Saturday Stuff

Saturday turned out to be a pleasant sunny introduction to the weekend. While the girls busied themselves with processing a batch of Chartwell peaches, Clayton and Tyler tackled the much-dreaded clean-up of pine branches on the verge in Kents Road.

(Above) Peeling, slicing and dicing was step one. The peels and off-cuts served as a juicy refreshment for the G-Men of Goat Hill, with peach juice and saliva running down their chins.

(Above): The stages of peach processing, with the pots steaming up a peach storm

 
(Above): The smaller off-cuts were used in an aromatic spicy Peach jam on the left, while the larger slices were destined to become peach preserve. Canned peaches in jars, if you will. Nice and soft and juicy, fresh from the tree.

 
(Above): Canned and sealed hot in the jars: Four pots of peach preserve, and (front) one jar of peach jam.

While all this cutting and processing was going on in the kitchen, cutting of a very different sort was happening outside on the pavement verge. Readers will recall that the pine trees along the perimeter of the S-bend in Kents Road have been trimmed of the overhanging branches and stray low-level shoots. They remained on the ground as and where they were cut and fell to rest.

It was now a task of cutting the branches into handleable sized pieces for burning once the wood is dry enough. It must also be transported off the public property and inside the Chartwell grounds for temporary storage.

(Above): The ride-on mower with off-road trailer being loaded with branch trimmings, to be transported inside the property for storage. Its a huge job, seemingly never-ending.

(Above): A load entering the driveway, destined for the area just north of the veggie patch.

(Above): Brynn enjoying a ride with Dad.

(Above) The boys also helped the neighbour across the way, who was busy moving their (residential) bus from one paddock to a location closer to their house. Moving six tons of furnished bus with flat tyres is certainly no easy feat. The gang of bulls stand watching with amazement and great interest.

(Above): Tyler accompanies yet another load of cut branches to the storage depot.