A Permit of Absence

I'd like to say that I've had a somewhat notable absence from this 'blog' - but in reality, I'm probably the only one to have noticed this. After all, up to this point it has been largely a personal journal of garden experiences and record keeping. This I can see changing. So in preparation for this I have decided to simplify the process and to limit the labels to 12. As it happens, David Holmgren's permaculture principles fits nicely into this whole of life living so I am confident that a dozen categories will suffice.

I am feeling a necessity to go a little deeper and capture my thoughts and reasoning's behind much of what I am applying to my lifestyle. This swirls in and out of the garden-scape, though the garden is pivotal to our way of life so I will be focusing even further on this in the near future. Another reason to pick-up the pace of recording what we do. But there are other areas of life I wish to detail which although they may not pertain directly to 'garden' - are a part of the Big Picture Design of Life. They are the strategies and tools used to create our Little Paradise.

I also have an underlying impetus in that I am realizing that this blogging is also a very convenient way to capture in reasonable detail and accuracy a way of life that our young boys are a part of. I see a day when they can look back over these posts as a journal and read as adults some the events and projects that they contributed to in their childhood. Some of the decisions that were made, and why, that may have changed the course we ended up taking as a family. Much like a Book Of Kin, only digital.

The lack of priority in doing posts for the blog has now started its ascending swing of the pendulum again. The permit of absence has closed. There is a new paradise awaiting, but this time I welcome others to be inspired by the journey also.

The back garden in early autumn/fall.

January's Jungle

The sweet peas are in full swing now. A couple of bunches have been picked over the last few weeks to bring inside and to give to friends and family. They have a beautiful perfume and vivid colour.

The photo below was taken in early December. Within a matter of weeks the garden is now a jungle of pumpkin vines and zucchini bushes. Beans and peas and cucumbers.

Delayed Gratification

The beloved little Kale plant pictured above has done us well over the two years its been in the garden. It is the last of its kind and I am hoping that eventually it will produce seeds to carry on the good will.

Just prior to Christmas it was heavily, HEAVILY, invested with Cabbage Moth caterpillars. This is when the photo was taken. I was taking off about a dozen caterpillars morning and night for a couple of days and feeding them to our Japanese Quail. Quality nutrition.

This year I have not sprayed for the usual caterpillar onslaught as I have not made the time and have not felt a compelling need as our boys have happily been plucking caterpillars also and feeding them to the animals. And what a year not to spray. I have never seen so many cabbage moths in our garden. In the early days of January you could look out to the garden on a sunny morning and the air was full of a couple of dozen of fluttering white wings.

I also have in the back of my mind a ticking curiosity to see just what might happen if I don't spray. What is nature going to do? In this case, what might happen was already happening. By the time I had noticed the dozens of caterpillars clinging to the kale I also noticed the presence of tiny wasps. They were already working on the job themselves.

Whilst munching into the kale the caterpillars produce blends of volatile chemicals. These chemicals attract parasitic wasps. The wasps lay eggs in the caterpillars and the eggs hatch inside the caterpillars and devour their hosts from the inside. When they finally mature, the parasitic wasps emerge, killing the caterpillars in the process. It is this rather insidious method that is employed by the wasps that helps to control numbers of the butterfly and reduce further egg-laying and development of more hungry caterpillars on our kale and in the garden in general.

The most astounding observation however was just how rapidly the kale bounced back from this apparent trauma. Within a week its crown was flush with new, bright green growth whilst further down its branches the last dormant remains of dying caterpillars released unto the garden a new generation of wasps to do the work I have not managed.

And here is the catch.

By spraying our gardens we might eliminate the caterpillars in their early stages of development - but what then are these parasitic wasps going to feed on? We've eliminated a potential food supply for them.

We were able to feed our quail and chickens, plus several generations of these tiny, tiny wasp that leverage the work of reducing caterpillars. Our kale has bounced back and with any luck after the experience will finally decide to share some seed!

Going Deeper

For a time - a whole lot of time in fact, I have been wanting to verbalize and record some of the journeys that my mind has been on over the last year or more. I think I am ready to do this. But it has been occurring to me to do so within the context of my blog - which sometimes has seemed odd to me because I've not always seen the connection between my thoughts - and my blog on our garden and permaculture journey.

I can see the connection now.

So I am back.

And I have some opinions.

And thoughts.

And I've made some connections.

And,

I'm ready to share.

Stand by...

Tillellan Update

The pile of woodchips has been sitting for nearly two years and getting richer and darker. The worms really got into it around autumn and have broken quite a bit of the leaf matter down into a dark, damp soil.

The grass has also encroached over the pile to take advantage of the smorgasbord of nutrients and moisture that is available. I have mined some of this mulch to add to our garden at Petit Paradis for the summer garden. I am somewhat confident that it will assist in holding water in the container gardens - how successfully I am not sure. Even an average summer in Albany with the January easterlies can suck moisture from the garden regardless of summer rains.

While I was bagging some of this magnificent soil I was contemplating the future garden at the Tillellan site. Renovation works started about two weeks ago. Excavation works for the back retaining wall will start soon hopefully, as there are the lumber remnants of the trees that stood on the back of the block to bury into swales. The excavator operator does not yet know of the pivotal part he will play in the future garden. But the builder has been briefed on what is to come.

As far as a design for the garden is concerned I have moved away from the initial design I had envisioned for several years. I will need to meet the families food needs whilst also allowing for the increasing amount of room required for the increasing numbers of animals. Plus allow for the possibility of a future residence at the very back of the block, which was part of the initial plan and was to come first. In the first instance, we are now focussing on the renovation first so that we can move in, and then the possible second residence.