Tomatoes galore

February 15 2017

This weeks the nights and mornings have been cool but the day heats up as it goes on, and the plants still need watering.  There have been horrific fires in NSW, with several houses and lots of stock lost but fortunately no lives. We had one day of very strong winds and fire danger but luckily no fires started. This is the same time of year as the 2009 fires so they are in everyone’s minds.

The watering is helping us with out bumper tomato crop.  This year’s is probably the best we have ever had.  The plants that we put by the upright frame has done amazingly and as there are too many to eat fresh today I harvested lots and prepared them for freezing.  We have lots of large pumpkins too and as usual we cannot even give zucchinis away.  The eggplants are just starting to have their fruit ready but the snow peas are over and the beans are slowing down too.

One good thing has happened.  The timber mill delivered our yearly supply of hard wood off cuts for the wood stove.  The truck drives into our big shed and tips off the load.  It is the easiest job of the year and means we have hot water and hot radiators as well as cooking all winter for a very reasonable price.

The first Permaculture field trip came last Saturday. I think perhaps I am taking too much for granted.  No one seemed to have any idea that you milked goats twice a day. I sort of think that everyone knows how their food is produced, but maybe I am not right.  Yesterday I brought a new mobile phone.  It is a very basic model with buttons but amazingly no instructions.  I asked the man in the shop and he said how to use it was obvious!   Well, not to me, it has a red slide knob on the back that could do anything.  With living in an area with no mobile coverage I rarely use mine, but I have used them enough to know that they are all slightly different. I think the gap of understanding between rural and city folk is widening fast.

The fence below the dam is down because of the fallen trees and the goats have discovered that there is nothing to stop them coming up into the house area.  They are now restricted to a small croft by the shed until we get the fence fixed.  Edd is still working on the new water tank.  We have totally cleaned it and are now waiting for Ben’s friend to do some welding so that we can put the roof on. Edd still has some cracks to fill as well but we are making progress.