TeePee Cider

Wooden shovel in apple pomace

Picture of oak leaf and gall

Isaac Newton’s recipe for ink in his own handwriting

Equipment in contact with cider should not be made of steel as the malic acid dissolves the iron and in the presence of air turns the cider black through interaction with the tannins. Whilst unwanted in cider this is the same process as making early oak gall inks as Isaac Newton did. #cider #iron

Snowdrops have a lexicon of their own. Do you split them “ in the green” or “in the brown”. Heated debate! I am an in the green man. Good success. This bed is now ready as the flowers fade. You can see the scattered plants from last year’s clump splitting behind. #snowdrops #gardening

No pot of gold in the Tararua ranges this morning but plenty of rain heading over to the Taratahi plains of Wairarapa. It’s been dry for nearly a week, even got the paddock mown as the grass is starting to grow and engulf the daffodils. #rainbow #rain #Tararuas #Wairarapa #TaratahiPlains

Feather on ground after falcon kills kills Kererū on the wing

Kererū after falcon had its fill

Warning graphic pictures may upset some people. It happened so fast I was not able to video it This Kererū started to fly, when out of the sky descended a Kārearea, NZ’s falcon. The Kererū was hit and landed on ground by the fence. The Kārearea had its meal, sadly only 1K remain #kererū #Kārearea

I’m told there is.

Braided river in foreground, snow on mountains in distance

Sunny start to the day after a couple of cloudy ones. Snow on the Tararua ranges. This is the Waiohine river a major tributary of the Ruamahanga the main river of the Taratahi plains. A braided river now with stopbanks to reduce flooding. Close to Beau Vista orchard. #orchard #NZ #snow #mountains

Daffodils in bloom

Sheep with 2 newly born lambs

Not quite officially spring but nature is not as sure. The apple trees are still dormant though. Will need to take some scion wood off soon for Spring grafting #winter #spring #lambs #daffodils

Flooding in orchard

TeePee Cider is on the Taratahi plains of the Wairarapa This is an alluvial plain feed by braided rivers flowing from the Tararua ranges These are geologically young and of broken greywacke rock; a lot of gravel and silt flow down the rivers and deposited onto the lands during flooding #flooding

Apple bud about to break.

For apple tree buds , winter is a period of dormancy, they were formed the previous summer and contain delicate structures protected by a tough outer layer. Enough chilling hours in winter is needed to break dormancy in the spring. Photoperiodism plays a lesser role. #apples www.teepeecider.co.nz

Tete a tete daffodil

Jonquil

Hellebore

Snowdrops

The orchard is dormant at present but not dead. The buds for next year’s blossoms are slowly getting ready for when the days get longer and temperatures rise. In the meantime the orchard garden is not colourless. Early daffodils snowdrops hellebores are in bloom. #orchard www.teepeecider.co.nz

The codling moth was accidentally introducedto NZ from Tasmania. It was originally from Europe. It Cydia pomonella or Laspeyresia pomonella in the older literature is one of the most serious pests of apples. It also attacks other fruit crops inc pear, and crab apple and hawthorn. #apples #moth

Graham Kerr was the NZ born chef and author of the Galloping Gourmet TV show and book. The hardback book is of high quality paper & beautifully illustrated by photography and wonderful woodcuts by Angela Lemaire like this apple pie and country scene . #Cooking #book #woodcuts #apples #pie

Painting Gustav Klimt pear tree 1903

Gustav Klimt's Birnbaum or Pear Tree is distinct for its square canvas and style painted during his summer retreat at Lake Attersee 1903 . Klimt's detailed brushstrokes, creates a dense, flickering field of colour, is reminiscent of Byzantine mosaics.  #pear #painting teepeecider.co.nz

Rose hip

Apples and rose are related morphologically and genetically. Taxonomy places them in the family Rosaceae. The apple’s pome is formed by expansion of tissue at the base of its flower. Genetic changes makes the pome swell and make sugars , whilst based on the rose hip #taxonomy #Rosaceae #pome

A few more ‘Drops” of TeePee cider on the way to a happy customer. This is a recently disgorged 2020 sv Kingston Black and it’s one of our best ever. It will definitely be entered into the Cider Festival competition. #cider #SingleVintage #KingstonBlack #Aotearoa #Wairarapa #NZ www.teepeecider.co.nz

