Veggie delights (or lack of)

Like many in the tropics my veggie patch is looking quite sorrowful at the moment. It is coming toward the end of the dry season and the hot, humid climate is intolerable to many plants. To be honest the garden, lawn and paddock are looking brown and is desperate for actual rainfall. A storm had been prodicted over the weekend but until last night we were still waiting. We did have a light show and a shower last night, but this morning the rain guage read 1.5mm. Barely enough to dampen the paddock. Which suprisingly is looking greener than anything- though this may not last now our cows are restricted to just our plot (the neighbour has separated his to worm and feed up).

But the veg patch beside being brown, is looking tired and bare. The last batch of lettuces bolted, and has taken weeks to seed. The basil has finally seeded, so these will all be pulled and dried this weekend, leaving a few ‘pre-eaten’ cabbages along with a waning brussel sprout plant in the basilica garden. I have a few bean seedlings sprouting and the odd ripening strawberry, along with the last of the beetroot and fennel bulbs  in between the bamboo supports of the bean garden. Whilst the third raised patch is bare. The pallet gardens have barely been started- since none od the seeds sown came to anything. The most vibirant area is the the ‘vine garden’, which is largely self propagated plants such as pumpkins, tomatoes and eggplants (aubergines).

Seems strange to see the garden looking lack luster through the summer, as I always remember my grandparents gardens (Bamp on my Mam’s side and Nan on my Dad’s) gardens flourishing through this time of year...And we reaped the rewards come autumn. But then we don’t really have 4 seasons here either. So I just have to learn to adapt and grow what will sustain the heat and in a few weeks the wet too.

So, having had little success from planting seeds direct last month. I returned to planting seeds in trays last night; in the hope that these maybe transplanted in a few weeks. Though I think I may need to sow the next months before transplanting these out. So will need to source some more seedling trays and bases to stand them in (for water). I had read something recently about using toilet roll tubes as starter trays. I think I will look into this, as with a full house over Christmas (us and 7 guests) we may go through a few. Am guessing that either the roll would decompose, or could be cut off, so the transplanting process would be less stressful to the seedling- Something that I haven’t had the greatest success with to date. So can only be worth a try.

Well, as I explained the warm and humid, wet conditions of the Queensland summer does limit what plants will survive. But it doesn’t mean my garden has to look as for lone as it does. Pretty much, as my ‘vine garden’ is testament to; anything vine based will thrive. So pumpkins, zucchinis/courgettes, tomatoes, eggplant/aubergines, chillies, capsicums/peppers. I also planted a few summer lettuces (not all varieties will thrive at this time of year but a few can), a few containers of Asian vegetables, as these should with stand the conditions. A few heirloom carrots and radishes, so hopefully they will produce. But also a couple of unknown, they will apparently grow through these summer months, but as I haven’t eaten either Ceylon spinach (a vine variety) or okra, let alone grown them. It maybe interesting to see the results.

Weekly check in

Total rainfall for last week- 12.5mm, so ½ an inch.

Not a huge amount, especially in Queensland standards, but the garden is looking better for it. I did water the veggie garden and the trees last night, as it had been dry for a few days, and it started raining. Though it only registered ½ mm in the rain gauge, so still happy I did it- even if it looked silly watering the garden in the rain!

This weekend was once again dominated by other events. I was coordinating the marshals for the Tri Clubs corporate Triathlon- our first. It was bigger than we had hoped for and went well. But it took up about 6 hours of Sunday morning. But at least the rain held off.

Saturday we went into town (though we didn't ride) we met the social riders for coffee and a catch up, then had a list of errands to do. Followed by restocking of our freezer.

We had intended to add a few ducks as well, but we were tired and running out of daylight hours. But the Old English Game roosters had to go. They were a little younger than we had intended culling them, but I fear if we hadn’t, they would have. Well they already had, with the Rhode Island Red x EOG and had begun picking on another. But given the size on their nuts, no wonder they had begun fighting; the testosterone in that pen!
On the plus side we have 4 fairly meaty chickens stocked for our visitors. I must admit they were not the biggest or heaviest, but meat to size ratio was very good. 
But as a ‘meat bird’ we were quite impressed; the meat was very lean, slightly darker than other chicken breed we have raised, but not gamey. I am really hopeful that these characteristics will also pass on from the girls; as they are due to start laying in the next month or so.

I had intended to write an instruction blog on how to skin a chicken, but I found it quite hard to hold everything and take pictures. Plus it was becoming increasingly difficult to not get the camera messy. I think I will attempt this again, but by document someone else.

On the subject of ‘meat birds’, we finally swapped our roosters over; giving Ronnie a run with the general flock. And Rocky some time with our remaining Indian Game hen. We know Ronnies’ fertile as we have 9 Indian Game chicks running around out the front and have had quite a few batches of layers from Rocky. But it will be interesting to see if there is any difference in ‘productivity’ or meat quality of one over the other.

