a bad accident or a lucky break?

30.12.2012

2012 is almost over and we end the year with drama. Al leapt off his surf board in the wrong place and landed on his head. He ended up in the Austin hospital where they discovered that he had broken the side of one of his neck vertebrae! He was given all manner of scans but today he is back home with a hard collar on and instructions not to drive a car for 12 weeks. He has difficulties with his right arm but they hope this will heal its self, if this is the case he has been extremely lucky, because the outcome could have been a lot worse. I think he was lucky to have Pia with him who knew enough to get him to hospital, though the first place they went to more or less ignored them.

India is staying with us and working at Bo’s to earn enough money to fix her car which has collapsed just when she needs it to start her new job. Edd has looked at it and decided that it needs expert help so we have to wait for our mechanic to get back from holiday. At least with Josh here we have help getting people to the right places but he leaves on the first so he is only here for two more days.

On Edd’s birthday we went down to Phillip Island and had a great swim in the surf. Simon brought Morren, Ollie and Sylkie down to join us and we had a lovely afternoon. Yesterday Peter and Theo came for lunch and that was great too, so apart from Al’s accident it has been a good holiday period. Now we have to concentrate on preparing for winter.

Some of the hay has already been cut but the stockyards are still not built and they are needed for shearing the sheep. We had planned to sell them but I waited for the yards, which was a mistake. We also need to put up the walls on the big shed and get in a supply of dry firewood. There is so much to do but it seems a shame to end the holiday.

Bo and family are preparing for a trip to England. I am madly knitting jumpers to protect them from the sudden drop in temperature they will experience. From what I read the main problem in the UK at the moment is rain and floods. I have advised them to take gumboots! Al has had to cancel all his holiday plans and as he was the one who was going to do the work here so we could go away for a weekend I guess our holiday plans are off too!

The land is drying fast but the vegetables are thriving in the new beds. We have capsicum, celery, peas, lettuce tomatoes and zucchinis in abundance. The eggplants are growing well and so are the pumpkins but they will crop later. The strawberries and blue berries are providing breakfast fruit and I have the first pairs on the small trees I planted. We are eating our way through the beetroot and harvest garlic as it is needed. The mint is high and I must remember to cut some and dry it for tea before it is too late. Once again there is so much that needs doing. Luckily I do enjoy most of the work.

We make cheese several times a week but we are eating it pretty fast too. We are in a routine now where the goats are organised and come in calmly and happily and I start the cheese off whilst I am milking them. They are now all fat with gleaming silky coats and have worked out how to take themselves out grazing all day and get back before the evening milking.

Family gather for Xmas eve

happy xmas

25.12.2012

Last night the family gathered here for our traditional feast. This year Pia’s brother, Jonathan and his partner joined us, which was fantastic, and even  Stevo, our building mentor, conquered his car problems to get here in time. The last people to arrive were Simon, and his parents, who put up a surprise, new trampoline for the kids whilst Bo had them here. Al, Pia and Josh (he flew home from Perth the night before) helped us set up tables and chairs in our dining hall in the morning and Bo and I cooked all day, though I think Bo did fit in work at the restaurant as well!

Anyway, all the effort was worth it because we had a wonderful party. Lots of good food, lots of laughs, and after the meal and the presents everyone got out musical instruments and sang songs. The weather was very helpful and the huge heat of last week disappeared to leave a perfect temperature. Our house had actually coped with the weeks heat very well and stayed about 23 degrees, but we opened everything up for the party and had the stove on cooking turkeys all day, so the cool change was perfect.

John had fitted us in earlier in the week and sorted out the area outside the house so that we now have a new drive, better turning circle, and rocks in the moat. It is now more like a dry creek bed, which is the look I wanted. I really had the best day when he was working. Edd did all the farm work for me and I just directed John as to where the rocks were to be placed. We recycled the volcanic rocks from the front of the old house and then surrounded them with river pebbles.

Everyone keeps trying to get me to add all sorts of plants but I have quite enough gardening to do already. My idea is that I could just let the sheep graze around the house if I do not feel like mowing. I have a fabulous jungle inside the house and a great set up at the ruins for vegetables and flowers so I just do not want anything extra to worry about. At least that is how I feel now, but I am pretty addicted to buying plants, so no bets.

14.12.2012

We have had another hot week and the grass is turning gold as it dies back. I have really enjoyed eating fresh juicy loquats every day and I have challenged the parrots have got the remaining few. We have eaten our first tomato and have lettuce and snow peas almost every day. We even have broad beans because they were planted late. The first zucchinis are on the plants and the capsicums and eggplants have small fruit that grows larger by the day. It is a season of plenty.

