Gifts that Give Lasting Pleasure.

I do not agree with or encourage the new type of Commercial Christmas. I love it when folk spend time ( not money ) making something for you to keep and treasure ( made for you with their own hands and precious time ). Some young adults in our family have little spare cash and so it is wonderful when they make some simple gifts. My elder son's partner makes jewellery which she sells and so I received a new necklace to wear.
I really think it is valuable to encourage children to make cards , wrapping paper and simple gifts from a young age...with help at first if they need it. Maybe it is just the school teacher in me ??? Our neighbours' girls made little gingerbread Christmas cookies which they took around to those living nearby.
Other clever people I know also make their own gifts, my friend Sooziii in Australia sent me a wee decorated and named stocking with 6 little white snow flake tree decorations and a beaded scissor name bangle. She did not know that DH had given me a good pair of fabric scissors so it had an immediate home. Like Dale I think books are wonderful gifts, and only some of those can be homemade. They give lasting pleasure and also can be lent on to friends and family. Home made Christmas cakes, jams, pickles and sweet treats also make very acceptable gifts and because they get consumed can be done time and again. Also things you have grown are often much appreciated. We tend to give fruit, nuts and veges we have grown. Home raised seedlings are another suitable thing for kids to grow themselves to give.
I think I might start on some homemade gifts really early this year and have some on hand so there is no last minute rush. We'll see. I'll keep you posted on that one. Understandably I have had very little sewing time in the last week That can wait.
Today with family returned home it was back to the kiwifruit vines for us.

Out to Lunch.

New Zealand Christmas Trees or Pohutukawa (Metrosideros excelsa ) can bee seen flowering at this time of the year in the more Northern regions of NZ. The ones in the photo are on our driveway. We have several areas on the property with these lovely trees and they are all a little different, some lighter colour, some darker and they don't all do their thing at once so we are able to enjoy them for several weeks.

When we finished work last evening we got in the truck and drove around the orchard shelter belts till we found a suitable branch of Cryptomeria to cut and bring inside for our Christmas tree.( it has that lovely fir tree smell and will last well.) Here it is with just the light strung on it. Decorations still to be added.


To All My Blogland Friends -
* *** I Wish You Season's Greetings from Te Puna, New Zealand.****

New Zealand Christmas Trees.

New Zealand Christmas Trees or Pohutukawa (Metrosideros excelsa ) can bee seen flowering at this time of the year in the more Northern regions of NZ. The ones in the photo are on our driveway. We have several areas on the property with these lovely trees and they are all a little different, some lighter colour, some darker and they don't all do their thing at once so we are able to enjoy them for several weeks.

When we finished work last evening we got in the truck and drove around the orchard shelter belts till we found a suitable branch of Cryptomeria to cut and bring inside for our Christmas tree.( it has that lovely fir tree smell and will last well.) Here it is with just the light strung on it. Decorations still to be added.


To All My Blogland Friends -
* *** I Wish You Season's Greetings from Te Puna, New Zealand.****

I kid You Not!

I am so glad there are plenty of you out there who love Avocados...they are so good for you. I said I would tell you a little more about their strange habits ( sex life )...well here we go. Firstly it is very complicated so I will try and keep to the basics.
NZ only exports Hass variety. ( so that's what we grow).
Flowering and hence fruit set are very dependent on weather conditions, especially temperature. For about every 1500 tiny flowers One fruit may set.
Each flower had a female and a male phase ( yes the same flower). With Hass, when it is warm enough the very tiny flower opens as a female.( 20 degrees will see it open for 2-3 hours ) hotter = longer. The flower will then close and later open as a male. Avocados are pollinated predominately by insects - mainly bees. ( sometimes by wind )
The flowers can be self pollinated or closed pollinated ( another flower on the same tree ) or cross pollinated ( flower from another tree ). The cross pollinated are the strongest and are most likely to not fall off later. ( some orchard have other varieties just as pollinators ) As I am sure you all learned basic biology at school I will not go into how all the different parts of a flower work. But you can see why with Avocados the crop from year to year is very variable with so many dependent factors.
Needless to say this rain we are getting is just what we need. I wish I could send a few clouds over to my friends in Australia - where it is desperately needed.
The photo shows the small red netlon bags of reject fruit I got ready for callers who come by as little Christmas gifts...so if you are in my area....... ( the red looks nice with the green fruit)

* Shirley it is the freight to the South Is. that puts the price up so high. The grower doesn't get that much per fruit. ( the high air fares between our islands is a killer, that's why folk pop over to Oz instead cause it's cheaper to fly there - crazy eh )

Growth.

