May report

Despite some predictions of good rain in the last days of May, we have only managed 5 mm for the whole month. It has been quite windy in recent days. Our recent electricity bill shows that we generated 413 kWh or 58% of total power used for the quarter.
Today is World Environment Day and my thoughts have moved to wind power generation. A 1 kW system is not very expensive, especially if it could be directed through the existing inverter. This may be next year's project. Meanwhile the tank is poured and waiting for a lid. Then for the fun of replacing dirt around it and redeveloping the site.
Food for thought? We are enjoying lettuce and rocket from the garden, pea and ham soup with home-grown carrots and spring onions, ricotta and ruby chard pie, and still some beans.
Last Tuesday we walked between Spring Bluff and Murphy's Creek cemetery.
Yesterday I mowed the paddock. We are rethinking our management of the native grassland. Although we had a good stand of Queensland blue grass last year, we have lost a great deal of it due to the extremely dry conditions. It has done well on the upper part of the block which was top-dressed with soil last year. In the favoured area below the roof bubbler, it does not seem to suffer from mowing on the highest setting, so we are looking at more frequent mowing than once or twice a year. There are a few prickly pear and white foxtails but only odd Rhodes grass plants.
We have found a new volunteer gum seedling adjacent to the volunteer ironbarks on the top bank above the house. It has grown between the abutting ends of two railway sleepers and is about 15 cm high. It is very pleasing to have well-positioned natural renewal of the native vegetation of this ridge.