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Life on two acres of arid dirt, on the edge of the Australian outback.

Sunday, October 11, 2015

Weekly Catchup ~ Around here

Hello dear friends.

Last week was a busy one!  

Hubby has been organising things so he can get the cement floor laid in the shed this coming Monday and Tuesday. Finally we are nearing the end of this long drawn out process.  Maybe some other jobs will get done around here from now on ~ wink, wink! 
J

It has been hot most of the week except for Wednesday when it was a little cooler. It was 38C (100.4F) on Friday.  Yesterday was a little  humid with clouds and thunderstorms kicking around.


Yesterday was also a good day for snakes!  There were two in our chicken coop. Hubby almost trod on one as it slithered in through the trap door just as hubby walked across the pen.  I dont know who got the biggest fright, but I heard hubby yell at the top of his lungs "SNAKE!!" 

We have three broody hens sitting on eggs out there and it is a bit concerning to know that we have more snakes than usual around. Looks like we will need to be more vigilant from now on.  We lost one of our hens to snake bite last year...

Here's what else we have been up to...

We made more wicking barrels. 
We laid out the shade cloth and while I measured and cut, hubby wrapped it around the pipe and zip tied it securely.


Later we took the barrels out to the garden area and set them up.

Put the pipe in...

Added rocks...

Drilled a hole and put in a grommet and drain plug...


Put a cover over the drainage plugs.  This stops any dirt blocking it up.


Next we added some shade cloth. This stops dirt from mixing with the rocks.

Added some straw,

then some soil and plants.
I will add mulch on top now and they are all ready J

I finally transferred the rhubarb plant and it is looking good so far.  I might trim the leaves back to give it more energy to start off.

 And here are the barrels all in a row.
Eighteen all up with another five more to go.

Our fruit trees are doing well...

We have mulberries,

baby nectarines,

apple blossom,

grape vines,

with baby grapes,

 lots of baby apricots...yum, yum!

The fig tree has sprung to life.

Strawberries...

I was being watched very early one morning while I tended the veggie garden.

Every now and then this happens. 
One of our girls laid this teeny tiny egg. 

Another vintage find...  
We went into our local fish and chip shop the other night and they sell all sorts of odds and sods in there.  Hubby was delighted to find this bread box to match the rest of his set.


Whats cooking?
A yummy cereal crumb slice using the leftovers of cereal from the bottom of the box...recipe here.

 A baby sleepy lizard.  
We have a lot of these around this year too.

 If anyone says you wont get snakes if you have these lizards around, does not know what they are talking about. 
We have both!


During the week we had visits from two of our nieces and their children.  They were visiting while on the school holiday break.

On Wednesday we took them to our daughters little farm in nearby Quorn.

Here is their ever growing goat family...


And horse family...



Another wee baby.

 This mare is in foal.  She is due any day now. The blue gadget is an alarm that lets you know when she starts to foal.

 Cousins enjoying time together...

We had a quick sun shower of rain when a storm passed through yesterday.

Followed by a beautiful rainbow. Can it get better than that? 
Maybe a bit more rain would have been nice J

Wishing you all a great week ahead!


30 comments:

  1. It is interesting to see how your fruit trees are a tiny bit ahead of ours in their growth. Our Grapevine was neglected this year so no real signs of life there.

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    1. Are they Cath? I would think it is because of our warmer weather arriving earlier. We pick our apricots just before Christmas and the nectarines and grapes mid January.

      xTania

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  2. Dear Tania,
    You have put so much work into your garden. It is fantastic. I hope you reap great rewards from it.
    What luck with the bread bin! I love the old canisters and tins etc. Just lovely. Also collecting is fun especially when you find the next thing!
    I hope this week isnt hot. it makes everything harder. You are doing a great job and making so much progress. Be careful of snakes! I have been baking Christmas cakes and having a giant clean up. How did I get in this mess!!?
    With love, Annabel.xxx

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    1. The garden has been hard work this year Annabel, but once it is done the maintenance will be dead easy!

      I don't think hubby could believe his luck when he saw that bread bin, his eyes lit up!

      I think snakes are going to be a real problem this year!

      xTania

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  3. I've already had a close encounter with a brown snake this spring. I hope there are no more but it was a good reminder to be careful. Crows have been trying to get into my duck pen for eggs. They are clever things.
    Your garden is looking great. All that work does pay off.

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    1. We have a nest of crows near by the house and they have eaten our eggs before as I have found the shells out on the block near their nest...They haven't been too bad though.

      I am hoping that the garden will be low maintenance once established. It has been hard work, so hopefully worth it. I didn't have to water the beds for nine days and that was over the heat period, so I am happy with that :)

      xTania

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  4. We have mulberries growing on our tree for the first time this year. I have never tasted one so I'm very excited. It's been funny weather here lately. We have had very hot days and cold days and today lots of thunder but only a shower of rain. I was so hoping we would get more. So tomorrow I will need to water the fruit trees. Hope your snakes just move through and you won't have any more incounters xx

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    1. Our mulberries are tiny, probably because of lack of water. They don't usually make it inside because I pick and eat them off the tree!

      It is cool here at the moment but 39C due on Thursday!

      I hope the snakes have moved on too!

      xTania

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  5. Cold night here; we're headed the other direction weather-wise, of course.

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    1. We are lucky with our winters here, they are so mild compared with yours.

