Monthly Archives: January 2014

Standing in the rain with a hose, watering the plants

Posted on January 28, 2014 by tikiwanderer

I don’t know if my neighbours look out their windows late at night. But if they had the other night, they’d have seen me standing in the rain with a garden hose, watering the front garden. They, you and the … Continue reading →

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Green, cool, productive and droughtproofed – the lower-water vegie garden

Posted on January 27, 2014 by tikiwanderer

As I wrote yesterday, I was pleasantly surprised to find that even though the watering system broke while we were on holiday, most of the plants survived a summer week or two without water. I’m putting this down to the … Continue reading →

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Leaving a droughtproofed garden for a summer holiday

Posted on January 26, 2014 by tikiwanderer

We recently spent three weeks away on holiday. It’s firstsummer, moving into secondsummer, that time of year also known as “January” or just plain “bloody hot”. My garden is unirrigated but not entirely unwatered, so us being away means no … Continue reading →

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And the two-year-old said “I want to grow a…”

Posted on January 22, 2014 by tikiwanderer

Early evening, after sunset when the dark is drawing near. The fifth day of seven or eight hot days in a row. The first time in three days when the wind has swung around to the south, cooling the air … Continue reading →

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Value-adding, farm tourism and providoring

Posted on January 19, 2014 by tikiwanderer

On-farm-businesses; value-adding. I think everyone at some stage thinks “How can I make more money with the resources I’ve got?”. Retirement and succession issues mean we also sometimes think “How can we best use the farm given my/our changing abilities?”. … Continue reading →

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Leasing, agistment, strategies for retirement

Posted on January 14, 2014 by tikiwanderer

I was talking with my old friend who’s now teaching in the farm-and-forest belt down South, and his wife who I’d just met. Her parents recently sold their orchard farm and moved to the same town as their daughter, and … Continue reading →

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“For Sale”, “For Sale”, “For Sale” on each corner

Posted on January 13, 2014 by tikiwanderer

We see so many “For Sale” signs as we drive around various parts of farm country. I have to admit that every time I see one I think half seriously about it. I look at the property, think about where … Continue reading →

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We were told we could be anything we wanted to be

Posted on January 12, 2014 by tikiwanderer

“Fifteen”, Mum said. I was helping Mum stack slashed hay from a trailer out around one of the cherimoya trees in the upper orchard. My two-and-a-half-year-old son was “helping”. Mum was about to tell him to be careful climbing around, … Continue reading →

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