Lazy days

Yesterday was a lovely autumn day, not too hot, not cold, sun shining and no rain. Just perfect. I made an early start in the garden, letting my chickens out early for a run around, and getting them to help me look for green caterpillars on my tomatoes. It was so cute watching them climb into the garden, something I would normally freak out a little over, but there's not much they can wreck under the tomatoes that hasn't already been decimated by the green invasion. They were jumping up and down trying to reach caterpillars after I caught the first few, which became snacks for the girls.
My Mum and aunt called in early to remind me it was the annual canoe race and I joined them to watch the start, gobbled down a yummy bacon and egg breakfast burger made by the local boat club volunteers and watched the first, second and third place takers arrive in after circumnavigating the island. In all a very relaxed way to spend a Sunday.


Some of the competitors warming up while waiting for the start.



The race kicked off with a frenzy of oars.

First, second and third place warming down after finishing.

Mum and my niece enjoying a stroll together on the beach waiting for the race sta

Invasion

After all the rain we've had I was fascinated by these mushrooms/toadstools??? that popped up in the local park. There were so many of them I just had to take a quick few pics. I don't know what type they are, please let me know if you do. They certainly don't look edibly appealing, but make an interesting find on a morning walk.

And as the rain had settled into a pattern of overnight showers and beautiful days, everything in the garden blossomed and thrived, including the bugs. Bad bugs, but they also herald the arrival of good bugs, and some bugs, I'm not really sure where they fit in.

A lone caterpillar on my mandarin tree.

Another Citrus loving caterpillar on my tangerine. This was the only one, sitting high enough the chooks couldn't reach it.

Someones been eating my tomatoes...

And brought along way too many friends....

Moving onto the rosellas as well

And yet another type on the lone sunflower that escaped my weeding

As you can see, caterpillars were a large part of my problem, but they weren't alone.

Aphids have taken an incredible liking to my snake beans. I never had this problem last year and I was getting desparate enough to reach for the pyrethrum, until I saw the lady beetles arrive.

Not to confused of course with the 24 spot beetle who has also taken up residence.

Gobbling the flowers on my white choko. Hopefully they are fertislising as they go and leave enough flower to fruit.

And then there are just all the other bugs in general.

And my best little bug eaters are also out in force

Somehow, nature just finds it's own balance.

Welcoming Alice and Wendy

Alice and Wendy arrived yesterday morning. I had no idea how they should be settled in. Would they be like dogs, would they try to run away, could they wander off and get lost. To be safe I put them in their temporary pen, our old chook house, just to let them have time to settle down and get a sense of their new surrounds. About lunchtime they were looking really calm, they had been wandering around the pen eating grass, digging, looking for bugs and had eaten some of their food and had water. I figured that was the sign that they had accepted their move, so we opened the door and let them out to free range around the garden. My other girls were already wandering around, but hadn't paid any particular attention to these new arrivals other than a brief glance through the cage. Things were a little different once they were out however. Alice and Wendy are much bigger than any of the other girls and were not in a socialable mood at all. Every time one of the girls came anywhere near them they puffed up and chased them away. I expected that there would be some confrontation, as the newcomers would mean a shuffle of the groups heirachy, but after the first few tries, the two camps remained separated. As I wanted to ensure they had sorted the bickering before they were penned together they spent the night separated as well. Today they all spent the day in the garden, there were a couple of small altercations, but still no unity. So tonight we are still in two separate chook houses and I'm wondering if there will ever be harmony in the garden again.
If you've integrated new chickens with existing I'd love to hear how you did it, any suggestions at all are very very welcome.

Alice and Wendy settling in the old chook pen.

Alice would only lay in a special box before, but she's taken to the lawn mower catcher already. Two eggs waiting for us there this morning.