Gosh, a whole year!
Well, I can genuinely tell you there's been a few reasons why.
Last year I got struck down with a shitty breathing (OK, couldn't breathe) thing that, after a few months, landed me in hospital. So, that was winter and spring... Summer was hot, damn hot... and in March I took an unexpected wee tumble and caused some pretty serious damage to my foot and ankle. Move forward to May and post ankle reconstruction surgery, I was in a moon boot and on crutches for way longer than anyone would like. It's now August and, thank to lots of physio and supporting therapies, love and tenacity I'm now (kinda') walking (almost like a normal person, not really) but generally on level even surfaces - which isn't great when you live on the side of a mountain. Firefighting is off limits still #frustrating.
The consequences of this have been many but the one I want to share with you has been my beloved garden. From March to June it lay completely untended until I had a brainy idea and hired a gardener. Introducing the wonderful Tabs. Tabs is a Swiss Goddess who has been my arms and legs in my gardening pursuits and passions over the past few months. She has dug, planted, mulched, fertilised and nurtured our vege garden back to a producing contribution to our kitchen. The herbs (of course) mainly survived the lack of love but most of the veges simply disappeared while I had be laid up. Now, it's looking just like I had planned it to be in late summer last year - ready for us to harvest and cultivate in coming seasons.
Anyway, let's have a look at the garden...
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| Here's a small snapshot of the lower garden |
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| Looks like comfrey is our sacrificial plant this season. This stuff grows abundantly so I'm OK with losing a bit. |
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| Compost heap has been well replenished |
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| Coffee trees had a bumper crop this year but unfortunately I couldn't harvest them at the optimal time (this is a late fruiting) |
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| A very rare sighting of MOTH (man of the house) in the wild |
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| Peas! (thanks for the rio Brad) |
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| Not everything goes to plan. The early heatwave (it was more than 30 degrees here today AND IT'S STILL WINTER) has caused a few things to bolt and seed. Will be saving seeds for next year (earlier planting a must). |
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| Anyone guess what this is? Hint: used in spicy food |
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| I can see olives in my future... |
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| My favourite plant at the moment - beetle leaf |
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| My precious baby - a pepper vine. May it grow and prosper @ Clear Mountain |
So, I'm still alive. Unfortunately we did have a loss in this department a few months ago. Our lady of the mountain, Dogue de Bordeaux. Baillie was put to sleep from old age and some pretty aggressive cancer - a decision made by not wanting her to suffer. I'd had he since a puppy (she was nearly 11 which is an amazing age for a giant breed dog) and we all miss her terribly (including the other dogs). Thankfully though, she's taken pride of place in the orchard and is still up for a chat whenever I feel like one.
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| Yes, at one stage we had 3 Dogues (Baillie, Roman and Harley) |
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| She was so patient |
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| Baillie and Bella (now officially a terrorist) |
RIP Baillie x
