September 1866

Saturday 1st   Tom & I commence to put up a little shed for the bees.  Samuel & Joe worked the bullocks in the morning & they finished drawing out the palings.
Samuel & Joe went out shooting in the afternoon and brought home four pidgeons.

Sunday 2nd  Samuel & Tom went out shooting; but they only grought home one pigeon.  I went to call upon Mrs Kirkbride, Mrs Porter & Mrs Anderson.

Monday 3rd   Samuel & Tom finished the shed for the bees in the morning, in the afternoon, in the afternoon we logged up the bush where the orchard is going to be.  I went over to Mr Knaggs in the afternoon to ask him to come and plough tomorrow.  In the evening we all went over to Mrs Porters to fetch my bees home, but we could only home two tonight which we brought home on a stretcher.

Tuesday 4th  We got the bullocks yoked early in the morning, Mr Knagg came over and he began to plough at about 8 oclock, Joe drove the bullocks.
Samuel & Tom fell a small Rimu tree for rails they sawed two logs off of it, blew them open with powder and split 41 rails out of them.
Mr Wyatt & John finished the frame work of the Poultry Yard to day,  they have only now to nail the palings on.
We all went over to Mrs Porters in the evening and brought home the remaining two hives of bees.  I have now a stock of 4 hives to start with and they cost me £2.

Wednesday 5th  Sent Joe over in the morning with the Bullocks to take a slay back to McKenzie’s that I had borrowed of him, Joe also took Mrs Porters things down to the beach in the slay.  In the afternoon Samuel & Tom drew out the rails for the fence at the bottom of the orchard.  Samuel & Tom bored and morticed the posts.

Thursday 6th  I set a hen this morning in the shed in a barrel over the pig stye with nine duck eggs.
Mr Knagg’s came to plough again today,  the ground turns up very well at the lower end of the field.  Samuel & Tom sharpened all the rails for the fence and also got a corner post and morticed it.

Friday 7th  Samuel & Tom put up the fence at the bottom of the orchard, it was just two chains long, the orchard will be a little more than half an acre in extent.  Mr Wyatt and John finished the Poultry Yard today.  They have made a very good job of it and I am very well satisfied with it.  Starry has been with McKenzie’s bull all yesterday and all today; but if he has bulled her or not I do not know.  The Turkey hen has now laid 7 eggs in the nest and she has commenced to sit on them today.

Saturday 8th Mr Knaggs came to plough again, he finished ploughing it across ways;  he is coming next week to harrow it and then he will plough the potatoes in up and down the hill.  Samuel & Tom made a shanty in the Poultry yard for the fowls to roost in.
In the afternoon they went out to see if they could shoot a few pigeons; but they went out rather too late in the day and the wind was rather too strong so that they came home without firing a shot.
Lizzie Anderson came over in the afternoon and churned the butter for me.

Sunday 9th  Samuel & Tom went out with the gun and brought home two pidgeons.  Mr & Mrs Anderson , Jim & Sid came over in the afternoon to see me.

Monday 10th  Samuel went out early in the morning, took a box with him & brought home a swarm of wild bees.  They mended up the old fence round the garden in the morning, in the afternoon we chopped up all the stumps in the Poultry Yard and burned them, we put all the Fowls and Ducks into the Yard in the  evening.  Mr Knaggs came today to harrow the ground that he ploughed, he harrowed it across the hill first and then up and down, it breaks up very well.

Tuesday 11th  Samuel & Tom dug a deep hole in the Poultry Yard next to the swamp and it soon filled with water.  We then collected all the tea tree sticks together into heaps and burnt them, we also commenced to dig holes for the fruit trees, it came on very showery in the afternoon so we had to knock off early and sort potatoes.

Wednesday 12th   We continued to plant fruit trees 10 ft from the outside fence and 12 ft between every tree, we dug holes about 3 ft over and about a spade deep, mixed a barrow load of good rotten cow dung with the soil in each hole, planted the trees about 6 inches deep.  It came on very showery towards evening and it rained very heavily during the night.

Thursday 13th  We continued planting Fruit Trees, it is very slow work, but we are taking great pains in putting them in.  The weather looks very thick and threatening, I think we shall have rain before long.  One of the chickens died today,  it had been eating maize and I do not think it could digest it, so it caused a stoppage in its stomach.

