Latitude 14 Eastern Australia

Discussion in 'Members' Systems' started by sun burn, Jun 4, 2010.

  1. sun burn

    sun burn Junior Member

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    https://www.photoblog.com/ShangriLa/ A spot of work on my paving project, about one quarter what i hoped to do today.

    On the other hand, i had not intended to do any work on the ducks floors but i did. I finished laying all the concrete pieces i had, put crusher dust in the cracks, covered with some sawdust and then with the straw. I haven't taken a shot yet because i put on the messy stuff and so its not worth looking at.

    I spoke to Joe today. I told him about my floor and then he told me about how ducks go lame if they are left to sit in mud for long. So I am glad i did this rather than let them sit in mud at all. Once they go lame, you have to kill them apparently.

    I still haven't planted my bamboo but i am keeping it wet. Its raining right now.

    There's a cyclone heading to the Queensland coast but its not expected to worry us too much up here. It supposed to hit south of Cairns. We might get a bit of rain but that's about it i'd think, unless it changes direction radically and starts heading a lot further north. Looks like the one in WA will be worse.
     
  2. sun burn

    sun burn Junior Member

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    A concrete slab heap goes a long way

    I went back for another load today. I took my sledgehammer along as I have already removed most of the pieces that I could lift by myself. That was good thinking if i say so myself. I also took a rag along to soften the blow so it wouldn't shatter the slabs and that also seemed to be a good thing.

    There is so much stuff there that i think i can pave all of the paths of my mandala garden with it and if i could do my second one as well, I would not be surprised. I feel like i'm on my way to becoming the paving stone queen.

    Another snake got too damn close to the ducks tonight. I just got there in time to save the ducks but in the end, Dad killed it and i am not happy about that. I am too much of a coward to catch it myself. I feel there are going to be more of these incidents and i really don't want to kill anymore snakes. They are good to have around for killing the rats and mice so we need them in the small picture as well as the big picture.

    I dug another trench on the main paving area today. i really thought i would get them all done but i got distracted by my trip to the concrete slab heap. Anyway a little bit every day will get me there in the end i think.
     
  3. eco4560

    eco4560 New Member

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    Snakebusters
    Maybe you need this? A quick read suggests that if you get a group together he'll come to you to teach you. Maybe your local WIRES group might run courses too?
     
  4. sun burn

    sun burn Junior Member

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    I'm not paying anyone to teach me how to catch a snake. Things like this are for people with jobs. I don't have one. (couldn't get one - the locals employers seem to prefer to employ backpackers - so i said f*ck you lot. I give up. Give me the pension because I am obviously unemployable and I can't live on $200 a week, and guess what? They gave it to me. ha! Now If only I could shout about it from the rooftops to all those stinkers in Port Douglas who wouldn't give me a job.) WiRES seems to be for NSW but i might call the local nat parks people.
     
  5. sun burn

    sun burn Junior Member

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  6. eco4560

    eco4560 New Member

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    Wow! You are pretty good at seeing the positives in your unplanned pruning. I can see a big hugelkultur pile or two in your near future...
     
  7. sun burn

    sun burn Junior Member

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    Actually hugelkulture possibly isn't that great here because of all the termites. I am keeping the logs but maybe for some sort of craft. But yeah if i can see a way to use them in landscaping, i'll do it. I am busy chopping off all the leaves to throw on my new mandala garden. This approach makes the cleanup a bit slow though.
     
  8. sun burn

    sun burn Junior Member

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    First egg? & Preparing for a cyclone.

    https://www.photoblog.com/ShangriLa/2011/02/08/

    https://www.photoblog.com/shangrila/2011/02/03/preparing-for-cyclone-yasi.html

    I made the green mango chutney today. I wasn't so excited about it but that's partly because I burnt it. So glad i didn't make a huge batch. And I think it has too much vinegar in it. So the next batch will be modified a little.

    All the neighbours have put their cyclone debris out on the streets. I put out my lemon tree because it has very sharp and long thorns but today i went raiding my neighbours debris for the leafy bits. Thank you i'll have that for my garden.

