Jembella Farm: Tomatoes and Kindness of Spirit

Saturday 12 December 2015

Tomatoes and Kindness of Spirit

The tomato prunings from last month developed roots while sitting in glass jars on the north facing bathroom window sill.
I planted them into the garden three weeks ago and they are doing well.

Soon I will trim off the leaves around the bottom that are touching the ground to prevent disease from the water splashing dirt onto the leaves when I water them. Although you can see sprinklers in this photo, I'm not using those this year as I'm trying to use less water. So I'm watering around the base of all the plants using the washing machine water interspersed with tap water every couple of days so the soil doesn't become too acidic.

While Brian's sons were here for dinner during the week he roped them into helping to put the nets over all of the fruit trees. This big old apricot tree is loaded this year. Now that the birds can't get to the fruit it's only the earwigs that we have to contend with, which crawl inside and send the fruit rotten.
I'm told that the commercial orchards have the same problems but use sprays to deter or kill the earwigs. Have you ever seen the orchardists on their tractors spraying? It seems weird to me that they are covered from head to toe in protective gear plus serious face mask protection. Yet, this is fruit that will soon be picked and in the shops for sale.

A much cooler few days here in the Barossa with the temperatures in the mid twenties, so humans and animals are enjoying the relaxed pace before the heat returns.

I found another lovely letter in the Farm Gate Shop from Cheryl this week. How lovely it is to read your notes, they really gladden my heart to hear such kind words and good sense. You are so right about there being too much negativity and greed in our world these days but with simple acts of kindness and generosity we can create a space of peacefulness around us, our friends and family which must surely seep out into the community.
Your recipe is calling to be made as soon as possible. Thank you so much for sharing it with me and as soon as I have made it I will let you know the results.

Kindness abounds from far and wide, with generosity of spirit in spades from strangers, but who I feel I know, through the blogosphere. (Spell correct doesn't like that word!) I've been having issues with my settings that are not allowing some readers to leave a comment, beginner's trials and errors on my part. Apologies for that and hopefully we have that sorted out now.
Thank you for your precious help Emma from A Simple Living Journey
I have added Emma's blog to my side bar as her words are so beautifully written from the heart. It's the younger generation like Emma and her family who give me faith in our future here on this planet.
She will have you in tears one day and laughing out loud the next.

Thank you for visiting today and I hope your weekend is productive and relaxing in the right measure.

6 comments:

Emma Christian13 December 2015 at 15:12
Naw, Thankyou so much for your kind and generous words! I have been helped enormously with setting up my little blog and it's so good to be able to pass on the little knowledge I have in regards to blogging!

Earwigs, arnt they the worst?! Gosh I really dislike them, creepy little things. They LOVE new seedling too and have had entire veggie patches eaten by them when they have been bad. Like with most things I find having a bio-diverse garden helps keep them at bay, but you seem to have that well sorted so I'm afraid I have no suggestions to help! Except sympathy!
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poggeaux15 December 2015 at 20:51
What a lovely blog. We used to live at Tanunda and I used to work at the now defunct wine label print shop in Nuri' called Auricht Quadrex. Small world.
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Sue18 December 2015 at 23:02
Have you tried sinking either a plant pot or an upturned plastic 2 litre drinks bottle (slice off the bottom and push neck first into the soil) next to each pair of tomato plants. If you then water into the bottle or plant pots the water goes straight to the roots of the plants and there's less evaporation and the plants send their roots further down rather than being on the surface and risking scorching.

Something that works well for me in the polytunnel and worked outdoors when we lived down South here in the UK, I don't need to do it as much outdoors here in the open on a Welsh hillside, we have rain all year round !!
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About Us

Whether you're living in an apartment, in a house in the suburbs or on acres, you can live frugally and sustainably. There are many things you can do to save money, eat ethically and healthily, reduce waste and live an enriched life.
We are Sally and Brian and we live in the Barossa Valley (South Australia) in a 100 year old house on sixteen acres with 2 dogs, 7 cows, 2 alpacas, 5 geese, 35 chickens, 78 sheep and a few bee hives.
Our way of life takes team work and dedication, but over the years we've learned to be more productive without seeming to put in quite so much effort. We've learned through making mistakes and taking a different approach to what the conventional ways would be. Still learning every day and constantly researching old and new methods, we believe that our lives are greatly enriched, we are healthier and we couldn't imagine any other way of life.
Considered to be living The Good Life, people love to visit us on our small farm to learn about our simple living philosophy.

Why do we do it?
Our love of good food, concern for our health and respect for all animals. The further we got into living on the land the more aware we became that most of the standard practices of growing food were not satisfactory. We couldn't eat with a clear conscience.
Milk from sad cows, pasteurized and homogenized into white liquid. Meat from distressed, hormone and antibiotic pumped livestock. Vegetables and fruits grown and sprayed with chemicals. What to do? Grow our own!
Slowly we grew our knowledge and took one step at a time, becoming proficient in one skill before moving on to the next. The learning curves were steep. We fell over and got back up again. There has been some derision and criticism of our approach from a few, but that's life when you swim against the tide.
If we are not the "norm" then so be it. There is nothing "normal" about growth hormones fed to beef, anti-biotics and chemicals fed routinely to chickens, cruelty and disrespect for farmed animals, meals in a box, GM foods, strawberries and tomatoes in winter.
Thankfully the World is waking up to cleaner and more ethical food. We didn't know back then that Organics and Bio-dynamics would become the "new black". The tide is turning and our swimming is becoming easier.