That’s what you get

Some weeks the blog is harder to write than other weeks. On the easy moments, the words spew forth in a story as if they can barely contain themselves. Right now I’m looking at the cover of Florence and the Machine’s compact disc album Dance Fever, and am sorely tempted to lose myself in the land of faerie – which is where the artist can take those who wish to travel to such places. Alas the real world intrudes, and as they say, the show must go on.

In a few weeks I’m to give a talk upon the state of the economy. All such talks need a natty title, so I blindly ripped the line: ‘It’s the economy, stupid’, but then added the additional words: ‘or is it?’ Always fun to weave a touch of uncertainty into a talk. It’s a dull subject, and I’m left wondering if some strategically thrown chocolate bars will be necessary to maintain the attention of the audience? The tactic used to work with assistant accountants, I can assure you! Such earnest graduates are not all that different to zombies, so it’s best to always get a good head shot.

On the subject of the economy, the recent events within our ally, the United States of America, are a bit unsettling, but hardly unexpected. There’s an old saying that ‘what cannot be sustained, usually isn’t’, and it’s true. As someone who is paid to record and make sense of the ebbs and flows of mad cash, it’s not lost on me that the old saying can apply equally to any human enterprise. Size here does not matter. The over spending of our ally looks epic to me. The numbers are just so large that my mind cannot comprehend the quantum of the problem. It surprises me that so few people seem to question whether this trend is even sustainable. Oh well.

It’s a strange economic world we live in nowadays. Things are changing fast. At the supermarket the other day, 3L / 0.7 gallon of local olive oil cost $60, whilst 1kg / 2.2 pounds of ground coffee was $48. Perhaps this inadvertently proves that mad cash is not worth what it once was. And sure, sometimes the products are offered on a discounted special price, but how much time does a person devote to tracking down every last cent of savings? Sandra and I do have to work, whilst long term readers will be aware, that we’re already busy people! A friend of mine on the other hand, is a master scrounger of the finest order. He knows every trick in the book. But he also has the time to devote to this task. We don’t.

That doesn’t mean that we’re naively paying whatever price is being proffered by the big nice friendly companies. By no means. Nowadays we are constantly assessing how to spend less. Every option is on the table, if we can manage it. Just for one example, recently we decided to create a SCOBY hotel so as to supplement the chickens protein needs. What’s a SCOBY you may ask? Well, it’s a slimy leathery symbiotic combination of bacteria and yeast which can supply about an 18% protein feed for chickens (but not to humans). That’s as good as meat, if not better in some comparisons. The hotel bit refers to growing a lot of vats of the stuff. Meat is expensive, chickens are definitely not vegetarians, and well fed birds stay healthier and produce better quality eggs. Plus the horrid slimy things are easy and cheap to grow, simply because all they ask for is black tea and sugar.

Food is expensive these days, so we make most meals from scratch using raw materials. What we can’t grow here, like grains, lentils, peanuts etc. we buy in bulk. This means having long term relationships with the suppliers. After so many years, the suppliers know our requirements, keep prices down and are happy for the easy business to continue. In many ways I’m old fashioned and think in terms of social relationships. However, one of the side effects of mad cash is that it can destabilise societal connections. That can happen, trust me. Last year a fifteen year relationship was concluded with the words: It’s just business. Yeah, sure if you say so.

The over spender we ain’t, but if governments can’t seem to live within their means, well, how can anyone else be expected to? After all, it’s an old saying that: A fish rots from the head. That’s true too. It’s always easier to cut expenses, than increase an income, and this seems to be the new strategy being pursued by our big ally across the Pacific Ocean. A lot of public service jobs will be slashed. You can be sure the local opposition party down here is taking notes. Such a cost measure already happened recently with our friends across the Tasman Sea in New Zealand. They seem to have survived the experience.

My first adult job was with the state public service. It was a fun and social workplace, but from hindsight, it was a bit too slack. Eventually during the recession of the early 1990’s the letter came, here’s a payout, now get lost. Fun times, especially during a recession with 10% unemployment. That’s when I took the only job available, corporate debt collection. At such times you do what needs being done to keep a roof over your head and food upon the table. It was not glamorous work, fun or social. It was a job which paid the bills.

The recession began to recede about 1997. But then the money supply expanded, property prices took off, and a lot of other economic mischief took off. I’ve got friends who have only worked as adults after that point. And then there are the older friends who during that time weren’t thrown upon the scrap heap and forced to survive. Makes me wonder how they’ll perceive the unravelling events, for change is coming – you can smell it in the air. Probably best to be faced with stoicism and good grace if you ask me, and maybe from time to time, take a break for a while in the land of Faery with a good music CD.

This weeks video is me banging on about the work we did around the property. I’ve decided to trial a more narrative form of video.

