By way of introduction I should start this blog with a proper explanation of what it is all about.
You see I have just finished one career, (24 years in total) in the Australian and British Defence Forces and am embarking upon my next, and final one for life. To become an organic gardener, upon a 40 acre Macadamia farm in northern Gympie, on the edge of the Blackall Ranges, SE QLD. The plan is simple. Well as simple as it can be. To farm the macadamias and anything else that I can, in a holistically organic approach. With some animals thrown in for good measure too.
I don't expect to become an overnight sensation, far from it, just wish to keep in touch with family and friends via this blog - a means to communicate to many; all at once. Lets face it we all use the internet in some way or another, and for me now to be in the second last stage of my life (ie post children - well I am 50+) it makes sense to be able to communicate to all my friends simultaneously. The organic concept has always been a passion for me and something I wanted to start many years ago, which I did in small ways; composting; recycling; re-using; etc, etc, etc. In fact I expect we all have done things along these lines, but I always wanted to do it in such a way that was, simply, truly professional. And BIG.
So hence the idea was born to create a farm that encompassed all of those ideas - onto one palette.
I remember drawing out a sketch of a farm house on a large landscape - and it was a picture I kept ''in my back pocket'' for many years ...I would dream about that property...mesmerised by the concept, I couldn't stop planning it in my mind. Eventually it was like overload.. my brain just had enough. WRITE IT ALL DOWN....my head kept screaming at me. So I did in 2016. Well more like a crazy brain dump onto a mish-mash of A4 papers stuck to the dining room wall. But it worked. Once the ideas where out of my head space and onto that wall...I could finally think clearly and literally join up the dots. And there were lots, and lots of them.
The dots (or ideas) eventually formed themes and then a timeline of projects, split into years or stages. And once they were regurgitated onto that paper it began from there. I remember the many times I tried to explain it all to my housekeeper (at the time) who was helpful enough to listen again and again, but just talking it over and over with her helped to consolidate the concept and develop ideas further. (Thanks Glenda!)
And now after a frenzied 12 months looking for the right property, I truly believe I have found it.
40 acres of beautiful orchard landscape just north of Gympie township, with ample irrigation, slope for drainage and further paddocks for future planting/grazing. And every morning I wake up with renewed hope and excitement for my future, but not just for me, but for the work I wish to further and the projects I will create, and for the people I will employ... to enhance organic practices and indigenous horticulture.
Welcome to 'Baupal Park Farm' everyone and my Organic Odyssey. If I can inspire you to do what is truly your passion - then let this blog be your catalyst.
Listen to your heart.
16 April 17
Its been just on 6 weeks now and time to get this farm blog really rolling. I mean we had the rains from TC Debbie that filled three dams and tested out a seriously shaky porch roof, but we made it. Three seals with zinc tape and some builders goo did the job, in between the rain showers. Was quite pleased with myself this morning when washing hung out yesterday afternoon made it through the night undrenched while under the porch. Time will tell how well it has worked ...or not.
It seems Rex has found going in the dam at night is something very naughty to do, especially after biscuits and his walk...mum wont leave me outside at night to get cold! A comment from owner about how is he staying so clean..."he takes himself for a bath in the dam daily" I said.
( I will add quickly in here - Rex is my 17 month old Labrador Retriever )
( I will add quickly in here - Rex is my 17 month old Labrador Retriever )
Needless to say the dog (aka son number 3) has taken to farming life like a duck to water (literally).
He now snores on lounge floor dreaming of roo's in the morning mist... or prancing around to entertain 'See-more', the tenants one eyed chestnut stallion, in paddock 50m to my left. Such is life.
So for tonight its homemade organic spelt flour sourdough with truffle cheddar and camembert, cabsav, red grapes and walnuts...quite a tasty supp I must say. The kick ass crumbly cheddar is pretty fab too. But this is a special tipple for getting two major tasks completed today. Despite them being relatively simple I've been putting them off, and off....AND offfffff....since I arrived.
Setting up the wireless printer and this blog... So wine was my reward, and a mad dash to the Bottle-O with Rex in tow procured a bargain, 2 for $16? What more could you want to sit down and write your blog... And why so difficult in setting up printer? Don't ask...(slurp) I have been pretty busy.
Setting up the wireless printer and this blog... So wine was my reward, and a mad dash to the Bottle-O with Rex in tow procured a bargain, 2 for $16? What more could you want to sit down and write your blog... And why so difficult in setting up printer? Don't ask...(slurp) I have been pretty busy.
Rex is now inside and whinging because he cant get into the dam again. Whoofing at moving shadows wont make me let you out again either Rex...mmm more cheddar.
Unfortunately there is always a down side to being a farmer and I must say dealing with having to eradicate certain pests is my main problem so far. Shooting them I mean. Black cockatoos. The ''soring black secateurs'' - I call them - because they destroy the tree foliage, and thence the tree. Why cant they just snack at the nut that drops to the ground? There's plenty to go around apparently. No they have to reek havoc in the tree tops and rip the new branches off too. Daniel Boom (aka single bore sg) and I have become very well acquainted with early morning hunting sprees....so army has something to answer for there. I think I am winning this battle so far...nothing over orchards today.
So far my main tasks have been to clean up the front of cottage and the back, so I can have a simple garden to look out over, some herb boxes suspended off the railings and planter boxes made out of palette trays for behind the cottage. Very clever they are, and have permeable membranes inside to hold soil but allow water through. And then I'll get some chooks.
Need more cheese.
I found the planters online (FB actually) you know that marketplace site? About 3' x 4' each and 2' deep. Anyways - after some well placed negotiations I got 5 large planters for $230 and they got collected this week. Now to just position them behind cottage. But first we need to let our newest arrivals do their bit - chickens. I have 4 so far, enough to keep me happy with. Road Island Red, Leghorn, Black Lace and a cross of some sort. Once they clean up the back of cottage area (you know weeds and worms etc) then I'll position the planter boxes and plan how to fill them.
The soil here is awesome - simply magical. Black and crumbly. When at TAFE last year I remember the turd test we did for soil texture. If you squeeze a clump in your hand and it resembles a baby pooh, but then crumbles under slight pressure - that's the stuff of gold. Well almost -until I do all the soil analysis testing. But looking at how the trees are growing, I don't think it will be a problem to boost nutrition by much. That in itself is next major task. To fill the planter boxes with a new composition of original black soil and cut it down with sand and other well rotted organic matter. And this is where the fun starts, because next week we are getting out the harvester, collecting nut and de husking. Its the husk I am most interested in at the moment.
Getting that husk to break down into a soft crumbled matter will greatly enhance the humus levels of the soils I plan to test and trial. Yes the master plan...
Rex has moved to my side of the cottage at my feet. Me thinks he wants my cheese.
22 April 17
Sunday mornings are surely for the sleepy eyed. But the baby yelps for attention while eyeing my bed end through the porch window told me I wasn't to be under my patchwork quilt for much longer.
"Rex - shut it", did nothing for stopping the earnest whimpers of my furry child. I had to get up.
