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Life On A Dirt Road and Off The Grid – September

October 3, 2018 By nextphaseinfitness 15 Comments

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September – Spring at Last

Finally, spring is here. Yay! Never have I been so happy to see the end of winter. We are having typical Central Victorian spring weather here – a little bit of everything. But of course, as usual not quite enough rain.  The extra sunshine we are getting most days, means that our solar system has enough power banked into the batteries to keep us going, without having to use the generator,  as we were forced to do over winter. During October, we need to get up on the roof and clean the solar panels.  This needs to be done from time to time, to ensure the panels can trap as much sunshine as possible.

Garden

After two years of hard work, the garden is starting to look like a well maintained garden. When we moved into this house, two years ago, it had been empty for about two years. The garden was nonexistant, but the bare bones were there along with a few large fruit trees. So we had a basic structure to work with. Over the winter, I have spent hours in the garden in the cold and frost, and even some days in rain. If I haven’t been at work, I’ve been in the garden. I always think that time spent in the garden in winter, pays off when spring arrives. And it has. When I look around now, the garden makes me smile, rather than making me think of how much more work has to be done.  It’s still a work in progress and probably always will be, but I’m very happy with the way it’s taking shape.

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Half of one of the large garden beds

Over September we have planted extra roses, both standard and bush, and many perennials. It seems that for most of September, I’ve been planting, pulling out weeds and mulching the large beds with newspaper and straw to prevent weeds.  The newspaper and straw job  is complete now, so this will make the job of weeding much easier.

I have been trying to decide what to do with an awkward shaped piece of dirt that really needed to be developed in some way. I decided that  a succulent garden would be perfect for this space.  This was done during September with new plants and cuttings. I’m very happy with how it looks and plan for another similar garden, on a piece of dirt that is about the same size, on the other side of the path nearby.

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The new succulent bed. This is a before photo. Before growth

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I love these pansies under the clothesline

We also planted grapes on a structure that Chris erected during the month. Seeds of vegetables and flowers have also been sown. I love the excitement of watching them grow and planting them out into the garden a bit later in spring.

The old fruit trees that were here when we moved in are all in blossom now and looking really healthy. I’m hoping that now they’re being fed and watered, they will produce fruit this year. We haven’t had any fruit at all as yet from these old trees.

Rainfall

We have had very little rainfall this month, just 10mls. it’s a worry that it’s so dry so early in spring. Our dam is no higher than it was last summer, with very little of the winter rain being caught. We can water the garden from the dam, but because the water level is very low in these dry times, I’m using the water from the washing machine on the garden. This is quite time consuming but means that there is enough water to keep the garden from drying out,

Produce

  During this month we have been harvesting lettuce, silverbeet, potatoes, cabbage, brocollini and lemons.

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Beans

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Cabbages and Lettuce

Chooks

With the longer hours of sunshine, the chooks are starting to lay again. Although egg production slowed right down in the winter, as is usual, we were fortunate to never be without eggs. I usually distribute eggs to my friends, so that stopped while they weren’t laying. But there were always enough eggs for our own use. It won’t be long now until there are many many more eggs than we need. Other than friends, I donate excess eggs (and vegetables) into the local Community Foodshare.

We consider our chooks to be pets and not just little egg laying machines. They all have names: Rusty Chookie, Brown Chookie, Scarfie Chookie, Fluffy Chookie, Black Chookie, Lacey Chookie, Smoky Chookie and Tatti Chookie. We also have two guinea fowl: Shirty Fowl and Lavvy Fowl.

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Meet Fluffy Chookie

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Meet Shirty Fowl

One disadvantage of living on a dirt road

One disadvantage of living on a dirt road

 

 

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Filed Under: At home Tagged With: Life on a dirt road and off the grid, off the grid

Comments

  1. Donna says

    October 3, 2018 at 1:59 pm

    Hi, Jennifer – We are experiencing completely opposite seasons. Our summer is now long gone. Autumn, and RAIN, have spread their deep roots reminding us that winter is just around the corner. I greatly admire your solar panels and love reading more about them.
    #MLSTL

    Reply
    • nextphaseinfitness says

      October 4, 2018 at 8:31 am

      Donna I love watching the differing seasons on the other side of the world. Thanks for visiting and for your interest

      Reply
  2. Debbie says

    October 3, 2018 at 7:05 pm

    Ha! My car looks like that all the time too! My daughter tells me I should wash it every time I come to Canberra! Loved reading your update Jennifer. We desperately need rain too but I think we had some today, I’m away from home on /mother grandma duty at the moment. #mlstl

    Reply
    • nextphaseinfitness says

      October 4, 2018 at 8:30 am

      Lucky you having grandma duties Deb. When I wash the car I can’t help thinking what a waste of time it is even trying to keep it clean. Thanks for visiting again

      Reply
  3. Leanne | www.crestingthehill.com.au says

    October 3, 2018 at 7:58 pm

    Hi Jennifer – well it certainly sounds like you’ve been busy! All that gardening work is paying off and you sound like you’re pretty self sufficient in the vegie department (and maybe in the fruit department if those trees do the right thing). We’ve had a lot of rain in WA this year so hopefully you’ll get a bit more before Summer sets in.
    #MLSTL and I’ve shared this on my SM 🙂

    Reply
    • nextphaseinfitness says

      October 4, 2018 at 8:28 am

      We have to be patient while we wait for the fruit trees to grow. Can’t wait for the fruit. Thanks for visiting. I appreciate your support

      Reply
  4. Amy says

    October 3, 2018 at 10:35 pm

    Your winter is ending and ours is just beginning, and I’m already getting depressed with all the cold. It’s been raining constantly here, I wish I could send you some of our rain. We could all use some sunshine. I love your chickens! They are so cute!

    Reply
    • nextphaseinfitness says

      October 4, 2018 at 8:27 am

      Wouldn’t it be great Amy if we could swap some of our sunshine for some of your rain. Thanks for visiting

      Reply
  5. Natalie says

    October 4, 2018 at 4:49 am

    It’s fantastic that you grow your own garden and raise chickens. Your hard work is paying off. #MLSTL

    Reply
    • nextphaseinfitness says

      October 4, 2018 at 8:26 am

      Thanks for visiting Natalie. I appreciate your comment

      Reply
  6. Victoria says

    October 5, 2018 at 3:16 am

    I love your pansies they are favorites of mine. Here in the USA I was also very happy to get rid of last winter and move on so I understand the feeling.

    Reply
  7. Nikki Gwin says

    October 7, 2018 at 12:31 pm

    I love the bricks around the pansies and it looks like maybe they go all the way down under the clothesline??? Beautiful.
    🙂 gwingal

    Reply
    • nextphaseinfitness says

      October 9, 2018 at 6:46 pm

      You’re right Nikki. There are more pansies than those shown in the photo

      Reply
  8. Clearissa Coward says

    October 11, 2018 at 1:00 am

    Oh I envy your solar panels. I wish we had those. It is so odd to hear you talk about coming into spring while we are, thank goodness, getting out of summer and into fall. Now if only the temperature would get on board. 🙂 I love that you name your chooks. And it looks like all your hard work is paying off in your garden. You have so much energy!! 🙂

    Reply
    • nextphaseinfitness says

      October 11, 2018 at 8:43 am

      Thanks for your comments Clarissa. I enjoy watching what others are dealing with in relation to the seasons, on the other side of the world.

      Reply

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