Gleaning apples and beaming beans

Yummy apples ripening on the roadside. I reckon they must be related to johnathon although i put them on a bowl and found it hard to tell them apart from Gravensteins.

Apples from roadside trees, Blackberry jam and Tomato puree

 Our Nashi pears are ripe - about 2 weeks later than other people lower down in the valley. They are absolutely luscious.
A friend and i picked a couple of kilos of blackberries early in the week and did the Jam thing. It is always surprisingly good. Tomatoes are demanding to be used and are crowding the inside of the fridge in various shaped containers, as well as occupying the window sills.

Ripening beauties

My pickling german pickling cucumbers are about to start producing after the bees discovered the bounty of blossoms. I was a bit worried that we were not getting bees in the vege garden because of the netting, but i think as soon as you have a good number of flowers they start to turn up.
Various types of beans are going to seed .

Bean varieties in the garden

 The Westralia beans (climbing with white flowers) are quite fantastic. Very long  (25cm) and flat and delicious, although i am trying to save the seeds from those as i did not get many to grow.
The Zebra beans (climbing with purple/pink flowers) are producing well and are round in cross section with some purple flecks/ spots.
 The Borlottis (climbing with pink flowers) are flattish bean but a straight pod and reddish transverse flecks .
The Dutch pole bean (climbing with pink flowers) pods are flattish with a slight curve and have smaller reddish flecks when they get quite old.

Dutch pole beans

Helens white seeded bush bean is a dwarf bush bean that i have been growing for years now but was originally from seedsavers. All my other beans are from formal and informal seed networks and so i didn't have huge quantities of them to grow. Next year i can grow them in bulk as well as having some to share.

Helens' white seeded bush bean

Weeping grass, Turkeys and orchards

The best layed plans have morphed over the last couple of months. We did have a long term plan of having Chickens in our orchard but somehow we have ended up with Turkeys. They got put in the orchard because Turkeys are very susceptile to coccidiosis, so you need to keep young ones in areas that have never had chickens or other poultry (apart from Ducks which do not get Coccidiosis i am told). So if i want to continue to have Turkeys then i may need to keep the orchard or other similar area free from chcikens. However there are some good points to having Turkeys (and ducks for that matter) in the orchard instead of Chickens. The Turkeys do not scratch the mulch away from all your young trees. They are also very keen on grass and lots of it - much more than Chickens and by keeping them on green grass you are getting amazing omega 3 packed meat at harvest time.

In the orchard i am managing some areas for short green grass which can be cropped by the birds as well as maturing grasses with seeds which are providing another source of protein. Weeping grass (Microlaena stipoides) is common in the orchard and is found over much of south eastern and east coast Australia. It is a perennial grass with creeping Stolons.

Weeping grass - Microlaena stipoides

 Aparrently research has shown that  although it os not a large bulky grass, the leaves are high (10 - 27%)  in highly digestible protein relative to other grasses and the seeds are full of high quality protein (up to twice that of wheat *)  It is being investigated as a dual purpose crop that is both pasture and grain production - but it is early days yet *.

Weeping grass in the lawn

The Turkeys definately eat the green grass as well as the seeds.

However the chickens are not without green grass as they get some free ranging time each day. I also have purchased some electric netting which will allow them to spend much more time on pasture - once it is all set up.

New years gifts and great balls of fire

We have now been here long enough - with plants in the ground long enough to have a few new years treats.
Our Sno-peas and Telephone peas are flowering after making it through the very hot day of new years eve.

Sno-peas

There are regular pickings of salad vegies now.

 The nearly flowering things include Dutch pole beans, butter beans, Borlotti beans, Helen's white seeded bush bean,  and  Zucchinis.

Dutch Pole beans

The strawberries are really getting going now, putting on growth and sending out a lot more flowers. The tomatoes have quite amazing large fruit, on quite small plants in some cases.

Tomatoes setting fruit well

Boysenberries are now fruiting well while the raspberries of one variety are finishing up. The Autumn fruiting raspberry still has many fruit coming along and presumably will have fruit in Autumn as well.

Boysenberries

A visit to a local stone fruit farm by the girls brought on a frenzy of preserving, stewing and drying. Rayner's farm have over 200 varieties of stone fruit and have a continuous supply of fruit for 7 months of the year. Farmers markets are their main customers. I think it is a fabulous thing because the fruit can be picked when at perfect ripeness. The Apricots are to die for . Apricots do not get any sweeter after they are picked although they may soften up. The tractor ride takes you around to the trees of the best ripeness and you all get a taste and pick from the tree if you like them.

We have also been gleaning from local roadside cherry plums and making lovely tart jams and chutneys. The last gleaning was quite an experience. On a hot windy day a piece of long bark dropped over the power lines above the busily gathering mothers and babes. An explosion of blue flames raced from the bark to the power box several times over -  amidst scattering and crying children. All very exciting for the Alice Springs visitors and maybe somehow responsible for the power outage at around the same time.

There have been many walks around the paddocks with our visitors,

often ending in the giant wombat burrow experience

giant "walk thru " wombat burrow

and the ferns and big trees in the gully below

The gardening empire expands

After languishing in the shed for over a year the hot house was pulled out of hibernation and thrusted into the sunlight.
There was a little more to it than that. Rellos rolled up to help and direct and i ran around from hither to thither fetching different tools.
Clearing and flattening the  site took a little while with picks and shovels. The ground being riddled with privet roots didn't help much and then there was also the need to separate gravel from wood chips from the soil. Some of us thought that was important anyway. Then there was getting the width a bit wrong and expanding the flattened area a little more. While this was happening the kids went for a bush walk in the gully and could not be found where they were last seen. This necessitated one or several of the workers to leave and walk around with frown on face but unable to hear much to to bubbling stream which sounded a bit like kids talking. Of course the kids turn up where they should in the end.
continue working with plenty of adjustments then some final drilling a screwing bits down and the structure is done. Potting benches are put in place and someone gets very excited and transfers all his temporary nursery plants into their nice warm new home. AAAAH.