Today we have glorious rain, right when it's needed. The kiwifruit are growing fast. The first 6 weeks after pollination is when the fruit grow rapidly, by cell division. After that they stop cell division and plump up the cells already formed and gain size and weight more slowly till picking time in May/ June.
In the photos you can see the remains of flower petals and stamen still attached to the young fruit. Where my hand is holding up a match box for size comparison the fruit nearest the match box needs removing cause it is going to be the wrong shape - it will turn into a flat fruit ( not export standard ) so it will get pulled off. The quicker we can remove those ones ( reject thinning ) the better so the vine doesn't have to feed them, instead putting the nutrients into fruit that will be exportable.
It's a shame I can't share the avocados with you all. This morning I bagged up some for gifts for friends and neighbours. All the Christmas mail is now posted and another batch of fruit mince pies are in the cupboard.I even wrapped some gifts in a spare few minutes. ( glad it rained so I have a good excuse to be inside ) We haven't had time to go select a Christmas tree yet. We get one from under the shelter belts around the orchard...not always a perfect shape but free and we are not cutting down a good tree.

Avocado Picking.

Yesterday was Avocado picking day for us. We began at 7.30 am ; R ( DH ) and me picking from the ground and 2 guys up in the tree tops using hydraladas ( elevated work cages ) to pick the high up fruit. The crop was off by just after 4.30pm with 12 field bins picked.
The photos show the long picker which grips the fruit and then cuts with a blade allowing the fruit to be carefully lowered and put in a picking bag, still being held by the grip.
The yellow hydraladas are similar to what some of you may have seen lifting someone to change high up light bulbs in the streets. (They are called cherry pickers in some places.) The guys up in the hydraladas maneuver around the tree tops trying not to damage next season's crop. Avocados are one of the only crops where the next years fruit has just set before this year's crop is picked.

One photo shows the tiny wee fruit just set which we hope we will be picking during summer next year. The photo showing the mature fruit that we were picking also shows the flower branch with some tiny fruit. You may also spot a strange small fruit not avocado shaped at all....They are called cucs ( short for cucumber ) and are fruit that have no stone and did not get properly pollinated last year ( they are useless ). If you thought kiwifruit were complicated wait till I tell you about how avocados behave ( another post will be needed to tell you about the sex life of an avo ! )
Life is certainly busy as we are still working with the newly set young kiwifruit -( have more photos to show you of their progress - next post )
So not much sewing getting done just a few more hex as I blob out at the end of the day. Still trying to finish Christmas Correspondence too and cooking...I'll get there I always do.
Suzi-k thanks for your helpful tip re blogger comments - it worked.

Fresh Green Peas.

Growing our own veges is satisfying but time consuming. When they are ready, as these yummy green peas are it takes longer to prepare dinner as they require picking and shelling, before quick cooking. Even the silver beet you see beside them takes time as it has too be really carefully washed to be sure there are no bugs. The new potatoes need digging and washing or scrapping but are so, so yummy. We have grown 2 potato varieties this year Heather and Agria. Can't wait till the green beans are ready. They are flowering, but not quite there yet. Mint with the spuds and peas of course!
I'm off to do today's' picking cause even though we are going out to a friends 50th dinner party tonight, the peas need picking and storing in the fridge...don't want them getting to old and tough....babies are best.

Finished that Round.

Yesterday afternoon I completed my round of every kiwifruit block in the orchard. ( has taken me several weeks ) I was tying in new growth, thinning flowers ( now small fruit ), pulling out wind broken shoots and making sure every bay is set out to get the optimum amount of sunlight. As always I now can start back at the beginning and thin fruit where necessary. Having an orchard is a bit like having a garden you never really finish, there is always more you can do.

I spent time in the garden at the weekend. These bromiliads love the warmth from the rocks, but the rocks had maiden hair fern still sprouting up from a previous planting, so in desperation I moved lots of the rocks off, weeded, then put them back. Some people find it hard to grow maidenhair fern...I find it hard to kill.( it had to go as it was rotting the decking by constantly dripping onto it, after rain )
The other photo shows a new black leafed Ajuga that has finally started to creep out and cover some ground.I'll make more space for it as it needs it.

Today I am taking time to catch up on other tasks that were piling up. Pleasant tasks like organizing a birthday lunch for my cousin( and friend ), that involved phoning or emailing lots of ladies, some I know, others I will meet.
I have also spent some time making a costume for a silly skit I got roped into, to do at our P & Q Groups end of year Dessert Evening and Annual Meeting. ( cunning aren't they having those 2 things combined ) That's tonight so I still have to get food organised too and wrap a small gift to swap ( a fat quarter and copy of one's favourite recipe ) I am using my Crustless Quiche recipe.

But the sun is shining, it's just a pleasant temperature ( not snow ; not scorching hot - just right....NZ is lucky! ) so I can cope with being busy.

Score for the Hexagons. 6 rows attached and looking good.
I'm reading "Blindsight," by Maurice Gee ( a NZ author ) and enjoying that - I have read several of his other books too. Guess every one else is getting busy...it's that time of the year.