Earthwise Valley has a ‘new’ farm track which circles above and below the site of our future pond.

This track connects segments of existing accessways and will enable year-round access, even if the lower part of the Valley becomes boggy or flooded.  The work revealed rich topsoil which has been used to thicken the garden soil and the clay has been placed into the site of the pond-dam we are building, which will benefit native water birds including kingfishers, pukekos (swamphen), heron and ducks.

The road also improves access to orchard plantings and will enable us to more easily plant native tree areas to “buffer” the public road, and stabilise erosion zones.  Harakeke (flax) and legumes like Lucerne are being planted into the margins to stabilise any loose areas as quickly as possible.

Alongside the trackwork, the earthworks allowed us to relocate our storage containers to a central position where we have established our ‘base-camp’ – close to the ‘Gypsy Garden’ and tent sites.  A pad for watertanks and a new beehive site were also setup while we had the opportunity!

A wonderful fishing harvest was a great way to start the new year!

The Eastern coast is a rich area of bays and headlands, with sandy beaches and rocky coves.  Just 200m from the Valley is a gentle spot to launch a small boat and – when very calm – suitable for netting.

In these photos the red fish are “goat fish” and the blue fish are “butterfish”  both species are delicious smoked.

We had enough to full the freezer for several meals and the chickens got the scraps – good protein for healthy egg production!