I suggested the Indian game over the layers should be more ‘productive’ as they lay more. However I have read that there may be difficulties in the males of this breed reaching the hens to breed successfully. On the other hand Indian Game hens are not as productive, but Matt read that this combination produced a better quality of meat… I guess only time will tell. We hope to incubate some eggs in about a fortnight, so I’ll keep you up to date. But at the moment, Ronnie seems a little overwhelmed by the whole experience. And has already been challenged and chased by the Turkey.

As for our other little ones, the ducklings are becoming increasing confident and cheeky. Raiding the Indian Game chicks food daily; though they are having more difficulties escaping in a hurry, as they no longer fit through the mess that well.

The Indian Game chicks themselves, are looking good. We think we have finally sexed them; believing we have 4 boys and 5 girls. The defining factor being that some have begun to develop the blue, green and purple sheens and flecks in the feathers and others have not. As with most birds, the males are more flamboyant. It shouldn’t be too long til their crowing, so guess we’ll know for sure soon enough. Is strange though, as there has been little differences between the males and females, not even comb or tail feathers. The only other characteristic we have picked out so far has been possible leg thickness (boys being thicker) but really this would vary bird to bird anyway.  Hopefully he will provide a good cross over our utility layers and it will be very interesting to see the results of him over the Old English Game crosses.

 Our new residents appear to be settling in well. We herded them into the rear garden (with the general poultry population) and out of the run that they spent their first day in. But are yet to leave them loose around the house. Which is ultimately where we want them.

The  lady we adopted them off, reported that she had, had her first snake in 11 months (the time she had had them). So I am hoping to progress to having them roam around the whole house yard, as I want them to keep the snakes away.  But for now, they appear to be adjusting well and have made no attempts to fly away. 

Over the past few days, it has taken 2 of us to herd the geese into the run before we have been able to go anywhere. The majority of the flock (even the ducklings), know the drill and happily run ahead of me, when I am carrying a food bucket. Whilst the geese were interested, curiosity would only lead them so far. They fell short of walking willingly into he run.

As I was on my own this morning, I had expected this to be quite difficult and to be running around. But fortunately they just wandered in after the other birds; asserting their dominance over their share of the food. They eat together taking it in turns to watch and defend. Only the ducks (or more so the ducklings) are allowed anywhere near.

I thought Brits were obsessed with the weather-Then there's Queensland

When I learned French at school (as with probably any other language) we are taught how to discuss the weather… yet this conversation never really tranlated to everday use. This I have always accepted as a truely “British” conversation.  

Rain gauge

Now, not often you will hear me refer to us as British, however this is a subject and culture that is common throughout the UK. I mean in pretty much the whole of the UK you could experience all four seasons in one day. Or you  would be able to strike up a conversation with almost any stranger with the following sentence, “What about this weather?” Something that many other nationalities fail to understand... And then we moved to Queensland.

I mean Australia as a continent experiences 4 different climates. Tropical (such as in Nth Qld- where we are), Sub-tropical, Moderate and Cool. This continent has arid desserts, flooded communities and even snow- not just snow, ski resorts. Snow would not being likely here in the Tropics (but we can wish).   

2 of our 3 tanks

The first year at my job, I felt quite left out of the daily morning conversation; as we did not have a rain gauge.  Not only do they discuss the weather, they measure it and compare notes! And it was not just my colleagues, the weather reports repeatedly reiterated how many days it had been since certain places had seen rainfall and they report on dam levels. Now this was something of a foreign concept. But having spent 6 years living in this climate and experiencing weather that I find difficult to explain, I understand and even participate in the daily data collection. And intend to document it though this blog, as it does affect our daily lives. Since we are now solely reliant upon sourcing our own water; as we do not have a mains supply. So our water either comes from  rainfall or bore water .

Bore water is water pumped from the ground through a drilled source- much like a well. Many locals have a preference to either rain water or bore water, some refusing to use either/ or, for their own various reasons. Bore water can be ‘hard’ or have other traits dependent upon the ground from which it’s sourced. Here we are fortunate that our ground has high clay content, therefore the water in soft and well filtered. But as rainfall is a naturally available source, you can understand why we aim to collect it when its available.

Rainfall in the tropics is minimal during the “dry season” maybe 10-20mm each month. Which would equate to 400-800 litres in our tanks. And then there is the “wet season”.  In the UK we experience 4 seasons; Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter, in the tropics these are merely a formality, as they have a  have a wet season potentially runs from November til May. Involving high average day (and night time) temperatures, high humidity (sometimes even 100%) and RAIN. The dry season falls over winter, with cooler day (and night) temperatures (that we in the UK would think were summer) and dry, sunny days… and a lot of brown vegetation.



In need to rain- dry season



I do find it strange that most Australians think of the UK as wet, dark and grey. Not understanding that we do (occasionally) have a summer, with nice weather. And that they have more annual rain than we could even comprehend.

Christmas/New Year 2011

Growing up in Wales (one of the wettest parts of the UK) I thought I understood rainfall. However I tried to prepare my family for the rains, prior to their first visit. They came over Christmas (as they are again this year), which is typically the beginning of the wet season. Although it officially begins in November, since  we have been here the rain has begun around Christmas to New year.

