It’s the last blog of the year, and almost the final day of the same. Time has a habit of marching onwards, although it’s hardly going in any particular direction, it just is. Reliable sources suggest that one day far in the distant future, the sun will swell to such a chunky size, that the planet will be sucked into it. That’d be a bad day to experience for sure. My hope is that well before then, all of the rock work we’re doing now at the farm will provide some decent mysteries for a yet to rise to the top of the biological heap species. The path to the chicken enclosure could easily confuse future marsupial archaeologists, who’d possibly consider it to be some sort of ancient religious rite. That’ll mess with their heads, yeah! With the thoughts of deep time now at the forefront of our consciousness, let’s have a peek back over the past year, and recall the projects undertaken:
We’ve done a bit of rock work this past year, and also much landscaping around the gardens closest to the house this past year. I’ll whisper this next bit: It was in need of a freshen up! Long term readers will recall that a new staircase leading from the sunny orchard up into the courtyard was completed earlier in the year. It gets used most days now, and not only by humans. The wombats appreciate the clear uphill path as well. You can tell this because they leave their strange square shaped poop upon various treads.
The rock walls aren’t finished either. There’s always more projects to do than time or resources allow for, so a person has make hard choices. One of the other tasks which also remains a work in progress, is the second row of steel rock gabion cages which retain a lot of soil. There’s some loose talk here about adding a third row of cages, and it may yet happen. But for now, we’re one cage short of completing the middle row.
An alert reader may ask the hard question: Why all of the gabion cages in that location? Well, the plan in 2026 is to construct a much larger firewood shed on the flat site. The gabions have made that future project possible. Now you know.
We’ve got at least ten thousand trees on the property, maybe more, and earlier in the year, an idea popped into my consciousness: Why buy timber for the new firewood shed structure, when we can simply mill the local trees? About the month of April, a chainsaw mill was tested and found to be a good option. Sadly the Stihl 381 chainsaw broke during the initial test, and had to be repaired, but that’s a different story. At least we’ve proved the process is possible, and observant readers can just see some two by fours curing in the above photo. Further milling is now waiting for us to create a flat site on which to do the work.
It’s a truth universally acknowledged that landscaping is hard work! On sloping land, there is never enough spare soil to create useful areas. However, being the crafty and resourceful types that we are, a project was began which could supply extra soil! A flat site for two new water tanks was dug out of the hill months ago now in autumn. An associated overflow drainage basin also provided heaps of dirt. Sometimes a person has to think outside the box, or merely begin digging, and perhaps even both!
Soil is just so useful, and much of the stuff was used to correct the land around the house. The new staircase (mentioned previously) ended at a height which was above the existing soil level. Easily fixed – Add more soil, and the problem disappears, literally.
There was so much extra soil from the digging, that all of the land around the two existing large house water tanks could be made flat. In very heavy rainfall, unfortunately the water inlet filters for those two tanks occasionally fail, and it’s nice to have easy access to clean up the mess. Plus the installed rock lined spillways carry the water away downhill without causing massive erosion channels. It’s been put to the test in the past week or so during a monster storm, and has worked well.
The thing about fixing one area of the garden near to the house, is that you soon spot other areas requiring attention. Just outside and down hill of the house, there are about a dozen round raised garden beds. These plants are used in the kitchen. Need some greens, head outdoors and grab some. However, it’s hard to explain, but many years ago when those beds were installed, they were placed in a somewhat wonky line. This sloppy work affected the overall aesthetic composition, and it’s just not cricket, is it? Despite Sandra’s reservations, about mid-year we moved about five of the beds so as to produce a more visually pleasing effect. Looks good now, and the casual observer would never know of the mess that once was…
Take it from me, one of the beds contained asparagus plants, and to dig them up, an electric jackhammer with a clay spade is an essential tool. Anyway, all of the work around the house was only possible because we’d created the new flat spot for the two new water tanks. Eventually the site was dug, and the tanks were installed, and more importantly, filled.
The off grid solar power system always needs some sort of work or upgrade done to it each year. Prior to winter, when the steel sheets were dry (hence not slippery), I grabbed the ladder, headed onto the roof and upgraded two of the solar panel distribution boxes. They now look super neat, and during that work I discovered and repaired a very minor roof leak – which I’d inadvertently caused many years ago.
In other solar power news, the last of the lead acid batteries were replaced with LiFePO4 lithium chemistry batteries. Candidly long ago I was dubious as to the claims regarding this particular lithium chemistry, and about three years ago we had some serious problems with the first batch of our lithium batteries. The issues were corrected way back then. However, their performance has genuinely impressed me. I’m yet to experience a better battery chemistry. The old lead batteries were all taken to the scrap metal recyclers for $0.72/kg which covered part of the costs of the replacements.
Who can forget that all of the many oak tree seedlings were relocated to a nice sunny and clear space about mid-year? We’re currently in the midst of some warmer summer weather, and the seedlings enjoyed a small quantity of watering earlier this evening. They’re growing much better in their new location.
Speaking of trees, months of winter work was spent cleaning up the old loggers mess on the forest edge. It is a pleasure to walk around nowadays, but back then, what a mess and rabbits were hiding in there and being a nuisance in the orchards. The work was particularly hard on the chainsaw, and I’ve repaired the machine a number of times during the year, and consequently learned far more about the intricacies of it than I ever thought possible. Broken clutch or carburettor overhaul, no worries, I’m onto it. Far out, and at least that whole work is nearing completion.
And then there have been the persistent Red deer troubles. A neighbour appears to have put an end to all but one of the herd – and that massive herbivore has since become a semi-regular visitor. I’m not a fan because of the destructive tendencies, and had to erect some 6 foot high deer fencing surrounding the smaller trees in the citrus orchard.
In my naivety, I’d somehow imagined that the large Red deer would not jump the weak spot of the enclosure – the two gates. Being wrong is a humbling experience, only made good by adding in fence extenders over the gates as well. For many months now, the fencing means that the deer have been kept away from the citrus, but they’re up to other mischief, like pulling over a fifteen year old apple tree. Not happy, but moving on.
All of the water tank systems were inspected, and a few repairs were made to leaking overflow connections and pipes. The original uPVC connections had been in place for fifteen years, and were no longer working well enough due to the settling of the heavy tanks. It turned out to be an easy fix and the system all works well now.
Some of the garden beds near to the house had become a touch, dare I say it, ratty? Rats and rabbits were hiding in the thick vegetation, and I’d had enough of their mischief. The very woody Echium plants were all removed.
With the garden beds now clearer, the need for a path leading downhill from the worm farm became obvious. That project is still a work in progress, and had to be shelved recently due to other commitments, but hopefully will be completed by around the end of January.
I’m sure some other stuff happened during the year, but that’s the highlight reel. There’ll be plenty more projects in 2026.
The recent work which has derailed infrastructure projects, is that of bringing in the firewood for next year. This week we’ve done two days of cutting, splitting, hauling and stacking of the stuff. It’s hard work in the summer heat, but that’s when the timber is at it’s driest. And there’s no shortage of the stuff.
Another aspect of the work, is that of cleaning up the surrounding forest. There’s an extraordinary quantity of timber already on the ground, although some of it is still hanging in the air (see the next photo). One broken tree was mostly harvested for it’s firewood this week.
The firewood shed is about half full now.
The other evening by sheer chance, an old dog rawhide chew was placed next to a more recently purchased equivalent (same supplier and price), and the new one is thinner and shorter. Chewflation is real, you read it here first. See for yourselves:
Conditions were pretty good for most of the week in regards to working outdoors, however, this time of year is remarkably social, and a tiramisu was made. It was a good dessert, but next time I may soak the biscuits in coffee for a little bit longer. Cooking it should be said, is an art, a science and 99% persistence.
The tree frogs have again returned from wherever it is that they go over the winter months. The cheeky amphibians hunt insects around the house at night.
It’s been something of a cool growing season, so the tomatoes, even in the greenhouse, are still small. All the same, this week I may string up strong cords for the vines to climb up. The 3mm jute cords last year all broke, and I’m trialling a much sturdier UV stable synthetic product.
Alpine strawberries continue to deliver lots of breakfast fruit.
Babaco are defying the trend and producing plenty of sun ripened fruit.
Most days now, the raspberry beds are producing a mass of tasty berries. Those are all frozen and will be soon turned into the best jam ever!
Onto the flowers:
Hope all of you lovely readers (who make the blog the delightful place that it is) have a nice Christmas and good New Years!
The temperature outside now at about 11am is 28’C (82’F). So far for this year there has been 851.2mm (33.5 inches) which is up from last weeks total of 851.0mm (33.5 inches)
Comments
47 responses to “Round here 2025”
Yo, Chris – The hits just keep on coming. 🙂 That’s quit a review / overview. And your constant readers were here, cheering you and the Editor, on.
You’re really banging along, on the firewood. That will keep you warm and toasty, next winter.
Oh, no! Chewflation! So they couldn’t keep them the same size, and price? Maybe trim the CEO’s wage a bit? Silly me.
I could almost smell those lady fingers, baking.
That’s a cute little frog. Sigh. Ours are often heard, never seen. I think they have the ability to be ventriloquists. To throw their voice so I can never quit pin down where they are.
Turn your back and the tomatoes will spring up. A watched tomato, never grows. 🙂 Stringing the wire may encourage them. A direction to head in and space to grow. Support to latch onto.
Strawberries, Babaco and raspberries. Breakfasts around your place are pretty lush, this time of year.
The Agapanthus are really pretty. Here’s something interesting about the Penstemon. They’re native to North America. Probably got to you, via Britain. Behind my stock tank bed, it’s all landscape cloth and wood chips. Last year, something took root in that barren place. A good sized, sort of spindly plant with yellow flowers. it does look a lot like a Penstemon. It was pretty enough that the Master Gardeners, and me, left it alone. Gosh knows where it came from. Lew
Hi Lewis,
Thanks, and it is a pleasure to be able to share the journey of the place with you.
🙂 No need for firewood today. The outdoor thermometer late this afternoon briefly displayed 36’C / 97’F and 24’C / 75’F indoors. Tested out the combination of the sun blinds, bushfire shutters, and ran the portable air con between 4pm and 8pm. Nice. 75’F indoors is quite survivable.
Being hot, today was a day off work, although lots of you know, the day to day stuff kept ticking along – like watering of the oak seedlings (which are enjoying the combination of heat and water). Headed an hours drive north to stock up the larder with honey (from a major supplier) and also apples from the cool store. Whilst at the store I noticed they had a very ripe melon cut in half. Smells awesome, and I did grow melons here one year – the incredibly hot 10 days over 104’F year. Usually it’s not hot enough for those tasty treats.
Probably a step too far with your chewflation defeating idea. 😉 The new colour also raises some questions…
We’ve had left over cake as well, so have been slowly feeding the tiramisu as a small addition to the dogs dinner. They look very pleased with the treat.
Your frogs will be there for sure, and I’ll bet they’d assist with your slug population. 🙂 Doing the hard yards for you!
