My Favourite Things
Much-loved Kiwi author Danielle Hawkins shares her favourite things that make her life in rural Ōtorohanga that little bit easier.
Swanndri cotton collared shirts
These are the best work shirts ever. They are cool, comfortable, provide good sun protection and come in a whole range of cute colours. Very much a staple in my wardrobe!
A refillable spray bottle for cooking oil
A friend gave me mine, and it’s super handy. Available from Kmart and The Warehouse, for a price tag of around ten dollars, it will have you spraying your baking pans and tipping those muffins out likea baking queen.
The Niwashi Shark
A most excellent gardening tool. I use it for weeding, dividing clumps of perennials and cutting off ratty died-off foliage.
A battery-powered leaf blower
I don’t actually have one of these marvellous bits of equipment, but I borrow Mum and Dad’s occasionally – although not as often as I should, I’m a sporadic sort of housekeeper! It’s the best thing ever for cleaning the car – you pick up the big bits of rubbish, open all the doors and blow out all the dust and fluff and bits of gravel. It is deeply satisfying. And if you’re feeling energetic, you can carry on and blow the spiderwebs off the carport ceiling.
Stainless-steel clothes pegs
Despite my mother-in-law’s best efforts to train me to use a peg basket, I am stubborn and difficult, and I prefer leaving the clothes pegs on the line. Plastic clothes pegs get brittle and break, but stainless-steel ones stay shiny and strong and ready for action. And (side benefit for people with small children) they’re strong enough to be used in the construction of blanket forts.
Danielle Hawkins is the author of five bestselling novels, most recently Take Two, and the memoir Two Shakes of a Lamb’s Tail: Diary of a Country Vet. She farms near Ōtorohanga with her husband and two children and works part-time as a vet. She is a keen gardener, a pretty good cook and a fanatic rat and possum trapper.