June goes by!

 

Well time really is flying by, I've neglected the blog for over two weeks now! Though I'm hard pressed to think of much to report, the weather continues to be wet and wild, but the girls don't seem to mind.
Our dog Hina has just had puppies, so that's causing some excitement. We've got two little boys, we're working on names. Matotea's rooting for Lili and Lulu, I'm more for Caramel and Cocoa.

Other than that we're getting ready for the run-up to the heiva next month. Viriamu and Tuati are busy training the horses for the big race on the 14th of july........

Flowers from my Garden

The 'cold' weather continues, so I've been spending time in the garden tidying up and pruning, trying to get a handle on things. Our orchids seem to be oblivious to the cold and are shooting out flowering tendrils all over the place. I'm feeling pretty proud of myself, things are very slowly starting to shape up and I'm slowly filling out our collection! I just added a few honeysuckle cuttings and I'm still expanding our hibiscus collection. I haven't got hold of any cacao plants yet (though I dream of making my own cocoa butter and hot chocolate some day!). I've transplanted our little pomegranate and am hankering after a fig tree for our front garden.........I think I could get into gardening after all!

Schtroumpf spotted in Rurutu

 

OK, you probably know them better as Smurfs, but I bet you didn't know that there was one in living in my house!

Homegrown Squash

What with the current E.coli cucumber food scare sending Europeans into a frenzy, and an ever increasing number of alarming reports on mass farming practices (exploding watermelons in China, for example), I'm mighty glad to be doing our best to grow our own. We've got a huge, uncontrollable squash-vine taking over half of our backyard at the moment, and much to Matotea's delight it's got a whole heap of squash coming on it. She likes to keep a close eye on how many we have, and whether they're still there where she left them last time.  I think a few of them should be ready by the end of june. I can't wait to get going making squash soup, squash curry and even squash cake (yes, I have a recipe, and whatsmore it is REALLY delicious), I'm even told that squash jam is quite good, though that'll be a new one on me.