November Check-in

November has been a sort of slow month in some ways – I pulled a muscle in my ribs which put me out of action for a couple of weeks and then we went to Adelaide for 4 days and Port Augusta twice… so much driving.

We have had some progress though, and we welcomed a new WWOOFer who we picked up in Adelaide. This month the main things that have been done are digging the holes for our header tank stand, tiling a part of the kitchen bench, trenching a pipe across the driveway and putting together a fair amount of IKEA furniture. Little steps to making life more comfortable.

Being the end of the month I spent some time in the garden today checking in on all the plants to see how many losses we have had and how well other ones are going so it’s time to report back.

We have lost 3 Berry Bushes, 1 Fruiting vine and 23 Natives. That leaves us with a current success rate of 89.95%, which given that we had all our losses before this time last year and only had a success rate of 4% is very encouraging! We have also had 9 native plants with a bushy habit that have grown to a size where they needed their tree guards removed as well as some trees that are well and truly out of the top of their guards. Some of them are bigger than the surviving plants from last year!

A lush, bushy Fragrant Saltbush free of it’s guard for two weeks now. It’s survived through a couple of hot days so I think it might be good 🙂

Some gigantic trees on the inside curve of the west hill. I don’t know quite why they are going so well… but, yay!

We are having some success with the orchard under-story planting as well, with watermelons, potatoes, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, pumpkins, zucchini, artichokes and various beneficial bug attracting and green mulch plants starting to grow nicely. Hopefully by the end of summer this zone will be looking super lush.

An apple tree planted just this year and some potatoes and watermelon starting to do their thing, shaded by the bamboo wall in the afternoon.

we’ve also started to propagate the seedlings for next year, with 6 boxes (of up to 60 seedlings) already sprouting happily.

Acacia Papryocarpa (Western Myall) babies just starting to pop up.

So, things are moving on… even though the weather is warming up and productive time is decreasing… Hopefully we can keep the trees alive and get some other projects finished in the coming months.

Saying Goodbye…

Having WWOOFers can be great; the improvement in productivity, the help with general things and the new friendships that can be built. However there comes a time when travellers must move on and then we have to say goodbye. Sometimes it’s quite hard – you’ve made a good friend and it feels like they could stay for a bit longer at least. This last weekend was one of those times.

Terrica arrived at the start of August and settled right in. She had been recommended by a close friend and it seemed meant to be – an easy fit with our family. And that girl, she can work! In the time that Terrica was here we achieved quite a lot and the vast majority of it was due to her fantastic efforts. A couple of examples of the achievements while she was here:

Playground/Orchard

Before (Jan 2014)

After (Oct 2014)

In the orchard the garden beds have been weeded, mattocked, sown with various seeds/seedlings and mulched to start the ‘under canopy’ garden. A low netting fence has been installed to deter the guinea fowl from the germinating green mulch and the bamboo fence repaired and extended.

Greater Bonfire Area

Before (End May 2014)

After (Oct 2014)

This area is even more noticeable! everything on the other side of the driveway except the inital earthworks has pretty much been Terrica’s doing in the after image. Not just the date palms, but another two watering zones (‘west hedge’ and ‘windbreak’). Extensive tree planting, irrigation laying, mulching, edging rock collection and placement about covers what has happened in this zone – amazing transformation!

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Of course that’s just two areas. In total Terrica planted around 120 native trees, laid irrigation for 5 new zones, helped plant 6 palm trees, sorted tons (literally) of rocks, weeded and cleaned the next layer of rusty wire/sardine can rubbish from vast tracts of garden beds, mulched, installed tree guards, looked after the house for nearly two weeks while we were away, took part in wrangling the 3 year old with good nature and helped grandma out no end… gosh we will miss her!

Aside from all of this she has become a grand friend and I have no doubt that we will keep in touch (and see her again).

Now the time has come to search for our next visitor, and in that aim I have set up a new page here – ‘WWOOFing with us’  which provides some more information about the program and a guestbook of our previous visitors. Check it out and let me know what you think 🙂

Spring Equinox

Today is the Alban Elier (the light of the earth) and our home feels like it has been blessed with a flurry of light sunshowers and a particularly vibrant rainbow. Here are some photos for you to enjoy.

I hope you have had a fantastic day if you celebrate 🙂

Spring has sprung in the desert!

Over the last couple of weeks I have been watching the season unfold and with the Equinox just days away it is clear that the tide has turned and the hints of summer coming can be felt in the warm afternoons and clear, long evenings. Spring here is a tumultuous time as the temperatures switch and the winds blow out the cold of winter, but before the hot weather settles in and we bunker down for the height of the year I have been enjoying the beauty of this fleeting season in the desert and I thought I would share some of it with you:

A couple of weeks ago, a sign of the start of the season was the explosion of colour across the road where they have a beautiful patch of Sturt’s Desert Peas. We plan to have a wildflower corner where we will locate our beehive eventually, but in the meantime it’s really lovely to have them so nearby

Then came the mulberries! they are loaded with fruit and looking lush with their new leaves. Hopefully the fruit can stay on this year and we will get a beautiful harvest later

Emu babies!! these were spied on a mission to Wilpena Pound, but there is a small family of two chicks in the town…. so cute!

The quince is out in flower. Last year we had 11 fruit off of this tree even though it was only its second in the ground here. I am looking forward to seeing how it goes this year.

All the fruit and nut trees planted this winter have shot out (this is one of the pomegranates). I was a bit worried about some of them, especially the almond and the granny smith apple as they were a bit slow, but all good!

Seedlings of summer bounty to come – pictured are squash, eggplant and various capsicums.

Yesterday the last of our final personal batch of chickens for the year hatched 😀 We are going to incubate a batch for the local station and will hopefully do some guinea fowls before it gets too hot, but with these 16 we have a total of 28 chicken babies so that’s enough for now!