Hipgroup Farm Photos

It only took what felt like a century to upload the following photos, and it's getting past my bedtime for this evening so I'm going to do quick captions for each. 

My lunch from Provenence - a beef pie. It tasted just as wonderful as it looks!

A couple of the pigs that are raised/owned by Hipgroup. I learned today that we did raise one "batch" of pigs once. We are currently using a supplier for most of our pork but plan to start raising more pigs again in the future.

Some cows. I don't know if these are Hipgroup's or not. They were in a paddock next to the pigs that we had to walk through. Cuties :)

Hipgroup pear orchard. 

A quince fruit. I had never seen one of these before coming to NZ. In the US I typically saw quince in marmalades, jams, pastes, etc. They use them pretty much the same here, but they also grow here. They can, apparently, but eaten whole but are not that great. They have been described to me as a cross between an apple and a pear. 

Pecan tress. These feel to me like something out of Dr. Seuss.

Our citrus orchard. Tangelo trees.

Montepulciano grape vines. We grow many varieties of grapes on the farm which we use for sodas and wines.

Autumn is here. A leaf from the Montepulciano vine.

A beautiful Oxheart tomato.

  

Looking north over Muriwai beach.

Stairs leading out of the sea. At low tide you can walk across the sand to this staircase but at high tides it's too dangerous. 

The misty, cloudy day at Muriwai beach.

There's the overdue photos from Tuesday's daytime adventure.

For the last few days:

Thursday - I worked. Nothing too exciting there. My tables were a bit strange - people weren't ordering much and we hanging out for a long time. The restaurant was very busy but since my tables didn't want much I wasn't all the busy.

Friday - Worked again. The tables I had tonight were amazing. Everyone was super friendly and really into being out and having a good time. The night felt like about 3 days long - not in a bad way but when I think back to tables I had at the beginning of the night it doesn't feel like could possibly have been today. All was good though. Made some good tips - nothing exceptional, but good. That's it. 

I'm so tired I just don't have much else to say.

I'm glad to hear the weather is improving in MN. It's not getting bad here yet, but you can tell winter is one the way. The nights are cool, the air smells different, and since we just had DST, the nights are getting darker much earlier. I guess it's time to prepare for some cold(er) rainy months. I'm saying colder and not cold because winter here is still above freezing all the time - no frosts, no snow, no ice.

Okay, good night.

Best!