The goats are producing lots of milk and I am making cheese on several days a week. Today I am working on the first of the hard cheeses and I already have a fridge full of feta and cream cheese in store for Xmas.  The fox killed more than half the chooks but the remaining few lay enough eggs to cover all our needs. If I was any use with a gun we would eat lots of rabbit, they are getting really cheeky.

Arden stayed here last night and this morning he attacked the thistles with the ride on mower. India also turned up for lunch and then they both rode the horses until they were tired out. They have finished school for the year now and are working in Bo’s restaurant in the evenings to help their financial situation. India starts her new job after Xmas and needs to buy some supplies to take with her. Arden has an amazing new phone, which I suppose also needs funding. He has another two years at school and has surprised us by coming top in maths.

Edd and I had two days out this week; we went west to pick up a ton of oats and east to get geo-fabric for outside our new house and bits for the tractor. We also went a bit further to Phillip Island and had fish and chips at San Remo. The scorching hot day had cooled but we did manage a walk along the beach before the rain came down. I was pleased about the rain because the garden had got very dry and it has saved me doing several hours watering already.

Today a huge truck delivered pebbles for the moat around the house. John is helping us landscape between us and the dam. It will be a low care rock garden but that should stop the wind whipping up the dust onto the windows and hide a lot of mud. We are also putting in the turning circle at the end of the drive. It was sort of there because we dumped a pile of chippings on it when they came to film the last grand designs show but only the bit right next to the house was done and the rest was mud or dust according to the weather.

what a difference a week makes

25.11.2012

  

The school kids all went home on Friday and the farm felt rather deserted.  In the evenings when I shut up the chickens I passed everyone sat round a campfire in the ruins telling stories and roasting marsh mallows. It was just wonderful to have all that young life around. The kids also did a fantastic job cleaning up the old patio beside our new shelter shed.  There was such a mass of weeds growing there that it was impossible to see the brick paths or even the ponds. Amazingly the two orange trees had survived and when they were rescued from the surrounding undergrowth they looked surprisingly healthy!

Now we are back again to doing all our own farm work. Edd really enjoyed the rest from taking the dogs for their walks and I appreciated the help with the milking. Today we worked back in the garden and set up the pumpkin bed. It is looking so good down there that we felt inspired to do more. The other two new beds are planted out with summer vegetables and the old raised bed is giving us a bumper crop of snow peas. Best of all the basil is growing well and I can look forward to pesto again.

The festive season has also started. Last night Erin and JB put on an enormous party for neighbours and friends as a thank you for help given when their house burnt down. They are now living in their new home and describe life as settling down to a new normal. They really put on a treat for everyone with lots of fantastic food and wine. It was great to catch up with everyone again. We have been so busy this last month that I don’t feel I have had time to talk to anyone.

On Friday evening we went to India’s school party at a winery in Seville. It all went off with out a hitch but the food supplied was pretty ordinary. I was so tired that I came home early to do all the animals and Bo gave Edd a lift home later on. This event rounded off India’s school days. She has done all the work and now she will get a job and wait until she gets her university applications results. She intends to work until she has independent status so that she can get a study allowance.

It cost a lot of money to get a university qualification now. The students can take out a loan to pay for the course expenses but they also have to fund living as well and it can be hard to get a job that gives enough income to do this and study at the same time. If India earns enough next year she will get a small study allowance that will make things easier. 

A big step forward

19.11.2012

It is a beautiful day with clear blue skies. The Montessori school kids have arrived and set up there camp around the ruins. The kids have been rescuing the tadpoles trapped in the swimming pool and learning to row a boat on the dam. So far it is all really relaxing and a big change from all the frantic work we did over the last two weeks to get the place ready.

Stevo came back and stayed in the donga with Chrisco who worked with him. They achieved miracles and we now have a fully functioning dog yard and shelter shed. The dogs have a very flash fully insulated kennel where they can shelter, but so far they seem to prefer the spot they have excavated for themselves underneath the kennel. It is so good to see them enjoying being free to dig and rest under trees rather than be shut up in the house all day.

David H helped me get the two new raised beds ready for planting out summer vegetables, and I cooked for everyone and cleared up after them. It took a huge effort from everyone but we got everything ready yesterday and were able to entertain our local permaculture group who came for a site visit to inspect the new fire safe building and the other structures we have spent the last four years putting in place.

The school camp is a big step for us because they are the first group we have had actually staying here since the fires. We did not feel at already but the date came around and we just had to rise to the occasion. Everything seems to have worked out well but we were very lucky with the weather that stayed dry all last week and made all the building possible.

I have saved an area on the bank beside the ruins that the kids can clean up as an exercise. At present they just seem to be enjoying looking at animals wild and domestic. Three large black yellow tail cockatoos obligingly came to visit us at lunchtime so the bird spotters amongst the group are off to a good start.

