5.2.2023
Everything is so different this year. Last weekend it was summer as usual, in other words very hot. We met up with Danni, Wayne’s daughters and their grandmother who were staying in a cabin by the river at Warburton. This weekend it might as well be mid-winter. We have had dark wet days, Hail storms and even snow on the mountains!
Before the weather turned, we managed to get the last of the hay packed into large round bales. Edd has been fetching them back to the shed one at a time with the tractor. It is not the best quality hay but we now have enough to last through the year. The vegetables are having mixed reactions. Things like beans are doing well but the tomatoes have stopped ripening. Sev helped put nets on the fruit trees and it looks as if we will have plenty of apples and pears.
I check the garden and water as needed. At the same time, I work out what we will eat that day. I enjoy having the daily contact with the garden because all the plants have a history. There are three huge oak trees that Al grew from acorns and jacarandas that he got going by the old dairy. Bo lived in the house when we first went up to the NT, and she introduced the evening primroses and other herbs. We also rehomed the olive and fiscus trees that used to decorate her restaurant.
Wayne gave me the first spider plant that has spread everywhere and Josh brought me other things as gifts. A friend brought the geraniums with light coloured leaves and our Bob planted the first of the loquat trees. It is a garden full of memories and abundance. One of the advantages of living in the same place for so many years. Even things like the wisteria plant that Bo gave to Edd appeared to be lost in the fires but 4 years afterwards it popped up again and threatened to take over everything it could reach.
This week I did the month’s shopping and cooked then froze the month’s bread. Then the rain drove me back into the house so I have got out the wool and started knitting for the baby Al and Pip are expecting in May. Edd has suffered a bad tyre week. First one on the mower and then two on the car went flat. How did we ever get time to cope when we were busy with camps?
Our friend GG has had our eggs for sale on his market stall for years and years but he thinks he will retire soon as he is no longer up to growing enough vegetables. This will change things for us too but it is probably a good time to scale back on everything we do.
