vegetable glut

The rains have now gone, and it is getting hotter by the day. All the shrubs and plants which were hanging on like grim death are now blossoming and flowering again, and the dreaded zucchini/courgette glut is upon us. Ness planted some funky varieties and promised me that they would not turn into giant marrows overnight, but that proved to be misleading.

From Protea Farm 1

We are not managing to eat them as quickly as more appear,despite the assistance of Delia's vegetarian menus. I fear things will only get worse when the baby squashes and pumpkins get another growth spurt. Peppers and chillies also going well, and we are extremely excited about the baby water melons.

All recipes for zucchini/courgette, cucumber, butternut squash and pumpkin gratefully received. I wonder if any of them would make a half decent wine?

happy new year

The story from Mudgee since Christmas has been one of rain, rain, and more rain. The extreme drought conditions of November are a distant memory as we sit on the verandah looking out onto green hills and pastures. The vegetables are raging, the stock have abundant food, and there is water in the tanks for luxuries like showers and flushing toilets. It appears that my skill as a rainmaker ( when travelling in Geoffrey around the country any town we stopped in was guaranteed a generous downpour ) has not deserted me and was merely slightly delayed.

170mm of rain since Christmas day, almost half the annual rainfall of last year in less than 2 weeks. We have lawns in places we never knew there was grass, and yesterday I had to mobilise Courtney the ride on mower and do some serious mowing.

From Protea Farm 1

From Protea Farm 1

From Protea Farm 1

From Protea Farm 1

For the first time the tennis court has been wet enough that the roller actually managed to flatten and level it, reducing the number of comedy bounces to an acceptable level.

Despite this, the enormous water tank that we ordered was rolled off a huge truck yesterday and resides in the paddock. It will be installed soon and provide a back-up system for the garden, holding a cocktail of bore and dam water in reserve for dry times, and will be linked to an irrigation system around the gardens. We are determined to create and maintain an oasis, regardless of the cost. Of course, once installed it will rain here forever and we will not require its services!

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...and Ness ends up in the gutter

As the rain continues to fall Ness decided to get onto the roof and clear the gutters to ensure maximum water collection. She was ably assisted by Coco the amazing spaniel who decided that catching mud and wet leaves from the sky was the best game ever invented.

From Protea Farm 1

From Protea Farm 1

From Protea Farm 1

the best Christmas present ever.........

A slightly belated Merry Christmas to everyone. Hope those in the UK are enjoying all the snow.

We had the best present we could possibly have hoped for....60mm of steady rain. The grass is sprouting, trees are clean and happy, and the vegetables are growing visibly. It is raining again now, so we have had twice the rainfall of last December in 48 hours.

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We had great company, good food and wine, and spent the day happily watching the rain.

From Protea Farm 1

From Protea Farm 1

From Protea Farm 1

almost Christmas

The last 2 weeks have flown by. Still very dry so most of our time taken up with garden revival. We are now drawing water from one of our bores, which smells like sulphur and is possibly not the best stuff to hose onto the plants, but they will just have to put up with it as the alternative is death by dehydration.

We are harvesting cucumbers, courgettes and spring onions at the moment, and the tomatoes are hanging on by their little green skins.

We have 1 house booked out over Christmas, but have held the other one back so that friends visiting from Sydney have somewhere to stay. Also we will be minding the pig farm for some of the time, as the Caspars are jetting off to the UK for the festive season.

Tennis has been suspended until February, but hopefully I can persuade one of the visitors to venture onto our court at some stage over the holiday. Most frustrating owning a tennis court and never getting the opportunity to use it.

No more news and no exciting tales to tell, but all is well at the crispy homestead.

From Protea Farm 1

Above scary massive bee swarm in a shrub outside the house last week- fortunately they moved on the next day.

From Protea Farm 1

From Protea Farm 1

Completed the trellis beds for the tomatoes and peas this week.

From Protea Farm 1

From Protea Farm 1

Cucumbers and butternut squash.

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Above water melons, rock melons and pumpkins grow in a mulch of Alan and Marley wool and poo.

From Protea Farm 1

...and the trellising goes up for our little secret drinking grotto. The planting consists of 2 bay trees and a Californian lilac, so should be a delightful shady area by next year.

going green

First solar hot water unit was installed today, the next one will be fitted next week. Lovely free hot water- we may be frying, the garden may be crispy, but at least the sun will be working for us in electricity bill reductions.

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tennis chic

The picture above shows the victors and runners up in the tennis competition- note the coordinated sporty pink team on the left, and the somewhat more freestyle garb sported by my team on the right. Also note a rather marked height disparity!

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