Moving to Instagram

6:29 AM instagram No Comments

We've decided that it's much easier to post more frequent updates on Instagram rather then continue the blog, so just as our place is evolving so is our social media output.

We've had about 170mm of rain over the last few weeks and its obvious from the growth we've seen from our fruit trees and vegie garden. It looks like we may get our first paw paws, grapes and pecans this year.

Frogs are lovin' the current stormy weather !

We were away from the property for a few days last week so the verandah must have been a quiet and peaceful haven for the local wildlife. A shrike thrush obviously thought so because it built a nest right outside the front door. Every time we go outside he flies away so now we have had to use the side door to avoid disturbing him. Oh well. I guess its only for a few weeks.

Shrike Thrush nesting in a hanging pot, on the front veranda !

We currently have 6 dragon fruit plants but only one is advanced enough to have flowers. Unfortunately we need two varieties to flower at the same time to achieve pollination so up the ladder I go to give them a hand. The flowers only open once and only at night so you have to be vigilant and using a paint brush transfer the pollen from one flower to the next. Hopefully we've been successful.

Hand pollinating a dragonfruit.

You can find us on Instagram here

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LANTANA !

5:00 PM lantana No Comments

One of the jobs on the property that we feel is a priority is clearing lantana. This tenacious and invasive weed chokes the native vegetation, obstructs the view of the land and restricts our ability to walk the property.  Aside from the cleared area around the house and sheds the whole property was covered in it when we arrived. It varied from sparse, to thick, to impassable.  Since we arrived we have been clearing after it rains and the ground has become wet enough to allow it to come out more easily. So when we have long periods of dry, we leave it be because it's nearly impossible to pull up. When I say clearing I mean hand pulling each and every single piece of lantana.

That said, we have cleared three quarters of the property. The scaled map below shows the extent of land we have cleared. We have also done repulls of most of the areas which is essential to ensure that we keep on top of regrowth.

We have seen kangaroos at our place regularly and across our property since we started clearing. When we arrived we never saw them.  Other landholders who haven't been as fastidious with clearing report they never see kangaroos, I suspect it's because they can't travel through the stuff.

Lantana pulled and stacked, roots off the ground !

One of the other joys is exposing pretty areas that were previously completely covered in the stuff.

Small waterfall in the creek, previously screened via lantana

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The start of our grove and much more...

5:45 PM 1 Comment

The Start

We have an area in the back yard which was once a small dam filled with an invasive weed. The weed was a great additive to our compost piles as it added heaps of nitrogen and was a great mulch but we were concerned about the weed escaping during heavy rain and washing into the surrounding creeks. A friend of ours did a great job of filling in the dam with a front end loader.

After filling the dam in 2012, thanks Steve.

This will be the start of our grove. Over the last two years we have been scattering any spare green matter that I didn't want in the compost, like weeds or woodier stems which break down slowly and chook poo and horse poo to try and improve the soil.

Our grove is underway with 2 x native tamarinds, two finger limes a lemon and a black mulberry.

In 2016 we visited Daleys Nursery in Kyogle and purchased a few fruit trees to add to them. A Grumichama  and a Cherimoya  as well as another Macadamia.

Fast forward to 2017

And one of the Tamarinds died, as did one of the native Finger Limes, the rest are doing well.  

Cherimoya doing well., doubled in size !

Eureka, it's a Lemon !

We've since added Dragon Fruits x4 , a Blood Orange.  

Blood Orange

Around the yard

Down in the netted Orchard we've also added 2 x Avocados (a Type A and a Type B) , a dwarf Mulberry and 2 more varieties of Figs.  

We also added a Liquid Amber Tree to replace the two Oleanders that were in the back yard that we removed, 

Liquid Amber

as well as a Crab Apple for its bee attractant properties and it's fruit is full of pectin for jam setting.

Banksia in flower !

In the garden

Winter is coming, some things are lovin' it, some not so much.  

Oranges getting close

Asparagus getting closer to needing to be cut back (when they brown off)

Bok Choi

Echinacea as a bee attract and Insect deterrent for naughty insects !

New Passionfruit, seeds courtesy of Trevor's Mum !

In the kitchen

Toni has been busy as always, making her own Mayo, Rosella Jam and Sauces etc.  Bread and Cheese of course, Mozzarella this time.

