When I was chatting with my son Matt the other day he asked ‘what are you going to do tomorrow Mum?’ My response, ‘well I don’t know yet!’ It’s often first thing in the morning, as I’m wandering around feeding the birds and checking out the beauty of the day, when I start to think about what it is I’ll do for that day. I kind of have some idea but as I walk around in the morning I’ll start to notice things like, I’d better get those plants watered, or that wood pile still needs shifting and perhaps I’m due to harvest. As I’m sitting down to breakfast I’ll compile a bit of a list of what I need to do. Not set in stone, as of course I respond to issues as they arise, but mostly guides me for my day. Some of these things won’t get done and will be added to the list for tomorrow but eventually they’re ticked off!
The best days are when I’ve found the time and energy to set up a paddock ahead of time. When it comes to moving my sheep I find the two alpacas can get a little wound up waiting for me to get the fences moved and organised. They’ll begin rounding up the sheep and getting everyone a bit excited. The sheep really don’t appreciate this. So if I can get there and just let them straight on to a new patch of grass everything is so much more settled. I got an extra paddock set up yesterday- very happy!!
I‘m looking forward to the day that the little ducklings are big enough to get out into the world and begin swimming and exploring. They’re still too small and vulnerable to attack from flying predators such as a pair of eagles that live nearby. I aim to get my dam surround planted out for more habitat and hiding places but have not got to that yet! So I need to give them daily care at the moment. I cut down more woody growth to line their enclosure. Hopefully enough carbon to compost along with the high nitrogen load for their manure. The greener clippings I’ll put on top so they can enjoy a snack. Harvesting my own mulch is important. While I’m still using some packaged mulch I’m trying to reduce that. Getting home grown supplies means that there’s no transportation costs to the environment and no plastic packaging that we all have to deal with for years to come.
I got a bit of chop and drop done in the veggie garden area. The comfrey is huge and needs to be cut down so the leaves can be used as valuable mulch and the plant can put its energy back into leaf growth instead of flowers and seeds. I also did the rocket which was huge and flowering and blocking light and space for an eggplant and chilli.
While I continued on with my firewood shuffling I couldn’t help but notice a buzz. Looking over at what is usually a fairly boring tea tree I noticed that it was in full bloom with beautiful little white flowers and the bees were feasting upon them. I’ll often stop and just listen and when you hear this buzz I take notice. It will be something in flower and I’ll take note and perhaps propagate this plant for further plantings. Always looking to keep my bees happy!
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