Racing the weather.......

Fearing a drenching and not being able to get onto the paddock and the fact that we are in the right phase of the moon, today was a race to get the fertilizing done on this years garlic block. The thunder clouds have been gathering the past couple of days but are looking quite threatening and the spiking humidity is a dead give away that we are in for it.

Now when I say fertilizer, I'm not talking chemical based. We practise fertility farming, meaning we feed the soil which in turn feeds the plant. This morning it was I whom stirred the brew, five minutes one way creating a vortex, then five the other and so on for an hour. BD 500 is what we are using which is made from cow manure and horns which have been buried in the earth for a period of time.

I am sure to anybody looking on that I would have resembled a witch standing over her cauldron stirring her magic brew! This reminds me that I have to tell you about this great book that I'm currently reading (but another time!)

Once the brew was finished, it was diluted in rain water and placed in the spray tank ready for spraying out onto the paddock. Pictured above is the boom spray my DH made after nearly falling over backwards at the cost of purchasing one. The trailer is also his handy work, made from the tray of an old ute and the wheels he got from a lawn mower that had died a natural death all of which do the job just nicely.

Applying the fertilizer, DS is going ahead while DH lightly disc ploughs the cow pea straight after, only just turning the soil thus allowing the fertilizer to work above and just below the surface of the soil. The cow pea is looking very healthy and has been slashed twice already leaving the cut tops to mulch down on the paddock.

The round bales will be used to mulch the garlic when its planted. It is our aim to be able to make these ourselves as we have the area and know how but "Rome wasn't built in a day" as they say and after having just finished collecting 20 ute loads of mulch for the Rosellas alone my shoulders are aching at the thought of it! LOL