Summer already...?!?

The largest of our mango trees in full flower.

We had planned that the next blog post would be a Spring edition, but it's so warm already here at Seven Springs.  A warm winter all around the country, and bushfires west of Sydney, we fear this Summer's going to be a cracker - a fire cracker !! The good news for us is that the most likely fire zone for NSW is west of us, and, there is plenty of water on the property - 7 dams and two huge water tanks - thank goodness.

The lush mulberry tree is starting to crop - we are thinking of turning the ones we don't eat into a sauce that could be swirled into ice cream, or used as a topping for cheesecake or other desserts.  This photo is of the mulberry haul over only a few days.

Orchard duties progress - Ian esquire has duly sorted out the irrigation blockage, and we have ordered trees - apples, pears, peaches, nectarines & plums.

Mullum community garden

On the first official day of Spring we went to the community gardens in Mullumbimby for an open day.  And what a glorious day it was.  Guest speakers were Costa Giorgiadis and Jerry Coleby-Williams from Gardening Australia.

Costa was actually a little disappointing to listen to, we got the impression he was 'playing to the crowd' rather than talking about things he had personal experience with or genuinely believed in.




Jerry however was enthralling.  He spoke primarily about bringing beneficial insects to the garden, how to encourage them with the right plantings, what benefits they will bring to the garden.  He also gave away some seed saved from his own garden.  For anyone interested in this subject, check out the latest Organic Gardener magazine.

Bottle tree in the community gardens.

Winter is waning

Yeah, OK, we have noticed that it is actually Spring.  Actually it is quite warm here at the moment.  This post was supposed to go out a couple of weeks ago, but someone (Ian) didn't get around to it, so it's a tad late.  Sorry about that.  Ed.

Vege update
You may remember several months ago I wrote about sowing seeds of winter tomato varieties.  Well I am pleased to report that the viability was excellent, and the variety called Giant Tree Tomato can be seen in the rear left of the photo.  Several of the plants have set fruit, and we can't wait to taste them.  I am hoping to be able to coordinate two tomato crops per year, growing different varieties depending on the weather.  The seeds for summer's tomatoes are already sown - an heirloom mix, and San Marzano - reputed to be the best for bottling and sauce making.

In other vege news the potatoes are ripping along, we've harvested lots of peas, chard, lettuce & carrots and broccoli.  The broad beans have all be flowering their heads off, and pods are starting to set.  And we've also planted rhubarb and asparagus, although we'll have to wait a while for a decent harvest.

The chooks love to be wherever someone is digging - there are big fat worms everywhere.

Orchard progress
Admittedly progress has been a little slow.  I had hoped to have it planted out over winter, but we haven't quite made that target.  The site we have chosen is shown in the photo.    Not much to look at - yet.  But, this is a paddock where the previous owners had attempted to grow paw paws and custard apples.  So we have about 1600m2 of land that has improved soil and irrigation already in place.  Ian is slashing between the rows to tidy things up.  The irrigation seems to work very well, being gravity fed from the dam near the house, but strangely, there don't appear to be any holes in the poly pipe for the water to seep out???  Very odd.  Well, that would explain why the paw paws and custard apples didn't survive.

Green eggs (but no ham)
The last hen came on the lay a couple of months ago, and to our surprise she lays green eggs.  Well, the shell is green.  We knew she was a sussex cross, but we didn't know she was crossed with Arucana a breed known for laying green eggs.  It's not the best photo, but hopefully the contrast will be clear.  We think they are rather attractive, and you certainly can't get those at Coles !


Burning off
A yearly chore of the local farmer (or annual joy for resident pyromaniacs) Ian burned off at several locations this year.  This photo was taken the next day, making sure there are no smouldering stumps that could reignite.




Monty & friend
And finally, in case we hadn't noticed the weather was warming up, our resident python, Monty, left his calling card by the wood heap recently.

And it seems that Monty has a friend - meet Mont-ette.  We know it is a different snake as this one is only about 1.5m long, and Monty is easily 2m.  We think they are scrub pythons, which can grow up to 6m in length.