March
A great Season so far except of course for one little hiccup with the majority of our Moorpark apricots being stolen during the dead of the night back in January.
We let a few folk into the block the day before PYO, of this variety, commenced; the alarm bells rang when they came back with a good pick but mentioned there wasn’t a lot left!!!!
The Moorpark block had been well and truly picked over in the middle, leaving the perimeter intact. Our neighbours below the River block, heard nothing so it looks like it would have been an early morning raid.
As the ladders had been strategically placed throughout the block for PYO, and the gate opened, the thief and his off-sider must have had smiles a mile wide!
I have a fair idea who it is but as I have no proof at this stage, nothing can be done.
Moorparks are a sought after variety of apricot, especially now Annabel Langbein has spoken so highly of them on her TV programme.
Sadly this wasn’t our very first brush with theft; a few weeks after the death of Alex; our Haven Peaches were pinched during the dead of night.
Since then, each and every Season, we’ve had trees stripped but nothing as grand as this.
Our Orchard security cameras are used in another area for an entirely different reason so it looks like we will be forking out for a few more.
This is our third Season hosting Wwoofers and what a great bunch we’ve had once again. Fine young folk from all around the World.
The starling and magpies have been up to their old tricks once again.
Big Bertha (bird cannon/scarer) is our very effective bird control method. She works, without complaint, through the daylight hours.
She managed to fit in a wee holiday after the pears finished but is now back in action as the apple crop is being hammered.
Hercules Flat is a great area to live in, with many wonderful ex-city folk; a wonderful diverse bunch; taking up residence here.
They recognize the need for bird scarers, sprayers, frost-fighting pumps, tractors and any other machinery associated with the running of the Orchard or else there wouldn’t be an ounce of fruit on the property.
Further north there are lifestylers moaning to the media and their respective Councils demanding/lobbying changes be made to the District Plan rules in a hope they will drive the Orchardists out of business because they “are sick of the noise.” This happened to a friend of mine a few years ago. He couldn’t handle the stress and sold to a lifestyler as they just wore him down.
Thankfully these moaners are only a minority.
There are many fine folk who move to the country who embrace country living and are appalled by the shenanigans of a minority.
We ourselves had a shock a couple of months ago when a couple contacted the Police complaining we were using Big Bertha to harass them!!!
What!!!!!!
Obviously nothing came of it but what a cheek to make a false complaint!
They know fully well Bertha is used for bird control and furthermore is permitted under the Central Otago District Plan rules.
Our Orchard is only 17.5 acres and makes a ‘little toot’ sound compared with the larger Orchards.
I bet my bottom dollar they wouldn’t have taken them on!!!!!
The silly thing is, Bertha had been going for two months at that stage during daylight hours so somebody must have had a bad day and needed a bit of attention!!! Or a hug!
Now they have taken their nonsense into the public arena once again; they have inadvertently shown another one of their bullying tactics.
This is our livelihood; it’s not a hobby/lifestyle Orchard and it supports all of us so we won’t be driven out!
And as they had referred to Bertha as a shotgun many times in the past; it was such a relief to have them confirm her true identity to the Police so something positive came out it.
But Bertha is still very annoyed with them.
She’ll get used to them; we have.
Update: 1st May
Further to my post in the above blog where I describe how a false complaint was made to the Police about our ‘Bird Scarer’; well it now turns out the middle-aged couple forgot which story they were spinning and lodged a ‘Tractor Noise Complaint’ with the Council four days later, on 14 January!!
We only found out about the Complaint two days ago.
Even though the Complaint has been recorded on Council documents, thankfully we weren’t contacted as we were in the midst of a drought, our Moorparks had been stolen and we were busy picking, packing and selling our fruit varieties as they ripened!
Spare time is something we don’t have any of during the Fruit Season.
The bullies picked the best time of the year to try and disrupt us.
The ‘Award for Cleverness’ goes to them!!!
We now understand why they have been more creative in their harassment since then.
As there is never any need for us to go into this particular Council website, we would have been in the dark if it wasn’t for a certain gentleman, whom we had never met, perusing this site for information on a property along Teviot Road, when he put in our Rapid Number by mistake, as the numbers were similar, and low and behold, up popped our details.
