We have a problem Houston. It is our rooster Le Rod. After weeks and weeks of thinking he was a weakling and unsure of his sexuality (and therefore his usefulness) he has become the most magnificent hormonally driven animal you could wish to encounter. He is huge. Emerald tail feathers glinting in the sun. He fluffs himself up to double his size and flaps his wings before he crows (yup that’s happening folks) and lets the whole world know he means business. He is mounting ALL the chickens, even the old black ones who had stopped laying before he arrived. Guess what? They are ALL laying now. He has created a harem extraordinaire and they are all under his spell. Crazy.

So what is the problem I hear you ask? Nothing as far as I am concerned. I was a doubter and a sceptic but am no longer, despite the fact that he is still a bit slow on the uptake of scraps he is fabulous on all other levels except one. He hates the MOTH. He that wanted a rooster so much is now the one saying “he may have to go”. Its a blokey thing. Rod knows he’s male and therefore he flares up and runs at him, attacking him at every opportunity and generally letting him know he is not welcome in Rod’s patch! A piece of rubber piping is always at hand when the MOTH opens and shuts the pen as he cannot trust Rod as far as he can throw him. I on the other hand have not a problem in the world with him. How the tables have turned!!

After being here nearly 5 years (can you believe it????) we needed to address the quality of our soil. As complete newbies we were pleasantly surprised at our early successes with our veggies. Literally everything grew well. We were told how lucky we were with our soil and although grateful we just kept on planting and harvesting year after year without really replenishing at all. I am trying to grow things as organically as possible which makes me very suspicious about all the fertilisers etc available and apart from adding some of the chook poo and the odd drenching of seasol we haven’t added anything. We have tried to increase the level of the soil most years by digging the top third out and adding organic sugar cane mulch to bulk out the soil with pockets of air for the veggie roots to expand into but that’s about it! I had intended planting a green manure crop over winter but we went away before I could plant it and we lost that window of opportunity. Therefore I had a recent trip to Bunnings and my entire car boot was filled with organic compost of many varieties to boost the happiness of our soil. We will keep you posted as to the outcome. I have tomatoes, zucchini. eggplant, beans, spinach, broccoli, beetroot, onions, broad beans, lettuce, blueberries, capsicum, asparagus and herbs planted and we are trying to plan our meals around what is available rather than by what we fancy!

I was looking forward to a garden full of Spring bulbs after meticulously planting over 200 of them back in the Autumn. I planted 40 around each pear tree in the driveway, another 20 or so in the side beds and about 10 under JC’s tree. I was pleased to see green shoots pushing skywards in several areas but became totally bemused when they ALL disappeared with the exception of my lovely Welsh brother-in-laws memorial where all the daffodils survived and flowered. A sign for sure! I am really disappointed that the other bulbs are a no show and apparently it is quite common that they can be eaten underground by rodents and of course we have an extremely healthy population of rabbits and hares all around us that could account for the demise of the few bulbs that did emerge. What a thankless task and waste of money. I’ve tried twice now to no avail so that’s that for this little black duck. Not doing it again. Maybe I’ll try some clivea next? It would be so nice to get some winter colour in the garden.

Fathers Day weekend was made extra special by the arrival of Sam who chose to spend his first Fathers Day as a Dad with his own Dad! I still find it incredible that we have three generations in our immediate family and that Cooper and Myla are lucky enough to have 3 Great Grandparents still alive! I doubt we’ll be lucky enough to see our great grandkids (unless these littlies are child brides!!) and it really makes you aware of your mortality. I am so happy that my Mum (and GG to Coops and Myla) will be in Australia next February and will get to have time with both babies. Cooper did squeeze in a quick trip to see his Great Pop the other day but it’s not the same as being able to play with them, feed them and bath them at home. GG will be able to read them stories and have lots of fun with them as they will be one by then. Yeehaa!

We thought it would be a bit of a treat to go out for a Fathers Day lunch and we ventured back to Mountain Ridge Winery as it was a beautiful day and they had live music playing too. Cooper was so well behaved and fell asleep to the saxophone allowing us to enjoy an hour being grown ups! We are lucky to have so many lovely places that are user friendly nearby to enjoy.

Poor Cooper has been roped in very early to being a Roosters supporter. His Dad was bequeathed a jersey on his 1st birthday and the tradition has continued. Here is a rather shell shocked looking Coops sporting his Roosters booties courtesy of Smutzer! He hasn’t got a chance poor little chap…

On his very last morning we took our little boy to see the chickens which he loves. He doesn’t know which one to look at first and his little head swivels from side to side following them with his eyes. He loves getting down at their level so he can see them properly but today one of the chooks thought that Cooper looked like lunch and gave him a strong peck through the fence! It all happened so fast and he was SO UPSET. It was the shock more than anything else poor little darling but there were real tears and he wasn’t so sure anymore about his little feathered friends. Life sucks sometime.

This is a picture of a happy chappy who has finally after 66 years on earth managed to bake a cake! He mentioned that if he died tomorrow he had never made a cake and I said that was easily rectified (most people have far bigger bucket list achievements on their list lets face it!!) and started him off on a very easy banana, date and walnut bread which is basically a melt and mix type recipe. Needless to say his assistant (yup you guessed who) had everything measured and chopped so there was minimal complications for our first timer (didn’t want him discouraged) and he was very pleased with the result! Let’s hope he gets back into the kitchen occasionally to whip up something delicious now that he’s broken the seal!