Feta and Walnut Salad

This salad is good for any time of year, but perhaps not in the extreme of winter. Works best without lettuce, otherwise you have a mess. 1/2 stick of Danish Feta 1 Lebanese cucumber 1 handful walnuts 2 sticks of celery 1 fennel bulb (no leaves) 1 small apple, peeled.

olive oil

white wine vinegar

salt & pepper to taste

Variations

1/2 cup grape tomatoes finely diced capsicum Please note, I use the Danish feta because it's soft texture melts into the olive oil & vinegar and enhances the dressing. It is alsways a little cheaper than the beautiful Greek varieties too and that always helps.

Radishes and rabbits & Black Cockatoos

The weather is beginning to get cool in the late evening and this Autumn afternoon I saw a flock of black cockatoos, calling as they flew southwest, lazily. The call is sort of like "AAH-EEeee", and commandingly loud. They are absolutely impressive birds to see up close. I will venture they are a bit magical. The rabbit Oscar spent his dusk out in the front garden digging up dandelion roots, and imagining Farmer Mac Gregor coming over the hedge. At the moment we are harvesting radishes, eggplants (at least the ones the wasps haven got to) and beans. Well we didn't quite get enough green french string less beans the last time we planted them, so just to make sure the kids and I are really sick of eating them, Dougie thoughtfully planted a lot more. Thankfully the guinea pig family and the fussy rabbit have become allies and eat as many as I do. So Radishes, beans, eggplants, and the naval oranges are all coming on nice and thick hanging in juicy gaggles on the spindly little tree. We desperately need to make up a batch of pesto with the mountains of basil dominating the veggie patch. Doug has just planted out the lettuces for Autumn and mulched the yard with lucerne. Doug also found time to bake a chocolate marble cream cheese slice, which is noice. I'm nursing injuries from washing too many cars.

Oscar arrives.

The rumours are all true. We have another rodent in the back yard called Oscar, the white and silver bunny rabbit, just in time for Easter it seems. Oscar belonged to friends moving overseas, and he prefers to remain local. We have set up a run in the front yard that he goes to every evening on dusk. He's developing his bunny hop. We welcome Oscar into Dougies Backyard.

Johnathon is a Mum!

Yes, that's right, you saw it here first. Two male guinea pigs can reproduce, given the right environment and lots of love. We thought Johnathon was just getting fat on the good life here in Dougie's garden, but it turns out we were wrong. Just as wrong as the pet shop guy who told the little boy (who gave us the guinea pig) that Johnathon was a male. Grace would like to announce the arrival of Snowy, Pearl and Apricot. We are now a family of 12!

Here's the man from Country Energy grabbing the bats from the wires above our driveway. At this stage the baby is clinging onto the mothers fur still hidden under her wings. The mother looked like she was sleeping, but the baby bat moved around quite a lot throughout the day. The only people who are qualified to touch the wires are Grade 2 Electricians. It means that the local Joe at the lighting shop is unable to climb up and deal with baby bats. Most locals here are not particularly fond of the bats for various reasons, but they are a valuable part of our eco system and the propagation of certain types of night-flowering gums.

Dramatic Bat Rescue

We've had some excitement in Dougies Garden of late. A baby bat was rescued from the power lines right outside the garden last week. It was a 3 week old female eastern black bat clinging onto it's dead mother who had been caught on the telegraph wire lines. The Mango tree is in season and it may have been the attraction to Dougies Yard. We obediently called Wires (wildlife rescue volunteers) who immediately called Country Energy and the local News team even turned up for the rescue. Grace was the first person to spie the baby and we studied it for ages to see that it really was alive. It was moving carefully arounf the mother's fur, trying to keep cool in the hot summer day. Thankfully there was quite a breeze and the little thing managed to hang on until help arrived. It waved it's tiny wing in the air to keep cool. Lots of photos were taken.

More rain on the way

Doug checked the rain guage today and it is screaming "90 mililitres". So we may be in for another feet wetting ankle dripping mouldy clothes smelling few weeks. We've released the tadpoles from the previous downpour and I think one was called 'Elsa'. I don't know what the other 8 were called. At night the frogs are calling so loudly that it's hard to get to sleep. I never know whether the guinea pigs are calling out because they're hungry or because they're drowning in the surface water that's lying about. I do check on them occassionally with a carrot in one hand and a big stick in the other to keep the dogs away. This week in Dougies Garden we're getting cucumbers, radishes, basil, eggplants and coriander. Although it's in need of a good weeding. We'd like to plant a vine for the Richmond River birdwing butterfly. Aristolochia praevenosa is the only native vine that will sustain the Richmond Birdwing.