According to the Nyoongar Seasons, of which there are six, we are now in Djeran. The winds have dropped the last month or so, particularly in their intensity, with light breezes bringing a welcome freshness to the heat of the days. Scattered amongst this is the occasional rain shower that is replenishing not only the garden, but the rainwater tanks. Many flying ants can be seen cruising around in the light winds and the boys and I watched great swarms of them yesterday afternoon taking to the air.
The previous day we spent some time at the beach and watched silver gulls soaring high on the breezes catching ants in flight. A heavy rain shower swept over the beach and it was fun to watch the beachgoers bolting for cover. The boys and I didn’t mind so much as we were already in the water. The water itself was quite calm and flat so the rain made a fantastic pattern across the surface and turned the shallows a beautiful shade of pastel green.
I saw a Willy Wagtail in the garden today, along with finches and wrens. High up on the hill I could hear the rich song of a Whistler. I suspect they were also making the most of the abundance of ant activity.
All throughout the day showers of rain have alternated with bright bursts of sunshine as though flicked on and off with a switch. The kind of rain you just work through as it doesn’t wet through so much and you soon enough dry off soon enough. Except for later in the day when I actually had Mrs PP out in the rain alongside me setting up a new compost pile for the winter (as above).
I never knew what these arched plastic pieces were until a farmer friend told me they were Road Train mudguards which makes sense. I’ve set them up like this a couple of times to make a compost pile that will devour huge amounts of ‘waste’ materials. In this case, old dusty packing boxes and newsprint, along with kitchen scraps and greenery. This is planned to remain in situ for a good couple of months so it is well out of the way of any area that will be utilised in the meantime.
In one of our worm farms there was plenty of action. These worms were congregating on a piece of decomposing pineapple. Lower layers of the worm farm have plenty of cocoons. They are most active it seems in spring and autumn when there is moisture and warmth. The solution from the worm farm is much appreciated at the moment as I use it to feed newly emerging seedlings in containers. I’ve set up a few containers close to the house as the beds are still taking time to construct with all the other projects still to be done.
