The surprise tree in our garden is definitely a plum. The first fruit are just starting to ripen into the most beautiful red. I ate the first one as I took these photos, and they have sweet yellow flesh.

The branches are loaded, so we are not going to be short of fruit in the next few weeks. (I wonder if I can give some away to jam-making friends?)

We’ve had another garden surprise as well. A couple of weeks ago I noticed that an unassuming little stick of a tree has begun growing a few peaches.

I’m actually not overly fond of eating peaches due to the fuzz factor, but it’s still exciting! I can always peel them! Peaches are probably the most adorable fruit there is.

There’s a tree in our new yard, completely covered with lichen, that we were assuming was probably dead. We first saw this house in early winter, and it’s always been bare. Today I was outside and realised that it is simply covered with blossom, and sprouting new leaves!

I think it might be a plum tree. How exciting! I can’t wait to see what other surprises might be in our garden.

We also have a few freesias popping up around the front of the house. I was already planning to plant a swathe of them next autumn, as I love the scent and they seem to naturalize well in the Auckland climate, so I’m pleased to find they must be happy in our soil. Some of my more ambitious gardening plans will have to wait until we can afford to have some serious landscaping and drainage work done, but the freesias are readily achievable.

We’re moved! Hooray!

My office is almost set up again, though it’s going to be Wednesday before I can start shipping again for logistical reasons. I’m looking forward to working out a good arrangement for everything, I have a lot more space now and shouldn’t be tripping over myself so much.

Our new house is lovely, if a lot colder than the apartment – a hot water bottle is required at almost all times. We’ve started the process of getting insulation installed and it should be better after that! The neighbourhood is so quiet that most of the noise in the daytime comes from birdsong, and in the afternoon the sun streams into our bedroom for a wonderful nap.

Thank you for all your patience, hopefully this will be the last interruption to service for a while!

Nut and Bee will soon be closed for about a week while we move house.

Orders placed by:
Noon, Wednesday 15th July (New Zealand)
10am, Wednesday 15th July (Sydney)
1am, Wednesday 15th July (London)
8pm, Tuesday 14th July (New York)
5pm, Tuesday 14th July (Los Angeles)
… will be sent out before we go.

Shipping will resume on the 21st or 22nd, depending on how long it takes to set up again!

I’ll put a note in the cart once we’ve shut, so you will know to expect a delay :)

I should still have email access for most of this time, except perhaps the moving day itself, so feel free to drop me a line if you have any questions/concerns.

Finally – finally! – we have bought a house!

It took two months, dozens of open home visits, three failed contracts, and endless emails and phone calls, but our fourth offer just went unconditional.

It’s the only house we saw that was more appealing in person than in the real estate photos, which may be why it was on the market for long enough for us to actually buy it! But here’s an idea of what it looks like (with the previous owner’s furnishings):

It is 60s era weatherboard and tile in a classic New Zealand style. This kind of house might not be modern, but I really like it. It has four bedrooms and a study, so there is lots of space – I will have a dedicated Nut and Bee room! The street is nice and quiet, with parks and handy shops near by, and the local schools are well regarded. We’re planning to stay there for quite some time.

Of course, we’ve already been making decoration and renovation plans. The interiors are very plain, which is nice, as we can concentrate on adding our own character rather than covering up eyesores. All the walls are white, except for one spot of 70s wooden panelling, and most of the house has polished wood floors. The bathroom has been recently renovated, and the only area that really needs some work is the kitchen. I think that should be manageable!

The section is well sized, about 1/5th of an acre, and it currently has an entertaining area with a deck, some mature trees, grassy bits for playing on, and a couple of garden beds. Like the rest of the house it’s well maintained and tidy as it is, and has the potential to be really nice with a little more landscaping work. Working on the grounds will probably be the last priority, but I can start making plans now :)

I’m definitely excited, but the primary emotion right now is relief. The buying process has been difficult, and it’s taken up so much of my time and energy lately. We still have to move, which will be another lot of work and stress and upheaval – and might involve temporary accommodation for a month or so, ugh – but at least now we know how it will all work out in the end.

And OH MY GOODNESS WE CAN GET SOME CATS!

I’m sorry things have been so quiet around here lately. We managed to sell our apartment a couple of weeks ago, but the market for house buying is intense and trying to find something suitable is taking a lot of time and energy. We’ve viewed dozens of houses so far, but good properties currently sell within a few days of being listed, and tend to have fiercely competing buyers. It’s tough. So far we’ve had two offers fail, both of which were very disappointing, but we continue searching the listings, calling agents and going for viewings. We made a third offer today, and I’m not getting too hopeful about the process any more, but it’s a nice house with lots of space and we would be very pleased if we do get to buy :)

In any case, the May N&B update will be coming sometime next week – I just need to finish off the last couple of things. I’ll give a heads up once I’ve confirmed the launch time!

I’ve been having lots of printing problems recently – which is unusual, as my printers usually treat me very well – and finally realised that the trouble always occurs right after I’ve printed some recipe cards. The cards sometimes have slightly rough edges and I think they’re damaging the print head, or at least bumping into it so that it goes wrong for a while.

I haven’t found another suitable substrate for printing the recipe cards on, so I’ve discontinued them immediately. Usually when a product disappears I give a little bit of notice, but I’d really like to avoid any more issues with my printer, especially since it is relatively new. My apologies! (Outstanding orders with recipe cards in them are fine, of course, everything pending will be mailed later today.)

If you need a replacement source for recipe cards, may I recommend the beautiful ones available from boygirlparty in Squirrel/Bunny or Owl designs; or Wild Olive’s printable cards featuring Food Friends, Baking Ingredients or Baking Tools!

Life has been very busy lately. We nearly bought a house a couple of weeks ago, but the building inspection uncovered some structural problems we weren’t willing to take on. It was a lovely villa, with original polished floors and high ceilings and a claw-foot bath tub and a cute little garden, and I was quite sad when we had to let it go. Now we have an offer on another house, which is less of a “character home” but still quite charming, plus it is much bigger and has been recently refurbished. It’s actually more suitable for us than the first one, but we won’t know for at least another week if we have got it or not. I’m trying not to get too excited, but it’s hard to avoid starting to mentally arrange the furniture… plus, on top of all that, our apartment is being auctioned tomorrow! We’ve had lots of people through so I hope it sells! Ack! Nerves!

Ooops! I should have made this post a couple of days ago!

I won’t be at today’s Kraftbomb, as planned – but you should go anyway as it will be great :)

We put our apartment on the market late last week and the real estate agents are moving quickly, so we’re having to coordinate lots of viewings and open homes, and early afternoon on a Sunday is prime property-perusing time. I was looking forward to the craft fair as I haven’t done one in a while, but we didn’t want to put off the activities in case we discourage a buyer.

On top of that, we’re dashing out whenever we can to look at houses we might want to buy so we have something to move into! JSR and I have moved around quite a few times – since we met we’ve lived in two houses, two apartments, and we once stayed in my parents’ spare room for nine months (a lesson in being lied to by apartment developers, ha ha!) – and while the actual moving process is awful it’s always exciting to have a new space to arrange and settle into.

This time we’re hoping for a nice family home and yard on a quiet street, which is going to be a big change from the central city, but I think it’s the right time. I’m looking forward to having more space and fresh air and a dining table and a bath tub and CATS! CATS CATS CATS!