For the first time I had little for the swap except potted plants and seeds. Zucchinis and tomatoes are OK but not enough to spare!

My garden has basically fried in all the heat – driving home from Canberra late Jan the car said it was 48.5⁰C outside near Avenel. How did we ever drive distances without air conditioning in “the old days”? I can remember as one of 5 kids with my parents driving to Sydney and stopping at Gundagai to swim in the Murrumbidgee to cool off. We have 2 tanks of 90,000 litres each for all our water needs, but they are down 40% so we can’t afford to splash much around the garden, but do not begrudge water for the birds. We derive much pleasure from watching them as they come all and every day to the bowls we fill for them on the terrace: various Honeyeaters, Rosellas, Wrens, Fantails, Finches, even a tiny Pardalote. The Magpies and Currawongs like sitting in a bowl further away.

To add insult to injury, a mini hurricane which dropped on us from Mt Macedon and avoided everyone else brought down trees, branches and masses of Eucalyptus bark. At least bark is great mulch on native beds a long way from the house.

Another produce swap I’ve noticed is Harvest Sunbury at Sunbury Community Garden - see https://www.facebook.com/sunburyfruitvegswap/

The annual Macedon Ranges Sustainable Living Festival will run on Saturday 2nd March, 9am-3pm, in conjunction with the Farmers’ Market https://www.mrslf.org.au/

We had a lot of fun last year – let’s do it again and showcase our swap to the world!

February news