.  

I'm hoping that it will become a little bushy, and provide a little protection for the garden with the westerly winds that seem to be reasonably frequent during spring.

We have also been enjoying some of rewards from our garden. At the moment, just cucumber and peas, but lots of both! Below are the short green cucumber and the apple cucumber, very yummy!