Automowers at work

25 August 2019
Baby, Bird, Box, Family, Farm, Grass, House, Land, Life, Rescue, Rusty, Shady, Weather

The weather has not been too amazing over the last couple of weeks. Jolan got two baby chicks for AgDay and a few days later got a little duckling dropped off too, a rescue from a cat. So now the 3 birds are sharing the warm box in the living room. Other than that, life goes on as per usual, the paddocks are wet so Tatjana set up a geofence around the house to keep to automowers out. Now the automowers are busy mowing the grass and the weeds around the house – so satisfying to watch.

Wasp and Hornet traps

5 November 2025
Activity, Animal, Building, House, News, Summer, trap

We typically put a waap trap up around the house in summer to keep the number of wasps at bay. This year, they discovered a queen yellow legged hornet in the early stages of building a nest in Glenfield on the North Shore in October, while two males were spotted earlier in the year in Grafton and Albany. It is the first time a Queen has been found in Aotearoa.

Spring has arrived – with its usual mixed bag weather.

3 November 2025
Egg, Flowers, Garden, Land, Sun

“If you don’t like the weather, just wait 5 minutes.” Spring came with beautiful warm and sunny days, storm, hail, rain and sunshine in between. It was cold and a few hours later warm again and vice versa.

Winter done and dusted

1 September 2025
Alpaca, Animal, Building, Duck, Fire, Fog, Frost, Land, Landscape, Mammal, Night, Rain, Weather, Winter

There was nothing extraordinary to write about this winter, really. It’s not been too wet and not too dry, neither too cold or too warm. We had a few frosty nights and a few pretty rainy days but all in all it was reasonably warm and okay from a mud perspective.