We are a bit worried about Josh who was possibly on the gold coast when the big storms struck this weekend. He had a conference up there and we are not sure when he was due to fly back to Perth. Earlier in the week he took time off and went up near Cairns to watch the solar eclipse. He said it was amazing. Indiga did the presentation for her school assignments this weekend and has now gone off for a job interview. We have her finally party next weekends and then her school days are formally over! My first grown up grandchild! How fast time goes.

life goes on

30.10.2012

We have had the first hot days of the summer this week. It is really, really, nice after months of grey skies. Edd has started to build a dog yard. We do not have a back garden that the dogs can play in safely so we need to make the equivalent of this for them. After weeks of arguing we have finally agreed on a site behind the donga. The dogs can see us from there when we do the milking or work in the farmyard and they can also see the front gate and the new house. The area has big established trees and bushes so it has lots of shade and shelter.

Luckily Skiddy is back so Edd could drive him and pick up piles of earth to fill in the water pipe trenches that run through the space. Next Edd took out all the old fencing and some big tree roots and now he is measuring up for the new fence. We have decided on black chain link because it is tall enough and looks good. The dogs cannot break through it either. At present we take the dogs through the paddocks for a run three times a day and they spend the rest of the time on the veranda of the donga. At night they sleep in the shower, which is not very convenient. We will build them an insulated kennel in the new yard so they have shelter when the weather is bad.

Whilst Edd is working on the dog yard I have been tackling the garden. I totally neglected it last year because I was too busy building. I am gradually moving all the weeds out of the beds and getting things under control. Today I planted two new kiwi fruit. I have one kiwi that is growing really well but I do not know if it is the male or the female plant! To be save I have planted another matched pair.

If we are lucky Steve will come back next week and help us with some of the things that need carpentry work. I want a shelter shed in the ruins and we need a frame building for the laundry area in the breezeway of the dairy. He might frame up a dog kennel too if I am lucky. The house inspectors are now giving us an occupancy certificate but we have to complete the shower in 90 days. This might be just the boost we need to tackle that problem. After the dog accommodation and shelter shed, that is.

Edd’s Uncle Percy has died in the UK. He was in his 80’s and had been ill for a long time so everyone was expecting him to leave. Edd spent a lot of his childhood helping Percy and learning about farm work so Edd has happy memories of him. Al has been busy designing a family tree on AutoCAD. It is absolutely massive, about three metres long if it was printed out but on the computer it appears really small and you have to zoom in to read the names. It goes back to 1500 and something and fits in all the family we know about.

Bo is recording some of the songs she has written this week. She now has a manager in the restaurant so she does not have to be there all the time and can spend evenings with Simon and the kids. This is a big improvement as she was doing far to many hours before. We had a party at her house on Sunday for Simon’s birthday. I took lots of goat’s cheese and Simons mother made the cake. Bo made beautiful salads but the nibbles were so good I was full up even before the main course.

some minor problems

22.10.2012

I have been too busy to blog. The weather is gradually warming and drying and once again we are able to spend all day outside working on the farm and garden. We have lots of lush thick parsley and the first lettuces are almost at eating stage. The snow peas grow almost visibly and the beet root double in size when no one is looking, over night!

The last two goats kidded on Friday, but Sari hid with her babies up in the Ti –tree, and despite Edd and I spending several hours looking we did not find her until first light next day. She and her babies were fine, but Edd and I had worn out every joint struggling up and down uneven paddocks for hours in the dark and we took a day to recover.

The weekend before we had a better time with Friends visiting from NSW. Prue had an art exhibition in Melbourne so we all met up there and then came back to the farm for the night. We have not seen Prue and Merv for years so it was absolutely wonderful to catch up again. The sun even came out and made everything look good too. I am so enjoying time spent with friends and this house is a lovely space to entertain in.

Now that we are over the main struggle to build we are getting time to sit back and realise just how lucky we are. This place is a dream home for us. I never dreamt we would one day live in anywhere so amazing. We still have lots to do. Last week the plumbers, electricians and the stove man were back trying to sort out the Essa wood stove. The problem had been with the pump that sends the cold water in when the heat is up enough. It had been working too soon and staying on, so the stove was continually cooled by cold water. This meant the wood did not burn right and everything blocked up.

Once it had been adjusted it worked really well and boiled a kettle in a very short time. We now have to bleed the radiators again as when they were drained they developed more air locks. We were told to have a hot fire all day to clean the stove out but not try to bleed the radiators when the pump was on. As a result, by the evening the water started to boil again. I had to get all the wood out of the stove quickly to stop it boiling over. This was the same night that I was searching for the lost goats, and Edd was at a choir concert so I had a fairly busy time.  I am hopeful now, though, that we will get the whole system working well and I will be able to have hot water again.

