09

Brian is going to have to give Rufus the chop. He is just getting far too aggressive, and this morning, not for the first time, I caught him beating up the goose mother who has had eggs just hatch out. We've tried all methods of dissuading him, but that was the reason for our getting him in the first place - his major bullying tactics.

A funny sight the Farm - two very large German Shepherds being chased by our smallest Jersey calf, all running at full pelt. Rojan and Lochie actually took cover in the safety of their kennel. Poor things... I split my sides laughing.

Jackie French, writing in Earth Garden magazine, way back in the December 2002-February 2003 edition, talks about "The Lure of Lemon". Just how much she loves lemon scents (so many of us do!), and lists lemon verbena, lemon balm, lemon and citronella grass, lemon scented gum trees (eucalypts), lemons themselves. I add to that list with lemon-scented geraniums (yes, I know they are really pelargoniums), lemon thyme, lemon basil, genista, the list is almost endless!

Jackie goes on to say how in the last couple of years she has become addicted to a native lemon scent, that of Backhousia ciriodora or lemon myrtle tree. She compares it with a close relative, Backhousia myrtifolia, or the never break tress - so called, according to Jackie, because the wood was used for wagon wheels and tools, as it bent, not broke.

She has a lemon myrtle growing in her backyard, having had to set up a microclimate of a warmth-retaining rock to survive the frosts. Jackie finds it a lovely little tree, with light green leaves and incredibly fragrant.

"You can make a tea with the leaves, but I don't, because we have a history of glaucoma in our family and lemon myrtle oil shouldn't be taken internally if there is any risk of this nor should it be used in a massage oil. But I do use it in small amounts for all sorts of other things."

There is then a recipe for a Lemon Soap Alternative, to be used instead of soap, as it's gentler, very slightly abrasive to rub off dead skin cells and smells good (we could have guessed that last!).

"6 tbsps bicarbonate of soda
6 tbsps rice flour or ground rice
1 to 2 tbsps avocado oil
1 tsp lemon myrtle or other fragrant oil

"You can marinate the crushed leaves in the avocado oil in a jar on a sunny windowsill for three weeks, shaking every day, instead of buying - or distilling - lemon myrtle oil.

"To use: either keep in a jar and tip a little in your hand, and rub over your body or face then wash off, or pierce holes in the lid of a jar and shake over your body, and then rub it on and wash off. You can also keep these 'shakers' by the tap. If possible use a plastic bottle so it won't break and make sure no one thinks it's salt and sprinkles it on their chips.

"Lemon moisturising bars

1 tbsp beeswax
6 tbsp lanolin
1 tsp lemon myrtle oil

"Melt the wax on a LOW heat; take off the heat, add lanolin, mix well, add oil; pour into moulds - I use non-stick muffin pans. To use: rub over your skin after your shower. The warmth of your body will melt it just a little, and leave a fragrant, protective and moisturising layer - too thin to be oily or sticky - on your skin. It'll also smell good (!).

"Lemon insect repellent

"I haven't tested this much yet, as I only mixed this up a few months ago and have only been in one real mozzie cloud up north since. But so far it seems to work.

2 tbsps beeswax
2 tbsps lemon myrtle oil
1 tbsp lavender oil.

"Melt the wax over a low heat; take off the heat; add the oils; place in small pots. Use liberally. I rub my shoes with it: the fragrance permeates the shoe and breathes the scent out.

"I also mix:

2 tbsps lemon myrtle oil
1 tbsp lavender oil
4 tbsp methylated spirits

"...and dab a little on my clothes. But do make sure it is essential oil, not just scented oil, or it will stain. And be careful in case it stains anyway! I usually dab it around collars and the like where a small stain mightn't matter. This way you get lots of pong without having to apply anything too lavishly to your skin, in case too much is absorbed."

I'm really looking forward to the height of the peach season so that I can make some more peach nectar and then some more milkshakes. Mmmm - peach milkshakes, Heaven on a stick.

The weather here has been typical of our Springs - yesterday for example, it started off raining, so I didn't bother putting the washing out, and then, because it was Sunday, I headed off into Warrnambool for Church and lunch with my Mother-in-Law, and it was beautiful the whole day!

Today it's been raining again.

And now it's glorious sunshine.

We are having trouble with our Internet Server at home, so I'm hurriedly typing this at work, hence the lack of length.

Journey

Sun-filled steps and wagtails calling
cheekily flirting their tails at me
a slightest of breezes contends with thumbnail clouds
and stirs them out of easy sailing

The heavy-laden scents of a thousand flowers
lift my feet as I wander drowsily
forgetting what I came outside to do

The caress of Spring upon me
I feel immortal as new life beckons.