Imagine a pony as a Pogo stick. Literally hopping around on all fours at the push of a button. So it is when Rex wants to go for a walk, so we finally set out for a morning stroll around the lower orchard.
Now back in cottage, my coffee has just finished gurgling, so I can pump my brain cells to regurgitate all this to you. Well that's a better word than verbal vomit, but got a lot to write this morning. I brew freshly ground beans every morning, and cook them on a small gas stove, camping size, the ones that only need a small aerosol can to operate. At less than $1.20 per can its only costing me $4.45 every 2-3 weeks so far.
Back to the walk (and my prancing puppy) who bounces along beside me, despite the 40 acres available to him, he still needs me to take him out!! Yet the dam is his favourite adventure once our turn of lower orchard is over. I lost sight of him at one point while browsing for some wild flowers, only to see ripples on the dam - yep he was in it again.
Chickens. As I view them from my kitchen table seat, are merrily inventing their own dust bowl, in between the exposed roots of an old Camphaloral stump, use to create the boundary of their yard together. Their pen for overnight in is a properly constructed steel cage, a 'chook mowers pen' to wheel around. But I've made it stationary to create a boudoir for my little girls. Wings to get clipped yet - they want like me too much after that!
Lower orchard - yes we walk this path each morning, and it encircles the lower macadamia trees along the paddock with Seymour grazing. For a 'one eyed horse' he can spot a carrot held aloft at 50m just fine. Apparently his real name is Buddy ??? He still answers to See-more.
Upon clearing the yard for the chickens and vege garden boxes I found a pawpaw tree smirking under the Camphaloral tree, now standing proud as a maturing specimen for the back garden. We had one at the old house on the Gold Coast, with such fat and luscious coral pink fruit I was selling them onto Flannery's Organic Grocer along with a variety of white and red eggplants, chillies and mulberries too. Now I plan to use that stock to create a much bigger fruiting garden here. Unfortunately the weight of the fruit on the old pawpaw collapsed the stem in two - something to learn for this adventure.
A visit last month to the Gold Coast property saw me collect about 50 mulberry cuttings. They are now interwoven into a lattice effect to create a natural hedge, each end trimmed and dipped into some hormone rooting powder. The effect will be - hopefully - to create a fruiting wall - (hmm one had not thought how much chickens may like the fruit though?) Oh well I'll get the fruit at the top instead.
The cockatoos have been very quite lately, following buckshot puffs of tail feathers at 100ft, am not surprised. I believe there are two main flocks; one more local and the other roosts in the national park forest about 3 km to west. They send out scouts early in morning to check on orchard area to be scavenged, or whether I am awake and walking around yet or not. That's one of reasons a morning walk is required - not just for my four legged Pogo pony - but to survey the skyline for those pesky black secateurs. And today thankfully none where around.
My other feathered companions are my Ringneck parrots. Two yellow and one white. My white one is a female and very cute, lovable and cheeky. This morning after breakfast, (which she insists upon sharing with me) she preceded to play for ages with my fingers as I twitched them back and forth across my stomach at her. 'Bonne-Bonne' - as I call her, sure knows her name, and if left to climb out of her cage in morning will gleefully follow me around my inner cottage dwelling, attempting to climb up my pyjama legs. With that successfully achieved she will then, while I am casually reading a novel, remove my glasses from my face to make me play with her. How can I resist - too cute for words.
The cottage itself is a cathedral style space of only 18m square with a single bedroom and small living area/kitchenette. Double sliding glass doors open onto front and side porches (all complete with leaky roof...still) and a tiny shower room with sink and a small amount of storage space but no ''toilette''. That's right. Only my thunderbox.....you know the portable camping type of toilet? ...yep which needs to be emptied every 7 days or so. Porridge for breakfast every morning keeps that in check!! Well at least I've got a hot shower! I reckon a composting toilet will need to be built in future, but for moment that can wait.
Its very cosy though so here's a picture to show you. With a wall-hanging I made to decorate it with, from lama wool, antique cotton lace, mohair wool, mink clippings and hair - yes human hair...from old extensions plaited together. The butterflies were natural extinctions, found by roadside and ostrich feathers from internet...left over from another project. A tiny birds nest too, found abandoned by a river side hedge, complete with token macadamia eggs.
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| The tiniest of kitchens |
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| The tiniest of living rooms |
23 April 17
Today I finally made a start on the IMOs for farm...IMO what?
Indigenous Micro Organisms. (Just bear with me people). So for those of you who have been following me creating this organic journey before I arrived here, you will have an idea of what's going on. Imagine someone who takes antibiotics constantly, which as we know isn't a good thing eeh??!
Now for a little bit of soil science ....
So if trees are left to be fed on chemical fertilisers and sprayed with other chemical muck, the trees health will deteriorate, and it will not be able to fight of infection from fungus and pests. Sure the pests that are meant to be killed off will die, and all the other beneficial insects will be too. All this residue has to end up somewhere ....yep that's right the soil. And then eventually in our water ways too.
When the soil has the right amount of bacteria (think of your bowel here) then the tree is able to extract the right amount of nutrient from soil; in effect the bacteria helps the tree achieve this and then regulates pH as well. Then along comes Round-Up. This is just one example of a chemical that destroys beneficial bacteria's in the soil. It will take three years for a farm to become totally Organically Certified, and that my friends began for me on 17 March 17. The health of soil is starting point as trees wont benefit unless soil is healed first. No more chemicals people...no more.
So IMOs. This means I create a super culture of soil bacteria in a growing medium (cooked rice), then re-introduce it back to the soils that are depleted. Its a little more complicated than that but the end result will be to have soil free of leeched chemical and loaded with beneficial bacteria and fungi.
That's it in a simple nutshell (maca of course). If you want to know more, just google Chris Trump (no direct relation I presume) and click on his Korean Natural Farming techniques on Youtube.
24 April 17
Had some tractor time on JD today (John Deere my dear), removing an old diseased peach tree (made good fire wood) and extracted an old tractor tire from dam to prep up a bespoke pumpkin patch; got the harvester ready for next weeks run...yep its nut collecting time people. The possibility that this old peach tree has contributed to some of the extensive fungal growth on trees is a high probability. So out it goes. There is a good sized mango tree close by though which will stay, albeit with some pruning, I reckon we will get some good crops of mangoes in future from it too.
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| That's not the John Deere my dear! |
Then this evening I watched Venus rise.
She was magnificent; a slow creeping six point diamond lifting up her head off the gum canopy into the night sky. Just beautiful. The trees made a black lace backdrop to her arrival. With some slow melodic jazz playing in the background and my merlot in hand, one might be surprised to think I was in paradise - I think I am. With a productive day completed, its hard to focus on anything serious once dusk comes, just lay back on porch with a nice red and some Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald. Yes its time for a well earned hot shower.
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| View to the west - with a wine in hand |
28 April 17
Anzac day came ...... and went. It was very hard to join in with any marching this year, still too close to the bone. But I did make a good start on my pruning. Now into the 3rd day and setting down 5 hours a day with solid horticultural haircuts. The fun will really start when I have to collect all those cuttings to be burnt. Oh my god the trees here don't look like they have been pruned properly for years. The plan will be to try and prune 10 trees per day. ( I did say try). But some are in such a bad state, that if I only make 7 trees per day, so be it. With a total 1816 trees on site at present it will be will need a consistent 4 per day to get ahead. However not planning on pruning in the rain, that would be silly.