Friday 14th  We continued planting fruit trees.  It came on so wet in the afternoon that we had to knock off, Samuel made an axe handle.
Joe went home in the afternoon

Saturday 15th  It rained all day, so that we could not work out of doors.  We ground all the axes & Tom & Samuel made an axe handle.  We killed one of the pigs in the afternoon, partly because I had not enough food to feed both of them, and partly because we were out of meat.

Sunday 16th  It ceased raining today and was a fine day.  I went over to Mr Wyatts in the afternoon.  Tom & Samuel went out shooting and brought home four pigeons.

Monday 17th   We finished planting the Fruit Trees, besides planting the trees I bought of Mr Whitten I planted out six seedling Peach Trees.  We planted the Grape Vines all along the Poultry Yard fence.

Tuesday 18th  Tom & Samuel cleaned the pig sty and calves place out and filled their places with fern,  they made a heap of the manure outside and covered it with soil.
Joe helped by Georgie McKenzie got one of my cows home which has calved, she has a fine heifer calf, it has been calved about a week or a fortnight.  I have named the cow Julia & the calf Alice.  The calf is red & white.  Tom & Samuel commenced to dig the garden in the afternoon.
Mrs Wyatt came over and staid all day and cleaned the house for me and straightened up.
Tom & Samuel commenced digging in the garden.

Wednesday 19th  Tom & Samuel continued digging in the garden.

Thursday 20th    The “Stag” arrived in harbour last night  from Auckland   There are in the harbour this morning three vessels, the “General Cameron”, the “Thistle” & the “Stag”.
We took the bullocks and the sledge down to the beach to draw up three sacks of potatoes that came up by the “Stag”.  We also fetched my chest from the old house, also a bag of seed potatoes.

Friday 21st  Continued digging the garden.  Joe & I wheeled manure on to the ground that I intend for onions.

Saturday 22nd  We finished digging up the garden, made an underground drain round the house, we filled the drain up with tea tree scrub.

Sunday 23rd  It was a miserable day, it rained all day.  It was so wet that I did not stir out at all.

Monday 24th  It was too wet to dig the ground over again that we dug last week, so we began to dig new ground the other side of the path.   It was showery all day.

Tuesday 25th  Tom & Samuel dug up new ground in the morning.
In the afternoon they dug the ground over, spread manure and laid out Onion beds, they sowed five beds 5 ft wide with the two ounces of Onion Seed.  They also sowed three beds of Carrots.  The Onions had both Cow Dung and Bone Dust put with them, and the Carrots only bone dust.  Also sowed a few Radishes.

Wednesday 26th  It was rather showery in the morning, but it cleared up and was very fine in the afternoon.
Tom & Samuel planted 15 rows of Potatoes next to the Onions 2 ft 6 in between the rows and 1 ft apart in the row; the seed is from what I grew at Speedwell.  Planted also one row of Broad Beans with the seed Mr Wyatt gave me.
Samuel killed the other little sow pig in the afternoon, it weighed 56 lbs when it was cleaned.
I killed the Turkey Cock.

Thursday 27th  We planted two rows of Broad Beans of my own sort  2 ft 6 in apart between the rows.  Next to them we planted three rows of French Beans the same distance between the rows, also three rows of Scarlett Runner Beans, & 1 row of choice Puzetaker Pease from pods containing not less than 7 pease largest quantity.
It was a fine day.

Friday 28th  Continued planting.  Planted four rows of Pease, three rows of Puzetaker & 1 row of Tall Climbing Pea 3 ft 4 in between the rows, also two rows of Spinach 2 ft 6 in between the rows.  We put manure in the trench along with all these things.
In the afternoon  we planted small beds of Cabbage, Beet, Lettuce, Celery and four other sorts of seeds.
It was showery in the afternoon so Tom & Samuel made a beehive.

Saturday 29th  It was very showery all day.  Samuel & I planted four rows of Cabbage in trenches filled with manure 2 ft apart from row to row and 2 ft apart in the row.  Willie Greenwood came in the morning and brought me my Weekly News.
Tom was very unwell today and so did not do any work.

Sunday 30th  I went up to Willie Greenwood’s in the morning and staid for dinner, he and his brother are living in the new house that Mr Wright put up for them,  I also went up to Kirkbride’s and Kempt’s,  Angus has come home from the Waipu and has brought my horse home with him.