Photo walk round Lantanaland

Curtis was being a bit grumpy so the one thing guaranteed to settle him is strapping him into the chest carrier and go for a walk. So I went for a bit of a photo walk, unfortunately not with my good camera as I'd left all the SD cards on my desk or in the iMac at work.

This is Dolores, my youngest cow. She is a black and white jersey, which is a bit rare. Hopefully she is pregnant. She is in the top paddock with the best grass as she gets bullied off the fruit and hay the others get. She also treats me a little like a 14 year old girl would the Bieber, minus the screaming. She absolutely adores me. I can't wait for her to have a calf cause she is so placid she should be a joy to milk.

This is Lafayette or Laf. I have been milking her for a few years. She loves me too but more like a marriage. She reserves the right to be in a bad mood or give me a kick if I don't touch her right. She is also an absolute greedy guts and will bellow if I walk past and there is a chance of a feed.

With all this rain around plants that have seemed a bit sad either from lack of correct treatment from me or a brush with escaped cows will make a mad dash for growth. This is a lemon. I have a fair bit of citrus round the place as we use bucket loads of it.

Another fruit I am very fond of, the passionfruit. We had a fantastic vine on the old chook pen but it never survived the transition to the chook Hilton. This year I made sure I was well stocked and planted four plants and a whole heap of fruit from my mums vine. These ones are down the driveway and they too have had a few setbacks from the Escaped Cow Fruit Tree Pruning Service. The best one on the chook pen is fruiting now.

The planting around the chook pen that I did to help bed in the mesh is also producing some chillies, there is also arrowroot, rosellas, cucumber and comfrey.

The garden on the outside is big enough now that I can let the ducks and chooks out to forage a bit, get some greenery and explore. Unfortunately they don't eat lantana.

The view down the western boundary. Not sure if you can see them but the neighbours cows are having a lie down in the lush grass at the bottom.

Everything booms after a wet spell in summer and the bamboo is no exception. New sprouts shooting on the bunch next to the bees.

The first fruit from the pineapples I planted down the driveway when first at Lanatanaland. They are hardy buggers surviving the long grass that encroaches on them and even the occasional trim when a mate helps whippersnip the yard.