Getting back into the swing of things
At last I feel as though I am getting back into the swing of things, including blogging!
I have found it quite hard battling with Jet lag and the flu as well as what felt like an overwhelming amount to do. Peter has not been well while I was away and looks like he wont be for quite some time so the tasks that were not done have mounted up.
This is not an easy garden to manage, partly because it is new, partly because it is huge and a good deal because we started it in the drought and didn't have any idea that in a good season there would be so much mowing, weeding and the like. The growth of the Kikuyu into the garden beds almost makes me wish for the easy chemical solution of roundup, but then the taste of the vegetables and fruit and the knowledge that they are chemical free outweighs that.
So I have been busy and things are starting to look a little more manageable.
I dug up the garlic that I could find and it is a good harvest although I think there may be lots of cloves still left in the ground. I've decided to see these an in investment in the future. This year as soon as i ran out of garlic I started to use the green garlic that has just come up so I will be able to do that again. We haven't bought any garlic in the last twelve months.
Unfortunately we have fruit fly in the stone fruit, not all of it but enough to be a nuisance. I am aiming to process at least a bucket of apricots a day and have put a few kilos of fruit in the freezer as well as making jam.
Today I am going to make some apricot chutney.
The plums and peaches are a bit of a write off but maybe the nectarines, that are still a way off will be better.
On the animal front, we have finally ordered our sheep and will get six Wiltipoll sheep and a ram in January. Hooray.
Elisabet , the goat, is almost dried up now, i am only getting about 3/4 of a litre of milk a day. I'll milk her until Christmas to get enough milk to make some nice goats curd and then I'll let her go.
On Saturday we took Genevieve and Fetta down to the big goat farm where Peter works and put them in a paddock with a very handsome and stinky buck. Hopefully kids in April.
I've weeded most of the vegetable patch and will plant some seeds later today and the mowing is almost done. I'm looking forward to a helping hand from Zoe over the Christmas break.
I have found it quite hard battling with Jet lag and the flu as well as what felt like an overwhelming amount to do. Peter has not been well while I was away and looks like he wont be for quite some time so the tasks that were not done have mounted up.
This is not an easy garden to manage, partly because it is new, partly because it is huge and a good deal because we started it in the drought and didn't have any idea that in a good season there would be so much mowing, weeding and the like. The growth of the Kikuyu into the garden beds almost makes me wish for the easy chemical solution of roundup, but then the taste of the vegetables and fruit and the knowledge that they are chemical free outweighs that.
So I have been busy and things are starting to look a little more manageable.
I dug up the garlic that I could find and it is a good harvest although I think there may be lots of cloves still left in the ground. I've decided to see these an in investment in the future. This year as soon as i ran out of garlic I started to use the green garlic that has just come up so I will be able to do that again. We haven't bought any garlic in the last twelve months.
Unfortunately we have fruit fly in the stone fruit, not all of it but enough to be a nuisance. I am aiming to process at least a bucket of apricots a day and have put a few kilos of fruit in the freezer as well as making jam.
Today I am going to make some apricot chutney.
The plums and peaches are a bit of a write off but maybe the nectarines, that are still a way off will be better.
On the animal front, we have finally ordered our sheep and will get six Wiltipoll sheep and a ram in January. Hooray.
Elisabet , the goat, is almost dried up now, i am only getting about 3/4 of a litre of milk a day. I'll milk her until Christmas to get enough milk to make some nice goats curd and then I'll let her go.
On Saturday we took Genevieve and Fetta down to the big goat farm where Peter works and put them in a paddock with a very handsome and stinky buck. Hopefully kids in April.
I've weeded most of the vegetable patch and will plant some seeds later today and the mowing is almost done. I'm looking forward to a helping hand from Zoe over the Christmas break.
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