Wednesday 11 October 2017

What Did The Chicken Say To The Kangaroo?

I was watching the little birds through the glass door this morning, they are so clever, I hadn't noticed before but they actually pick the dead leaves up with their beaks and fling them aside in their hunt for tasty morsels.  It struck me then how very happy I am with the ecosystem our property has created.  I have always planted gardens with the birds in mind, nectar plants, bushy shrubs for protection, and the planted areas are close enough together to allow the little birds a short dash on the wing to get from one area to the other and feel safe.  This area was open ground 7 years ago when we bought the land, with the little birds safely hidden away in the bush on the perimeter, but now they abound near the house, in the gardens we have created.  I feel very satisfied and a wee bit proud.
 Not only birds but plenty of small lizards and insects.  I keep trying to get a good photo of this delightful little lizard?skink? It has the most beautiful coloured legs, a vivid orange with black dots.  There are quite a few in the back garden, there is plenty of cover there to keep them from being gobbled up by kookaburras.  This one had a meal in mind, I disturbed them......
 The lizard was having a stand-off with this quite large, very pissed off, reared up on its legs, spider.  I didn't stay around to see who won the battle, perhaps they agreed to call it a day.
 Out the front the sun has shined for brief periods this week.  I believe we have a warm weekend forecast so Helga will be pulled out of the shed so we can finish mowing.  The roos like lying on the grass when we've mowed, here is Lucy all tucked up, having a lovely sleep in the sun.
 And this is Big Ben, the alpha male, also enjoying basking in the sun.  They love it when the weather starts to warm up.
 Michelle gave me this idea of taking a photo from ground level, isn't it an interesting perspective.  The roos were quite fascinated! 
 We have an escapee chicken!  One of our girls has taken to leaping over the orchard gate this week and going for a wander.  In this photo she's just finished having a chat with the kangaroos, and now she's headed up the hill to the house.
 She didn't quite make it to the front door, but here she is peeping over the small hill in front of the house :-) Naughty girl!  When I went outside she followed me back to the chook yard very excitedly..... she has got fed up with waiting for me to get her breakfast :-)
 Here is the lovely Magoo, watching me curiously as I took a ground level photo.  I haven't named any of the chooks (they all look the same!), but this girl I did.  She has a very big floppy comb, which gets in the way of her eyes sometimes, and I see her moving her head from side to side, trying to see past it.  Well, the first time I saw that, visions of Mr Magoo cartoons with his bottle bottom glasses sprung to mind.  So that's why she is called Magoo!
 And here are the duckies.  They are very clever duckies because we have duck eggs again, yahoo!  I think only Spuddles lays, the one with the dark feathers on the top of her head, but Sparkles may surprise us. 
At the moment we are getting 3 or 4 chook eggs and a duck egg every day, we are drowning in eggs!  I do enjoy sharing them.
 The occasional burst of spring weather means things are growing.  Here's another shot of my beloved cliveas, I think they've been in flower for about a month now.  So cheerful and colourful.
 Steve grew another batch of broccoli, the big headed variety this time, over winter he grew broccolini.  This particular broccoli head is going to be in our tummies tonight, with a nice piece of steak and mashed potato, yummo!
 The rhubarb that Steve split up and replanted is taking off with a vengeance.  It is such a reliable variety and obviously loves our growing conditions.
 The pea plants have taken ages to germinate, most of them never came up.  We think it's just been too cold for them.  A couple are growing strongly though, with the start of flowers, and we are blessed with being able to nibble a few peapods straight from the plants this week.  Soon we hope to be inundated with peas as the other tiny plants get a wriggle on.
 Now this is exciting news.  My dear husband has worked his little arse off with construction over the last week.  He has built a greenhouse!  Oh my goodness this will be so useful for us.  Because it's cold here our spring plantings take ages to get going, and sometimes don't survive, but with a greenhouse to get seeds germinating and the young seedlings growing in a warm, protected environment, wow, the possibilities are endless!
Not only has Steve built the greenhouse, he is also finishing the fence and has been digging big holes to put in 2 metre high poles to have a new growing area about 10 metres by 4 metres  that will be completed fenced and netted above.  We plan to grow berries and vegies that are more susceptible to bird and bug attack in this protected area, it's going to be great!  Sucked in Cabbage White Butterflies, find something else to lay your eggs on, hah!
Here I am enjoying the warmth of Steve's fabulous greenhouse.  It's also rather handy if you get caught out in the rain, you can dash inside the greenhouse and keep warm and dry :-)
 Meanwhile I have been busy on the craft front.  I finished myself a crocheted bag to use as a shopping bag instead of plastic bags.  I think it will be quite handy.
 I continue with doing my little bit for orphan joeys, I am doing some sewing for 2 of the local orphan joey carers. 
 This is a hanging joey bag, with three channels at the top so it can be hung from 3 different heights.  The older joeys get tucked up in these, in a bundle of other cuddly covers, but they can then choose to poke their heads out and see what's going on.
 And this is the start of a stack of joey bag liners, made of soft flannelette with all the rough edges hidden inside seams so the joeys don't catch their little claws.  I feel good doing something to help these wonderful women and their joeys.
Until next time... xx