The perfect summer weather is mocking me while I work, the upstairs study becomes a hot house, while I dream of being at the beach! This, my friends, is a lesson on the importance of passive solar design and insulation!

I have been wickedly slack with a hard drive full of Christmas photos to put up, but it’s funny how delightful things become a chore when there is an overwhelming number to go through and edit. Just wait until I have to clean my room or do something productive and I shall fill your lives with beach and Gracie dog and a little bit of David Holmgren too.

In the meantime I have been catching up on my thank you notes and garden diary. It’s amazing how much less work I’ve had to put into it since the Permablitz, when we had the chook rotation, the planning that had to go into the beds and planting and harvesting just at the right time was ridiculous. I’m all for the new chickens roaming the orchard in winter thing, now if only they could learn how to use their new Red Comb Chook Feeder…