Mulch rescue 2 a.k.a. preparing for water shortages

The signs have been there for the past months.

Our rainfall for the passed three years

Our rainfall this year is averaging out at 43.3mm / month, compared to last year at 60.3mm or 2014 at 53.5mm.  Looking at the graph you get the full sorry picture.  And, all the forecasts are not predicting any rain whatsoever in the next 10 days... :(

So, most things hereabouts are crunchy, crisp and dehydrated...

http://www.fin24.com/Economy/drought-is-a-wake-up-call-on-sas-water-needs-20160911-2

We were warned back in September that our dams were in dire straits.  Harry commented last week that everything looks so lovely and green compared to his brown, hibernating winter scenery.  Well Harry, pics can be deceptive.

As you can see from the pics below, we are well in the throes of a drought. 

Dead looking, dry and drab - that about sums it up

Between the unusually high temperatures for the time of year, plus the hectic drying winds, and finally with the lack of rain our garden is in a sorry state.

 But, forewarned is forearmed.  Between my rainfall records, and what has been published in the newspapers, we knew that it was gong to be extreme this summer.  So, we took steps to counteract the situation as best we could - without going greedily overboard with municipal water usage.

That was in our best interests because if everyone decided that bugger the cost, they were going to water willy-nilly, then how long would the water in our local dam last?  That municipal water supply is all we have - there is no nearby stream or river that we could use.

Believe it or not, our 8 X 5 000lt rainwater tanks are also empty... :(

Piquante peppers under a protecting
 blanket  of wood chip mulch

So eight trailer loads of wood mulch (roughly 8 X 1.5mtr3 or 12mtr3 in total) from our local sawmill has certainly assisted our fruit trees to produce their fruit - not as big as last year, but at least it was enough for me to bottle some - and make some jam / cordial.

And the wood mulch is a Godsend for my veggie beds.  A dose of organic nitrogen (a mix of seaweed liquid fertilizer / alpaca poo / chicken poo and worm casings) helps overcome the nitrogen leech than wood mulch causes.

An added bonus with the wood mulch is that weeds can't grow - so weeding is, for once, at a minimum :D  Yeeha!!!

There's not much we can do for the grass, and, as far as the alpaca's grazing is concerned, we managed to buy in oat and barley hay from the local farmers, so the alpaca's won't starve.

4 large round bales of hay to help the alpaca's.
The infamous, and over worked trailer is on the right hand side of the
pic, under the self seeded wattle tree.

But, the extreme dryness is not pleasant on the eye.  And the crunch underfoot makes one aware how dire the circumstances are.

A single turmeric leave is visible in amongst the rocket

But, on a more positive note, a few months ago I saw turmeric root for sale in the shops, and, as I had never seen it in our shops before, I couldn't help myself - I had to buy some. 

I immediately planted it all into one of the three raised beds in the shade cloth veggie patch - and forgot about them.  They hadn't forgotten about me though.  In the last week I noticed some strange green leaves poking up between the rocket, and deduced that the turmeric had decided it liked being where it is, and, by way of thank you, it would peep a lookout above ground to see it's surroundings.

Great excitement LOL

In the centre of the pic you can see a ginger stem, which
 was accidentally left in situ last year, and which is growing again too

I thought if it grew it would probably look something like ginger, but it doesn't - it's completely different.

Finally, an errant sunflower seed, which wasn't gobbled up when I fed the chickens one day, surprised me by showing it's face in the berry patch.

Sunny, bright and cheerful - an unexpected
 sunflower to add to the seeds I purposely
 planted in order to feed the chickens throughout
the coming year.

Aren't we blessed with being able to grow all manner of amazing plants - both big and small ;)

For info on how you can obtain your own Foothills DryAway please click the link.

Winter fare

Isn't it funny - you can have the best intentions in the world, but winter always gets the better of you.

I promised myself this winter I would be a good girl.  But, I haven't been.  1.0kg heavier already and still a couple of months of cold weather to go sigh

And, it's all the Rosie's fault.  And my new all the bells and whistle's fridge.  Now that I have freezer space to store "snacks", I'm taking full advantage of it.

RMan and I love nibbling - especially when it's cold.  But, the "ready made snacks' available in the supermarkets are revolting, and a complete rip-off.  More pastry than filling - if you can find any filling at all...

So, I decided that I would make my own.

I boiled up an entire chicken, and when it was cooked, and cold, used the chickeny / herby / garlicky water it had been boiled in to make a gravy.

I stripped the chicken away from the skin and bones and added it to the gravy.

Then I pulled out the phyllo pastry which was in the fridge.  Slathering each sheet with a good dose of olive oil I  cut the sheets into strips.  I used only one strip - you'll see why now...

Taking one of the strips, I added a spoonful of the chicken mixture - right at the end.

The corner of phyllo pastry got pulled over the chicken...

 ... and the corner got folded again...

 ... and again...

 ...and again...

... and again...

 ...and again...

 ... and again...

 ...and again...

That last little bit of phyllo pastry got folded up
against the samosa

 ...and then folded again for the last time.  I didn't worry about the uneven triangle I had created - as long as the filling is securely enclosed and doesn't leak out during the cooking process, to my mind all those bits of phyllo pastry edges which are visible in the pic above = extra crispy crunch in the mouth :)  .

