A winter garden update

I’ve been away from blogging for such a long time but don’t think for one minute that I’ve been away from any Permaculture activities. In spite of the cooler weather our winter garden is full of energy and although a lot more sparse than usual, there’s still lots of activity going on.

There’s also been a lot of action in the kitchen too and having an extra set of hands and a fresh interest in slow living, we’ve added a whole range of goods to the kitchen larder. Preserved fruits, chutneys, jams, vinegars oh and not to mention fermented foods, boutique beer, soap, candles and so much more.

Our honey bees, Buzzy and co, are making the most of the warm weather. There’s a window of about five hours each day and when it comes to bee efficiencies, there’s not a minute wasted. I’m surprised to see workers returning to the Warré hive with their back pockets full of pollen at this time of year and for the first time today, I witnessed bees exchanging nectar at the hive entrance.

Today’s warm weather saw the native bees making their first appearance in months. I was beginning to worry that I hadn’t seen a single carbonaria for a while but I’m now assured that these little treasures have a strong hive having foraged well through Autumn to prepare for the winter shut down.

The chooks are taking a well deserved break from laying, we’ll actually one of them has been on vacation for most of the year. Lucky for her she’s a magnificent looking bird and it must take an awful lot of energy to look so beautiful every single day. In fact Coco even knows how to make dirty look beautiful. Hopefully at the start of Spring we’ll get our last two chooks some new friends. I’m kinda missing the regular supply of eggs.

This is our first year of being able to harvest ginger and I’m excited to say that our single large black pot is full to the brim with plump sweet smelling ginger root.

We’ve also avoided the dreaded aphid infestations that hampered our attempts at growing garlic over the last couple of years. I worked out a relatively simple solution, buy organic garlic grown locally in the hope that it’s more resistant to the local pests and diseases and so far not an aphid in sight.

The water chestnuts have come out of the pond, currently draining in their pot to allow the corms to fatten before harvesting. We’re on a mission to beat last year’s record of eighty four corms from the eight we originally planted.

We’re still waiting for the bananas to ripen and our third and fourth banana bells appeared about a month ago. I suspect when the weather warms the bunches will start to really ripen and it’s likely we’ll have a glut to deal with which shouldn’t be a problem in this household.

As the sun sets behind me, it’s time to return to the garden to catch the last glimpses before dark and as the last of the bees make their way to the hive and the chooks return to their coop for the night Digger and I can’t help but wish next weekend was already here.