    I did the first cut back of my lablab. I can do this twice before allowing it to go to seed.
     
  9. sun burn

    sun burn Junior Member

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    Pruning saw and chainsaw and deep litter in the chook house. and rain.

    Its been a while since i've updated.

    Its begun raining properly now and i'm loving it. This weather i can work in. Before it was simply too hot. On the other hand, this weather is not so good for making pavers so I will try to do things on the dry days.

    In the last few days i am busy doing more boundary plantings, making good progress here.

    I've bought myself a chainsaw but because of the rain haven't got hte guy out yet who offered to teach me.

    I've ordered a truck load of crusher dust for my paving job. Its 8 cubic metres which is much more than i need but i think i can use most of it quite easily. It was either buy a full load for $325, half a load for $211 or two metres for $150 so you see it makes more sense to buy more for all the jobs that I would like to use it in. This is hte list of jobs
    1. outdoor dining area
    2. dad's buying one metre for his garage which gets boggy with the rain
    3. the entry ways to dad's house which flood and where i want to make some large slablike paving stones and put the gravel around them
    4. between the cracks of my crazy paving concrete slab in the mandala garden on the paths
    5. on all the paths in #2 mandala (Note its not much more expensive to do this than recycle the concrete slab somewhat disappointingly. Certainly using the crusher dust will be a lot easier though with both of them i have to think about it getting washed away.
    6. around the edges of the broken slabs in my chicken house.

    And if there's any left, i probably easily find somewhere to put it.

    Recently i got my book Raising Ducks from Amazon. In it they talk about deep litter on the floors of duck pens. The idea is that you don't clean it out more than once a year but just keep topping up the floor iwth more sawdust and or straw. I've noticed that this does deal with the smell. The idea is that its supposed to age and compost on the floor. It is apparenlty not problematic for the birds but would give them a nice soft floor. It can get to be about a food thick they say. I like the idea of not having to clean out the poo all the time. Normally cleaning out the duck hosue wouldn't worry me but when it rains it gets wet and so i feel it has to be done more often than otherwise so this deep litter idea might be good then. I need to find a way to stop so miuch water dripping off the ceiling.


    When i was Aroideana's place he had this clever fold up pruning saw. I decided I would have to get one. Its arrived but i think i might have got one that's too big and wonder now if it got a bigger one than what Mike had. Mike if you are reading this, what's the model number. Mine is... oh i haven't got it handy. But it seems to be nearly two feet long and I didnt' think yours was that big. I was going on the colour orange and the curved blade that you had but i wonder if they've changed their models. Oh well. I will have to get used to it.

    https://www.forestrytools.com.au/index.php?id=46
    240mm curved blade tiger tooth saw
     
  10. sun burn

    sun burn Junior Member

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    Another small tragedy

    My day was going well until I got home. The plan was to go to town, get some dynamic lifter, filch some cuttings from the public gardens, see a movie, do some other chores, catch up with a friend and go home.


    At Bunnings i found myself in the plant section and on impulse bought 12 snowflake hibiscus for $100 for my highway screening planting. Its not enough for the whole stretch of boundary but its a good start. My own cuttings had failed. They were probably too small or maybe i didn't give them enough water. Or maybe the mill mud was too rich. I'd only laid out the cash because this area is where screening is more important than any other part of my boundary since its where i intend building my tree house. And...I am fixated on having this plant growing there since i think the white hibiscus would look great with a green backdrop of the forest. Nothing else has taken my imagination so...so I lashed out and bought them off the shelf.

    I stopped along the way to Bunnings a couple of times to fill up the back seat with varigated cassava and my favourite pink leafed acalypha. And then i spied this quite interesting looking red pineapple type plant growing profusely in the centre road planting. To my pleasant surprise there were little white pineapples on it and some broken off bits and lots of puppy pineapples. So i grabbed a bunch of those. I've never heard of red pineapples before but they look pretty good even if they might not be edible - The pineapples were quite small.

