Oranges!! (and snakes)

Every month or so once of my friends comes over and forces me out in to my yard takes me on a tour of my own yard.  She tells me what plants will be ready when and she picks stuff for me.

When we arrived there were peaches, as our long term readers will recall.  Then there were pomegranates.  I will freely admit that there may well have been other fruit that has just rotted right on the trees, and I'll tell you why.

I was pretty concerned in the planning stages of this trip.  North Americans, Canadians, I am not accustomed to the thought of venomous snakes living in the same small area as I do.  I voiced these concerns to our exchange partners once or twice, on every single call we had and they assured me (like Australians) that it would be fine.

I will pause my story here to explain to the Australians that if there was a single python loose in an Ottawa neighbourhood, the kids would be kept in at recess (if they went to school at all), there would be hourly news reports and until that thing was found, it wouldn't end.  In Australia if there are a million pythons living in the downtown area of a city, including close to schools and parks, that is just Tuesday in Queensland.  "Yes" they will tell you "we do lose a few dogs a year.  It's best not to have chickens in the yards here since it would attract the pythons."  If I ever move to Queensland I will KEEP THAT IN MIND!

Thankfully we don't have pythons down here.  We do have brown snakes.  I have laid out some fun facts about these guys below.

So the Australians suggest wearing long pants and closed toed shoes in the yard.  Rather than do that in the summer months I hid on the back porch and never ventured in to the yard.  My mom asked me a couple of months ago how close the venemous snakes are to the house.  I shared some stories that I had recently learned from people who admitted that they had been told not to tell me this stuff.

1-the children who usually live in this house watched brown snakes mating on the back table a while back.

2-the snake eggs hatched in the house since the parents had brought them inside (in a container-let's not be ridiculous) in the interests of education.

3-the resident dog almost got killed by a brown snake in December (as in, less than a month before we arrived) that was in the front yard (right under my bedroom window).

Snakes prefer areas that are overgrown to those that are well mowed with few places to hide.

Do I need to mention here that in the first couple of weeks that we were here the nighbour on one side of the house offered to come over and Round Up the yard at his expense?  No, you would to?  I hear that loud and clear!!

For those of you who don't have the testicular fortitude to click on the links above (and I DO NOT BLAME YOU) here are some highlights:

1-The Eastern Brown Snake rates number two on the world's most venomous snake list

2-This snake is possibly Eastern Australia's most frequently encountered venomous snake.

3-The Eastern Brown Snake population is classified as secure

Well that last one sure makes me feel better, let me tell you. I'd hate to think that these poor fellas were endangered.

So if you still don't understand why I may have not been keen to follow the advice "just dig around over here, I bet that you'll find some potatoes" then you were likely born in Australia.  There are not enough potatoes in the world to make me follow that advice.

Now, I have been assured that things are different.  The weather is much colder and the snakes are hibernating.  They are not out.  So back to my story, we found oranges, which is exciting!  We also found olives, which none of us are keen on at all.  There are also limes and kefir limes too!

All joking aside, it is a beautiful garden, I just wish that I was not so completely terrified of dying if I go out there.  The kids go out heaps and enjoy it tremendously.