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Bungala Ridge Permaculture Gardens REDUCE ... REUSE ... RECYCLE ... REPAIR ... RETURN ... REVEGETATE ... REPLENISH |
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Permaculture Diary: 1st January 2008 Copyright © Beverley Paine Another hot day, but the cool change rolled in around 10am as predicted: A gusty coolish breeze that would quickly blow over. Robin cleaned out the uneaten scraps from the guinea pig cage while I picked the apricots. Yesterday's scorching heat had begun to dry some of the fruit on the tree! Another baby guinea pig died yesterday. Lesson learned from the recent unsuccessful litters is definitely don't allow the guys to get in with gals who haven't bred in the first year of life. Although we have several healthy happy young piglets, too many have been buried this last month. Yesterday was uncomfortably hot. Everything inside the house radiated heat. Three days of over 40 degree celcius heat had taken it's toll on all of us. This morning Robin and I talked about different ways we could retrofit our house to make it weather heat waves in the future. Last year (2007) looks like it is going to be the hottest on record in South Australia and the next three months are predicted to be above average for temperature too. Although our large bank of south facing windows are shaded from direct sun for most of the day by the 1.8 metre wide verandah, radiant heat is a huge problem. The glass is often hot to touch before midday. Unlike the north facing windows which are shaded by deciduous trees, our southern aspect looks out over a wide valley. The view of rolling hills and expansive sky is important to us, and because of the steep site would take really tall trees to provide effective shelter from the glare. The conversation moved on to aluminium roller shutters. In true permaculture fashion we require any solution to serve at least two functions, hopefully more. Aluminium roller shutters, we decided, would provide storm protection for the windows, some protection from radiant heat from bush fire, as well as helping to insulate the house. We're not overly concerned with the other benefits such as home security or adding to the property value as they aren't high on our list of priorities. Unable to find a price on the internet (plenty of offers to 'provide free, no obligation quotes') we took the plunge and made a phone call. Being New Year's Day meant my request for information was sent to the message bank. First thing this morning, after watering the cuttings and seedlings in the nursery shadehouse, I picked two buckets of apricots from our young tree. Some had begun to dry on the tree, such was the intense heat yesterday! We've graded them into jamming fruit, drying fruit and green fruit. Because of the continuing nature of the heat way we though it best to strip the tree completely, leaving a dozen really green ones to ripen for the possum that has left a few pips on the ground every morning this week. A huge pot of jam slowly warmed on the stove while Robin went foraging for jam jars from our neighbours. The cupboard is already full from jam we've made over the last fortnight. Apricot jam is a favourite in this family and will probably be eaten first. We plan to cut and dry a bucket of apricots tomorrow, confident in the weather forecast for fine weather over the coming week. Other tasks completed today include finally re-fixing the cross-bracing timbers under one section of the floor to the house. This allows clear access to the area we are preparing as the new housing for the bank of batteries, inverter and control panel. This is a project we had hoped to have completed by the end of 2007. It's now on the 'to do' list for January, along with re-aligning the gutters to the house so that the water flows into the new rainwater tanks. We are constantly 'tweaking' things around here: permaculture is a dynamic design process that never stops. We did half an hour of gentle stretching exercises while stirring the apricots on the stove. Exercising every day is one New Year's Resolution we are determined to keep. It's hard to remind and convince ourselves that we need to make time for this before we feel exhausted at the end of a busy day. I liked doing the exercises after a light lunch: it definitely felt a good time of day to set aside for this 'chore'. The day was made complete by a lovely walk along Normanville Beach. The strong off-shore breeze whipped dry sand about our feet and had driven most beachgoers back to their holiday homes, tents or caravans. A couple enjoyed the warm water flattened by the wind.
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