Ahh, another day in the Australian bush. Nothing beats it!
I’ve got a few posts planned on managing work flow around the homestead at different times of the year and also a few day in the life style ones that will cover off what our day looks like when we’re purely outside on the homestead doing regular chores or projects.
Today is one of those days. We had our earth mover out last week and he did an amazing job on the back paddocks, clearing the dense shrubbery and asparagus weeds. He got about 99% of them honestly and I am so happy. They are a pain to remove manually because they’re like a carpet on the ground, and I am very hesitant to use dycamba or glyphosate as my horse and his companion (maybe an alpaca!) will be permitted to graze in that space eventually. I am also vehemently opposed to anything by Monsanto so there’s the ethical issues around it as well.
Whilst he was here we also asked him to split a burn pile we had in the front paddocks into two, for easier burning and management of two burn piles. This is a pile that has been gathering dust for almost 6 years (basically was here when we moved here) and my husband decided today was the time to do it as it was a manageable size. We’re permitted to burn 2x2x2 without a permit, but anything larger it’s best you get a permit from the fire brigade beforehand, just so they know what’s going on and don’t need to send out a truck if someone reports the smoke. Where we live people don’t dob other people in, but they do have a general care factor for the wellbeing of their neighbours and its more out of good neighbouring that a fire truck ends up at your place as your neighbour was concerned with the huge smoke they saw from a distance. The fact that was generated from a fresh bushel of paperbark is another story!
And also, with the La Nina forecast again for this year, and the wet season normally scheduled to start in September, it is timely now, as the winter days start to wane that we get the property ready for summer storms and flash flooding.
I spent my morning in the garden. The deep mulch I did a month or so ago has been fantastic. It has kept all weeds at bay, kept the soil warm and helped keep the garden beds clear and ready for planting. Earlier this week I lost some radish overnight one night. My friend and pro gardener A Lil Bit Hippie said it was likely humidity and heat in the area, and so I ventured off to the garden store and got a soil thermometer and a generic thermometer just for my hot house. I seem to have only lost the radish, but some things didn’t come up at all and I am wondering if its because I planted an autumn/winter seed instead. I think I may have, which would make sense that it didn’t come up if that were true.
So I planted a stack of new seedlings that are slated for Spring/Summer sowing, as South East Queensland is already getting warm. I think I’ll move my summer planting schedule up as well, just to mitigate any issues with temperature fluctuations. This morning I planted radish, 3 different types of tomato, a heap of lettuce, some lemongrass, capsicum and cucumber. Next weekend I will also get a head start on some watermelon and chilis. I also planted out two avocados I started from seed, and I have four more waiting to release their little root. I cannot wait to see how they turn out. I planted them into the soil as of today and yesterday, so the bigger one is showing some slight stress but hopefully it will settle soon.
And other than that the majority of our projects have been getting through the winter stuff. My husband is feeling so much better with his surgery recovery and has had a chance to catch up on so many little jobs lying around that make a huge difference to how the place feels and also in seeing progress you’ve made on your homestead. There is always work to do on a homestead, but it’s nice to do a chunk and look around and see you’ve made some pretty big changes.
If you’re interested in seeing what else we do around the farm, make sure to keep reading and link in with our socials. We update regularly on the progress of our projects. You can also subscribe to our blog to make sure you get all the round-ups and updates first!
