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.