Spring 2011

Well, pretty much the end of another year, and once again, I ask the question – where did it go?
In some ways, I feel I’ve achieved little in the last 3 months, in other ways I feel I’ve reached a point of no return, that being, I am finally on the downward slide to the end.
Whereas I haven’t completed any major projects in the last few months, I’ve done a lot of little things and when I step back, and look at the holistic picture, I can really start to see the vision coming together. By this time next year I should be almost finished.
The duck pen is ¾ complete. I have finished the snake proof door and have 1 more days’ worth of work left to finish completely wiring it so it’s totally snake proof. The motivation for this of course was hauling a snake out of the duck pen one morning last week. The only thing left is some internal concreting and the pond for inside their pen when they are locked up. The rest is done. Since the last blog I’ve finished (almost) the wiring and concreted along the bottom of the pen, inside and out.
The external duck pond in the orchard needs to be lifted at one end. After 6 weeks of no rain, then a dump of 120mm in 3 days, the pond overflowed. I can now see where I need to raise it so it fills completely. Once filled (next flood!), it should last through a 3 – 4 month drought, given how much water it retained before the deluge.
Summer came early mid Nov, sort of, then went away again last week. We had over 30deg and the humidity was a reminder that Feb is only a few months away. One day it was so bad that Missy and I lay prostrate on the cool floor for most of it. Last week though, the temps have plummeted to 16 – 24. Bbrrrrrrr!
I am a grandmother – again. MB, the matriarch (who I wasn’t going to let breed this year on account of her possessiveness) went broody early and she is now controlling 3 peepers who have just passed 1 month old. They are starting to lose their fluff and getting their feathers. I think I’ve got 1 girl and 2 boys. See how wise I’ve become in just 12 months.
I’ve also downsized my roosters. 3 was overkill and the older my baby black one got, the more I didn’t like his personality. He was very noisy, thought constantly about his appendage and was very rough on the bantams. The bantam rooster had small man syndrome quite badly and was always trying to out crow anything else that made a noise. He has been rehoused with a friend of a friend and the black rooster apparently made a nice soup.
After they left, it was so quiet I had to check if I still had chooks. I also got rid of (while I was at it) one of my original hens. She’d become a bit of a bully, not bothering to scratch but wait till someone else scratched up a worm then run over and take it. She wasn’t laying regularly and also pooped herself when she laid. When she came back on after having been off the lay, I also reckon it was her that was eating her eggs for the first week or 2. So, she’s in someone elses place now and apparently being put in her place by their hens.
Sadly I’ve had to send to heaven one of my drakes. He was one of the 3 I’ll eventually get rid of as 5 drakes is too many, but all my ducks have grown up together and even with the introduced ones they all get on really well. Anyway, he became ill as his wee willie wouldn’t retract up after doing the job. Sometimes the others ‘help’ when one is having his time and I think someone may have pulled on his willie. Anyway I noticed it was trailing on the ground for awhile, then after a day or so it turned from a yellow rubbery colour to a brown red colour indicating a blockage or contusion somewhere. Examining him I couldn’t find any lumps or obvious reason so given he seemed to be in a bit of pain I decided to put him down. A week later one of my females was flopping about on her belly after having been bonked and her hips had been put out. So I massaged her and put her in a separate cage for the night (as the boys wouldn’t leave her alone) and she seemed fine the next day. She survived 4 boys saying good morning so I figured she could stay out.
I’m in the process of acquiring 2 more female ducks (black ones this time) and 3 geese. After searching for 2.5 years I’ve finally found someone who breeds them so I’m hoping to pick them up next week. Their diet is 90% grass, so they won’t go hungry at my place!!
The garden is looking lovely and really starting to take shape. Spring is a great time for flowers and new growth and this is the first year it’s all starting to come together.
