Summer was now in full swing, and the plum, peach and Apricot trees that I had been feeding very well indeed, was outdoing themselves with the amount of fruit they were bearing. It was also neccessary to spray for fruit fly that can ruin a whole crop if not treated. The apple farmers spray their trees mainly at night, and when they first started I was so annoyed with the droning of the tractors, the engins making quite a strong noise in the middle of the night, but one gets used to everything, and it wasn't long before I didn't hear them at all, and slept right through the spraying! the plums I was told would ripen during the first week of December, the apricots during the end of that month, and the peaches, as I knew from the previous year, only ripens middle February. The fruit had first to be sprayed when they just start making their tiny fruit, then again a week later, and afterwards every two to three weeks until they ripen!
I was like an old hen with a pen full of chicks when my strawberries started bearing fruit, and I kept the snails at bay with every possible tool for that purpose, and even put out little buckets filled with beer to drown them. A few times I had been almost besides myself, like one day when I passed a plant bearing a bunch of fat half ripe fruit, one of these plump and already red, and I decided that I would pick it first thing in the morning, and have it with my breakfast, just to find half an hour later, that a fat an ugly bally snail was shuffling away from under the plant, and the red strawberry gone! That was it! I resorted, much to Ronalee's disgust, to a product called 'Snailban'
It was now nearing December, and we were all very excited, as my kids from Denmark were coming to visit. I was eager to see what my Danish daughter in law would say of their holiday home, as Jan, my son, had bought one third of the property from Irma when on a bussiness trip to South Africa. Irma had some work done to her side, but the other side of the house was still uninhabitable. As Irma's veranda was adjoining the kitchen, and my kitchen being minute, it was decided that we would do all the cooking over there, while Jan and Nina would sleep in my annexe with the bathroom, that is, if they could stay in there for more than fifteen minutes.
I hit on a bright plan to combat the creosote fumes that was still very heavy, as the kids could not sleep there if I couldn't find a plan to get rid of the this tiresome dilemma. I went to the co-op and bought a huge tin of varnish, and commenced with the very dangerous and tiring job of varnishing over the creosote, sure that it would combat the fumes. Took me days, and left me with knees so sore and swollen that I had to resort to the horse linament again. Then of course the room was drenched with the varnish fumes, but as I knew from before, it would thin out within a few days. Now I just had to wait and see if my bright plan would actually work the wonders I expected, and I must say, the varnish did contain the creosote fumes to a great extend!
The plums was delicious when at last they were ready for eating, and I even made a few bottles of plum jam, and also some plum sauce to be used for puds. Spinach, one of my most loved green veggies did extremely well in this cold place, where the cold nights have driven me to even pack away all my summer pyjamas, the nights just too cold! I feasted on the plums that was large, and sweet, and dark purple in colour, and was sorry when I picked the last few which I stood and ate under the tree. To me, fruit baked warm from the sun, then picked and eaten while still warm, was simply the best!
I have put some shading net, that will not let any snails through underneath my strawberries and lost a whole lot after, but after the 'Snailban', it went well, and I was so excited with my first small pickings, but they were the sweetest I had ever tasted.  I made a point to remove all dead snails immediately, for fear of the birds eating them and dying! I am pleased to say that I ate strawberries until late Autumn!
I got tired of just working to make my place liveable, so one day I was in a crazy mood, and painted my step -ladder a bright and cheery red! It looked fabulous!