MID SUMMER SOLSTICE

We have now passed the mid summer solstice which means that from this moment forward our summer days will offer less hours of sunlight, but here on the Granite Belt of southern Queensland we are only just entering the growing phase of our summer. In Australia December is officially the first month of summer, following the spring months of September, October and November. However, due to our altitude we can continue with winter frosts well into October, which means that I seldom plant any frost tender plants before that month.

Prior to leaving for a holiday in Hong Kong in October I planted the first vegetables and because we did not get a late frost we are now picking yellow butter beans, zucchini, cucumbers and cherry tomatoes.

Strawberries

We have also been harvesting strawberries from this bed on the lower terrace of our rear garden since the beginning of November.

By the time I returned from holiday I was able to transplant other seedling plants.

This year we are growing a huge vegetable garden. Why do I now need a huge garden? Who will do all the work? Who will eat all the vegetables or undertake the processing and preserving?

My life is undergoing a change that I believe is an answer to prayer in that it will allow me to live a lifestyle that I enjoy in my own home for many more years.

So today I am sharing with my readers our solution to the problems associated with growing older.

Those of you who have read my posts on http://fayhelwigauthor.com where I published THE FORGOTTEN ONES the story of my husband’s early years in Germany, will have read about how he spent three years as a young child with the Bruderhof. This Christian community was established in Germany in 1920 by Eberhard Arnold.

During the past decade the Bruderhof purchased a large cattle property near Inverell in New South Wales, only about two hours driving time from where we live here on the Granite Belt and we quickly established an ongoing friendship which was mutually beneficial. For instance, they have a factory on the property where they manufacture distinctive signs. Check out www.danthonia.com Our Das Helwig Haus sign was designed and constructed in the Danthonia workshop.

My husband, Eberhard, has been in poor health for some time and when I wanted to leave him for a couple of weeks in October to visit Hong Kong, the Danthonia Bruderhof sent a young man to act as his companion and nurse in my absence. They also realized that we are without any close family assistance and at the age of seventy-one I was struggling to cope with Eberhard’s care, this large home, garden and farm property. We reached a wonderful solution. During the early years of the Bruderhof in Germany the community established a home for children in need, which was where Eberhard and his brothers lived for three years. Now the  Church Communities International - Bruderhof are recognizing that throughout the world it is the elderly who need assistance and are sending out community members to enable people in Germany, Ireland, the USA and Australia to remain in their own homes.

For reasons of privacy, I will not be including any photos of The Family that the Danthonia Bruderhof sent to live with us as co-workers. I will be showing you the results of our combined efforts.

I think of our partnership in terms of share farming. We have the land, the house, the water etcetera and they are providing the youthful labour.

I began life as a child in a three generational family where my elderly Gran lived with my parents. This grandmother taught me many skills like how to set out garden seedlings, cut kindling for our fires and to pluck feathers from the rooster intended for our Sunday lunch. Now at the opposite end of the spectrum I have the opportunity to live as a Gran with this family and pass on my lifestyle skills.

The Family, as I will call them, have three useful young sons and a teenage daughter. This daughter, like me in my youth, is happy to muck in with the heavy outdoor work or turn her attention to more creative pursuits within the house. One of the first jobs the family undertook was to turn over the compost in my big bins and empty one of these bins by spreading the well rotted garden waste over the upper terrace of my rear vegetable garden. A year ago I had purchased a punnet of Asian vegetables which I grew in one of my raised garden beds. I had far too much Mizuna, which is a variety of Japanese mustard. Google Mizuna and you will discover that it is a recently popular salad leaf, which is frequently paired with julienned Daikon, a giant white radish, for a fresh tasting salad. It can also be used in soups, stir fries or as a garnish. When my Mizuma plants ran to seed I pulled them out and threw them in my compost bin.

Well The Family spread the compost near my currant bushes and I transplanted Rosella seedlings into the compost. To my amazement a great many Mizuna seedlings then sprouted in the compost. I decided to leave them as a ground cover until the Rosellas grew into bushes.

Mizuna plants

Now to my delight I have discovered another use for an abundance of Mizuna. Don’t laugh – they are not being eaten by a flock of pink Flamingoes which also seem to have landed in my garden. No they are proving useful as duck food!

Mizuna and Rosella plants

In true hobby farmer style The Family decided to purchase Muscovy ducklings. Having previously had a flock of eighty Muscovies here in the days when we served roast duck dinners to our Bed and Breakfast guests, I welcomed the move to once more utilize our duck pens.

I now pull out the Mizuna plants from around the small Rosella bushes and feed them to the young ducks.

Mizuna and ducklings

Below is another photo showing Mizuna, four rosella plants and the climbing beans which are just about to run up the lattice on the veranda. As you can see, there will be plenty of green feed for the ducklings.

Mizuna, rosellas and climbing beans

The Family also planted a crop of sweet corn beside the raspberries.

Raspberries & sweet corn

This year we have not had quite as much rain as by this date in 2010, but with our dams filled and the river flowing we do not lack for water. Due to the big rains during the previous spring, summer and autumn months across much of Australia our country is still moist and covered in green grass. This has had the effect of giving us a cool start to the summer of 2011/2012 as there are no hot winds blowing across dry inland deserts. Brisbane, our Queensland State capital recently recorded its coldest December day since 1888. So much for global warming! Here we shivered until The Family suggested we light our stoves to heat our house!

Now, on Christmas Eve 2011, Eberhard joins with me in wishing all our family and friends a blessed Christmas Day. May your hearts be filled with joy and peace as we prepare for 2012.

Wildflowers, wilderness and wine