Ah, all very sound advice. Man, I had plans about the tomato strings today, but the heat in the greenhouse would have been feral. The plants seem to enjoy it though, and perhaps I’m made of weaker stuff. Maybe tomorrow. Actually we’re planning to add in the extra garden bed tomorrow, but it’s going to be a hot overnight. We’ll see how I feel in the morning. It’s nice to have something of a less structured week. I fended off some work today, as you do. Chris need holiday from such activity. Ugg! Ooo, where did that come from? 🙂
The raspberries are producing heaps at the moment, although picking takes about ten or fifteen minutes a day. Hardly arduous. Forgot to mention, but the melon was a cantaloupe. Who knew that a mouldy version of the fruit in your country contained the highest yielding strain mould of penicillin?
What a find, and the plant in your compost may even be a new hybrid variety? I’d not appreciated that they were originally from your part of the world. There’s a lot to like about them, because similar to the Californian Poppy, they have very low water requirements. I can’t ever recall watering Penstemons.
Those temperatures of yours would not be out of place here during the winter months. I wonder if you’ll get any snow this year? Probably will. Tell you what, the solar hot water is beyond toasty today… A cool change will sweep through here tomorrow around lunchtime, with wind. Mind you, the next ten days of weather is looking great.
Very funny, but all of the parrot species learn and then teach their mates. Sadly, Ollie and I went on a search late this afternoon to learn of the fate of the little tyke. The food was gone, and all we discovered were some feathers. The owls probably ate the bird given the lack of err, um, other indicators. The world of bird is a tough place, and that was one expensive meal for sure.
Man, I’d not even realised that cod was a species up in that part of the world. Here’s another variety which is doing well: Mary River cod thriving in Brisbane River catchment, century after relative went extinct. Nature is rarely a static endeavour. I’d imagine they are a very tasty fish.
Ah, down under employers don’t usually offer health insurance, there’s no need for that. Things are different on that front, and every employee pays 2% (or more for higher income earners) of their income towards covering public health system costs. Then there is private health insurance, which would cost between $1k and $6k annually. A $2k per month bill, like in that article you linked to, would have me dropping out of the system. Houses are crazy expensive down here, so same, same, but different.
Hehe! It happens with that wanting some quiet time, yup. My social batteries are in need of recharging at the moment, and the next fortnight may be required for those duties. 🙂 And yeah, you can go places. A quarter century ago, having tired of my friends trek to the hippy festival, we headed instead to: Errinundra National Park for some quiet time out over the Christmas holidays and pretty much had the entire place to ourselves.
The collection may have gone to a collector, or a museum of such items? You never know.
Interesting, and 95 years on copyright is probably too long in my opinion. Protection of work is a funny thing, and it’s not like the arty-fish-al things weren’t doing what looks like stealing my prose to gorge themselves with. Nobody asked my permission. The throttling has made it hard for them too. Good. I noted some discussion of the Agatha series over at Mr Greer’s.
Young folks always find a way to err, engage with their peers. 🙂
A fascinating film, which I may have seen long ago. Glad you enjoyed it, for that was the goal of the film maker. I see the critics (and an actor) were perhaps a little bit silly about it early on. May have been a stroke of marketing genius.
Hey, isn’t the post mortem, a good tool to employ after the dust settles? 🙂
Lucky you, I’d not be able to consume those treats with your natural advantages.
Oh my! Dude, this is the second or third reference to the Yerba Mate plant in as many weeks. The local gardening club sells them, but I avoided the purchase because it’s too cold here for them, and not hot enough. I’ll stick with the tea camellia trials instead, and who knows?
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Chris – Yes, 75F is survivable. But is it comfortable? 🙂 Our high yesterday was 36F (2.22C). Our overnight low was 30F (-1.11C). Still no frost that I could see. Our forecast high for today is 40F. Snow? Who knows.
In sort of, related weather news … I’ve been tracking a package, on the way, to me. It wasn’t shipped via our postie system. One of the big carriers. In general, it’s meandering its way in my general direction. So, where is it now? Cut Bank, Montana. Population 3,056. There’s some sort of facility there, but it appears to be small. There is an airport, and it’s on the northern train route.
So, how does this all relate to weather? Cut Bank has the largest statue of a penguin, in the world. And, the town’s nickname is “Coldest spot in the nation.”
I’ve never known anyone, here, to grow any kind of melons, successfully. We’re more squash kind of folk. 🙂
You need a holiday, from the holidays. I often hear people say the same sort of thing, on returning from vacations.
That’s a little sad, about the bird. Being a stand out white, doesn’t help.
That was an interesting article, about the cod. Suddenly, I have a craving for fish and chips. Though I must say, I’ve had a craving for a couple of weeks.
That was an interesting picture of the fish ladder. We have fish ladders around our dams, but they’re a lot more “high tech.” There are even windows, where you can watch the fish migrating. Though they’re actually to enable fish counts.
A trip to a national park, rather than a hippie festival would be preferable. Especially in an off season, with few people around. I presume you were appropriately dressed? 🙂
I was talking to Carl, yesterday, about all plants caffeinated. He said he saw a tea camellia plant, down in Portland. Growing outside. It was big, about 2 meters by 2 meters. But, Portland is about a whole climate zone warmer, than here. And, it’s a heat island. But they do get icy blasts out of the Columbia River Gorge. He wondered about the Yaupon or Yerba Mate becoming invasive. Berries eaten and spread by the birds. I could happen, I suppose. Lew
Hi, Chris!
What a great froggie in your first picture. He cares not that 2025 is about over. Me neither. At least you and I are not worrying about being sucked into the sun.
“We’ve done a bit of rock work this past year”. That really made me laugh. Thanks!
That is still the most beautiful staircase. It actually looks rather like marble from a distance. Aren’t you glad that you are almost done with that last gabion? Except that it is probably not the last . . .
Those are perfect looking 2x4s. I am impressed.
I could not forget those asparaguses with their roots presumably in concrete. The echium removal was a big job, too. Amazing how mere plants can fight back.
That was some good deal you made, earning part of the portion of the cost of the new lithium batteries by cashing in on the old lead batteries at the scrapyard.
It’s the Meg!
Oh, what a wonderful pun – chewflation!
The tomato plants look very healthy, even if they are slow-growing.
Yay for fruit! We are just finishing up the 100 pounds (45k) of persimmons that we bought in the fall. In other fruit news, we have been enjoying lots of bought mandarin oranges. They get put out with the rest of the compost, well away from the house, when we are through. Something has been eating the peels. I have never seen anything eat citrus here.
The wind was blowing 20mph (32km)again today – and was very cold. I went out on the back porch and saw a stinkbug on the outside of the back door that I had tossed out there from his cozy winter home in the house. He wanted back inside. Just like Mr. Baby. All day he asks to go out, then spends 10 seconds and wants to come back in.
Lots of blue flowers, and the pink ones are just as nice. I love them all – thanks!
Pam
Hi Pam,
Froggie is very happy indeed – lot’s of yummy insects and spiders to consume. Yum! And time, yeah, what is this thing? Seems all very abstract to me. What’s not abstract is that the air blowing through the window this morning at 5am was 75’F and woke me up. A bit early, but wow, isn’t the day long when you get up at such hours?
I know, the planet getting sucked into the sun is not much of an immediate worry. But then hey, we’ll all become star stuff once again – or the remnants of whatever molecules we are currently using will. Such deep time is beyond my understanding.
What I do understand however, is completing the additional small raised garden bed in the greenhouse today. Today was a hot workday, but the timber supports were cut and installed. Then I mixed up a trailer load of Chris’s usual soil mixture, and dumped it in the new bed. The two paw paw’s were then planted in the greenhouse plus another four chilli’s, and we’ll see how it all goes. Dunno. But a greenhouse is valuable growing space, and it’s now 54’F with thick fog outdoors – so a necessity here. My brain does hurt a bit tonight from the heat, but with the knowledge of a job well done. 🙂
🙂 Thanks, and once the firewood work is done, I’ll get back into the rock work. A little bit of rock activity did occur tonight. A rabbit foolishly informed me as to how it was entering and exiting the terraced garden beds. I’d wondered where the seedlings were disappearing, and now I know. And the sneaky entrance has been solidly fixed.
And in breaking deer news, a neighbour sounds as if he’s been having something of a war down in the deep forest the past day or so, and unfortunately for the deer, there may have been causalities. If it is who I believe it is, his garden probably gets raided more than here – large dogs are a useful deterrent. I’ll keep an eye on the developing situation. There are awkward dimensions to that story.
Pam, but wait! You knew, there’ll be more gabions… A third level will be an interesting project.
Thanks! Further milling will have to wait until we’ve dug out a flat site to do that work in comfort, if that is even possible. The plan is to eventually convert the new flat site, to a second greenhouse. Just have to finish the firewood job. Always more work, but then the place gets more productive and easier to enjoy. Think of it like little baby steps. Although Mr Baby probably leaps and bounds, which is different. 😉
Plants have been around longer than us humans, and probably have a trick or three up their sleeves… It is amazing, yeah.
The scrap metal merchant, ‘Scrappies’ almost covered the cost of the replacement batteries. It just took a few visits due to the sheer weight of the lead.
Yay! The Meg is dead. Sorry, that sounds dodgy, but truly, I feel relief at its passing and hope not to encounter the offspring. Are they out there, yet to be discovered? It’s a bit scary isn’t it?
🙂 Chewflation, the facts are sadly real.
We’re blessed with few plant diseases, however the predations of the birds more than make up for the lack. It’s complicated… The plan is to add in the climbing cords on Thursday for the tomatoes, but we’ll see.
Oh yumoo! Yours is an enviable haul of Persimmons, and will enliven your winter months. I’d imagine that DIL has much cultural knowledge of the fruit. I enjoy them, but do have to let them blet. Sandra has a trick to stop me consuming them, thus leaving more for herself, by saying: Here, try this early Persimmon – which was not quite ready for consumption. What do you do with your harvest? Two of the trees moved a few months ago were persimmons, and they’re doing well.
Rats. Sorry to say. I’ve caught them climbing through the Meyer lemon sampling the skins. Like you, I’d never seen anything consume citrus before that moment. They’ll eat them when food is tight.
The name of the insect is not inspiring, and also suggestive of the possibilities. 🙂 Yes, the dogs here likewise know that Mr Baby trick, and not saying that he had sent earlier emails describing the finer training details, but it may have been so.
Hope today was warmer for you. We’ve suddenly slipped back into winter.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
I reckon given the heat outdoors, 75’F is about the best we’ll achieve indoors on super hot days given all of the limitations. Now if I had my time to rebuild the house all over again, let’s just say that there’d be some design improvements, but every gain comes at a cost of some sort. Like the 100+ gallon hot water header tank – it should be able to vent the excess heat outdoors, yet it is in the bushfire sealed attic space, because that is how the system works, but it could be better.
By the way, it was already 75’F this morning at 5am, and that warm air flowing in woke me up. The horror, and who knew the sun was even up at that time? The chorus of birds celebrating the fact did not assist matters. Oh well, had a nap late this afternoon, so the equilibrium has been adjusted, somewhat!
Far out it was hot here today. But is now at 52’F with drizzle and fog. A strange day, weather wise, but that’s how it rolls. To be honest, it felt nice walking outdoors wearing a t-shirt in that cold mist.
Turfed the garden bench seat and table out of the greenhouse, and then made up a new timber garden bed to replace it. Then mixed up a trailer load of my preferred soil stuff, and hauled it down to the greenhouse. Planted out the two paw paw’s, plus four chilli plants, and I hope they’re all enjoying their new growing spaces. Given it was a brand new garden bed, I transplanted some soil from a much older bed so as to give the err, ahh, super fertile artificial soil I made, a good start to life.