These are all minor problems; our real concerns are for other family members. Bo had Simon and Morren at the doctors this week and Al still has a lot of issues to get under control. Josh seems to be surviving but is working hard. He spent one week in Albany at the hearing clinic there and decided he liked the town. He gets sent to lots of different clinics where he works on his own, so he is undergoing a crash course in his new profession. I have not seen Wayne for a few weeks but He is still studying his Arborist course as well as working full time so he is pretty busy.

sunny days and trips off the farm

4.10.2012

We have had two warm days and at last I have ditched my winter woollies and gloried in the sunshine. It won’t last, but we are probably starting the stage that I call “build up” weather, where it gets warmer each day until it gets really hot and then suddenly drops down to much lower temperatures. At least we can get things done outside again. Richard has rendered half the blue paper on the tool shed and I have been planting strawberries and celery. There is a lot of work that we need to do on the farm but we have found time for a few trips to the outside world

We had a day off last Friday when we were invited to the work place in Bayswater of the Eaton vehicle group who helped us clean the farm up last year. They had a works BBQ and showed us round their factory. I was totally impressed. I had expected storerooms and messy dirty mechanics but the reality was totally different. Everything was tidy and well-organised and huge gearboxes were assembled in very clean conditions. (The helpers must have been pretty shocked at the state of our shed!).

This week we had another day off because our friend, Alistair who we worked with in the northern territory came up for a brief visit. His eldest daughter has been horribly injured when she was knocked off her bike by a truck and run over. Amazingly she has survived so Alastair was spending time with her in hospital in Melbourne. He now lives in Darwin so we had not seen him for years, which meant we had a lot of catching up to do.

We drove him back into town so that we could talk as long as possible without eating  into the time he needed with his daughter. After we had dropped him off at the hospital we made use of the trip by stopping at a group of Asian antique shops and buying some high wooden stools for our kitchen worktable. The elderly Chinese couple in the shop did not speak English but we still managed to agree on a price and work the efpos machine by combined effort. We were all very happy at this outcome and shared the joy of success even without a common language.

photos

India and I on the Monda tack and India with Ollie back on the farm.

back from the mountains

1.10.2012

What a week!  We drove into the mountains most days to check on India and it all seemed like one long party. India rode from Murrindindi to Monda yards with the two horses on her own and camped up there. We joined her next morning so that I could ride Wally with her to Toolangi.  The first section of the ride was away from the logging road on the National trail and we went up an enormous climb before descending the other side of Mount St Leonard (where the fire tower is).

It was a stunning ride and the weather was good. I worked out that it has been twenty-five years since I last rode that way!  My bad hip was very painful but I was not going to miss this chance for anything. The horses went up the rocky hill enthusiastically, they seem to enjoy trekking now. We conveniently reached Toolangi Tavern for lunchtime and I staggered in for a meal and a very welcome beer. My hip was too sore to move for two days but it was worth it and I am more or less back to normal now.

Beni has not been so lucky. She arrived back from her teaching job in NT finding walking difficult and next week she has to go into hospital for an operation!  India reached the farm on Thursday evening after riding back from Toolangi with Mellissa. We are so impressed with how well she managed the horses and coped on her own with logging trucks and sleeping in the forest. She found that the men driving the logging trucks were actually really kind and helpful, which surprised her. They have an image as red neck tree murders but did not live up to this expectation.

Al and Ti joined us for dinner on Thursday and stayed the night so that Ti could have a birthday breakfast here on Friday. We managed to get four bedrooms quite easily and everyone had a very comfortable night. The house is designed so that it functions can expand into different spaces and it really worked well. Al cooked a pancake breakfast and Bo cooked eggs and bacon as an alternative to berries and cream. Everyone ate well.

Ti was disappointed because his mother phoned and cancelled his birthday go-cart riding treat because storms were predicted. We compensated by letting him ride everywhere on the ride on mower and then take a turn on the horse. He also got the boat onto the dam and rowed his cousins around for a bit too. Even Ollie had a ride and would have been keen to go further. I so enjoy having all the grandkids around and using all the farms possibilities. This house is just perfect for accommodating all our extended family activities.

Saturday was the football grand final and we all met up at Bo’s house to watch the TV. Edd cooked the families’ traditional Cornish pasties so it was celebrated in proper style. Bo’s boys were disappointed when their team lost but no one else cared and it was a good match. We were back again at Bo’s for a family dinner last night to celebrate Sylkie’s fourth birthday. Simon cooked this time and in typical Simon style everything was perfect. His mother was surprised at his skill with the cake, which was marsh mallow and meringue with cream and berries. It is a relief to be just quiet on the farm today. I feel so relaxed it is amazing.

So much to think about

24.9.2012

The weather is improving and people are on the move again. David H came up last week and helped me clear dead trees from the camp sites and David P has phoned up to let us know that he is back from his UK summer, and is ready for the Australian half of his year. On the farm the first batch of goat kids has been sold and Edd has got the tomato plants growing in the polyhouse.

