Merry Xmas 2014

Xmas Day is always a great day of the year.  Its a time to reflect on the past year and recognise the good, the bad and even the ugly.  Most of all, it's a time to spend with your whanau and friends, relax and enjoy each other's company.

Each year our whanau has a bit of a tradition.  Every morning we are awoken by my husband, who I must admit is the biggest kid in my home.  (although it's not a bad thing to be young at heart .. regardless of your age).  Anyway ... he generally wakes up about 1 minute past midnight .. and fights the urge all night NOT to wake us up until at least 6 am.  Then with his excitement, we are awoken where we congregate around the xmas tree and and open our presents.

Once the presents are opened, we clear the wrappings and rubbish, and start with the family phone calls to each other ... regardless of where in the world they may be, wishing each other merry xmas!!  

Then it's on to preparing our xmas breakfast . which is always waffles, toffee bacon, maple syrup, fresh strawberries & blueberries and hokey pokey ice cream.  Yes, I know .. not the healthiest of xmas breakfasts, BUT it's one my daughters wanted years ago, and it's become a xmas tradition.  Let's face it, it's only once a year that we do this :-)

After that, it's clean up time and prepare for our overall whanau get together where we open more presents, then relax with great stories, great company and great food (which I might add, is always WAAAAAYYYYYY too much).

Our xmas tree this year

 This year was no different.  The presents were awesome, the waffles were awesome and the whanau lunch was awesome!!!  We spent the whanau lunch at my oldest sister Tanya's home in Ngaruawahia with her whanau and her husband Mike's whanau.  We received a nice surprise with my brother Lee and his wife Paula walking in about 20 minutes after we arrived.  They decided to come home from Perth!!!  My sister Deanne and her whanau were the only ones missing, however they are currently in New York City enjoying a well deserved holiday!!

For me xmas day is also the day that kick starts the holidays.  A day to sort the relaxation plan.  I've always grown up with a boat in the family which I blogged about in CHILDHOOD MEMORIES ONBOARD and I envisage the next couple of weeks to be filled with  lots of boat trips fishing or skiing and I can't wait!!!

Merry xmas from me and my whanau!!!

Happy living people!

Sugar Scrubs - Heaven

For the past few years my girls and I have presented home made xmas gifts to our friends and family.  I first blogged about it in JUST ADD ICE CREAM  then again in HOMEMADE XMAS PRESENTS.

One of my favourite things to include is homemade sugar scrubs.  I use two recipes.  They really are a wonderful gift to give, especially to someone who needs a little self pampering over the summer holidays.  Most importantly, it's VERY simple to make.  Both recipes need only three ingredients and realistically you can add whatever fragrance you like.  The choices are endless.

BUTTERSCOTCH SUGAR SCRUB
1 cup of brown sugar
1/3 to 1/2 cup of olive oil
20 drops of vanilla essential oil OR 1 tblspn of vanilla extract.

ORANGE SUGAR SCRUB
1 cup of castor sugar
1/2 cup of coconut oil (in a liquid form)
20 drops of orange essential oil (I replace orange with spearmint too)

The method for both recipes is simple.  Place the sugar into a bowl, add enough oil and mix so that the consistency is soft and sugar is not quite dissolved.  Add the essential oil and mix again.  The mixture should not be too dry.  Place into a jar, or container and apply as little or as much as you want to the body whilst showering.  Your skin will feel soft and wonderful I can assure you.

Orange Sugar Scrub

Butterscotch Sugar Scrub

  
Because I make bulk at xmas time, I find it easier to place them into individual plastic containers to make sure they fit into the gifts boxes I have.

Happy loving people!!

A Korowai Achievement

It has been a little while since I posted my last blog and I must admit, it has been a very busy few weeks for me.  As I sit on my side porch looking out on the Ponderosa on this very humid summers day, I am grateful for this opportunity to reflect and I am reminded of my aunty who asked me recently what my next blog would be about.  My thoughts are instantly drawn to my mum and her passion for korowai.

For the past 16 years, my mum has been helping people overcome their personal adversity through teaching the art of korowai.  Her teaching journey began when she worked for Maori SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) and was overcome with great sadness for the many whanau she dealt with who lost their babies so suddenly.  She began simply by providing a korowai for the grief stricken families which unintentionally lead into teaching the art. From there her students have grown.

It's not my place to share all of my mum's own personal journey, but I am proud to say I am one of her students.  I blogged about my initial journey in MY KOROWAI JOURNEY and like all her students, I know that with a new korowai comes a new story.  A new journey.

I have had the opportunity to meet a lot of mum's students over the years and they truly are a wonderful network of people.  They all understand that weaving a korowai is a huge accomplishment which should not be taken lightly.  They  have all experienced that great sense of pride on it's completion, and more importantly have gained the knowledge of our ancestors so that the art will continue to thrive long after we have all left this world.

