Wild weather

Today I write to you from a cold, wet and windy Imago Forest, where it seems that somebody has forgotten to tell Mother Nature that Spring has sprung. It almost reminds me of home. Needless to say, my grand plans for a couple of weeks of pottering around in a garden bathed in glorious sunshine while Julian's away on assignment in Italy have been well and truly scuppered. Instead, my gardening stints have been punctuated by numerous trips back to the yurt for a cuppa and to warm my hands by the fire. I'm beginning to gain an appreciation for how much the unpredictable wild weather can play havoc with the Aussie farmer's plans. On a lighter note, it was nice to meet you all at this week's shop. It was my first solo effort, so I hope the service was up to scratch. The bok choy was fresh from the garden this week, so I hope that it goes down well with those of you who took a bunch home. There's plenty more where that came from, as well as a few other leafy greens that are just a few weeks away from hitting the shop table. Other veggies that have been showing good progress this week include zucchini, potato and pumpkin. Now it's my job for the next two weeks to make sure that they continue to thrive in Julian's absence, as well as planting a few more beds to keep the garden ticking over. I just hope that the Sun decides to make an appearance sometime soon.

Slow Food

Well, I’m almost half way through my three-month stint at Imago Forest, and I feel that my contributions over the last six weeks are beginning to pay off, most notably at this week’s shop where the lettuce and bok choy on offer were fresh from the garden. Granted, I wasn’t involved in planting those particular crops, but there’s plenty more where they came from, so hopefully it won’t be too long before I’ll be seeing a few veggies on the table that I’ve helped to nurture all the way from seed to shop.
On the subject of the shop, Julian’s off to the Slow Food Conference in Italy next week, leaving me in charge of the farm and shop for the next two and a half weeks. My main priorities during this period will be not to kill anything on the farm (animal, mineral or vegetable), and successfully negotiate the next three shop days single-handedly.
In other news we now have 150 tiny new silver perch in the dam. Sadly I’ll be long gone by the time they reach maturity, but Julian’s promised me a fish barbecue next summer if I come back to visit. I’ll be sure to bring my fishing rod.

Abundance

This week we returned from a long weekend in the city to find a farm that had been pelted with 42mm of rain in the space of a few days. The good news was that the blooming garden clearly loved having a good drink. The bad news was that my now collapsed tent resembled a small swimming pool. But back to the good news, as we now have plenty of new shoots making their way out of the soil, with our salad mix of rocket, mizuna, mustard and other tasty leaves making an appearance. In the more mature beds it’s silverbeet galore, with bok choy, cos lettuce and coriander also thriving. These gorgeous locally grown greens will be coming to the extras table at the weekly shop, so keep an eye out for them. There’s plenty more planting to be done while we’re waiting for those crops to reach a sellable size, and of course there’s also the weed battle to keep us busy in the meantime.

Dirty Work...

This week’s been largely dominated by digging. We’ve done so much of it that I’m a little disappointed not to have unearthed a few fossils. Thankfully, with the help of our now exhausted Italian WWOOFer Jacopo, we’ve come on leaps and bounds in the space of a few days. Sadly he could only stay with us for a week before heading back to the real world in search of paid employment (and a few days’ rest), but with four more beds sown, two more well on the way, a batch of pumpkins and potatoes planted, two chook domes moved and the wallaby defences shored up, he should be more than satisfied with his contribution. Grazie infinite!