Baupal Park Farm My Organic Odyssey

14 July 2018

Sunday morning in pj's and fluffy dressing gown. Frost out on the grass this morning. Its been going cold again which means the real Winter weather is truly here. With snow falling in our resorts to the south (Perisher/Thredbo etc) the east coast of Australia is definitely in winter mode. But luckily up here in Queensland we rarely get anything like the -4 or -5 of Canberra or Victoria. Thank God.

Anyway the sun always comes out in Queensland to burn off the morning chill. Very blessed. Which is what it is like right now. Warm sunshine onto the porch with the house benefiting from the warmth of the sunroom attached. Which is why we are seeing the blossom starting to emerge in the orchard. I cant believe that a full season has elapsed on the farm and that we are gearing up for the start of the next Spring season. In fact its very exciting to see the blossom starting to grow, especially on a variety that I was told was biannual. This means we will should get a bigger crop next year.

Tiny little blossom racemes appear along the branches to grow into finger long stalks, swathed in blossom buds. When I see up to 20 per tiny branchlet, I do get excited. Here's a few pictures to demonstrate their beauty - smell is intoxicating too.

Flowers in full bloom

Next years crop in the making

Each bud is a potential nut

And the bees have pollinated here - magic done

The trick now will be to protect them from pests. So for the last 4-5 weeks we have been destroying the large flower/garden beds at front of farm. Eeew WHY?? Because they have harboured pests over winter, who are just waiting for flowers to bloom on trees and then come out and attack them. And I am not in the business of manicuring garden beds that don't produce anything to eat. So off to the burn pile all the bushes went, and this pile has already been burnt down once. I found a nest of Fruit Spotting Bugs living very cosily inside the stalks of some Lemon Grass. They didn't last long, the Lemon Grass was rescued though.

No more bugs!!

Then yesterday I spend the afternoon slapping smelly fish sauce around the trunks of trees that form the border to the orchard. This will do three things. The sauce itself is organically made from fish frames, brown sugar and IMO3 (and those of you who have been reading blog for last year should know all about IMO3!!). The sauce is packed full of Nitrogen, and stinks to high hell as well. So it will (we hope) deter the pests coming to attack the flowers upon blooming. Well that's my theory anyway. I've also heard that Black Cockatoos don't like the smell either! Don't blame them - stinks. Then the nitrogen hit to trees will give them a big, big smile. If we paint trunks once every 2-3 weeks over next 3 months it should help protect flowers.

This is the Fish Sauce or Fermented Amino Acid



  

Some veggie garden work has progressed as well this week, with leeks, cabbages , broad beans and spinach planted. And the potted finger limes from last year have bloomed too - with fruit forming.

Chicken and puppy proofed vege plot!

Finger Lime fruit



Then next week we need to disconnect the harvester from the main tractor, reconnect the sprayer and get ready to blitz those pests with our new organic pesticide. But we need to have a back up plan and be prepared to use the chemical sprays if the pests are too many. Hopefully the fish sauce with deter them in advance. In the meantime its picking up remainder of nuts by hand!

((So lets talk about that horrible thing called PTSD. It raised its fucking head this week, just when I was feeling better and I was not expecting it. ''Disassociation'' its called. And I had an episode. SHIT. Linked to anger. Holy fuck. Very unpleasant. VERY SCARY. Anyway if anyone out there you know has PTSD or knows of anyone with it, please be kind to them. Its not something you recover from over night. You just have to learn how to cope with it and the symptoms it has. I am still learning. I'm OK and have spoken to my psychologist.))

Animals. I will finish with something amusing. The goats. They put themselves to bed last night! Yes trotting off to their pen, I found them both ready to be put to bed!

This is my little nanny goat

And the Geese now sleep with the chickens (lol). Yes two fat geese waddling out of the coop in morning is as funny a Noahs ark sight to behold. Still no sign of that third goose though. Oh well.

Time to go finish the pruning.....

Only another 1000 or so trees to go....