No snow for you for now, but maybe later? By early February I reckon that there’ll be very little heat left in your area, so maybe then? August is usually when it snows here. At least you’re dodging the frosts, but it sure would feel chilly in those temperatures. Hope H is respectful of her winter coat?
Don’t you reckon that tracking the mysterious movements of parcels shows just how weird some of our systems can turn out to be? Man, it’s like that old Australian Geoff Mack country song: I’ve been everywhere man, cross the country, yeah man It’s been covered a lot, and was more famous in your country.
Dude, the giant Penguin is awesome. That sort of stuff is so kitsch, that it’s fun. The ‘big’ this and that, is very much a thing down under. Hope your parcel survives the journey and makes it out alive! 🙂 That place is hot, cold and dry, which may leave me quailing in fright.
Same here, pumpkins and squash do OK, melons is perhaps a step too far in terms of ambitions. 🙂 You need a lot of heat for those tasty fruits.
All very true about the holiday from a holiday, and I plan to do my own thing for a couple of days later in the week. A dude needs some dude time to do dude activities – you read it here first! There’s a couple of projects and jobs I’ve got on the boil, which the Editor isn’t interested in being involved in. Plus I really need quiet time, although plenty of other folks seem OK without that. I always chuckle when recalling our long ago discussions of the possible bliss of solitary… 🙂
The owls most likely got the long billed Corella. Man, birds are tough, and I had the impression that the parents kicked the youngster out of the nest too early – and then regretted it. They hung around all day protecting the youngster and encouraging it to flight, but at night…
And um, err, in breaking deer news… I believe a neighbour was going off like a frog in a sock today (and yesterday) down in the forest with a rifle. The final deer may have come to a bad end, but we’ll see. That’s what trail cameras are for.
Fish and chips are best consumed in the winter months. Hey, do they serve them wrapped in butchers paper in your part of the world? Dunno whether that’s common nowadays, but long ago that’s how they were sold – freshly deep fried (or grilled). Do you have anywhere to sate the craving in your part of the world? Fish oils are good for the brain apparently.
Really? Fish counting? Nice work if you can get it. 🙂 After reading the fish articles, the ol’ brain started wondering if the fish worried about the activities of all of the scientists? Hey you other fishies, why do these guys keep hassling us? What’s with them.
It’s a really beautiful and remote part of the state, and a far more relaxing experience than the hippy festival. The exotic wild life and hugely old growth forests at least didn’t come with bad attitudes. Perhaps it was me exhibiting disdain with the hippies by not dressing up, just like everyone else. But when that far out in the wilds, rest assured I was more than prepared for the worst conditions.
There you go, with the tea camellia (and I’m yet to encounter a plant). I reckon the tea camellia would be OK with the occasional cold blast, but am not sure how cold you’re talking about. Plenty of plants are invasive, and whenever anyone brings that topic up with me to score cheap points (which I realise you’re not doing), I do ask them how much of the plant and animal material in their diet is indigenous. Usually it ain’t much. I doubt Yerba or Yaupoun would be invasive here, it’s just not hot enough for either plant. Tea camellia has been grown successfully in Scotland. Hmm. Big seeds though, hardly likely to escape.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Chris,
The right variety of tea camellia can withstand my winters – if planted in a location protected from the worst of the northwest winter winds – so there should be at least one variety that can withstand yours. I have two tea camellia plants that I planted something like 10 to 15 years ago, and they are alive, though slow growing. They are on the southeast side of the house, far enough away from the house that they aren’t in the rain shadow that the house makes. They get morning to early afternoon sun and are protected from the cold NW winds.
Speaking of NW winds, here’s what happened last Sunday. The whole week of Christmas was warmer than normal, but cloud cover prevented the high temperatures from getting out of the 60sF (still 20+F warmer than normal). But on Sunday the sky cleared enough to yield a high of 78F! Not only did this break the daily record high, but it broke the record high for the entire month of December!
Then a very strong, very windy, very cold front rushed through. In 90 minutes the temperature dropped 25F. By midnight the low was 22F, and it was in the teens by morning. And it wasn’t even the largest single day temperature drop on record, though it was the largest I’ve experienced. That’s the fun of living in the middle of a large continent.
Thanks for all the photos! It’s good to see a recap of your year.
The deer are still hanging around my neighborhood, I think, though most of December it was cold enough that I didn’t go looking for them. But I think I’d rather have them than a mountain lion – one of which was sighted in a suburb about 30 miles from here, still in the county I live in but at the far end of it from me. Most of the houses there are on 3 acre lots at minimum, which means enough space for a mountain lion to live. UGG.
Happy 2026!
Claire
Yo, Chris – House design improvements. Well, you know the old saying. “Live and learn.” I saw an article this morning, about a “new” trend, among the Gen Z crowd. Soft life. .
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/articles/gen-z-entering-soft-life-190000865.html
It actually just sounds like a rebranding of “work / life balance.” As with a lot of things, fine in moderation.
Our high yesterday was 43F (6.11C). Our overnight low was 30F (-1.11C). The forecast high for today is 42F. It’s a big foggy, and overcast, but that’s supposed to burn off, later. Goal for today? Spend just one hour, cleaning out my garden plot stock tank. That seems manageable.
The birds need a good lay-in. 🙂 I’m glad H enjoys a good lay-in. Like me, she prefers to ease into her day. She’s occasionally a little raspy, when I roust her out of bed.
Good work in the greenhouse. But aren’t paw paw a bit large for a greenhouse? You may be looking for a few good pruning videos.
Well, my package made it out of Montana, and is now in the wilds of Idaho. They claim it will be delivered, tomorrow, but I think that’s overly optimistic. Then there’s the holiday, day after tomorrow. Oh, well. No drama. It’s not like I’m expecting a batch of small pox vaccine, to wipe out an outbreak. 🙂
Kitsch can be fun, as long as it’s not overdone. No kitsch for kitsch sake. 🙂 I’ve got a few things, scattered about, that are definitely kitsch. They always give me a bit of a smile. If I want to be polite, I refer to them as “decor.”
Speaking of decor, I quit accidentally stumbled on an identification for that three legged, Danish Modern, mid-century chair that I was quit fond of, back in the late 1960s. It wasn’t mine, as it came with a rental. But if I ever stumble on one again … It’s a Hans Wegner “heart” chair.
https://www.furniture-love.com/vintage/furniture/825/hans-wegner-pair-of-heart-chairs-4103-fritz-hansen-1952.html
Yup. Identical. Right down to the black leather upholstery.
Deer: Shots fired! For one deer? Either he’s a poor shot, for it was target practice. Or maybe, just a lot of noise to scare the deer back in your direction?
Well, if you order fish and chips, here, in a cafe, they usually arrive on a nice ceramic plate. Fast food places? Large cardboard “boats.” But, as I was not going to be spending hard earned money, in a cafe, I stopped by the yuppie discount store, and they delivered.
I picked up a box of fish sticks (fingers?), and a big bag of onion rings. Sourdough muffins. They even had a plastic squeeze bottle of tartar sauce. So, I more had fish sandwiches, with a bit of Swiss cheese. Liberal amounts of catsup were applied to the onion rings. I think that will satisfy my craving for “fish and chips.” Pure junk food dinner.
I settled in to watch “White House Down.” An older movie. Cool explosions! Burn that sucker down! 🙂
Speaking of plastic, you might remember I picked up some floss pics, from the Winco. Their brand. From the Land of Stuff. There was something amiss. Something gritty and not all that pleasant tasting. Talcum powder? Micro plastics? I put them in a colander, and ran hot water over them. Let them dry out and repackaged. It seems to have worked. No more grit or off taste. But, really …
You might remember, the place I lived before, I had a tea camellia in my kitchen window. I managed to keep it alive for two or three years. At one point, it flowered. I did a bit of hand pollinating, and it produced a couple of seeds. Brown, about the size of marbles. I have them kicking around, somewhere. Probably not still viable, but might be fun to stick one in a pot and see if anything happens.
The garden calls and I must go. (But I think I’ll have lunch, first.) Lew
Chris:
75F is not very fresh air in the early morning. I don’t seem to know many early birds like myself and I have have a sneaking suspicion that you are only one under duress . . . Or it’s just because you are such a nice guy. I might mention that the day is not so long if one goes to bed before the birds (in the summer, that is).
Another garden bed is always good news. Were pawpaws one of the things the deer were eating? Here we can grow them outside, and our winters are quite a bit colder.
The neighbor and deer sounds like an exciting situation. Updates, please – if possible.
“Scrappies” – what a great name for a scrap metal merchant. Do they happen to have a terrier or two hanging around? Having had one, I know they like to scrap.
With our persimmons – we eat them! Just plain, cut off the top and eat with a spoon like a custard (are persimmons the fruit they call “custard apples”?) and I only eat a couple at a time, but my son eats a huge plateful. I tell him I’m not sure that is a good idea.
How can it be winter there when you just had the summer solstice?
After the terrible experiences I had last summer digging up, and sometimes chopping up, toads (some of my favorite creatures) I decided that I have to be “no-till”. The problem is that I am not exactly sure how to be “no-till”. I don’t want to dig, but, umm, how does one plant?
Pam
Chris,
Nice review of the year. You accomplish so much every year.
We dropped one night to -11C. However, we didn’t have any of that nasty temperature drop that Claire had. That type of rapid drop is something we don’t have, at least not to that large degree. 🙂
Chewflation. Not only smaller chews for the same price, but the ingredients have changed also. Cheaper to make AND a smaller size AND the same price. Give it another several months and the adverts will proclaim what a bargain it is after a price increase.
Well, er, same number but different measuring systems, perhaps. And the sun has been shining for 3 consecutive days. That sure beats the 50 shades of grey weather.
As always, the fruit and flower pictures are appreciated.
DJSpo
Hi Pam,
Everyone brings something different to the table, but I reckon that plenty of people are early birds, just as there are heaps of night owl folks. And that’s true, under duress early mornings can be done, but it’s just not my natural preference. As a kid I’d be up before dawn most mornings, out earning mad cash on newspaper rounds. In many ways, that world of kids who’d want responsibilities, and so took them, has kind of been stomped out. Dunno about you, but I’ve got a hard wired streak of independence, and if that means getting up before the sun, so be it. And also maybe I dunno, but I’ve always needed a lot of sleep. I know of people who get by on far less sleep than I do, but how they do that feat is something of a mystery. My brain rarely feels clear if sleep deprived.
Thanks and see! You have to head to bed early, in order to get up early. 🙂 We’re a very pragmatic species, and um, well, someone would have to look out for the tribe in the early hours, as would be the case in the night hours. Adaption is the word.
Not at all. The paw paws would not survive outside of the greenhouse, and even in there they are a bit marginal. OK, the two allegedly cold tolerant varieties which top out at 6ft I’m trialling is: Papaya family of plants. Your North American paw paws would grow like weeds here! Yet, tracking down seeds and/or seedlings for that variety has proven to be really difficult. Local suppliers want $100 to $125 for a seedling, and you need more than one. If someone wants to sponsor the trial, cool, but I’ll have to wait until they’re more widely available.
