Fowl Tales

I arrive back to Imago Forest to reports from Julian that the chooks have been letting standards slip a little in my absence and not so many eggs have been collected over the weekend. So Tuesday morning I head down to the domes to have a little chat to them and give them a bit of encouragement for the coming week….they weren’t being very attentive but I’m pretty sure they got the message! The rest of the day is spent in the vineyard planting another 31 fruit trees. This time we put in Nectarines, Peaches and Nashi (a delicious type of Japanese pear that I’ve never heard of before!) so now we have a good collection of different fruits.

Of course on Wednesday is delivery day again so we’re up early to harvest bok choy and pack the boxes. While in Singleton I get some much needed time at the library to continue on my ‘Farm Instructions’ for planting a bed and also moving chook domes…and I try to remember all the details. Lucky that the weather is beautiful as our car breaks down and we spend half an hour at the side of the road waiting for a kind neighbour to pick us up. When we eventually get home I go out to the chooks to find a total of 19 eggs…see, I told you they were listening!

Thursday we’re up early and talk about Mandala layout over a cup of tea. We identify an area to cultivate and get straight to it with the broad fork, loosening all the old roots from the ground (slightly back breaking I must confess!). As usual we add lime and dolomite and dig through, removing weeds as we go along. With the chooks watching from the nearby dome (shouldn’t they be hard at work laying those eggs?!), we finally get to plant our Asparagus, and all before lunch. Our afternoon is spent planting 2 more beds, making a grand total of 6 since I arrived just 3 weeks ago. Hopefully I’ll be quite the expert soon!