Not a lot happens in Southern Tasmania in Winter. The days are incredibly short, encouraging sleeping in in the morning, and snuggling in front of the telly with a nice drink by 5pm while the AGA cooks dinner…. And it rains. Not so much this year, we seem to have gotten more autumn rain than usual, and of course there’s still two more months to go before spring sets in and the wind comes back.
I recently came across the above photo, taken 2½ years ago when we moved ute loads of soil from a heap leftover from the demise of the apple orchard that used to be here….. And I was stunned by the appearance of the soil….
Today, it looks like this….. I shouldn’t be stunned, because I know only too well how much work went into making that soil…. https://damnthematrix.wordpress.com/2018/01/20/turning-marginal-land-into-fertile-soil/ it’s easy to forget things when you’re busy on a grand plan, like making biochar at some scale….
So many amendments were added to this patch of soil to turn it from crappy yellow clay to black fertile useful growing material, it’s mind blowing….. Like ten tonnes of compost, hauled all the way from Hobart, 65km away… Not to mention more bags of horse and sheep manure bought from the side of the road than I care to remember, and our own chicken and goat manure too of course….
As I keep saying, with fossil fuels you can do anything….. Mission accomplished, really. And with the wheels falling off the Matrix this year, not a moment too soon either…!
We had a bumper crop of apples this year. I was even going to try to sell some this year, but the pandemic put paid to that silly idea. Because my neighbour’s farm business has grown so much, he doesn’t have time anymore to help this hobby farmer process apples into juice and/or cider, so I went back to the old press and pulper I was given 4½ years ago, only to rediscover why I hadn’t used it since Matt bought his you beaut equipment. After taking two days to make 40L of cider, I decided it was time I too upgraded to more serious gear.
So I bought myself a new second hand water powered press like Matt’s, only half sized. Pure luck it was. Having googled the world for a Lancman, I accidentally found one on eBay, waiting for me in Melbourne. The asking price was $1800, which is what a brand-new one from the USA would cost, plus the exorbitant freight cost of course. I offered the seller a cheeky $1000, and he countered with $1500. Which I ignored. I was in no hurry, and I wasn’t going to pay that…. A month later, eBay reminded me this counter offer was expiring, so I made a second $1000 offer, and it was promptly accepted….. I expect the pandemic was probably causing this poor bloke some cashflow problems, but seriously, I paid what it was worth…
The press duly arrived, and there were still loads of Pink Ladies on the trees, for the first time ever since arriving on the Fanny Farm. I procrastinated sufficiently for nearly all the apples to fall off on the day I decided to go for it…! I couldn’t believe my eyes…
Virtually none of the fruit on the ground were usable, so I ended up pushing my wheelbarrow 100m downhill to just fill it, and of course push it back up full of apples… I’d be guessing I had 60kg of fruit to juice, but what an effort…
Those apples were covered in Black spot, but unlike previous years, it didn’t cause them to rot on the tree. I’d love to know why….
Before next year’s season, I will also replace the home made scratter with, I think, an insinkerator I saw used for this purpose on YouTube…
Was it worth the effort? probably not, but a new faster and more efficient pulping system will undoubtedly end the chore aspect of what I feel is an essential part of the Fanny Farm’s annual activities. The press was wonderful, processing three times as much material in one hit as the old one, and faster to boot… By next season, I will hopefully have all this under control…
Damn the Matrix 