garden makeovers

The weather is hotting up, and guests are starting to use the rather dilapidated wood burning outdoor barbecue so we decided that we would try and revamp the broken old tiles and make it look a bit prettier ( option 2 being demolish and rebuild).

From Protea Farm 1

We opted for a new shiny wipe clean aluminium top rather than retiling, so armed with tin snips and industrial strength cement the face lift began.

From Protea Farm 1

Still not a thing of beauty, but we will test drive it this week and see how it performs.

The rockery is a blaze of colour, mainly due to a splendid plant which goes by the rather strange name of 'pigface'

From Protea Farm 1

From Protea Farm 1

The raised beds are almost complete, so we should be able to pack the angle-grinder away this week- a large number of bush fires are started by sparks from them apparently.

From Protea Farm 1

I beg your pardon...

It appears that the one plant that thrives drought and extreme heat over here is the rose. In England we always inherited a rose garden wherever we lived, and personally it is a flower that I really dislike, nasty prickly high maintenance things that they are.

We have located many around the property, and I have had to admit defeat and accept that we now have a rose garden. Every last one that we transplanted and chopped back to within an inch of its life is flourishing, and the guests love them. However I have a particular hatred for pink roses, so Ness is closely monitoring them as they start to flower, with warnings that should they exhibit any pinkness they will be exterminated. Another one defiantly revealed itself as pink today, so its days are numbered.

My paeonies are growing well against all odds, albeit alongside a carpet of ground cover roses ( white ) and the vegetable patch is taking off so soon we will be in the kitchen creating marvellous meals with broad beans.

Mudgee Wine Festival this weekend, so we are back in Geoffrey to accommodate 2 large groups of wine enthusiasts. Life is tough.

more snake sagas

I know that I am becoming snake fixated, but justifiably so after the email we received today from a friend on the other side of Mudgee.

Fancy finding this on your doorstep?

From Protea Farm 1

Please note that no small cute terriers were harmed in the making of this photograph.

weather warnings

It is now official- Australia has had the warmest August on record with mean temperatures 2.47C above the long term average.The bush fire season has come early, and water is scarce.

A couple of days ago we checked the water tank levels, and the one serving the main house was less than 1/4 full. We have no mains water and rely solely on rain water capture for domestic use and our artificially built dam for garden water. Guests taking baths and showers and selfishly flushing toilets use an alarming quantity.

In the last 24 hours we have had rain! 14 mm so far. Apparently 1mm of rain falling on 1 square metre of roof will lead to 1 litre of captured water in the tank, so this morning I paced out the roof on our place- 300 square metres. So, we have an extra 4,200 litres of water.I think we may need a little more than that.

king parrot

A splendid king parrot has taken residence in a tree above the chicken pen and spends his day watching the strange birds in a cage.

From Protea Farm 1

From Protea Farm 1

stock moving

The sheep and alpacas ( or the goats and llamas as the city types from Sydney call them ) are just small dots in the distance now that they have been relocated to their new large paddock.

From Protea Farm 1

From Protea Farm 1

I foolishly assumed that we had completed the fencing for a while, but today Ness started digging up gate posts and moving gates around.

From Protea Farm 1

From Protea Farm 1

We have started the time-consuming job of unpacking the remaining boxes in the large shed, and some of the many books have been put on shelves in the cottages. I am waiting to see which guest is the first to spot that the quality selection of contemporary fiction currently available only features authors from A-D.

From Protea Farm 1

creatures

Yesterday was a good day for creature spotting- we found our first echidna on the property.

From Protea Farm 1

The turtles have returned to the dam, though they submerge their little heads whenever they spot a human with a camera.

From Protea Farm 1

....and a large lizard which we think is some sort of water dragon.

From Protea Farm 1