Blog feed

The simple chronological feed of all the blog posts published on this site.

From the most recent to the oldest post, follow the entire journey.

New cows for the property

Hello, new cows

The story of how we got our new angus-cross heifers: Taco, Nacho, Burrito, Goulash, Meatball, and Meatloaf.

A ball of spoiled hay

A buttload of mulch

I got an offer I couldn’t refuse: a giant ball of mouldy hay.

Bacon on a smoker

Makin’ bacon

When life gives you a pig, you make bacon. A straightforward home-curing process from shot to bacon buttie.

Roxy hanging out like a good girl

The name on everybody’s lips is gonna be…

Roxy is the newest addition to The Outpost. This is the story of how she came to live with us.

A couple of herefords in our bush

Animal tales, part 2

Nature gets very random when given the chance. Some more animal tales from The Outpost.

cows on the horizon

Saying goodbye

Our cows are ready to sell, and the market is good. But it’s still hard to say goodbye to the livestock we’ve looked after for 12 months.

A truck arrives with most of our worldly possessions in a 20ft container

A trip around the sun on The Outpost

We’ve been living at The Outpost for a year. I look back at what we’ve achieved, and give a few updates to previous blogs.

Garlic fattening up, August 2020

The garlic bed

An update on how the garlic is growing, and how you can help your own crop do well this year.

Our chicken coop soon after it was built. Photo taken at Waipu

Our chicken coop

After I decided I was ready for chickens, I had to find them a house. 3 years down the track, I evaluate how I did.

Ducks playing in the pond and watering the catnip

The catnip swale

The story of Kat’s Nip and working out how to grow enough to supply demand.

Kat and a new chicken at The Outpost

Turning worms into chickens

How I turned a wodge of worms into 3 egg-laying machines and made my poultry economically sustainable.

Native trees waiting outside the greenhouse for planting

Trees that count

Last week I went on a planting spree and we got 70 native trees into the soil.

Richard hanging out with Bunbun

The complicated tale of Bunbun

When a cat brings you a healthy baby rabbit, what do you do?

a black cow on a sunny day

Learning to farm

I’ve had to learn how to look after my land and animals. Here’s what I’ve done so far.

The clear waters of our bush pond

A bush engagement

He asked me to marry him! The story of how Richard and I got engaged.

new strawberry beds

Strawberry fields forever

My imagination ran away without me and now I have incredible strawberry beds.

Eerie light caused by the Australian bushfires in December 2019

Raining in my head like a tragedy

An update on our rainfall, and how we plan to hold onto it for longer.

Soil test results for my garden soils in 2020

Interpreting my soil test

What do the numbers on a soil test actually mean? How I interpreted mine, including macro and micro-nutrients, and what I’m doing about it.

Taking a soil sample

Taking soil samples

Taking soil samples and sending them away to the lab for a soil test.

Wetland area taken from the top of the catchment, March 2020

Why our wetland is important

One of our paddocks was once a very valuable ecosystem. I’ve got plans to return it to its former glory.

Brilliant broccoli, grown 2020

My brilliant broccoli

This year my broccoli has really pumped. Here’s what I did, and what I learned along the way.

2020 Orotere garlic bed

Growing garlic

A little history about my love-affair with growing garlic, and a peek into the future.