So I had to start somewhere and chose the longest row on farm. 64 trees in total for this row, along the eastern boundary near highway. (Only another 1750 trees to go). With extra sheltered shade from native trees over boundary there is a lot of damp in this row, sour soil with moss and with excess dead wood comes fungal growth, moss and lichen on branches. But the change is amazing with only 18 trees done it just looks so much better already.
My holistic organic concept means I cant use any paint on the branches to cover the fresh wounds from excessive cutting. So I am rubbing raw garlic onto the cut ends. This should have the effect of reducing any fungal contamination into raw cuts. Well it works on skin cuts! And when I used to get a sore throat coming on, a sliver of raw garlic to chew on always knocked that sore throat out very fast. I'll know in a few days how the lichen growth responds to raw garlic. If it works well, will just have to buy more Russian garlic cloves!
The chicken coop now is fully functional and is standing in proud place in my back yard. That's the little bit of space behind the cottage and in between lower equipment shed (which is 4 times size of cottage). Chooks are grooming the area clean for me quite well now, before I put the planter boxes into place. But we must say the noise they made when I clipped their wings - holy sit you'd think I was going to wring their necks (two years later I will) but good god they screeched. So I only got two chooks clipped, and will let them recover first before I do the next two. Was amusing though. Eventually will build a bespoke chicken coop onto the end of the equipment shed, once they've done their job with pest control.
Last job for today was to put another spelt dough onto prove. It takes no time now to get the dough ready to bake, so will have a nice fresh loaf by tomorrow night. Here's a picture of the last one to wet your appetites, proving in morning sunshine.
03 May 2017
Harvest day has finally arrived and begun. The main tractor was driven by owner, once the ground was dry enough, to collect first bin load - 250kg. Followed by another. The first bin was emptied into hopper at top shed for sorting which took us 75 minutes. Its not the most exciting work to write about but quite satisfying to sift through a seasons worth of mature nut on roller table - small short table of rolling pins that move nuts along for picking out. So half a tonne in under 2 hours - not bad.
I hope to be able to collect nut myself soon before end of the month.
12 May 2017
Wet weather set in again a few days ago and this morning the sun came out - with the glorious warmth it brings. The cottage has no heating. And with a vaulted ceiling it gets quite chilly. So after a trip to visit friends on Gold Coast I was gifted a portable heater that can be moved from room to room. Yes well my mansion means it will stay put in one place only. So this morning I enjoyed a luxurious warmth from a heater, picked up a book and read in bed till 8am. Sacre bleu! What is wrong with me...but was good book.
With wet weather comes fuller dams and I was not privileged to Rex's Commonwealth Games swimming selection, as he has been practising a lot lately. However we have rearranged his kennel and he now sleeps on smaller porch off the kitchen side of cottage, which frees up the main porch. It also gives him a clearer view of chicken pen area....and any visiting vermin. Foxes and feral dogs are main issue, with a few early wake up calls by Rex last week. It started at 2am, thanks Rex. And he was most cranky at something out there in the dark. When living in isolation on a farm, any night time noise sounds much louder than city noise. So I climbed out of my solitary warm spot in bed to step out onto porch...very dark....lots of barking. But nothing to be seen, or so I thought.
Only 3 days before the main vermin on farm, a black cockatoo, had been shot and had been collected by a black eagle. The carcass was laid out on the grass, about 50m from house. After a day or two the eagle arrived, in all its glory; wing span as wide as my living area, 3 metres easily. It took a few attempts but she finally got the carcass lifted and soared off to feed her offspring. How did I know it was female? Well I didn't truly, but good old David Attenborough once told me only female eagles hunt...so that's that.
And now as I strained my eyesight into the dark I got a glimpse of something smudged onto the grass line, around where the carcass had laid. Rex was now growling quite aggressively, and of course I wasn't going to venture off the porch into the dark. But remembering an old adage from military training whilst on sentry duties...sometimes if you stare into the dark too often at night your eyes begin to play tricks on you. It was those tricks I was hoping for now. It was too cold at 2am so knowing the chickens were safely locked up, I went back to bed. But the same thing occurred for next two nights. Then as suddenly as it began, it stopped.
As I was driving into town yesterday to get some domestics in order, I passed a dogs carcass on road. Not a fox, which are quite little with mange looking here, but a dingo. So I believe the night time visitor we had was that dog. Well at least Rex is doing a great job.
Pruning has been temporarily halted for next two weeks, mainly due to harvesting being under way, but also due to a bad knee, one that will require surgery next week. Its not major but will set me back a few weeks with rehab. In the meantime I have begun the potash manufacture, by burning all the recent pruning's and old nuts. I have never seen such hot flame from a fire, and as the nut has such high oil content its really not that surprising. Once the shell burns off the oil in nut alights and up she goes. A hot blue haze above the incinerator with fine blue black smoke. Its so hot almost too dangerous to be left unattended, so only a kilo of nut at a time can be burnt. The result is super fine ash, perfect for the compost pantry. And must get this potash into a large bin for storage now, before the next big rains arrive.
All this rain is great for
trees…not the porch which, yes you guessed, is still leaking. Well at least I
have accepted defeat and the whole porch roof will be replaced by mid-August. In
the meantime a builder has been out to farm to help raise cottage up to be level
again – it’s been literally sinking into the mud with all the rain, and was 10ml
out at one end and 20ml on other. All is well now though, and my boiled eggs
don’t role off kitchen table anymore!
Jacking up the porch........
18 May 2017
This afternoon my new toy
arrived. A 550W, 125L Ozito Cement Mixer.
(Ok girls stop laughing. There is
a purpose to this.) However damned ''Delivery Company'' dropped it off at top of
farm gate, 250m from cottage. Oh well PT was made for sweating.
As my IMO manufacture needs a
carbohydrate base to grow the cultures, I will use the old nuts mashed up into
a soft paste. To make that I can either smash them up one by one with a hammer
…or buy a cement mixer. It is a pretty colour though.
Anyway IMO production is well
under way know, and with a recent drive out to nearby pine forest I managed to
collect 4 different samples of Mycelium; that fine white spidery fungus, that
lies in under trees, and about 10cm under leaf litter. Armed with 4 samples and
all my new herbal ingredients the brewing has begun.
Here is a mycelium photo and a close up too.
Here is a mycelium photo and a close up too.
By end of June I plan to have all 4 samples inoculated and ready to progress to next stage – IMO 3.
Soil science time.
Right so IMO1.
This is the addition of a wild mycelium sample added onto the top of a boiled rice mixture and placed outside to inoculate (grow) for 1 week. Best out of sunlight and rain too. I do this using a bamboo steam basket. Once the fungus is in full bloom (7 days) it is mixed with an equal amount of brown sugar to make a slurry. This effectively sends the fungus into a dormant state, through a process of osmotic pressure, but has enabled it to multiply a billion times over in rice medium first. Its then stored in a jar for 3 weeks. Now it’s called IMO 2. (Still with me everyone?) Check out Korean Natural Farming on FB, I’ve put lots of pictures up to demonstrate this. In this dormant state it can last, well, indefinitely.