The school term ended last week and on Friday night we went to the Dixon’s Creek primary school concert in the Yarra Glen Hall. Bo has been working with the children and helping them write a musical that encompassed just about all the present paradigm. They started with the big bang and sang through Aboriginal creation mythology and evolution. The kids mostly wore white and James, who also has kids at the school, projected a slide show onto the performers and a back screen.

The kids had worked through the history of art and had made the images that were projected on to them. They then did a dance that romped through the history of music. Finally the kids came onto the stage to act going to sleep whilst the sound track played all their ideas about the future. Robots seemed to get a large rev, but I liked the kids who said “ in the future I’m going to get older”. He was pretty much on safe ground there. The great thing was how involved all the kids were as they sang and danced with out a break. They all obviously enjoyed it and so did the audience. Bo got a bunch of flowers at the end, which she obviously really deserved for all the hours she had put in.

This week India is off in the bush again. We have just come back from the campsite at Murrindindi where she is staying tonight. Today she packed up her camp and managed the two horses on her own by leading one and riding one. This is the new challenge she is tackling, so the ride was a short one. Al rode with her yesterday and we all had a campfire supper in the bush, which was fun. It had been a very long days ride so everyone was tired out. Today Alv has had to go back to work so we were on back up duties.

We have been pretty busy because the Grand designs team sent us tickets for the show in Melbourne and we went in and met up with Sha again. It seemed to me that she had done a huge amount of the work and everyone else took all the credit. Perhaps we don’t see all the other work that goes on in editing and sorting after the filming is all done. The show was good but I felt it would have been better if there had been more exhibits about alternative building materials and techniques. There was a lot of cooking ware and flash electrical gear but nothing I really was amazed by.

What I really enjoyed was going to see the Sapphires film with Merrie in the restored memorial hall in Healesville. In the past you had to more or less take in camping gear to watch a film because it was so windy and cold. Those in the know queued up with doonas and rugs but all that is in the past and the hall is now fit for anyone. The film was fantastic. It really hit a spot with me as the 60’s music was from my own youth and the Aboriginal attitudes were so familiar. I am so happy for all the young girls we worked with in the desert as I think they will get a lot from it.

mountain tracks

9.4.2012

Actually, we had a lovely weekend with India. On Saturday she came over with Al and he taught her how to lead one horse off another. On Sunday she came here again and it was a beautiful day so Edd suggested that we go up the forest, explore trail routes, and take photos for her VCE project. The forest has changed a lot since the bush fires. It was difficult to find some of the historical sites as the under growth had grown back thickly and new roads had been bulldozed.  We did find one old mill site fairly easily. I had never been down that track before and I was as amazed as India to see the massive pile of sawdust that still remained. Standing on the top we were level with the canopy of the tall gum trees in the valley below.

Big excitement came on the home trip down marginal road. We were driving in my little white Toyota hatch back and we came to a stretch in the track that was deep in mud with huge track marks dug through it. Luckily just as we approached it a four-wheel drive vehicle arrived from the opposite direction. They told us that the track was passable the rest of the way and agreed to pull us out if we got stuck in this bad bit. With that back up Edd set off and used his considerable driving skills to get us across the hazard with out a hitch. The blokes in the four-wheel drive were amazed!

It was fathers’ day so we all met up with two of our kids and the 6 grand kids at Bo’s home for an evening meal. Wayne was playing football and of course Josh is miles away in Perth but Bo once again arrived back from work at the last moment and conjured up a delicious meal from thin air. I was tired after a day in the bush and was very happy for someone else to cook because I knew that I would have to start at 6am in the morning to meet Al and get into town. I hope that what ever happens in the future my grand children will remember the happy times we had together as an extended family.

something wrong

30.8.2012

Something feels wrong but I can’t quite put my finger on it. On the surface we are carrying on more or less as normal, but it is a bit like standing in the calm bit between waves in heavy surf!  Yesterday was Wayne’s birthday so we all met for lunch in Bo’s restaurant. It was lovely to have so many family members there to celebrate with us.

I had spent the day before looking everywhere for an appropriate cake decoration and just when I was about to give up I found a large and gorgeous lady statue that with the aid of pompoms and suitable coloured paint could be transformed into a football cheer leader. The icing on the chocolate cake looked much like the local football grounds (after all the rain) and she gave us all a laugh. Wayne says he does not fancy her chances if his team looses in the finals this weekend!

The good thing about Bo’s restaurant is that it serves Simon’s beer and there is a drink there for all of us. I love a stout, Edd has ESB and Al and Wayne drank some yellower beer that I am not sure I can pronounce, let alone spell! There was sadness in our party. Simon is working far too hard again, Josh is a continent away in Perth and it seems that X has left our family forever. Pia was working so she could not fill the gap.

