Preparing for winter

February 5 2017

There is so much we need to do before winter.   Last week we got some help and started to cut firewood from the dead trees that threatened to collapse on the fence between the gully and us.  Some of them were very large but already they have started to rot internally and had reached a dangerous stage.  Even our local expert tree man had difficulty getting them to fall right.

Edd had pumped all the water from the new tank by the dairy but there was a thick sludge of algae left in the tank that had to be cleaned out.  I used ladders to get into the base of the tank and brushed and scooped the mess into buckets.  This was a very messy job and I ended up soaked and splashed with so much black gloop that I had to strip off all my clothing and have a shower! Fortunately Ben and his brother helped Edd on the following day and made a bucket chain that effectively moved the mess into the nearest paddock. We now have to clean and repair the tank before the new roof goes on.  Edd has brought the corrugated iron to make the roof so that bit is ready.

The new freezer is now on and full of goats meat.  We had a young buck who developed a bad hernia so he went to the butcher before he got into any pain. I have harvested lots of beans and the garlic but now the tomatoes need to be possessed ready for freezing. We are eating lots of fresh tomatoes and they are really tasty this year. The cucumber crop has failed. These last few weeks of heat and no rain came at exactly the wrong time for them.  I have been watering the vegetables twice a day but everything has still been struggling.

Luckily it rained today so the plants are looking a lot happier. The two olive trees that we got from the back of Bo’s restaurant are hovering between life and death.  I water them every day and count the green leaves. The first tree only has seven but this number has stayed stable.  I am not sure if this is good or bad but whilst there is life there is hope.  My olives still have fruit on them and the chestnut trees are covered with small green prickly balls, but I am not sure if they are getting enough water to develop them into nuts.