Saturday

With a gorgeous sunny day in front of us, we piled outside pretty early in our rough outfits and gumboots to work on the land. I mostly watched until the afternoon when I helped Julie weed some awfully congested flowerbeds that were smothered with uninvited weedy things and lots of dead wood. Those guys had been admiring their newly planted orchard that consists of some stellar varieties of pears, apples, peaches, peacharines, nectarines, figs, prune plums, other types of plums and I actually forget what else. Maybe there was a cherry tree there as well. All of those mentioned are heirloom varieties of fruit that I’ve never heard of.
The dog, Mochi, had fun chasing the cows for a minute or two or was it the other way around? When he was done annoying them, he started on Lulu, the cat, who was just getting some sun. Eventually he calmed down after running around in circles and just watched Phil spray copper on the fruit trees that needed that to ensure healthy trees during fruiting. Eventually we moseyed on down to the greenhouse areas and Julie worked on some of her 60 rose bushes that edge the front gardens in that general vicinity, that definitely needed some clever pruning.
Since the weather was so lovely, we stayed outside for most of the day. I’m pretty sure that Phil appreciated both the help and the company and eventually our little man, Elijah, hopped onto the quad to drive daddy around while he sprayed the weeds in the driveway. He felt very important doing this and was beaming for a good hour, although his turning could have easily gotten him into some trouble. But overall, he did a great job and it made the spraying much easier as the sprayer was somehow attached to the quad.
I think that was the night that Julie threw together a sausage dinner with mashed potatoes and a silky homemade gravy for the table, and a half of kumara each. Those are the Maori versions of sweet potatoes and they’re really tasty. The large head of broccoli had to be picked, as it was well past its prime and so it was cooked quickly making a very immediate meal that was quite scrumptious though very simple fare.
Being tired from the workout, I went to sleep early and fell into bed. I don’t remember even closing my eyes. The guest bed is so comfortable that I hardly move. Ah. Country life has so many rewards.