The Australian King Parrots have discovered our water hole. My dads old concrete pot that we have begun having water in for Willie and Levin’s in the hotter times. I sawed the rest of the tree and we both did splitting and stacking in the shed. Cleaned the water tank and filled it. Watered the patches in the evening and I sowed the Salsify seeds that I had soaked for some days. 

De Australian King Parrots – papegojorna har upptäckt vårt vattenhål. Min pappas gamla betongkruka som vi har börjat vattna i åt Willie och Levin’s under den varmare tiden. Jag sågade resten av trädet och vi klyvde och staplade båda i skjulet. Rengjorde vattentanken och fyllde den. Vattnade grönsakerna på kvällen och sådde havsrotsfrön som jag hade blötlagt i några dagar.

Jahaja, hela kroppen värkte igårkväll och halva natten sen ok tack vare lite, uh, osteopanodil eller vad det kan heta på svenska. Satt och vilade hela morgonen utom att jag var tvungen att gå ut och kolla in grönsakerna. M sågade och klöv veden från det gamla trädet vi hittade (och hade mätt upp men inte sågat). Nu är vedboden närapå full. Han lämnade lite från det nya trädet som vi högg ned åt mig. Fint för jag är lite avundsjuk när han jobbar och inte jag.

Jag städade upp lite i biblioteket/kontoret/gästis men det räknas inte rikitigt.

På eftermiddagen försökte vi göra rent vattentanken hjälpligt innan vi fyllde den men nästa gång måste vi välta den och göra rent ordentligt inuti.

M la på andra legret på de sista  skärbrädorna. Hur många skärbrädor har vi? 5 stycken. Två särskilda som vi gjorde till köksbänken och en som jag har specialbeställt som räcker över tvättfatet så att man kan rensa mat där och bara skoffla avfallet ner i hon. Sen är det två mindre som förra ägarna har lämnat kvar.

Lite popcorn och MasterChef på kvällen.

Tuesday.

Yeah, my whole body ached last night and half the night after Ok, thanks to some uh, osteoparacetamol or whatever it’s called. Sat and rested all morning except that I had to go out and check on the vegetables.

M sawed and split the wood from the old tree we found (and had measured, marked but not sawed). Now the woodshed is almost full. He left some from the new tree that we cut down for me. Nice because I’m a little jealous when he works and not me. I cleaned up a little in the library/office/guest room, but that doesn’t really count.

In the afternoon we tried to clean the water tank a little before we filled it but next time we have to knock it over and clean the inside properly.

M finished putting a second layer on the cutting boards. How many do we have? Well two specials and then one extremely special which I have ordered and reaches over the sink so one can cut and just shove the peels or what nots over the edge etc. Then two which the former owners left. In all 5 which are always more or less in use.

Some popcorn and MasterChef in the evening. 

15+ cows outside lower gate!!!!!! 7.5 ˚ outside this morning.

We cut down a tree and picked up logs from a previous years cut.

M called Jones in the evening. More promises.

MasterChef again in the evening. It’s such a feel good program again.

My body is in total ache! M is done with half of the cutting boards. Also he mowed some grass so we can have a fire soon.

I prepared two beds and sowed beets and Kohl Rabi. We watered all patches. 

Did some laundry. M checked on the cutting boards. Not much else got done. Harvested and checked over the patches. Killed some cabbage moth. Found an odd insect in the planters and saw some holes in one of them. Suspect a weevil of some sort has laid it’s eggs there. Will keep an eye out if the larva will eat the seedling roots or something. I will also see if I can carefully dig out the eggs.

English, svenska efteråt

Stupid cows slept outside the lower gate in early morning. One had left a gigantic crap and another a smaller crap just at the gate so when opening the gate it smeared the poo.

Physalis Beetles back on the Cape Gooseberries. It is cold now so the fruit will never ripen. We’ll se if we can get them to overwinter.

Prepared the spot for planting the Havrerot / Salsify. Put the seeds in water with cover. Hopefully they will sprout.

M oiled the stairs for 2nd time with decking oil and oiled the cutting boards with other oil and sanded and oiled one cutting board he had used for trial varnishing.  Skipped the varnish in favour for the oil. Also worked on the edging for the base under the wood fired stove.

Also watered the patches. It is very very dry now.

Animal life back on track: Levin’s Honeyeater, Julgranskulorna (Australian Kingparrot Alisterus Scapularis), Yellow Tailed Black Cockatoo Calyptorhychus funereus,  Haklappen (Golden Whistler – Pachycephala Pectoralis), In that order. Ok the Magpies and the Kookaburras came back quickly. We have not seen the crows yet. M said he saw one crow this morning. One measly Pademelon and one Wallaby. After some weeks now we have four wallabies, one with a joey. Incredible!  Did someone with a rake run through our neck of the bush and gather all the animals? 

20260418 Lördag.

Dumma kor sov utanför den nedre grinden tidigt på morgonen. En hade lämnat en gigantisk skit och en annan en mindre skit precis vid grinden, så när jag öppnade den smetade grinden ut bajset i gräset.

Physalisbaggarna är tillbaka på Fysalisarna (Physalis eller Kapkrusbär eller tomatillos).  Det är kallt nu så bären kommer aldrig att mogna. Vi får se om vi kan få dem att övervintra. Förberedde en plats för att plantera Havrerot/Salify. Satte fröna i vatten med lock. Förhoppningsvis gror de.

M oljade trappan för andra gången och oljade skärbrädorna och slipade och oljade en skärbräda som han hade använt till provlackering. Skippade lacken till förmån för oljan. Jobbade även med kantlisten till basen under vedspisen. Detta så att man inte gör illa tårna när man går förbi.

Vattnade även grönssakssängarna. Det är väldigt, väldigt torrt nu. 