Al’s kids are growing up and swinging between independence adult and petulant teenage behaviour. India is really close to the end of her school years and Arden is not looking as if he will last to year twelve at the moment. Ti is due to start high school next year so he lags behind a bit. The more I see the gladder I am that those years are behind us. You try to build the best survival boat you can by your parenting but there comes a time when all boats get launched on the water and have to float or sink alone.

24.8.2012

The weather has plunged back into winter with a large electrical storm last night and icy winds today. The goat kids are getting better at bottle-feeding and now the milking machine is in use my hands are spared from all the tight, full, udders of the new mothers. The goats are very courteous to each other at this time of year. Quetta gave birth to her babies just by the gate the goats go through to get their morning feed. Usually there is a big push to get through the gate first but this time the goats all stood well back from Quetta and only came carefully through the gate one at a time when called!

Nola had her babies yesterday. Two bucks, and the first one was huge. It was lucky that I was around to help her because it needed extra pulling to get out. Nola and Quetta are both good mothers and good milkers too. I never know how the goatlings will turn out but this year we are getting some beauties. 

My plan is to breed larger yielding goats but keep less of them. Before the fires we had mostly Nubian goats because the host farm guests loved their fantastic colours and long ears. The snag was that they are not the best milkers but we are now breeding our way to the other style of goat and managing to keep the variety of colours.

New begginings

21.8.2012

More goat kids have arrived and I am now at that difficult time of year training the kids to bottle feed at regular intervals. It is hard work, but at least the sun is now shining and the mud has dried a bit. This winter must be a record for continual rain. We have even had a spring bubble up from the ground in the gravel pit paddock. I have enjoyed the spring, but the gully by the top gate is eroding fast and clambering down and up the other side is getting daily more challenging. There is a small bridge of soil left at a crossable level but the creek flows over it, and soon it will fall right in. I hope no one is standing on it when it goes!

We moved the last of Al’s things from his rented house at the weekend and he is now totally living in “The Crumble”. We had to clean out the old place in case Larry does not get round to demolishing it straight away and needs to rent it again. He plans to do a new building on the site but needs to sell all the units before he can start. Al is having a house warming party this weekend and luckily Maureen put the bowls I had made for him in the kiln last week to glaze, so I have a house-warming gift all prepared.

Another cycle has ended favourably in that we were awarded the community grants we have applied for. My next-door neighbour, Eva, did most of the application writing and the rest of us endured six months of meetings to get the information we needed sorted. I think the real gain is finding out the diversity of talent and skills in our community that we can tap on if we really get together. We have links to different political parties too, which all helps.

There is a visible sign of the earlier money the community got in the walking trail that is snaking it’s way towards us from Yarra Glen. It is an expensive undertaking but will provide long-term benefits. 

Our kids could ride horses or bikes to school but now the traffic is less educated and the road is much more dangerous. Gradually homeowners have taken possession of the road reserve outside their properties and planted trees or lawns. This has meant that it was getting hard to ride or walk off the road.  It will be a good thing to preserve the right to do walk in safety for the future.

We are all very grateful for these grants and structures, but we do keep reminding anyone who will listen that so far there has been no real progress to make our lives safer. We are once again going to start another fire season and very little has changed from the conditions that resulted in so many deaths in the last fire. We asked for effective warnings, shelters and that sort of thing but everyone seems afraid of being sued if things went wrong. It does not look too hard to me to set up the Yarra Glen racecourse as a fire haven and even large pipes buried carrying the path over creeks could save life in emergencies. Basically, we all have to plan our own survival methods and put in what ever we feel we need. We have done this by building a cave like house in front of a large dam and I am really glad that we put in this extra effort.

Kidding season again

15.8.2012

Spring must be coming. Our first goat kids have arrived. Opal had a brown doe and a black buck and Queenie had two bucks one fawn and one white. I am happy to have the buck kids, as I do not want to raise many does to keep this year. We sell the buck kids quite young and then have their mothers’ milk for our own use. The little brown doe had a weak leg after birth but I could find no breaks so I left her alone. She now seems to be walking fine. Her name has to start with an A and be short enough to fit on a label.

 I also glad that so far we have twins; quads and triplets are an added drain on resources. Erin and Ester are due to kid next and they look very full of babies so this happy state may not last the week! I am so glad that we removed the ram from the sheep and have not had lambs this year. We had to spend all our time building and have had no time to set up the structure we need to cope with lambs. Last year was a disaster with other peoples’ dogs running through the pregnant ewes and no proper fences. This wet winter has made it a real struggle to keep all the animals healthy even without lambs.