I’ve seen no sign of deer, or kangaroos for that matter today.
Hehe! Pam, the scrap yard dog would be awesome, but the way the folks there zip around in their electric forklifts would be probably too much stimuli for even the best of canines.
Ah, nice one with the Persimmons. We cut the top, and then squeeze out the contents, so it works out to look like a sort of orangey paste. Custard apples are I believe, Annona squamosa, which would struggle here due to frosts. But with some global warming…
Hehe! It’s again 52’F tonight after a cold day. The weather arrives here from many directions, and one is from that big cold frozen continent way to the south. Next Wednesday looks like it will reach the 100’F.
Minimal tillage may be the middle ground here. If there were an easier way…
Cheers
Chris
Hi Claire,
Yeah, very true about the tea camellia. And like you, the one I’d planted out was very slow growing – if at all. It was purchased from a nursery in the sub tropical more northerly part of this continent. The sensitive person wonders if the plant was in some sort of fictional suspended animation sequence? Hmm. Anyway, sadly the more ruthless side of my personality ripped out that tea camellia about a year ago. Three years in the greenhouse, with no growth, was a step too far. The tea book you recommended long ago made the excellent suggestion to trial lots of plants from seed. And there’s the other dimension to the story. Broad leaved tea camellia’s are not suitable to areas with cold winters, and even here is too extreme for them. There is however a thinner leaved cultivar, and I managed to track down a bag of seeds for this variety. If I’ve got enough time over the next two days, those seeds will be started (in the greenhouse). The species has enough natural genetic variability that if you start from seeds, eventually you’ll get plants which match your climate, dare I say it, to a tee. 🙂 More to come on this story… But hey, if they can grow these plants in Scotland, down here it should be easy, maybe!
Claire, it’s deeply weird to comprehend how it could possibly be warmer in your part of the world than here at this time of year, even for one day. 25’C is warm, and it didn’t even get that hot here today. In fact it’s now only 48’F and I ran the electric heater for about 3 hours this afternoon. Brrr! Anywhoo, yours is perhaps a record which suggests a changing climate. Just checked, and the warmest June maximum is 22.4’C for the big smoke (take off 4’C for here) in 1957. Holy carp. How are your plants reacting to the sudden warmth?
Yours was an extraordinary drop in temperature. That’s a 30’C drop and then some, in a day. Yup, fun is the word, although roller coasters can be a pretty scary experience.
Thanks! Picked heaps of raspberries, alpine strawberries and red currants this evening. Might make a batch of raspberry jam over the next day or so.
I believe that a neighbour shot all of the remaining deer population here over the past few days. They were introduced and have no natural predators, so there is no season on deer here. And yes, I’m 100% with you. I’d not casually walk around in the dark if there were mountain lions roaming around. 🙂 Given enough time, I believe that the many currently domestic cats, will evolve to their larger cousins. That’ll be something to look forward to for the future!
Cheers
Chris
Hi DJ,
Thanks, and we put in about two to three days of work around here each week. It adds up, and the place is getting easier to live with, whilst becoming more productive. Spent today continuing the firewood job, which maybe has another three or four days until it’s done. Then I can get back onto the infrastructure projects, although a new garden bed was made in the greenhouse on Tuesday. Far out, it was hot that day, but being the holidays we have free time for extra work.
12’F is beyond chilly! 🙂 Hope that you, your lady and the Dame were all toasty warm on the day? The temperature drop Claire experienced was extraordinary, and would be unprecedented here as well. About the largest drop would be in the 20’C range when a cooler south westerly change blows in after a very hot day.
Your cynicism will surely keep you in good stead for the challenging economic times ahead! But did we ask for the smaller chews? It’s worth noting that the thinner chews are easier for the dogs to consume. Thus there are product churn considerations as well.
Yay for the sun for you. A nice change over the more usual, as you’ve suggested, 50 shades of grey weather. Fortunately it was mostly cloudy here today, and cold. Brrr! Some New Years eve temperatures are in the 40’C range, but not this year. It’s 9’C and drizzling outside now.
Hey, all that firewood might come in handy this year… 🙂
Thanks, and we picked a heap of raspberries, red currants and alpine strawberries today. Despite the cooler conditions, a person wouldn’t starve at this time of year. Have to get back onto some weeding tomorrow. Never a dull moment.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
Thanks for the article on the soft life trend. It reminds me of an old joke: An unemployed 21 year old, a college student and a best selling author, walk into a bar… Seriously? It’s funny though, if a society’s aspirational goals become unachievable, no matter how hard a person strives, then plenty of people just give up. That’s what it looks like to me, tension can be resolved through avoidance. It’s only for a few to pull a work around and do the unexpected.
Agreed, the practice is fine in moderation, but where does anyone get the idea that they don’t have to work?
On that note, spent the day bringing in more firewood for the winter. There’s probably only three or four days more to do on that job. It’s a busy time of year, what with all of the plants producing at the moment. Picked more raspberries today, and there are now three full containers in the freezer. Jam making is on the list of things to do tomorrow. The potato patch needs weeding. Red currants have only just become ripe, and there are heaps of them. The grapes need tending and weeding. It never stops during the growing season.
It was cold here today, which was great conditions for the firewood work. 48’F tonight with drizzle. Brr!
Did you get to the cleaning up of the stock tank done? We get those mornings too. Thick fog and low clouds, but by lunchtime the skies are blue and you wonder where all the moisture went.
You’d think so, wouldn’t you? But the birds subscribe to an alternate philosophy which suggests that the best food is derived at the earliest hour of the day – and this should be celebrated, loudly. Thus the old timey saying of: the early bird, gets the worm. I do appreciate the larger meaning, but sometimes wonder if the avians are competing for limited resources all at the same time. Could be an error of judgement don’t you reckon? What if the worms adapt, and learn to hide in the early hours.
H is clearly a lady of the finest pedigree! Ruby occasionally errs, by exuberantly waking the household up at some ungodly hour. This behaviour is discouraged.
Yes, the more traditional paw paw’s are in fact rather large plants. These two subtropical varieties are from an entirely different family of plants, the papaya, and meant to top out at 6ft, although that is only a suggestion as to the characteristics of the plant.
I tracked down another supplier of seedlings for the completely different plant (i.e. not the paw paws we bought) which is the North American paw paw. They’d grow awesomely here, but this one was $100 (excluding freight), and you need more than one for fruit set. The economics don’t make a lot of sense, but I’d love to trial growing some of those plants. Those particular species are small trees and way too big for the greenhouse. 🙂
Oh my, imagine that! The package (vaccine) has been delayed in transit, and can’t be found in the warehouse. Please wait for 28 days before lodging a complaint. Ook!
I’ll take your good taste suggestion into consideration with the kitsch. Yeah, not everything has to fit within the general pastiche, or vibe. We’ve got something like that smile producing effect you mentioned – the very Dr Seuss ceramic tea pot. It’s just weird, but fun. Never intended to be used.
Your collection may not be complete without the chair? What are they even going for these days? I’d imagine that the item would be quite pricey.
That’s a very interesting point you raised right there. Until a week or two ago, I’d not realised that somehow semi auto with limited magazines were even available down under for those whom held a correct license. With a bolt action, at least a person has to take some care with where the thing is pointed at – requires far more skill. I get the distinct impression that the guy was serious about the activity because it doesn’t go on all of the time. The deer job needed doing, and I’d been hesitant, so am in no position to grumble.
Go the yuppie discount store for meeting your needs. Hard to know without a photo. Fish sticks down here are an err, possibly glued together fish composite product which looks like it says, a stick of fish meat. Fish fingers are different. They’re a crumbed oblong shaped (think the overall shape of the monolith in the 2001 A space odyssey film, but on its side) err, possibly glued together fish composite product which are either deep fried or pan fried. All very yummy stuff. Oh yeah, the tartar sauce just ups the ante, although I’m partial to a squeeze of fresh lemon juice and some salt as a topping.
Those folks did the Independence Day film, what a romp, and yeah I’ll bet that they’d know about explosions and stuff. 🙂
Oooo, when that happens with a product, it can be a bit unsettling, yeah. The mind boggles to consider what you just washed off. Stay safe out there… Speaking of these sorts of things, the toothpaste the Editor prefers is no longer available. I did mention that the stuff can be made, but received an incomprehensible look. It’s funny you mention the picks, but we did a deep dive into dental floss a while ago. It’s a more interesting topic than you’d imagine it could be.
Your experience with the tea camellia matches the one which used to grow in the greenhouse. Almost exactly. I eventually pulled the plant out on the basis that if they want to be cared for, they do actually have to grow. I’ve got a bag of seeds for the most cold tolerant of the species, and will see how they go. Maybe a job for tomorrow?
A dude has to prioritise! 🙂 I hear you man. Hope you dodged any rain too.
Cheers
Chris
I’ve picked leaves off ornamental camellias in my parents garden and made tea from that and that worked OK. These were japonica and x Williamson varieties. I remember reading a blog from someone in the Adelaide hills who did this.
Yo, Chris – Well, it’s New Year’s Eve. I remembered to pull the smoked ham hock, out of the freezer. 🙂 I’m surprised I’ve heard no fireworks, so far. Usually, there’s a build up, to the Eve.
Things pile up. Seems like when harvest time rolls around, there’s all this other stuff going on. Apartment inspections (delayed or real), or disruptive infrastructure projects, like replacing all the fire sprinkler heads. Always something, when the jam needs to be made, and the tomatoes run through the dehydrator.
I got a good start on the stock tank, yesterday. All the tomatoes are gone. In another area, I finally threw in the towel on the Brussels sprouts, and pulled it up. Between the bugs and the deer, it was a lost cause. I had a lot of tomato volunteers, in the stock tank, last year. I may hold off a bit buying plants. I might not have to, if I find some volunteers and encourage them. The next big job in the stock tank is pretty fiddly. Removing the green beans from the chicken wire. Flat leaf parsley has gone wild, in the stock tank. And, I discovered something interesting. There were a couple of red onions I had neglected. I’ve been harvesting the greens that sprouted off of the. Well, I pulled one up, and it turns out those greens are invividual little green onions. I might try separating them from the mother bulb, and see if I can get them going on their own.
Well, it finally happened. On the last day of the year, we finally had a decent frost. The first, at least in-town. I’ll record it on my calendar, but make a note to refer to my garden journal. This winter of 2025-26 has been odd, and I’ll have a bit to say about it. And, it isn’t even over yet. Our high yesterday was 36F (2.22C). Our overnight low was 28F (-2.22C). The forecast high for today is 47F. Bright sunshine, early, chased the frost away.
Price was a factor in not ordering the Yerba Mate plants. But, I see there is seed available.
When I mentioned the vaccine run, I was thinking about a historic event, which inspired a yearly sled dog race. Which turned out, not to be true.
“The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race originated in 1973, created to preserve the sled dog culture and the historic Iditarod Trail in Alaska. It was inspired by the 1925 serum run to Nome, where sled dogs delivered life-saving medicine during a diphtheria outbreak, but the race itself was not established to commemorate that event.” Inspired by, but not to commemorate? Seems like a fine point.
