Wide Open Mind, Road & Throttle

I feel everything in Winter takes a lot longer to grow and the produce dwindles to a slow pace over these colder months. Luckily the produce I grew throughout the year including the bumper crop of potatoes and onions are still going strong and assisting with the hardy winter meals. I am happy to report that all the garden beds have stayed secure for some time now without any possum damage.

Ive also bought a couple of dwarf fruit trees too which are under the netting in the square garden bed as I just can t seem to keep the possums away from the growth to even get close to getting any fruit.

It’s always nice on the weekends to go down and see what growth has occurred during the week as its dark before I get home and often wet and freezing cold so my nightly visits are done sparingly these days.

I am still able to harvest lettuce, chilli’s, spinach and some carrots at the moment and hopefully will have some beetroot, cabbage, broccoli, leek and more to come over the next coming months.

I planted some rhubarb today along with some asparagus crowns with the hope these will be ready for eating in Spring to early Summer.

Its all a learning process and although the internet is a great resource I do enjoy visiting the local nursery near work in New Town to have a chat about both indoor and outdoor plants as they really do have a wealth of knowledge and experience.

This is how the garden beds are setup at the moment. I have two extra large beds made from roofing sheets, three large beds made from wood sleepers plus two small square beds made from wood and roofing sheets. It s a good size and room for rotation.

The chickens were located in the back corner but have been relocated outside this area and next to the house after Odin got too cuddly with one of the chickens and sadly we lost her. Its safer for them now and Odin can’t get to them without us around.

We have our little white Silkie Bantum hen who has been laying quite well and our grey rooster who is very vocal!

The new kids on the block that have recently joined the flock include an Araucana cross  and a couple of isa brown cross. Let’s say I was a bit gullible when I let them out of their boxes and they immediately did a runner down the hill and were let loose. When I bought the first ones they were very docile and wanted to stay close to the coop and took a while to become active. Not these ones. They are quick and run in different directions. It took me 2 hours to catch this girl below and it took a dive in the mud to succeed. I’m really hoping if she continues to be vocal, she will attract the others back to the coop.

Anyway, I’m soaking wet, muddy and cold so I’ll head back inside and hope to find the others once they are worn out and hungry.

Plenty of snow on the mountains today which was a nice sight to wake up too.