Our family gets together regularly to help each other through the winter blues. Ollie had his birthday yesterday and we had a family party at Bo’s house. Every one was happy as she cooked a delicious roast chicken meal and we could all feast and relax. Ollie got a new bike, so he was pretty happy too. India tells me she is now trying to organise her next trail ride. Arden has grown enormously and he is now the tallest in the family. He has not had any energy to do anything except lounge around and grow this year and of course eat.

Wayne is really thrilled that he has a proper house to live in again. From the time he and Delisa split up he has been living in a shed behind a friends house, which has got increasingly hard for him. He is still working all day, studying to be an arborist in the evenings and playing football at weekends. His team is in the local finals again too. Every year he tells us he is too old to keep playing but some how he gets involved again.

Edd and I are still helping Al move all his stuff. Our cellar now looks like an office with all his stored files. Pia and Edd did most of the heavy lifting. This week the washing machine and a slab of wood had to be man handled up to the new home. The track up to his steps has started to break away at the edge and is in danger of falling onto the main road. We just hope it will last long enough to move all his gear because the other option is to park across the road and carry every thing much further.

Yesterday Edd went down to see a therapist in the city who did some work on his leg muscles to try and ease some of his pain. He says it does feel a lot better today. Al saw the same man last week and his back is healing too. I have not had any treatment but my back is also a lot better and I am able to walk properly again. I keep hoping that our family has passed rock bottom and our fortunes are now turning back towards a more positive position.

11.8.2012

We have cleaned out the Esse stove again and so far we have had about four fires in it with out another blockage!  It burns best when there is a big wind outside and the chimney draws well. If we have a fire at night for a few hours it heats the water and radiators, which is helpful now we are back to cold wet cloudy days.

This week we have been moving more stuff from Al’s office back to the farm for storage. Unfortunately Al injured his back and has not been able to move much this week. Luckily, his girl friend is a very caring and unselfish person so at least now he gets help when things go wrong. He tells me that a treatment he had last week has done a lot of good and he can now drive again.

I am still sore after falling over backwards last week. I stepped off the ladder onto a round tube and my feet skidded out in front of me so that I crashed down hard on the brick floor. I am OK if I only take small steps on flat ground but walking up and down the rough slippy paddocks to feed animals really hurts. Recently I have been doing all the walking work because Edd has a bad leg but now we have to share the pain!

The trouble is that with fences, and bridges still missing, it is difficult to set up an easier system for animal feeding. The weather has been so bad too, that it seems silly to fight it and do major works until conditions improves. Today when I drove to the market in Healesville I saw that the flat lands were under water yet again. The ground is totally saturated and all dams filled, so more rain just causes problems.

All this usually changes very fast and we go straight from flood to drought some years. Our new head water tank arrived this week. We had a head tank on a metal stand that was destroyed in the fires but we plan to replace it this year. I like a head tank because then the water flows into the house by gravity and you can still flush the toilets and have a shower even if there is a power cut.

5.8.2012

This house is amazing. It is so easy to keep at a delightful even temperature. When the winter sun shines on a day like today just a small log fire for a few hours at night is all that is needed to keep above 22 degrees. I am still having Esse stove problems.

This week we brought a load of off cuts from kiln dried timber which were well and truly dry enough to meet any expected criteria. The fire burnt for two days and then blocked again. When it goes, it heats the water and the radiators really quickly but is hard to get hot enough to cook on. This week I got it as hot as possible as the book recommended but it still blocked up. It is very annoying.

AL'S LIVING ROOM 

On a happier note we had a great night on Friday when I cooked an evening meal for some friends here. Everyone had a good laugh and it was all very relaxing. I feel so happy now that I have a house again and can sit and talk to friends in a clean comfortable environment. This house is everything I dreamed it could be and much more and my friends seem happy to come here.

old friends

1.8.2012

Once again today the morning fog lifted and our valley was bathed in beautiful sunlight. It was a very welcome change from the continuous rain and grey skies we have had most of the time. To make the day even better my friends Merrie and Barbara came over for a visit and we all swapped news. We are all in our sixties but strangely we all seem so much happier and more at ease with our lives than we were thirty years ago. We all have children and grandkids who we spend time with but none of the dramas that we had when we were struggling with school children.

Barbara also had news of friends who used to trail ride with us long ago. She told me about Brad, who is still an activist on the Sea Shepherd, and of course I could tell about Beni and her new life in the northern territory. The problem is that we all had so many contacts to discuss that the time was not long enough. Barbara lives in Phillip Island so at least she is still near enough to visit. I have very little of interest to talk about because we have spent all the years since the fires rebuilding. Merrie’s family did a lot of the building work so none of this is news to her!

Al is still working on his house and Edd and I went over on Sunday to help render the walls in the kitchen. He has moved in but still needs to cook at the rented house. I seem to spend every week end mixing up lime render but there are worse things to do, and while the weather is so wet I can not get on with the garden and farm jobs I would like to do here.