And here is the cause. A nigh high which will slide off to the east and this cloud bank will bring warmer wet weather. Photo credit MetService

Ice on water

Golden leaves in morning sun with frost on ground

Frost on branches

Another cold start today but it will be a glorious day. The sun has appeared and will be chasing the frost away. The Shropshire sheep will have crunchy water today, but they are hardy. Just planted some more bare rooted pear trees so the roots are protected from the cold. #frost #Sheep #wairarapa

Times of India have an interesting article in their Lifestyle section today. Apples versus Pears. Worth a read. Take home message - both a good for health but Pears are best as contain 50% more fibre. #health #apples #pears timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/f...

The inflation index aka cider books! This excellent booklet by B T P Barker Cider Apple Production published by HMSO. 1st edition 1937 1 shilling 6d, 2nd edition 1963 3s 0d and 3rd edition 1967 6 s 6d #cider #orchard #sheep #apples #NewZealand #England teepeecider.co.nz

Pasture of snowdrops

Closeup of a snowdrop

Just can’t get over how beautiful these are. Snowdrops. We first planted then 15 years ago at Beau Vista Orchard. At that stage we could only find freshly dug ones that were shipped up from Southland. 12 in total. Shy at first they now are multiplying. #snowdrops #orchard www.teepeecider.co.nz

This month Greytown (our next door village) is staging a winter festival. Not everyday you can walk down the main street. This was after the Tractor parade yesterday evening. A magic moment. #greytown #festival #winter #tractors #parade.

Bumblebee visiting wintersweet flower

Great to see so many bumblebees out in the winter sun yesterday. Collecting nectar and pollen from winter flowers such as the wintersweet. We now seem to have a self sustaining population at Beau Vista Orchard 😊. #bumblebee #winter #flowers #orchard #Wairarapa #NewZealand www.teepeecider.co.nz

Hand split wood rounds

Arborist working up large leaning gum tree

Just split firewood for next year. And NO! it was not me up the gum tree. I employ Arbormedics who are expert arborists. These gums were planted as shelter belt by previous owners but in NZ grow far to fast. #firewood #gum #arborists

Electronic information board with weather details feed broken stating “weather not available “

Frost on leaves

Maybe in Auckland the weather was cancelled but here in Wairarapa we still get it. Lots of it. Bracing. Life is better in the country 😍 #RuralLiving #Wairarapa

Our orchard looks remarkably like this illustration from B T P Barker’s booklet Cider Apple Production published by HMSO. #cider #orchard #sheep #apples #NewZealand #England teepeecider.co.nz

Alder catkins and cones

Hazel catkins

Photos of male catkins, and cones of Common Alder and the male catkins of Hazel often called lamb’s tails close to Beau Vista Orchard. Both introduced into NZ from UK Catkins are clusters of flowers for wind distribution, often these flower now before leaves open. #trees #nature #cider #orchard

Well no risk of fires out of control today. The ground is saturated. But it’s good to have signs and our Voluntary Fire Brigade. The Greytown service was at the Molewood Orchard Bonfire too. Great people, but thankfully nothing to do but PR! #wairarapa #winter #greytown #apples

Moonrise over winter orchard

Two nights post full moon and the skies over the orchard are clear for a change. The moon at moonrise at 8pm was large and beautiful through the bare orchard branches. #winter #orchards #apples #fullmoon teepeecider.co.nz

Pallet of over 1000 glass bottles

New pallet stack of 375 ml bottles arrived from Hawkes Bay WineWorks Pelting done with rain Now for some more bottling Oak matured Kingston Black will soon be undergoing secondary fermentation Glass is the best container for cider. #cider #bottles #GlassBottles #KenelmDigby www.teepeecider.co.nz

Painting the Oyster lunch

An enlargement of the painting showing the flying cork

The painting "The Oyster Dinner" or "Le Déjeuner d'Huîtres" by Jean François de Troy, 1735 depicts an oyster lunch at Versailles for Louis XV. The painting is the first known depiction of champagne in art. The scene captures the moment a champagne cork is popped. #MethodTraditional #champagne #cork