He was going to click out but noticed the words “noise complaint” which aroused his interest.
He was shocked as it went on to say, “ Noise complaint regarding use of tractor to pump irrigation.”
He knows a bit about Orcharding so knew this was a malicious complaint as unbeknown to us, he knew of the ‘games’ the bullies had played with our livelihood both before and after Alex died.
Furthermore he knew of how they showed false concern after his death but couldn’t sustain this emotion for more than a few weeks before reversing back to their old sabotage ways, but this time they were caught by a third party.
They blamed us for their exposure and declared War!
They wouldn’t have tried this if Alex was alive!
Yesterday I told a group of supporters as to what happened back in January and was surprised to hear they all knew!
They were trying to protect us and had decided that we were to be told at the end of the Fruit Season.
They are wonderful kind folk as is our new-found friend.
We have the deepest respect for you all.
Ask Aunty S
Dear Aunty S
My daughter’s work colleagues are mainly middle-aged women, and are bullying her.
Every night my daughter is in tears and tells me she wants to quit but I have insisted on her returning as she worked hard for the position she is in. To see her go from a confident young woman to an emotional wreck is hard to watch.
One of the women was passed over for her job, which is why they taunt, tease and threaten her on a daily basis. They say it’s only a matter of time before she is fired.
Her doctor has put on Prozac for the short term and says she needs to see a Counsellor to help empower her.
I have always said it was a bad idea but now I realize how desperate she is.
I don’t know how to help her and feel I have let her down.
What do you think?
Aunty S responds
Don’t be too hard on yourself my dear; you are obviously a caring and concerned Mum or you wouldn’t have written to me.
Your daughter’s Doctor is a wise man; he is handling the situation correctly as Prozac should only ever be used as a short-term fix, never as a way of life.
I’m afraid these dreadful women (bullies) have tipped your daughter over the edge, but she will gain the confidence to regain control of her life, with the assistance of a good Counsellor and the love and support of her family.
Personally I would rather work with a pack of wolves than a bunch of vicious middle-aged women.
Listen to your daughter, validate her feelings and support whatever decisions she makes.
Roy
This morning our friend Roy died at the grand old age of 95 years. Way too soon for me. We had agreed on 105!
What a wonderful friend he was!
Sam and Ruby have grown up with his words of wisdom, stories of his childhood, his quick mind and his gift of repartee.
A nickname we had for him was “Firecracker Fred” aptly named after a minor fire that occurred in his home. His witty account of how it came about had us in hysterics!!!
He had a solution to our ‘bullying’ problem. So blunt, so funny, so illegal! All said tongue in cheek or was it! Oh how we loved this man and we will miss him dreadfully.
Ask Aunty S
Dear Aunty S
My best friend is having an affair and expects me to cover for her when she meets up with him, which I do.
Her husband is really nice and is being driven mad with worry that she is cheating again.
He came round the other night crying asking if she is having another affair.
She promised last time she would never do it again.
I lied to him but my husband caught on I was lying.
He is now furious with me as my friend’s husband is his best friend.
He says if I don’t tell him the truth, he will.
What do I do?
Aunty S responds
It was bound to end in tears my dear.
Your friend should never have put you in this position so the answer is quite simple, tell her to come clean or you will.
Yes your friendship will probably be over but who needs a friend like that.
If she runs away with this new boyfriend, make sure you help your husband look after her husband as he obviously is in a lot of emotional pain.
Over and out.
Ruby’s 20th
My gorgeous daughter Ruby turned twenty on Saturday and my MacBook crashed the same day hence I haven’t been online to tell the world how proud I am of the young woman she has become.
We had a wonderful day of celebration even though the cherries wouldn’t stop the ripening process hence it was still a work day, which made Ruby happy as it was a distraction from the reality that her Dad wasn’t here to celebrate this milestone with her.
Birthday Wishes came in all day from home and all around the world for my ‘under five foot’ darling.
The phone calls, txt messages, emails, E-cards, Facebook messages, all completed her special day.
The night before Ruby’s birthday, under the cover of darkness, our lovely friend Kirsten popped a pressie in the letterbox before decorating it as well as the fence.
What a wonderful surprise for Ruby when she went down the drive with Sam at 6am the next morning to turn the bird cannon on.
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