    With that carful of flora, i figured that would be enough plants for the day, and carried on to town. At home after dark with everything else on the list having gone better than planned, i stopped off first to see if all the chickens and ducks were ok in the chook house. I could only count 6 chickens. I wasn't sure for a minute how many there should be, so I asked dad if a chicken was missing. He confirmed there should have been a seventh. Cilla (the dog) had killed it! She had always timidly but guiltily bypassed past the poultry whenever she'd encountered them in the garden until today. I believe it wouldn't have happened if i had been around. It's probably not even prudent to say that much! But I can't help but put some blame on my father for his usual lack of attention and concern.

    I thought ok now we have to do the chicken-round-the neck-til-it-rots dog punishment. I thought i'd do it by day rather than 24 hours. I thought "i'll wait until the morning". On my way to bed, i passed by the chicken again. I'd already noticed it was one of my new young laying hens. It wasn't the young rooster who has just begun to crow. It wasn't one of the two old hens. It wasn't even the newest young hen who hadn't started laying. It was my best hen. Well one of my three best hens if I am fair. So not just tragic but shitty luck too. As I came to the spot where the hen had been i saw that it wasn't there and thought "oh no someone's come and dragged it away." I was thinking pigs? big rats? the neighbours dog? some other four-legged meat eating creature? Typically, I didn't think of a snake until i saw it with its mouth stretched horrifically around some part of my poor little black hen. I feel too upset about it to get a shot but I did cross my mind "that is a picture for my photoblog right there" or to hang about and watch.

    Anyway, now i can't even take revenge (in the name of training) on the dog since the chicken is gone. But seeing that snake, I also wonder if the dog would be safe from the snake if i had tied it to its neck.

    It makes me wonder how much chickens will be alive by the time i get back from the Kimberleys in July. I guess I will have to remind everyone to KEEP AN EYE ON THE BLOODY DOG!
     
  11. sun burn

    sun burn Junior Member

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    "many chickens" not "much chickens"!
     
  12. Stingray

    Stingray Junior Member

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    yoikes.... sorry to hear about ya chickens :{
    we havent lost any yet to snakes.. we had a yellow-faced whip snake around the other week .. but thank fully their fav food is small skinks n small lizards
     
  13. eco4560

    eco4560 New Member

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    Natural Building Fun

    Saw this out on the main page and thought of you. But you might have concerns about the fact that they have concerns about it falling down!
     
  14. sun burn

    sun burn Junior Member

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    ha, concerns about it falling down!

    I am always going to have concerns about trees falling on my house during a cyclone. And i am not going to have insurance. Where i want to build myself at the moment is a complete swamp. I will have to dig some ditches if i don't want to have this below me once i move in.
     
  15. aroideana

    aroideana Junior Member

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    Its a different brand of pruning saw , but very similar looking . Mine is Bahco from Sweden.
    Have heard great things about Silky , but a great price .
     
  16. sun burn

    sun burn Junior Member

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    oh!!. I looked for "barco" on forestry tools as you suggested but there was no brand like that. So i figured i must have heard you wrong or something.

    Anyway the thing works. I think its just a bit bigger than yours. Nevermind.

    My plants are going fine but at first i put them in my forest but its turned into a swamp so i had to get them out.

    Is your garden coming along?

    Did you see the pics i put up. I haven't put them all up. I am not much in photoblog mood these days. Its been great gardening weather though we are having a few hot days now. Still i am motivated afresh after my "holiday" at your place. I put in my snow queen hibiscus yesterday - six of them and i am really pleased I spend the dough. I hope I don't have to do it again though.
     
  17. sun burn

    sun burn Junior Member

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    Chainsaw chic - that' s me now.

    Yesterday on the spur of the moment, i decided i would wait no longer for lessons in using a chainsaw from some outside expert and went to Dad and asked his help. Luckily he agreed and although i thought it was going to go badly for a minute there, I chopped down my first tree without mishap, and my second.