Well, according to the tracking, my package IS out for delivery. Will wonders never cease. I suppose you might have heard that Denmark is ending letter delivery.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckg8jllq283o
Here, there are to be changes in our postmarks. Instead of the local post office applying the postmark, it will be done at the regional sorting center. Which might add days, to the post mark date. Which might affect everything from bills to ballots.
You know. There are people who collect tea pots. 🙂 Tomorrow is the big, antique auction at the local auction house. I didn’t send anything, this year. I looked at the pictures, last night, of what’s on offer. I was pretty underwhelmed. Lots of “old” stuff, but, “just because it’s old, doesn’t mean it’s valuable.” Looked pretty junky, to me. I didn’t see anything that “wound my clock.” There were quit a few pieces of “vaseline glass.” That’s the uranium glass that glows under black light.
Near as I can figure, the Wegman heart chairs go for anywhere from $500-1,000. In upscale markets.
I noticed you mentioned that you haven’t seen any kangaroos, either. I hope they’re just lying low. After the Bondi Beach event, changes in your gun laws may be in the offing. I happened to watch an older movie, “Patriot Day,” last night. A fictionalized account of the Boston Marathon bombing.
Our fish sticks are minced fish, held together somehow, and breaded. Maybe deep fried and frozen. I resuscitate them in the oven. Along with the frozen onion rings, that need the same temperature and time baking.
I “ate healthy,” last night. A can of seasoned lima beans, that I added to with rice, garlic, parsley and mustard leaves from the garden, Brussels sprouts and a diced Roma tomato. Tasty.
I finished Paul Kingsnorth’s “Against the Machine,” last night. It’s due back at the library, today. I noticed there’s 20 holds on it. I found it to be an engrossing read, and read it cover to cover. He’s got quit the website, and I may have to dip into that. Lew
Chris:
Happy New Year to you and Sandra and thank you so much for continuing to go to the considerable trouble to keep this blog site going.
I’m sorry, I keep forgetting that your pawpaws are papayas. There’s a big difference there.
Pam
Chris:
If you’re seeing double, it’s not my fault . . .
Pam
@ All:
Happy New Year, everyone! You’re such a great bunch of people!
Pam
Chris,
Happy New Years to you and Sandra. Avalanche sends woofs and wags to the Fluffy Collective.
DJSpo
@ All,
Happy New Year.
DJSpo
Hi Pam,
Our regular chats are a real pleasure, so thank you as well for contributing, and wishing you a happy New Year.
Admittedly, I went to bed early, and missed the whole countdown thing. 🙂 Sleep is good.
Yeah, sooner or later, your local paw paw will turn up here at an affordable price, but until then…
Cheers
Chris
Hi DJ,
Wishing you, your lady and the Dame, a very happy New Years. 🙂
And thanks for the kind thoughts. Ollie has replied on behalf of the canine collective. Here goes: Woof, Woof, Woof, Break, Woof. Not to be confused with the timing of a waltz, but the dog speak can be converted into human-lish to roughly suggest: Respect to the Husky.
Dogs…
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
This talk of smoked ham hock is right on for the winter months. Yum! How did the soup turn out? It’s my belief that pea and ham soups taste better the second day. Some recipes are like that.
No fireworks here, although they do them in the big smokes. I went once long ago at the insistence of a friend, and there were so many people. Other than that, fireworks just aren’t readily available these days. Things were different when I was a kid. H is cool with fireworks (sorry I forget such details)? Did things liven up as the evening wore on in your part of the world?
Yeah, exactly, things pile up. Did my own thing today, but had to rescue the Editor who’d over committed herself work wise. So I spent an hour and a half tonight tending the brazier burning off all of the accumulated forest litter. Windy days, produces a lot of kindling which is not good at this time of year. I had plans for a quiet evening, but like your inspections and who can forget the sprinkler upgrade, sometimes a dude has to bend with the winds.
Did some plastic welding work this afternoon. A couple of items needed repairing before the damage got worse. One weld looks great, the other is a bit rough looking, but structurally sound. Also got the cord hanging down in the greenhouse for the dozen tomato vines to climb. I’m not using jute string this year because it all broke last summer and created a fine mess.
Weeded the young fruit trees in the citrus enclosure too. Oh yeah, one of the poly trailers which can be towed behind either of the low centre of gravity ride on mowers was modified. The stupid dump safety-catch mechanism was prone to failure and you’d lose the contents of the trailer. An easy fix, I just removed the dump ability and bolted it closed. Much safer now.
May have weeded the potato patch as well.
Don’t the tomatoes start looking ratty around the winter solstice. I reckon the lack of sunlight gets them, even if the weather was unusually warm. I’ve never managed to grow Brussels Sprouts, so your efforts were way beyond me. I dunno, those plants have to be in almost perfect conditions to produce the sprouts – which are apparently meant to be very tasty fresh off the plant.
The volunteer plants really depend upon how many tomatoes hit the soil the previous season. Isn’t the seed resilient to survive the winter? We get volunteer tomatoes too, and some of them are pretty good. One in particular is out-performing every other tomato. It’s even got a small truss of green fruit.
Climbing beans are easier to remove when the vines are dry. You’ve got a challenging job there. I hear you. Nice one with the onions, and they’re complicated, but if your lot are producing bulbs, that’s what I’d describe as a well adapted variety. Like you do, sometimes I plant purchased onions which have inadvertently produced leaves and roots.
Jack Frost finally came to town. That’s pretty late for the first frost, actually, what does your garden diary suggest? I’ll be interested to read your thoughts on the winter weather. Man, it didn’t even make 68’F here today. Brr! Although I feel rather warm due to all of the activity today.
Ah, seed-flation is a real thing. Might have to wait until the plant becomes more popular, and I was having similar thoughts about the North American paw paw.
Wow! What a gruelling race, and honestly reading about it, just made me feel soft. 🙂 Simply completing the course is a feat worthy of respect, let alone winning. I had to go an put on a woolly jumper after absorbing the idea. Agreed, the truth may remain unknown!
I know, the article about Denmark ceasing letter delivery was in the local news. Already, I can’t work it out exactly, but we may be down to two, or perhaps three letter delivery days. If I may say so, some goobermint services were never intended to make a profit – that’s why the folks-as-print-mad-cash, do that work on behalf of the community.
That already happens with post marks, and often the stamps aren’t properly err, stamped. The alert person may recognise this as an opportunity?
Stop it! Hehe! As you’d suggest, that way possibly leads to madness (collecting tea pots that is). The uranium glass is quite attractive, and word on the street is that it may be safe if cautiously handled and used. Who knew?
That’s a bit pricey for the chair, although there’s often a bit of a knock-off market for mid-century items. Some of that stuff is pretty good, but perhaps that option would not satisfy the purist.
Dunno what’s going on with all that, thus my misgivings. And I’ve not seen kangaroos for a couple of days now, which is not unusual. For your interest, I went out of my way, not to mention that horrific incident, and that is kind of how things work down here, the tech will most likely be banned, and for good and valid reasons. The costs of misuse, exceed the benefits of lawful ownership. We’ve got a different culture on that front, especially after the Port Arthur massacre and I’ve got no issues with guns. They’re simply a dangerous tool, and there are plenty of those.
Yeah, that’s them – fish sticks, and they’re cooked the same way, although that’s innovative placing them in the oven.
Might have to check it out the website as well, you’ve piqued the interest. 🙂
Cheers
Chris
@ All – A happy and prosperous New Year, to all. Lew
Yo, Chris – Panic in the ranks! 🙂 The corn bread is out of the oven, the ham hocks are on the simmer, and the black eyed peas are soaking. Why the panic? I could not find the black eyed peas. I knew I had seen them, just a few days ago, but I spent a good 15 minutes, looking for them. So, where were they? In the fridge freezer, of course. I usually run dried stuff, thought the freezer for a few days, to kill any bugs that might have hitched a ride.
I decided to just stick with the good old BC (Betty Crocker) corn bread recipe. Though I did add frozen corn, and sunflower and pumpkin seeds.
I stopped by the library, to pick up an item. They’ve been having serious websites problems, for a few days. Either pages won’t load, or I get a “Bad Gateway” (whatever that means) screen. Only one item, but there’s a tsunami of a dozen things, in transit. But will there be a regular courier delivery, tomorrow? No one seems to know.
Then it was onto the Club. Visited with Jane, but we bailed, around 7, as the festivities were to start at 9. Someone was shooting off a lot of spectacular fireworks, down the road. H and I sat on the outside benches, and had a ringside view. H observes them with interest. I think she things they’re just for her benefit. 🙂 They don’t spook her, at all. She’d make a good hunting “gun dog.” 🙂 That book I read about Rin Tin Tin had quit a bit about the canine corps, in WWI, and WWII. A call went out for people to volunteer their pets! Pets were assessed and either returned to their owners, or, sent to the front.
There were fireworks, in the neighborhood. But they ceased at a decent hour. The Inmates were having some kind of a “do” down in the community room. If like previous years, they fade before the midnight hour.
I was replacing jute twine, on the trellis of one of my garden beds, every year. That’s the one that was replaced by hog wire, which makes life a lot simpler. The stock tank has t-posts, with chicken wire. I think I’ll swap the green beans out, to the hog wire trellis this year. And grow the Scarlet Runner beans in the stock tank.
Never good to unexpectedly lose your load. We talked about bungee cords, recently. For quit awhile, I had a “spider” made of bungee cords, that covered any load in my pick up bed. Patience was needed to untangle it, and get it in place. I don’t know what happened to it, but at one point, one of the plastic hooks hit the concrete, just right, and broke.
Yes, the tomatoes were looking pretty ratty. Though I got a handful, every now and then, into November. I think lack of light and rain, finally did them in. My garden journal is kind of a, well, journal. I record things in there that I forget, and a constantly looking up. The difference between determinate and indeterminate tomatoes, or the difference between hard and soft necked garlic. I put your explanation of the three kinds of lime, in there. Once winter is over, I’ll do an entry that can’t be fitted, comfortably, on the calendar. Basically, that it was a weird winter, weather wise.
Our high yesterday was 46F (7.77C). Our overnight low was 32F (-0-C). Though there was no frost, this morning. Our forecast high for today is 43F. The rain is back, though H and I managed to dodge it, this morning.
I vaguely remember that I had a great uncle, who died during the Alaskan gold rush. On a ship, heading north. I can’t even remember which side of the family, that was.
People collect post marks. 🙂 “Collecting postmarks is called marcophily. It is a specialized branch of philately that studies the historical significance and value of postmarks.” Little towns that have vanished, are particularly sought after.
Fiesta dinnerware came in many colors. But during WWII, the cobalt blue and a red/orange color were unavailable. Because the cobalt in the blue, and the uranium in the red, were needed for the war effort. People used to be leery of the radioactivity in the red. Although it had less than a radium wrist watch.
What I picked up from the library, yesterday, was a book, “Ghosts of Hiroshima.” (Pellegrino, 2025). He’s written a number of books, including some on Pompeii and the Titanic. I’ve read a few, I think. James Cameron is a buddy, and had optioned the rights to the book, to make a movie. I stayed up way too late, last night, reading it.
You do have your gun nuts, down there. Just not as many, as here. 🙂 Every once in awhile, I see an article about someone’s Australian arsenal being busted.
The incident in Sydney was a terrible thing, and I also decided not to mention it. I breathed a sigh of relief, when we made it through New Year’s Eve, without someone driving an SUV, into a crowd of revelers, somewhere in the world.
