Land of Milk and Honey

My new passion is planting hibiscus to give the garden a
sub-tropical feel.  The blooms are stunning!

Tomato bed with marigolds

Tomatoes of every colour, shape and size
Summer's sensuous gifts

Saturday.  Bloody chooks!  Woke me at 7am!  Squawking and screeching as if they were being murdered!  They occasionally do this, so we hurry on down and feed them, lest they encourage the neighbours to take to them with shotguns!  I have no idea why they do this, sometimes for a week at a time, and then they can be quiet for 3 weeks before starting their morning screech sessions again!  Lucky for them, we’re veggoes, if I weren’t vegetarian, they may have already been in a pot!!

Sunday.  Slept until 8.30am!  Hip, hip, hooray!  No screeching or squawking from the chook quarters!  What makes them noisy one day and quiet the next?  Still trying to figure that one out.  Yesterday I did some weeding and placed Spence (chicken) in a small wire netting “cage” where I was working, moving her as I cleared new patches for her to scratch and peck at.  My little working companion.  She was very happy.  Chook heaven.  Earlier in the day, my daughter had spent the better half of the morning carrying her around and holding her up to all the shield bugs on our plants – she would rapidly spy the moving bug and in a flash, the bug would be a goner!  It reminded me of living in Africa as a young girl; I would seek out a chameleon, on a slow, hot day and bring it indoors, where I would hold it up to the flies congregating around the windows.  I would let out a whoop and a holler, as the chameleon would shoot out a lightning fast tongue to consume any offerings with gratitude.

The first of hopefully, many more pumpkins and squashes

I cleaned up all our dwarf beans in the hothouse this weekend, replacing them with tomato plants; hopefully we will extend our tomato harvest into autumn.  We had a huge harvest of tomatoes, beetroot, zucchini, beans, plums etc. and harvested our first pumpkins of the season.  Each season, we reflect on the abundance, on what has been successful and what has been a failure.  This year, our tomatoes have not been as prolific as previous years.  Our fruiting trees are also not as abundant – I think this is due to the unseasonal weather patterns early on in summer.  Reminds us of what farmers have to contend with, when growing crops for income and their reliance on the weather.  We can shrug our shoulders and continue but they are locked into a system that rewards good yield with good income.

Spence checks out the veritable feast harvested on Saturday

On Friday, Mike went on his usual run to collect 5L milk from a local dairy farm and came back with the devastating news that the farmer had informed him, he couldn’t supply us milk any longer as he was having conflict with the landowner who was complaining about the cars coming and going.  I was stunned!  A bitter blow!  We are so used to having raw milk now that any other options are not worth considering!  Mike waited a few moments and then said with a grin, “But he directed me to another farmer who will be happy to supply us with raw milk!”  What a tease!  I was so relieved that we could continue to enjoy the privilege we have become used to.  So today, he will collect milk from the new supply.  We are wondering if we will taste a difference as the cows are jersey cows, not the usual black and white ones on the first farm.  Not only do we score in price structure ($1 per litre at the farm, as opposed to $2.50 or more per litre in the store), but also in taste.  Un-tampered with milk is creamy and rich!  To drink store-bought milk is poor comparison, it tastes like a bland watered down version of what it should taste like. 

Another 2 jars of Poor Man's Capers made this week

Reinforcing old pathways with layers of untreated sawdust

  Thanks to Don Tolman (http://www.dontolmaninternational.com), a translated ancient Hebrew scroll in the British Museum translates the words of King Solomon, on the virtues of milk “Milk is the succour of life and light, it is the sun held in liquid state, it is the quickened blood of grasses…………..  Dare to be earthy, dare to be sensual, drink of life and feel the sensual closeness and deep intimacy in the life giving powers of nature’s creatures, in this, discover the secrets of life, hidden in the nature of life.  Life comes of life, and the life force offered in the milk of grass quickened, by beasts, and the honey of flowers, quickened by bees, is, “free of death”, free of killing, free of murder and free of the shedding of the life kept in innocent blood……… It is ambrosia, a mixture of milk and honey (according to the desire of one’s taste), that when taken in abundance shall build one’s constitution even it if is hanging by a thread.  It shall build a strong mental atmosphere, develop the brain, prolong and extend one’s life, and help overcome the desire for cooked foods.  It will develop the supreme personality hidden deep within the individual – in other words, the emotional stability and qualities of maturity, wisdom and intelligence will come forth.”

Milk is an excellent source of nutrients, with significant amounts of high quality protein, calcium, riboflavin, magnesium, phosphorus, niacin, vitamin B12, 6 and vitamin D.  It is a nutrient dense food, providing a high nutrient content in relation to its calories.   

A moment of connection, Mike, Shayni and Spence!  A tri-hug!

I do some reflexology for a friend’s 2 children.  Instead of payment, she gives me jars of honey from a local farmer.  Ironically, my friend’s name is Honey!  This week, we were gifted 2 jars of honey.  So we live in a land of veritable milk and honey!  Now if we could only rid our apple trees of coddling moth!