Chookie Nap time in the sun

Can you see my favourite chookie here having a sleep in the sun. She is such a sweet chookie, she comes and stands at my feet when I am feeding them or raking their house. Always lets me pat her. I think she feels safe with me as some of her new flock peck her, she is young and is low in the pecking order. I raked up a huge wheelbarrow of sticks from in the chook pen today to help start our fire at night, it is our only form of heating apart from a radiator which only works if you sit on it. A huge pile of Eucalyptus leaves are in the chook run, I think we shall have to burn them. When I was a kid I remember burning off the sticks and leaves in the backyard. I was something you did to keep the fuel down in case of fires but more to keep snakes away from the house. I used to love it, something we used to do with our Dad, fond memories. We had the hose standing by, running on the ground, water was mostly free back then, we had rakes to move the fire around and keep it confined. I look forward to doing that again especially as we are in a fire zone and am probably obliged to do it.

The flowering cherry ( I think) is just coming out into flower and at times it glows pink and the twisted willow behind it is just coming into leaf and is glowing lime green. We need to get a ride on mower soon, the grass is half way up my calf. Need to put on my wellies if I need to cross it. Previous owners told us it is really nice sitting under this tree in Summer time.

Glorious glorious rhododendrons

This Carmelia's flowers are enormous, large bread and butter plats size.

These Rhodies are closer to the house, they are huge, must be at least 50 years old, probably planted when the house went in. I think we may hang our hammocks from them, haven't had a place to hang them for 6 years and I have missed the calm sleepy times rocking gently whilst reading as good book and sipping good wine.

I love this rhodie and the lemon tree together, pink and yellow and green. And the butterfly's! large with black white red and yellow on one side and white on the other, they are beautiful.

Here is a close up of the cherry tree.

Veggie garden beds getting set up, I put in the rhubarb today and 2 punnets of brown onions. I normally grow them from seed but with the moving they got missed out.
I sowed broadbeans last week and pushed into the ground some sprouting garlic.

We worked hard yesterday. We dug lots of annual weeds out of an area on the other side of the polyhouse from the veg beds, it has a net over it so we thought the Blackberries would go well in there but it was full of weeds. So we lifted them and took them round to the veg beds and put them in the bottom of some new ones. I covered them with wet newspaper and then Martin brought out a few barrowloads of soil from in the polyhouse. Previous people grew veg in the ground in the polyhouse on the other side from the grow beds in previous blog. But I want to set up my Aquaponics in their so the soil must come out, it is too good to waste under tubs. So this went ontop of the newspapers I had laid down. I should be able to plant in this right away or when I get some more energy.
Yesterday I sowed lots of veg seeds including roma tomatoes and tiny tim tomatoes, cucumbers 2 kinds, zucchini green and gold, butternut pumpkin and the big round ones, vegetable spaghetti squash, Eggplant, capsicum, chillis, summer and winter savory, 3 types of basil, rocket and more I can't remember. So I will have to have the beds ready in a few weeks to take these.
Mans home, need to go and cook now, bye.