...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.

From Protea Farm 1

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.

From Protea Farm 1

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.

From Protea Farm 1

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!

From protea

......we get some rain

After spending a week driving into town every day with a 1000 litre water container on the trailer to collect town water in a frantic attempt to keep a crispy garden alive we managed 7mm of rain on Thursday- a piddling amount, but the shrubs and trees have gained a little respite.

With a full complement of guests we also had to get 'Graham the tanker' to deliver us 26,000 litres of drinking water, so now we can flush the toilets and shower daily which is a treat.

Our next project is the installation of solar water heating in the 2 cottages which are still using fossil fuel mains electricity, so the panels and tanks are on order. The water situation is ongoing, but the bore pumps are being overhauled with a view to installing a holding tank for the bore water ( slightly salty, but should be OK for stock) and the grand plan will be a mix of grey and bore water for garden relief.

Obviously all this green Save the Planet stuff means that we will no longer be able to afford to eat, but we will have freshly grown vegetables and cheap local wine so all is not lost.

game, set and match

There was an emergency meeting at Mudgee tennis club last week, and the ladies of Division 1 decided that the overwhelming heat meant that the tennis finals should be postponed. The Division 2 ladies are made of sterner stuff ( allegedly ) and elected to play regardless. This turned out to be great sport for the hardened Aussies watching an unfit, unacclimatised, overweight Pom struggle to the point of double vision and nausea! So, we managed a commendable second place due to my weedy northern hemisphere constitution- and the opposition were better players which helped.

The club is an interesting hotbed of politics and undercurrents of discontent. The Div 1 ladies appear to have total control of the place, and entry into the inner circle is based on ability, social standing, and whether your bum looks good in a pink skirt. I think on a points system those 3 parameters will ensure that I remain with the gang of outcasts in Div 2 in perpetuity.