Yesterday afternoon, I'd just planted some snapdragons.
I've never grown Californian poppies before but some were in a bee and butterfly seed mix I broadcast over the garden a couple of months ago. I was surprised and very pleased when I saw these charming, buttercup flowers spring up right in the middle of the cottage garden last week. But when I saw about 20 stingless bees in that yellow cup, I decided that California poppies would be a part of my forever garden. We need flowers such as those poppies to help provide pollin for visiting bees. We have a lot of bees here, many solitary bees like blue banded bees, teddy bear bees, leafcutter bees, resin bees and some more social bees such as our native stingless bees. Stingless bees produce honey known as Sugarbag. We buy our raw honey from a man down the street who keeps hives and I'm pretty sure his bees come here too. The honey bees we're all so used to seeing are an introduced species from England.
During the week Kerry came over and cleaned our solar panels, solar hot water system and skylights. The solar output went from 900 to 1200 watts after the cleaning. We sent him home with a bag of our backyard passionfruits and ginger. It feels good to share what we produce here and knowing we have the support of our family to do the things we can no longer manage, well, that's priceless. A couple of months ago, Shane helped us transplant fruit trees, dig the garden and tidy up the backyard. Having a close and loving family has always been important to us and now that we're older, our sons' help gives us the opportunity to continue living here on this large block of land.
Yesterday, I posted a video of Gracie searching for geckos. I didn't realise how easy it is to post videos on Instagram so I'll do more in the future. I'll do some test videos next week and work out what works and what doesn't.
Pink Princess lavender.
South of us in New South Wales and Victoria, there have been Coronavirus hotspots, and particularly in Melbourne, thousands of people are in an extended lockdown. I'm not sure of the situation overseas now because I haven't been reading the news much lately but I'm sure millions of people are affected by the Coronavirus worldwide. I remember when we isolated here for about three months and by the time it was over, I was so happy even to go to the supermarket and drive along the road, it made me aware of how much I took for granted before these harsh conditions became part of our lives. If you're in a lockdown situation or how you live has been significantly changed, I send love and warm wishes to you and hope you'll be liberated soon. Hold on!
I'll be doing my normal chores as well as gardening and sewing over the weekend. What are you doing?
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