OBSERVATIONS:
It's been a few weeks of crazy hot. Some things have survived (and thrived) others...have not.
Things that have thrived: the CORN in the vegepod, likewise the TOMATOES and ZUCCHINI. The MELON (moon and stars) is still growing (which is a miracle in and of itself) and while the SWEET PEAS aren't exactly flowering, they're still growing, too.
Interestingly, the CORN in the clover did okay, but not great. I wonder if it didn't get enough water, and that's why it didn't grow very much? The TOMATOES that I planted out under the DUAL STONE also didn't grow very much before fruiting – a decent crop but not the huge plants I was expecting.
The MANGO lost all its fruit – I don't know for sure, but I strongly suspect that the local birds picked it all off. Next year, as soon as it sets fruit, the netting goes on! But beneath it, the DAHLIAS are blooming quite nicely!
And I have BANANAS! This is new, never had a bunch before! Need to cover them over before too long or the bird might destroy them!
CHOOKS:
One of our chooks has left us – unexpectedly, it was not Haamyu the black one who was sick the last time I wrote in here, but Daofu, her white counterpart, who got a cancerous growth in her belly and had to be put down. She is now safely composting for the next year in a compost bin that's well away from any of the usual spaces where anything is likely to dig her up. (Except the rats. And they can take their chances!)
Otherwise, the two little girls are laying (Kerry and Gladys) like clockwork – we probably won't have them for more than another year or two before their bodies give up. Goong was broody through most of November, then came off it, laid for about two weeks and is about to go broody again. Instead, Siyao went broody through the early half of December – she's never gone broody before, so that was very unexpected!
I need to move the chooks to the TRIANGLE ORCHARD and the driveway space so they dig around there and peck everything down. Even scratch a few things up where possible. Also, get at the fruit flies that are more or less decimating my tomatoes and which will probably also get to the PERSIMMONS. So many things to do, so little time.
a slightly bedraggled Kerry - she's the bottom of the pecking order!
COMPOST:
The compost I had my garden helper assist me in building got to 50C and stuck there for at least a week. It was fully active until I went away at the start of December and when I came back it had cooled some.
I should probably rebuild it, turning it over and incorporating a whole heap of shredded comfrey leaves. Right now, I'm digging it out, but I can still make out some of the components which isn't the best. But the main issue with rebuilding it is that it takes time, energy, and a strong back, and mine is rapidly going.
PREPARING:
The chook tractor is still on the CREPE-LYCHEE (I don't know what to call this bed), and I need to take it off and move it elsewhere for the girls to use for a while.
I need to set up the APRICOT/LYCHEE bed for receipt of the next tree (attempt).
Trees I have to plant:
APRICOT
BLACK SAPOTE
WHITE SAPOTE
ICE CREAM BEAN
KUMQUAT
SOUR CHERRY
CAMELLIA SINENSIS
(bush)
UNKNOWN (sincerely, I can't remember, I'm terrible with
labelling)
SEEDING:
I need to sow more mixes – leafies and roots, mostly. I haven't been terribly assiduous about it, and with the uneven hot days, it's been difficult to get things growing before a heatwave comes along and burns it to the ground.
Maybe put down some soil, plant the seeds and water in, cover with about an inch of pea mulch. Would that be enough to give it the insulation it needs against the crazy heat? Maybe...
PLANTING OUT:
GINGER in the small VEGEPOD, behind the tomatoes. Maybe I should plant another of the MELONS? I don't know which go where and I've never been very lucky with melons, but if I went with one of the warpaints, maybe? Do I still have melon seeds?
HARVEST:
TOMATOES in great numbers. The first round of CORN was eaten. Some BEANS – I think they're a butter bean. I also have some dragon's tongue BEANS that are doing nicely. Hopefully at some point, we'll get EGGPLANTS, but the single one I've gotten to fruiting stage is not looking very good with the recent heatwaves.
RASPBERRIES and STRAWBERRIES and ALPINE STRAWBERRIES are all regularly fruiting. Not much, but it doesn't have to be much – just one or two a day and we're good.
At some point there'll be a PUMPKIN – the Galeaux D'Eysines it definitely is: that pink and warty look that's so typical of the type!
FEEDING:
CORN again, maybe TOMATOES. Do the POTATOES need any?
Maybe if I fed the back beds, they might do better? But also, they need more regular watering, I think... I don't know how to do that more regularly, unless it's mulching them pretty heavily so they have a chance to properly set roots before a heatwave comes along...
PRUNING:
Both the DUAL PLUM and the FOUR-STONE and the CHERRY and the DONUT PEACH need some serious trimming down in January or February, and then shredding the rest.
Next year, I need to trim down the PERSIMMON significantly – it's shading out the rest of the bed. If I can do it after the harvest at the end of summer, that would probably be best.
THOUGHTS:
With everything looking the way it is in the world right now, I sincerely don't think we're going to conquer climate change. It takes too much will, too much effort, and too many people are caught in the money trap. Most of those with the capacity to believe that we're changing the way the planet works aren't willing to change anything so long as they don't.
Basically, I believe we're screwed.
So my job on this property is both to pay off the mortgage so it's ours in title and deed, free of the bank – which I can do in the next two years if my current job holds.
Extensions are never going to happen. I've settled with that. I wish we could afford some house improvements - get rid of the asbestos, insulate, and replace the fake weatherboard with real wood weatherboard. But that'll take way more money than we have, although if I could hold this job for another five years, then we might have the money – but who knows where the market will be by then?
Energy wise, we need to get on a solar battery ASAP. Preferably two. I should check in with a friend who I think does something related to solar community... I mailed him about it maybe five, six years ago when I first heard what he did. Need to go back and re-read those; I wasn't in the space to parse it all then, I kind of am now.
The other job I have is to maximise food production, which is going to be a lot more difficult. Limestone Permaculture manage it, and they have a knowledgeable and committed couple and their daughter on an acre of land, with a community both locally and more broadly. We have some starches – the taro is an excellent starch through the winter, and I can kind of do potatoes and pumpkins – more starches. The eggs provide protein, although we're dependent on getting more chickens as they die off, and we're not slaughtering them. (They probably wouldn't be very big anyway. Meat birds are a very different proposition to layers.)
I have the knowledge, actually using it and refining it to make a regular harvest is another matter. That said, I'm pretty sure that we could produce enough basic calories to survive on this site; whether they would be useful and suitable and of sufficient variety? That's another matter.
Deep and depressing thoughts, I guess. I'm not giving up, and neither should anyone reading this, but realistically, we don't have the social/political will nor the awareness to see what's coming, let alone meet it on a social scale. Individual and small community will have to be it.