New animals on the farm include Turkeys and Ducks.
The 3 Turkeys are now happily free ranging in the orchard after we put up the fence to protect the vege garden. They are having such fun.

The Ducks

 which are egg laying snail eating Khaki Campbell/ Indian Runner crosses, are waiting in their "A" frame palace until they are big enough to not fit through the wire that surrounds the orchard. They are a bit shy and don't really like to be picked up at all.

Yes - there is supposed to be a hole in the wire! The new drill got a work out on this one.

There is a lot to report on as far as wire and mesh goes. The new electrified mesh arrived toady and will be rolled out over the next week when we work out what sort of power source etc is required.

However the pinnacle of the netting empire is the newly enclosed vege garden.

Now there will be no Bower birds nibbling leaves and fruit and seeds. Now life will be a little easier and plants that go in the ground will most likely survive and possibly even thrive.

Wildlife moments
A very lost grey Kangaroo hopped up to the house one morning - then went away again
The Potato Orchids started to flower

These potato orchids have no leaves and live off of Under ground funghi - which live in the roots of trees

A long list of Wombat moments. His new name is "Wally Wombat Peter Bush animal"
Rufus Fantails in the gullies
Red-browed finches on the driveway. I do love a finch.
Stumbled upon the mound where the Lyre bird does his singing
Got several leach bites ( they only itch and swell for 3 days)
"Giant" tadpoles in the dam

Lizard love in the orchard





blue-tounged lizards being amorous

 Finally because of our amazing rain here we are picking mushrooms. We mostly are finding them on forest edges rather than in the paddocks which is the norm for Autumn.

Mushrooms with a Lyre bird feather from the forest





preparing beds, fencing and planting

I'm quite unaccustomed to the density of weeds that i have had to contend with when preparing a vegetable bed. At our old place preparing a vegetable bed was a breeze as long as there was no couch grass around. I have used several methods to try to fast track the soil preparation. One method we have use is to invert the top soil to the bottom in weedy chunks and line the bottom of the beds with chicken manure. I once read about this method as a way to convert a lawn to a vegetable garden.

inverted bed step 1 - dig out chunks and move aside

inverted be step 2 &3 - add chicken manure then place chunks grass side down on the manure.

 hopefully the manure will speed up the rotting of the weeds. We have also gone through beds the old fashioned way and removed all weeds. this is a good one for beds that you want to plant in in a hurry. we have also inverted the weedy chunks, piled more soil on top in the course of terracing beds and them piled on worm filled horse manure and covered that in cardboard.

Another project completed a while ago now was the reinforcement and repair of the chicken run.


The new and improved chook fence

 As there were many holes in the fence we raised the old wire and used it to make a floppy top on the fence that makes it hard for foxes to climb. We then used new tougher wire for the bottom of the fence and a small skirt. We also realigned the fence line so that it wasn't so close to tree trunks.

So what has gone in the ground?
A row of climbing beans (Dutch pole, Zebra) and peas (Sno and telephone)

 A row of dwarf beans consisting of Helens white seeded bush bean, Borlotti and Cherokee wax. These were hammered a bit by the baby grasshoppers. I have also been liquid fertilising in an area of the beds where wood chips had been dug into the soil by previous gardeners, resulting in a nitrogen deficiency.

Salad greens have gone in including Endive, Cos lettuce, rocket, Tat tsoi and Paak Tsoi and some Iranian Dill.

Lots of other things have done into pots in the temporary nursery.

A small sample of the pot plantings include:
Westralia climbing bean
Calico Lima bean
Fennel Zefa Fino
Zinnia
Echinacea
German scarlet runner bean
Tree lucerne
Shallots
Raddicio red verona

Another bed has been sown with Parsnip, Beetroot, Coriander and Mizuma.

Then there's the potato bed. This has been planted with Dargo goldfields, Tasmanian pink eye, Kipfler, and King Edward.(All thanks to Graeme George at our first Yarra Valley Seedsavers meeting)

Rhubarb and Strawberries have gone in another bed.

Mozambique maize has also gone into a bed of nice friable soil on the orchard side of the garden but they are yet to peep their heads above the ground.

Instant Tomatos

One of the first plants to go in the new garden were the Tomatoes grown for me by my Father in Law.
So Day 1 - plant Tomatoes
Day 2 net Tomatoes.

One of our most stunning birds around here is the Satin Bowerbirds. They are also quite fond of anything green in the garden including the leaves of the Tomato plants, and as of yesterday bean leaves.

We are in the process of organising netting for the vegie garden which will be followed in time by netting of the orchard - which is not really producing anything at the moment.

Baby grasshoppers are also very abundant and are having a munch on the new bean seedlings but seem not interested in the peas. More netting being thrown around as a consequence.

Lots more stuff planted in the ground and in pots - updates to follow

Buttercups' new digs







The new home among the gum trees









and her new friends - the Hamburg chickens



Buttercup appears to be taking it all in her stride. She is feeling so good she is even laying an egg or 2.

The new Hamburg chickens are also very pretty with good temperaments and don't appear to be interested in victimising buttercup, which is a change from our old chooks.

There are a few other friends to get familiar with..

This one was making himself at home scratching on the outdoor furniture. He spends a lot of time scratching which is quite comical until you realise that it is due to mange - then it's quite sad.





Other inhabitants are also making themselves at home. The new swing is a bit bigger than the old one. They are also enjoying the sand pit in the horse stable and the cattle race.