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Now IMO 3 will need the macadamia mash, and it’s at this time when harvesting is happening that the mash is best collected. Once the nuts are graded out, old/bad nuts can be mashed (smashed) in the cement mixer as required. I do this by adding half a brick into cement mixer, which just rolls around inside breaking them up. So nothing is wasted. The husk is also kept in separate piles to break down into a high organic mulch. The mulching is under way on another area of farm, and needs to be turned once a fortnight. This is to get beneficial bacteria fresh oxygen and even out the heat of pile. It’s amazing how hot the piles get too.
The dormant IMO 2 samples (see above) are used as a seed culture then to make IMO 3 - by mixing a small amount into the mash (about 1/3 cubic metre) via the cement mixer again, and leaving to cook for fixed time, usually 36 hours, in a pile on ground. Once cooked it is transferred to a large sealed wooden box to dry out for a week. The resulting crumbly inoculant tilth texture can then be watered down (another process) and sprayed onto orchard. This all sounds simple enough, but as I do each stage I’ll post up photos to explain further. Needless to say I am only at IMO 2 at present.
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Biology shelf cooking away - IMO1 after one week = IMO2 on RHS
Top shelf is the OHN with 6 jars. FPJ in centre.
There are a few other ingredients
to brew up too; namely FPJ (fermented plant juice) and OHN (oriental herbal
nutrient). If the soil in your garden was lacking in good probiotics then this
process is how to give it the super charged boost it needs to raise its good
bacteria and thence its productivity again. With addition of a number of
specific ingredients, that’s exactly what the orchard is to have – a massive probiotic
application. I reckon the trees are in for a huge wakeup call this spring.
Wouldn’t it be great if they could talk?
22 May 2017
Rex has taken to chasing my newer
toy. And this one fly’s. Yes the orchard surveillance system has arrived, and
bringing back some awesome data as well. The drone is a Go-Pro Karma, and very,
very good too. It takes off quickly and can chase a flock of cockatoos out of
the orchard, at over 25 km per hour as well as monitor tree health from above.
This afternoon at sunset I took
BB out for a spin. BB?? Big Bee…(because it sounds like a swarm of bees in
flight). (Or Big Bitch!!! No wonder the cockatoos hate it.) But this is great
news as it is keeping them off orchard and away from farm. And with practice my
control skills are improving too – after a few shaky landings though. The drone
camera can swivel a full 270 degrees and tilt left and right, so with training
I will be able to hover over top of trees to inspect canopy condition. Maybe
I’ll paint some eyes onto the front of it.
24 May 2017
No sooner am I basking in glory
for flying my drone, that I have my first crash landing. Thankfully only at
20ft up. It came to its new resting place in lower orchard after a crow was
spooked off ground and flew straight into it. Not too much damage but I did
wreck 3 rotary blades. Damn and blast …order for replacements now in and on way
from Singapore. No more flying for a week. Big lesson learnt here as well.
Always take off slowly and in control. And not with sun in your eyes.
The Bee Man visited today to
check position for new hives to be delivered. In all I am getting 3 hives to
start with. This should exponentially increase every year. So within 5 years
aiming for 50 hives on site. The honey will be a secondary bonus to farm, as I
really want bees for the boost to pollination they bring, and with an
additional 100 macadamia trees to be planted every year for next 5 years, those
bees will be busy indeed.
Accompanying the Bee Man was the
factory Agronomist, who inspects the orchards for pest control and advises
farmers on best course of action. I finally got to explain to them both what
the overall holistic approach was to be for the farm. Not aiming to produce
Organic Macadamias, but to farm with Organic Practices; this in turn will
improve farm soil health – and then nut yield. Good nods all round.
Last job for the day was to
decant off my finished FPJ. Now sitting proudly on window sill, and sludge is
merrily fermenting again, this time into vinegar. The OHN put onto brew at
beginning of week is also bubbling away nicely, and will have first top up with
Vodka at day 7. Vodka????...I hear many silent screams…yes you read right.
Eventually I will distil my own raw alcohol for this process, and use macadamia
pulp, but in meantime need to use best second substitute…neat Vodka. I promise
no taste testing…well only a little.
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| FPJ from Prickly Pears |
Adding to my homemade concoction
list I also made a ‘Chilli White Oil’ as an organic pesticide. Mix cooking oil
into dishwashing detergent and add chilli pepper. That’s it. So damn simple
it’s laughable. To use add a teaspoon to 1 litre of water in a spray bottle;
shake and spray on affected plants with pests. Results will be seen once I need
to use it.
The other treatment I am making
for the macadamia trees is a Water Soluble Calcium. This will be
sprayed onto tress in much larger amounts, but into dilution of 1:1000. One
application before flowers open and another after. Essentially its vinegar
added to eggshells, and the resultant liquid is reaction between the acid and
alkali = Calcium in solution. It can be done with bone charcoal or fine coral
sand as well. The science for this is same as for growing tomatoes. The buds
forming from flowers pollinated need their cell walls strengthened, which is
assisted by additional calcium. Just like young bones need calcium. Tomato
crops with blossom rot are a classic example of not enough calcium in soil.
However this application is done as a foliar spray directly onto tree. It will
be very interesting to see how well it works. If you want to try this at home
have a look at the link:
 Water Soluble Calcium  |
25 May 2017
Rex just has to get a manicure! I
mean really it’s so ridiculous, those nails are long enough to shape and paint.
So this morning he got too excited when owner came around to visit and
scratched his arm badly. That’s it Rex – it is clipping time. Unfortunately Rex
hates this being done, so only way is to give him a sedative. Luckily I still
had one tablet left from his long drive down from Townsville, as prescribed by
his vet. He is now very much asleep and it’s only 18:15. I’ll wait till later
then trim his front paws up nicely. Maybe a little filing as well. The main
problem is he isn’t being walked on a hard service here, so can’t grind them
down on road or footpath. But he so hates the clippers this will be only way I
can get his nails trimmed. Poor baby…
26 May 2017
0700
Poor baby – yeah righto…as he
prances off porch with both pairs of trainers in an attempt to get me out of
bed. So now I have to navigate chook pooh gingerly, into the pen to open their
cage for the day. I will finally get my shoes back but only after Rex insists
on playing chase with them. I do love him so….
So much in fact that he is soon
to go to a training school to become an Assistance Dog for veterans with PTSD
and anxiety. Not sure when course begins, but have been breaking him in with training
lead during trips to Bunnings. This
outlet is perfect to get him under tight control up and down the aisles. It is
to stop him wanting to lick and cuddle everyone he meets…which is exactly that
– everyone. But at only 18 months old what can you expect. Anyway more on that
once the course starts.
