Clare's 50 th

Well it was Clare's big birthday a while back and we had a " do " for her on December the 11 th

We did  a spit roast, a first for Clare and I. We're well versed now in the pig feeding and slaughtering side so things went very smoothly on the Friday night with many thanks to Toby and Tony.

T and T came round again on Saturday morning by which time I'd been to fetch the spit roaster. It took us about an hour to prepare the pig and about 11 o'clock we fired up the burners and then waited. It took about 5 hours to cook at a slow heat, 140 from memory. We let it rest before serving up to our guests, around 85 adults and 45 children.
We also had two BBQ's going and many thanks to those who manned them and all of you who brought food to share.
Verdict on the pork? Awesome , excellent, so tasty, more please, oh wow that's good :-)
All in all a great party

 

 

Many thanks to Amanda for the superb cake, all edible

The pig "resting"

Chief carvers Clare and Jim

Grab a seat

The new Boule court

Got a bit chilly later on so rubbed a couple of boy scouts together

NICU a go go

Clare's 50 th

It's a cake time

Cheesy grin !

Happy Birthday Clare

Partied till the small hours

............new arrival of the four legged variety :-D

Well many of you will know we are expecting ............. a baby that is !! Well actually Helen & Daves baby who will be arriving any time soon (in the UK). We have also had a new arrival here in NZ - namely Griff . A gorgeous boy who we have had as a friend for Sky from the Dog Watch Rescue/Rehoming Centre. Griff arrived today amongst much excitement. So far so good after 3 hours he has met most of the animals (except the cats!) is having a great time playing with Sky and his only misdemeanor  is pinching a loo rolll and hiding it under a rose - not a very good thief though as he had mud all over his nose!!!

Anyway here are the pics :-D

Shaken but not stirred

http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/

Well as with the rest of Christchurch and surrounding districts we were shaken awake on early Saturday morning with THE Canterbury earthquake. Boy when Mother Nature means business there no mistaking the power. We have been extremely lucky where we are as we seem to have escaped any damage (just rattley bones!) whereas neighbouring Kaiapoi and Christchurch have been hit really badly. The after shocks are also a stern reminder that the danger is not over and that such things are unpredictable. Above is a link to the local media and the photos make for shocking viewing especially in places that we frequent which will surely never look the same again. The lovely Victorian façades of the inner city buildings are pretty much destroyed and many of the old landmarks have crumbled.

New shed !!

Knocked this together one afternoon to give the cows some shelter, they seem to prefer just standing outside it looking in rather than going in and getting out of the rain !!

Well we have had a great day on the slopes at Mount Hutt today. It was fairly quiet and the snow was lovely. The new pass system works really well and means we can be through the gate and up the slopes really speedily ready for another go :-D  We managed to take some piccies this time just to show off what we do when we are not at work or on the golf course!!!!

Sunday sausage making day

Our thirds

Wee 10K walk today

Hello hello

Skiing time yahoooooooooooo

Phase one of deck construction

 

Sheep skin rugs!!

Well the lambs pelts are in the garage, salted and waiting to be tanned - so I am having a go at this myself - and if it all go's horribly wrong the dog may end up with a new bed :-0. It's a slightly involved process which involves a lot of washing and drying (but fortunately no ironing) so we should know in a couple of weeks if we can lie on a woolly wrap in front of the log burner :-) or whether the dog will be smiling.

Keep yer posted.

... in the mean time its lamb for tea.

Homekill

As you know we are raising animals for our own consumption so for those of you who would like see what happened here is a link
http://s253.photobucket.com/albums/hh65/bendylegsben/First%20pig/

Best viewed by using the red button marked slideshow in the top right hand corner.

Having never done it before we were both  nervous as to how we'd feel when the time came . It was very quick and he knew nothing.
The process after that was fascinating and it's very satisfying to know we've raised pigs that have a happy well cared for life .

We now get to reap the benefits of that life and going by the first sausages they have produced some Quality meat.

B & C

Extreme hedge cutting

View at morning tea
















Now that's a machine I'd love to drive 


(Steady on Clare :-)  )





Lunchtime view

River cleaning ??

A few weeks ago we noticed that from the bridge we pass over on our way to Rangiora that the river bed was being altered.

They've now got to our bit but we're unsure whether this is the finished article or not, rather hope it is as it's lovely down there now, mind you not that it wasn't before.

Think the bears are still there :-)

Graperide

Well for the last 10 to 12 weeks I've , Ben , been training for the Graperide which is a 101K cycle race based in Renwick which is in  Marlborough the North of the South Island.
Last year we did it as a relay team the " The Flying Halibuts" . Well as Sam said he never wanted to do it again and Clare  was working it was down to me to keep the flag flying :-)

I travelled up with 2 of Clare's colleagues from the NICU on the Friday and we meet up with the rest of the gang, about 18.
Saturday dawned bright but with a howling Nor Wester, warm wind. So for the first 12 K wind assisted but then we got buffeted from the side till we hit the hills which I really enjoyed, down into bottom cog and just keep pedalling :-) And of course for every up there is a down.........

The last big hill is just before Havelock and then it was head for home with a tail wind for the last 30K and back in a time of 4 hrs 42 mins.

Was pretty tired at the end but soon recovered with plenty of water and food.

In the Evening there was a BBQ at one of the NICU nurses brothers house where epic tales of hill climbs and saucy french maids on bikes, wobbly tandems and dropped jelly beans were swapped long into the night .................

Rose garden coming along nicely

Livestock update

 

First off the Sky dog

  

Ah the cheese has snuck in here, due to be cut on the 7th march. The 3 ducks which are now looking very much like 2 drakes and one duck.... 

Closely followed by the ever expanding pigs. We've found a supply of bread for them at $4 per bread tray so that will help the budgetting.

 

Daisy and sheepy friend.Followed by other sheepy friend and Sky dog

The Three Degrees

Been a long time ................too long

Well the title says it all, we've been very slack of late updating here so I'd better get on with it.

Clare is onto her 2nd batch of cheese today. We get it from our friendly dairy farmer Paul Sparks at 50 cents a litre and have about 12 l a time. 10 goes to making the cheese and we get about 2 litres left for cereals etc, fresh milk yum yum.


Stirring some whey to make some Ricotta

Looks a bit Heath Robinson but does the trick, I'll build a proper cheese press come the Winter.


Here's one she made earlier :-) This one is due to be tested on Gaz's 40 Birthday on March 7th