    The first was a mandarine that looks like, has quite a few little fruit but all are inedible. I judged that the thing was taking up valuable space so it would be best to chop it down and put something else in. I'd like to put in the orange as dad doesn't like its current spot but there's not a lot of root space as its very close to a large fig. So maybe i won't transplant it. I'll put in some small fruit tree seeding, a jakfruit or a custard apple or something like that.

    The second one was a milky pine (rainforest tree) that was never going to reach its full height due to insect damage. As it was, it was shading my newly planted hibiscus and so it was time to go for this one too. Milky pines have nice flowers so it is a pity.

    I've put in all my new snow queen hibiscus now and I am really excited about them. Though i hope they don't drown with all this rain. They are currently waterlogged but fingers crossed they can survive. If they look like they are suffering, i will dig them out. Maybe i could build up little mounds like you are supposed to do with pineapples. I'll see. Today in Mossman I saw some wonderful examples of this shrub which made me happy to see. They were big and bushy and white. I can't wait till these are full size and doing their screening job along the highway.

    I also got a stack of other cuttings in town this morning. I would have got more even but it started raining so hard. Three hours later, it hasn't stopped so I am not doing anything else today though I had hoped to start potting up these cuttings.

    A few days ago i had to break my new year's resolution about only eating vegetables from my garden and not buying any from the shops. I didn't want to eat kang kong (although i like growing it) and I've had enough pumpkin. The ones i've got aren't particularly good. I am not going to grow this type anymore. I was putting on weight and eating too much icecream and mints so i've gone on a diet now and this means i have to buy some vegetables from the supermarket again.

    With all this wet weather it looks like it might be a while before i can consider starting my paving project. Of course the window of opportunity was back during February which was quite a dry month for this part of the world. Drier than usual apparently. Oh well. I will do it later.

    My second mangosteen has finally shown some new growth. Boy i can tell this is going to be a slow painful project. The rollinia is looking pretty pathetic still as well. The orange is probably doing the best of all the fruit trees i bought (oh and the avocardo is holding up well too), funnily enough since that's the one that's not supposed to like this climate at all. Perhaps i shall never get fruit but just a big bushy tree. The mandarine is sluggish. It probably wants a bit more sun. I can't remember what else i bought now. Oh a vanilla orchid. All are doing fine.

    I dug out the granadilla that a friend gave me for christmas since it was getting waterlogged where it was. I'll have to find somewhere else to put it.
     
  18. sun burn

    sun burn Junior Member

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    Mulch - a lucky find

    For some unexplained reason, there's been a large pile of woodchip sitting by the side of the road not far away from our place. I presume its a byproduct of the cyclone. I'd say the main roads left it there. Anyway we've decided to help ourselves since i can't imagine what they are going to do with it and its been there long enough if they wanted to remove it. We got a trailerload the other day but i must say it doesn't go far so i'll have to go back for more.

    I've got to go and get some sawdust from a local cabinet makers shop for the chicken's floor. I'm doing the deep litter method now which ive mentioned before but read about it in my duck raising book. What you do is just keep adding the new clean material on top of the old. And change it about once a year. Its supposed to compost while it sits. Even if it doesn't i've decided i like this method as its less work. At least the stuff will age and will be great on my vegie garden.

    I've cut down more trees and branches with my chainsaw but one of the trees has an awful lot of sticky sap and so i've got my blade covered in it. I've had to take it all apart to clean it. I haven't put it back because i wasn't sure how to add more oil to hte chain. I should fix that up today now that i've decided a basting brush would probably do the trick with the least mess.

    I've lost the nut off my new handsaw already which is a bugger. I've got so much to do with these two tools.

    Meanwhile with all the rain we've been having everything, including the grass, is growing nicely. Not that there's any foody things growing, apart from sweet potato which i've allowed to take over my vegetable patch. Its a good source of cuttings though. The rosellas are looking healthy now and I should get a good batch of jam out of them. They really like the rain. The sugarcane and sorghum are doing well too. I only wish i had more sorghum.

