Oh deer

28.6.19

We have had a glorious week. Cold clear nights changing into warm sunny days with clear blue skies. Luckily there is plenty of outdoor work as an excuse to enjoy working with the sun warming us and stunning views to make life even more enjoyable.  Why would we want to go on a holiday somewhere else unless it was to visit someone?

It is 6pm and dark now but still warm.  As I chop kindling to light the evening fires, I can hear a neighbour with a chainsaw, no doubt also with fires in mind.   Tonight, I have lit the wood stove to give some extra heat to the water.  This is the first time in three days because the sun on the solar panels has done most of the work.  The fire lighters have mysteriously disappeared, but they are not essential. I just have to be more careful without them.

Today I resumed a digging project to enlarge the growing space in the vegetable garden. I now have a flat area under a high bank that needs some sort of terracing. I am waiting for Edd to fix the fence before we can plant out this space because I am still worried about deer. Yesterday we found a huge samba deer dead by the old wooden shed. We could see no sign it had been shot or killed by violence. It had been scouring for at least a few days so was it sick, or had it been poisoned?

The next problem was what to do with it. It was far too big to bury, and anyway foxes dig things up from quite deep holes.  It took two of us to drag it onto the carryall at the back of the tractor, and I have now shut the goats away from that paddock in case it had some disease. We will have to do a bit of research.

Strangely enough Edd and I had gone to a Landcare meeting about deer last week end. They are breeding massively and are now in big enough numbers to do damage in the forests as well as farms and gardens.  The samba deer are the worst pest and have caused several road accidents locally. Driving up the road from Yarra glen after dark has now become a hazardous venture with the deer adding to the menace caused by kangaroos and wombats. I drive very slowly and carefully, with this in mind.

The next task is to prepare for the midwinter feast on the first week of July.   I have ordered a turkey and will do masses of vegetables to go with it.  I can make a crumble from the fruit I froze earlier in the year. Indi has not been well this week but hopefully she will have recovered by then.   I am eyeing off some mistletoe on the old drive. It has not got white berries like the UK plant, but I plan to remedy this by a cunning addition of some fake pearls I have harvested from a necklace I got at the charity shop.

A little catch up of news

21.6.19

It is still raining but at least the dams and tanks are nearly full. I have plenty of indoor work. Today I made bread and cheese, and tonight I am cooking a roast meal for Berni, Edd and I. Whenever I get a moment I am knitting.  At present I am completing the second cardigan for my nieces’ twins and then I have to knit for Ti’s baby, who is due in five weeks. Indi’s baby is growing fast and has almost out grown her first clothes.

The power at Indi’s place is not totally reliable but they are now managing. The coldest part of the year is yet to come but already the first jonquils are flowering, and the daffodils are shooting.  The paulownia trees are developing buds and so are the loquats and today is the equinox so soon the days will get light for longer.

I am just hoping we have enough hay to last us until Xmas. Hay is in short supply this year and the prices are soaring. The vegetables are doing well but keeping the deer and kangaroo off them gets increasingly hard. Even Edd concedes that he will have to put up the missing fences.

19.6.19

We had a family gathering on Monday to farewell Arden who was flying out on Tuesday back to Germany. Al, Pip and baby P stayed the night and left early on Tuesday to drop Arden off at the airport.  I wonder how many years it will be before we see him again! He has left the Donga very clean and tidy which I so much appreciate. Not every one is so considerate.

6.6.2019

There is mud everywhere. It is not particularly cold, but it is very damp and not at all conducive to outdoor work.  The goats are staying in the shed or very close to it, but the chooks carry on as normal, except that they are making a muddy mess instead of dust. We have a daily battle with wombats who did under fences every night and make tunnels that chooks can use to get out.  They get out but then get stuck out and have to be rounded up and put back into their pens when it gets dark. 

The kangaroos are a worst pest and there are lots of them. They raided the vegetable gardens this week and destroyed a whole bed full of beautiful lettuces.  This is the first time in 20 years that they have got into the garden and it is not a good look.  Edd is doing the finishing touches on the fence around Indi’s area and he is not at all pleased to have me begging him to start on the missing stretch of the garden fence.

On a more positive note our new computer was delivered on Monday and I am now using it.  I did love the old one, but it was ten years old and there were a lot of things it just could not do any more, like get messages into the printer and send out mail (without a fight).  Getting new technology is always a stretch, but Edd is doing battle every night and we have most functions now in action.  All our gear is ten years old because we had to replace everything when we were burnt out, so it is all wearing out now.

I am spending as much time indoors as possible. I have been doing the accounts and working on knitting projects.  I even did a thorough house clean this week.  

Busy

Family youngsters

Monday June 17

I am busy cooking a fare well meal for family to see off Arden who flies back to Germany tomorrow.