Rainbow Lorikeet Rescued

How good is that? Yesterday a rainbow lorikeet was obviously a little injured and grounded in my back yard. I kept the dog off it, put it in an empty aviary for the midday, let it out in the afternoon with the dog behind a gate.

At night it flapped out of a tree where it was hiding, so I put it back in the aviary for the night. Just then it had been sitting on a perch in the aviary and with the sun out I put the dog away again and then went to move the bird back out onto the ground.

The idea here is that if it's a fledgeling that's fallen out of the nest, the parents come down and feed it, the baby gets some energy and can fly back to the nest.

As I went to handle the bird he/she jumped off the perch, out the door and the last thing I saw was a disappearing black spot on this background


over my back fence. I didn't even get a photo of the bird when it was with me. Quite apt really.

And I'm pretty thankful. I didn't want to include hand rearing of a native bird to my todo list.


Halie can come out of the cooch now.

Budding a Golden Elm

After speaking to Malcolm Campbell on the radio the other week I decided to bud some golden elm twigs


onto a suckered root that had come up with a green top. That chest high one in front of the tank.


We'll see how it goes, just an inverted T cut on the rootstock and slide in a whole "plate" of a bud under the bark.

It didn't work very well last year when I tried it with a peach, but this year I'm leaving the top on so the sap is flowing strongly. Maybe then some sap will make it into my new buds.

Now just to leave it alone, not interfere, and hope for nature to do its bit.

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Citrus time

Excellent. It's the time of year where a citrus mix is a great way for me to start the day.


And this year I have grapefruit, tangelo, blood orange and lemon to make it work. And for this one I did a "ring in" with a navel orange.

Good.


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Mid winter - time to refill the potable tank

I have four rainwater tanks, coming off of four different roof sections. Could use a couple more. Only one of them we use for drinking water. The rest are great for the garden.

So I refill the potable tank in mid winter. The roof is clean, so are the pipes. I can pour out what's already in there and allow a huge downpour to put fresh water in there. Only needs to happen once a year. I think what I'll do for a little while is to let it pour out from the bottom into the garden, even while it's raining. So there will be no stale water in there.

I know it seems obsessive but these things - water, food safety etc are important. Imho.

A salad at this time of the year?

Yes. I have some tomatoes.


And I also have this. A variety specific vinegar from the village of St Emilion, "Le Moulin des Cepages".


This is a Merlot, but when I look at it there is still a fair amount of concentrated grape juice, so sweet too. Lettuce, vine ripened tomatoes, that vinegar and a touch of good oil. Will be nice.

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Tomatoes - still?

Well that's good. This late in te season I'm still getting about four ripening a week.


If I'm lucky the ones under plastic will dovetail into them.


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Rare cheeseburger, my first meal in Paris

Saturday night, I'm cooking "daddy burgers" - no big deal but everyone seems to like them. Tomato, still from my garden lettuce beetroot some cheese and mayonnaise w ketchup. Fine.

But when I got to Paris the first thing I was offered was a cheeseburger. I laughed then realized how silly it was to laugh. The guy I was with loves his food. When the cheeseburger came it was incredible. They had asked how I wanted the meat cooked and then it was brilliant. The meat was fluffy - and rare as I'd asked for it - and everything about it was very, very nice.

I trusted the chef enough to eat a rare cheeseburger, and I was rewarded.

Still, mine tonight will be cooked through.


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