The garden is truly a wonderful place and so much can be said to the term "stop and smell the roses" - it is a calming place whether you are working in it or just sitting back admiring it. Each Month there is a change at the farm that is hard to describe, best left for just photos.

May 21st 2017 - With the rainfall being so good at the moment and the change in temperature the garden has benifited so much. The rings are starting to get there slowly but surely and the passionfruit has also taken off. We had so much trouble growing tomatoes late last year but seemingly we have found the secret, let mother nature take control.

We have tomatoes popping up everywhere now due to Audrey"s compost soil being used in several different places, even in all the pot plants we have little seedlings popping up. The key here is just pure simplicity....

The garden and paddocks are still very much in the infancy stage, though we have learnt a lot over the past 12 Months. The main one “without water you have nothing”, in saying this though it is amazing to see how much rain instantly affects everything. Gympie was declared officially in drought just over a week ago, and coupled with farmer Bob mentioning this was the worse he had seen it in 45 years has been very sobering yet somehow relieving. Sobering because perhaps we have seen it at its worse and yet relieving because next time we will be a lot more equipped.

The other thing we have learnt is paddock rotation is needed and in the coming weeks we are looking at separating some paddocks again. Horses are so hard on the paddocks yet favourably they have worked their magic clearing a lot of them at the same time. We have also gained valuable knowledge with what plants seem to work around the place which is made more tenable given we are only there on the weekends.  

A lot of the garden takes a back seat as we try and get other work done around the place but at the same time it also gives us time to perhaps plan a little better into the future.

I really enjoy cooking at the farm as there is nothing like walking around the garden picking fresh herbs for a dish and the result? - I have say the difference in the taste being fresh is so noticeable. I can’t wait now that we are entering a cooler climate to start the next vegetable garden rotation especially given the summer crop of plants-vegetables was a nothing short of a fail given the drought and the soil not being prepared as it should have been prior to planting. About the only real thing that I have managed success with this summer is jalapenos, yep that’s right only jalapenos and a couple of small chillies varieties. Early on in summer Audrey had some success with some lettuce varieties when it wasn’t as hot and of course some rain fall.

In the past 12 Months, especially the start of Spring we’ve managed to get a few fruit trees and whist it will be a while before they produce they all seem to be flourishing and in it for the long haul, luckily.

Lemons, Limes, Figs, Avocados, Peaches, Nectarines, Oranges, Passionfruit, Mandarins, Pears, Paw Paw and an Olives tree have all been planted and in the near future I would like to explore some of the more exotic fruit trees. Tea and coffee is also on the agenda but a fair bit of investigation is still to be carried out on what varieties will work up there.  

In the photo album before and the ones above you can see the difference some rain makes including the wild flowers that grow around the place. The bulbs must lay dormant until we get some rain with the flowers basically popping up overnight.

So, as we enter our second Autumn and Winter a new chapter begins more experiments and of course more money, I would hate to think how much we have spent on seedlings without any real gain over the spring and summer. Given we didn’t really start any planting until spring bring on Autumn and Winter – I can’t wait......