The odd weather has continued, some hot and sunny days interspersed with rain and occasional thunder, even an earthquake or two in the mix. The whole property is looking a bit disheveled, though nothing that a good bit of wintering down won't solve. There are definitely signs of moving into autumn - a couple of delicious chilly mornings, heaps to harvest and shorter days. I absolutely love the sense of abundance that comes at this time of year. The kitchen and dining areas are littered with bowls of fruit, veges and other crops for processing. It's a lot of work but deeply satisfying.
Carrots and beetroot are in full flow and can stay in the ground until they have to be harvested, but most of what's left - onions, corn, beans, courgettes, silver beet and tomatoes will be fully harvested in the next couple of weeks. All the vege beds will eventually be closed down for winter, and most will be closed down for longer than that. Jane has gifted a whole heap of partially opened weed mat rolls, and once the weeding has happened, the beds will be weed matted and topped off with old carpet. The photo shows the 'before' image...
The tomato jungle is particularly untidy, but it's so productive that it's hard to believe that hours spent taming those side shoots actually pays off. I'm rather fond of that jungle, and have gifted heaps of tomatoes, and there's still plenty more to go. There are more jars of tomato sauce in the freezer than you can shake a stick at - what a bloody luxury that is!
The Aztec corn matured and has now been harvested. What a treat for the eyes it is. I absolutely love the colourful kernels and have to come to the conclusion that the very moment of peeling back the pericarp and seeing the beautiful jewel-like corn is actually the main reason for growing it. It will be dried and ground into corn flour, and this will also be admired. Probably one loaf of corn bread will be baked, and the rest of the flour will sit in the back of the pantry until I find someone to give it away to.
Now I think about it, it's probably the same for the gourds. 6 gorgeous gourds were harvested from Madame Cholet, but I fear their foliage died back before they matured, so it's likely that they'll just rot. There is another productive gourd plant outside so there will probably be salvageable gourds in a few months. Quite what I'll do with them I have no idea, but I will get lots of pleasure from just looking at their delightful curves. The happy little Baby Bear pumpkins have also been harvested and will be eaten as well as admired.
Sam and Molly have been on their fungi forays and gave me several bags of freshly harvested mushrooms. Some were eaten straight away, and the rest were dehydrated. Sam's heading here tomorrow to pick up his beef from the butcher (RIP Attis) and is bringing me more. Yum, such a treat.
Peak pear has now passed, and what a joy that's been. Plenty of Conference, Packham and Nashis (some of these absolutely huge) have been consumed and gifted. Lucas and Laura want to make pear wine, so the last 8kg has been put aside for them. Next up will be feijoas and then finally persimmons. It looks like there'll be a few million feijoa and quite a big crop of persimmons, unless they are targeted by dastardly possums again.
The firewood has been fully split using a very grunty splitter. It was an exhausting day of work for Peter, Lucas and Billy but the job's done now, just the stacking to take care of. It's quite a haul that we hope will last at least a couple of years. It's long burning wood that won't light readily, so we may need to source some pine or other quick burning wood. I'm guessing that Peter will need a bit of a break between firewooding activities.
News of Nick's health is not good and I'm heading to the UK for 2-3 weeks soon. When I return, the tidying up and wintering down will be the priority. We've made a life decision to go over the ditch to Australia for a spell when Peter retires later this year. Lucas and Laura will occupy the house and manage the land in our absence. There's quite a list (currently in my head) of tasks to get on with that will ease their transition to lifestyle blockers, and to get the house organised so they can feel at home there. The garden areas also need managing. Most of the vege beds will be closed down with that weed matting, and the flower gardens will be dressed with a thick layer of lucerne straw that is waiting under the carport. Laura will do what she can, but it's become very obvious that I've totally created a beast of a garden in terms of workload. Hmm, maybe a little life lesson in there for me.
Attis has gone, and Apollo will be following soon. That'll leave Nike and Pandora, and calves Kratos and Triton. Billy will sell Kratos as a bull calf when he's old enough, and Triton has been steered. All the rams are gone too. So, no more testicles on the property. Hopefully that will make the livestock easier to manage in our absence. I'm planning to reduce beehives to 2 colonies that will be cared for by Jane and Derryn. One of my current 4 colonies has died off, so I'll probably just have to unite the two smaller colonies to end up with 2 functioning hives. Jane's hive at her place meanwhile is looking fantastic and she's up for managing mine (big thanks Jane).
Whether this blog will continue is yet to be decided. Perhaps it'll retire gracefully, or maybe morph into tales of Australian adventures. I have no idea whether we'll be desperate to return to our slice of kiwi paradise, or whether we'll want a different, non-smallholding, kinda life. It feels good to not know and just go with what blessings the universe has in store for us. Bloody lucky or what?
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