Divine weather and a young cassowary

A teenage cassowary is out on its own roaming on the farm. We were thrilled to have it come and visit during the fruit tasting, which made a great day for the tasters.

 

And just to show what great weather you are missing here is the early morning shot taken when I walked the dogs a few days ago. Calm, sunny and a great day to remind me why I live here.

 

January - bits and pieces

January weather has been sunny and the fruit is ripening rapidly. We decided to set up a fruit stall at the farm gate, with an honesty box. This has been quite a lot of fun, particularly collecting the money - usually all in 20 cent pieces. The bank is going to love us.

 

 

The dragonfruit harvest is amazing. Like picking little aliens off the cactus!

 

With the heavy rains last month I decided to try and grow kang kong - a tropical swamp spinach which grows in water gardens - as nothing else was growing very well.

 

Oh mangosteens! Wherefore art thou, mangosteens?

The first day of 2011, and it looks like it will be a year for NO mangosteen crop. Heavy rains and warmer than normal temperatures are predicted until April, with the La Nina effect. This means the trees are very happy thank you very much, and have no need to burst into flower. We must now pin our hopes on a dry cold winter with an early flowering for a harvest in November- December.