Immune systems

For over a week I have felt like I am on the cusp of getting sick, on and off sore throat, sore sinus’, general feeling of meh.

My ginger plant does not seem to be dying back yet so I haven’t harvested any. Ginger plus lemon and honey is my go to drink to stave off illness. I have had a few lemon and honey drinks but it just isn’t the same. Today I have returned to an oldie but a goodie. Sage tea. If I was willing to run out in the rain again I would have added some rosemary, alas I am not, I do quite like the two together, just not enough to go back outside . I find it soothing to a sore throat and generally makes me feel a little peppier.

It has been raining for days. Really raining. Over 40cms in the last couple of days. I have no idea how much more as my rain gauge overflowed twice. I hope it hasn’t washed away all the seeds I planted the day before it started. I wish I had a roaring fire to accompany the rain on roof sound track.

I have been inspired by Franklin to not get sick. He used to get the cat flu annually, annually and properly. Despite vaccinations. 18 months ago I made the huge decision to make him an indoor cat in large part due to his repeated illness’. This last 2 weeks he has been fighting the symptoms of cat flu. I am unsure how he caught the virus, I can only assume a human bought it to him. I am just waiting this one out. He has runny eyes and is sneezing. I have never waited it out before as he usually gets worse so quickly. The area around his eyes swell up, he starts wheezing and generally looks very sickly. This time however, he has had a runny eye and sneezing. No worsening of symptoms. As of yesterday his eye has stopped running and the sneezing is getting better. This may be the first time in his life that he has fought it all on his lonesome. Traditionally he has been hit with a heap of drugs to aide his fight. I am so proud. This is the house of fighting bugs.

Resting and recovering

Somewhat distrustfully resting and recovering…

Yay to immune systems. They are the best!

Autumn

A time of less light. A time to think about electricity usage a little more. During the day I expect to be using only solar. On a gloomy day that is hard. The other day I lit some candles to try and brighten inside but we were still using some electricity from the grid. in the middle of the day with no lights on 😦

I turned the radio off and stopped charging the computer, that made a difference.

It is also a time of tidying up in the garden. I have some willing helpers to clean up under the apple trees and trim back some of the plants. They are only allowed into this garden area in Autumn for a few short days. The damage they do is too great to let them in all the time.

They show no discretion in what they trim and what they dig but I only found one bulb they unearthed so I will take that as a win. Last year I did the same thing and I did not have any coddling moth in the apples this year. I thank the ladies for this.

There are some beautiful trees in the areas that I live and work that are putting on a stunning Autumn show. It helps ease me in to Winter to see such vibrant reds and intense yellows in the foliage. Autumn is beautiful in its own way. Summer I love you and miss you already…

A real bee keeper

Today I became a real bee keeper. I got stung. Apparently you are not a real bee keeper til you get stung.

I was preparing the hive for Winter, I had a plan, I didn’t stick to it as I didn’t find what I thought I would in the hive. I had hive boxes and frames everywhere, the bees were unhappy, I was formulating a plan. Then I felt a drop of sweat run down my chest. I became alarmed. It was not hot, pleasantly warm. What the hell?? I kept moving frames and generally progressing with my half formed plans, I kept having that sensation. Then a small stinging started. I abandoned the hive and came inside. I took my suit off and found the offender (not sweat, a delicate little lady walking on my skin) she had stung me.

I am not sure if it is possible to not be stung properly but I think that is what happened. It really didn’t hurt very much at all. I thought it would be a LOT worse. I ejected the offender from my suit and got re-suited. I went back out and finished what I started. I hope I have done the right thing for the hive. I have gone from 3 boxes to 1 for the Winter, I wanted to over Winter with 2 boxes but it didn’t work out like that.

I am calling it an experiment and running with it.

I am pretty sure a real bee keeper would do the same…

I wasn’t expecting that

I don’t look at the front of the feijoa tree that often as it is right in the bees flight path. I knew that there were some self seeded tomatoes growing in front of the hive. I left them to grow as an experiment. Un-watered, un-loved. I went investigating the other day and was a little sad to see that the chickens have damaged the tomatoes. I should really have expected that. The plant itself looked to be in good condition considering the lack of water. It has not been a very hot Summer though.

I decided that as I was already in the bee flight path I may as well have a look at the feijoa. This is what I found.

 

Yep, tomatoes growing in the feijoa tree.

Let me tell you they were the most delicious tomatoes, so full of flavour. It was pretty good soil they were growing in but No Irrigation!!! Completely free tomatoes. I didn’t plant them, I didn’t water them, I didn’t weed them, I didn’t stake them (the feijoa did that for me!). For Free. There are more each day, I am going to save the seed from them and attempt to grow them water free next year.

For Free. My favourite 🙂