Pests!

I've been experiencing some pest issues lately.

First - grasshoppers are having a feast on my wee little apple trees.

I've never seen the shed skin of a grasshopper before.  Have you?

And from a different angle.

I manage to catch quite a few, then I go up to the chicken coop, call the girls, and give them a real treat!

Then there are the crows.  Not after the eggs this time, but they find the nearly ripe passionfruit before I have a chance.  Pull them off the vine and dig in.

Also damaging the passionfruit are our first FRUIT FLY!  I noticed a mark on one of the fruit in the bowl, and the fact that it was going a bit soft, cut it open and found the delightful wigglers inside.

It is important not to put infested fruit in the compost - as the maggots actually need to burrow into the earth for the next stage of their life-cycle, so you are setting yourself up for disaster.

Instead, I went around the garden picking up all the fallen fruit (some unfortunately have probably already deposited their load of larvae) and putting them in a black plastic bag.  This is now hung on the post of the steps, where it can catch the sun (not that we've seen much the last few days).  This is called solarising.

Solarising the Fruit Fly

I thought they then had to go into the bin - but according to the link above, and this book (which is in my personal library), when the maggots are properly killed off I don't have to waste all that organic matter and can add it to the compost.

Also microwaving, cooking, drowning or freezing (which is what I do to avoid weevils, pantry and clothes moths - yes I put the woollens in the freezer) are supposedly also effective.  I wonder whether fermenting like I do with the invasive weeds before composting them (and using the diluted 'tea' as fertiliser), would work as well?  I guess that would come under drowning.

The chickens haven't been exempt either - or at least their food hasn't.  During the day the crows (yes, them again) have a go mainly at the scraps (though they do wait until the chickens have finished), and the spotted turtle doves go into the coop for the seed.  They are going through it at a rate of knots!

And last night there was a RAT in the coop when I put the chickens to bed!  Too fast for me to tell if it was a native or a feral species.  It was pale to mid grey, not black, obviously larger than a mouse, but only about  1/2 to 2/3 the size of the rats you see in the pet shops.  It ran rather than hopped.  But like I said, it was too fast to see the tail properly (i.e. whether it was scaly or furred).  Either way, it's still eating the chicken's food, and potentially spreading other, even more annoying pests.

The sooner I move the chicken coop into the (old) vege patch, with a rat proof wire mesh underneath, and a bird proof net above, the better.

An ounce of prevention, as they say.

Ravs

Pineapple

Remember those pineapples we had growing?
Well one was well and truly ready to pick the other day.

The same day we bought ourselves a juicer, and SMD was going to use this in his first experiment!
We were all thankful that I stopped him, as it was probably the most delicious pineapple we have ever eaten.  A pale buttery yellow it was sweet but smooth, a 'rounder' flavour than the shop bought ones, not as acidic.
I think it was due to two things - being left to fully ripen in the sun, on the plant, and being devoured within a few hours of being picked.
They take a while to grow & produce fruit, but they are well worth planting (and easy, just sit the top of your pineapple on the soil & let it go).  They can be quite decorative too.
Yum!
Ravs.

Separation of Powers

Actually - it's a separation of topics, rather than powers.
As this blog has tended more towards the garden and environment I have decided to separate off my posts about my 'craftier' pursuits - sewing, knitting, crotchet, refashioning, repurposing etc.
You can find these at www.ravscreations.blogspot.com
I have just posted about a diary cover I made last week.

And have the photos ready for a tutorial on a laptop bag (my very own design!).
Hope to see you there.
Ravs

Building a Raised Bed - Part 1

My vege garden is in a bad state - but this is deliberate.
I found that the location made the garden difficult to work in, without tramping all over the garden itself, so I am letting it go fallow - and starting to build new vege beds.
But don't worry, all the work Mr & Mrs Skivvy & I put in won't go to waste - the chickens are going to move in, and stay in the run when we aren't home.

So now that J5 has started school - I have the time to start building the new beds, with the help of Mr Skivvy of course.

I decided on corrugated iron beds, but when I investigated purchasing the size and number of bed I wanted from a commercial source the cost added up to over $700 dollars. Eeeeeek!

So, after seeing the rustic, recycled corro beds at our friends' house in Stanthorpe, I decided to do it myself, and source the iron from the Treasure Market.  I worked out that this would cost about $35 for the materials.  A bit of a difference eh?

But......then a friend told me how reasonably priced they found the Colourbond bought direct, and cut to length by the supplier.  Getting new steel, to match the shed, would make SMD happier, and there would be less sharp edges & rust for the kids to injure themselves on.  The cost? $177.  I did compromise my recycling ideals, but I have made SMD happy.

After collecting the steel in Mr Skivvy's 'Truck' (read Landcruiser - an old one for towing their off-road caravan), 4 x 2200mm and 4 x 1200mm, we had to cut the sheets in half lengthwise.

The standard width is about 850mm, but I want my beds around 400mm high, so they needed to be cut, and the supplier's machine can't cut lengthwise.

I looked up info on cutting corro & found this page.  We bought the appropriate blade for Mr Skivvy's circular saw just before collecting the material.

SAFETY - You will notice that I am wearing long trousers, long sleeves and a high neck, hearing protection and (harder to see) safety glasses.  Mr Skivvy (who held the sheet still from the other end) was wearing the same.  These precautions are essential.  The swarf (the little bits of metal that fly off when cutting) come off the saw red hot and, although being so small they cool very fast, they do sting as they hit.  I think I would wear a hat and a bandanna over my mouth if I were ever to do it again.

We have wood supporting either side of the cut, and decided cutting in a trough was easier than cutting on a peak, as the saw could rest on the peaks either side.  A proper tradey would have a much better set up.  But this did the job.

One important point - make sure that your power cord is kept completely out of the way.  A significant cause of death & disablement in the garden is people cutting through power cords while using hedge cutters & similar.

More soon (I hope) - as soon as I get onto the next step.

Organic Certification in Australia - for Beginners

In my last post I said I was going to investigate what 'organic' meant in Australia - so that I could make more informed decisions regarding (primarily) my food purchases.  This was especially motivated by learning, through "The Ominvore's Dilemma"  that 'organic' chicken, pork and beef might not necessarily be what the layman thinks it is.  I.e.  meat from animals that have not only been feed chemical free food, but food appropriate to their evolutionary preference (eg grass for cows) in situations that as closely as possible mimic their natural environments.  For example, somewhere quiet to lay eggs, room to scratch & forage, social interaction etc.  At least in the USA this doesn't appear to be the case - the organic label seeming to be determined more on not using chemicals or antibiotics, and ensuring the feed is also organic, but cows could still be fed corn in feed lots rather than grass in paddocks, pigs confined inside for the majority of their lives, and chickens raised in crowded barns - withhe h only nominal access to the outside.
So, as promised, I have started looking into it.