Just Justin and myself again, no kids or cat. It makes it a lot easier....
Over the last few days there has been terrifically high winds, so we wondered if the garden would be fenceless. It wasn't, although the front fence is certainly looking very shaky...
First thing was to get rid of that intrusive hoop pine root, that has cracked the side of the house. I dug down with the mattock and broke up one root. But is it the only one? I'll have to do some more investigative digging? And how low should I go? Still no gold nuggets unfortunately.
Justin roamed around the garden armed with a bucket of poison and a sprayer, keen to eradicate as many weeds as he could. I did also did a bit of weeding the old fashioned way by hand, and cut back the raspberry canes. I also tried replanting them, so we'll see if they take root from cuttings.
However, it started to rain, so we decided to cut our losses, made a fire in the dining room and got nice and cosy in there. We didn't really feel like working out in the rain, as it was a bit miserable, and it was pleasant to sit and read the newspaper, while Justin strummed on his guitar. Unfortunately the weed spraying was probably for nought, as it would have washed away.
David had given me a pail of goat milk for Helen (to make into yogurt) and also a couple of savoury drop biscuits which he made on his wood fire stove - directly on its "hotplate" - no pan involved. This appeals to me, so I'll try it out also. I've just had a quick scan of google to see if I can find any recipes, I can't, so I'll have to experiment myself.
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| pail of goat milk & biscuits |
He also gave me a Russian garlic leaf, which is quite wide, and edible. I think I've got one in my vegie patch,as I had transplanted one from near his fence, and it looks similar (like a young corn plant)
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| Russian garlic leaf |
Pub for dinner, the first time in a long time. We met up with Steve and Denise there, and their daughter Emma.
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| Steve, Emma, Denise & me |
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| Denise & me |
They also had a rock & roll band (duo) playing, which was a bit of fun
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| band #1 |
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| band #2 |
People got up to dance, including Steve and Denise who are excellent rock n roll dancers. Any thoughts that Justin and I would get up quickly evaporated when we saw how it was done properly!
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| Steve & Denise showing how it's done #1 |
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| Steve & Denise showing how it's done #2 |
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| Steve & Denise showing how it's done #3 |
Anyway, it was a fun night, although dinner was a bit slow...We saw Gordon on the other side of the bar, and invited him over to have a drink with us. He told us that it would rain all day tomorrow.
Luckily it didn't, the morning dawned bright and sunny, but cold. I decided to make us some eggs on the wood fired stove, as well as boiling up the water for the coffee on the stove. An electric free breakfast! Afterwards we went back out in the garden, Justin used the whipper-snipper and trimmed around the yuccas, as Gordon couldn't cut the grass/weeds between them
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| lot of weeds between the yuccas |
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| Justin trimming the weeds |
We also planted the loquat tree that I'd brought from home - in preparation for our "heritage" orchard. I had spoken to Rodney (the fruit tree guy) earlier, and he'd recommended waiting until September/October for the quince tree. He also said his pomegranates were too small, just little sticks really, so we should get one from somewhere else.
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| Loquat tree |
The trip back to Melbourne was horrendous in places! It started pouring well before the Great Dividing range. I was driving, and hunched forward, hands clenched on the wheel in order to see and drive better. Cars were still driving very fast, and making additional spray fly up, making it even harder to see. Luckily no accidents, although we did have to slow down quite sharply at times, because of a oversize load in front. The other side of the Divide there was a brilliant double rainbow. Justin took a few photos of it through the window, despite the moving windscreen wipers
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| rainbow #1 |
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| rainbow #2 |
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