perfect days of winter

Tasmania lives with the reputation of having poor weather. While there are periods of cold and rain at different times, the contrast from summer to winter is a delicious change for this individual who grew up in subtropical Queensland. There are winter days which are spectacular. Sunday was one of these. It was what I consider to be a perfect winters day at forty legs farm. 

There was a crispness and a chill to the air but this was accompanied by brilliant sunshine. There was   barely a breeze but it was still cool and a puffy jacket was required. It was the perfect day to get on with some chores around forty legs farm. 

After a slow wake up over a prolonged coffee in bed, we kicked off the day. Chicken duties were attended first up. Out of the coop and free ranging for now. With a permanent human presence on forty legs we have had less issue with wedge tail eagle attacks on our chooks. (It was distressing finding exploded poultry bits in the paddock before we moved in) 

There was opportunity for some building by the husband. With deadlines looming there is plenty of construction work ongoing. The rear deck and ramp is nearing completion with only minimal work to be done. House painting continues, but we now have a house that is one colour. 

That is not the possum, that is the husbands beard above the drill 

The vegetable patch was attended with further assessment of what pete the one eyed possum has destroyed. (I am not making this up. That possum has only got one eye and half an ear I shit you not) I continued on with my mitigation measures and prevention strategies along with some redistribution planting. Ended the day with picking some of my produce to create a beautiful dinner of home reared beef accompanied by baby beets, carrots, kale and chermoula made with carrot leaf instead of parsley. All from my paddock. Absolutely delicious. 

Little Furry Creatures....

Growing vegetables is rewarding and satisfying.

So far this year I have been  able to successively plant and mostly feed the family from our patch. It has been satisfying pulling carrots and beetroot, picking kale and silver beet, watching things grow and sprout from seed. While I missed planting in spring, I was still able to get significant growth due to our prolonged warm weather we experienced here. Pulling the last zucchini or courgette last week was a sad occasion but with the frosts we have been having they were spent.

My broccoli has been growing incredibly well, along with rows of additional kale carrots and beetroot. Lettuces, cabbages, cauliflower and silver beet have been flourishing despite the now cooler weather.

Enter the possum!

The devastation that can be caused by these little furry bastards is unbelievable. Our six foot high fences have not been enough. Our mitigatory measures were not adequate.The net which has been draped across the entire patch area and hastily put together with cable ties has not stopped him.

Each morning the enclosure is inspected and most mornings there is a tell tale pile of possum shit left to taunt me and demonstrate that he is able to thwart my best efforts to stop his pillaging. Thoughts of motion sensor cameras and other possum stopping measures fill my mind at times. I have had to work on not becoming completely deranged about this all.

I have been working hard to secure every possible place that could provide access. This has included more cable ties, using twine to stitch net together and metal clips to reduce any possible possum sized holes.

The last two nights have shown possum activity outside the net but not inside the enclosure. Hopefully the patch will recover and we will get the reward of our winter harvest.