One thing I can say is that every two years, mum holds a Korowai Ball in recognition of her students who have completed their own korowai during that period.  The evening is a time to celebrate as a consolidated network with friends and whanau and admire the beautiful korowai.

This years event was a huge success!  I was overwhelmed to see mum's weavers come together and make the event so beautiful.  I was particularly happy for the graduates who were buzzing with excitement leading up to the event, and seeing them showcase their korowai with  friends and family with such pride.  Every single korowai had it's own story to tell and it truly was special to be a part of that experience with all the weavers.

2014 Korowai Ball - A snapshot of some of the weavers with their korowai

I can't help but ponder on what the next two years will bring for mum and her weavers, but one thing is clear.  Her passion to pass on her knowledge to her students so that they have a korowai for future generations remains paramount for my mother.

My mum wearing one of her own korowai

Who knows, one day I may choose to weave another korowai or I may not.  All I know is that it's not race and it's not a competition.  When or if I choose to do another korowai will be based on a part of my life, when the time is right.  Until then, I will continue to sit and admire my korowai, which sits front of place in my lounge.

Happy living people!

New Additions - Part 3

It's been a little while since I posted anything about our beloved new calves and upon reflection on my blog NEW ADDITIONS - PART 2, it sure has been an experience.

There is a lot to learn with calving as there more risk than I thought there would be.  Learnings:

1. All our heifers are fertile (which is good for production). 
2. All our heifers produced good size calves (which is good ... but very bad if you're not prepared).
3. Have a holding area close to the house with all the equipment when the heifer is ready to calf.  Simply pulling the calf to assist won't cut it and it keeps mother and calf safe once its all over.  We lost 2 calves (which is bad .. and sad). Rua was born late at night and fell through the fence into the nearby drain and drowned. Waru was stillborn as she got stuck during birth.
4. 4 out of 6 surviving calves are female (which is good for further production ... and great because males will grow larger).  Now we just need to decide what to do with the 2 males.  Turn them into steers OR keep them as bulls.
5. A heifer that has lost their calf goes through some trauma and still has good milk so there are still some risks.  Decide whether to place another calf with her.  We gained a calf from a local farmer to replace Waru.  We called her Iwa and after covering her with the scent of Waru, mother embraced her as her own - although it was a tough couple of days to begin with.

I managed to capture some early photo's of some of the newborns. All calves were born over a period of 7 weeks.

5 of our 7 calves we have gained.

It has been a few months now adn the calves are growing fast and eating grass and hay.  Now the challenge is to manage the feed for them all over the summer & autumn periods.


All 7 calves, with their mama's

Although this was a whole different experience to calving that I blogged about in  NEW ADDTIONS. The risks were far higher, but in comparison, I still believe that this is the best option. 

I still don't claim to know everything about beef but one thing is for sure - it's great living, loving and learning on the Ponderosa!!

Happy learning people!!

Homemade Xmas Presents

With the weather today being wet and windy and xmas around the corner it's time to start thinking about what ideas we will do as gifts for my whanau and friends. 

For the past few years now, we've made the extra effort to give a gift pack filled with a number of goodies I've blogged about including LIMONCELLO and ICE CREAM PACKS as well as sugar scrubs, cakes, cookies, chutneys, smors, chocolates, sauces, slices and the list goes on.

The month leading up to xmas day is pretty full on trying to bring the gift boxes together, but it's definitely all well worth it when they are all given out.

I'd really like to look at doing something slightly different this year and there are some fantastic ideas on the internet if you are wanting to look at doing something like this.  The gifts don't need to be very expensive either - I encourage you to give this a go!

Happy living people!!!

Linda - Gets Chic

A second project that provided an opportunity to renew an old home that was lacking some charm & sophistication.  I loved being apart of this project and learnt more than I every thought I would.

This was an awesome exercise and I am forever grateful for this opportunity.

Happy living people!

A Super Cake For A Super Hero

Every year I have been asked to make a birthday cake from a very special person for her wonderful son.  Every year is a new design so when I was asked to produce an Iron Man mask for her little super hero, I was more than happy to oblige.

As always, I'm keen to take on a new challenge, and decided to capture the entire process of putting the cake together. First thing was first though.  I needed to buy a mask to ensure I knew what the final product was suppose to look like.

My husband was extremely enthusiatic to help with this cake.  He came up with the idea of having LED lights placed inside the cake so that the eye's light up just like the real Iron Man.  He even went out of his way to ensure the edible paint was the right shade and painted the entire mask! 

I am really happy with the final result - especially when the eyes were lit up.

Happy living people!

 

Awaiting The Fruits Of Our Labour

The Ponderosa sure does look wonderful this time of year and with the weather being so lovely I found myself wondering around looking at all the fruit trees we have planted over the past 12 months.  I blogged about these in HOMEGROWN FOOD.