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Renovating !

6:16 AM bench seats, chainsaw, fireplace repairs 1 Comment

Chainsaw

Originally we had one "middle powered" saw but as anyone with a property knows, eventually you discover you need a large saw and a small saw.  We managed to find a great bargain on Gumtree for a large petrol powered saw in immaculate condition and when doing some research for a small saw we decided to go with the cordless Stihl MSA 200.  Being on solar, the energy for this smaller one is essentially "free" from the sun. There's no pollution or carbon emissions as from two stroke engine (which are incredibly polluting).  The gotcha was, with all cordless equipment the upfront cost of the battery but essentially you're paying all your fuel up front.  It's very quiet, no muffs necessary, only needs bar oil and cut through this tree easily.  Two thumbs up for everything aside from cost.

Renovating the Bench Seats

We had two old bench seats, both were unusable but the metal ends were in good condition.  One was aluminium, and one was cast iron!   We finally decided to renovate them to make them useable and Wow! have they come up beautifully.

old bench seat

ripping the wood (river redgum) to length

sanding

oiling

finished and in place

Renovating Fireplace

The drum acted as an expansion chamber providing heating in the bedroom but it has seen better days (you can see the rust holes in the base below) so we decided it was time to replace it.

Old Drum, looking worse for wear

 we managed to find a used 60l oil drum on Gumtree for $10 and got to work...

Repurposed Oil Drum, holes cut and sanded

... and painted

Fixing the flue

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Bountiful harvest

6:51 AM No Comments

We have been very slack with posting lately. We have been berating ourselves and this morning I decided to come upstairs to the computer and start a new post. Instead I found the below draft so I decided to publish this one and get cracking on another.

The last few months have been the driest any of the locals can remember and we have started to despair. Trev placed a stick on the edge of the dam and said 'I hope it doesn't get much lower. Then another stick further in as the water dropped and 'Oh bugger'. Yet another stick and we started the plans to bring water from the big dam on the other side of the property, a project that would cost $$$. Over the last few weeks, glorious, sustaining rain. The figs are plump and sweet.

Figs, proscuitto, blue cheese, balsamic 👍

Sausages and Mince (Crazy Trevs naming system)

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new stuff

9:34 PM luffas, rosella jam No Comments

Luffa (or Loofa)

We're always exploring new things. Toni was given a few seeds for a luffa plant which she'd never encounted. Undeterred off she went and planted them.  She now has heaps of her own home-grown luffas, what a thing.

Use it like a scourer in the kitchen, a loofa in the shower and when it wears out, throw it in the compost.

Skin removed and dried, then you just cut them to whatever size suits

From the end

Rosella Jam

Another one we're trialing is the Rosella Plant. Knowing it's imported and listed as a weed, we're keeping ours inside a netted enclosure to stop the birds spreading the seed We grabbed one from Daley's Nursery earlier in the year and it went crazy, 

producing enough in the first few months to make.... JAM... a few messages back and forward to Trev's Mum and there you have it, 

Finished product awaiting the taste test

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we're back

8:28 PM citrus, dragon fruit, garden, mulberry No Comments

Back from our sojourn to Cambodia.  You can read more about that here if you're interested

We had some decent rain while we were away, about 170mm or so and a few more showers since we have been back.  The rain was great as we had been in a drought, the locals saying they had never seen it this dry... now we have some green in the grass

that aside, our guest, Mark, kept the place looking great, the garden is still alive and thriving

Kale doing well

Toni has been busy in the garden, getting the beds ready with our home made compost and planting new veggies

Garlic just planted

Peas

The citrus is starting to show a tinge of colour, much looked forward to for yummy marmalade and plenty of fruit.  The trees are well loaded this year, Oranges, Tangelos, Mandarins and Kumquats on the way

Orange Fruit with a hint of colour

Some of the new fruit we planted when we first arrived is getting close, the chocolate sapote has fruit, so we'll see how that develops.

The newer fruits we planted at the start of this year are all alive and doing well

Dragon Fruit getting a move on

Mulberry, 4 months old

Some more rain would be nice as the drought took a real toll on our dam, so to get through the typically drier winter and a predicted El Nino more would be nice before we head towards another drought !

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