December
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December (reported by Lyn)
I have been quite remiss in keeping our web page up to date. Sometimes time just runs away. At least we have been enjoying ourselves along the way!
Our vegetable garden continues to provide us with most of our vegetables. This year we grew artichokes, which look marvellous, but are a bit fiddly to eat. I'm thinking of transferring them into the yard gardens next year and regard them as ornamentals. We still find we have to net almost everything to stop the birds from eating the seedlings. Bean seedlings are particular favourites but surprisingly, they don't eat the bean pods. I owe the satin bower birds an apology. I thought they were eating the Shatoot Mulberries, but last week I caught a black helmuted friar bird feasting on the fruits. Snails are also becoming a menace. I think they were imported on plants from other gardens as they were none here for the first few years.
The fruit trees all flowered very early this year - even the apples and pears that are usually a couple of months behind the stone fruit. Fruit set has been poor so we are not expecting huge harvests. The Wild May fruit fly baits have been quite successful and keep fruit fly damage to a minimum. The youngberry patch was rampant, so much so that it was too unruly to fit under a net. The canes take root wherever they touch the ground. I gave a whole lot away and replanted some.
We have 2 hens with 3 chickens between them at the moment. Another hen is sitting on eggs and they are due to hatch out in a couple of weeks. The hatch rate has been quite disappointing. We are not sure whether to blame the new rooster or other factors. The new rooster is a handsome fellow, he is mostly black with a greenish sheen and white feathers around his neck and over his back. Alan named him because of his salt and pepper appearance ie Salt'n'Pepper or Salt'n for short. We were given a big white hen with a little bit of black on her. Her name is "Sultana" as we were hoping to mate her with Salt'n. Unfortunately, she shows little interest in the willing Salt'n.
We acquired three guinea fowl earlier this year. They had been raised by an Isa Brown hen and they adopted one of our hens as their new mother. Fortunately, the hen was willing and mothered them for a couple of months. This photo shows her dedication to her adoptive children on a cold night.
We had hoped that the guinea fowl would gobble up the snails. So far they prefer to run with the hens. However, letting the poultry into the dormant veggie patch in early spring seems to have reduced the snail population significantly. A tour of the garden with a bucket to collect the little varmits on rainy days helps too. The bucket is taken into the chook pen and emptied.
The new garden beds along the eastern fence line have been quite successful. They have been planted with cuttings and potted plants from friends. I dug the kikuyu grass out of one with a mattock and mulched the other one with newspaper and a thick layer of wet hay. They are both relatively kikuyu free but the newspaper and wet hay method was a lot easier! I guess it comes down to the cost and availability of mulching materials.
I has another trip to Perth in September to visit Kim and Courtney and Peta, Gareth, Ryan and Jade. While there I visited the Perth Aquarium with Ryan and Jade. It is an amazing place. The displays are so diverse and colourful. The boys liked the touch pool best. They were able to pick up sea creatures from the pool and touch the fish as they swam past. Here they are with one of the residents of the aquarium. The boys are all learning Judo and here they are after earning their yellow belts.
I have been making bread this year. We have a new breadmaker which makes much better bread than the previous machine. The rising price of bread prompted me to try again. I have also been using a butter-olive oil combination in place of butter or margarine. It is quite delicious and has no artificial preservatives, colours or flavourings.
We pursued our family history with a trip to the UK this year. Click here for a full report of our trip.
A new initiative in Gloucester is The Gloucester Project It is a response to climate change and is trying to preserve the food production capabilities of the area in the face of changing climate conditions. The instigators are forward-thinking people who deserve recognition for their committment and perseverence.
Here are two views of Christmas - take your pick!
From a commercial point of view, if Christmas did not exist it would be necessary to invent it. ~Katharine Whitehorn
It is Christmas in the heart that puts Christmas in the air. ~W.T. Ellis
Best wishes to all our friends,
Lyn & Alan .