This is all fine and good, but once the pumpkins start to grow it presents a problem. Although they are a variety of bush pumpkin they still grow to a fairly decent and hefty size.

One of our more mature pumpkins, on the ground

The weather has also been rather stormy of late.

Storm clouds to the south

Storm clouds to the north

The winds during saturday night’s storm were strong enough to drop one of the trees in the house yard, luckily it missed the house.

Storm debris

So, with the climbing vine starting to fruit, I needed a solution to hold the fruit in place as it gets heavier and is battered about by the weather.

Small pumpkin already dragging down the vine

I have seen articles on pumpkin slings or hammocks before. I decided that it was worth a try, plus being a fan of hammocks and a sling mumma it seemed silly not to give it a go. We are in heavy “save money to do weed reduction and get large animals on the property” mode, so all my projects at the moment are made with whatever I have on hand. In this case some hemp rope (thanks dad!) and some well used shade cloth.

No frills pumpkin sling

The pumpkin sits in the well supported sling, taking the load off the vine, growing happily until harvest.

Pumpkin sling in action

Snug as a........

If you look closely in the above picture you can even see a tiny pray mantis on the pumpkin – yay for chemical free gardening!
Hopefully the slings work, because there are a few more pumpkins on the way and I can’t just sit back and wait to see if the first sling does the job.

More pumpkins on the way

Does these make me an “Attachment Gardener” now?

Of course, the main reason for camping at the creek is…..well, the creek. It was hot and sweaty weather and what better way to spend it than sitting in this:

We had a lovely afternoon, playing in the water, rediscovering the layout of the creek and Leo discovered a new activity to pass the time. Building cities in the creek.

The island city

A lone sentinel

Cooling off

Then it was back up to the campsite for dinner

and some dry play time.

Rolling cars down the hill - fun and games

Once the sun sank behind the mountain it was time for bed.

Sunset from the campsite

The first night was, quite frankly, hell. I had forgotten to put an extra fly tarp over the tent and, as it was a full moon, it was like daylight in the tent once the moon rose. I had also forgotten that thursday night is, for some unknown reason, the busiest night for freight trains and with the camp ground so close much closer to the train line, well, for the first time in a long time I heard every single train. As if that wasn’t enough, the icing on the cake was when Zara, still recovering from whooping cough, coughed until vomiting and vomited on herself, her sleeping bag and me. Or to be more precise, my dreads. Yes, ewwwww gross. So, after dragging her sleeping bag outside and washing it and hanging it up, washing her off and then giving myself a very cold shower, I was ready to go home. The kids though pleaded and begged to stay and in the morning light things sometimes seem better. We modified the tent set up, got Zara a spew bucket and actually slept quite well the next few nights.

Of course the highlight of the time was the creek. The kids always find new things to do and play, the next few days being no exception.

My boat

Concentration or consternation?

Finished!

The test (it did float!)

Ready to go

We’ll be back Hopefully next time daddy will be able to join us.

As part of the “keeping the kids entertained” we took a walk to survey the waters of our creek, which had risen considerably overnight. Admittedly, only one of the three was enthused by this idea until I wrapped it in the guise of a photography expedition, leading to the use of shiny new and rediscovered old cameras. So, off we trekked down the hill, to the roaring river below.

The photos below don’t really do justice to the sheer awesomeness of the volume of water. There is a real roar and you can actually hear the larger rocks being pushed and jostled along the creek bed. This is the same creek you have seen us swimming in and sitting beside in numerous photos on this blog. Enjoy.

The creek visible from the track to the house

Northern crossing

View from our camping spot of two weeks ago

Runoff from the railway above

Swimming hole (not today!)

The swirling torrent where we usually sit and play

Surging waves

Cool lichen

Trees and palings pushed up against a tree

Fairy steps

Investigating the runoff along the road

Southern crossing

Hope you are all managing to stay safe and dry.

Rain drops on the spider web

Our closest creek crossing

Where two creeks become a river...

Recently harvested potatoes

Part of yesterdays harvest

On the other hand I am feeling much more on top of the fire and batch baking as well as getting into a few more uses for the produce we are growing. I finally feel confident with the way in which to make and cook the bread now, with a great success rate.

Fresh bread

No more doughy insides

Preparing the trays

In the oven

Semi dried tomatoes in olive oil

Tomatoes in olive oil, feta and herbs

Choc chip deliciousness

If anyone has any great recipes for button squash I’d love to hear them, I think we’re about to be inundated!

Perfect corn

We got to taste all of two cobs of about 30 on the plants. Yes, the crows found them and systematically demolished every single one *sigh*.

The Original Corn Patch

Crow exclusion attempt 1

Of course, as my daughter pointed out, those crows are pretty smart. Yes, me doing my best crazy lady impression running from the house, broom in hand yelling “We don’t want you here you bloody crows!” followed by choice expletives, that the three year old picked up for general use, doesn’t scare them for long. Neither have the hanging ornaments. If this doesn’t work I may consider fencing in the whole garden. Honestly though, I don’t really want to. Often when I’m in the garden I see at least three different bird species in there working FOR me. Eating the moths, bugs and caterpillars. Plus, what a lot of hard work. Hopefully this works, only time will tell.

Although the fact that the crows have already started in on my growing tomato crop doesn’t bode well.

Tomato, half eaten by crows

We now return you to your regularly irregularly scheduled blog posts

Sometimes......