To my excitement, they are beginning to show some really positive signs of our expected summer crops.

The property has 5 plum trees now with all of them showing great produce. The Japanese plum tree is a mature tree that was on the property when we arrived with its fruit having a lovely sweet yellow flesh with ruby skin. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get a good photo of the tree to show all the fruit.



4 of our 5 plum trees.  The tree in the top left has a wonderful yellow flesh & skin which we bought with us from our previous property.  The other 3 are black doris plums.

All 5 of our cherry trees are showing great signs of fruit and I'm very determine to get some fruit before the birds beat me to it.  Fingers crossed I win!!!

3 of our 5 cherry trees.  I'm determined to get some fruit this year before the birds get to them.

We have planted 7 peach trees.  4 of our favourite variety - Golden Queen and 3 dwarf peaches which have a lovely red skin.  I expected it would take a few years for our golden queens to establish themselves before producing the volumes we wish for because we love this variety so much.  Imagine my surprise to find that they were performing better than anticipated.  Although we won't get dozens of fruit, just to have a taste for a couple of days will be suffice for now.

Our dwarf peaches on the other hand are coming along leaps and bounds.  These are the same trees I shared in my blog SPRING BLOSSOMS.  For small trees they are loaded with fruit and I'm so glad I didn't move them like I had intentions to.


3 of our 7 peach trees fruiting well.  Fingers crossed our Golden Queens produce the goodies

Lastly is our nectarine tree.  I've never had much success growing nectarines so this tree is special.  It sits pride of place between the homestead and our shed and last year it produced one lonely fruit - yes ONE.  Every day we would inspect the fruit to see if it was ripe and it was a race between the whanau to see who got to try it first.  Husband 1 - Rest of us - 0.  In fact he devoured it all by himself.  This year the tree is showing signs of at least two nectarines.  :-)Fingers cross my husband shares this season. 

Our nectarine tree.  Not a good photo of the tree, but the pooch looks cute!

Given it's only been 12 months for alot of these fruit trees to establish and we aren't talking production that will "feed the multitudes", I'm still pretty happy with where we are at.  In fact, I'm pretty excited about it!!

Happy living people!!



BBQ'd Chilli Corn

I had a couple of friends who went to Mexico for a holiday and came back raving about this chilli corn snack they had on the side of the road.   I just love sweet corn and after listening to their stories I just had to experiment with some ingredients and the results were just fantastic!!

If you’re not a chilli person, the sour cream helps to kill the heat and I guarantee you’ll find yourself wanting more and more.  Just make sure you have lots of napkins on hold because it can be a little messy, but is truly worth the mess!

Ingredients

4 ears of sweet corn
1 cup of sour cream
¼ cup of mayonnaise
½ cup of coriander
¼ parmesan cheese
¼ Colby cheese
Lime juice
Chilli powder

Method

Remove the husks from the corn and grill on the BBQ evenly until cooked.

While the corn is cooking, combine the mayonnaise, sour cream and chopped coriander and set a side.

In another bowl combine the grated cheeses together and set a side.

When the corn is cooked, smother the mayonnaise mixture over the corn generously, followed by a squeeze of lime juice, then the cheeses and lastly finish with a sprinkle of chilli powder.

Makes 4

 

Happy living people!!

New Chicks Get The Chop

Back in December we went down the track of raising chicks to see how they would work out compared to us purchasing grown chickens nearly ready to lay.  I blogged about this back in May - New Chicks On The Block. 

5 of these 8 chicks were roosters.

The process was relatively stress free and our broody hen took to the new chicks well, however .. the down side of this was we ended up with 5 roosters!!  Not a very productive turnover if we were aiming for more laying hens.

It was time to change the plan of attack.  We decided to keep the roosters until one of the hens became broody again which took until September.  Time to see if our eggs were fertile.  Success ... 2.5 chicks hatched!!  I say 2.5 because one of the chicks didn't quite make it out of the hatching process.  Then we lost another of the new chicks when it drowned in the small water container.  I was starting think raising chickens from fertile eggs is more hard work than I thought.

The roosters have proven to be more than a nuisance than anything else, and I wasn't keen to keep all five roosters considering they are quite agressive towards the hens.  So, given my mum wanted feathers for her korowai, we decided to enter the next stage - The Stock Pot.

My mum & husband plucking, while my siser watches on

The birds themselves were enormous and although going through the process of "putting them in the stock pot" wasn't something I looked forward to doing, it is part of the journey we have chosen to take on the Ponderosa.

We still have 2 roosters left and we plan to keep them until after christmas at least. It still doesn't resolve the issue of having more laying hens for next year, but that's for another blog I think.

Happy living people!!