Naracoorte

We've not just been gallivanting around the countryside, exploring and going to events. After each trip out Dora gets some more fine tuning, the bike has been worked on, gardening done and I've been busy making yet more preserves.  

It is a time of harvest here, apples, pears, citrus fruit and quinces are in season.....we were very kindly given lemons and kumquats (which here are spelt with a c) and a box of scrummy apples I was determined to do something with them before they went off. After consulting all available cookbooks (Debs, mine and the internet) I decided to give mint and apple jelly, lemon chutney (delish), kumquat marmalade, candied kumquats and kumquat liquor a go. Fingers crossed the store cupboard doesn't come off the wall before we've managed to eat them... or give them away!

Meanwhile at the veggie patch.....

The veggie patch is growing... literally.  I've now got a patch of very healthy looking strawberries, huge thanks to Debs chooks for the fertiliser and a kind donation of potash from their lovely wood-fires (Deb and Roberts that is, the chooks are not that spoilt).  The bed is surrounded by garlic which so far seems to be keeping the bunnies at bay.

I've got a very healthy caterpillar nursery on plants which resemble doilies which should really be Brussels Sprouts.  I kid you not the little blighters are huge and very cunning, they blend in very well with their favourite food.  But interestingly they have left the broadbeans alone and don't seem to know about the healthy crop of silverbeet (chard) in amongst the broadbeans. 

I've been wanting to make a compost heap at the block as since the weather has become a lot cooler the Bokashi bin has really slowed down and although Debs chooks have done a stirling job eating our excess veg scraps we'd prefer not to give them chillis and onions.  I eventually had a bit of a brain wave and have dug a couple of deepish pits to put the scraps in, each scrap dump gets covered with straw and soil and will slowly break down.  This should enrich the soil and eventually when the season is right I'll be using them as my pumpkin patch.

I'm not sure if I've ever posted photos of Naracoorte... we woke Sunday to a beautiful sunny morning and felt the need to talk Fred for a walk (much to his delight), I remembered to take the camera. These are Naracoortes main streets on a sleepy sunny Sunday morning.....

Naracoortes Pioneer Park

And the Nature Walk Park where we take Fred for a swim in the creek, it is truly beautiful planted with many stunning native plants a lot of which are flowering now.

Best way of getting Fred's attention!

Hakea of some kind

Banksia candle like flower

And it's dried seed pods like wee furry beasties

I tried to capture the tiny beads of dew on the ends of the grass hairs

Not sure quite what this is 

We did some more exploring around Naracoorte this time with Deb and Robert leading the way going across some really interesting 4wd terrain.  Sun was shining, birds singing so off we went for a bit of a wander by foot and the heavens opened.  As soon as we got back to the car it of course stopped... and looked so pretty in the sun... it made up for being soggy and cold!

Rain drops

One happy Dora in a sunny glade

And I also managed to fit in a trip to Mount Gambier with Deb.  It is coming up to the end of the tax year here so there are many sales on in the shops... well what girl can resist a bargain.... we did very well and managed to save lots of money!!  It was a great day out, lots of fun.