Friday 25 April 2014

Grapes Galore - And New Vines

We are fortunate that grapes grow easily here.  We often have bumper crops and the local children readily take up our offer to come and help themselves!  On a sunny Autumn day it is one of life's pleasures to gobble down the sweet, juicy bunches straight off the vines.


 




In the early morning mist a spider weaves her strands along the vines and they catch the gossamer blowing in the wind.


 




Dad decided to take cuttings and start more vines.




I love the leaves of the grapes.




 In Autumn the leaves are beautiful as they change with the season.  This vine grows over a gate.

 Crunch, crunch!

 The changing yellow leaves glow under a beautiful, clear blue, autumnal sky.








Thursday 24 April 2014

The Old Orchard

My grandfather planted an orchard back in the 1940's and 1950's and some of those trees are still thriving today.  Our food producing trees include apples, pears, peaches, walnuts and feijoas.

The Apples.















The Elderberries.



The Pears.



 
The bees like to get drunk on the fermenting pears which fall on the ground.








The Walnuts. I love how the leaves of the walnut tree look in the Spring and Autumn when the light shines through them and makes the branches look like stained glass windows.