Tillbaks runt närmaste trädgården. Djurlivet återvänder: Levin’s Honeyeater, Julgranskulorna – Australian Kingparrot Alisterus Scapularis, Yellow Tailed Black Cockatoo – Calyptorhychus funereus,  Haklappen – Golden Whistler Pachycephala Pectoralis), I den ordningen. Okej, skatorna och kookaburrorna kom tillbaka snabbt. Vi har inte sett kråkorna än. M sa att han såg en kråka i morse. En ynklig pademelon och en wallaby. Efter några månader har vi nu fyra wallabyer, en med en bebis.  Otroligt! Sprang någon med en kratta genom vår bush och samlade ihop alla djuren och tog med sig?

9˚ outside in morning, 17 inside.

Whole body ache.

No cows in the early morning.

Did some harvesting in the patches. Everything looked nice and no animals or insects had reeked havoc.

Made lunch. M oiled the front stairs, I did dishes and some other needed small chores like labelling the squash, sharpened a knife, prepared for tonights dinner, etc. We watered the patches and all still looked good. Touch wood!

The sun set behind the mountain ranges at about 17.20 but it was still light outside.

We have a little mama wallaby again. 4 wallabies are back and turn up now and then. I think no one likes the cows. When we returned from Japan it was dead silence around the house. No birds, no animals. First back was Willie Wagtail and slowly some of the regulars returned but nothing like before we left. It was like someone had gone past and spread poison all over. Weird and spooky.

Electrical outage this morning. Got the planters sorted and sowed in them. Prepared the seeds for planting directly in spot. M dug up all the oreganos which were a total mess with lots of weeds mixed in, and planted some of the Oreganos by the others we have planted in another place. Made Grape squash. 4 bottles. I was very tired all day but staid up later than M. Life is beginning to have a bit of a routine.

Must up and get another tree to make up for the cold season.

A day of rest. My knee is again unhappy. M is ok today. These things take longer to heal when older. 

M oiled the kitchen counter. We took it out on the veranda for work space. We turned the bottom up and oiled the “back side”. Both sides were the same when we bought it. We have a shorter wood substitute for a couple of days now. 

Watered the patches. 

It was a dry chilly day. 26˚ in the early afternoon so good to heat up for the dishwashing.

Neighbours cows turned up in the evening! Cursed neighbour and his stupid animals.

Tuesday. 

Thinking we shall kick start this blog again.

We spent Yule in Japan and had a very very nice time. We got some Japanese cold so I was coughing a lot. So irritating. We had gotten a lot of vaccines so we should have made it but but but…

When we got home it had rained enough to ruin most of the sown vegs and all patches were pretty much covered with grass and Billy Goat weed. So what to do but start over again!

Also the fridge had given up and the day after we got home we had to go to town and buy a new one plus lots of food – phew! What a trip all together.

But now it is April! Half year cold, half year warm / hot!

Cold  morning – 15.6 inside, 6.1 outside! Autumn has arrived for sure! 

For a couple of days now we have cut down two trees and cut up one tree laying over one of our roads. The one we call Number One. We cut them in 1 metre lengths so they would fit easily on our ute Mulle. 

Today we finished sawing them into 25 cm’s, splitting them and stacking the wood in the wood shed. Also brought some to the verandah in case of needing an evening fire. 

We also worked in the patches: planted the avo seeds (two have rooted) We also relocated one of the Lychees. We had two in with the Rhubarb pot but one did not thrive there. The other is growing like there is no tomorrow. We planted the tiny dill, ginger  knobs and the parsley that have survived. I also hoped to plant Basil because there were som many but this morning they were all gone. Some I actually found the stalks but the leaves bitten off. Who? What? 

Later when all was planted I went through the soil with a fine “tooth combe” and found only crickets. Do they eat vegetables? Oh well.  

M worked on the fire stove to make a frame so we will not hit our toes on the old metal frame. 

We also filled the veranda shelves with wood, and watered the patches. It will be very dry a couple of weeks forward. 

We must burn some lime we have cut down last year soon too!

No more dips in the creek.

Then it’s time to work on another raised bed. We don’t make them as high as the first one which is in the 4th patch, but mostly because when it rains as hard and long as it can so here, the soil doesn’t run off into the aisles but stays in the frame there. Very good. Hope it stays that way too.

Sen dags att jobba på ännu en förhöjd växtsäng. Vi har dem inte så högt som den första som står i 4:an utan mest för att när det regnar så hårt och länge som det kan göra här så rinner inte jorden ut i gångarna utan stannar kvar. Mycket bra. Hoppas att det blir så också.

So get out all the drills and saw stands, the spirit level, etc. Then start drilling the frames together and take a good look. Time to fill in soil from everywhere and the compost.

Alltså ta fram alla borrmaskiner och sågställningar, vattenpass mm. Sen börja borra ihop ramarna och se så bra. Dags att fylla på jord från överallt och komposten.

he compost now has a small pile of cow dung next to it so we can keep track of that damn weed TSA (Tropical Soda Apple). The native one is ok but the one that comes from foreign countries spreads like wildfire by, mostly, the cows. preferably in waterways so that no animals can get through and drink. It has hard, super sharp spikes pretty much everywhere on the leaves, trunk and branches.

Most of what has survived has been planted out so all we have to do is prepare for the summer and weed.

Komposten har en liten kobajshög nu bredvid den så att vi kan hålla reda på den jävla ogräset TSA (Tropical Soda Apple). Den inhemska är ok men den som kommer utifrån växer till sig, gärna vi vattendrag så att inga djur kan ta sig fram. Den sprids mestadels av kor. Den har hårda supervassa taggar ungefär överallt på blad, stam och kvistar.

Det mesta som klarat sig är utplanterat så bara att förbereda för

för sommaren och att ogräsrensa.