(It’s at this point I must add
that for last 10 days I have been held up with a bad knee…due to torn cartilage
and then surgery on 18 May. A minor setback but one I am determined to recover
well from. Not one to dwell on a physical injury, I have enjoyed time to rest
(NOT), but am now getting bored, and desperate to get outside to work. With
clear skies and dry nights the time to prune is perfect, but I just can’t seem
to juggle secateurs and crutches very well. Very comical from a distance am
sure. The only way to get about is on the golf buggy, so I can do some pruning,
but very little at that. Just don’t tell my physiotherapist!)
Despite crutches I got my new toy
fired up and turning today, in an attempt to break up older maca nut for
biomass paste for IMO 3. Hmmmm – that wasn’t very successful. So onto plan B.
During the de-husking process all the smaller nuts and husk get separated from
main batch and blown out of main processing shed through a large pipe and into
a long trailer. Mixed up in this batch is cracked nut and some crushed nut pulp,
from nuts too small to go to factory. So this is what I’ll have to use instead.
The concept is to use a carbohydrate/carbon base, so if you wanted to try this
at home, cracked grain, oats or similar is ok to use as well.
The next batch of IMO 2 is soon
to be retrieved from wilderness, as I put it out to inoculate 6 days ago. A
little peak into box this afternoon has revealed many green spots of bacteria,
which I am none too pleased with – green bacteria is pathogenic, so it’s the
bad stuff. So I put more mycelium samples on top of bamboo lid to see if they
can spread through rice better – well can only try right? Plan to try and get
good 3-4 IMO2 samples complete and stored for future, enough to last first year
of composting here; a real challenge in itself to spread mulch under 1800 trees
by hand. Maybe I’ll keep those size 12 jeans after all!
30 May 2017
Well the last IMO batch was an
absolute disaster – I should have realised earlier. The paper towel was
touching the rice surface – a big no-no in KNF. The rice was spotted with green
and pink another bad pathogenic source. So not accepting defeat I processed it
up with sugar and put it to one side, while more rice went onto the boil. I will succeed…so back to the
drawing board.
Talking about boiling, (baking,
frying, steaming, etc etc etc ) the need to cook a decent meal has become
something of an irritation/priority here. The small gas stove I purchased is
now starting to faint death on me, with pressure switch unable to hold itself
on full. It’s ok for morning coffee, but come on – standing there holding
switch for 40 minutes to make a stew! Forget it.
So off I went to collect another
new toy, which arrived in shape of a 5 in 1 pressure cooker. Pretty swanky too
with sauté, boil, stew, pressure cook and steam! Hurray I can cook again. Thus
tonight I had a beautiful ham hock and split pea soup for dinner. It was made
all the better because I could put in on slow cook and then go and do something
else! (Ah-hah the female passion for multi-tasking strikes again – not on
crutches though).
That involved stocking up the
incinerator drum with mountains of pruning’s and old nut, all to make potash.
For nearly 10 days the incinerator had sat idle, now it was roaring, with flame
reaching 2 foot above top lip of drum. The heat is ferocious and has a fine
blue haze thats dancing up into the air. It reminds me of the shadow formed by
the monster ‘predator’ from movie “Alien”; when he moved through undergrowth in
jungle. A bit spooky as the sun was setting…. But no predators about here, my
man licking (snoring) Golden Labrador will take care of that!
There is something totally
hypnotic about a camp fire, whether in an incinerator or not, it is still
beautiful. Sitting comfortably upon my porch in my old armchair, midges dance
with annoyance by heat of the nut oil fumes and the dog is lying across my lap,
having cuddles and snoring; hind paws on ground. The sun is setting behind the
cottage and chooks are doing soft “clucky-coos” telling me its bed time,
something I won’t be far away from either.
2 June 2017
Winter has arrived…and it’s cold
– officially freezing. After 2.5 years living in tropical Queensland I am
FREAKING Freezing. Apart from my Californian and South Korean readers, who
appreciate extreme hot and cold, I too have lived in some extreme climates.
Many a white Xmas in the UK, and a very hot 56 degrees in Basra, Iraq 2004.
However it never surprises me how you can become so quickly acclimatized to an
environment. (Ahem I never acclimatized to the UK – hated that cold). So the
cold here is topping 2 degrees celsius this morning.
My concern is for the new stock
purchased for the orchard. Fourteen new saplings that will be planted out in
spring. In the meantime I must keep them carefully screened from any frost.
Macadamia trees are temperature sensitive trees, and will die from frost or
extreme heat. Over 36 degrees their roots will stop taking up water…Its going
to be an interesting summer. The farm has irrigation installed and a bore pump
of 5000 gallons per hour. But if the river dries up, then problems will be
expected. Luckily the Mary River is running well at the moment.
The chickens keep themselves
cosy, and of course his lordship (Mr Royal Labrador) has a thick pelt too, but
the walls of this cottage are pretty thin. So one looks like a Michelin man
climbing into bed each night…I refuse to be cold.
This weekend will be pooh
collecting. Yes horse, cow, donkey and goat pooh, collected and piled high for
mulch making. Hopefully getting it to break down over 3-4 months, before adding
it to mulch will work. The mixture of pooh is coming from the kennels that Rex
boards at when I have to go away from farm overnight. These kennels have
individual rooms for dogs with their own TV……..(I’ll let you digest that
statement for a minute…..) Anyway, plenty of room to run about, hot bath and
shampoos – no wonder his lordship loves it there so much.
The kennels also have a zoo of
other animals as well, with lots of hooved animal pooh. So stock piling I will
go. Hopefully readers can now begin to appreciate the work involved with going
totally organic. It’s a lot.
IMO manufacture is just one side
to this adventure, getting all the right raw ingredients is the biggest
challenge; or at least sourcing them. Seymour (aka one eyed pony) is also
helping me with his pooh in neighbouring paddock, but addition of the others
excrement will also diversify the microbes too. Pooh, pooh and more pooh….
4 June 2017
Note to self – never
underestimate the intelligence of the Black Cockatoo. No sooner had I thought
the drone has done its job, and having not seen a single Black Cockatoo in two
weeks, then 3 of the buggar’s appear…and not just appear, but flew right up to
the cottage and perched in trees only 40m away. Sat there in canopy and
squawked away at me. No doubt mocking my attempts to scare them off. Little
shits. And to make matters even more irritating the drone battery was too low
to take off!! Big Shit. So extra note to self – always charge battery up before
bedtime.
07 June 2017
Aha…my charged battery has won
the morning!! This morning a flock of 20 or so black cockatoos came in across
the orchard from the SW via the national park. In a flash I got BB out on the
ground and booted up. Press start and up she went. Rex is going berserk when
drone takes off, so is currently tired up. Straight up to 50m and the flock
scatters at noise and sight of drone. For next 8 minutes I chased the flock
around and out of orchard. So the drone is working so well, and birds are not
being injured. Win-win all round.
09 June 2017
Today I am taking a trip down to
Tin Can Bay – its only 50km from here and closest ocean to farm. After a
collection of sea water into a 5 litre container, to make next IMO stage, Rex
went for a swim. And again, and again. He so loves the water. The trip was a
break from the work on farm for half a day, and a treat to have some great
fresh fish and chips for lunch at the beach. Beaches in Australia are our
national pastime during the summer, but for winter it’s a real treat to have a
beach so close that is actually warm to wade in. Great day out.
