Living the Good Life on 3 Acres in Nelson

Today I have a some loaves to share with you…  The most devine was this Chocolate Banana loaf with frozen raspberries: Will DEFINITELY do that again.  The recipe is here & I added about half a cup of frozen (unthawed) raspberries. My Chilean Guavas (aka New Zealand Cranberry) are ripe : so I decided to try […]

Read Full Post »

I take so many photographs to share with you all in blog land but I often don’t find the time to get here.  Sorting my files, I came across these pictures of the biscuits my son & I made for my mother on mothers day &, although it was a couple of weeks ago, they […]

Read Full Post »

I am delighted to report that the owl bird scarers are working wonderfully well on the apple trees in our orchard.  Flocks of birds had been descending on our fruit but as soon as we hung these holographic birds up they disappeared.. well.. they disappeared to other trees that didnt have scarers in them.  Must […]

Read Full Post »

My youngest has just turned 6. Hubby & I attempted a vintage style party at a local reserve with half a dozen other 6 year olds & their mums.  I strung balloons & streamers between the trees, we cooked up bbq sausages & I produced a homemade picnic lunch which included fairy bread, pizza, mini quiche, […]

Read Full Post »

We are knee deep in apples here at the moment.  Not surprising when we have dozens of trees and many many varieties.  Today I collected the last of the Gala’s off the tree & a garden bag full of Liberty which had dropped on the ground.  The animals scored a few and the rest I […]

Read Full Post »

I just have to share this recipe with you.  Its from the from the NZ Womans Weekly site. I saw our plums were all dropping & thought, what can I make?   Did a quick google search (my recipe books are getting lonely)  & this recipe attracted me with a small amount of butter & the […]

Read Full Post »

I have just whipped up a little pot of devine jam made with my two favourite things.. Peacherine & Raspberries.  It seriously only took 10 minutes.   I had just over a cup of fruit, microwaved it with a squeeze of lemon juice for 5 minutes, added 3/4 cup of sugar, microwaved again for 4 […]

Read Full Post »

I have just had the first Peacherine of the season.. I have been drooling over this beautiful fruit for weeks & I can say the taste was worth the wait. Now to work my way through the tree before they drop on the ground & get gobbled up by the chooks. . they love them […]

Read Full Post »

Last weekend was the Brightwater Summer Show.  We were asked to put in some entries to help make up numbers. My dahlias, & most of my garden, were looking quite sad after a windy storm followed by a week of dry.  I picked a bucket full but was told most were not “show” flowers.   […]

Read Full Post »

This week I’ve been preserving our plum harvest.  While I like to pick them fresh off the tree for eating, we had to harvest them all at once because the birds were having a lovely time eating & pecking holes in them & many were dropping.  Its handy having the Silkie chooks in the orchard […]

Read Full Post »