Tales from the Homestead

Tales from the Homestead Being in Tourism, Covid has left our diary pretty clear. So we've taken the leap and decided to move to our very own lifestyle property.

Follow us on our new journey to try and be as self sufficient as possible right here in sunny Hawke's Bay, New Zealand

Stump RemovalOn the Homestead we prefer to do jobs ourselves and not spend money but stump removal is way too hard and I...
17/04/2026

Stump Removal
On the Homestead we prefer to do jobs ourselves and not spend money but stump removal is way too hard and I'd been working on Phil to let me get the stump guys in to take out at least the three stumps in the front garden.
So as soon as I wore him down, it was a quick call to our local stump grinder chap and I arranged for him to come and do the three stumps in the front garden.
Not wanting to lose good firewood Phil decides last minute (like an hour before he's due) that he is going to get the rest of the firewood he could off the main stump! 😆 Shame really, would of been really impressive to see it go to town on this one too.
We weren't going to do the larger stump round the back (as it wasn't aesthetically as issue according to Phil, so I conceded) but I think he was in such awe of the beast, that next minute from the kitchen I see the stump grinder heading round the back and wow, I'm glad I caught it. Well worth the money just to see that beast in action, and we got rid of the stumps too! 😆
Check out the video in the previous post for the real action. 😁
Pics: The stump grinder action and the mulch left behind...............

17/04/2026

Stump Grinder in Action
Wow, the way it just munches through this one is impressive enough but the 2nd giant stump is fricking awesome!!! Love the way Phil leaves my amazement and then evil chuckle in the video ☺️
Fab job! 😁

Food on the Homestead 😋We do love our food here on the Homestead and going into Autumn always feels like saying goodbye ...
16/04/2026

Food on the Homestead 😋
We do love our food here on the Homestead and going into Autumn always feels like saying goodbye to summer salads as we start wanting warmer food and winter crops start coming in.
We eat very seasonally and grow, rear and trade for most of our goodies.
Going to miss those warm summer days where you just crave a good hearty salad, coleslaw, sweetcorn, tomatoes, cucumber, raddish, peppers, fresh beetroot, globe artichokes, just to name a few. Nom, nom, nom!
What we don't pickle or preserve then we do without till next season, although year round micro greens are a must 😁
Notice I didn't say Zucchini/Courgette, trust me, no-one is unhappy to see the end of courgette season! Love them but it does feel like we get a massive glut every year, we give away loads, trade loads and still the freezer is full of courgette soup. 😆


GeoffreyAs many of you know Geoffrey came with the house and was all alone, so we got him Tui for company and most of th...
16/04/2026

Geoffrey
As many of you know Geoffrey came with the house and was all alone, so we got him Tui for company and most of the time they quite happily keep to themselves in the ravine.
Tui though, she can be a bit much, so some days Geoffrey clearly needs a break and the little escape artist thinks it's really funny to just appear in the garden and munch whatever he can find! Usually he picks days that Phil is off working of course! He especially seems to like hanging out on the deck. 😬
He might be adorable but he knows how to push my buttons that's for sure! 🙄



16/04/2026

Log Splitting Homestead Style
Sure makes getting through that tree a lot easier! 😁

The TreeOne of the big jobs was that it was time for Phil to finally tackle the big tree in the front garden that had to...
14/04/2026

The Tree
One of the big jobs was that it was time for Phil to finally tackle the big tree in the front garden that had to be taken down to make sure it didn't come through the house when we first put up the gazebo and has been left as is until now....
Took the best part of a week to get it all down to manageable firewood. Then I was straight onto the phone with a local stump grinder to get rid of the rest of it as it was far too hard a job for us to tackle.

Wasps Nests While we generally welcome most wildlife and bugs to the Homestead, we also have to play our part in limitin...
14/04/2026

Wasps Nests

While we generally welcome most wildlife and bugs to the Homestead, we also have to play our part in limiting invasive pests. Some like hedgehogs and rabbits are tough to deal with (too cute!), German wasps on the other hand we are glad to get rid of!
After a warm dry winter, these guys seem to be everywhere and can build quite large nests if left alone. We found 2 nests on one old tree stump so out came the wasp nest spray and at least these lot won't be bugging us again.

Hey Folks, OMG I've really let the page slip, it's been ages since my last post and a couple of you have asked if all is...
14/04/2026

Hey Folks,
OMG I've really let the page slip, it's been ages since my last post and a couple of you have asked if all is okay on the Homestead front. Huge apologies, my social media has not been on point this year! Happy to report all is good on the Homestead front, just me being useless at sharing!
Up to date report: This week we have managed to avoid Cyclone Vaianu which luckily changed course, don't mind admitting it was certainly a little reminiscent of Cyclone Gabrielle but happy to report it decided not to batter Hawke's Bay and we have plenty of food for a couple of weeks now. 😊
Everything is home-reared, home-grown and home-cooked, I thank my mum who did so well teaching me how to batch cook some good heart-warming food and my dad for teaching me that a generator is essential to keep that freezer running!😊
When the cats mother is cooking, the cats are never fay away. 🙄
All animals on the Homestead are doing quite well except for Flopsy as you can see, she is currently wearing the cone of shame as she managed to take a big chunk out of her own cheek, bless her.
Now to start flooding your newsfeeds with the seasons activities and longer projects that have been taking up all the time. 😁

Yum, fresh from the garden, love this time of year! 😍
13/01/2026

Yum, fresh from the garden, love this time of year! 😍

Some pretty colours from around the Homestead 😁
13/01/2026

Some pretty colours from around the Homestead 😁

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Hawke's Bay
Hamilton
RD9

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