On topic of swimming I have to
mention the efforts of my white ringneck parrot while having a bath, every
other morning in the bathroom sink. While refreshing all my other birds’ water
and seed she is merrily splashing away in sink, and squawking at same time.
Such a lovely scene to watch, she is only 6 months old now and hand reared. A
favourite game of hers is to hide inside my dressing gown in morning and play
peek-a-boo. I am such a softy. "No Rex, you cannot join in".
An amusing addition to the
orchard this week has been the construction and installation of rat hotels. Ok
so let’s just say that one again…RAT Hotels. Yes the orchard nut attracts rats and
they are a common pest on farms in general. But a length of wide plastic pipe
suspended under the trees, albeit with rat bait inside, is the latest pest
control mechanism to farm. Colleagues on other farms are using them with
success, so it was time to give it a try. They run up the suspended wires and
into plastic pipe, (rats not colleagues) munch on bate and disappear off to rat
heaven somewhere. Other farmers use their dogs to dig them out, as the rats
have burrows on edges of orchards. Maybe I’ll get another dog…a Jack Russel
maybe?? Just the right size to get into a rat burrow…just imagine Rex with his
arse up in air trying to get into one…most amusing.
11 June 2017
Pruning on your own is an
interesting task…but in the rain with high winds not recommended. But jobs must
be done so I set out after lunch once the weather cleared to attempt the next
tree haircut. Once the ladder began to lurch to the left and I was clinging on
for fear of more surgery, I reckoned it was time to hang up the secateurs for
the day. After a survey of the orchard rows I have deduced that one particular
variety is looking sicker than all the others. It’s called the A16 variety of
macadamia and it is suffering from a lot of symptoms that are termed generally
‘Tree Decline’. Interestingly the main treatment suggested in my little nut
bible is for “…prune affected areas by third….apply general foliar
fertiliser…maintain layer of mulch 5cm thick…”
Korean Natural Farming practice
is all about building up IMOs for that foliar feeding, so it will be very
interesting to see how this orchard health problem is reversed and how long it
takes. At present the A16 row I am pruning are practically looking like brand
new trees – so much dead wood to remove, but without breaking my neck …please!
The trees are giving me so much
in waste pruning’s that the incinerator is busy every night, rain permitting.
That in turn is providing a great source of Potash (Potassium) which will be
added to a bespoke recipe for the mulch I will make. So much to do…this
afternoon I emptied the incinerator and choose to break the charcoaled nuts
done further. So into cement mixer they went, but the dust was too much so I
added some water. What happened next took me
straight back to a Year 10 chemistry class and alarm bells rang.
Potash = Potassium; plus water =
danger. So the fizzing sound I could here was not good. Luckily the pure
concentration of potassium in the potash was not high enough, but the gas given
off in a proper chemical equation would be potassium hydroxide and hydrogen.
Anyway, that was a good lesson and shows that what you didn’t remember from
school, actually you did. The second bit of chemistry for
the week was to make some Water soluble Calcium Phosphate. I'll know how that goes after 7 days.
The weather has slowly begun to
get cooler during the day with tops of 23 degrees here so work only begins
about…well…once I am warm. With daylight commencing from 0730 and setting at 1715
the day’s work has to be planned and executed with precision. Unless it’s
raining or course, then it will be paperwork and other such niff naff. (Yeah just another 5 minutes in bed).
Anyway. I have also been
progressing with compost manufacture too, which is a job that can be done in
the rain; and not the small suburban bin size from Bunnings, but round layers
of wet silage and waste nut husk at 2m x 2m round and approx .75m high. From a
distance it looks like haystacks, but the heat in the centre of each one will
reach over 55 degrees centigrade, the optimum temperature required to kill all
the pathogenic bacteria. Imagine a huge cake made out of hay and nut husk,
layered up in a huge round fashion. (I’ll put up a picture to give you all a
better idea.)
The concept comes from a
specialist in the field – Dr Elaine Ingham. (John put up a message about her
previously.) She is on youtube – so if anyone is interested to learn this
process of compost making…quite an amazing lady actually. Just google her name
and read away. By making the compost this way, from readily available resources
on farm, one will reduce costs considerably and two make the compost and mulch
for trees totally organic. (however - I am going to supplement this first years
mulching with some organic fertiliser – but only one small hand full per tree;
a total of 75kg for 1800 trees in total).
Upon returning from a trip down south,
I found that my main budgie cage had crashed onto the porch and all my birds gone.
2 Budgies and 5 Finches. Only one male blue Budgie was remaining, and dutifully
rescued into another small cage. The most likely culprit was that the larger cage
was landed on by a Hawk (renowned for this behaviour I have now since discovered)
and this had effect of all the birds escaping, most likely in terror. Poor
babies. All I could do was bring the remaining cages inside to keep them
protected. Just another day in paradise.
14 June 2017
The main paddock at the bottom of
the farm is full of rat’s tail grass, which I spent a good 2 hours slashing
with the JD tractor today. The grass was so tall (about 75cm) the tractor would
clog up under the slasher, so it took a lot longer to finish the paddock than
expected, and there is still another two paddocks to slash. The grass is
apparently a native species from Africa (?) but is the type that forms large
tussocks in fields, and cattle and horses won’t eat it, especially if there is
better stuff about. Well its this stuff that I’m using to make the compost
haystacks, and while its fresh and damp its perfect. So it was a race to get
the silage onto the compost site.
15 June 2017
It’s not every day that you get
things go wrong, one after the other, but today it did. No sooner had I recovered (almost) from the
arrival of a Hawk to crash onto my Budgie and Finch cage, dislodging it in half
and all the birds escaping (loosing 7 birds in total) then I lost another bird
this morning. This one was my first and favourite; my lavender blue Love Parrot that was
hand reared for me on by breeder on Gold Coast in 2015. After some erratic behaviour sadly he died of a seizure, and
passed away quite quickly, in palm of my hand. His carbon footprint will be carefully incorporated
into the farm…RIP little boy.
Then my sink blocked up….and then
my internet connection went tits up. Oh well nothing like a good
bottle of CabSav to fix all the world issues. And so it has.
22 June 2017
Today’s timetable had been finely
tuned, as I was off to the Gold Coast at 0630 sharp. Six visit/appointments to
complete then an overnight stop with girlfriend, and back home on the M1 north
by lunchtime.
Rex had been housed at his
favourite hotel; fed, bathed and preened for my arrival at 2pm. Am not sure
what he gets up too there, but he is always exhausted when he gets home, and is
snoring very load right now. Upon my return to farm and while trying to rest up
after so much driving in 2 days, I was very rudely interrupted by a flock of
over 40 white cockatoos. So as the sun was setting I eagerly and very casually
despatched BB (aka Karma Drone) to a safe height and merrily chased them out of
the orchard. This type of cockatoo is extremely noisy, (as my ADF colleagues
will attest to) and spend most of their time on ground eating nuts fallen from
trees. So they generally don’t damage the trees – just eat the profits. A
fellow Macadamia farmer I have mentioned before has much bigger white cockatoo
problem than owner does here. They are so punctual you can set your watch by
them. Breakfast, mornos, lunch and afternoon tea are all pre-programmed for
them and they just appear from nowhere to begin eating. But tonight the drone
worked a treat and as she rose up and up I was sitting very comfortably in my
old sofa chair, watching remotely as they flew with panic away from orchard.
