Feijoa

I have just begun to read a book by this name written by Kate Evans. So far it is very entertaining and informative. There are 10 pages of end notes indicating how diligent and wide reaching Kate has been in her research. Kate is both curious and enquiring.

This description from her website: “Through the story of a single, exotic fruit and a personal obsession—a story that spans four continents and hundreds of years—FEIJOA tells a sweeping, global tale about the myriad ways plants seduce us.”

Feijoas came into my life when my parents moved house in Hastings and behind the garage was a hedge of feijoa trees. The trees produced prolifically and my mother’s “waste not, want not” approach to life saw the fruit used in many different ways. Her recipe books show: Boysenberry and Feijoa Jelly, Feijoa pie, Golden Delicious and Feijoa Shortcake, Feijoa Chutney and Feijoa and Pork Casserole.

One of my brothers cannot abide Feijoas after they appeared so often in meals during the fruiting season. Some people hate the fruit, others love them and I think very few people sit on the fence about them. That said my husband would not eat them cut and scooped out with a spoon as my children and I do but he loves them in an apple and feijoa crumble.

Our garden has two, old, large feijoa trees that were mature by the time we bought the house. Most seasons we enjoy a steady supply of the fruit for two months. I am not sure about this season. It is very hard to see many fruit on the branches. We had a brutal spring with gale force winds and cold temperatures. I don’t remember see the trees flower prolifically but leaf loss was a feature. The birds definitely enjoyed what flowers there were thereby pollinating for us.

Our summer was also cool, the winds continued and the rain disappeared. A lack of rain and a critical water shortage in the greater Wellington have meant watering the trees was not an option. So we will wait and see what falls.

We also have a “Feijoa Bambina” which is a dwarf tree and remarkably it flowered splendidly and is covered in small, forming feijoas. It is more sheltered and able to be watered from grey water we captured at the kitchen sink and in the shower. Unfortunately the blackbirds love the softer skinned fruit so I plan to cover the tree with a net in the hope that we can enjoy the fruit.

Meanwhile I will continue to enjoy Kate’s book and remember my young children feasting on the fruit that Mum and Dad would send down from Hastings. A young neighbour would join in and share some “Freetoas” as she called them.

And fingers crossed we are surprised and get a good crop from our trees.

“Bits of string too short to use”

This book title drew my attention very promptly. My Dad was a great keeper of things that “one day might come in handy.” So the garage or workshop had many jars of nails, screws, attachments, gadgets,pieces of timber,pipes and things that he saw as having a possible use. He was a capable repairer but knew where to draw the line in terms of danger.

There were many times when he would find just the thing to fix something from his collection of “things that might come in handy.”

However he would not have kept bits of string to short to use.

The title of Jennifer Beck’s memoir comes from a real experience of a house being cleared out and a jar found that was carefully labelled “Bits of string too short to use” and inside the jar were the bits of string. I did have to giggle at such frugality.

I’ve enjoyed Jennifer’s memoir. It is a genre I really enjoy and as I am a bit younger than the author I have enjoyed reading about life in New Zealand in simpler times to the ones I grew up in.

Jennifer was a collector of many and varied objects (but not of short pieces of string) and in later life was discovering the challenge of decluttering possessions. This is a process I am currently wrestling with and not finding easy.

I have not read any of Jennifer’s books but I will borrow some from the children’s section of the library to broaden my knowledge of her prolific writing career.

I had a poignant moment in the book when she described receiving positive feedback and encouragement from my uncle who taught at the Teacher’s college she attended. We are a small country and degrees of separation here can be very small at times.

I enjoyed this connection and other connections that occurred for Jennifer in her life and writing.

Upcycled eiderdown

My parents married in December 1952 and set up home in Matarawa, near Greytown in the Wairarapa. My Dad had been appointed to teach at the local District High School with the aim of completing his required Country Service. This area is renown for extremes of weather, both heat and drought, frost, chilly winds and occasional snowfalls.

To keep warm in a draughty, old school house they had a double bed sized eiderdown to add another layer of warmth to their wool blankets.

It is possible that this very rough photo, taken in 1984 features the original eiderdown.

Sometime in the 1990s Mum remade the eiderdown. She was a trained tailoress and a wonderful sewer and handcrafter. How she managed to corrall the duck and goose down in the process is a mystery to me. While she used her sewing machine to form the cover and its backing she hand stitched the pattern. Again I have no idea how she did this. I’m sorry I missed it.

Here is the eiderdown she refurbished. (Photo taken 2024 so it is looking much shabbier thanks to wear and tear and sunlight.)

It came to live with us after Mum died in 2004. It has provided warmth to us until the last few months when feathers began escaping and a corner or two became threadbare.

I was reluctant to part with such a wonderfully warm bed covering. A Google search bought up a possible business in Pahiatua, northern Wairarapa, called Eiderdowns by Anita. https://www.eiderdowns.co.nz/

Anita Carter runs this eiderdown and duvet making and remaking business. She was taught by her mother and both of them had been involved in the original business run by her grandfather in Wellington. Anita still uses his feather blowing machine to pump the down into the eiderdowns and duvets.

On her advice we chose a Queen sized duvet cover so that she could upsize from the original. We decided to go on a road trip to meet Anita and deliver the precious cargo. Ten days later the eiderdown refurbishment was complete and couriered back to us.

Despite some chilly weather it has not been cold enough to use it yet but we are delighted with the finished product. Anita’s skill and flair show up in the following photos. She has a website and a Facebook page and also sells off Etsy. Her customers are not confined to Aotearoa/New Zealand but include Australia and America.

