Shearing Season

It is shearing season once again and I thought you might like a quick view of our miracle lamb. She's the one in the center facing us. Remember, she was born during the last shearing and everyone thought she would die. Obviously she didn't. I feel a special affinity for her and love to see her hopping and leaping in the paddock (running away from me as fast as she can just like all the others).

The rest of the family was back in Auckland so it was up to me to "supervise". This always elicits a few chuckles from family and friends. John is more than capable of doing the whole operation on his own. In fact, this time he almost had to. He didn't call me went he got to the shearing shed so I had no idea he had started.

On a vague whim, I drove down to check on how the sheep were doing since they were cooped up waiting. John was there and so were 4 sheep already shorn. I told you he was more than capable. Anyway, my heart stopped as I saw one ewe with blood trickling down the side of her face (see picture). I stuttered as I asked John if that was something I should be concerned about. "Nope," he answered, "Sheep heal quicker than about any other animal."

Maybe so, but she bled the whole 3 hours. Not only that, by the time John finished, the place looked like an abbatoir. You can see how closely they are confined. As she moved around, she wiped her blood all over the pretty shorn coats of the rest of them. Not a pretty sight. I was just glad the girls weren't here. I have no idea how I would have put a happy spin on that one.

I checked on the flock this morning and the overnight rains have washed the fleeces and I can't even figure out which ewe got nicked on the ear. I guess they are quick healers. Lucky for them!

Market Garden Update

It has been a few weeks now since my last blog on the market garden (MG) so here is an update. A few weeks can be a lifetime in the Spring garden and I wish I could say that was the case for the MG. But it’s not.

The bugs continue to win what I now consider to be a very unequal contest. As you can see, the tomato plants in the foreground are struggling to survive. Only one bean plant (in the back of the tomatoes) is growing and that is a replacement for its 9 dead relatives.

 

I have scattered tomato plants throughout the garden and most of them are still alive which I guess means the battle is still being waged. But they are obviously in some distress. I water every day which is a worry since it is very early in the season to be using so much water. I read somewhere that beneficial bugs live under soggy logs so I have started importing some. We’ll see.

The only area in which I can claim success is as a possum burial site. Dan and I inter our possum kills right in the soil. Dan thoughtfully makes sure that the tails are left exposed (that is what you can see directly below the corner of the white board). This is so that when I plant seeds or seedlings, I don’t inadvertently dig into a carcass.

 

There are so many things I never dreamt I’d be doing. Burying possums; catching snails and using them for chicken protein; cleaning out barns and chicken coops; hauling water, etc. etc. I look back on the Suburban Terry with some astonishment. Did I really expect to go through life never being in touch with the reality of food production? I guess so. I honestly never thought about it. This adventure has truly changed my life. I hope I am more humble. Losing the ongoing battles to a bunch of insects surely is humbling enough to do it for me.

How Did They Do It?

 

Now that I am struggling with the organic garden concept, I look back on our evolutionary progress (?) with great puzzlement. How did they do it? I can’t get a lousy 9 bean plants to survive in the natural environment. How on earth (pun intended) did our ancestors move from hunter/gatherers to farmers and survive?

I am not saying that I share my beans and peas with the earth and all its critters and insects. I am saying that I am ceding my beans and peas to them. Look at the picture. Where do you see 4 and ½ plants surviving to feed me and my family? Nowhere! The critters and insects have demolished the whole crop and have moved in on the peas. How did those ancestors manage to grow enough for them to survive?

I am still faithfully (and it takes a whole lot of faith let me tell you) planting my cherished seedlings in the market garden. They are protected by wood plank walls and bird netting and still they are nothing more than a portable feast for whatever.

I am also planting seeds directly in the soil. The soil, by the way, which is overrun with weeds.  Remember all the paper we smoothed out and then laid out?  How about the top soil, compost, and mulch? Remember them? My aching muscles do. Dan and Yael’s aching muscles also vividly remember. But the weeds were born without shame and continue to thrive in our organically correct market garden. I just pray that enough of our plants thrive to feed us this Autumn and Winter. But I’m not too optimistic.