Hi guys, you all sound cheerful. My adult granddaughters put me in lockdown a few weeks ago, due to my age and chronic health conditions. I have 3 grandchildren living with me, a young adult male with Aspergers and two granddaughters aged 9 and 11.
I have had to start home schooling the two girls, which hasn’t been as bad as I thought, due to the high number of educational programs available online.
The adult granddaughters do all my shopping etc and we have a no contact handover in my carport.
I’m lucky to live in a small remote town with beautiful beaches and a community who are obeying the social distancing rules so I can take the girls to the beach without coming into close contact with anyone.
We are all coping well with the situation although I miss being able to give hugs to all my other grandchildren, but in the scheme of things that’s a small price to pay.
Keep well everyone.

Hi Big Nana, glad you are well, keep safe. The wife is also missing the moko's (favourite grandchildren 12 & 13), were at our place nearly every day after school, and on weekends. Seen them once in 2 weeks, and that was only for a quick 5 minute hop out of the car the other night. The wife got a bit emotional afterwards. The video phone calls are getting a good workout.

Bit of disappointment, a cousin died in NZ, not from coronvirus, from cancer aged 61, with a big family like the wife has, that's not uncommon in itself. The family was upset not being able to give the deceased a traditional Maori send off, no Tangi lasting 3 days with 500/1000 mourners at the Marae, but a very limited attendance at a home funeral, as per the law in NZ. The wife with a call to his daughter, as other elders had said, nothing wrong, it had to be done that way, and it had their blessing and was appreciate under the circumstance. That has been the biggest concern for the Maori community, no traditional Tangihanga for the deceased.

Hassy, any tips on summer veg grown in winter around Brisbane, will do the cabbage and collies, but though I'd give beans a go out of season, rather warm at the moment, and beans do freeze well. We are near the Bay, where frost is very unlikely.

Hi to you all...

I don't contribute much to the Forum these days, much to the delight of most herein I suspect! PAUL1405, I just wanted to say, your initial message of goodwill, together with highlighting your own family's efforts to accommodate the restrictions imposed by the presence of this insidious Covid-19 virus, was really heartening, and great to hear I thought. As was everyone else, who've contributed thus far to this Topic. Thanks, Paul, for your foresight in originating the Topic.

I believe these self-imposed isolation conditions, go a long way to exemplify the human spirit of cooperation, in times of stress and peril. For this reason, I'd like to convey, to all those present and past members of the Forum, my sincerest best wishes and I hope you, and your family and loved ones, all remain safe and well - And as happy you can be, under the circumstances. As we're all required to stay in our respective homes. Take care and keep healthy, each and every one of you.

As long as I have The Forum's Old Farts Club members to argue with I will always be in good spirits.

Hi Everyone,

Just dropping in to firstly thank Paul for his concern and for
this thread, and also to wish you and yours - safety, strength,
and positiveness, during these difficult times.

My thoughts are with you all.

Take care.

We have given up pretty much on vegetables Paul, it is just too hard around here down near the boarder.

We do still grow corn, it has few problems other than hairs, tomatoes, under netting, although the mini ones grow every where from bird dropped seed, & don't have much predation, strawberries & dragon fruit, again under netting. A neighbor grows spuds & carrots successfully

To have a vegy patch here you have to have it fully fenced & roofed with chicken wire to keep the wood ducks out. You also have to use a lot of nasty sprays on leaf things like cabbages & cauliflowers.

We did have an orchard with apricots, tropical peaches, apples, mulberries & citrus. The lorikeets discovered the apples & eat them to the core when still green on the tree, even through nets, the stone fruit require too much spray to manage the fruit fly, & the magpies & crows destroy the citrus, pecking all the fruit, looking for a ripe sweet fruit.

We had a huge & great passion fruit, until the white cockatoos found it & destroyed it actually killing the vine, again through netting. We have pulled all bar the mulberries now. We don't get them before the birds either, but they are nice trees.

I guess I should have not encouraged the birds with feeding, but they are nice to have around.

You could beat the pests if you really had to, but only by killing them, so I don't bother.

It might be easier in suburbia, but I wouldn't bet on it. It took 3 years for the pests to build up here, so may work for a while. Good luck.