    I need to get down in the vegie garden and do some clearing out and preparing the beds for my winter vegies i think. And also i should dig out the bog for the taro.

    Now that i can see the extent of all the swampy ground, i can see what i have to do down in that part of the block to make it more suitable for production.

    I've finally found a good spot for the tamarind tree. I will put it near the shed to provide some cool and this will also provide some shade in that old duck yard area. Its taken months for me to figure that out. Tamarind trees make lovely shade trees. I've been looking at a couple in mossman. Apart from using tamarind in thai soups and the like, probably the easiest way to use them up would be making a sweet refreshing drink. I've had this before and its delicious. But for me, as i've sworn off sugar at the moment, i don't know if i will be drinking it. Perhaps I could sell it at the markets or do something like that iwth the fruit.
     
  19. sun burn

    sun burn Junior Member

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    Duck murder and other poultry stories

    I'm excited because i've found another duck murderer in the same situation as me. I hope nothing will get in the way of this but it looks like we may be able to help each other. She replied to my request through the local permaculture group and lives about an hours drive away. I think its a she anyway. She seems to be thai or chinese.

    Other than that its so hot here these days since the rain has stopped that I can't make myself do anything. I could work in the early hours of the morning but i prefer to sit around drinking coffee and mucking about on my computer. So i just have to hope it doesn't rain in the afternoon (like it did the other day) and then i can get a little bit done. Mowing is getting a bit urgent.

    Dad picked up a nut for my new handsaw the other day so i can probably get onto to chopping up the trees i chainsawed down the other day.

    Oh yes, lol. Yesterday i had run out of chicken pellets and went to town. I had it on my list to get some more. I told dad that he might have to give the ducks and chickens some canned cat food for dinner. I visted a friend before leaving cairns and didn't leave till about 8pm so i missed out on getting the pellets. So i thought the poor things might be a bit hungry. Dad said the chickens went for the cat food but he didn't know about the ducks. This morning i fed them cat food again and i noticed that the ducks were not interested in the cat food even though it was a fishy one. The chickens loved it of course. But i also noticed that the ducks did not seem particularly distressed. I think they must be gorging on the fat witchety grubs that are all around the garden. Lately they have not been eating all the pellets i've been giving them so this is a good sign. Anyhow, today i will have to make a special trip to Mossman to get more pellets which is annoying since i have to go again tomorrow as well.
     
  20. sun burn

    sun burn Junior Member

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    Inching closer and poisoned sawdust

    Yesterday the other duck person phoned me. She's going to watch a friend on Sunday as he kills some turkeys. I asked if she could ask if i could come along. I am waiting to hear back now.

    Also we are agreed to help each other. She says the thing that's putting her off is how hard the ducks are to pluck. As i haven't experienced that its not the main problem for me.

    Also Joe phoned yesterday but i forgot to phone back. So it looks like he's going to be doing his ducks soon.

    I figure I will use all the support i can get and if that means attending more kills then that's what i will do.

    But also i will maybe get to meet some other local permies so that could be good too.

    When i went to town the other day to get some sawdust, i found out that the sawdust is poisoned with arsenic, cyanide and something else as all the wood up here is treated. I still got a bit of it because it was only after loading it on teh trailer that i realised what a bad idea this would be. Of course i wasn't going to put it on the chickens floor and later vegie patch when i realised this but i thought it might be ok for the other plants but since then i've thought better of that too.

    But what's rather worrying is that the guys at the sawmill told me they give their sawdust to the local stables. Now i am concerned that the people i get my horse poo off have the poisoned sawdust. Of course i have put my horse poo on vegie patch. WEll so far i haven't experienced anything bad from this horsepoo but i think i might have to hvae a chat with teh people who sell the horsepoo. You see in a bag of horsepoo it is half sawdust.

    So bearing all that in mind, you've got to wonder about the hazards of using any timber in your house. Given that when its cut to shape, they are producing a poisoned waste and that waste has to go somewhere and most likely back into the ground.
     

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