Posts by David Haywood
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Southerly: Høstens Vemod, in reply to Hilary Stace,
Truffles under the oak?
Truffles will theoretically grow under the English oaks, holly oaks, and chestnuts. I’m just not sure that in practice they will actually grow in the dry & stony Dunsandel soil. The only place where there is reliable moisture is the wastewater disposal field, but – I’m guessing – there might potentially be some health issues with eating truffles grown there…
All opinions appreciated! I could for $50-ish (oh, the pain!) buy a truffle-infected holly oak, which would eventually (if it didn’t die) infect the whole coppice of holly oaks & chestnuts. But I fear that it might simply be money down the drain…
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Mr Mark wrote:
Norway is superlative upon superlative – I’m always a sucker for Mountains, Fjords, Lakes and – above all – mountain road passes (the more serpentine the better).
So am I! In my experience Norway seems like the only place that packs as much scenery in as New Zealand. Other places, while spectacular, seem to take an awfully long time between scenery changes…
Ross Mason
…….I didn’t see any hammer being used……
Don’t worry! The Ross Mason memorial hammer is used on an almost daily basis – it’s much better than my old hammer (I’d never realized before that there was such a difference between brands). The children have their own hammers.
Your walnut tree had a tough start – as have all the trees – but it's just properly fired up over the last summer. I’m planning a photo shoot next spring when it’s at its most glorious.
You are #6 on the list of trees that I’ve planted in our front garden (though it was planted first -- the list order is spatially-based). More than one tree of any listed type has been planted (the coppice has 500 chestnuts!). The heights & widths are final sizes, of course. Each tree had to have 250kg of stones removed from hole with a crowbar and then compost added. Not mentioned are the pine and holly oak and escallonia hedges…
1. Common Walnut (Juglan regia) from Avonside: height 15m; width 12m
2. Olive “Koroneiki” (Olea europaea): height 6m; width 4m
3. Flowering cherry “Kanzan” (Prunus): height 8m; width 5m
4. Strawberry tree (Arbutus unedo) from Leanne O’Brien: height 6m; width 6m
5. Peach “Golden type” (Prunus persica) from Leanne O’Brien: height 5m; width 4m [MARCH-APRIL]
6. Common Walnut “Rex” (Juglan regia) gifted by Ross Mason: height 15m; width 12m
7. Ungrafted “Weeping” (or “Camperdown”) Elm (Ulmus glabra “Camperdownii”) from Avonside: height 3m; width 5m.
8. English Oak (Quercus robur) grown from acorns collected by Bob and Polly, 22nd March 2012, 4pm: height 35m; width 15m. NOTE: The acorns were from Tree #8 at Riccarton Bush (this tree was donated by Governor Grey and planted in 1849).
9. Horse Chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum): height 15; width 10m
10. Apple “Acane” (Malus domestica): height 5m; width 4m [JANUARY]
11. Apple “Prima” (Malus domestica): height 5m; width 4m [FEBRUARY]
12. Apple “Rubee Red” (Malus domestica): height 5m; width 4m [MARCH]
13. Apple “Peasgood Nonesuch” (Malus domestica): height 6m; width 4m [MARCH]
14. Apple “Freyberg” (Malus domestica): height 5m; width 4m [APRIL]
15. Apple “Baujade” (Malus domestica): height 5m; width 4m [MAY]
16. Apricot “Newcastle Early” (Prunus armeniaca): height 5m; width 4m [JANUARY]
17. Apricot “Moorpark” (Prunus armeniaca): height 5m; width 4m [FEBRUARY]
18. Cherry “Stella” (prunus avium): height 2m; width 2m [DECEMBER-JANUARY]
19. Nectarine “Goldmine” (Prunus persica var. nectarina): height 5m; width 4m [FEBRUARY]
20. Pear “Williams’ Bonne Chretian” (Pyrus communis): height 6m; width 4m [FEBRUARY]
