Category Archives: General

The hottest Perth day for 24 years!!

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Well, most of Perth stayed indoors as much as possible today, with the temperature reaching 44.4C…….that is 112F for those overseas! We knew some heat was coming (plus it is summer after all and we do what we can to prepare for the heat…and bushfire season.  We had put up shade cloth over the aquaponics grow beds, and the duck pen, and thank goodness we did that before today.

Shade cloth covering the veggies in the aquaponics

Shade cloth covering the veggies in the aquaponics

Late yesterday we gave everything a good deep watering in anticipation of the 41C forecast for today. As the temperature soared we turned on some sprinklers to give the birds some relief, and freshened up the water baths (check out the handy hints page) we have around the place.

Splish splash I was takin' a bath.....on a 44 degree day!

Splish splash I was takin’ a bath…..on a 44 degree day!

We also put on the ‘overhead’ sprinklers. We have these on the house in case of a bushfire, but it also helps to cool down the house (we have a tin roof); and we also have them on the rabbit house, again for both reasons. The rabbits had their two litre bottles of ice (also mentioned in handy hints) this morning, and then a new one at 3.00 to help them out some more.

The poor turkeys are hot, as they recently had young and they are too small to let out along with the ducks, geese and poultry. We turned on the sprinkler for them too, and this helped cool them down.

Welcome visitors….

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We have had such an abundance of birds lately- particularly the Splendid wrens. They are so comfortable with us being quite close- the only trouble with photographing them is they flit so quickly!!

They have become very regular visitors to the vegetable garden and aquaponics garden, and are very welcome indeed as they are eating the caterpillars!

Checking out the caterpillars in the veggie garden!

Checking out the caterpillars in the veggie garden!

 

Geese again!

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Well, after having no geese for a couple of years, we decided we really needed them…..even with the ducks! Ducks go where they like and tend to rummage for bugs and weeds rather than graze. The geese are grazers, and so eat the pasture in the paddocks, and since we haven’t had them any more we have had to mow in the orchard….there is NO WAY we are putting our Wiltshire sheep in the orchard to eat the grass, there would be no leaves left on the trees!

So, we decided we would get a small number of geese only for the orchard….we bought an incubator (something we had been considering for a while) and 8 fertile eggs. Of course after ordering and paying for the eggs she also offered us a goose and a gander (we had been unable to buy them previously, hence the eggs!!). So we now have an adult goose sitting on a few eggs she laid since being here, plus we have had four of the eight eggs hatch into cute little goslings!

We were so lucky to be photographing the first two hatchlings when the third egg hatched right before our eyes!

Starting to open

Starting to open

Getting there!

Getting there!

squeezing out

squeezing out

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There are now four, and all doing well in a homemade brooder box!

Welcome rain…

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We had great rain in May, though so far in June it has been warm and sunny…not really what is needed in winter!

The ‘complex’ complex has had a bit of a revamp which includes a fence around it. Traditionally what we have done is bury the left overs once we have prepared rabbits, chickens etc for the freezer, plus use animal manures freely. We haven’t been able to do this in this new raised bed garden as the dogs are big and agile enough to jump in and dig it all up again! The gardens were suffering from a lack of nutrients, so fencing was the easy answer. Once the fence was in, we were able to really nourish the soil in the raised beds and replant area, and it is really starting to take off now, especially with the rain we experienced in May.

Secure from the dogs!

Secure from the dogs!

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Autumn?????

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Well, most of us here in Perth are still waiting for the Autumn rains, and we are 2/3 of the way through already! Since the end of November, we have had only 18mm of rain!

The aquaponics system has grown well regardless of course, but the dirt gardens have struggled. Now there is a really good reason to get into aquaponics!

View across two of the growbeds

View across two of the growbeds

We harvested the perch from the AP fish tank, keeping 28 for the freezer and putting 10-12 into the swimming pool to continue to grow. The perch had a slowish start when we moved some from the pool to fish tank for the summer, but they made up for that with the largest being 912 grams and 39 cm long!

Silver perch ready to fillet and freeze

Silver perch ready to fillet and freeze

The trout fingerlings are now in the fish tank for the winter months, and the grow beds tidied, harvested and replanted. The dirt gardens have also had a tidy up and replant for the cooler and wetter (hopefully!) months.

Fire fighting strategies at McCarthy Park

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Bushfires are always a possible threat here with so many trees around, so it pays to be prepared. We have always had sprinklers on the roof of the house, which wet the entire roof and surrounding area. Of course we rely on the electricity still working though! This year, we have had a couple of close calls again so have redone the roof sprinklers with a larger diameter pipe to enable a higher water flow. We also added roof sprinklers to the Flopsies House (rabbit house) and the adjoining workshop which houses the tractor.

In addition, we bought a second hand, unlicensed trailer from the local rubbish dump shop and fitted it out with a water tank, pump, and hose. Now, with the tractor, we can tow it anywhere on the property where spot fires may come in as a result of fires and strong winds in the area, rather than just relying on the electricity to power the sprinkler systems.

Mobile firefighting unit

Mobile firefighting unit

Filling the tank from one of the sprinklers

Filling the tank from one of the sprinklers

Growing season!

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Apart from a few extra hot days here near Perth, the weather has been great for the garden and animals alike, and everything is in abundance!

We have had a great supply of nectarines and plums…

One day's harvest of nectarines!

One day’s harvest of nectarines!

We have had a successful hatching of ducklings by one of our Australorp hens….

Mother hen and her ducklings!

Mother hen and her ducklings!

We also had a successful hatching of duckings from a mother duck!

Cute!!

Cute!!

And finally…a check on hive number two showed all is well so far, with lots of beautiful coloured pollen and plenty of brood…

Lots of colourful pollen

Lots of colourful pollen

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Mead racking…

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Well today was the day we racked the mead….that is, we transferred it from the one container to another.

After two weeks, the specific gravity had dropped from 1.050 to 1.001. It was great to see a drop, because we hadn’t actually seen much fermentation going on. We decided to leave it another week as the weather had been very cool which had likely slowed the primary fermentation down. The following week, the SG had dropped to 0.999, so we decided to proceed with the racking. The glass carboy was sterilised and well rinsed, then placed on the floor below the tap of the primary fermenter.

Transferring the mead to the glass carboy

Transferring the mead to the glass carboy

The tap in the primary fermenter is placed to allow the must to flow, but leave behind the lees, or sediment sitting on the bottom.

Once the transfer was complete, the stopper and airlock were put in place, and the carboy moved to the cool produce room to continue fermenting and clearing!