A couple of years ago, I wrote a post diarising my week. I figured it’s been a while, and it’s a different season. I’ll give it another crack.

Throughout the week I’ve sat down to record exactly what I got up to as the days progressed. So if you’re curious, here it is.

Monday

Weather — Mostly fine with a few scattered showers.

Work this morning. The mornings are still pretty dark so I’m starting around 7am at the moment. In winter I don’t get a lot of say in the days I work. Mostly it’s based on when it’s not raining. Which is today and Saturday based on the current forecast.

I’m working on harakeke (flax) today. Starting with transplanting a pile that I pulled out last weekend. I spend the first part of my shift digging holes in places I’d previously eradicated various weeds, and filling them with flaxes.

The remainder of the shift is spent tidying up the patch they all came from. This seems to be taking forever, but I’m making progress. Despite arriving in clean clothes, I leave absolutely covered in mud.

I get home and I’m pretty exhausted. I’d love to say I did something productive, but mostly I doom scrolled Reddit and Bluesky. I did start a new book—the second in the Before the Coffee Gets Cold series by Toshikazu Kawaguchi. I’m really enjoying Japanese fiction lately.

Dinner is ham, cheese, and shallot toasties. I spent way too much energy at work this morning and I can’t be bothered with cooking.

Before we go to bed we watch The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes on Netflix, which per usual for this franchise, was not as good as the book.

Tuesday

Weather — thunderstorms, followed by fine patches with showers and strong winds.

With a bunch of lightning strikes going on, I look for some ‘inside jobs’ to occupy me this morning. So I file my expenses for last month. Thankfully a short job.

Then I print off some “warning” stickers for my catnip courier bags. Several cats have been observed attacking the mail when my catnip arrives, so I began placing a warning on the outside of the bag.

Getting them printed up professionally wasn’t cost-effective. So I figured out a way to get my thermal printer to do it using stickers I was given but have no other use for.

It’s a bit fiddly so I’ve been procrastinating it, but I ran out last weekend so it needs doing. Once I figure that out, I print an optimistic pile so I don’t have to do this again for a while.

The cows move themselves into a new paddock. Richard opened the gates for them while I was at work yesterday, and I notice them coming down the race in their own time around 9am.

At 10:30 it’s blustery and beautiful outside, so I confirm all 5 cows are in the new paddock and go lock them in. On my way out I spot the seedlings I purchased last week and decide to get them planted in one of my empty beds.

With the chickens circling, I realise this is a job I have to complete in one go, or I’ll lose my seedlings. So I work through a couple of showers to get them planted and protected with bird net. Then I escape inside to read my book and have some lunch.

In the afternoon it’s really windy so I use the opportunity to get the skins off my peanut harvest. The 2kg of raw peanuts I grew last summer need roasting and a lot of agitation to get the red skins off. I let the wind blow the skins away from the peanuts, which was quite helpful.

Even with the wind, it still took about 2 hours, but now I’m one step closer to home made peanut butter.

Dinner is beef and bean burritos with cilantro from the garden. I spend the evening finishing my book.

Wednesday

Weather — mostly fine

Richard has an 8am acupuncture appointment in town, so we leave at 7.30. I pop into the supermarket and stock up on a few treats. Then I park up and start a new book (Ali Mau’s No Words for This) while I wait for him.

Once he’s done, we’re off to the library where I pick up a hold that has come up—Jacinda Ardern’s A Different Kind of Power. Memoirs seem to be another favourite genre for me. I’m so grateful for our public library this year as I tear through the most reading I think I’ve ever done in my adult life.

With the appointments and errands out of the way, we come home and it’s time to find something to do. After changing out of my ‘town clothes’ and into my ‘farming clothes’, I choose the berryhouse. Not because I really want to, but more because I have to do it at some point and consistency seems be to key to getting anything done around here. Especially the boring things.

I manage to get inside the structure today, and lift all the canes on one side (the easiest). I’m saving the rooted stems for a local community garden and fill up a pot for them. Our new raspberry has settled in nicely, and it looks like the ginger was productive over the summer too.

After lunch, I go back to reading my book for a little while before deciding I should probably weed a garden bed where the weeds are getting a little out of control. 

Dinner is burritos, and I spend the rest of the evening reading my book.

Around 10:30pm I’m almost finished when our dog Roxy decides she needs to go outside. She doesn’t come back, so I put on pants and find a torch. Turns out she’s jumped the gate to go after a possum.

I go collect her and finish my book before going to sleep.

Thursday

Weather — blustery with occasional downpours.

Wake up with a gammy eye and in a foul mood. Eyedrops and painkillers are deployed. I hope it goes away soon.

I probably shouldn’t be staring at screens but I spend some time turning my notes into this post.

My sinuses are also going hard this morning so I add an antihistamine to the mix. It seems to help both problems.

Come to think about it, the Taiwan cherry trees have started flowering this week. I don’t know if that’s what’s causing my issues today, but I’ve only ever needed antihistamines since living in the bush.

At 10am the pain isn’t great so I decide the morning is a write-off and have a nap.

When I wake up, my mood has followed me into the afternoon and the weather is even worse, so I give up on today entirely and put on Wicked, which I’ve been saving for a day like this.