21. Pear “Doyenne du Comice” (Pyrus communis): height 6m; width 4m [FEBRUARY-MARCH]
22. Pear “Conference” (Pyrus communis): height 6m; width 4m [MARCH-APRIL]
23. Plum “Hawera” (Prunus domesticus): height 5m; width 4m [JANUARY-FEBRUARY]
24. Plum “Santa Rosa” (Prunus domesticus): height 5m; width 4m [JANUARY-FEBRUARY]
25. Plum “Omega” (Prunus domesticus): height 5m; width 4m [FEBRUARY-MARCH]
26. Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum): height 15m; width 7m
27. Rowan “Scarlet King"(Sorbus aucuparia): height 5m; width 2m
28. Peachcot (Prunus persica x Prunus armeniaca): height 4m; width 3m [MARCH]
29. Flowering Cherry “Asahi Boton” (Prunus Shimidsu-Sakura): height 4m; width 5m
30. Winter Sweet (Chimonanthus praecox) from Leanne O’Brien: height 3m; width 3m
31. Plumcot “Scarlet Sunrise” (Prunus armeniaca x Prunus domestica: height 5m; width 4m [DECEMBER]
32. Peach “April White” (Prunus persica): height 4m; width 3m [MARCH]
33. Feijoa “Gemini” (Acca sellowiana): height 2m; width 2m [APRIL]
34. Stone Pine (Pinus pinea): height 12m; width 8m
35. Feijoa “Wiki Tu” (Acca sellowiana): height 3m; width 2m [MAY]
36. Feijoa “Marion” (Acca sellowiana): height 4m; width 4m [MAY]
37. Almond “Monovale” (Prunus dulcis): height 6m; width 4m [APRIL] (planted spring 2016)
38. Pittosporum “Kohuhu/Black Matipo” (Pittosporum tenuifolium): height 6m; width 3m
39. Hazelnut “Melville de Bollwiller” (Corylus avellana): height 4m; width 3m (planted spring 2016)
40. Hazelnut “Whiteheart” (Corylus avellana): height 3m; width 3m (planted spring 2016)
41. Prune Plum “Italian” (Prunus domesticus): height 4m; width 3m [MARCH] (planted spring 2016)
42. Plum “Black Doris” (Prunus domesticus): height 5m; width 4m [JANUARY-FEBRUARY] (planted spring 2016)
43. Quince “Taihape” (Cydonia oblonga): height 4m; width 3m [FEBRUARY-MARCH] (planted spring 2016)
44. North American Paw-Paw (Asimina triloba): height 6m; width 6m (planted autumn 2016) -
Ben Wilson wrote:
Great post, David. Whatever you say about seasonal gloom, it feels like summertime, when I hear you “rise up singing”, like this.
Thanks so much, Ben! I must say it's been great to have a break from building and finally have a chance to put pen to paper (or finger to keyboard rather).
Hilary Stace
A Swedish acquaintance says the whole population there receives state-funded Vitamin D3 throughout winter to alleviate gloomy mood caused by lack of sunlight.
I met an American woman in Trondheim who complained about summer and its lack of medication. Apparently her doctor was very free-handed with anti-depressants during winter -- but in summer medical opinion held that she had no need of chemical cheering up.
In related information, one of my friends did a couple of midwinter months at a Norwegian university above the arctic circle. His circadian schedule completely went out the window: going to bed, waking up, and feeling hungry at completely random times.
In other news:
Thanks everyone else for your kind and very interesting messages. Bob & Polly & I are enjoying watching our way through all the video links... -
Stephen Judd wrote:
Just gonna leave this here
Norwegian satire: I loved this! Very much the sense of humour that I encountered and enjoyed during my brief visit.
nzlemming wrote:
David, your child scares me.
Join the club! (It's kind of like the Electrocution Club but you don't have to eat as much electricity).
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Southerly: Høstens Vemod, in reply to andin,
… it would break my heart to know they will grow up into a world that without an increasing amount of conscious effort by an increasing number of people to take care of this place, our birthplace, it is going to get very tough in their lifetime just to stay alive let alone prosper. A world where a parents love is never going to be enough, if it ever was.
