Ohau tour

Sunshine hurt her knee on this trip.

Mount Pisgah

Mike and I took Thursday off, took the dogs and went on the hunt for snow within 1 1/2 hours from Dunedin. We found Mount Pisgah and skied a delightful run from 1600 down to 900 masl. According to the farmer who confronted us on our way out, he'd never seen skiers up there before, and he looked like he'd been around a while. I got his number and plan to go back, especially if it snows again.

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Another trip to Fox Peak

Nicky took me to Fox Peak and introduced me to her ski touring buddies. We all had a lovely 2 days hanging out at Fox. First day was pretty tough skiing crusty snow. Second day was better, helped the locals dig out the top rope tow on our way skinning up towards the Peak for a great run down.

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firelogs

Well, the wind, rain, snow and cold is driving in on Dunedin today, and we're all thinking about heating. Here's my story so far...

Last week I ordered $100 of "dry, eucalyptus firewood". The fella came and tipped it on the lane in front of my house and served me the bill plus delivery fee. (I'm still getting used to the quality of service in these parts). As I was shifting the pile to a better place I couldn't help wondering how heavy and wet it felt. The delivery fella was long gone and anyway, I'm sure he would've palmed me off with some remark like "sweet as mate" or "nah, its as good as gold". On the first day we tried to use it we were bitterly disappointed. Hard to start, a log actually kills the fire if its not hot enough! This stuff is still wet and green!

So we went and picked up a few old packing pallets from the hardware stores that give them away. Pallets come in pine, oregon, and even eucalypt! After breaking them up we have good heat. I'm very reluctant to waste the expensive load of firewood on the flame if it is not properly seasoned, and there's no way in hell I'm going to drive our power bill up from a nice $40 per month to well over $250 per month just through electric heating! (our neighbours hit $420 last month!!!)

Enter the firelogs we found down at the warehouse. We discovered these things for the first time this week and we're liking them! Made from compressed sawdust and although the box says nothing added, I suspect they have paraffin wax in them. These things burn hot and long! I estimate that one firelog burns for about 1 hour. A box of 8 costs $6, and you could make a box go one night in a good firebox. So by my estimates it would cost $180 a month to burn firelogs. It costs about $120 a month on delivered firewood.

For $60 extra what do we get?

Ready to burn, cleaner to burn, better heat, excellent cooking coals, very tidy, no chop chop, easy storage, easy portability, feel good for using a waste product...

If we could find dry seasoned wood, we'd probably go for the cost savings over the firelog - unless we find a cheaper supplier. We really like having a fire, it is miles better heat and more reliable than our neighbour's air conditioner. And our firebox seems to cost about the same to run as an airconditioner. I think we'll be planting a few eucs down the front section this winter - they might come in handy a few years from now...

Winter crops

I put Broad Beans (seed), silver beet and celery (seedlings), in my zone 2 yesterday. I should perhaps put more BB in as I only planted about 20 along a trellis.

I planted seeds for baby carrots and onions in tires up in my zone 3. The potato tires worked well through summer. I got a pretty good yield considering the condition of the soil and my lateness (again) but must of all I have noticeably better soil after the potatoes. I'm hoping for great carrots and onions now, and have a theory that the tires will help keep the soil a little warmer (if that a good thing for carrots and onions?)

I put seeds for spring onions and chinese broccoli in my zone 1. I'm still looking for miners lettuce and sorrel. I also put in a range of herb seedlings (Thyme, rosemary, lemon balm, oregano, russian (tarramond?).

After all this, I'd really like for people to come around and check it out! I am totally in love with this whole process, and the fact that at the age of 32 I am finally getting to know where food comes from. As well as feeding my wife and I (hopefully) the whole process has been very therapeutic.