The science fiction works of the author Phillip K Dick never really resonated with me. Everything aspect of the narratives, from the plot to the characters, were always just a bit too extreme for my tastes. On the other hand, the authors short stories often translated into some very decent movies, and who can forget the dark and brooding film: Blade Runner? Or the 1990 film: Total Recall (another of the authors stories). That was a fun adventure set on the planet Mars with a memorable cast of mutants, and of course the more usual scheming extreme humans.
One of the mutants was the rebel leader and mystic Kuato. A horrid looking thing, being a slimy conjoined and unnaturally wise mutant baby sticking out of the stomach of some dude. I can’t make this stuff up, and yes, the author did take events into extreme directions. Anyway, unappealing visuals aside, the horror had some interesting things to say to the protagonist. The most famous quote was: “You are what you do. A man is defined by his actions… not his memory.” All very true, and such words should strike fear into the hearts of those folks who put abstractions ahead of reality, as is often the case in these enlightened days.
At this point, you may ask the hard question: What has some fictional mutant got to to do with a weekly farm blog? It’s a good question. So there we were the other night. Sandra, Dame Plum and I, walking in the warm outdoors during the dark hours under a full moon in the shady orchard, when my lady pointed out: Can you see that? As a dude, the obvious answer to such a question is to reply in the negative: No. Beside, it being late at night, even with the bright moon light, that was the best response my tired over-worked brain could come up with. It’d been a long day, and we’d finished late. Presumably at this point, the female of the species can be seen to have higher expectations of communications than us lesser males can deliver, and that seemed to be the case at that very moment.
‘Over there’, the words were heard whilst the torch directed a beam of light upon the biggest fattest brush tail possum I’d ever seen. Being a guy can be the only possible explanation for my having blithely walked past that marsupial monster. It was as if there was a giant panda sitting in the loquat tree. What the? Disparate chunks of information were settling into place. So that’s the gut which has been devouring the apples and pears. Hmm. The furry herbivore looked remarkably well fed. And for some unknown reason, at the moment as I stared at the possum, the critter nonchalantly chose to stare back, and the thought entered my head: Kuato Lives! What can I say other than: I’ve an active imagination…
I’d not fully appreciated that brush tail possums could become so huge, although maybe this particular marsupial was residing in a good paddock. It’s hard to know really. Usually possums are transient forest critters here. The many species of owls feast upon the furry herbivores and they lead a precarious life. A possum will turn up, be eaten by an owl, and that’s the last I’ll consider them. This mutant brush tail possum on the other hand, is something entirely new.
It’s funny what you see walking around the forest. The other day, Sandra and I with the three dogs, were walking up the dirt road when a car creepily drove past at slow speed, and without stopping. Being a dead end road, we knew that sooner or later, we’d meet up with the car and passengers again. And sure enough, that’s how events rolled.
This time however, the car stopped and we had a chat with the nice young couple. They were interested in purchasing the neighbours house, it having been on the market for quite a while now. It’d be good to see some younger folks considering moving into the area. We’ve lived around here about seventeen years now, and well, as they say, time has a habit of marching on.
The property prices in this area are prohibitive for younger folks, although a person gets a lot more land for their mad cash up here than in say, an outer suburban housing estate. It just costs more. Older folks who might have the available mad cash, well, they probably don’t want to live on such large acreage, it potentially being hard work. Regular readers would know that we work hard, although on the other hand, the land is productive. It’s a predicament. But how do younger folks afford to buy up here? Maybe they received an inheritance, who knows? – not that we’d know what such a thing looks like. Far out.
Sandra, as well as most of my friends, believe that with a Federal election only a few months away, the official interest rates for lending will be reduced soon. Lowering those rates will make borrowing mad cash, heaps cheaper. And maybe that’s how younger folks will purchase the house. Dunno. I recall a time when houses were treated as the thing which keeps the rain off your head during inclement weather. Times sure have changed, and goodness knows, the same government facing the populace at the polls is one trillion dollars in debt. An impressive achievement. The state government here is about one hundred and eighty billion in debt. That more local lot enjoyed a few sharp rebukes at by-elections last week. But whatever, it doesn’t matter who’s in charge, the repayments must be horrendous, and worse than any horror story I could imagine. So they’re probably wanting lower interest rates as well. Can you imagine the behind the scenes dramas for that big spending lot?: We’ve got to come up with five million for interest payments and refinancing before five o’clock today! Right, anyone got any ideas?
