Musings........

I've just finished mowing around much of the block. At the front of the house we have a section of grass ( in a semi-circular shape) surrounding a beautiful gum tree. As the grass is mown there, the smell of eucalyptus melds with that of the freshly mown grass-it is pure heaven!

Up  the back of the block is the orchard, chooks and vegie beds ( fenced off to keep the hounds out!) with grass pathways-so as I mow there I am checking the growth of the trees & vegies. i throw some snails to the hens and muse that we have apricots, nectarines, apples, plums and quinces forming-not bad considering all the trees were planted last winter!

As I head back to the house, it strikes me how lucky I am.

Warming the cockles....

In my ever so humble opinion there's nothing to warm the cockles of your heart more than the sense of satisfaction when a job's well done! This morning I felt the buzz of achievement as I walked through the vegie garden to let the girls out of their pen-the beds planted out yesterday were glistening with the last beads of rain from the overnight drizzle, there were a few spears of asparagus to be harvested and I cut the first cabbage head.
Then this afternoon I tried my hand at making some simple flatbreads with the assistance of our 3 yr old grandson. Angus took great pleasure in helping roll the breads out thinly; although I think he enjoyed it even more when I sprinkled a freshly cooked one with cheese, rolled it and handed it to him! He immediately went to his Dad and requested that they make them at home! :-)

 Above: The potatoes make their appearance

 Above: The teepees on the left are for beans and the drink bottles are mini cloches for tomato seedlings. On the right of the pic you can see one of the potato strips. This set up is mirrored on the other side of the block.

 Above: Raspberry beds on the left, vegies on the right.

Above: The girls doing what they do!

Sweet,sweet corn...

I finally managed to get outside and do something other than mow or spray weeds today-YAY!

 Planted the first tomato seedling from the seeds I'd sprouted on our kitchen window sill. The variety is "Santorini" and came free with the Burke's Backyard magazine last month-be interesting to see how they go as they are meant to be able to survive on natural rainfall once established. I've used a 2 litre soft drink bottle as a "cloche" to give it a bit of a head start-will plant out more next week when they are a tad stronger.

I also planted 40+ sweet corn seeds...next week I'll plant some pumpkin seeds to grow through the corn to keep the roots cool. American Indians used to plant what they called  the "Three Sisters"together....corn, squash and beans.......I might add some beans too and see how they all get on!