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

Saturday, September 24, 2022

the forgotten post...winter

Hello everyone.

This post has been a long time coming. I have been struggling with depression and looking for ways to drag myself out of the doldrums. Twelve months has ticked over since my dear Mum passed away, and I have really struggled with the trauma of nursing her right up to the end and missing her terribly. I had lost my mojo for life and after having a few health issues related to stress, I decided it was time once that clock ticked over twelve months, that I would pull my socks up and get back to living my life. 

I am looking forward to Spring when the plants will really take off. Right now in the orchard I am harvesting an abundance of grapefruit, lemons, oranges and mandarins. My mango tree is covered in flowers and I am waiting for hubby to get some free time to put a protective fence around my fruit trees so the north wind wont damage them anymore. He is really busy at work with shortages of workers due to the bug. I will finish pruning the grapevines, fig, apricot, peach and nectarine trees on Monday. The weather has almost been Spring-like already, maybe it will arrive early this year. 

In the veggie patch I have silver-beet, beetroot, broad beans, kale, cabbages, parsley, strawberries, garlic, spring onions, potatoes, rhubarb, leeks. The Warringal spinach is doing well and so is the camomile. I have flowers and berries forming on the blueberry bush. I am picking tiny tomatoes that have produced really well all throughout the cold weather. Even the capsicums have been flowering and producing too. The winter has been so cold here, with day after day of frosts and fogs, but little rain, so the ground is very dry. Come Spring, the other dormant plants will burst into growth, things like dragon-fruit, climbing spinach, chives and garlic chives, sage, lemon balm, basil, thyme, oregano. I am going to replace some plants this season with fresh seedlings when the time is right.

I have been madly preparing healthy soil for the veggie barrels and I am setting up some gifted foam boxes as beds also. Some are the wicking type, some are not. I am also going to claim the lawn area for veggie growing because if I am going to waste water on a lawn I might as well grow food! "Grow food, not lawns" as the saying goes. It hasn't been growing properly lately anyway, it is almost dead. I have my thinking cap on about how I am going to go about this new venture. The area does get a lot of sun during summer, so that might be a problem I need to work out.

Gifted pears...yum!


Drying leek leaves...


Processing beetroot once again...


Interesting critters on the grapevine...



Impossible pie made for my Dad...


Foggy mornings...





Tomatoes over winter...


 Geranium...


Dill seedlings...


Lemons...


A gifted succulent...


 My first bromeliad....


Globe artichokes...

 
Geranium...


Flowering succulents...



Baby lettuce that keeps on giving...


Geranium...


Rosemary...


Bees love this succulent flower...



Garlic growing slowly, in the ground this time...


Pretty Jade flower...


The bees even help the quandongs boom. The fruit are like bunches of grapes...


 
The tiny tomatoes continued producing through the colder months...


Trying broad beans for the first time...


Calendula...


Capsicums continued to produce over Winter, although they grew a lot slower...



Blueberries...


Rhubarb...


Chamomile...


An abundance of citrus fruit...Mandarins, oranges and grapefruit. This is what happens when you add bees to your garden production...





The mango tree is covered in flowers and baby mangoes. Hopefully this year I get some fruit. The heat usually destroys them. Once the fence is up, they will be better protected.







The saltbush now covers most of the hot side of the veggie patch. Successful shade experiment...


Pruned Moringa and pigeon peas...


Spaghetti squash still ripening on the vine...


Calendula...



Raspberry...


Spaghetti squash...


Nut and date loaf...


Chrysanthemums...
 


Spectacular sunrises...



*This post has been sitting as a draft that I forgot about. Things have changed around here since these photos were taken. A couple of weeks ago we had a huge storm blow through and it has destroyed a lot of the things you see here in this post. I will post about that very soon.

Have a beautiful blessed week!

xTania 


20 comments:

  1. So glad to see you post Tania! Your citrus crops are just incredible! I hope you are feeling heaps better. xxx

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    1. The citrus was abundant this year. We are still picking oranges, lemons, mandarins and grapefruit although they are almost finished now. I have been feeling better, I am finally moving forward xxx

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  2. I’m glad you have posted. I was wondering how you were going.
    Give yourself the time to grieve Spending time in the garden will definitely help you to try and feel better

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    1. The garden is a great help Angela. Nature is a beautiful healer xxx

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  3. Tania it is great to see you back. I love reading about your garden. As I was reading I was thinking about the hail storm and if these were older photos. I hope that the garden is coming back and you get a good crop of vegies this growing season.

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    1. Thank you Jane. Yes these photos were taken before the storm. It definitely is not looking as good now. Stay tuned I will do an update of how things are progressing soon. Thankfully the veggie patch is doing well xxx

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  4. Wonderful to see you back Tania. You always inspire me. Your garden is so productive and beautiful. Thank-you for sharing. Jo

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    1. Hi Jo. Thank you for your kind words. Things aren't looking as good now since a hail storm went through. I will post photos in the next day or so of the damage. Thankfully Mother nature will return to its former glory, I just have to be patient. Hope you are well xxx

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  5. Beautiful plants! And you are richly blessed in citrus! Sorry about the storms! And your mom...only time will heal...these things take lots of time. prayers for you, Andrea

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  6. I am so sorry to read of your issues Tania .. I had been wondering why you were absent from blogland for quite awhile & hoping everything was okay. Your garden is coming to life with this wonderful spring season - I hope you remember to take care of YOU dear Tania. It will be wonderful to see your posts here when you feel up to it. xx

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  7. Really sorry to hear you have been struggling and the passing of your mum. I've not been in blog world for years so just catching up. Your garden is producing well

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  8. Tania, I am so sorry you have been unwell. Gardening is a real solace for lots of people as I am sure it is for you too. I hope you continue to heal after losing your Mum as it isn’t easy when you have been so close. Big hugs. It is nice to see you back in Blogland once again.

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    1. Thank you for you kind words. Yes the garden is my go to peaceful place these days, more so since Mum's passing. She was a passionate gardener, so my goal is to follow in her footsteps.

      xTania

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  9. Losing a loved one is a huge thing to deal with and grief can be very debilitating that's for sure. A couple of months ago I lost a friend of 30 years who is only 5 years older than me in 8 weeks. She was fine one minute, next got the message to say she is in palliative care and go and say your goodbyes. It was a shock and I still can't believe it happened. I can totally understand why it can be challenging to get back to a new normal life. I do know growing veggies and making sourdough is a feel good thing and hopefully bit by bit things will get easier. When young people die it's very sad and even when older people die it's still sad and we miss our loved ones. Here's to enjoying the little moments. Have a good week.

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    1. So sorry for your loss Kathy, yes losing younger ones is very upsetting and in such a short time. I've just recently in the last week lost an old school mate aged only 58, it was a shock because I didn't know he had been sick. His funeral is today. Since my Mum died I have lost other friends and acquaintances too and that adds to the stress because it brings back all the emotions to the surface.

      Thank you for your beautiful words Kathy, wishing you a lovely week.
      xTania

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  10. I'm glad you are coming back out into the open again. I have dealt with severe depression in the past, so know what that's like. Your pictures are glorious! That citrus! And you know what? I had totally forgotten about date nut loaf..... hurries off to make some. (Thank you and God bless.)

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    1. Thank you for your lovely comment. I am going to the doctors soon because I think I now have a broken heart. Having palpitations regularly so will get it checked out. I am not so depressed anymore, but still finding it hard to recover to full health.

      xTania

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