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Development - Are we having fun yet?
January - June 2005
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Making hay while the sun shines... or at least our neighbour is! After a very wet summer, the grass on the eastern
half of the property was finally taken for hay
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 By
the start of 2005, we are looking in good shape.
The summer has been wet and mild - none of the
searing nor'westers you would expect in a normal
Canterbury summer - so the grass has settled in
nicely and the trees also seem to be thriving
so far. We have had a contractor in to cut the
grass twice, although we will be taking up that
task ourselves later this year. The photo doesn't
really convey the sheer beauty of it all, the
lush green growth and the neat rows of shelter
trees with healthy leaves, starting to give some
structure to the expanse. |
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 Our
little plot of land is going to take quite a lot
of maintenance, and we are getting a tractor to
deal with things like mowing and carting a 100
litre spray tank. Of course, with no real buildings
to speak of, we had to arrange somewhere to park
it... enter our shipping container. 40-foot and
non-refrigerated, in a charming shade of railway
red. Still, it should do the trick. We located
it at the far end of the property, right at the
back - it will be out of sight once the trees
get a bit more height on them, but usefully located
for gaining access to the working blocks. |
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,
and will be feeding our neighbour's stock over
winte
r.
The bales he made are quite large rounds, and
he had a bi-i-i-i-g tractor to do it. No damage
to any of our trees though, thank goodness.
Only a month after the previous photo (2 January
to 5 February), but look at the difference -
a little bit of summer has turned the grass
brown, but the trees have really taken off and
the poplars have gone from looking like naked
little poles to bushy wee trees. It is marvellous
to see the growth everything has put on, and
with the grass short the shelter lines give
a very good sense of structure.
We
took delivery of our new tractor today, a 28 hp
Jinma. Rather than an ancient, heavy, second
hand tractor (of a reliable brand such as John
Deere or Massey Ferguson), we have elected to
go with a lesser-known Chinese brand. We are
hoping that it will stand up to the rigours
of working in NZ, but it is a bit of a risk.
On the other hand, a ride-on (even the largest
model) wasn't really going to cut it, so we
have to take a bit of a chance.
28
May 2005 - we are preparing for the next round
of planting, due to happen in the next month.
Stephen sprayed out the planting lines for the
next six blocks of hazels (!) a couple of weeks
ago, and they are browning off nicely now. Meanwhile,
the trees along Tram Rd have stopped showing
their autumn colours and are now quite bare.