things get better

3.May 2009
A beautiful sunny day after a frosty night. Thank goodness we are now living in the double donga classroom. We have quite a comfortable little home that feels spacious and light. Next week the plumber is coming and we are having the gas stove , shower , kitchen sink and hot water connected up. Last week Gary , Edd and Josh worked hard and completed the building of a veranda deck . They put in a new entry door from the deck and got a water tank organised on a stand with new gutters going into it all ready for rain . ( if we ever get any).

The new door has no gaps round it and the indoor fly population has decreased fantastically. Well, it is either that or the cold weather that has brought about the change. It was pretty awful before so that each night we swatted for several hours before we could relax.

Today people from Permaculture Melborne groups have come for a working B and we are getting lots of much needed help. People are so wonderful. Three people from another accommodation business came and picked up all the broken glass at the brewery site which was an dreadful job.
Today the men are concentrating on the vineyard. Before we can let animals in there to graze we have to move all the wires which is a long trying task. We have not even got the boundary fences repaired yet so all the animals are still being hand fed in pens. We had to build a new pen for the sheep as their first pen had got too muddy.

Plants continue to appear. Old friends regenerating and suspicious new things that have sprung from who knows where. The pumpkins and zuchinnis took a bit of a hit from the frost this week but the silverbeat and asparagus are growing strongly now. Strangely the flowers that came on the apple trees have developed into tiny apples and great joy, my mulberry trees are recovering. I greave for the big oak by the drive and my honey loccut trees, they still look very dead.

I am still struggling with he insurance. This can take up hours each week and is very stressful. Basically we have to prove that our house cost us the money we paid insurance for. The independent estimation we got is not enough for them. It would not surprise me if when this is all over people unite for a class action against they companies for the stress and hours of work and delays they have caused. I am so worried about my daughter and her husband. They lost the brewery and their income in the fires but their house was OK. If the insurance company holds them up too long they could loose their house now to the banks !

We had a really reassuring meeting with our local council who at this stage seem all out to be helpful. They are happy with our plans to build in the centre of the paddock and to put up shed roofs first to harvest rain. Al is preparing plans for the sheds and the council says they can be passed in as little as two weeks. We must collect rain incase the drought continues next year.

It is so lucky that our son Al is an architect and has worked on sustainable buildings with the council before. I have often wished my sons were plumbers or electrictions but now I realise that given the right circumstances an architect is probably better ! We have worked out that if Edd and I join Al and family and watch his sons play soccer on Saturdays we can kill to birds at the same time by combining it with a planning meeting.