      Thank you for the visit Gorges, it was nice to hear from you :)

      xTania

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  6. Dear me, Tania...your wicking beds remind me that I need to start getting hubby to cut some up for me. It is already getting hot so I am way behind this year. I am using my Ollas and some of the ladies on the DTE forum have had success with water spikes filled with sand so I want to try that too. Those snakes would frighten the life out of me as the lizards are bad enough.

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    1. The barrels are a bit of work Nanna Chel, but I think they are going to be worth it. We got nine days without watering at all. The soil was still damp in some barrels so probably would have got a couple more days from them.

      Snakes have been bad the last few years. They seem to like the chook house although there doesn't appear to be any mice out there. Maybe the eggs are an attraction...

      I will have to go and read about those water spikes, you have sparked my interest.

      xTania

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  7. Hello Tania,

    Sounds like a busy and productive week. As your temps. warm up, ours are cooling down, BUT yesterday was a lovely 85 F (29 C), and warm enough to paint our goat field shelter. I'm so glad I was able to get that finished before the snow flies. As a matter of fact, this is our 1st year on the prairie that our temperatures have been this warm in October and haven't had any snow by now.

    Wishing you a blessed week and looking forward to your next post.

    Mrs.B

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    1. The weather cant make up its mind Mrs B. We are very cool today but scorching hot by Thursday! The plants must be so confused. Not that I mind the cooler weather, it gives me a chance to catch up on things I cant do when hot.

      Wishing you a blessed week also :)

      xTania

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  8. Dear Tania, what a great week! Your garden is truly inspiring! The snakes are a worry. We have a carpet python in our roof who is harmless, but we have seen other snakes here from time to time, and similarly, lost a doggie to one, some years ago. Yes, vigilance! I hope your hens are okay. And you'll never guess, but I just bought the very same bread bin, but in pink to add to my collection of vintage canisters! Snap! Lol! Love, Mimi xxx

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    1. Wow what a coincidence re the bread bin Mimi. I have seen the pink and grey ones on eBay. I am presuming that is like the one you got.

      xTania

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  9. Snakes - now there's one animal I just do not warm to. They give me a bad 'start' every time I see on. Anyhow, fabulous breadbox and the canisters on top of the kitchen cupboards look grand too. You garden despite the impossible outback climate you live in is a huge sentiment to you....it actually makes me reconsider some properties I've seen for sale in dryer climes.

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    1. Don't go there Phil lol! It is so depressing when we miss out on the rain that others get...On the other hand, too much rain would be depressing too. I am not sure which would be worse. At least I am finding methods to remedy the situation of expensive water bills just so I can grow veggies. I didn't have to water for nine days so that proves that wicking beds work :)

      xTania

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  10. snakes eat lizards! haha had a good laugh at that one tania, don't think i've ever heard of it before, we get plenty of brown snakes here too.
    good luck with your new garden beds.
    thanx for sharing

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    1. Its funny the things people say sometimes. Old folk law is that if you have sleepy lizards around the snakes will stay away! Bumkin! LOL

      xTania

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  11. Those wicking barrels look great! And your babies look so cute! Life on the land looks quite bliss, bar the snakes and a few degrees.

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    1. Thank you Clarissa. Thanks for dropping by my blog, its great to hear from you.

      xTania

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  12. Yet again my comment has disappeared. Am i being censored? LOL I think i said something along the lines of "got to love a he-man train driver that keeps his eye out for a matching bread bin".

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    1. Something must be eating your comments Lynda. It is so annoying when that happens and usually its after you have written an extra long comment!

      He-man train driver, I like that lol!

      xTania

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  13. I LOVE your wicking barrels Tania, they are amazing. And your fruit trees - our front garden looks like it's been snowing right now. The apple tree is in full blossom and we've had wind and rain and more wind and the blossom has blown off. There's still some on the tree, I'm hoping it sticks, we didn't get many apples (or other fruit) last year due to a storm taking all the blossom off.

    And we have snakes too! While we live in suburbia we have a lot of bush behind us and a neighbour told us over the weekend they had a snake in their yard. We don't have animals and I try to keep everything reasonably tidy (sometimes tidier than others) so I'm hoping they'll think our yard is boring and move on. My grapefruit tree is covered in blossom again and the lemon tree has teeny, tiny lemons - hopefully they'll stand up to the wind.

    It's hot here again today and tomorrow, then a cool change through on Friday for the weekend. Hopefully it will come from the west and give you a bit of a break from the heat.

    Have a lovely week :)

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  14. Dear Cath,

    Luckily we haven't had much Spring wind this year so our blossoms hung on long enough to set fruit. Not sure about the apple tree and how that will go. A bit of hit and miss growing apples in Port Augusta. The fruit is usually really small...fingers crossed that is does well.

    We seem to attract snakes in the chook house. There are no mice out there at the moment so I don't know what the attraction could be other than eggs...Our girls let us know when there is something around! We try to keep things tidy around the yard too so they have nothing to hide under. On warm nights we have to watch out too as they can still be about!

    39C here today, hot north wind, with a cool change tomorrow :)

    xTania

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  15. Thank you for the tour of your yard. Those wicking barrels are genius. I am surprised that you can grow apples there. I was always under the impression that they needed an extended time of really cold weather to survive and thrive.

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    1. Its lovely to have you visit Debbie.

      Thank you for the information about the apple tree. I will wait and see if it produces fruit or not. It is still a young tree, and if it doesn't produce I will replace it with a plum or peach tree :)

      xTania

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  16. A Diamond Python in our street this week.

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    1. Really? That would have been amazing to see :)

      xTania

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Your comments really make my day. Thank you for taking the time and for being so kind.