I picked a fresh rocket/mizuna/spinach/lettuce/parsly mix last night, after nearly a whole month of no salad, and the food finally felt alive again! This made me smile…. I’ll let you know why.
A month ago there was a problem with the gate, and my flock of 50 sheep grazing next door – within an hour of being away, almost EVERYTHING was reduced to stalk or pulled out roots and all. Their favourites seemed to be the fennel, kale, coriander, beetroot, broccoli, cabbage and even chillies! There was little they missed or didn’t trample. I was reduced to tears, gutted, mourning all the effort that those plants represented. And so it took a few days before I ventured out and planted again.
Glad I did because now the new crops are ready to harvest. No-way near as much as last year though, but at least enough for my family and other family members. Last year I tried hard to have veges all year round, especially the staples of lettuce/carrots/pumpkin/potatoes/spinach and on the whole, succeeded! So this year I planted 5 times as many as last season, and was hoping to supply my local families with veges all winter, until “that incident” a month ago….BUT it makes me appreciate things more. And the kids are learning to appreciate our garden too!
Sometimes I don’t think they notice what I do (- and ask me to get a normal job), but in the last weeks I’ve been getting comments like – “those carrots in the fridge are DISGUSTING mum! What is wrong with them?”
“well honey, they are from the shops, the sheep ate ours”. I think when the next planting of carrots are ready, they might eat 2 months worth – and it’ll make all the work more than worthwhile.
All of these plantings have been a very steep learning curve, because I grew up in the Kimberley (northern WA) and although we were farmers, my parents didn’t have time for a vege patch. And the growing season so short to spare time in a garden wasn’t a real option. Which makes all these vegetable adventure possibilities so exciting!
You can get a lot of love back from growing your own food, sometimes these setbacks make everything we then harvest taste sweeter!
Kind regards,
Rachel
While I was devastated to hear of the sheep invasion I have to admit wondering if you can start to marinate lamb while they are still alive. So…… can you?? 🙂