Greetings to all the beautiful people all over planet Earth.
I can't believe we are on the cusp of spring here in the southern hemisphere, only yesterday did it feel like we were heading into winter, that's how much I have enjoyed it. But the budding out of trees, flowers are perfume in the air, and the quick lull of Mother Earth is now suddenly waking up again, getting prepared for the pangs of hopefully a more gentler summer.
I have taken advantage of the cool weather that winter has permitted, fixing the banks around my fruit trees, and putting up a new fence to barricade against the midnight feast that the kangaroos are enjoying on a regular basis at my house. El Noor.
There is a flurry of birds chaperoning me most days, but it was only a couple of months ago that I befriended a very friendly, beautiful magpie, which I have called Maghdela. I couldn't believe how close she came to me, even upon our initial meeting, and she has been like that ever since. She comes most morning and gets on top of my flagpole and sings me the most beautiful song, and when I call her name out, she comes sweeping down to get a quarter piece of soggy, wet bread, which she loves. Her parents, who sometimes chaperone her, are much more suspicious of me, and keep their distance, although they are summoning up the courage very slowly. Here is a picture of Maghdela.
Winter has provided me some beautiful radishes, which really didn't take all that long to grow, and after chopping them up and pickling them in vinegar and salt, I am happy to say that there is not a scrap of them left.
The days have been absolutely lovely during the winter time, very lovely, mild days of approximately 20°C, only to get down to just above zero, most nights, which I loved, so I could snuggle in my deep mattress and warm blankets. I took my time on sunset walks, enjoying the glory of what a winter brings in this part of the world.
Beautiful sunset walks....
Interesting critters were also found in my house, I found this beautiful female I found was called a microcentrum retinerve, which is supposedly only found in Mexico, and the United States, seems to me that she is found elsewhere! They come out at night and I was surprised to see her looking like a leaf hanging on the side of my bed.
My parents had an apricot tree at their house, and gifted me, the tree in winter, it was huge and hard to dig out, and then to dig a hole and let it settle for a couple of months. When I first saw sap coming from the tree, I took that as a good sign that there was movement happening....and within only a month or so later, the first signs of bud started to appear. I have not seen any buds on her yet, and perhaps I will not see them this year as usually, blossom precedes leaf on stone fruit trees.
Sap is a good sign!
My 4 grafted stone fruit tree is finally bearing fruit, gorgeous, fluffy peaches, which were delicious last year. For such a small tree, I am amazed at how much it has been bearing fruit for me – even after its first year in the ground last year.
Beautiful peach buds!
Another staple for me throughout winter has been beautiful, delicious rocket. I ate it raw, sautéed it, boiled it In a soup, for the creativity with rocket is endless, and one good thing about it is kangaroos do not eat it! One of the only green things they avoid, I think they are missing out!
My pomegranate tree is finally dropping her leaves, making way for new ones. She gave me five pomegranates last year!
Something also very interesting that surprised me was being that It was a very hot summer last year I barely had any luck with tomatoes during the summer period. As soon as the flowers became pollinated and would grow fruit, the fruit Woodburne shrivel up and could not cope with such extreme heat. It was disappointing after all the hours of time, and effort that were spent growing the plants, but what has happened is that fruit started forming on the tomato vines in autumn, only to stay green during the whole winter, getting beautiful and bid... and really now have only turned yellow as we are nearing the end of winter. As we speak, I have been picking tomatoes every day and they are absolutely delicious. It has been worth the wait.
Cranium finally settling in the ground and giving me beautiful flowers!
I had some visitors come over after school one day with beautiful braided hair, and we organised a date night to do henna on the arms. They are very intrigued with the Middle Eastern culture and so we had a night of me doing their henna in beautiful designs.... we quickly decided we needed to do another night sometime soon.
What I haven't spoken about online is that I have just finished a root canal treatment. One great thing about living so remotely is that we have incredible opportunities from organisations, such as the Royal flying Doctor of Australia, or better known as the RFDS. The RFDS fly all over the country in remote regions, offering medical and dental treatment for those that do not otherwise have access to. I have had many dental treatments with the RFDS over the last year and all of it has been free. Hard to believe in this day and age, a root canal treatment can cost anywhere from $2500 upwards, so to receive this at no expense is truly remarkable. The dental care is some of the best I've ever received in my life! Here is me driving on this remote road, going home at sunset after finishing the final treatment of my root canal.
Later that night, as I was putting my garden to bed, I caught a beautiful moonrise coming up in the east…
Freshly picked!!
Another Staple of my garden has been lavender. All my lavender was very small when I first arrived back up in the high desert, and now it is flowering and looking beautiful. I love to see bees buzzing all over it and just love the luxury of seeing flower in my garden, finally!
I have also been very busy in the kitchen, I was gifted a big bag of chilies. Nobody knew what kind they were, but I knew they were very hot. Im not able to handle much heat, so I made a chutney out of them and it is delicious. I know you are meant to wait at least a month for it to cure, but I had a small jar left over and tried it myself and it's actually not as hot as I thought. Still, the crass name of the chutney is very fitted-- not at all polite, but least it's honest and so you know what you are in for…
One of my favourite shrubs is the beautiful Waxflower, native to Australia. I have tried growing it from seed with not much luck, but my mother gifted me a wax flower a couple of months ago, and she has now finally opened up her buds to reveal a beautiful fuchsia coloured flower.
Another essential of my garden is purple stock. I believe every garden should have this amazing plant that is a natural attractor for ladybugs. It is such a wonderful seed producer, and the smell stifles the garden beautiful every single morning. It is a very easy flower to grow, and I love seeing it in my garden. I have it in between my rosebushes to hopefully combat the aphid issue, should I come across it this year.
I've also finally seen some roses in my garden for the first time in a long time, this is a beautiful Delbard Rose, and although she has been hit by the frost, she is finally blushing out in all her splendour, it has been worth the transplant that is for sure!
The thing about winter is the beautiful sunsets, and they never disappoint in this region of the world. People that visit often comment on how red the skies are at sunset, and it's true, as I've noticed that this phenomenon is not really present down south of the state, so I'm wondering if it is like this up north as well, but it is certainly very beautiful here. I also manage to catch a glimpse of our beautiful neighbour Venus, the evening Star and gave my salutations to her
Venus, always looking beautiful!
I've also managed to put up an approximately 80 meter length fence around all of my fruit trees. I have grown tired of the mosquito netting situation, having to go out every night to cover my garden only to come out and see that kangaroos have now worked out how to pull back the netting and eat my beloved Hollyhock plants. Although the mosquito netting has been effective, it's not a permanent solution, hence why I have made a fence, and so far it is holding up.
The rewards of gardening far outweigh the obstacles and setbacks, and I encourage anyone that desires a personal relationship with the most Radiant One to fill their hearts with light and love, to grow a garden. There is something very therapeutic and lovely about creating a garden, and I feel very close to Source’s radiance when I'm out in mine.
Till next time...
~A
xx