You’re not wrong. That is something that I certainly worry about: what sort of a world have I brought them into. You can make yourself awfully depressed thinking about it. Though it has occurred to me that if everyone acted in a manner that would provide the best outcomes for children then practically every major problem would be dealt with. (Hardly an original observation, of course)
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Southerly: Høstens Vemod, in reply to Matt Woods,
Polly is a wee crackerjack. You have done well to remember the amusing things she says. I often wish I had left a recorder on when I take my grand-daughter to Kindy. I laugh and laugh but sadly later I can not tell anyone the wonders I have heard.
A "wee crackerjack" is perhaps the most accurate description of Polly that I've ever heard, Matt. I feel your pain on missing out the proclamations of your grand-daughter -- I only capture about five per cent of what Polly says. The voice recorder on the phone helps; although just writing it down immediately seems to work for me too.
I feel compelled to mention that we somehow misplaced our dustpan & brush this evening. Polly proclaimed enthusiastically: "I know where it is!" "Where is it? I asked. "I can't show you, but I can tell you how to find it. Go outside and wait for the first star to appear in the sky. Then walk towards that star..."
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Southerly: Høstens Vemod, in reply to Rob Stowell,
If you haven’t seen it this project to collect words from around the world for specific emotions is worth a look.
Bloody brilliant, Rob! I must say that it's especially worth knowing the word mbuki-mvuki exists -- just so I don't use it in a sentence accidentally...
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Southerly: Høstens Vemod, in reply to Robyn Gallagher,
Jag älskar hösten. Det är min favorit säsong eftersom Nya Zeelands vintern är inte olycklig. (Ja, det är svenska och inte norska. Jag tala inte norska!)
It’s weird, Robyn, but if you read this aloud you can almost figure it out just knowing English:
"I [something] autumn. That is my favourite season [something] New Zealand’s winter are not [something]. (Yes, that is Swedish and not Norwegian. I [something] not Norwegian.)
Gosh, if I only knew what the [something]s were then I would be a fluent Swedish speaker!
(My identification of Norwegian vs. Swedish is totally based on the letter ‘ø’)
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Southerly: Høstens Vemod, in reply to daleaway,
Our scenery would have looked AWESOMER with some stave churches dotted about.
Thank you so much for your beautiful and evocative descriptions of Norway -- I thoroughly enjoyed reading this. (And you really should get some sort of award for best use of AWESOMER in a poetic/architectural piece of writing).
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Lilith wrote:
... waiting in the terminal I was so tempted to jump on a bus and try to go Home, back to the pre-quake city. Perhaps it might still be there?
Gosh I've had that feeling too, Lilith, coming back to Christchurch airport after a couple of months away. A very sad feeling.
Moz wrote:
I’m assured by friends in Norway that such things are just not done there, and they have expressed surprise at the standard of building we can get away with in NZ and Oz.
The houses that I had a good look at in Trondheim were very nice -- but not flashy -- timber buildings. Much like a very well-insulated version of the "raw timber cladding" buildings that were built here in the 1960s and 70s, e.g. the cedar (and sometimes Kauri!) A-frames, etc.
They didn't seem as OTT as some German or Dutch houses -- just good common-sense architecture and carpentry/joinery work. I must say that I was very impressed.
I'm theoretically a big fan of the thermal mass inside/insulation outside as you describe -- and I've certainly done a lot of thermo calcs on this. But the seismicity of NZ has frightened me off the idea of big heavy chunks of thermal mass. Though I've had a good attempt at persuading an Australian acquaintance to go in that direction.
The 40-odd seconds of shaking in our first earthquake seemed like an eternity. The thought of 3 or 4 minutes from the alpine fault makes me very sober and cautious. Maybe I have a Swedish streak somewhere? Perhaps in future I shall insist on seat-belts and airbags for all our furniture.
I envy you the seismic freedom of Australia, you can go really crazy!