Our three scruffy pigs stared through the paddock gate, transfixed by a vision of loveliness: Giggles the majestic polka-dotted kunekune pig. She was above them, standing on the back of a trailer. She clearly wanted nothing to do with our …
“I’m giving up,” I said. “‘Moon over Martinborough’ is never going to be a book.” Ever since I’d started this blog I’d wanted to turn it into a book, but I was losing hope. “Maybe you shouldn’t give up just …
It was the height of summer when I found a brown duck swimming around our goldfish pond like it owned the place. It stared me down fearlessly as if to say, “I was here first. Go find your own pond.” …
A while back, ‘Moon Travel Guides’ approached me and asked if they could interview me for the new edition of their book, ‘Living Abroad in New Zealand’. They found me through this blog and our ‘Moon Over Martinborough’ olive oil. …
It was howling a gale outside when Amelia from Radio New Zealand showed up at my door. We immediately headed out for a walk through the paddocks. She had a black box hanging from her side, and she was holding …
This is just one of the recipes that appears in my olive farming memoir, ‘An Olive Grove at the Edge of the World’. ___________________ “Why won’t you share it?” I asked CJ. We were standing in the kitchen, looking at a …
When a sheep is sick in the paddock, Hamish the stock agent asks me to help out. “Prop her up and she’ll be right,” he says.
The room was dimly lit. There were candles glowing everywhere, red and white heart-shaped helium balloons across the ceiling, and an inviting fire burning in the nearby fireplace. I was speed dating, and having a fantastic time. Of course, this woman was old enough to be my mother. But never mind. She was not my date.
Lucy noticed her purse was missing just as the tsunami warnings came across the kitchen radio. A horrible earthquake in Chile meant we expecting a giant tsunami. We’d planned to go to the coast that day. Should we still go? …
It’s early on a Sunday morning as I put on my running shoes. It’s been a very, very long time, so the shoes feel a little unfamiliar. I stretch, then open the front door and go. I head in the …