Thursday, May 19, 2011

the weed man cometh

The busy season is really upon us now with some great group bookings over the next couple of months. Last weekend was our first one in Dorothy the retro caravan. This was something of a challenge because it was the coldest weekend so far with night temperatures around minus 4 degrees C but we cheated and hooked her up to the electrics in James & Georgie's shed so the fan heater kept us defrosted, and thanks to Ness and some fine work with the silicon sealant she was watertight ( Dorothy not Ness ).

We received an official letter this week from Mid Western Regional Council declaring an 'Intention to Inspect for Declared Noxious Weeds'. Vince the Chief Weeds Ofiicer will be sending a Noxious Weeds Inspector round in June to assess the degree of infestation. He enclosed a handy pamphlet with pictures of serrated tussock, St John's Wort, and many more. On a brief inspection of the property we appear to be successfully growing the entire list and all are thriving so we may be contravening Order 20 of the Noxious Weeds Act 1993 slightly.

Ness has been whizzing around on the quad bike with litres of dangerous chemicals spraying anything that looks even mildly noxious. She has added a special red dye to the spray so we will be seen to be making the effort.I hope we get brownie points for our endeavours in the summer when we removed a massive infestation of St John's Wort by ripping out each plant by hand in blistering heat.

Despite the helpful pictures I am sure I would not recognise African Lovegrass or Khaki weed if I fell over them ( and probably have ) so it should be an interesting visit.

Friday, May 6, 2011

anniversary

We have just celebrated our 2 year anniversary at Protea Farm, and were looking back at the photos we took when we arrived. So here are a few 'before and afters'

From Blog before and after

From Blog before and after

From Blog before and after

From Blog before and after

From Blog before and after

From Blog before and after

From Blog before and after

From Blog before and after

From Blog before and after

From Blog before and after

From Blog before and after

From Blog before and after
Because the place has evolved over the last 2 years we fail to notice the dramatic alterations until we look at the pictures. It has been a busy 2 years.