This week on the farm ep 37

Weather wise, it’s been an interesting week. Heat waves, then cool changes which brought smoke from fires on the island state of Tasmania way to the south of here.

Not a view for those with respiratory conditions – smoky haze

Late last century we visited that part of the island state. The mid west coast is very remote, and it took almost a day to drive into. Unfortunately we had to immediately leave again due to a fire which some numpty had lit. We missed seeing the beautiful rainforests there. Oh well. A few years ago I planted one of the rainforest species from that region here, and it’s growing quite well.

Nothofagus Cuninghamii or Myrtle Beech enjoying the conditions here

The forest here is one step below rainforest, but many of the same species happily grow here. Most are dry adapted, whilst only a few are fire adapted. Still, they look good.

Left to Right: Sweet Pittosporum, tall Blackwood, and Musk Daisy bush

Despite the multiple heat waves of late (and there’s another three day spell this week), the trees in the shady orchard are growing very well.

The shady orchard is growing quite well

From time to time, we’ll experiment with growing trees which increase the shade. Regular readers will recall that a month or two ago, two Sycamore trees were relocated to much sunnier spots. It probably wasn’t an ideal time to move the trees, and they’ve dropped their leaves from heat shock. Still, new buds are forming on the trunks, and they’ll be fine.

New buds form on the transplanted Sycamore trees

In ongoing pest wars, the deer have eaten the potato vines. Any forest critter which can consume potato vine leaves is probably a bit scary. I suspect that the deer don’t feel well and the harvest will be reduced.

Deer have eaten the leaves on the potato vines

On the other hand, the recently planted and far better protected seedling chestnut is now doing quite well. Earlier in the season I held concerns that the tree may not break its winter dormancy. The tree received a lot of care and attention.

The seedling chestnut has grown fast the past few months

An excellent job to do during hot summer days is to construct steel rock gabion cages. We can do the majority of the work in the shade, so at least we’re not out in the strong sunshine. If the day is not declared a total fire ban, we can even cut up the welded steel mesh sheets using an angle grinder.

A steel rock gabion cage was made out of the hot sun

We managed to brave the heat wave, and install the rock gabion cage in place. A lot of vegetation had to be hacked back. It was hot work.

We now have two large and one small rock gabion cages to take any rocks we may come across

Readers are ask about how the steel mesh sheets are sewn together, so here is a close up photo of a typical join. It is worth noting that the wire is double sewn for each join.

A close up of a sewn join on a steel rock gabion cage

Several more steps on the concrete staircase were poured. That’s another good project for a hot day. It takes an hour or two to set the form-work up, mix the cement, pour it, and then finish off the surface. All the while you’re trying to keep the dogs off the wet cement. Years ago, Sir Poopy, the now deceased Swedish Lapphund, went feral and unbeknownst to us, danced all over a wet step. We fortunately discovered his mischief prior to the surface setting.

More concrete steps were made this week

The hot weather provided perfect conditions to test my new terry towelling hat – I got style like yo granddad! A lot of steps were made this week.

Style like yo granddad

Everyday enough tomatoes are ripening that we’ve had the dehydrator running for days. The fully dried tomatoes are then stored in olive oil. Yum! The perfect addition for winter meals.

Home grown tomatoes are dehydrated

In breaking produce news:

For some reason I believed that the cucumbers had not germinated. I was wrong and some of the zucchini looking plants proved to be cucumbers. We’ve been consuming a lot of salads recently.

Tasty ripe cucumbers. Yum!

In fact, the pumpkin patch is looking amazing. Those plants love the hot weather, as long as they have water. They get watered for about 10 minutes per day, and that’s it.

The pumpkin patch is growing very well this year

One of the best squashes we’ve grown is the round orange squash. It’s good because the fruit keeps well until mid-spring and each one is meal sized.

Talk about prolific – the round orange squash

The carob pods continue to fill. I do hope that the wallabies and deer miss spotting these tasty treats because I’m looking forward to roasting them. We’ve never had fresh carob before.

Fresh full Carob pods

The remaining apples are getting cleaned up by the parrots. We’d produced enough cider and the birds now enjoy some of the produce as well.

Some of the remaining apples on the trees

When the first frost arrives, it’ll be about time to harvest the many clusters of grapes. We have ten vines growing and they’re all dual purpose table or wine making varieties.

Lots of yummy clusters of fresh grapes

Hopefully the season is long enough for the many figs to ripen. We’ll probably turn those tasty flowers into a very tasty jam.

Hopefully the figs ripen on the tree

Onto the flowers:

The Roses are enjoying the hot weather
A Globe Artichoke has gone to flower
Bees love the pumpkin patch

The temperature outside now at about 10am is 15’C (59’F). So far for last year there has been 93.6mm (3.7 inches) which is up from last weeks total of 88.4mm (3.5 inches)