March 2017 - one quarter of the year is over already

Here in Wellington March has been a pretty busy month. The weather has switched between summer and winter on a regular basis, work has been flat out and we have been neglecting the interior of the house as we try to get outdoor stuff done before winter really sets in. So we have started to edge our gravel path and car-pad, and lay out soil for planting grass, I have been working on weeding and planting, and Nathan has started building a shed so we can finally get the tools and chicken food and everything else like that out of the house.

I also got the chickens a pedal feeder and taught them to use it, and made them nesting boxes - they better start laying when they are supposed to! We were letting them roam the property when we were home, but it turns out they were getting very bold and going much further than we thought. Not to mention making themselves at home under the couch. Now they are penned it with chicken wire to just a wee corner of the section.

And my peach tree finally produced fruit - I thought with the bad summer they might just stay small and hard, but then they grew and were ready all at once. Not that they really got that big or yellow or sweet, but they felt ripe and then they started falling off the tree in bucketloads. Most were too high to reach so I had to lay down a tarp to catch them, and just go pick them all up once a day (and brush the slaters off). The bad ones went in the compost or too the chickens. The good ones weren't really much good for eating. I tried to make a relish - I followed the directions but I'm not sure if it will be edible, it seemed very vinegary. Then I tried to make jam - I think I burnt it a bit (I'm calling it caramelised) and it didn't really set. I have enough for one more try at jam. I also had a go at blackberry jam - there are lots of bramble patches around the neighbourhood so I've been picking berries all month. That jam didn't really set properly either. But I got proper canning jars off of trademe so at least I know my runny jam is sealed properly and won't poison us.

And then I ended the month by getting a 3-legged kitten. We've had him for a week now and he's getting quite bold about exploring the house.