‘You don’t need to water snails, Eric,’ she’d told him. ‘I’m sure it’s entirely possible for snails to get footrot from over watering.’ ‘Don’t be silly, Gwennie. I can tell they like a shower, they wave their tentacles about.’ And off he’d gone, humming to himself, to water his snail paddocks. At least he had allowed her to lay perforated hose amongst the three new growing beds. This was not the time of year to waste water. Now she had another problem – the mulberry tree. Being November, it should be covered in foliage, the fruit ripe and dropping. In years past, she made jam or froze the fruit but since the kids left home she is less bothered. The chickens enjoy the seasonal feast and Diane takes bags of leaves into kindy for their annual silkworm project as part of the science stream, although they call it Knowing Nature. But this year, whole branches of the tree are dying off. She’d noticed it last month and treated it with a fungicide, which did nothing to stop the leaves blackening on that one side and now whole branches are withering.