A whole plateful of homemade chicken samosas :)

What was I left with?

A whole plateful of chicken samosas.

One strip of phyllo pastry got folded 10 times - equivalent to ten layers of phyllo pastry :)

3/4 of the plateful has gone into the freezer.  The other 1/4?  As soon as we light the Rosie later this afternoon, and it gets to temperature, I'm going to have a nibble :)

(I can't wait to posts this, so I'll add a pic of the cooked samosa's when they're ready :) )

1½ hours to cook / simmer the whole chicken (which also became chicken pie and chicken à la king), 15 - 20 minutes to boil and reduce the stock and make the chicken gravy, ten minutes to strip the cooled flesh from the carcass and 20 minutes to roll the chicken and gravy mixture spoonfuls in the phyllo pastry.  Effectively, it took 30 minutes of actual work to make enough chicken samosa's to last us a month (I hope...lol)

Who needs to buy ready made nibbles, when they are so easy to make yourself?

Update:

Baked at 200°C for 20 minutes and served with a
chopped side salad and some chilli sauce.
Dunno what happened to the sauce, but they
tasted full of moist chicken - goal accomplished :)

RMan wanted to know how many I made, and how many I had left in the freezer.  He says 24 is not enough... ;)

They were, even if I say so myself, absolutely, excellently yummy, crispy, and tasty!!

'N Boer maak 'n plan...

(translation of the title of this post : a farmer makes a plan)

There are roughly 40 lemon trees in our orchard - 98% grown from pips, and the balance from cuttings.

Yeah, I know - what are you going to do with the fruit from 40 lemon trees?

I have a couple of idea's.  But I will have to wait until they actually start producing fruit in quantity (and hopefully quality lol).

So far I am getting flowers, and a couple of really small baby lemons, but 99.9% of those are falling off.  Why?  I have no idea.  We are feeding the soil, adding the ashes from the Rosie, keeping them watered, and have even put up more of the privacy wattle fence to protect them from the hectic south easterly winds which blow in summer.

My worm farm is also due an empty out - which means worm casings and worm tea.  And I intend using some of that worm tea on the lemon trees.

Which means I need a sprayer :)

I tried using a 10 lts spray bottle (which has to be pumped in order to create the pressure to use) slung over my shoulder, but found that it took 3 - 4 hours of back-breaking walking, and spraying, and refilling in order to complete the task.

We needed something more hard-core :)

I spotted this beauty (in the pics above) for sale, which would work with my quad bike.  But, at over ZAR10 000 (without the trailer in the far right pic) it's a bit more than we were prepared to pay.

So, RMan set to making one :)

We purchase a pump.  And a 100 lt water container.  And some tubing.  And some straight tube joins and t-joins.  And hose clamps.  And spray heads.  And a hand held sprayer.  And a couple of in-line taps.  And an electrical isolator switch.  And a ratchet tie (to secure the tank to the quaddie).  Electrical wires and cable ties we already had.

The pump and the container were the most expensive parts - the pump was + / - R900, and so was the container.

But, a bit of fiddling here, and a bit of fiddling there, and this is what we ended up with...

1  the outlet hose from the tank to the pump

2  the water pipe to the handheld pump

3  the water pipe to the back spray heads

4  the in-line tap "valve" to prevent water being sent

 to the spray heads when it is not required

5  an in-line filter from the water tank

 to the water pump

6  a return pipe from the pump to the tank with

 in-line  tap "valve" - to regulate the water pressure

 and redirect excess water back to the tank.

Note : I took these pics shortly after RMan had

 completed his construction and whilst he was on

 his first trial run.  He has since secured those

 wires leading to the battery with more than

 tape...

Now we are able fill the tank with the organic "muti" (translation : medicine - which in this case = nutrition), hop on the quaddie, start it up, and take a slow drive whilst we smell the scent of lemon blossoms:)

The pipe labelled 3 in the first pic leads to the 3 X
 spray heads (1) at the back of the quaddie in the
 pic above.  When the red in-line tap valve
 (below the tank and in the middle of the pic above)
to the the spray heads is closed, then the water
is pumped to the hand held sprayer only (2).
But, that tap also allows us to regulate the
flow of water to the spray heads and the hand held
 sprayer simultaneously - which means we can spray
from the top / middle, and down on the bottom
 branches at the same time when necessary

We can fill the tank with worm tea from the worm farm, or with tea from alpaca poo.  Being 100 ltrs the contents of the tank last ages - we have to fill it at least twice in order to do the lemon orchard.

That is soooo much easier than walking round with a shoulder strapped 10 lt spray bottle which entails having to keep stopping, removing, pumping (to increase the pressure) before re-hoisting it onto my shoulder again in order to continue spraying before the next re-fill - which always came too quickly lol.

The pump is powered from the quaddie battery.
When the pump is not in use, the isolator switch
1 is in the off / disconnected position.
2 shows you the in-line tap "valve" to the back
 sprayers
3 shows you the in-line tap "valve" on the
return pipe to the tank

And, by closing the in-line tap to the back sprayers completely, we can, if we so desire, feed the ground / root area only of the lemon trees, fruit trees, grape vines and my veggie patches by means of the hand held sprayer.

Clever RMan :)

The cost?  Just over a 1/4 of the cost of purchasing the "real McCoy" :)