Ok many of us have children, and
we all know how much we love them. It’s kind of the same with pets. We love
them to bits until…they do something naughty. So I’m writing this blog ok, and
my white Ring Neck Parrot I have, is climbing all over my head while I’m
typing, or trying to type. Then she thinks that taking off my glasses will help
me write better…or knocking over my glass of WINE…bloody (f@$#*ng) BIRD.
Its ok – I survived… and I did
not kill her.
30 June 2017
It’s going to be really cold
tonight. Sitting here in my $5 fleecy dressing gown from the Op Shop , with beanie
on and uber thick bed socks, (very attractive!!) I am sipping hot chocolate and
looking at the temperature gauge on wall clock – 12 degrees centigrade. Ok
nothing like a balmy Chicago winters day but cold nonetheless. Today was really
warm too, lovely weather for flinging hay around and general farmy stuff. But
tonight it will drop hard. The cottage walls are about 2 inches thick. And
parts have cracks that really let in the cold air. Only way to get through this
winter is rug up warm at night. Last year when I was visiting a friend on Sunshine
Coast we went out for a meal, which happened to be next door to a lovely contemporary-
antique styled shop. I did sircome to a spontaneous purchase that night and
right now am damned glad that I did. That night I purchased a Reindeer pelt,
thick and velvety, it is now the top cover on my bed, and keeps me so toasty.
Until it slides of in middle of night. But at least I can go to bed warm.
Rex is snoring, with his own
puppy blanket that is literally a fleece covered in baby puppy pictures. Genuinely
a picture of bliss. He has also now officially started his Assistance Dog
training, and appears to love it, or maybe just the attention he creates. There
will be a total of 6 classes, spread out over 6 months. To date he has passed
the ‘sit and stay’ test; the ‘supermarket trolley spook’ test; the ‘sit outside
a café calmly’ test so mum can have a latte; and the (almost) ‘lie down with a
liver treat’ test. Getting the liver treat is still an issue for him…he has
never had them until now- but picked up on that idea very quickly. I’ll keep a
diary of photos to share with you. Sadly he will have to be de-sexed by
December in order to qualify officially. Not something I actually want to do to
him.
Anyway…some good news to report
on the IMO front. Real progress is happening with the IMO3 I put to seed. It is
growing beautifully and glowing white with micro-organisms (mycelium). Next
stage will be onto IMO4. This will be briefly interspersed with making a
compost tea, and then spraying onto the trees. That means I need to find a way
to mix 1kg of IMO3 into 1000 litres of water…then pumping air through it for a
week. So driving home from town yesterday I passed a pool shop, and low and
behold, sitting outside the shop was the answer to this issue. Very large
square water container – an IBC apparently (WTF I said – but very large - see below). It
will hold enough water to create the first batch of IMO3 compost tea, and means
spraying can begin before the flowers form on racemes on trees next month. And the
old pool pump I have will be the aerator!!
The aerator for compost tea using IMO3
The aerator for compost tea using IMO3
The IMO2 inoculant growing into maca mash
Next bit of news. Another major
purchase in the form of a 40 Gallon drum to make into a new incinerator. Hurray
and goodbye to the ‘iddy-biddy’ one I have used for last 3 months. Now some
serious pruning can be burned. The potash collection is growing steadily, as
are the compost haystacks. I honestly think my fitness is improving as I can
shovel nut away quite merrily now, with not too much puff (ok maybe a little!).
But this nut had to be
transported from top shed down to the composting yard, and to do that I had to
tow it in the trailer…..hmmmm…..not something I have had a lot of experience at….driving
with a 2 tonne load in a trailer. And yes it did not go so well. Nearly hit a
tree…the ute was off, the handbrake on, and wheels were still slipping forwards
on me. Downhill. Trailer full on behind, pushing ute forward. Yes I was very nervous…
Finally the ute came to a stop, 2
inches from a tree, and wedged up onto some rocks. The irrigation line was stretched
tight around the front of bonnet, ready to snap. I got out VERY gingerly and
took stock of what the hell I was going to do now. Eventually the only way out
was to continue downhill, once the tractor to the rescue could not pull me free
of the tree line. Luckily all ended well with only a minor repair to irrigation
line, and the full load of nut husk unloaded for composting. Farming accidents
are a real danger, I will be more careful…promise.
02 July 2017
In case anyone has wondered what
the word “Baupal” means, I thought it was time to explain. It is the aboriginal
word for macadamia, and even though there are other spellings (Bauple for eg)
this is the way I have chosen to spell it; phonetically. I don’t reckon the
local indigenous folk will fuss too much over that anyway, rather hope they
would be appreciative of the word being recognised correctly for what it is. There
are other words for macadamia in native language, but I liked Baupal best.
But
it was freezing this morning; 3 degrees in fact, and not even a full bladder
could prise me out of bed…well eventually yes it did, but it was quick. As
there was a good layer of fog outside too. Because it was a Sunday – I went
back to bed. By 11am it was decided that a road trip with Rex was in order for
the day. Yep today we went out and had fun. Kin-Kin for lunch at the Black Ant Café
(another indigenous word – Kin-Kin means Black Ant), then onto an art
exhibition in Cooran, finished off with a swim at Boreen Point (just for Rex). Needless
to say he was absolutely shattered from such a fun packed day out.
Now
I realise I do talk a bit about Rex on this blog, so I decided it was time for
something from a dogs perspective…you know, an insert that shows what Rex would
probably say if he could talk. So the “farm according to Rex” will be included
at the end of this weeks’ episode; just to give you his opinion, or two…if he
could talk. I stepped over him to get into bedroom and all I got was a hind leg
raised for a scratch ?! – Blog opinion doggy style.
Within
2 weeks I will be starting at TAFE (Technical and Further Education) and am
thoroughly excited by idea. This will be to commence a Diploma in Horticulture,
with means to further understand and expand the processes that need to be
achieved here.
Do
you remember the ‘pooh’ pile I talked about? Well it has grown considerably, with
additions from one eyed pony 'See-more'. Soon it will be ready to have its first major IMO
inoculation – with the finished IMO3. This process of Korean Natural Farming
has been so eye opening for me (sorry See-more) and potentially very productive overall that I
am itching to get the foliar spray onto the trees ….only another 2 weeks to go
until it is ready.
I
need to time it with the flower racemes growing – and spray once before they
open, then again after they flower, but before the nut sets. And bee hives will
be arriving soon too – OMG it’s all happening and I am so excited… Only 30
trees left to prune on first row – it’s exhausting…like combing nits out of a child’s
dreadlocks (YUK). But here’s a quick word from Rex.