Mum would be delighted that the eiderdown lives on. She grew up in the depression years of the 1930s and the years of WW2 so was raised with a “waste not, want not”, “make good use of everything”set of values. I’m delighted that it is something that reminds me of the love and security my parents provided for me as a child.

Mackerel sky

I was out in the garden early this morning to water the tomato plants before the forecast heat arrived. I was surprised to see these clouds high above me. They are altocumulus clouds and usually appear before a warm front. The weather forecast is for a convergence of hot air coming off the desert of Australia and semi-tropical air coming down from the Pacific to affect us. We have had warnings around staying hydrated and seeking shade from the hot sun and to be prepared for a warm, muggy night tonight.

These fish scale, mackerel, marshmallow like clouds are well gone now so perhaps the predictions that accompany them for changeable weather and indicate rain will fall within a few hours will not happen. ”Mackerel sky, not twenty-four hours dry”

Rain would be welcome to boost water supplies but a spell of warm, calm, summer weather has been waited for here for more than a month.

A visiting Kereru

A fellow blogger has posted today about how she would love a Kereru to visit her garden and enjoy the New Zealand native Fuschia procumbens she has planted.

For years I have hoped for such visits to my garden from these beautiful, large birds.

In spring last year my hopes were realised when a Kereru visited on several days to nibble away at the leaves on a Kowhai tree in our garden.

Then 3 days ago we heard the familiar, loud, strong wing-beat and spied a Kereru in the flowering cherry tree. At this time of the year the tree offers small reddish purple berries for the birds. Blackbirds are keen on them but this year they have big competition. Twice a day the Kereru has flown in and spent time nipping the berries off and swallowing them.

In large part it is through the predator control undertaken by the authorities and the local team of volunteers trapping predators that have boosted native bird numbers in our area. Planting native trees, shrubs and food sources in our gardens and parks has supported the growth in numbers.

It is very special to stand and watch these magnificent birds in our garden. I am sending special wishes to a friendly Kereru to visit my fellow blogger’s garden.

A whole new look and taste

I was recently alerted to red kiwifruit for sale locally (Porirua, Aotearoa/New Zealand). I am very fond of the green, furry Kiwifruit, which were called Chinese Gooseberries when I was a child. They are full of flavour, Vitamin C and fibre.

I also enjoy Goldfruit which has a mellower flavour and is a pretty yellow/gold colour when cut.

So I purchased a few of the Ruby Red fruit. And here is one that I had cut in half, ready to scoop out and eat.

The dark area is fleshy and has a soft berry quality that some have described as being like a strawberry. The Kiwifruit tang is present and the flavour is an interesting combination of that and sweetness. Like most fruit these taste better when fully ripe.

Ripening happened very quickly and I suspect this variety will be prone to bruising as the skin is very thin and not covered in fuzz like the original.

The colour certainly lends itself to creative and attractive use in food dishes.

Photos from a very wet garden

We have had over 60mm of rain in the past 4 days. The garden is saturated again. It has also been unseasonably warm thanks to sub-tropical air.

In a break in the rain I went out into the garden to take some photos.

Low cloud and mist was clothing the nearby hill.

The autumn colours of Viburnum Opulus (Sterile)

Raindrops on the Fuchsia that defies neglect and hard pruning. It refuses to bush up but it survives.

The stunning foliage of the American Smokebush (Cotinus coggygria)

And finally a Lavender flower.

My Dad

It is my Dad’s birth date today. He would have turned 95 if a heart attack had not caused his death at the age of 62 years.

He was a warm, affectionate, loving father who believed in being very involved with his children. He believed that reading to children was vital and so bed-time routines were a happy, secure time in my daily life growing up. He was also funny, humorous and very quick witted.

His musical and sporting abilities and clever brain meant I had a childhood full of his very skillful piano playing, singing, ball games, bike rides, walks, visits to libraries, the Dominion Museum and many other enriching events and places to visit.

My love and interest in nature was inherited from my parents. We lived in Johnsonville and a remnant of native bush still existed within walking distance of our home. It was part of the Old Coach Road and it was there that Dad shared some of this area’s early European history and taught me about various native plants such as: Rangiora, Kawakawa, Ongaonga, Tataramoa, and other flora and fauna. We had many visits to Otari Bush, exploring the vast area of native trees, ferns,mosses and lichens. My curiosity was nurtured and encouraged.

Earlier this year I decided to research my Dad’s life. He was a teacher for 38 years, a father to me and my 4 brothers and a very loving husband to Mum. He had provided so very well for us all and given us sound foundations. But what more was there to learn about him and other aspects of his life away from his family?

I have discovered via letters, documents, records, old newspapers (thanks to National Library’s Paperspast) and people off Facebook groups all manner of details that have filled out the character, values and service to others that were so very much a part of my Dad.

He loved New Zealand’s native birds and with his keen musical ear he could tell the songs of many. He did not live to see the re-population of so many native birds into our suburban gardens but he would have been utterly delighted by it. I see and hear so many and they are a daily tangible link back to my Dad. RIP Dad xxxx

Variegated Camellia

In between rainy days I found this Camellia busily flowering.

Wordle

I “wordle” semi regularly, opting to use a range of opening attempts but which usually include 2 vowels. My husband always opens with the same word. This morning I thought I would open with his favourite word and to my amazement there it was.

Wordle solved in the first attempt. I doubt that will happen again in a hurry.