Well, our well (bore) is all in and paid for, with the pump securely established under cover in a corner of the garage, next to the house pump. We have a tap connected up a fence post with the hose connected. We have unlimited water - hurrah! No more carting 20 litre containers up from the water race! And we've had plenty of rain and haven't had to add any water to the veges - what we have left, anyway.
I'm glad we planted lots of varieties of veges as it's given us an indicator as to what we can grow well and what doesn't do so well. Peppers and chillies just did not grow up at all, and resulted in small, sparse fruit. Our sole cherry tomato plant has produced tomatoes for China and is still producing. Spinach and silver beet thrive. Carrots are doing well - sugar snap peas and dwarf beans were sporadic sprouters but produced well when grown.
We dug up some Jerusalem artichokes in the weekend and they are to die for, yet the Globe artichokes have been very slow to establish. The yam foliage is beginning to die off so we have yet to be surprised or disappointed when we dig deep in this bed. Potatoes were okay, but many small which we thought would happen as they suffered a bit from lack of water in their earlier weeks.
Flavours were noticeably improved after compost tea was made and was fed. The compost WILL be turned and doctored up this week, so I am sure we will notice a difference in taste and growth of next summer's veges.
The berries and the fruit trees have been totally neglected, we are ashamed to say - but the asparagus bed did get weeded eventually - had better plant a few more crowns in it this year. Our citrus have adapted to their new conditions and all have blossom and shows of fruit to come. The lime tree planted in a big planter died - wrong positioning and a convenient cat toilet being the main causes of its demise. The feijoa hedge plants are doing well and have put on some growth and are currently being weedeated around and will hopefully be mulched before this week is out. We do miss the twilight hours of summer, and we are now at the time of the year when you're leaving for work in the dark and arriving home at near dark. However, the upside is that it's lovely to light a fire when you get home and blob out in front of TV and actually watch the news live for a change. It's not really cold enough for a fire every night right now, but we had our macrocarpa tree (which was felled 18 months ago) cut and split so we have wood ready. The new wood shed is gradually getting filled, and our pile of wood on the lawn is gradually diminishing. We still have one big pile of old timber and wood from the house to get through, but the skilsaw is currently getting a well needed overhaul.
We are feeling very rich and lucky in that our three freezers are full or ham and bacon, lamb and pork. We know where our meat has come from and that we raised our animals in happy and stressfree conditions, with plenty of food. And it shows in the taste.
Carving our first lamb roast. Yummm!
Brawn made from Phyllis's head. Pretty darn tasty it was, too!
More on the animals' welfare in the next couple of days. Promise!
