Camp 2

Friday 28 March

We are waiting for Al and Pip’s baby to arrive.  It is only two days over due so we may be on tender hooks for some time yet.   Today we have time to think about things for the first time in about three weeks.  The latest camp left on Thursday because everyone is off for Good Friday.  The farm seems very quiet with out the energy of young people and I am missing them already.

The camp this week was back to the normal level of difficulty. There was some rain on Monday when they arrived and some of the kids did not want to be here even before they started.  Once everyone had settled down and mothers had picked up a couple things went better.  The sun shone, kids could swim in the pool and a surprising amount of work was done really well.

This camp we had some very competent chefs.  The students had decided on a large amount of fresh vegetables in their meals and one young lady managed to cook a cake in the pizza oven.  Some of our pumpkins were harvested for soup and we contributed the ice cream from the freezer. This was not a great sacrifice as Edd and I seldom have deserts.

Our young gardeners were very industrious and we now have the bamboo plants that were started in pots planted out on the bank by the ruins. Next they refilled one  of the raised beds by the pool and put in brocholi, swede  and turnip seedlings.  I am running out of garden space because the summer crops of tomatos , Zuchinni , cucumber and capsicums are still yielding.  Even the straw berries are still producing fruit.  The students have also eaten some pomagranates.  The quinces have turned yellow but are still very hard.  I am unsure when we should pick them.

The small amount of rain, and the watering efforts have recovered the olives a bit . They are starting to ripen and have lost most of the wrinkles.  The chestnut trees look very stressed but there are still some chestnuts on them.  Everything around the sheds is looking smart after this weeks work.  Loads of waste has been taken down to the burning pile and we have begun the fence for the new chook run.   Lots of rubbish and tree branches had to be moved before we could even begin this fence  so getting two posts into the rock hard clay was a good achievment.

A small group of students worked around the old waterfall area.  The ponds here were destroyed by the bush fires nine years ago and have since been lost under regrowth of weeds.  The weeds are now gone and we have filled in holes in the ground so that a fence can be put up that will enclose all the garden area.  I am worried that one night the deer will come and destroy everything so I am very keen to get this done.  Then we can work on the waterfall area and see how much we can mend and restore.