Being locked down for me doesn’t really look a lot different than my every day. Well, except that I couldn’t go and visit my sons and their lovely ladies for morning tea as planned which was disappointing. Also missed out on a catch up with mum who was looking forward to joining us. Anyway I instead got on with my ever growing list of things to do around here!!
It started, as usual, with my morning chores and breakfast, followed by sheep move and getting my Muscovy ducklings happy with fresh grassy bedding. Permaculture is very much about having your activities serve multiple purposes so that time and energy used is minimised and output maximised. In this example I’m talking about the simple task of keeping the ducklings comfortable. In my nearby swale I have grasses and weedy species growing where my cover crops had failed, so each day I pick an area to cut down and move to the duck enclosure. Keeps the grasses under control in readiness for autumn mulching, feeds the ducks and provides bedding materials to absorb their manure, and to break down into what will be a rich harvestable compost.
I sometimes find it a challenge to pick the right moment to harvest some of my mulching crops. The comfrey grows prolifically and quickly produces a beautiful little flower that the bees love. You can chop this plant down three or four times in a growing season and use it’s leaves as a mulch. If left to grow it will quickly put its energy into seed making. Great if you need new plants but very much a wasted opportunity to use it to enrich other areas of the garden. So the challenge for me is to chop it when it is in full flower. I love my bees and hate to take this resource from them but I know if I do there are plenty of other pollen sources at this time of year!
The major part of my day was finishing up the shredding of leaves and branches, and continuing to move the wood pile from driveway to shed. Some more honey frames were made and foods prepared.
Just another day in lock down.
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