Spring Weather Report 2020

 145.4mm rain total.

September  45.8mm falling on ten days.
October      87.2mm over nine days.
November  12.4mm over seven days.

Wind: Nothing over 50kph, and only one day with that.
Minimum temperature: one day below at 0C (in September)

Maximum temperatures: 42.4C (Nov 27)
September: seven days over 25C.
October: five days over 30C.
November: sixteen days over 30C, of  which twelve over 35C and two over 40C.

Relative Humditity:
September average 68 (min 14.5).
October average 69 (min 14).
November average 50 (min 4.7, four below 10%).

First heatwave of summer came at the end of spring.

Permaculture Design Series Videos!

You may recall that in the past I got rather upset at the legalistic commercialised behemoth some of the old Permaculture institutions seem to be turning into.  It was very disheartening.  So, I was very pleased to find another set of Mollison lectures on Youtube, this time hopefully safe from being copyright infringed.  I have added a link to the playlist in my blogroll.

 Credit should go to Networks Productions for releasing the videos into the infosphere.  Cheers!

Winter Weather Report 2020

88 mm rain total (306.8 mm yearly total to end of August).

June    31mm falling on nine days.
July     12mm over ten days.
Augsut 51mm over fifteen days (max 6mm).

Heaviest rainfall in a day was 11.6 mm on 21 June.
Wind: no major wind, one day in June it gusted up to mid 50km/h.

Maximum Temperature 23.3C

Minimum temperature: -2.3C

June:     3 days below freezing
July:      4 day below.
August  1 day below.

Relative Humiditity: 81%, 85%, 84%.

Autumn weather report

108 mm rain total (213mm yearly total to end of May)

March  10mm falling on four days.
April    64mm over eight days (max 13mm).
May     34mm over eleven days (max 6mm).

Wind: no major wind, one day gust maxed at 60km.
Minimum temperature: 2.3C

Maximum temperature: 35.4C
March: seven days over 30C.
April:   eight days over 25C, max 29C.
May:    five days over 20C, max 23C.

Relative Humiditity: 52%, 71%, 75%.

We surpassed last year's rainfall total of 181mm on the first day of May.  In 2018 we had a total rainfall of 189mm.  We surpassed that on 20 May.

So, good conditions for gardening through autumn.  Farmers got there crops in around the regular dates (around the beginning of May, some earlier and some later).  Countryside is greening up beautifully and water catchments are full.

Puttering

Well, all those people who doubted our sanity choosing a low impact, low cost 'lifestyle' in the country are now possibly wishing they had done so too.  Tiny apartments (with a 'view' if you're lucky) or the biggest house possible on the subdivided block, urban infill taking away the parks, centralised shopping districts that you need a car to get to.  Le sigh.

As for me, I awoke around sunrise this morning with my limited list of things to do in the yard before I head out to fulfill my caring responsibilities for the next couple days.  Water everything (a few days next week in the mid 30C's) check on all the new plantings (another set of daisies and herbs out the back door, bulbs starting to pop up everywhere, vegie transplants and seedlings, zillions of potted plants, new potato patch).  Still need to turn my compost-heap-the-third.  Feed the birds.  Feed the turtle.  Admire the wood I've started stacking away for winter in the woodshed.

Life is good.  Keep smiling.  Enjoy the day.

Tagari Update

You may recall that back in December I wrote to Tagari publishing, asking about their motive for closing down some youtube videos of a Permaculture Design Course from Melbourne Uni that was made a few years ago.

I got a response, which in itself was pleasant.  Basically, they said they can't be responsible for the world not always reaching up to my expectations (I'd said I'd thought that PC was about more than eliminating all competition - afterall my watching the videos was leading me towards paying for a PDC irl, so we'd all gain by their loss - but that I couldn't think of another relevant motivation for what appeared to be 'cornering' behaviour (to use marketingspeak)).  Which is true, as far as it goes.  The answer was a pithy little number, with a subtext of cuting me down to size with its wit (or maybe the author is just a witty person).  So, after I'd absorbed the lesson and seeing Tagari's behaviour as the epitomy of its own truth, I fired back a response saying how disappointed I was in them.  lol

And in my reactive spitefulness decided not to go to a PDC that was being held at a not too far distant working PC farm which I'd first went to in about 1990 just after it'd started up (back when PC was a movement that seemed to be full of idealists).  Which was lucky because the large amount of money this would have cost turned out to be necessary for more immediate needs in the months following.