I wonder if Mr. Greer is aware of Kingsnorth’s new book. If no-one else had mentioned it, I might. Lew
Chris,
Dame Avalanche has a message back: “Message received. Garble something secret tunnel something Australia garble double whomplish Spokane garble soon.”
Now, I speak fluent dog, and some of those words, well, I think they have some secret code now. We should all be scared. Very scared. 😉
Meanwhile, this afternoon and evening, the storm came in cooler than expected. It has been lightly snowing for several hours. In fact, it started when we were ending our walk. Not much accumulation, but it’s that nasty stuff that falls at -1C: icy and slick. Freezing rain expected later before it warms up and melts tomorrow.
The Princess had another tooth fall out. it looks like it mysteriously broke right at the roots and dropped. No pain, just a surprise visit to the dentist next week. I think the real issue with her teeth is stems from her childhood. Hermey the Elf from the Rudolph Christmas cartoon practiced on the Princess before he became a dentist. https://christmas-specials.fandom.com/wiki/Hermey
We’re just taking things slow and lazy through the New Year’s celebrations. Well, except for New Years Eve. People started shooting off gobs of (illegal) fireworks about 3 pm. By the late evening, it was loud. Several were VERY loud. Poor Dame Avalanche was out of sorts as a result. No shaking or panting, just off. When she needed to go outside to take care of business, she would her the loud booms and run back inside unless I stayed out with her until she was done. Eventually I just sat there next to her with a hand on her. That calmed her and she fell asleep. There’s usually not that many fireworks here. Ever.
Hmmmm, somebody said that dinner is ready.
DJSpo
Hi Mawkernewek,
Good to hear, and I’d not considered trialling other Camellia species for the purpose of tea making. And respect for running the test for the rest of us! 🙂
The Adelaide Hills are an interesting climate, which can at times be gentle, then harsh. Actually, they’ve been doing it pretty tough there on a rainfall front this year. Very dry. I’ve visited there, but not for many years now. Apparently olives are invasive trees there, and hope someone other than the birds are harvesting the tasty fruit?
Wishing you and your family a lovely New Years.
Cheers
Chris
Greetings Dame Avalanche,
Cordial … wags to you, chiefest of … Rest assured the plans are … action. Code word is … Tunnel acknowledged … Marshall the reserves for … Rendezvous at … Over and out.
Ollie, El Supremo. Fluff Collective
Hi DJ,
Dude, what just happened? But as you wisely suggest, canine plans are possibly afoot. All we have to fear, is fear itself. And maybe hubris, that seems potently troublesome. Now I think about it more, there’s some other stuff which is bad-as too. Let’s move on.
🙂 Not saying it was 28’C today and very sunny, but yeah, a nice day here. Your snow sounds pretty awesome, despite the less pleasanter aspects to the conditions. Now out in the sun here, the energy is intense, and it may as well be 50’C, despite the cooler air temperature. Cooked my brain a bit today, thus possibly how Ollie managed to take control of the keyboard a while ago. Sorry to hear about the icy conditions, and may they melt away, soon.
The big old Anzac Peach tree is covered in what looks like sun ripened tasty fruit. It’s a white fleshed peach which is no good for bottling, or jam making, but great for fresh eating although it needs to soften off the tree (or at least that is the case here). However, thick lemon balm had taken over that garden bed which the tree is growing in. So I got the big Stihl 240V hedge trimmer, and together we nuked that mint plant into some semblance of control (which as you’d know is distinct from Kaos! 😉 ). The plan is now to strike through the recently tamed jungle and harvest the tasty fruit. It was hot work though getting to that point, far out.
Oh no, sorry to hear that your lady suffered a cracked and utterly broken tooth. Youch, and please extend my sympathy for her plight. The mouth ends up feeling very strange when such things happen, and that can be a disturbing feeling. And we’ve all been there. Last year I chipped a tooth and had a quiet moment of total melt-down, and simply asked the Editor for help to sort out the entire dental fix – which was bizarrely the next day. Turns out the cost of living crisis has some unexpected benefits in that the dentist had a cancelled appointment and could fit me in straight away. I’d expect that you are super gentle with your lady in her hour of distress.
They say you can learn a new word every day, and it’s true: deuteragonist – side kick to the protagonist. AKA Sam Gamgee. Hermey was a poor fit for a career in toy making who’s real skills lay in other more mouth orientated trades.
Fireworks are illegal here too, but also common sense says not to use them down here at this time of year regardless of intent due to the bushfire risk. Nobody wants to be a convicted arsonist, do they? And the news today from afar is not pretty on that front. I’d not even been aware that such devices were being sold. They are idiotic.
Poor Dame Avalanche, and Ruby certainly agrees with her take on the sudden loud noises. That dog is the first to alert me of trouble, and appreciates a calm hand. A working dog breeder a while ago told me that a calm and firm hand on a distressed dog was known down under as the ‘old cattleman’s trick’ to soothing a distressed canine.
28’F outside now, and those sun blinds are earning their keep because it’s only 23’C indoors even though some of the windows have been open all day to et in fresh air. Quite pleasant. Wednesday is shaping up to hit 39’C. That’ll be fun, but at least it won’t be windy.
Hope your lady is doing OK, and my thoughts are with her.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
Oh my, that was a kitchen nightmare of the direst emergency. It’s awful isn’t it, knowing that something is around, somewhere, but can’t be found? Yup, Man, on that note, I used to quip that I was a Nazi when it came to filing, not because the activity is an enjoyable pastime, but it produces the least worst outcomes. But then over the past few years I’ve encountered folks whom got quite upset by my flippancy. Turns out that there are some people who interpret conversations on an entirely literal basis, and this has totally spoiled some of my fun. If extremists can’t be sent up, far out. Anywhoo, moving on, in these more enlightened days it is more properly stated that: I am enthusiastic when it comes to filing. Although to my ears that claim sounds a bit weird. Oh well.
Glad you finally found the black eyed peas, and aren’t they tasty? Mate, I’m salivating thinking about your pea and ham soup – with corn bread. It’s a real winter favourite (excluding the corn bread), and to be honest it’s comforting. I used to make it when much younger, and occasionally in winter if I’m feeling the need, like if the dreaded cold or flu has struck here. Although it is very rare to see meat cooked in this kitchen, mostly because we’ve got so much fresh garden produce.
I’ve never done that trick with the freezer and dried produce, but long ago discovered weevils and pantry moths in a clear plastic bag of purchased mixed grains. Didn’t open the bag, that’s for sure. Hey, you know when economic times are tough, when the weevils and moths are cleaned up, and the contents are consumed.
Yum! Yum! Corn bread. Are you happy with how the recipe turned out? That stuff is super tasty, although rarely seen down under. I used to frequent a business which had a US chef who occasionally baked the stuff, and the memories are good. Consumed as a side to clam chowder – which were actually one or two salt water mussels, grown in Port Phillip Bay, the seafood soupy broth made up the larger portion. Prices…
Dare I mention the word ‘upgrade’ for that website? What do these computer people do all day? After the recent crash here, at least something was usable within several hours.
H clearly has a calm demeanour, which is to be respected. You know, I’ve always found fireworks displays to be mildly unsettling after having read ‘Day of the Triffids’ as a very young and impressionable child. Took the fun away, Mr Wyndham did… No fireworks around here for obvious bushfire reasons, and I note that there was an allegedly horrid misuse of such festivity instruments over in the old continent. Not pretty.
Can you imagine H on the front line? I reckon the relationships we have with dogs have given our species a survival edge. Canines, hear and smell things we’d miss. Cats are pretty handy friends to have too, although they do profess a certain independence, which may or may not be real. The dogs here get a bit spooked out by gun shots, and usually alert me to all sorts of mischief that I’d otherwise miss.
Don’t we all fade before the midnight hour? 🙂 That day we worked pretty hard and finished late, so we’d actually entirely forgotten about the celebration.
Speaking of which, the grape enclosure was weeded, and the vines are yet to be pruned – but I’ll get to that in the next week. A very large Anzac peach tree is growing in a garden bed, which unfortunately had become over grown with lemon balm – which is a form of mint. Probably better described as a weed! Anywhoo, hacked all of the lemon balm back to a few inches off the ground, and now I can get to the peaches. They look pretty ripe, although still firm. In previous years they’ve softened off the tree, as some fruits do. Might get onto that job tomorrow. And the tree has gotten enormous and will have to be pruned soon.
Exactly, wire just works better for supporting vines. Man, I tried to be environmentally conscious and use jute, but it just broke. Didn’t even make it through the growing season, let alone re-use. The steel wire though, is over a decade old and still going strong. Hmm. There’s a lesson in there, somewhere? 🙂
Bummer it broke, and those bungee cord netting arrangements are mostly good. I tend to prefer to use the sort of tie down ratchet straps which truckers use. Those things are super strong.
Just had to take a break and head outdoors and water the citrus enclosure and the oak tree seedlings. A busy time of year. Given it is only the second of January, I’ll have to keep an eye on the water levels.
Really? November tomatoes are an unexpected and delightful gift from the garden. 🙂 Good stuff. End of March, I tend to pull the lot, but only because I want to get some greens going so that they can hibernate during the winter months – and we have fresh greens to eat at that cold time. It’s a balancing act, and a second greenhouse would be nice.
Out of curiosity, what made your winter weather more weird than the usual climate mayhem? For your interest, 2025 was Australia’s 4th warmest year on record. Last years rainfall was average here, but this has been a lucky small exception – all around this area has not been so fortunate.
Heading into Alaska in those days for the inexperienced, would have been as risky as heading into the central arid areas of this continent. The ships in those days perhaps would have been a touch problematic from all sorts of angles.
Yikes! I’m skipping the paragraph on the subject of macrophily, and sighting continued good mental health as my excuse. 🙂 There really are collectors for so many different things… Boggles the mind.
Yeah that was interesting about the radium in watches, and lead me on a dark rabbit hole. I can recall seeing these glow in the dark watches when I was young in the 1970’s, but can’t recall whether they were radium based. Probably were given production stopped in the late 1960’s. Did you come across any of those in your tat trade days?
What a book. I can comprehend why you stayed up late reading it. Puts a human face on suffering. The Japanese were tough combatants, and can you imagine how hard it would have been to invade those islands?
True. Same, same, but different. Yes, there are some arsenals out there, and usually it’s an easy way to err, nab a perp. Hard to argue with such a conviction, is it? So we found…
I hear you about that brother.
I’ll be interested to hear the report from mentioning the author.
90’F tomorrow, and we’re planning a quieter day.
Cheers
Chris
I have found again the original blog page that inspired me to try making my own tea: https://pandragonathome.blogspot.com/2009/11/making-black-tea-from-your-camellia.html.
Its actually not that long since I picked my last of the greenhouse tomatoes, I think that was early December.
I’ll no doubt be starting chillis soon, I think I will wait a bit longer for the tomatoes, I had the problem one year when I had started a load of seedlings indoors, but it was too cold to plant them out.
