April.

It been raining here, on and off over the last few days.  I love it.  The gardens love it.  Husband doesn't!  There is stuff that needs doing by him but not when it's wet.   Me, I'm not doing my stuff either but I can't blame the rain! 

I have been home for a couple of weeks now and everything that I was going to do...hasn't been done yet.  But I'm sure it will be, I just need a day or 2 at home, by myself, with no-one else here.  Not sure that that is gunna happen any time soon though.  Husband has a few days work coming up then maybe a week or 2 more but the talk is that there will be a few months of nothing.  At least we have food and money in the bank to pay the bills.  HoHum, another lean Winter.  If there is no work for him I might get some bookshelves put in, that would be pretty cool.  But I went away and came home to a patio out the back so hoping for bookshelves might be pushing it. 

The gardens are looking good.  All the seedlings that we planted are growing, I don't think we lost any of them to slaters which is unusual.  I think having the chickens out and scratching around in them when I was away has gotten rid of most of the slaters and other pesty bugs.

I have picked the last of the Grannys! Husband thinks they aren't quite ripe but I like them.  A bit tart, just like a Granny should be.  We didn't get all these apples, the parrots got a lot, the chooks got some...but we have a few kilos here, I will need to cook and freeze some as I think I will be the only one eating them and I don't want them wasted.   I noticed while I was out there picking them that the mandarins are starting to turn orange so we will need to net these before the parrots make a start on them too.

I have Chokos.  Not many are big enough to pick yet but there are heaps of flowers and maybe 1/2 dozen that will be ready within the week.

Chooks are still laying.  they started again while I was away and though I'm not getting as many as they say they did, we have a fridge full. 

We haven't done the extraction yet but will need to really soon.  Husband put another box on a couple of the hives when I was away so I have a couple of triple deckers out there now but we'll need to get them extracted and back down as doubles before Winter gets here.   I have cleaned the extraction shed so it is all ready to go, just waiting on us to be here with the time to make a start and I am thinking that the next warm day when we are both home might have to be that day but we are both busy for the rest of this week.  And next weekend.  And Monday, Wed and Thursday next week I am at Vinnies all day...It will happen though, it has too.

We have a pig in the coolroom, son will cut it up next week and it will be added to the near empty freezer.  We have a bit of the young bull left in there, not much but something we do have is...Venison.   And it is so nice!  Son has been wanting to get a deer for the last few years, he sometimes sees one when he is out pigging and a few weeks ago he was in the right place at the right time and BANG!   Venison on the barby.   By next month there should be another young bull in there too so meat for the rest of the year will be sorted.  If I can just keep the gardens stocked and growing then work or no work, we will be able to survive for months.

I am looking after the granddaughter again tomorrow, at Vinnies on Thursday, out to lunch on Friday, FreeMarkets on Saturday, visitors on Sunday and Vinnies again next Monday.  I remember not so long ago when I had nothing to do and nowhere to go...Sometimes we have to be careful of what we wish for...

April. Time to get back into it all.

I'm home after 3 weeks in Tasmania.  People back here have been busy while I was away.  The fridge gardens are all shifted, painted to look better too.  All the lawns were mowed, the edges whippersnippered, the yard looks really good and should be easy to keep that way so hope I do...  Tiff had tidied up inside for me and the place hadn't looked so good in a long time.  After a few days of me being home though...looks like I need to go away again so she can get it back the way she had it!

Had a birthday, lots of pressies some of which were seedlings for the gardens.  Great, I was needing these and now they are planted and the gardens are looking good too.  Husband has put in a new watering system so it will be easy to keep everything watered.

The young chickens have been out of their pen since before I left so at least the slater population is down.  Downside to escapee chookens?  Anyone with a garden and chooks that escaped will know the answer to that!  We have put them in a different pen, hoping they can't get out because if they do...goodbye seedlings and hello chicken soup!

I am going to get all the gardens back up and producing heaps of food this year, enough for us with extra for selling.   I want the yard to start paying for itself and think that I might be able to manage it with the honey and excess vegetables and fruit.  And plants that I have been talkin about potting up but haven't yet.  I will get the pots cleaned up and a few things planted in them over the next few weeks so come Spring...they will be ready to sell.

The hives need extracting so we will have another batch of honey for sale soon.   I still haven't all gotten the hives moved into the Apairy but now that the days are getting shorter and it is darker and cooler earlier I will be able to start moving them closer again.  I can only move each hive a foot or two at a time but because I forget or the bees are still flying around when I go to do it it is taking forever.  They are quite close now so should be able to be moved the rest of the way over the next month or so.

Chooks seem to have started laying again, had a fridge full of eggs when I got home.  Gave most away so hope the chooks keep up their end of the job and we don't run short again.  I need to oil their legs again soon too, a few are looking a bit scaley.   I think I still have enough oil left in the big drum but will check and get more if I need too.   This leg oiling will be a job for the weekend.  It is a messy job but something that does need doing on a regular basis.   The oil smothers the mite that causes the scaley leg.  I use old oil that I get from the fish and chip shop, it works by smothering the mites, there is no need to fork out money on chemicals or expensive oils at all.

There are Chokos on the vine, only small but they grow quite fast so shouldn't be too long before we can start picking and eating them again.  I really need to get a couple of vines growing elsewhere too.  I say this every year but for one reason or another they like the spot in the tank gardens out the back.  I want them to grow up over the chookpen fences out the front.  I will keep trying and eventually they will get the message!

I will take photos of how things are looking out there over the next week or so.   The whole yard has had changes made to it while I was away, it looks really good so thankyou to everyone that stayed home here and helped with it.  A big thankyou to husband for doing everything he did for me while I was away...Love ya Babe!