The garden fence

We've started constructing the walls of the fence around the veg garden, using old corrugated iron sheets that we've acquired from various places. Will be painting this once it is all put up. Already makes a big difference cutting out the cold wind.

Delicious duck pate

Once again we were the lucky recipients of some delicious pate from our French neighbours down the road. A few weeks ago we'd given them one of the ducks that G shot.

I don't have the exact recipe, but I know this contained hazelnuts, green peppercorns, orange zest and a dash of Grand Marnier. Absolute heaven - we munched our way through quite a substantial chunk of it on crackers the other night.

I've only ever made pate from chicken livers, so I'd be keen to find out how it's done, this pate is more like a terrine that requires cutting rather than able to be spread. To receive a treat like this as a gift once in a while really is fantastic.

Fruit tree season

It's that time of year again. We've been scanning the catalogues for interesting fruit tree varieties to add to our orchard. We have a couple of local heritage figs on order from Koanga nurseries, also an apple called 'Monty's Surprise', heralded as "the best anti-cancer eating apple in the world". We already have quite a few apple trees but couldn't resist adding this one, especially since we have the space! Would also like to get a couple of pear trees, and maybe try growing some apricots, not sure how they will fare in our northern climate but we won't know until we try!
Have decided to use feijoas as hedging along the citrus orchard to offer some protection from the winds. We were going to put up a shelter fence, but it makes sense to plant something edible! We'll have tons of feijoas in years to come, but maybe that'll be when it's time to dabble in homemade winemaking!