Summer was a big let down for us this year, with Big Daddy home a lot more now we had been having a lot of success around the farm with more hands to share the load and we were eager and excited to see what summer would bring.
We were organised with our spring planting and everything was set up for success but then summer never came, there was glimpses of it but really we got shafted this year. All of us kept thinking surely Summer would be here soon but before we knew it Autumn had already arrived and for some people in the area they have already had the first frost!!
Luckily the frost skipped us so I'm still hopeful the pumpkins and tomato plants will be ok but its still very slow going.
We are having much success growing a "Dills Atlantic Giant" pumpkin and have a few smaller ones coming on as well but the zucchini plants have succumb to a mildew and the cucumbers had a good start and felt like they multiplying by the day but that only lasted about 2 weeks and now they have stopped producing flowers too.
Tomatoes? Well the vines are absolutely covered in the biggest, healthiest looking specimens I think I've ever grown but right now were lucky to be getting one ripe one a day but even if the weather really takes a turn we should be able to ripen what's on the plants already by hanging them up in the hot house or shed.
The unseasonally cold weather confused my chickens too who decided to stop laying and start moulting instead so there is deffinently an egg shortage in this house at the moment.
The disappointment doesn't stop there, this year before our fruit had even ripened the orchard was up against quite a few challenges the main one being some huge, nasty brushtail possums who started feasting on the leaves of pretty much all our fruit trees! Not only that the huge possums have snapped off a heap of branches on almost all of our trees and some of the younger ones will probably take a few years to get right again which is hugely disappointing.
And that's not all we also had a few heavy rains which caused some of the fruit that had survived the possums to split and also a lot of hail damage on our apples, apricots, plums and raspberries and now the possums have eaten all the pears which where no where near ready to harvest and started on the Golden Delicious apples which we have decided to harvest and cook up and bottle otherwise we wont get any at all once the possums have finished with them.
So far in our farming adventures the possum problems sure have been our biggest blow.
So far in our farming adventures the possum problems sure have been our biggest blow.
Its hasn't been all doom and gloom though, before they went to seed we had some amazing roquette and endive, some rainbow silverbeet too, chives, lettuce and for a short time some rather nice zucchini balls and mini Lebanese cucumbers too. Oh and Rhubarb and alpine strawberries too, cant forget those! We managed to salvage some green gages and neighbours and friends shared produce with us so we still had some lovely home grown organic produce to preserve into chutneys and jams and some whole fruits for pies in the winter.
Despite all the recent challenges and learning curves we have achieved quite a lot these past few months even if its just being more organised with weeding and planting, and where I've seen the biggest difference since having Big daddy home a lot more is in the kitchen. Its so lovely to be baking sourdough bread together and making meals as a family. Finally it feels our dreams of being an unschooling, homesteading happy family are coming together.