Hi Chris,
Unlike what some of your other correspondents experienced, fireworks and gunshots (it’s usually some mix of these) were less frequent and less loud where we live. It wasn’t the weather, which was dry and only a little below freezing, not the sort of winter weather that deters fireworks on New Year’s Eve. We also experienced less exuberant fireworks on and around the 4 July holiday last summer. Since I live in a rather poor area, it may have been due to unfavorable economic factors. The two owls hooting at each other in early evening, a minor third apart in pitch, for most of an hour were as loud as the fireworks. They must have been right outside the window that I was sitting near.
We had black-eyed peas and ham hocks on New Year’s Eve and since then (we made lots for leftover enjoyment), and we ate the rest of a recent batch of cornbread the morning of New Year’s Day. We also ate mixed greens out of a can on New Year’s Day. Thus we have all the food traditions of the New Year covered and can properly proceed with 2026.
Happy 2026 to all!
Claire
Yo, Chris – I’m a public health fascist. 🙂 So, sue me.
The cornbread turned out tasty. Had a good “rise,” too. Well, four teaspoons of baking powder will do that. Getting that meal together, was sort of an all day affair. And I think I used every bowl and pot that I have. I simmered the ham hocks, most of the day. Along with some “aromatics.” Bay leaves, a cut up stock of celery, pepper corns and a bit of sage. It was pretty much falling off the bone. I’d soaked it, in the fridge, overnight, as suggested. To take some of the salt out. I also scored the outsides, with a knife. That solved the problem of fat bands, having a strangle hold on the bone and meat.
I soaked the black eyed peas, all day, and then simmered them for an hour in some of the “potlikker” from the simmering ham hocks.
https://w.wiki/HHXo
The collard greens were canned, and pre-seasoned. I had a chuckle. The brand of tinned greens was from a company I’ld never heard of. Glory Brand. There motto? “We do the work, you get the glory.”
H got a bit of the hock meat and fat. I saved the bones for her, in the freezer. The problem with those is, she wants to take them on the rug to chew on, and I worry about grease spots.
We settled in to watch Will Smith’s “I Am Legend.” I remembered something about a sequel. Might happen, might not. Fairly recent articles report that it’s an idea that is still in play, but it hasn’t started production, yet.
So, I sure did have a lot of leftovers. I filled seven quart bags with black eyed peas, ham pieces, collard greens and plenty of potlikker. They’re in the freezer. Throw it on a bed of rice, and it will make a fast meal.
I had some bug problems with steel cut oats and sunflower seeds. After that, a lot of stuff gets run through the freezer for three or four days.
The library web site said the “vendor” was working on the problem. So, they punted to whoever sold them the software. Ah, I see some of my holds are trickling in, so they did get a courier, today (Friday.) I’ll pick up whatever, tomorrow morning.
Early evening, I took a break from the kitchen, and H and I ran down to the Club for a cuppa. Pulling into the parking lot, back home, I could smell the strong aroma of skunk. That happens a few times a year.
Didn’t see the beastie.
Lemon Balm. The bane of my gardening existence. The Anzac peaches sound very tasty. 🙂 I also use my gardening journal to sketch out little maps of what I’ve planted, where. And the varieties. But, you mentioned paperwork. Sometimes, I’m not on top of it, as much as I should be.
That was quit an article about your hot year. Our high yesterday was 41F (5C). The overnight low was 41F (5C). The forecast high for today is 52F. I sometimes wonder if the weather station thermometer doesn’t get stuck. It was 41F from early afternoon, straight through the night. The rain is back, and the temperatures are warmer. H and I got very wet, on our midnight walk. But dodged the rain, this morning.
I’m sure Prof. Mass would say our weather fell within historic limits, but in this small place, it was weird. Three back to back atmospheric rivers, and the latest frost since I’ve been keeping records. I mean, really, really late.
I saw an article this morning, that a New Year’s Eve attack was thwarted. Not that far from where Pam lives. Some 18 year old dweeb.
https://www.newsweek.com/fbi-thwarts-planned-new-years-eve-terrorist-attack-north-carolina-11298879
Well, things seem to be getting back to normal. The town was very quiet, last night. Valentine’s decorations are going up in the stores. And … Easter. Lew
@ Dame Avalanche and Ollie:
Help! Where do I hide?
Mr. Baby
Chris:
My Honda wouldn’t start this morning and I needed to go into town to see a friend that I always visit on Fridays. I was going to take Mr. Musty, but when I went out to drive him, he had a trailer attached. Mr. Musty and I do fine driving together, but, no siree!, I am not bringing a trailer along.
I didn’t want to wake my son up yet to unhitch it because he had been up a lot in the night with Mr. Baby, so was very tired. I waited till he got up, but then he had to run straight to Walmart to get Mr. B some medicine. It was 11:00am before I could drive Mr. Musty into town and things went fine.
Here is the strange thing: Normally on a Friday I would have done errands and then just before I went over to the assisted living to visit my friend, I would park the car in front of a donut shop near to where she lives and eat a snack. That would be about 10:50am. There is a liquor store next to the donut shop. When I got home later, I was looking at the local news and there had been an armed robbery at that liquor store – at 10:50am. I might have been a witness if the Honda had started this morning.
Pam
Greetings Mr Baby,
Salutations my furry feline friend from afar. Ah, you know? OK, well details to follow. Make sure that you … And also it is important to … squirrels, for they … Keep an … out for …
Mr Baby, the message is breaking up. I’ll repeat … every hour.
Stay strong little feline brother.
Ollie – Fluff El Supremo
Hi Pam,
Oh poop about the Honda, and then the indignity of the trailer. Hey, I’m with you about the trailer, and there are some places it’s just too problematic to take along on a whim. That moving contraption only goes on a joy ride for specific purposes, other than that, it can stay at home.
Hope Mr Baby is feeling better today? Your country is notably super chill about some matters, and animal medicine is usually only sold through veterinarians, or really basic stuff can be had at stock feed stores – in the rural areas, or pet shops in the big smoke.
Pam, you so dodged a bullet there, and the universe perhaps did you a solid. Yup. I’ve been in the wrong place, at the wrong time with an armed hold up almost thirty years ago, and don’t recommend the experience.
Had the day off work, which was nice. But then some time was spent fixing up fencing to stop the naughty rabbits – I can’t watch Watership Down, or read the book. No. Picked a very large bucket of sun ripened peaches. Yum! Harvested raspberries and red currants. Did a lot of manual watering, and probably this is why people left farms way back in the day! A day off work rarely looks like a city person would expect it to.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Claire,
To be honest, that was my first thought as well. The fireworks index is perhaps representative of the larger unfavourable economic winds. They’re not free are they? And it’s been my observation upon the human condition, that people cut back on the things which they hope their neighbours don’t notice.
Owls are lovely aren’t they? And those hard working birds would be doing great work in your garden cleaning up rodents, and anything unfortunate enough to look like food to the avians. They destroy the rodents here, and are rather partial to the possums – and for that work, I’m eternally grateful. By the way, I believe the hooting has two effects: Scaring prey, and alerting other owls to their presence. It’s a great sign that you have enough fertility in your garden for those top order predators.
May the dish bring you and your household the most excellent of good luck for the coming year. As a mostly vegetarian, I can assure you that pea and ham soup (from a slow cooked ham hock) is a pure joy.
I’d like to try corn bread, as it is one of the few grains which will grow here. The growing season however has been so weird, that none of the corn seeds germinated. Although, both Wednesday, and then Friday are forecast to reach a calm and sunny 38’C / 100’F. Dunno, we’ll see. Picked a massive bucket of fresh peaches a couple of hours ago. Yum!
May your 2026 be bountiful, uneventful and content.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Mawkernewek,
Thanks for the link, and respect for giving the technique a go yourself, and sampling the tea. Very impressive. Man, I’d not even been aware that other camellia species have been used for this purpose. Who knew? 🙂
Greenhouses are an absolute necessity in cool temperate climates – and tomatoes are just more reliable when protected from the vagaries of the weather don’t you reckon? Nice work with getting your plants to go until only a few weeks ago. I believe the low light levels eventually finish off the vines, but that’s only a wild guess.
Do you use a heat mat for the chilli seeds? For your interest, the randomly dumped chilli seeds in the greenhouse only germinated maybe a fortnight ago. The seeds started in more proper seed tubes exposed to the warm sunlight, kicked off maybe a month ago now.
And hey, we’ve all been there with what you mentioned! 🙂 The growing season is getting on, and you’re raring to go, and bam, a cold overnight destroys the seedlings. The evil climate Empire strikes a blow against the nascent tomato plants! Back to the drawing board.
Dunno about you, but I tend to slow down now with planting out seedlings. The plants grow exponentially anyway, but I can’t shake the uncertainty that I’ve left it all too late. Oh well, it’s an uncertain business isn’t it?
Just strung up the cord for the tomato vines a day or so ago. Hopefully the photo works out for the next blog.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
Man, I’m totally triggered! Hehe! Except I’m joking around. Oh, save me from the gentle ministrations of the pedants.
It sure would give some rise. Nice shot with the lashings of baking soda. Slow cooked ham hocks produce their own aroma, which is pretty lovely too. Can bay trees grow in your area? I reckon they might be able to, maybe. I’ve got two here, and they seem very hardy. That’s how it’s meant to be with the meat falling off the bone, although a quicker prep time means that the hock has to be carved up once cooked – but it’s not the same is it? Hmm. I’ve never soaked the hock overnight. Interesting, as is the scoring. Yum! What a delish, dish.
We tend to soak dried beans overnight, so same, same, but different. Top work, and when I was a kid, it used to annoy me to see the potlikker poured down the drain. My mum would boil the daylights out of vegetables, and the err, veg equivalent of the essential pan juices would be thrown out. Hardly surprising the lady only made it to 71. Hmm. Oh my, those black eyed peas sound truly delicious.
Now to sound gripey, but I had a veg / boiled egg salad for dinner… 🙂 Can’t whinge, most of the produce came from the garden.
That’s a fun motto.
I tend to chuck the hock bone into worm farm. It’s a bit rich for the dogs, and cleaning up their barf is not an enjoyable experience. I’m not sure why either, they don’t have problems with other bones. And oh my, I’ll bet H enjoyed the meat and fat? The dogs here sure do. 🙂
I’d been unaware that the meal was traditional for this part of the year in your country.
Did you enjoy the film? I liked it, but then the much earlier “The Omega Man” it was loosely based upon was also a good film. “The Family”!!!! It may, Mr Smith got into some sort of scuffle a while back, so who knows? He’s a great actor.
You’ve got the food sorted with the stuff in the freezer. Sometimes, an easy meal is the best approach.
On that note. Today was meant to be a day off work, and despite a lot of manual watering this morning, the day was mostly relaxed. A gourmet lamb pie was consumed even though it was 90’F. One must make exceptions for exceptional produce. 🙂 But then by about 6pm the raspberries needed picking, and that’s when we discovered that the rabbits had dug under the fence for the terraced gardens. Had to do something about that, and so hauled a couple of loads of rocks back up the hill and placed them around the fence. That’ll stop that mischief for now, maybe.
But then! Wait, there’s more… 😉 The parrots had decided to sample the Anzac peaches, so those all had to be picked too, and the tree is very large – in need of a prune. I’ve got a huge extendable pole with cutting attachment to harvest fruit growing way up high in the canopy. A large bucket of peaches lead to several trays of the fruit softening in the house. The aroma is heady.