These early rainfalls can appear as quickly as they go. One minute there will be clear blue skies, the next can only be compared to having a bucket thrown over your head.  Now many would consider this idea pleasant (ourselves included), at least it was still sunny… how naive.  The rain merely increases the humidity levels, offering no relief from the heat- Ask my mother! And they left before the real wet hit.

February, we have seen constant monsoon rains that last a few weeks straight. Regularly resulting in roads and communities being cut off for days or even weeks. Luckily being on the coast, we generally only see certain routes cut off for short periods (hours rather than days). But the results can still be devastating. 2008 we witnessed an historic flood, that saw many lower lying areas flood (many that had been there for decades and have never been wet). Locals reported rainfall of up to 850mm (that’s almost 3 feet) in 6 hours- from their rain gauges (mine only goes up to 150mm).

More concerning is that this warm, wet weather also bring with it cyclones. So far we have seen 5, of varying strengths. Well there has been far more than that each year, most do not see land fall, or many have crossed along various other parts of the coast. But we have been on alert and seen 5 come and go. Last year being the worst with Ului crossing us directly and Yasi (the biggest storm ever seen- a category 5!) crossing North of us.

These cyclones are systems that build in the warmer waters (feeding off its energy) and a few each year (Australia wide), cross land. Bringing with it high winds, rain and a lot of damage. I believe they are similar to that of the hurricanes experienced in the Northern hemisphere- as with those that cross USA, but cyclones rotate the opposite direction… much like that water going down the drain ;)

So I guess when I say we had rain last night and the gauge read 1mm, this appears insignificant. But I already mentioned that I intend to blog the weather patterns, as this now forms part of our lives and affect how we operate. I’ll try to report on any weekly rainfall or significant events, as I’ll try not to bore you with this information. Such as this week it is predicted that we will have rain until Wednesday. I highly doubt that this will be significant enough to prevent us having to top up the tanks with the bore. So I wouldn’t warrant a daily update, but at this time of year ever little counts and hopefully the garden will look greener for it.

It's raining, it's pouring

Well it has been pouring here! Especially considering it’s the dry season? We had 63mm of rain over night alone.  I am unsure what we had over the last few days in total, as Matt had been emptying the rain gauge. And we were a little distracted last night

With the recent rainfall, and the fact that the tanks are “empty” (especially since none of that rain being collected since we disconnected them the other week) the second tank popped up. So we spent yesterday evening lifting it out, in preparation for moving.

 Unfortunately with the rain we had a little more bad news, the duck nested in the corner where the rainwater flows. Her nest has been waterlogged twice, so I am not holding out any hope for her clutch hatching. Although the ones in the incubator (that we thought may have been cooked) appears to still be developing- so we have hope there.

On a slightly more positive note, the chicken eggs we have in our incubator started hatching last night. This morning there were 3 started. So will keep you posted… could be an interesting weekend.

A reminder to move the tanks

After 2 days of getting all those jobs done around the house that had been neglected recently, we were feeling pretty pleased with ourselves. Reminded of the benefits and rewards this lifestyle offers. Only for it to remind us of the challenges it poses its inhabitants.

5.30 on a Sunday evening, I’ve just transferred my veggies and am watering them in. The animals are all cleaned out, with fresh bedding and have just been fed and watered. With the freshly prepared coq-au-vin is simmering in the slow cooker, about an hour to go. I’m beginning to think about the working week ahead- setting aside uniforms and getting ready to jump in a well deserved shower, but there’s nothing. Look out the window to see my sprinkler fading…no water?

Neither of us expected to have used  the 2, 11,000l tanks (fed off and connected to the house). We still have a 48,000l tank attached the shed, which is brimming. It was probably this that fooled us. At least it was still dusk with some daylight left, these things usually happen in the dark!

As these tanks are now empty (well their still probably water in them), this brings us to another major project we need to undertake- move the 2 smaller tanks. This is something we had planned to do this dry season, as soon as the tanks ran out. So Matt permanently disconnected the down pipe connections. Rendering them useless until they are moved and new connections are bought and attached. Guess this adds some sort of urgency to the project. As we do not want to be without 44,000l of tank capacity come the wet season and my family are visiting for a month over Christmas. Given these tanks alone have provided our water supply for this calendar year (so 6 months), we need them back online.

The tanks need moving as they are actually on and not inside the property boundary. An oversite (and naivety) on our part when buying the place and ignorance on the part of our neighbour. It was only discovered late last year when the neighbour  went to erect fencing between the paddocks (something that had not been done by the previous owners).

So initially we disconnected, moved and redirected the stormwater connections to the largest of the 3 tanks, that was/is connected to the shed. As this one was half used, having run the other 2 low and then filled them with bore water. This was then followed closely by the wet season, so it was discussed that we would move them once they ran out this year.

Moving the last 2 will not be as straight forward as the first. As the downpipe supply from the house to the tanks are all underground and the tanks themselves, unlike the bigger one are semi-submerged.  But it has to be done, and now we’ve made a start- so watch this space.