Cambridge

Today is my first full day on a brand new house sit, following straight on from my previous one in Whatawhata which concluded last night. This property is a lifestyle block located about 6kms out of Cambridge and it’s really nice, quite a rural oasis with lots of native and introduced trees surrounded by working drystock farmland. I’m here for nine days while the owners take a tiki tour down the North Island to undertake some tramping in the Tararuas and then they’ll be attending a wedding in Wellington.

I take a keen interest in foraging and identifying different trees and plants and learning about their edible, medicinal, and bushcraft uses so I’m going to make the most of this stay to see what I can find around here because this place has a smorgasbord of different species to check out.

This property also has a nice big productive vegetable garden and heaps of different fruit trees, including feijoa, sweet chestnut, fig, apple, pear, nashi pear, and plum. At this stage, just the plums are ripe for the eating but there are literally bucket loads of them. There is also a nice selection of fresh herbs growing in the garden to add to my evening meals.

Regarding the animals that I have under my care, there are two friendly kitty cats (who go by the names of Tiger and Blaze), seven sheep, two beefies, several chooks with one rooster who live in the orchard, and one mother hen with three baby chickens who have the run of the place.

This should be a nice cruisy stay and I don’t envision any major concerns. Perhaps the only thing to keep a close eye on is the water usage. There is plenty of water in the tank that feeds the house. But there are two separate tanks that feed the livestock and vegetable garden. These will need managing to ensure there is ample water to go around for both the veges, sheep, and beefies without any unnecessary wastage through overuse or leaks, especially with the current hot summer weather, and there’s little rain on the horizon. But I should be able to stay on top of that by policing the main taps at the tanks. Plus the livestock have lots of big leafy trees (alders, ashes, maples, and planes – to name just a few of the many varieties growing here) where they can get out of the sun and into the shade, so that will help as well because they won’t be hanging around the trough all day.

Viewing House From Driveway

On The Back Lawn

Patio & BBQ

Vegetable Garden

The Orchard Where The Chooks Live

Chookies

More Chookies

Mother Hen With Her Three Chickens

Plums Galore

Blaze

The Sheep

The Beefies – Tui & Ruby (aka Beef & Burger)