Garden harvest, axolotls and dogs

Here in the southern hemisphere, we are heading into our autumn season.  It is getting cooler and the sun is rising later.  There is a coolness in the air in the early mornings and evenings and during the day the sun is a wonderful warm steady glow.  I have done really well in our veg garden this first year.  What I am most happy about is a fantastic crop of mixed beans.  Lots and lots of dried beans to cook and freeze and add to stews.  

We are also enjoying big doses of Vitamin C from the guavas ripening on our guava trees in the garden at the moment.  There are lots so we are also juicing what we can't eat and freezing.  Plans for guava fruit leather too!

We managed to find another axoltl.  A white one this time. We all love with these fascinating creatures.  They make wonderful, interesting pets.  

Our  two wee dogs.  Miniature Jack Russells.  A family leaving the country couldn't manage to take them with them so we gladly took them in.   We have had them with us a couple of months and how we all love these two sweet little girls with such big hearts and such big characters!

January - what's growing in the garden, snakes, chameleons, and storks

All our hard work in the vegetable garden has started to show!  We produced a big crop of tomatoes.  Enough to last the whole month and we have pumpkin, butternut, gem squash, chard, cucumbers, lettuce, potatoes, carrots, beetroot, broccolli, cauliflowers, chick peas, beans and maize all growing well.  I am so pleased.  We are starting to feed ourselves well.  Now to keep on top of the weeding!  We have a couple of chickens but need to get a couple more hens to supply more eggs.

Noah monkey enjoying mangoes

The mangoes are ripening and I have a particular little monkey that visits the trees each day in search of mangoes!

We have found more chameleons in the garden.  That's about 10 we have discovered now!

Our third snake we have seen.  The first two were harmless brown house snakes (luckily not in the house!) and the second two these garden snakes that are not venomous. Sol's interest in insects has now expanded to reptiles and he wants to keep snakes.  Strict instructions not to mess with wild snakes though!

We have visiting migrating storks gracing us with their presence in our garden.  There are lots of these about at the moment especially on sports playing fields.

Digging and delving

This has been what we have mostly been up to. Digging up our vegetable patches and flower beds for new planting.  I so, so enjoy digging up the soil and having muddy hands - I could stay out there all day.  As I dig, the boys delve.  

They search for worms..

and treasure.  

Seriously, this garden is full of treasure.  I didn't put it there!  We suppose either a pirate once lived here or that the gnomes like us so much that they keep putting treasure in the soil for us to discover.

We even found a 1912 1 penny coin today.  The boys have stashed it in a special place and I will ask them if they will bring it out again so I can take a picture of that lovely find.  

Pineapple Plant

We are attempting to grow a pineapple plant.  

Pineapple tops will grow into spiky plants.  Pineapples come from the tropics where they produce just one pineapple from the centre of each plant.  Apparently, pineapple fruits were grown successfully in English greenhouses 150 years ago so we shall try and see what happens with this one!

We saved the topknot off a pineapple.  Mixed equal quantities of sand and potting compost, filled a pot with the mixture and put the pineapple top in the pot and covered the fleshy part with compost.  We watered well and tied a plastic bag over the top to keep warm and moist.  After a week or two, we hope to notice new growth and can then remove the bag.  Don't know if we will actually get a fruit off it but if we manage to get it to grow into a plant, that will be a success!