Just a Few Feathers.

Just a few small feathers cut out ( not yet sewn down ) for the breast of the jewelled bird......and some hand pieced squares for another little basket.......that's all I have had time or energy for at night. NZ has been having some extreme heat! ( yes , I know it is cold and snowing in parts of the northern hemisphere but down under it is very hot and humid.)

When it is fine we are working hard at thinning the young Kiwifruit ( and it has been very fine ALL WEEK! ) phew! I collected some examples to show the reasons for throwing fruit on the ground to be mowed up. Firstly there are too many fruit for the vines to size up to export standard so the first to go are the ones that don't meet export grade because of their shape and size. If you enlarge the photo of the fruit ( by clicking ) you will be able to read the labels . The fruit at the bottom of the picture with the hayward mark ( a long stripe ) are the correct shape but are not allowed the line or protuberance ( beak ). Ideally all fruit should be that shape.....longer than they are wide ( like us ! ) and gently rounded on the edges ( also like us ). With all the fruit thrown down one has to be very careful about one's footing especially on a slope........my days for roller skating are now gone...so it is easy to give yourself a fright! The up side is the crop looks excellent - so I hope folk in the rest of the world will still buy and eat it even if time are hard in 2009! ( if it doesn't sell we don't get paid )

Do you like my maroon / wine coloured Eucomis. ( sometimes the green variety of these plants are called pineapple plants because of the appearance of the flower )The few wee pink cornflowers sit at their feet. I have several patches of plants in this colour as the carry on the colour theme from the Copper Beech tree and Aconium Schwarzkopf ( succulents )further along.( not much time or energy for gardening but I might get some today as I am NOT doing kiwifruit today )The vege garden is doing fine so we are eating beans , silver beet, potatoes, courgettes and tomatoes...all of which need picking every second day. The taste is worth it.( corn almost ready )

I now have a little more housework to do then I may decide how to spend the rest of my day...yeah!