Sunflower pruning

This year I have been pruning my sunflowers and wow!!

After pruning they grow fast. It is simple I run my hand down the stem and the leaves snap off. This is great as I often plant sunflowers in amongst corn and curcubitae so this allows a lot more light into the understory. 

Next year I will do this more regularly as I noticed some of the pumpkin leaves got burnt as they went from shade to bright sunlight too quickly

Shady stream.

From a farm drain to one of the best places to be on a summers day. It's quiet today. So the native fish will be out enjoying the shady stream. 

We have just completed some rockwork to enable fish passage upstream and to stop it from eating out. Short runs and resting pools.

The stream and bamboo are a great team. Bamboo providing shade and bank stabilisation and the stream holding back these running bamboos. 
 

Good morning!

Bed with a view. Took our hammocks for a short walk last night and look where we woke up!! Was so good to see the sun go down and then rise again in the morning.

Over night the tide had washed away all traces of human footprints so mine where the only ones on the beach.

 

Out with the old - in with the new.

Just as my favorite plums are finishing my favorite early peaches are starting.  We have fruit all year round and it always seems like the next flavors are enticing you.

It is very worth while spending time planning your fruiting/flowering calendars when designing your orchard.

 

Hammocks for christmas

Woke to Kokako singing and Robins chattering next to my head. Our hammock camp for the night was perched on a ridge in Te Manawa o te Ika a Maui (Te Urewera) with views out to Maungapohatu.