Week 12 - Potatoes and Storms

Normally I'd publish my blog on a Monday night. But I'm going to change that to Tuesdays. Tuesday is the day that K and V go to creche and I spend the day working on the farm.

Last Tuesday I finished weeding the vegetable garden and started harvesting the potatoes. I got about half of the plants harvested. Digging up potatoes is a lot like going to the Big Dig at the beach. Except that you're more likely to find something in the garden. But still, I'm never quite sure that I'm digging in the right place or the right depth. I really wonder how many potatoes I've left behind. Is there a technique I should be using? I just dig with my hands and see what I can find. Will the ones left behind become next years seeds? I notice some new plants growing again already. And a whole lot of new weeds.

So far I've harvested 16 kilos worth of potatoes. At current prices of $2.78 a kilo (on the Woolworths web site, I should really check our local fruit & veg store), that's a saving of $44. Not bad. But that's a LOT of potatoes to eat.

This weekend we had a bad storm come through. The rain was forecast but the wind took us by surprise. The first big storm since we moved in. The tall trees around the house were swaying like, um, I don't know, something that sways a lot. The cover blew off the tractor. The bouncy balls in the yard blew into the trees. Some of the marigolds blew out of the garden. Some of the weedmat blew out too. The garden bench blew over. The pot plants blew off the deck.

Then we went out and discovered the big willow tree at the bottom of the driveway had snapped towards the top and had fallen over the driveway. Our neighbour helped us tow it out of the way.



One of the eucalyptus trees along the driveway fell over into the field alongside, bringing down the fence with it. Another eucalyptus near the house leaned over into the one next to it.



We had electricity intermittently all afternoon. Then at 4.30 it went off for good. We had to go into town for dinner to the girls' delight. We got home and the power was still out. We had to put the girls to bed by candlelight, which was very exciting for them. The power came back on at 8.30, and the storm had died down by then.

There were branches and leaves everywhere, and I spent all day today picking up the pieces. We now have a very large pile of branches in the middle of one of our fields.



-M