Our 5 acres of Paradise in
Benhar, South Otago .
"MAY 2010."
"ALWAYS LOOK TO THE SKY AND FOLLOW YOUR DREAM,
MAKE
EVERY MINUTE OF EVERY DAY COUNT."
Well, whats new at Redwood
Grove.
Between holding our ever popular Cheese
Workshops and continuing with our house renovations, there is not a lot of spare
time and you know!! we wouldnt have it
any other way.
Our property is slowly taking shape,
we do not see the day to day progress, but when visitors say how much it has
changed we really appreciate it.
My Pride and Joy 1952 Fergie tractor
Monty (named after Englands spin bowler Monty Pannassar, its a long
story) has been so valuable in transforming our land.
At the moment, Monty is ill and has an
appointment with the doctor.
I used him to level off a hilly rise and
bent him a bit, but nothing a bit of TLC wont fix.
Karma enjoying the morning sun with
'Monty".
Sophie our pride and joy Jersey heifer
(born August 06) is doing very well. No, no calf yet. We expected her to calve
last year, but no, she was empty.
Late November/Early December 09, she
spent 5 weeks in the paddock with a mob of Friesan Heifers and 4 Jersey bulls!!
This time???
We believe/hope finally, that she is in
calf, due to calve Early September 2010, WATCH THIS SPACE.
As the owners of one cow, it is so hard
to get her in calf.
"
"Sophie".
Our bull calf who was neutered and
was a steer, is no longer with us, we are appreciating the lovely meals he is
providing.
Due to his destiny, he was
not named.
Rocky.
"Rocky" (this is an old photo) has
slimmed down appreciably and still enjoys life to the full.
We find it nessacary to keep his
grazing under tight control as he, like all miniatures, can and will eat
themselves to an early grave.
Miniatures are eating machines and must,
for thier own wellbeing be kept under control.
The 5 mtr Tunnelhouse we purchased has just finished its first growing
season and we had average success but learned a lot.
We are aiming to plant Winter crops in it and to this end, have covered
completely with Frost cloth. We have been told this is the way to ensure no
killed plants during Winter.
Karens raised gardens have done well,
there are nights when 100% of the meals we are enjoying are from our own
land.
Our large pond has been a great asset to
the property with an assortment of Wildlife taking up residence. Today (Thursday
13th May) as i was checking what impact the heavy rain has had, the pond was
alive with the sound of Frogs.
If you have Frogs, you must be doing
something right!!
Grey Teal nested beside the pond again
and raised 8 ducklings and the ever present Mallards had a bumper breeding
season.
Being Duck shooting season, between 50
and 60 ducks on the lawn beside house is not uncommon.
We have been lucky to increase our small
flock of Mandarin ducks to 5 (soon to be 6, which will give us 3 pairs for this
season.
We are ever learning more obout this
magnificent little Duck. The ducklings are not great at learning to feed
themselves and many a healthy duckling has succummed to starvation at around a
week old after using up the Yolk sac. ""I WILL NOT GIVE UP""
Mandarin
Drake.
I was also lucky to purchase 2 pairs of
Carolina Wood ducks, which flew down from the Waikato (no, on a plane ). All
have settled into their respective planted aviaries and we eagerly await the
breeding season.
Photo to
follow.
We have continued to plant Bearded
Irises and Daffodils around the perimeter of the pond, now the animals are
contained (hopefully).
Further Landscaping is to follow as the
weather permits.
Our Muscovys, Cayuga, Indian Runner and
Khaki Campbell Ducks are enjoying the pond as are our 5
Swedish Blue ducks and their drake.
The 3 Pilgrim Geese are also doing
well.
We have hand reared many ducklings this
year, who are an absolute delight.
"We really can learn a lot from animals,
if we just take the time".
We have increased our Free Range hens and
hope this year we can keep up with demand for the eggs which we sell at the
gate.
At last count, we have around 30 hens and
pullets coming on to the lay.
due to the number of Ducks we had, i took
about 20 to the Auction in Invercargill which sold well.
Iwas lucky to have a trio of beautiful
Dorkings (2 x hens and a rooster)knocked down to me. Photo
to follow.
Jack, our very special Peacock has been
joined by a pure White boy, who has settled in well.
Photo of White Peacock to
come
Along with thier girls, hopefully the
patter of little Pea babies will occur next spring.
Prince Caspian and his yet to be named girls.
Our wee Cocker Spaniel Sharna, is
well and really enjoys the opportunity to explore all areas of the property. She
is ball crazy, throw her the ball and your a friend for life.
Sharna is still a 24/7++++ energy
machine. We love her
dearly.
"Wee
Sharna" Our Kune Kune sow, Milkshake and boar
Roger are well. They were forbidden visitation rights, due to us not wishing to
have any more piglets.
They lead a relaxing life of
luxury.
Our Sheep have been reduced in numbers,
we have 6 now. I bought 3 East Freisan Ewes, which are now hopefully in
lamb to a purebred East Friesan ram. Due to lamb Mid September
2010.
Our Aviary birds have had a
massive season and their young have mostly been
sold.
Our trio of Golden Pheasants did very
well and all youngsters have new homes.
The female Baraband (Which turned out to
be a male) and the origional Male left on Petbus for thier new home in
Wellington last Wednesday and are now settled in.
We did not breed from
our White Face Cockateils, due to
the massive breeding season the previous year and a pair of Rosa Bourkes
also did well.
They join our Bourkes, Kakariki,
Redrumps, Zebra Finches, Bengalese, Quail, Pigeons, Doves and
Turquisines.
Our 5 families of Honey Bees have
had an average season due to spring and early summer weather so we have
distributed the honey frames between the 5 hives for winter. No sign of Varroa
at present, but i guess it is inevitable that it will arrive in Otago soon, as
already in the Canterbury area.
"The Our
5 Bees Hives casting their shadows onto the
pond.After working in the Dairy Industry for
near all of my working life, commencing in a Butter Factory in Stratford in
Taranaki I moved into Cheese in 1980 when joining the East Tamaki Dairy Co in
Manurewa in Manukau City.
1980 saw production commence of the first
Traditional French Style Cheeses in New Zealand origionally under the Royal
Tasman label and later the Ornelle range of Fine cheeses. 19 years later, we
left Auckland and took up a position as Head Cheesemaker at Whitestone Cheese in
Oamaru for 3 years and later Gibbston Valley Cheese situated in the Gibbston
Valley on the site of the Gibbston Valley Winery between Cromwell and
Queenstown.
Karen and I had always held a desire to
have our small piece of land and to grow (organically) our own food as much
as possible and produce products from what our animals supply us with.
Also, due to my passion for "All things
Cheese" We have increased our Cheese-making Workshops
business.
We are thrilled with the response to our
Workshops and the feedback we have received is very exciting and very much
appreciated.
It is very rewarding and satisfying to
receive comments from those who have joined us in our Workshops about the
wonderful Cheeses they are making and enjoying.
Long live "Traditional Hand Made
Cheese"!!
I gain great enjoyment from teaching
small groups, the basics of Traditional Cheese-making and Cheese appreciation.
Our Website is working very well and our
sales to Home Cheesemakers seems to be very popular.
With the support of my wife and my best
friend Karen, we have made a decision to give our Cheese Workshops business our
total support for 2010.
Karen, has a special gift, to help people
in thier journey through life and teaches and
practices Natural Therapies
specifically Chiron. We have just about completed her practice room on our own property, for her to offer healing
sessions.
