I feel like summer has just whizzed by. On the coast the summers seemed to last all year, but here the changes in seasons are more marked. Already the nights have been cooler… Just a few short weeks and Autumn will be upon us.
AT HOME: The new year has seen a few changes here and there at our place. A little bit of colour and some planning and decluttering. It never ends (the decluttering), even though I tend not to buy much stuff at all…
I had computer problems in January - oh what dramas! I’m happy to say that I think all is back to normal, there’s just a backlog of emails and other tasks waiting.
We went to a birthday party west of Mareeba on a tropical fruit farm this week. It was warm and relaxing. A very different ‘not-back-to-school’ day for our family!
AT WORK: I’ve been working on my Natural Child columns to get ahead there. Writing about my passions is a joy, so it hasn’t been a chore to work on these pieces.
Spiral Garden is growing at a constant and exciting rate. It is another source of fun, so barely feels like work at all. I often wonder if the site will ever be completed, but I’m realising that perhaps websites are more fluid than I presumed. Lots of new stock arrived in January, with more surprises due in the coming weeks. I love how the business is finding its own flavour as I discover new sources of goodies and replenish the supplies of the old favourites like Stockmar art supplies and Anamalz figurines.
ON THE FARM: A lot has been happening outdoors! I’ve been buying fruit trees here and there from our never-ending wish list! I have another lot ready to go into the ground once we’ve made the tree guards and dug the holes. I also planted 120 fruit tree seeds into tubes, in the hope that we’ll get some ‘free trees’ too. They’re less-common types, mostly, so it’s an interesting experiment. I suspect the mice have been poking around in the tubes though, which is really disappointing.
We created a pineapple garden along the driveway near the bananas. There are about a dozen or so pineapples planted there so far, and they look really cute. I can’t wait until they grow baby pineapples, they’re very pretty.
A week or so ago we planted about 25 natives and five more fruit trees right behind the house. I’m hoping they won’t become huge trees because of their position, and if they do I’ll be very busily pruning them! I tried to choose low-growing species, but in this high-rainfall area, things often grow to super-size!
The two young roosters have settled in nicely to their maturity. They’ve chosen which hens will be theirs and left most of the mature flock to the older rooster. They mostly get along with each other as well. So they’re still with us thus far. A couple of the young hens have been laying, not always in the pen so we’re often egg-hunting! We have plenty of eggs, anyway.
A little pony named Sweet Pea came to live here during January. She is just like a large dog wandering about the yard eating grass! She’s elderly and sweet. Her and Amber are working things out between them, so long as food isn’t part of the equation!
The greenhouse had yet another repair - no more plastic! The stuff we bought which was apparently UV stable, wasn’t. What a waste! Everything is growing fantastically, though. I did lose some tomatoes to wilt, and the button squash don’t grow very big in damp conditions. Otherwise, all the various exotic spinach cuttings are flourishing and there’s a lot of bean plants taking off too. Lettuce and greens are coming up from seeds and the cherry tomatoes must have dropped one million seeds during their season by the looks of that area! We’re harvesting a few potatoes, sweet potatoes, squash, capsicum, eggplant, tomatoes, lettuce and herbs. There are cape gooseberries to nibble and I made another small batch of rosella jam. Delish!
The macadamia season has begun and we’re harvesting bucketfuls here and there. I’m already tired of stepping on broken nutshells - ouch! Very fresh macadamias taste like coconut flesh. Yum.
The bushfood we discovered in January is the Woolly Pear (Misohocarpus lachnocarpus). We’re still eating wild raspberries on our journeys to the creek. I haven’t used any for jam, only eating them fresh so far. I am fascinated by the bushfoods and want to learn more! I think we might have an Atherton Nut tree in the front yard - surprise! I’m just waiting to see if it bears nuts to identify it properly.
We have cows in the top paddock again. Another neighbour’s this time. They’re saving us a lot of work by keeping the grass down through the wet season, while we decide how best to manage the area up there for ourselves.
I have been trying to update the garden blog, but without the computer there isn’t much news over there either!
HOME ED.: Lots of planning happened through January. Everyone was ready to get back into activities and learning. We are excited about the endless possibilities home education allows us.
I decided to gauge interest on reviving ATHENS - a local social network that existed here for many years. Our first outing saw six families enjoy a swim and afternoon tea at Lake Eacham. We will meet fortnightly for the first term to see how it goes. The children are really excited about our excursions.
Our days are about to get busy again with some of the kids’ activities starting up next week - so far art and violin. Futsul, drama, barefoot soccer, dance and circus have been mentioned so we’ll see when those things start, where and all the other fine details…
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