By the time the movie ends I’m feeling more human and get on with making dinner (bacon and egg pies).

With improvement in my eyes I tentatively crack into A Different Kind of Power for a little while before bed. I also do some yoga to move the muscles that haven’t moved all day.

Friday

Weather — mostly fine

My eye still isn’t great, but I’m better than yesterday.

Today I need to go “do the gathering” at the supermarkets. I start by putting together my shopping list over coffee. This involves going through websites and working out which chain has the best prices for everything we need this week.

When we get into town, I start at The Warehouse. Miraculously, it has everything I planned to get in stock.

After dropping Richard at work, I head off to New World, and then Countdown. It’s not the most convenient way to get my groceries, but this is how I survive 2025.

It’s all done in an hour and I head home blasting the Graceland album by Paul Simon because it was playing in The Warehouse and it reminded me of how hard this album slaps.

Once home, I unpack the groceries and change into my farm clothes. I managed to get some chuck steak on clearance so I throw it into the slow cooker with some vegetables, a can of tomatoes, some beef stock, herbs, and some dried red lentils.

With dinner taking care of itself, I head out to attack the berryhouse again. I put in the absolute minimum with 30 minutes spent tidying my potted plants.

On my way back to the cabin, I walk past the lemon tree and remember the weather forecast. It’s supposed to be mostly fine for the next 10 days—perfect weather for pruning and spraying.

So I get out my pruning equipment, and sanitise and sharpen it before ‘lifting the skirt’ (removing the lowest branches) of the lemon tree. I’m aiming to get the lawnmower under it.

There’s plenty of fruit on the tree so I decide to not be precious about it. In the end I find myself with a bucket of lemons.

The tree has verrucosis (which is part of the reason I need to do today’s work), so the lemons aren’t pretty. But they’re good on the inside so I box them up and put them in the car to drop off at the community pantry tomorrow.

With the excess branches removed, I mix up 5 litres of copper oxychloride and Conqueror. I spray all the citrus trees, but especially the lemon. 

Then I come inside again to read and have a cup of tea. I’m really enjoying Singapore Breakfast tea at the moment. My sister-in-law introduced me to it and it reminds me of sitting on a beach in Thailand.

With the weather holding out, I figure I can probably knock out another job today, so I go refresh the chicken water and nesting material.

While the water is filling, I grab some potatoes from the container and a leek from the garden to go with dinner, which is stew, mashed potatoes, Marilyn’s cheesy leeks, and roasted broccoli and cauliflower. We freeze the leftover stew for pies another day.

Then I pick up my book again and read until I can’t keep my eyes open. I curl up for an early night.

Saturday

Weather — fine with very occasional showers in the afternoon.

I’m off to work again this morning. I leave a touch early and stop at the Kāeo Farm & Fuel where our community pantry is to drop off my lemons.

Then I spend the morning meandering around the grounds with a spray tank on my back. The carparks and concrete areas need a spray every couple of months. I find it’s best to do it on the weekend when there are fewer people and cars about.

While I’m at work, our local pig hunter pops in to give his dogs a run-about the subdivision. He was one of the first people we met when we moved here, and he’s been hunting the pigs almost as long.

Over that time, he’s made a huge impact on the state of our native bush. The re-growth in the lower forest layers mean the bush is almost unrecognisable from what it was 5 years ago.

Today he gets really, really close to getting a very, very big pig he’s been chasing for ages. It’s his white whale. But a comedy of errors buys the pig another day.

I hear all that from Richard once I get home. Where I have lunch, and watch the Drag Race: All Stars finale.

Then I really feel like a nap, but instead I decide to have a cup of tea and see if I can’t do something a bit more productive. With a bit of caffeine in me, I head out to weed another garden bed. I pick an easier one and I’m most-of-the-way through it when a passing shower rains me off.

So I head inside and read for an hour instead. That’s where I am when the pig hunter calls and asks if he can come back tomorrow. Richard checks with the neighbours and confirms that’s fine.

For dinner I rustle up a quick taco, then stick my head back in my book. Aside from a quick yoga stretch, I read until bedtime.

Sunday

Weather — supposed to be fine, but we’ll see.

I wake up early, feed the cats and make a coffee. Then I sit down to format and publish this post.

I’m about half-way through when my computer freezes and I lose most of the blog I’ve spent all week writing. So with no other choice, I re-write everything I lost.

The plan for today is washing, so fingers crossed the weather stays fine enough to dry it. We’re expecting the pig hunter too, but he usually does his thing while I do mine. I hope he gets that pig though.

Richard has promised me we’ll load the old fridge onto the trailer today. He’s been quite ill for the past couple of weeks, but since recovering from his appointment on Wednesday, is positively spritely.

I’m sure I’ll make an effort to knock off a little more of the berryhouse. Hopefully I can finish weeding the garden bed I started yesterday too.

There’s a good chance I’ll finish my book today, making 3 for the week and 54 for the year. I’m aiming for 100 books in 2025 and I’m mostly on track for that goal which I’m quite proud of. I bloody love books.

Overall, it’s been a pretty good week.