Birthdays in Autumn

April 24 2015

It is still very dry. The paddocks should be green by now but although the due is enough to germinate the dormant seeds there is not enough moisture for real growth. The deciduous trees are putting on their autumn colours and already there are dead leaves on the ground. There has been some extreme weather in NSW around Sydney, with flooding and wind damage but nothing startling down here. It is very much business as usual with the routines of farm work and family.

The tomato plants have mostly died and we have started to eat the pumpkins. For greens we have lots of lettuce, mizuna and parsley but the kale and silver beet are still at the seedling stage. We are eating the beans and there are eggplants and capsicum so no real difficulty planning daily food.

With the colder weather I am cooking vegetable soups for lunch using the extra vegetables from the evening before’s meal. It is often cloudy so I light the stove to cook on in the evenings and get plenty of hot water and a warm house over night. 

We are also moving in to winter mode with the animals. Edd took a trailer load of sheep to market this week. I hate selling the sheep like this. They are friendly and trusting but we do not have enough feed left to keep them and they are escaping into neighbours’ property. Most of the goats we need are mated and we are drying them off. The kids are almost weaned and we are wondering if we should buy a calf or two to drink the extra milk.

I have a big pile of manure cleaned out from the goat sheds by the ruins garden and yesterday I moved some and spread it on the new camping spot were the small poly house used to be. I hope it will encourage grass to grow there. I have a few more plants to go in round the edges but the area now looks well under control. I plan to use the rest of this manure pile on the lawn surrounded by grow beds. It just goes to bare earth in the summer because I do not want to waste water growing grass so it might as well be watered and grow vegetables.

We had a small party in Bo’s house for Indi who has turned 21. The plan was to have it on Bo’s new deck but it was the one day that we had rain and hail so we retreated indoors. Bo cooked up a feast and we all danced to some game she had on the TV that chose the person who most closely followed the screen. I have no idea how it worked but it was good fun and everyone was dancing and laughing.

Josh has had his birthday this week but all we could do was phone up with messages. Edd and I plan to visit him at the end of May before Wayne’s baby is due. He is only two days away now so it is possible to drive up and we are already planning the route and working out what to stop and see. I fancy the hot spa at Moree. Indi says she will care for the farm with help from the rest of the family. This should not be too hard now that she lives here.