Frosty weather over the weekend

Just sharing a few photos from over the weekend. Here in the "winterless north' we don't usually have many frosts and they aren't usually very heavy. This weekend however, we had 3 in a row and they were very heavy. It was cold! Yes I know if you are further south in NZ it was REALLY cold. We just aren't used to it here!

I've been somewhat distracted..........

by a new arrival - meet Roxy the labrador cross.

Isn't she a cutie? Of course being a puppy she is requiring a lot of attention right now, just like having a new baby really! Consequently getting time to spend on to most of the gardening jobs is a little difficult. But I'm not complaining, we're having a lot of fun!

I have however planted my garlic and am finalising plans for planting out the new walled garden.

I'm steadily making more and more compost, and preparing new beds for planting by digging in lots of kitchen scraps (since we no longer have pigs - yes they are now bacon, ham and pork in the freezer). I then lay wet cardboard on top and put mulch on top of that to keep the moisture in and the weeds under control.

I'm also applying mulch as and when to the fruit trees, and onto the existing beds in our original vegetable garden. This is going to be more of a herb and flower garden this coming season. It is on a slope and quite exposed to the wind, and gets quite dry in the summer, so it's never been really suited to growing vegetables. The herbs and flowers on the other hand are doing well there, and I've got lots of plants self-seeding all over the garden. Looking forward to seeing the flowers in bloom come spring-time.

Big carrot and a few photos from around the farm

 

We are so lucky living here. Especially at this time of the year which is "officially" winter (although the winter solstice is on 22nd).  I say lucky because this morning I have been sitting outside in a T shirt (and pants!!) enjoying my morning coffee. The sun is out and it is so nice - calm and warm.

Just sharing a photo of a huge carrot I dug up the other day as I was clearing the carrot bed. I had no idea this biggy was lurking there! D found it very amusing!

It will probably be turned into carrot soup. I picked up some kaffir limes the other day (I do have a tree but no limes on it at the moment), so I am feeling a Thai inspired soup would work well, with some coconut,  lemongrass, ginger, garlic and chilli. Mmmmm.

Talking of citrus, the mandarins as I mentioned in my last post are producing super well right now:

We're having no trouble at all eating these and they also keep relatively well (although we don't need them to keep!).

 Here is the soap I made recently. I'm really pleased with how it came out, and it's lovely and creamy, lathers up well too.

Lastly, here's Polly the goat enjoying the sunshine. D took this photo and I think it's really good.