It's been a while since I made a video. It's certainly not my strong suit, but practice makes perfect. They say you should try to step out of your comfort zone, after all.
I finally finished one of the beds for the chilli and capsicum plants. The jalapeno plant got so heavy with fruit that it keeled over and I had to stake it, after offloading as much fruit as possible, of course! There is room for one more plant, but that will have to wait until next season now as winter is on its way. I also want to see if I can get these plants through the winter first. Hopefully I don't get a curl grub infestation there now the soil is much better. I had a quick dig between two of the plants and unearthed a couple already.
I've got some carrot and coriander seeds in, ready for the cooler weather and rains. I still haven't gotten around to putting the seed potatoes in, though. I really ought to before they dry out. I wanted to prepare all the beds by removing the rubble and improving the soil, but it's going to take ages, so I probably need to just plant and focus on improving one area at a time. I need to get the peas in too, so I'll have to decide which runs the chickens are going to stay in for winter, so I can grow them up the fences they're not going to be able to reach.
I’m gutted, because my rooster, Roast, died last week. It always hurts when a chicken dies, but he's been a part of my daily routine for so long that it's been particularly hard. Reminders every morning and evening when I would be bringing him in for the night or out for the day. I collected the eggs from his flock to see if I could get a last hatch from him. Out of 17 eggs only two were fertile. It remains to be seen if they'll hatch. I was hoping to have a pick of ones to choose from, the quietest and most docile, but who knows. If it’s meant to be it will be.
I bought a male rabbit from a breeder to go with our young girl who we kept from our last brood. For some reason I just thought I'd double check and the rabbit turned out to be a girl! The breeder was apologetic, but it was disappointing. She may have some more for me in a month, otherwise I'll keep looking.
▶️ 3Speak
Aww sorry to hear about Roast :<
And drat about the female rabbit, but now you have two cute rabbits to breed when you do get a male?
I actually just got a male today. A friend had two and asked me if I wanted them, because they kept spraying and humping each other. I couldn't the them both, but they had a family chat and said I could take one. He's a gorgeous boy and been well loved. It seems strange they even wanted to part with him.
Gosh, all my years away from Oz I had forgotten about the scourge of couche grass!! 🤣 Your chilies look AMAZING - I see spicy Thai food in your future!! LOL.
Sad to hear about Roast - crowing roosters are considered white noise here in Thailand - - EVERYone has chickens and the roosters are just a normal part of village life.
Nice to here your voice - funnily, I had forgotten you'd sound English. Great job on the video.
You mean there are countries without couche grass!? I'm hoping to look at getting some native grasses to replace it, eventually.
I should expand my Thai recipes. Either that, or start preserving some of the chillis.
I sometimes forget how English I must sound myself!
Just dry the chilies and powder them with a rolling pin. Perfect. We call that "prick bon" in Thai and it's found on every dinner table in the land. Perfect for winter chilies, stews and curries and yummy sprinkled on EVERYTHING!!
Yes 😂😂😂 there IS life without couche grass. 😂
Oh so sorry to hear of your roo passing away! Bugger. I'm trying to convince my chook sitter not to kill the rooster but he can't stand the noise.
That bloody grass is annoying. If its not taking over its dying lol. I love summer when we dont have to mow. Hope you get rain soon!
How healthy do those chilli plants look! I never have success with them!
That was the great thing about my boy, he hardly ever crowed. He wasn't a big crower to start with and worth some training he rarely crowed once out for the day. I'm not sure whether I feel up to the challenge of training another, though. My daughters helped a fair bit first time around, but it's unlikely they will this time. The first year is the hardest, then he got better each year. I hope you come back to your rooster.
Usually my chilli plants are rather puny, but the extra effort with the soil seems to have worked this year, along with plenty of water in the heatwave.
Would you believe my housesitters just bought 6 australorp pullets? i'd given my chooks to a friend to babysit, Covid happened and my housesitters thought chooks would be a good idea!!!!!
The rooster got the chop. My friend is now supplying eggs to my son though, who is now living at his girlfriend's mum's place in the next town over as it's rural and out the way - better than Melbourne. Even my housesitters are leaving veggies out for him!
I think chilli do like that extra love, don't they? I'll try again when I come back. Weird to be without a garden.
So neat and tidy very impressive. Those animals are quite lucky to have you. I am glad to see this the new norm as you said. I am curious how do you know if an egg is fertile or not. I was going to ask what you do with the rabbits but your broccoli plants answered that for me. I really enjoyed the video. Sorry about your rooster.
Probably looks neat because not much is growing! XD
I can't tell if an egg is fertile without cracking it open, so it's a case of putting them in the incubator and candling a few days later to see if anything is developing. By day four it's usually easy to see.
What a great life you seem to have. Sorry for your roo passing away...
I do love my garden, but I seem to be the only one interested in it. I wish I had more time for it.
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