nature
Anything about gardening, local plants or wildlife
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Nita’s Borlotti Beans
My cousin Nita is Italian from a farming family in Innisfail, south of Cairns in northern Queensland, although she’s based in Brisbane these days. She recently picked some borlotti beans out of her garden – they look like this! Real Jack-and-the-Beanstalk beans! I’m so excited to grow them – my first beans and they’re Italian… Continue reading
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Garden Post — June 19 2023
Trimming my lavender is my therapy. I wake at sunrise, make a strong coffee, then start mooching around in the garden to see what survived the night animals — phew, the thyme is still there. Then I sit and look out, and inevitably reach for the secateurs. I think normal people get the shears out… Continue reading
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The Poet’s Wife
I moved this David Austin rose at totally the wrong time of year — in the middle of summer. It was in a pot in a quiet spot and almost dead, so I put it in the ground where I can see it every day. It has a lovely almost tangy rose scent. So proud… Continue reading
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Morning walk
It’s that time of year, we’ll have misty mornings for a while now. Once the sun’s up, it clears up pretty quickly. This is just after 6am, rolling mist and cool air. Continue reading
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Meanwhile, lettuce in Kooralbyn
They’re doing alright without me. Well done Mike (although he says he’s done nothing) 🤣 Continue reading
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English tea, Sabah style
My cousin made English tea in a teapot! (I never do this but my friend Mariana would approve). Served with char siu buns — pork, mushroom, hard boiled egg and Chinese sausage (lap cheong). Continue reading
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Sturgeon Moon over Monksville reservoir
Joe is my friend of forty years. He sent me this photo today. He called it, “Sturgeon moon 2022 over Monksville reservoir”. The Farmer’s Almanac names the full moon each month. August is the Sturgeon moon. We kayak on the reservoir every full moon during the summer. There’s no ambient light so every star in… Continue reading
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Butterhead lettuce
I grew a few types of lettuce last year, and noticed the butterhead survived the bugs better than the others. Maybe they don’t like butterhead? Anyway I left one to flower and it made loads of fluffy dry heads, a bit like little dandelions. Earlier this year I carefully sowed some into a tray, lined… Continue reading
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Cows out at my student’s
Don’t you love it? Teaching piano in the Scenic Rim means occasionally going to farms. A bit of traffic here today. How now, brown cow? 😊 Continue reading
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First koala sighting
This is my first time seeing a koala in the wild, thanks to a friend who took me onto his property. I’m very grateful. Continue reading
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Big roo by the gate
Look how dry it is! Everything is brown in the Scenic Rim. We haven’t had decent rain for months. I went out the back to get the hose out and water the garden, but this guy was by the gate and I didn’t want to disturb him. So I watered the front first. He was… Continue reading
About Joanna
Joanna is British Australian. She worked mainly in financial news in London. In her forties she moved to her parents’ birthplace, Sabah, a Malaysian state on the island of Borneo, where she became a pianist in a hotel and wrote a blog about musicians. The blog became a book before Joanna came to Australia in 2012. In this blog she writes mostly about music, gardening, and trips to Sabah. Oh, and Wookie the Havanese.
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