I do wonder what the early European settlers to New Zealand were thinking when they loaded their menagerie on the boats. What must have been on their mind when they added hedgehogs to their payload? Perhaps they thought they were bringing a potential washer woman, as in the story of Mrs Tiggy-Winkle. Since their arrival in New Zealand hedgehogs have gone from being delightful creatures into pests.
My memories of hedgehogs in the UK were that they weren’t quick enough to cross roads. I have since learned that they can infact cover long distances at speed. Hedgehogs are regular visitors to Domestic Executive HQ although I haven’t quite worked out whether it is the same one or whether there is a family of them.
I am often calling the dogs off a curled up ball of prickles but Mason was well behaved enough to leave this one in peace.
Of all the foodie production systems I have a fascination with its wine making. This was first sparked when we visited Cape Town, South Africa on holiday many years ago when we toured the luscious wine region of Stellenbosch. It was during my virgin wine tasting experience I came to understand the technical differences between wines and the romance of growing grapes. Since then of course I’ve come to realise that it’s the romance of wine tasting that eclipses the hard technical graft that goes into growing grapes and making wine.
Whilst dreaming of a place to live in New Zealand we set out heart on Martinborough. I was gutted to drive the Rimutaka Hill Road for the first time and realise that it was just not the commuting option to Wellington we could tolerate and the train service so slow through the hill that our dreams of living in Martinborough were dashed within days of moving to New Zealand. Never mind we’ve found our own piece of paradise that is only 30-40 minutes drive to Martinborough so we can visit often to enjoy the wine making industry doing it’s thing.
Martinborough is a fantastic place to take visitors . You can’t help be impressed by the landscape with the wine and food topping a wonderful kiwi experience. My good friend Sarah has been back to see us for a couple of days bringing with her Steve her partner. Steve’s lived in New Zealand but not been to this part so it was particularly good to be able to go for lunch at one of our favourite vineyard restaurants.
Factory production systems have always fascinated me. How systems and processes work together to create products often at high speed and precision accuracy. Our barn is turning into a plant factory although more of a prototype production line without high levels of technology and precision systems.
My potting bench may be an old kitchen table and a dog crate tray balanced between two chairs but they are serving their purpose well. Such low level of workspace may be giving me back ache from bending over but I see it as a personal workout opportunity to strength my muscles at the same time.
My time pottering in the “greenhouse” is starting to become quite an addictive activity. With new seeds germinating every day there is always something to do to nurture their growth and protect them from the pesky mice which love to play in the pots and scatter soil all over.
Paths and foundations are essential infrastructure but rarely celebrated for their engineering prowess. To me celery is the culinary equivalent. That ingredient that is important to have but as an accompaniment rather than a dish in itself. I know there are lots of ways you can eat celery but in truth it is hardly ever anyone’s first choice. Unless you’re on a diet and needing fibre to fill you up without the excesses of carbohydrate.
Harvesting my first head of celery I was keen to find out how different the home grown version would be to that you buy in the shops. As a rule everything you grow yourself is better but my celery wasn’t looking quite the uniform shape and I have been a bit lazy with growing it so it hasn’t had the full blanching treatment to cover up their stems.
Bright Spring days are bringing new adventures to Domestic Executive HQ. It’s as though nature has truly woken up from it’s winter hibernation after a few weeks of fitful slumber. The bassets and I have been drinking in the rays and enjoying the warm.
The landscaper has been happy in his work creating the site for our kitchen garden. Watching Darren working with his digging machine is like watching a true craftsman. It’s true there is plenty of pushing and shoving of soil but there is much precision too. I’ve been itching to hop on and have a go myself but know that it would be like one of those contestants on the Generation Game where I’d make a hash of what the professionals make look easy.
Can you imagine anything nicer than spending time with your very good friends. It seems to me that this applies to the bassets too. On days I am working away from the office Fortnum and Mason go to spend the day with their friends at the local kennels. Sometimes these friends they see every week but often is new friends who are just staying at the kennels for a while.
I’ve often wondered what they get up to. How much time they might spend playing or snoozing. The whole idea of them going to the kennels is that they will be more active than if they were staying at home on their own when it’s pretty certain that they would just lie down and sleep the day away.
It seems that at the kennels there is plenty of fun to be had. Although I think that in this photograph Fortnum has had his fun and is now looking for a bit of a rest.
It’s always been our plan to furnish our land with some suitably cute residents. Someone I know has beaten us to it though and now the proud owners of six live-in entertainers. On a visit today I was smitten once again by the prospect of having some Alpacas to live with us at Domestic Executive HQ.
It’s true that we have to get some proper fencing built, a shelter and water supply. Not to mention saving enough to buy these delightful creatures. Getting up close and personal with these alpacas only makes me more determined to bring home some new playmates for the bassets.
Around this time of year we contemplate Christmas Wish Lists. For MT this is never a problem as he always has a long list of books, DVDs and other home entertainment ideas. My greatest wish is that I can Christmas shop for him somewhere other than Amazon.
In the past I have focused on culinary equipment since cooking is something he enjoys but we’re fast getting to the point that we have all the gadgets and gizmos you’d ever want. But it seems that his lordship is not really that comfortable with some of what we have in the kitchen. A little too girly was how our oven gloves were described. Now his aversion to lifting hot things out of the oven can be explained.
One of the endearing qualities of New Zealand is that there is little requirement to keep up with Joneses. That was until today. Not to be outdone our neighbour Doug decided that his friend had a bigger digger than the one our landscapers use and decided to rub our noses in the fact that his digger was bigger than ours.
To be fair, when you are preparing land for building a house it’s important to have the biggest digger you can lay your hands on. I remember the mammoth scale of the earth moving equipment that was used when we started building. Whilst we’re tinkering in the garden our neighbour looks like he’s making a move to start his house building process.
The bigger the digger the better I think. And, Doug needs all the help he can get as he’s the last of our neighbours to start their house building adventures.
“Be careful for what you wish for” is a cliché that has fitted perfectly for a couple of work assignments this week. Where people have battled long and hard to get something they want. Having got what they wished for it dawns on them that they should perhaps have been more careful about what they wished for. Of course, fantastic coaching brings them around to enjoying their success and looking to the future with confidence.
Today I feel cautiously excited. One of my many wishes is coming true. One of the final parts of the Domestic Executive Dream is under physical construction at last.
