One potato, two potato, three potato, four...

There's a paddock on the right of our driveway that has been growing a lovely crop of gorse since we have lived here. Every year it gets slashed and a couple of times we've had a groomer in but we have never gotten on top of it.

We have never planted it out because we've never had the water or the need for the extra space, but this year we have and we do.

A potato crop is a great way to start off new ground as it breaks up the ground as the potatoes grow.

A potato crop is also a great way to out compete the weeds because they grow a dense ground cover smothering them.

First Dave passed down and created each row on his tractor by ripping and rotary hoeing and then Bren went behind on his tractor and using an angled grader blade dug the trenches.

Wearing apple picking bags full of seed potatoes and potatoes from last year's crop, we walked along the trenches dropping the spuds in and kicking in dirt from the mounds on the sides to cover them.

The whole of last Friday Bren, Liam, Andy and I dropped and covered, dropped and covered.

We planted 20 varieties of potatoes;

Pink Fur Apples,

Ruby Lou,

Royal Blue,

Kipfler,

Desiree,

Dutch Cream,

Pink Eye,

Red Star,

Bintje,

Up To Date (Scottish variety 1894),

Purple Congo,

Tolangi,

Nicola,

Banana,

Bismark,

Saphire,

Spunta,

Cranberry,

Symphonia,

Pontiac,

and a couple of unnamed, unlabelled surprise varieties.

On Saturday it was Bren, his Dad John and I, and after lunch we realised we were racing against the clock to finish the job before the rain came. We changed the process at that point to me and Bren sitting on the back of the ute that John was driving. He drove up and down the rows and we dropped the spuds in and the occasional one through the car window (by accident).

It is such a great feeling to be covering up the last row as the rain sets in. And then to sit inside enjoying the rain and the feeling of a job completed.

The spuds will grow in that paddock for the next five months. As they come through the soil Bren will drag more soil off the mounds getting rid of the weeds on the mounds and on the growing potatoes.

You keep covering potatoes as they grow through the soil so they keep putting out roots. On each root they put out on their way up to the sun they grow potatoes, so the more times you cover them, the more potatoes you reap.

So we'll see you back here in late Autumn and because of the wonderful (and very handsome) list maker, we'll know which variety is which.

Copperhead snake.

We've had a visitor in the hothouse this morning.

Watch out Pobblebonks, the Copperhead's main diet is frogs.

I think that's a sign that its time to plant everything out now.

The Pobblebonks.

We're not sleeping much at the moment, the frog noises are just so loud.

The other day Bren sat down at the computer and googled frog noises. We listened to a whole lot of them until we identified the ones we'd been listening to day and night.

They are the Eastern Banjo frogs.

They also have the nickname Pobblebonk because of the 'bonk' noise the males make. When one starts others join in to make a chorus of bonks.

Lately we'd noticed some foamy nests in different parts of the house dam and decided to go and investigate.

We collected some in a jar and discovered that the foam is actually jelly that contains thousands of little frog eggs.

It must be too early for tadpoles as we only saw this one.

But after lifting up some rocks and sticks we finally came across a few little Pobblebonks.

I've heard that frogs are a good indication of how healthy an ecosystem is. If that is true then ours is very healthy indeed, you can't really say the same for my sleeping habits though.

Chooks at work.

Last year this was part of our garlic patch. This year we grew carrots, beetroot, cabbages, kale, spinach, turnips, broccoli and cauliflower here. Until about a month ago we were still harvesting from this plot.

Last week it was finally dry enough for the chooks to be brought down from the bush.

We love watching the chooks when they fly out of their houses onto a new patch of garden.

It doesn't take them long to start exploring their new surroundings.

The chooks will enjoy this area for the next couple of weeks but during this time they will also be hard at work for us. Their job is to eat the insects and the left over vegies, cultivate the soil and fertilise the ground with their poo.

There's Bingo making sure Dave Griffiths from geomtree is one of the good guys.

Every day their houses are pushed further along the rows to ensure their poo is evenly spread.

In a couple of weeks the chooks will be moved on and the ground will be prepared for planting this growing season's crop.

I hope you have a great week wherever you are whatever the season.

Ducks in the grass.

Last Wednesday morning when Bren went to change the water in the brooder he noticed a bit of blood on the wings of one of the ducklings.

Upon closer inspection he noticed that the ducklings, now five weeks old, are growing their wing feathers. The chicks must have noticed too because they were pecking these new feathers causing the duckling to bleed.

It was time to separate the ducks and chicks and as the ducks seemed much hardier and bigger they got to get out. Bren and Liam fenced off a large grassy area that surrounds the brooder.

Ducklings are so sociable always waddling around or lazing about together in one big group.

They did take a little while to get the hang of the faster group waddling and would trip each other up a fair bit at first.

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My ducklings love watching the feathered ducklings.

They were so funny making several passes of the pool/pond but not actually slowing down or looking at it.

Then finally they stopped to have a drink.

And then a few dived in and splashed about.

After a while they decided it was time for a bit of a rest.

We still put them back in the brooder every night for warmth and protection but each day they seem to explore further and get more confident.

Thanks for visiting us at the market today Deb, Aaliya and family, it was ace to meet you.

I hope you are having a great weekend whereever you are, whatever the season.

Farming secrets.

Last August Hugo and Helen from Farming Secrets paid a visit to Daylesford Organics.

Farming Secrets is a subscription based program that connects farmers and gardeners with experts in their fields.

They spent a few hours here filming their latest DVD which features an interview and farm tour with Bren and an interview with Clive Blazey founder of Diggers Seeds and promoter of heirloom vegetables.

Purchasing the DVD will entitle you to a phone consultation with Bren about your farm or home garden.

The DVD featuring our Bren will be available for sale later this year but they are releasing a few little previews first.

Click here to watch a couple of minutes of Bren talking about how we get the chooks to work for us saving us energy.

Click here to watch Bren talk about aerating your soil using carrots.

Click here to watch Bren talk about planting by the moon.

Click here to watch Bren talk about using as many different systems of farming as you find helpful and useful.

Our new logo.

We've finally decided on and committed to our new logo.

We're so excited and can't wait to start the new growing season with our fresh new image.

The next step is to source and print the most environmentally friendly labels, egg cartons, business cards, t'shirts and signs. And then some fridge magnets, badges, tote bags....can you tell how much I love it?