Banksias, Bokashi and Birds

I had a very busy day in the yard, today. Actually, because I have limited abilities, I had a very busy couple of hours, that felt like a whole day. LOL.

It started out with the Bokashi Bucket springing a leak on the kitchen counter, which meant that I had to deal with the contents of the bucket in order to fix the leak, so I decided that since it was pretty nearly full anyway, I would bury the contents in the backyard, in the place where we intend to put our composting bins when we set them up. So out I went with a spade and a hoe to dig a suitable trench for the bokashi.

Since I was digging anyway, I also decided that I would gather up windfallen citrus and bury them along with the bokashi compost so that the EM (Effective Microorganisms) from the Bokashi would help to break them down underground. So I grabbed a bucket and went around the yard, collecting up all the fallen cumquats, mandarins and oranges. I also pulled a few spoiled lemons from the lemon tree. (our orchard produces far more than two people can eat!).

The chooks came over to see what I was up to, "Wha-wha-what?" they cooed to me as they pecked at the ground under the trees where I had picked up the fruit. They found some tasty grubs in the still damp earth and were well satisfied, wandering away again once they'd eaten them.

I paused for a while, standing near the plum trees and watching soft white petals drift like snowflakes on the playful breeze.  A pair of kookaburra's chortled and guffawed in the Eucalyptus tree at the end of the yard. In the branches of the plum trees, a plum headed finch dodged his own shadow and flirted with me and my camera as he sipped nectar from the blossoms. The air was filled with the heady scent of jasmine, hinting at the warm spring and summer to come.

Image from Wikipedia.com

But dawdling under the plum tree was not getting my work done, so I carted my bucket of citrus over to the composting area and started to dig a trench.

The earth was soft, rich, alive, and smelled delicious, like rich chocolate in the warm, springlike sunshine. I started to perspire as I worked and the thought of sweet, ripe mandarins on the tree was tempting me to stop for a break.

I kept at it though and finally had a trench spade deep, ready to put the fruit and the Bokashi into. It only took a few moments to bury the fruit and I went to pick one of those tempting Mandarins, carrying it down the patio to eat. It was every bit as delicious as I'd anticipated and did a lot to quench the thirst I'd worked up.

 After a little while, Sandra came outside, taking a break from her studies and we decided to dig out a dead banksia tree from in front of the aviary. This is a job that has been on the list for a while, and why not get it done while the tools for the job were already out of the shed?

It took a while, but we eventually broke off the stubborn roots and got the old, dead tree up out of the ground.

It was time for a well deserved lunch and an afternoon spent on the patio with a glass of chilled apple juice and a good book.