Parsnips and potatoes.......

Overnight we have had an spectacular electrical storm-which provided some good soaking rain. It moistened the soil enough for me to harvest the remaining parsnips-and a couple of cheeky potatoes which had sprung up!

 

 

 

I also harvested another 1.5kg of strawberries- I think I may use this batch to try some microwave strawberry jam.

 

 

Telstra still doesn't have our telephone services up and running in the area-some businesses have managed to get their EFTPOS up and running and there are also some ATMs working.

 

Ah well......abck to the Dark Ages!

 

Blacking out......

The area in which we live is currently suffering from day 5 of a telecommunications blackout due to a fire in the main Telstra exchange based in Warrnambool.

This has resulted in no landlines, no internet for those not on satellite/wireless and the EFTPOS system has also been unavailable. Debit and credit cards were not able to be used at those businesses which didn't have an offline processing machine-so if consumers did not have cash they couldn't purchase!

Lines were formed at banks as clients tried to withdraw cash-ATMs were not working either!

Banks and governments have been guiding us into being a cashless society for some time now-yet in times like these cash is the only option!

It has been quite an experience-which is not over yet! Mobile phones are beginning to work again-although household landlines are still not available. Emergency services were obviously the first priority.

 In areas like ours mobile reception is patchy and landlines are a must. It is expected to take another 5 days or so before the system is fully restored.

It has been like living through one of those futuristic movies where society comes to a grinding halt and humanity needs to resort to old fashioned skills!

Our household has managed quite well due to my pantry and freezer-milk has been the only purchase in the past 5 days and I could have got by without if required..it's just that I can't stand powdered milk in my cup of tea! Our vegie garden and hens have also continued to provide for us-so Casa de Kyndylan has remained comfortable during this stressful-for-some incident.

How would you and your family cope in such a situation?

Sunshine and strawberries..........

It's a coolish late spring day here, with the sun shining and a lovely light breeze blowing.

The Christmas cake is baking in the oven, the washing is on the line and I have just harvested nearly a kilo of strawberries.

Life is good.

Glories from the glorybox....

Over the weekend we made the return 7 hr trip to visit my parents-spending the night with them. It was the first time that we had taken our remaining dog to visit, and as they have a small dog of their own we were feeling some trepidation!

However all was well-both dogs behaved impeccably and our boy was totally spoiled-I hope he doesn't expect bacon for breakfast everyday now! :)

Whilst I was there my mother asked me if I would like some doilies and placemats. These items have come from my step Grandmother who is 91 and formed part of her glory box over 70 years ago! Some are handstitched, others were made on machine. The sad thing is that no-one in her line of blood relatives wanted these beautiful items!

So, it was with great pride and gratitude that I accepted them. These pieces have never been used because they were so special to her.

 

Perusing the property.....

Some updated photos of the productive area of our acre:

To the Eastern side of the vegie garden ( neighbours shed under construction in the background)

 

 

To the Northern side-this side is being allowed to lie fallow until next season. We have layered manure & straw-which will be turned over in 6 months or so. You can see the chicken coop-the chooks are allowed to freerange through the orchard during the day and are locked up at night.

 

 

I've netted the strawberry beds today- there is a lot of fruit and the birds are starting to show an interest!

 





We have a broody hen at the moment- Miss Millie is in a "fowl" mood! I'm not sure how many eggs are under her-there is at least one. I've decided to let her sit and see what eventuates!

 

Our rooster-Sir Bebe Le Pew!

 

Miss Betty doing some of her best posing!

 

As I was wandering around this morning I found this nest-and not far away from it this broken blue egg. Now I have no idea whether it was blown down during the storm last night or if the ravens have raided it and dropped it. I have sprayed it in case of mites etc and will find a home in our dining area for it I think.

 

 

 

Planting & planning...

It's a mid spring day here and we have had a blast of wintry weather! I've been a tad slow to get much in the vegie garden going this season ( work, work, work-it soooo gets in the way of life!)-so I scheduled this morning to remedy that. It has been too wet & windy to head out with the camera-so it's words only today I'm afraid!

In the ground went 4 zucchini plants ( I LOVE zucchini!), 8 chilli seedlings and assorted lettuce seedlings. They have joined the rocket, basil & tomato seedlings ( which were direct sown a couple of weeks back), whereas the onion & parsnips have been doing their thing for a while now.

Fruit trees are looking good and the strawberry beds are just about at the point of being netted from the plethora of birdlife we have in residence! Raspberries & blueberries are starting to set fruit and we have already had some of the rhubarb & asparagus this year ( not together though!).

We are having Christmas here this year-so I'm planning to plant enough salad greens to provide for the 25 or so people who will be here.

How's your garden growing?