I had flowers on my mango tree for the first time in 10 years (according to my neighbor) however I’m not too hopeful for any fruit as the flowers look like they’ve died. I think the tree may be beyond redemption even though I’ve had two seasons of new growth and the flowers this year as I’m starting to think it’s got a few diseases. I may persist for another year before cutting it down and in the meantime I might just plant another mango tree somewhere else. I LOVE mangoes. The peach tree has bounced back, lots of fruit growing steadily, the passionfuit vine is laden with fruit and the kiwifruit vines have just started to take off. The youngberry is producing fruit already, the blackcurrant is growing slowly and the blue berries have their first flowers too. The green grape vine is coming along nicely and the bananas are growing well. The longan tree (like a lychee) is very slow growing and has some new growth which I was pleased to see as I thought it was dying. The mulberry trees are growing back vigorously after the heavy pruning I gave them and I’m hopefully looking at mulberry pie and jam this year for the first time. The blood plum has doubled its size and the apple tree is also holding its own. The disappointments are the avocado tree, it died, one my black grapevine snapped when I moved it and although it’s growing again I’m not sure if it was on rootstock, which means I don’t know if it’s growing the type of grape I originally bought. I’ve made a pergola and put the black grapevine there along with an orange trumpet vine so that will be nice to sit under on a hot day. I’ve also put an archway with a gate down by the washing line area as I’m slowly fencing off the bits of the garden I don’t want the geese and others to get into when I let them out onto the main lawn area. Fencing off the clothesline area was needed because it was a pain having to smooth the woodchips out each time the chooks had been out.
I have pulled up my garlic and had a go at plaiting some. First go wasn’t too bad. I’ve decided to move out of the bath and plant in the garden next year, so the garlic is going to go where the spuds are now and the spuds are going to move to another patch. Both vege patches are completely covered over now so possums, bandicoots and bower birds can’t get in and eat all my crops. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to stop the rats but they are less of a problem. I’ve invested a lot of time and energy into preparing the soil so it was rich in nutrients and it’s paid off as my gardens are producing well. The corn is growing like triffords, the pumpkins are threatening to take over and for the first year I’ve got beans. Turnips, silverbeet, carrots, mustard and asparagus are all doing well and the sweet potatoe is smothering everything., I still haven’t mastered the art of tomatoes yet however.
My little food forest is finally starting to happen.
Tafe is going well. I’ve completed 4 out of 12 subjects so far, getting a prize for one and marks averaging in the 90’s. I’ve learnt a lot and am putting some of it into practice at home as well.
This is also the time of year for picking flowers and drying some herbs, so I have erected a drying rack inside the house and have herbs hanging upside down. The smells with them and the garlic make it interesting in the evenings.
I am about to start enclosing the back deck and waterproofing the back slab where I built the shade house last year. I’ve got to replace some of the framing as I used the wrong stuff (it’s all a learning curve) so that will be happening over the next month. Until I can afford the waterproof shading I want to put over the whole structure, I’m having to make do with plastic and tarps. Once this is complete, I’ll have almost doubled my house size. The intention is to have the back slab area as a laundry space and the fridge and washing machine, currently housed on the verandah will go out there, along with the rubbish bin and tool rack. I also have a make shift stove unit which will also go out there. I had to use it last week as the gas fitting sprung a leak and I couldn’t use my stove or have hot water. Anything I need to cook that’s smelly I will cook out there and it means the house doesn’t have to have the heat of the stove (in the summer) or smells lingering. I’ve also put tarps over parts of the chook house so the quail have a dry area and there is part of the pen that stays dry when it rains for days on end. Grandma and Grandpa also have their new summer pen, the hessian and plastic to give them warmth in the winter has now gone and has been replaced with the waterproof shade cloth.
One of my solar batteries has died so I am now making do with 2. I am going to have to do something soon as summer fast approaches about replacing the battery, however as I don’t have the internet at home and rarely use it at all, research is slow at the best of times.
Well, I could bleat on and on but this is long enough I guess. I’ve had a few fire callouts, a heart attack, a vehicle fire and 2 fires, one that proved to be an interesting learning curve (nearly lost one of our trucks), but our fire season hasn’t really started as it’s still too wet.
Have a safe end of year everyone, a happy Xmas and look forward to catching you next year, end of Feb 2012.

Till next time

W
Pictures are at http://picasaweb.google.com/retreat2nature/TheCottage# - Pics will be up sometime in the next week