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Off the grid
The days are getting warmer and longer which is good news for the ‘off the grid’ lifestyle. There is now enough sunshine and solar power to charge the batteries for later use. It’s quite rare now that we use the generator. We could now use more electrical appliances in the house, if necessary.
Garden
I love October! It’s the month that the garden really wakes up and comes to life. The bearded iris are blooming and looking amazing. They have a short flowering period each year, but their showinesss makes it worth the wait. It’s such a pleasure to walk around the garden when the irises are flowering. I never tire of looking at them.
The roses are only just starting to flower. My favourite rose of the moment is Pierre de Ronsard. We only planted this one earlier this year and already it’s rewarding us with its beautiful pink and cream tones. Our roses are all very young, so flowering is limited this year. Even so, they are all producing beautiful flowers.
During October, we’ve spent hours in the vegie garden, making three new, large rectangular beds. Already most of the area has been planted out, with space left for late spring plantings.
So far, we have planted four varieties of tomatoes, lettuce, cucumber, carrots, spring onions, squash, pumpkin, zucchini, capsicum, eggplant, silverbeet, beetroot, potatoes and celery. We are harvesting cabbage, cauliflower, silverbeet, lettuce, beetroot and peas.
Peas ready to harvest
Wildlife
We have had more than the usual encounters with wildlife, during October. There was a brown snake quite close to the back door, that has me worrying about the dogs. I’ve been making loud noises in the area, in the hope it encourages him to move on. There was also a gorgeous echidna at our door at 3am one morning. Also it seems that everywhere we walk in the garden we are almost stepping on some kind of lizard.
Guinea Fowl
We have two guinea fowl, both females, or so we thought until just recently. It seems that one of the girls is a boy and it looks like the female has laid fertile eggs, so we may have babies later in November.
I loved your up beat update Jennifer! A great and productive month. Your irises and roses look beautiful. Ours are blooming and flowering well too, with lots if storms overnight! have shared for #mlstl
You just can’t beat spring Deb. Thanks for visiting and for sharing
Hi Jen what a green thumb you have and the Irises and Roses are gorgeous. I’m not sure I like the idea of your brown snake visitor but what a haven you must have with all the wildlife surrounding you. Thank you for sharing with us at #MLSTL and I hope you have a beautiful week. xx
You’re right Sue, we are surrounded by wildlife. Our fingers are crossed that the snake stays out of our way. Thanks again for visiting
I loved the flower pics Jennifer – and isn’t it lovely that Spring is finally making itself felt. I hope you’re going to post some pics of your baby guinea fowl when they arrive – I imagine they’ll be exceedingly cute1
MLSTL and I’ve shared on my SM 🙂
Thanks Leanne. You can b sure if baby guinea fowl arrive, there will be many many photos.
Over here on the other side of the world, we are on the tail-end of beautiful fall leaves, so it’s kind of fun to look at your pretty flowers and think about you just starting spring. Enjoy! #MLSTL
Hi Christie, fall or autumn as we say, is a beautiful time of the year. I love tracking what my friends on the other side of the world are experiencing. Thanks again for visiting
Wow. Those Iris’ look beautiful. I love it when mine flower as well but we’re heading into winter here. Glad I never came across a snake like that. #MLSTL
I’ve been thinking of my friends on the other side of the world who are going into winter. It’s always fun following their experiences
Your lifestyle sounds so interesting and while your days are getting warmer and longer, ours are getting cooler and shorter. Here in Alabama our fall and winter seasons are usually mild but BRR it’s 40 degrees here right now!
I love hearing from my northern hemisphere friends about the opposites in our weather experiences. Thanks for visiting