Friday 20th December, 2019
Hi
A huge thanks to my team and to you... our clients!
What an amazing journey it has been with many changes, some good, some great and some that I'll just roll on past, all combining to make this year race past so fast that I can hardly believe that we are now in summer and on the beginning of the Christmas and holiday season. Many of the staff will be having a well deserved break taking advantage of the stat holidays and the summer weather. For me it has been a huge year of new beginnings and personal development... not to mention adding some new skills to my nursery ones.
I am extremely proud of this awesome team that continue to maintain the high standards here at Wairere and who keep the nursery and gardens looking amazing. I say a huge thank you to them all, knowing they have all gone that extra mile this year. Many of them have also learnt new skills as they fill other shoes in the business in different rolls like dispatch, administration, marketing, machinery use, as we work toward having a well rounded team. This is important as there are so many facets to keep organised 7 days a week with a small team.
Of course our beautiful gardens and high standards would be all for naught without you, our wonderful clients, so I'm saying a huge thank you for your continued support as we strive to be the best around, for choosing
Wairere as your go to place for your landscape requirements and for all your wonderful emails, comments on our
facebook and
Instagram pages and continuing to enjoy this
newsletter that I somehow manage to write each week.
Muesli is on my brunch menu this year
I have written about making muesli before but don't think that I have actually shared the process so the other day wrote down what I do. I'm sure that there must be many versions that one could do but this is for sure a good starting point.
We ran out of Muesli the other day and I just love it (esp the toasted kind) as it makes such a great start to the day. I seem to run for hours without getting hungry and that is a good thing. Maybe its got something to do with the lashings of yoghurt and fresh fruit that I just have to have as well.
Blueberries,
strawberries, oh and
Cherries (to die for) are just delicious but I also had a stash of home bottled
peaches and
figs from last year that have just run out.. just as well the orchard is growing a new crop.
Now actually getting it all together and toasted isn't my favourite task so when I do, I make a lot so that I don't have to do it again for a while. I haven't actually done the sums but I'm thinking it is cheaper to make my own as even a small amount of commercial Muesli seems so expensive to buy and will only last me a couple of breakfasts, not to mention they are generally too sweet for my taste.
So if you are overcome with a need to make your own to enjoy with all your home grown produce then here is what I do and it makes approx 25 litres or 2 and a half buckets.
I reckon that you could modify this to make the quantity that suits you and of course add all your own fav nuts and seeds.
So... I get out 4 large roasting pans and mix together
1 packet large rolled oats
3 packets whole grain oats
1 packet original All bran
2 packets of coconut thread
2 packets pumpkin seeds 300g
2 packets sunflower seeds 300 gm
2 packets seasame seeds 300gm
2 packets Walnut pieces 450 gm
2 packets Almonds 450 gm
1 packet Cashew nuts
dress with olive oil approx 700 ml to 1 litre
Honey to taste (of a larger container kind
Heat your oven to approx 180 degrees and bake ... I constantly mix and stir the mixture so that it gets toasted evenly. I can only get two trays in the oven at a time so it's a juggle but we get there and I know that it's done when the colour has changed to that toasted look, usually around an hour.
Cool overnight
In another bowl make a mix of chopped dried fruits that you like. My mainstay are raisins, currants, sultanas, cranberries, chopped apricots but I have added mango, figs, prunes and dates and others, depends on how much chopping I feel like doing.
The next morning I combine it all together and put it into airtight buckets and that's my toasted muesli done for the next couple of months.
Just a warning though, don't leave out overnight if you have ants! Lesson was learnt the one time I woke to find the little blighters running through all my toasted muesli and fruit.. couldn't bear to throw it all out so we spread it all out on tin foil trays and caught them all... took some time is all I'm going to say!!!
So many last minute tasks sorted!
The holiday summer season is upon us and it's no different here with half the team off on a well earned break.
They have attended to all the last minute tasks... all hedges trimmed (and there are miles of them), edges done, lawns mown, roses dead headed (and that's not just the ones in the garden), not to mention shrinking the nursery down to fit on the weed mat in order to conserve water but I'm pretty sure we are all on track... for that holiday period.
I know that most of NZ goes off on leave from next week but rest assured that although many of the staff here will be doing the same that we are still around and open for our usual hours of 8.30 am to 5.00 pm including all weekends and stat days, in fact the only day we shut is Christmas day. Plants don't know that it's holiday time so we still need to be around to do all the watering, spraying and maintenance.
On that note I will say again that there will be no courier service for the next two weeks. Service will start again in the first full week of 2020. Any orders that are made online during the holiday period will be set aside until deliveries resume.
From past experience many like to bring visitors to the nursery and to check out the garden so if you are looking for an outing we are definitely here and you are most welcome.
This is the last email for 2019, Cathie and I will be taking a break from our weekly ritual until Feb sometime next year.
All that remains is to wish you all the best holiday season, Christmas, New year and summer that you could possibly have... take care and stay safe and see you here at Wairere.
Merry Christmas, Happy new years
Cheers
Lloyd, Tony and the Wairere Team