The PDC was scheduled to start in less than a month from now.  So it would have been cancelled out by the Koalavirus.  And if I had paid for my spot, I would have been loathe to ask for my money back as the conveners probably rely on such payments, and waited the requisite time before attending at some time in post-covid reality.  And would have felt guilty if I'd asked for my money back, but as it would have been my last likely available capital for many months I would have likely done so.

So ironically, I can say Tagari saved me either a small fortune or a lot of grief with their small mindedness.  Which is kinda nice.  So far I've resisted the urge to email them and say thankyou.

Lucky the spirit of Bill is bigger than all of that, so I've continued my own adventures on the path.  More on that later...

Belated Anniversary in a time of plague

It's been a bit over a year since I started this little online garden journal so I thought I'd better mark the occasion.  Late is better than never.  Especially in this time of plague.

In times like this I feel doubly sorry for the untold millions who live in tiny apartments without easy access to green and clean.  Life must be tough in the concrete jungle at present, where 'home' must be getting close to 'cell' (think 'prison cell') for millions / billions around the world.  It makes me really appreciate the small patch of paradise I live in, the multitude of tiny freedoms that I enjoy, the opportunities for growth and development with which I'm surrounded in these difficult days.

I'm writing this partly because it's still a bit wet and cool outside.  I have a few tasks for the day to keep up with my longer term goal of greening my block.  Key for the day will be sorting out the outflow from my latest rainwater tank addition (a repurposed agricultural chemical container that holds about 1100 litres), turning my latest hot compost heap, planting out a few more of my potted shrubs (the survivors from my experiements with taking cuttings last year), transplanting a few seedlings of what will hopefully be some winter vegies.  If I feel really active, I've got some other potted plants that I've accumulated to repot and a fair bit of organising to do in the shed (which has become overcrowded and run down over the past few months as I've only gone in and out of it to get what I need).  The idea is to free up workspace for a few 'construction tasks' that I'd love to do - such as build a workbench so I can build some decent infrastructure for the yard.  That should keep me busy for a while.

As the social isolation has become our new 'norm' I've had a bit more time on my hands.  I did do a few shifts at a nearby vineyard, out on a tractor through the night towing a 'chaser bin' alongside mechanical harvesters, and have stepped up my support efforts for my ageing parents (spending a night or two a week with my father, who lives a couple hours away), but these 'jobs' have not filled in all of the 'spare' time created by cancellation of meetings, organising and running the various community organisations and functions with which I'm involved.  This has left me lots of time to concentrate on our block and get my hands dirty.

I might even find some time to blog about what's been happening.  Which would be nice.

Stay safe.

Summer Weather Report

111.8 mm rain total.

December  5.8mm falling on two days.
January      23mm over six days.
February    83mm over four days (78mm falling in one night).

Wind: only a couple days in January where wind gusts pushed into 70kmh.
Minimum temperature: 6.9C

Maximum temperatures: 46.1C
December: twenty days over 30C, ten of which over 40C (two spells, five and four days).
January:     twelve days over 30C, four of which over 40C.
February:   eleven days over 30C, none over 40C.

Relative Humditity:
December average 41.3 (min 5.5, 11 below 10%)
January average 50 (min 4.5, five below 10%)
February average 62 (none below 10%)

Farmonline rain data is collected within 100m of our home, so will continue to use it.

After a hot dry spring, summer began the same way.  The intense heat waves (multiple days over 40) combined with wind and dry spells.  This weather created serious fire conditions.  We did not suffer locally from this, but the rest of the continent did.  This type of weather only broke properly on the first day of February, with the heaviest rain in a few hour period for home that's been recorded.  The towns in immediate vicinity had similar experience, but rest of state was less than half the rain we got that day (still very helpful to them).  The milder weather we've had since has been wonderful.

The heat events arose due a long patch of time where air over centre of continent didn't get shifted and just kept heating up.  This was apparently a result of Indian Ocean Dipole and Southern Ocean Ocellation events.  Long term climate changes made the result hotter and drier but didn't drive it per se (or so I'm told).  The heavy rain even came about when the monsoon turned 'on', sweeping the rain we got from North Queensland through the centre and to here (not seen this before).  That combined with Indian Ocean Dipole 'flipping' and the Southern Oscillation returning to 'normal', all in the space of about two or three days.  Was quite weird how it happened.  I watched it all on weather radars over that period.  New something was going to happen, didn't think it would a river forming across our street!  We weren't flooded, but was a close thing for a few of our neighbors.