Two hours of work later! Oh well, that’s life during the growing season. Nobody ever said it would be easy. And the best thing about a mixed farm, is that produce is spread across the entire season. If everything ripened at once, it would be a total nightmare without lots of extra labour.
Someone seems to be onto the library problem. Hope they’re not on holidays! Did much of your back order arrive?
Oh my, being hit by one of those stinky rascals would ruin a persons day. The word ‘pungent’ floats to the surface of the mind, and I’m yet to hear anyone describe that scent as ‘aromatic’. Good to read that you dodged the little stinker. I can’t believe people keep them as pets.
Agreed, they’re a problem. It took a couple of hours yesterday in the heat to knock that lemon balm down. Hmm. Nice idea with roughly sketching the garden plan, and it would assist with rotating plants between one season and the next. I’m not much of an artist, and that would make the work even harder, but yeah, some jobs get higher priority, I hear you about that. Not having a visual memory, I tend to just recall as an abstract concept, what went where the previous season.
Hehe! That happens here during winter as well. The air temperature just doesn’t vary much, particularly when thick clouds block the sun (however feeble it is at that time of the year) yet retains the heat which is already there. Sorry to hear that the rains caught you and H out. Ook! A brief thunderstorm hit here this afternoon, and now it’s back to cooler air again. 14’C / 57’F and misty outdoors. Brr! Not much rain fell, but for a while there it was heavy.
The three atmospheric rivers was pretty extreme. A bit more global warming, and citrus will survive in your corner of the world. There were only two weeks last year when the conditions you mentioned suggested that it’d be a bad idea.
The guy sounded like a bit of a knobhead.
What, already? The Christmas err, body, is still yet warm! Oh well, and the stores do that down here as well.
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Chris – Well, good old BC, called for 4 teaspoons of baking powder, so that’s what I stuck with. I did substitute apple sauce for shortening or oil in the recipe. Back when I was a kid, the lunch room ladies would occasionally make big trays of cornbread, with a honey glaze. Many people swear by Jiffy Corn Bread Mix. I read an article about that company, recently. They do several baking mixes. Still family owned, and they resist the call to change their box or do much advertising. And, their products are always at the low end of price.
I used to have a culinary bay tree, growing in a big pot, outside my tat / book store. It kept being tipped over, by drunks in the night. So, I put it on a little dolly on wheels, and would move it out for the day, and in at night. I can’t remember whatever happened to it. I probably found it a good home.
LOL. I was surprised the black eyed peas really expanded. I had gotten a small bag, from the bulk bins at Winco. Maybe a cup. I put them in one bowl, and then had to move them to a larger bowl. They just about filled a 2 1/2 quart bowl.
I see Clair also celebrates with a similar meal. I don’t know where I first heard about it, but its roots are in our SE. It was part of the African-American experience. Black eyed peas came from West Africa, on the slave ships. New Year’s Day traditions are varied, and wide spread. Scroll down to “United States.”
https://w.wiki/Cexr
I’m taking a new cookbook, back to the library, this morning. I may have to buy a copy of it. 🙂 “Braided Heritage.” It’s an examination of the roots of American cuisine. With recipes!
It’s the opening scene of “I Am Legend,” that always gets me. 🙂 A five minute clip.
https://youtu.be/Mr7P9O7Iy-o?si=z3q4W6pACeUkqlbW
Bad bunnies! (Not to be confused with a Puerto Rican musician). Bad parrots! Did you smack a few with your extendable pole?
Looks like about half the stuff in transit, landed. There may be more, by the time I pick-up. Sometimes, checking in the courier extends into Saturday morning.
One of the many services some veterinarians provide is removing the scent glands, from Skunks. According to reports, they make good pets.
My sketch plans of the garden are rough. Very rough 🙂 .
Our high yesterday was 46F (7.77C). Our overnight low was 45F (7.22C). The forecast for today is 53F. It was another day and night of very little fluctuation. I wondered if the airport guys needed to go out and tap the thermometer. :-). Lew
Chris:
Ooh, yeah – I forgot about your armed robbery experience. The universe did you – and us – a favor that day, too.
A trap has been set for a mouse in the greenhouse. At least, we hope it is just a mouse.
Pam
Hi Pam,
Yes, exactly! Sometimes things just work out, even when they’re not working out all around us. Hey, those are the times to be grateful. 🙂 Glad you dodged that experience.
Good luck with the mouse, and I’d loan you Dame Plum, although the dog may also destroy many figs in her enthusiasm for the task. Ook! Did you catch anything in the trap? Sometimes, some critters eat the bark of young fruit trees for the protein, and that really annoys me because the gain for the critter is small, but the damage is extraordinary. Oh well.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
Betty has the greater experience, and thus should be the one to guide the way. Ah, forgot to mention, but we made an apple cake about a week ago, and used lightly blitzed apples in the mixture, and the result was super moist. Probably better for a persons health than shortening or oil. Far out, that corn bread would be super sweet and very tasty. Most breads down under are savoury, with a few exceptions. The brioche of course introduced from your country, as well as the older dessert breads like fruit loaf, which is usually consumed sliced, toasted with butter. Yum!
The Jiffy Corn Bread Mix can be purchased online down here. Who knew? Actually, I’m impressed, the more unusual ingredients in the mix look like they serve the purpose of shelf life stability and form only a tiny part. It’s great when a company gets something spot on, and then knows not to muck around with it. That’s rare, and commendable behaviour.
Good thinking with the tree on the trolley. Yeah, people can be a bit silly with that, so yeah, possibly why we can’t have nice things. When in the big smoke, there used to be an angry guy, clearly with mental health issues, and he’d randomly damage the street trees. It was weird. He wore a black long leather jacket (even on hot days) as if he’d just stepped out of the Matrix film, but best avoided. Used to yell a lot too.
🙂 Dried peas and beans really do suck in the moisture, and swell. For your interest, I tend to soak pea or bean seeds for a couple of hours prior to planting them out. Probably does some internal changes to the seeds, and I’m guessing increase the protein content.
That’s fascinating, and pork and sauerkraut combo sounds pretty tasty too. Have to laugh at the next point in the link about the meat being traditionally freshly butchered at that time of the year, and presumably the story came later as a marketing concept. Think of it as a form of escamography! 😉 Hoppin’ John is a meal we make from time to time, but have never heard of that name or origin. Keeps you fuelled. The lentils and sausages sounds good to me as well. There’s a lot to like about these basic foods. I’d intended to use the word stoge, but that refers to stuff you smoke in your country, and was an old English phrase heard when I was a kid, but was rather spelt as ‘stodgy’ which I’d converted into the noun as perhaps more correctly spelled as ‘stodge’. Hopefully that all makes sense?
That’s high praise for the book. 🙂 Did you get a chance to take a peek at the recipe for ‘Peach Bread Pudding Cupcakes with Bourbon Glaze’? Sounds lethal, but in a super good way.
Far out! Lot’s of deer, and like rabbits, they’re fast. Guess Will and Sam the dog was going hungry that day. It’s an epic film. Hope he remembered to put some fuel stabiliser into his stores? That stuff goes off pretty quick nowadays, and the Mustang’s injectors may not appreciate the spoiled juice. I know, I’m no legend for pointing out practicalities…
😉 Yeah, it’s a great name for an artist, and he’s occasionally played on the national youth music broadcaster. Respect. No need to smack the parrots, Dame Plum got one who’d failed to learn how to fly. Nature is raw. The peaches are now in two wide trays waiting to soften. They’re an early peach. My favourite peach is the Golden Queen, and that variety is properly named – and you could say that in comparison taste wise: We are not amused!
Your library system continually amazes me. Ignoring the continual dodgy website and catalogue upgrades, it’s impressive.
I’ve heard those reports about skunks as pets, and they look really soft and with quite clean habits.
Mate, your garden plans are way ahead of the memory guides we use here. 🙂 The Editor and I were discussing this morning how we need to change the way we do firewood annually. It’s too much work to do at this time of year, and we can do the job better, and easier by changing some things. Hmm. You know man, anyone dropping themselves into this domestic arrangement at say randomly, the outbreak of the zombie apocalypse, well, they’d die. The learning curve is really steep.
Not to gloat, but it was a beautiful 22’C / 72’F today and the day was spent splitting, hauling and stacking firewood. Alas all good things come to an end: 45C / 114’F in four Australian states next week
Oh poop! I’m quaking in my work leather boots at that forecast.
Cheers and better get writing.
Chris
Hello Chris,
Happy New Year, a bit late, but heartfeltly given.
What an amazing year of improvements and learnings. I usually don’t comment about the flowers, but I really like the color splashes that remind me that other seasons will come.
Here we are in the beginning of a fortnight of arctic ice wind, with soft snow coming every other day here. The wood stove is good.
I started to sell chestnut graftwood/scions the other day, and it was exciting to see that I could already make four people happy with new genetics.
When I had pruned my “mother-trees” and counted what I needed for my own rootstock, I had a lot extra. (I will graft 150 chestnut trees, and I had scions for maybe 500. So, I put the word out and made a few entries in the webshop.)
It is exciting and a bit stressful to start selling new things. What is the right price? How much time will it take to handle and ship? Will anyone want to pay for this? I have come to answer most of those questions by just trying, to see how it lands. The main objective is to learn.
I very much enjoy selling things that I produce, to have several income streams and options.
Peace,
Göran
Yo, Chris – Good ol’ Betty Crocker has been with us, for a long time. And, she evolves with the times.
https://www.bettycrocker.com/menus-holidays-parties/mhplibrary/parties-and-get-togethers/vintage-betty/the-betty-crocker-portraits
Same with her cookbooks. Everyone seems to have a favorite “edition. The circa 1965 ring-bound seems to be in the most demand. It’s the one I use. I still find things in there that are helpful. Back when I was in the tat trade, if I could find one in good shape, it always brought a pretty penny. I also have a “Betty Crocker: Lost Recipes.” Every new edition drops recipes and adds recipes, to change with the times.
The apple cake sounds really yummy. As Jiffy cornbread mix is inexpensive, it has a low profit margin. You may find it in your grocery stores, but either shelved way down low, or up very high. Eye level is reserved for the glitzy and high profit items.
We get the occasional whack job, wandering around the Club. If they’re too disruptive, the police are called to throw a net over them, and haul them off … somewhere.
I also soak any big, chunky seeds, overnight. I figure it might give them a leg up.
Sauerkraut and weenies, often appeared on my childhood table. I always found it quit tasty.
Stoge, not to be confused with the Three Stooges. 🙂 Stodgy: Dull, unimaginative, old-fashioned, stuffy. Yup, have heard the word and it’s derivatives, but not in relation to food.
I noticed the peach bread pudding recipe, and it sounded tasty. But I’d have to use a different glaze. 🙂 Hmmm. I wonder if you could use a bourbon or brandy glaze, and set them on fire. It would make for a spectacular presentation. Also, burn off the alcohol. 🙂 And maybe provide some interesting (in a nice way) “notes.” The Maillard effect?
Go Dame Plum! Well, now you’ve got a dead parrot, to hang in your tree. And you didn’t even have to get your hands dirty.
Your upcoming weather sounds absolutely ghastly. All that fiery red and orange on the weather maps. Our high yesterday was 54F (12.22C). Our overnight low was 46F (7.77C). Our forecast high for today is 49F. Rain, on and off, but so far H and I have dodged it. Lew