It’s all a bit of an economic horror show really. Decline could have been managed so much better than it has been, after all I know things were once different. Way back in the 1970’s, my mother received a free University education and managed to buy a house on a single parents income. Not possible these days. It’s funny how times have changed, and not for the better. The fat possum on the other hand shows what triumphing in the rough and tumble can look like. He’s out there supping on the juiciest of apples and pears, whilst daily dodging predators, and like any healthy ecosystem, there are a few owls out there, and not so many possums.
The climate here is remarkably variable, however some weeks are more strange and extreme, than other weeks. That has proven to be the case this week. Earlier in the week we endured a heatwave, then yesterday was the coldest February overnight temperature on record. We even had to load up the wood heater to keep the well insulated house warm. Outside was very cold for summer, and in more elevated parts of the state, there was a decent dusting of snow. Brr!
Despite the bizarre weather, work continues here. The staircase project is nearing completion.
During the week we poured a number of cement steps near to the top of the staircase.
As usual we’d run out of large rocks, so a few hours were spent splitting the boulders into more usefully sized large rocks. It’s nice to have your own personal quarry, because rocks are not exactly cheap to purchase.
The rocks get graded according to their size. The smallest make for excellent steel rock gabion cage fill. Then there are intermediate and larger rocks – all very useful in various garden projects. Hauling them back up hill is a fun and slow activity.
We’ve dumped a whole bunch of large rocks near to the top of the staircase where they’ll be used to upgrade the rock wall in that location.
Observant readers will note the use of plastic to protect the curing concrete surface from the rain. The project really is nearing completion, and earlier today we poured the penultimate step.
It really did rain too. And the storm originated from Antarctica so the state recorded it’s coldest February temperatures on record. At least it didn’t snow here.
In breaking produce news:
Now that we’re receiving a little bit of regular rainfall, and that the UV (ultraviolet radiation) from the sun has reduced from Extreme to Very High, the plants are beginning to grow again. Extreme UV has the effect of shutting down plant growth. Anyway, the berries have begun to produce well this week.
Interestingly, the combination of weather conditions has caused the two Sycamore trees to produce new leaves. Last week they were mere sticks and buds.
The growth in the pumpkin patch has been feral. Words are one thing, a picture here is perhaps a better description:
The plan is to move the pumpkins next year to where the potatoes were grown this year. And the potatoes will be moved into the sapling fenced enclosure. One must practice proper crop rotation if decent yields are a consideration.
There are two main varieties of pumpkins grown, although US readers will describe the smaller as a squash. The smaller round orange squashes (!) are growing fast and putting on some size and colour.
The other variety of pumpkins we grow are the Queensland Blue, and they a bit larger, super hardy and will keep well through the winter until late spring. This variety requires a long growing season, so they won’t be ready to harvest until another month or so, maybe by the first frost. Pumpkins are generally ready to harvest when the vines begin to die back.
Despite the rain, the ground is still sort of dry. It’s no bad thing that the grass dies back in summer, because that reduces the competition for minerals and water with the fruit trees, especially the younger trees.
The recently moved globe artichokes appear to be enjoying their new location. One or two plants died, but given the rough treatment they received, and the hot conditions during relocation, they’ve done remarkably well.
The chilli’s in the greenhouse look beautiful. Such a great plant. As well as fresh eating, we air dry the fruit to consume over the year. They’re a mild to medium heat variety, although you can get an occasional hot surprise.
The hop plants have produced heaps of vines and flowers. We don’t really use them, but they’re nice to have, and one day we may spice up the cider with these aromatic flowers.
This weeks video shows some of the work done around the property:
Onto the flowers:
The temperature outside now at about 10am is 12’C (54’F). So far for last year there has been 94.8mm (3.7 inches) which is up from last weeks total of 93.6mm (3.7 inches)