The Perfect Day

Every now and then you are handed a day that should be wrapped up in paper, tied with a big bow and started with a loud "surprise"! Saturday was one of those days- a gift. August and September here can be rough- raging Nor'Wester winds followed by bone-chilling southerlies.

But that wasn't Saturday. Saturday was perfect from the get-go. The sunrise had painted Mt Grey pink, a much anticipated event in our house lately. The girls rip open the curtains while it's still dark outside, busy themselves with other morning stuff such as breakfast, all the time keeping one eye on the mountain. As the sun rises it paints the mountain a perfect small girl tinge of pink. It's heralded with much yelling, squealing and arguments about who saw it first.

We had a big list of "to-do" jobs on Saturday including erecting the new electric fence to keep the geese in the shelter belt. They are such fastidious weeders. They keep the fescue grass under "just surviving" conditions and leave the trees alone completely. They also manure the ground around the trees and act as early warning systems for anybody entering our property.

It was a big job, 300metres of four strand electric fence but we all pitched in- Ruby helped attach the strings, Matilda experimented with using the droppers as light sabres and Flynn attempted to eat the goose poo! We got it done.

The rest of the day was sacrificed to tree planting- more poplars for sheep shade, oaks for the same, and a few more fruit trees including an apple, plum and nashis.

As the day wore on it just got sunnier, warmer and stiller. Every now and then you'd just have to stop and take it all in- perfect silence, the sun on your back, then sky larks starting to sing, lambs in the distance, then silence again.

By the end of it we were all totally blissed out by the "gift day". The photos above was taken as the shadows lengthened and we realised that the end was nigh. Just had to capture it before it disappeared for ever. The perfect day.

Matilda woke up VERY early this morning, and I tried to explain to her that it wasn't yet time to get up. She was still asleep really, but mumbled. "Are the stars still in the sky, or have they been put in the grass yet?" It was such a beautiful piece of imagery, from the subconscious of an almost three year old.

She was referring to the cracking frosts we've been having over the past few weeks- up to minus 6 degrees Celsius (21 Fahrenheit). I'm forever trying to remind myself of the benefits of frosts- they condition the soil, get rid of leftover pests and diseases from the last growing season and ensure enough chill for the fruit trees that like it, such as apples. Often they also mean beautiful sunny days here because there is no cloud cover.

The frosts also mean ice- ice in the puddles, ice in the water troughs and buckets of the animals and ice in the goose pond. In terms of toughness ducks get my vote. From before the sun is up they are busy free-ranging in the vege garden, finding slugs and snails. I realise they have duck down and feathers, but what about those orange legs and webbed feet? They wade through puddles on purpose acting like great white icebreakers, surely they get cold toes!!?

Well, here it is. The first ever post on The Food Farm blog!

It seemed like an appropriate time to start.
It's winter, but the seed catalogues have arrived which always heralds the beginning of a new growing season.
It's our big time for planning- when we feel there is a little more space in our heads to try and have a longer term view of the property. It's also time to plant the bare root trees and to order any for springtime planting.
This year we're only going to increase the number of trees a small amount after 4 years of mass plantings.
We've worked out it's important to plant only what we can ensure we will looked after. For us this means irrigation, protection from stock, frost and wind and our ability to create a weeding regime for that area.
This planning week has even delivered a couple of milder days, bringing with them the anticipation and suggestion of spring- most appropriate. No doubt mother nature is just teasing!