Blog
Weekly tales from The Outpost.
The lost fence post
The post was abandoned, but the fencing project was not.
Pruning fruit trees
Everything you need to know about pruning stone and pip fruit trees: equipment, technique, tree shapes, and the golden rules.
Green banana flour
An experiment in making a prodigious banana harvest last longer. More useful than expected, with some caveats
Surprise cows
We weren’t expecting them, but surprise! We have a new herd of cows.
Max chicken
We’ve had a bit of a poultry shuffle. The ducks have found a better home, and we’ve gone max chicken!
The succulent garden
It’s been on my ‘to-do’ list for a while, but last week I finally created my succulent garden.
Growing past my biggest failure
Last year, my garlic crop failed big and hard. This year, I’m nervous and more subdued about planting again.
Spraying gorses
Gorse is an unfortunate reality of owning farmland in New Zealand. This week I got out and sprayed some.
The Smith sister’s boarding houses
Part four of my hunt for details of the lives of my great-great aunts, the Smith sisters.
The three wives of John William Lewis
In attempting to work out where he came from, I uncovered the life story of my great great grandfather, John William Lewis.
Citrus meringue pie
A light, deceptively simple dessert that works with lemons, limes, or whatever citrus is looking good right now.
What’s in a name?
A guide to, and explanation of, the names we have given to places around our property.
Citrus update
A round-up of how our little collection of citrus is growing.
Serendipity
I know we all joke we’re two-degrees of separation from anyone else in New Zealand. But Richard and I have closer links to the land we live on than we could have imagined.
Coffee fruit!
The coffee trees have started fruiting!
Finding the ‘family stuff’
A sudden whim leads to an impressive collection of family history – and some new leads on the Smith sisters.
The banana plantation
An update on the patch of bananas we planted back in December 2019.
Resetting the worm farm
The worm farm is full and ready for a re-set! This week I emptied our worm farm all out, then filled it back up again.
Harvesting and storing potatoes
We eat a lot of potatoes, so we grow a lot of potatoes. Here’s how we harvest and store them to feed us through winter.
The death of Sarah Elizabeth Smith
After locating the graves of my spinster great-great grand aunts, I ordered the first death record to see what I can learn about their lives.
End of season update on the Square Foot Garden
A round up of what went right (and too right!) in the Square Foot Garden this season.
Finding the flower bed
My gardening mojo is coming back after the scorching summer and I rediscovered my flowerbed.