Farming life according to Rex:
“…it’s too late
to be chatting…I’d rather be snoring. The chooks are in the shit – mum is cross
with them…they ate my biscuits again. But before I fall asleep, mum took me out
in the big car-car this morning to some big farm place full of people doing
farming stuff…yawn…I slept on floor….yawn…then went for a wee…yawn…then we went
for lunch (I mean mum did – I don’t get lunch –she won’t give me any). I slept
on floor at cafe….again (yawn). But mum was happy cause she was with her friend…again…yawn…but
I did get to wear my fancy new blue coat thingy…right now I just want to sleep…and
dream about chasing roo’s. Goodnight all.”
07 Jul 2017
A trip north to Bundaberg was not how I planned to start my weekend. I was notified of an old friend passing away early in week, and funeral was on Friday morning. It still amazes me how memories can control us and the event was as expected, sad. Rex did very well though and sat through whole service without a whimper. His training is going really well, and once he has the little blue coat on for training he becomes very well behaved. Until he smells something.
I was also a bit sad to have to remove a whole tree in lower orchard as well. It was riddled with canker and rot...so its funeral was a bit easier to execute. But the pock mark will be left as a stump because to remove the roots will create erosion and/or disturb roots of nearby trees. A new sapling will be planted alongside once the soil is treated with an IMO solution. The main fungal threat of the orchard is from a disease called Phytothopthera, and it is exacerbated by damp wood and unpruned conditions. I will have to use a fungicide into this trunk stump to halt any further spread.
Earlier in week I attended a conference for the owner on pests and disease in the orchard, which Rex again sat through on his best behaviour. These industry conferences are great for farmers to understand how to manage the crops and exchange advise and ideas. The practice of KNF is looking like a really exciting concept now and I cant wait to get that IMO3 spray ready to put onto trees. Hoping for 10 days time.
There seems to be a chicken missing ...I returned last night to only see three stalking around, and the white leghorn is nowhere to be seen. Its either a snake or and eagle. My money is on a snake. So I will have to slash all the long grass infront of cottage on dam edge. Its highly likely a snake is in that grass, so will get onto it ...tomorrow.
Its an exciting day today though (Saturday) because the Garden Show is on in Nambour and I plan to go and really have some fun. Rex will have to stay at home this time. I did think about taking him, but it would be a bit too soon for so many people and so many smells, but Ill bring him home a present - a bone. The main objective of the show visit is to explore all the native plants and in particular the Lecudendrons, Waratahs and Proteas; all species I want to plant here as a bank. There are some magnificent varieties available too. Pictures will follow.
Anyways I've got some short videos to share...one iCloud lets me access them...stay tuned.
09 July 2017
The saying all good things come to those who wait (or in threes, or both?)...was answered this morning, when I let chickens out of coop and stealthily followed one into the bushes...eggs galour!!And more good news - the lost chook is returned! Well she was playing brood mare in the bushes, sitting upon a dozen eggs. The last bit of good news is with her return it means that I lost that bet.....NO SNAKE!!
10 July 2017
Scrambled eggs for breakfast - again. Surprised?
The new chainsaw got a great baptism this morning with pruning time for the mango tree. Its a good size (tree that is) and now has a lovely canopy to walk underneath. Facing west down the top orchard it will make a lovely picnic area in summer time. Should put a garden seat underneath too....sunset, chilled white wine and cheese platter, good friends and laughter - can't wait.
Then the dead macadamia trees must be cut down. But in between that some conservation and land management work needs attention. There is a creek line running through the farm from SE to NW; it helps fill dams when rain fall is high too. But there is a lot of overgrowth and weeds out of control along its boundary, so these need cutting out before warmer weather starts. All the prunings from this source will be processed and hoping to get a chipper for use this weekend, that will create a massive pile of composting material.
 |
| Undergrowth beforehand |
A nice surprise was found in the undergrowth though - a Quandong tree. A native peach/plum type of flowering gum, its fruit a highly prized by indigenous community. So I cut back around it carefully, gave it a tidy up and hope it will now improve with a flush of fruit this summer. I had already planted two other blue Quandong trees here, on other side of dam, so they will grow up to 40m high. It will be interesting to see which colour the fruit are on this tree.
This is a red Quandong.
The OHN got its third decanting this morning, and now only one more to go. It takes 3 months to make this input for the practice of Korean Natural Farming, so what I used from it for the IMO3 was not fully brewed, but I was on a tight time line and needed the compost tea to be ready to spray before flowers come out on trees. OHN is needed in IMO3 fermentation; well at least next batch will be correct. I'll spray what I can with what I have made, then keep making IMO3, spray again, etc etc.
Now for a Farming life according to Rex:
....yes just there, over a bit, now down, nearly, oooohhh yesss. She is so well trained. Up, up yesssss.
How can I say this - just so damned lucky and happy. Am doing well with my training , cause she can now talk dog and I get the best morning cuddles...have got her eating out of my paw literally...just gotta get in before that bloody parrot does - got some competition there. How can you take a bird for a walk I bark? Really what does she see in it? They cant lick their balls like I can! I am SO damn smart!
15 July 2017
Its been a week and a half but OMG so much has happened. I even forgot to say about the Garden Show last weekend...and all the stock purchased for planting and now have a very smart new chainsaw which will help endlessly with pruning. Plus all that undergrowth along creek line wont last long either. Meanwhile Rex has found that any stick thrown for a game is fair game - but he don't care how big they are. So while merrily using my new chainsaw he helps out by taking each piece away to chew...then wont give them back. Its ok I need the exercise Rex. So the creek line work was ably assistant by my Assistance Dog, who thinks dragging away a 3m trunk is possible. But he's Rex, so of course its possible!
A few choice samples from the Nambour Garden Expo - too many to choose from
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| Bloody brilliant Bromeliad's |
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| Native Grevillia's, Leptospernum, Bottlebrush and Kangaroo Paws |
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| Waterlilles and Lotus flowers |
So you know that saying "many hands make light work" - well today was a godsend as my son arrived to help out for weekend. HURRAY. And did we get some shifting done. What a laugh - he's on holiday! Really? We started with garden fencing fixed; then 1m3 of sand arrived; plus all planter boxes are now in correct position; plus 5 dead trees have been felled and burnt, and garden path will be laid into sand tomorrow.
The cement mixer was rolling away merrily, mixing the new sand into the black clay we have here; added some organic fertiliser, a bit of potash and into the planter boxes. Even got my waste plumbing pipe repaired under cottage...no more leaks down there. It still needs a hole dug for drainage sump (next job son), but we did go out for a nice meal to celebrate a hard days work and then....
Rex had steak for dinner - he is now snoring contentedly.
Sad news. I don't like having to write this but it has happened. Our night time visitor returned, and this time was successful. We lost the leghorn chook. God I hate foxes. So tonight, thanking that its not too cold, Rex is sleeping out on porch, to keep guard. However one of the other chooks has gone to hide in long grass, possibly thinking the coop is too scary now. Its too dark to look for her now so I will have to wait till daybreak. Hence why Rex must stay out all night to keep watch. Fingers crossed.
Testing out the system people
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