The chickens are laying well now and we have only two weeks before kidding is due to start. I am looking hopefully at the first kidders and praying that they turn out to be good milkers. We had Anglo Nubian goats when we ran the host farm because the visitors liked their fantastic colours and long floppy ears. The down side was that they do not give as much milk or milk as long as the upright eared alpine style goats. Since the fires we have used alpine and brown bucks and I am hoping that we will soon have goats with colourful coats and lots of milk.

I always worry for the young goats as they have to give birth and establish a milk flow before they are safe. Erin and Ester are now very large and we have moved them to a private pen so they do not get so mithered by the younger animals. Opal and Queenie are also due to kid soon and I would like to separate them off to but we are fairly short of pens and lack materials to build new one.

moving forwards towards spring

25.7.2012

We are definitely moving towards spring. The wattle blossom has turned numerous small trees a startling shade of yellow and the daffodils are repeating this performance at ground level. Luckily we have red hot pokers, huge white arum lilies and trails of purple native wisteria to add variety to the colour scheme.

The lucerne trees are also in flower and this year the seedlings on the bank above the ruins look lovely as a backdrop to the rest of the garden. We have ordered more vegetable seeds and hope to produce more of our own food this year now that the main building effort is over.

It is Al’s birthday today so Edd and I drove over to his place and spent the day moving his furniture into his new home. Both the houses involved have the sort of entrances that make moving anything as difficult as possible. The town is in a steep valley so there are height differences as well as tiny doors in stupid places. Just to keep us really on our toes the floor boards were missing just inside his new place and one had to be very careful not to fall down between the beams! It was a miracle we moved everything with out breakages or accidents!

The big news is that Josh has now completed his masters’ degree and started work as an audiologist. I was hoping that I could now say all my children were now done with education but Wayne is half way through his qualification as an arborist so I am not quite out of the woods yet (so to speak). It is quite possible that we will always have at least one family member studying something, so perhaps it is unwise to delay celebrating.

I have been painting ceilings again, but not very enthusiastically. I am really over it with house construction. The better weather has encouraged outdoor work, and Edd has started repairing the slasher and measuring up for stockyards. The electricians have been back to do the wiring in the tools shed and we have now connected the new house to the solar panels. I have dug over two of the vegetable beds and planted one out with garlic and onions saved from last year. We have also planted out two new trees and cleaned out around the feet of the first chestnut tree. All very enjoyable work now that the sun is shining again.

I am totally unimpressed by the process we have been shunted through as our community tried to get money from the bush fire funds to help people still struggling. After a huge effort to talk to people in the community and address their needs we have been shunted off into endless meetings and then find ourselves pushed away from what we first hoped to achieve. At least I now understand how the committee running the community centre probably tried as hard as we have and ended up with everyone annoyed at them. I think that at this stage I will withdraw from the process and spend more time with the goats who are close to kidding.

Sun at last

8.7.2012

The sun is out and the water is hot! The solar panels really work when the clouds move off. There was a really heavy frost last night but the house was above 20 degrees this morning even though the fire was almost out. I admit that I do get up at 3am and add more wood but it is well worth it to stay so warm. Perhaps next year we will have wood dry enough to run the central heating.

Al and co. are working all hours on their little cottage. They have put in two small cast iron wood heaters and the internal walls are framed and covered with wire and paper. India mustered all her friends yesterday and they managed to complete the first layer of render in her room. There is really only one bedroom in the cottage but they are making a sleeping loft for Ti and a temporary room for Arden on the veranda. Al plans to have a bench in the kitchen for his office and he has walled off a small section for a shower and toilet and another for a laundry and back entrance. It is pretty minimal but it is beginning to look possible.

Edd is off to cut the weeks firewood whilst the sun is shining and I am hoping that by the time I have written this some of the grass will be dry enough to mow. Yesterday I dug over the vegetable beds and added manure, dolomite and compost. The frosts finally killed off the tomatoes and pumpkins so only onions and parsley are left growing. Fortunately we sell enough at market on Saturdays to buy the rest of the vegetables we need.

There may not be much in the line of vegetables but the citrus trees are doing better this year. Even my orange tree has recovered enough to grow some fruit and the grapefruits, limes, lemons and tangelo tree are giving abundantly. I should probably start to think about making more marmalade.

The accounts are nearly completed and Edd has put up all the laundry cupboards and brought more flat packs to fit out the pantry. I have been trying to plan a whole farm approach to replacing the internal fencing. Getting new stock yards seems to be fairly important, and if this weather continues the side walls on the barn are also a priority. There is still a frightening amount left to do.

I also have to write a grant submission ready for tomorrow, which is another worry. This one is for our wellbeing fire recovery group about counselling sessions, a road to get mobility challenged people up to the community centre, a kids club and adult fitness sessions. Personally I think we should just get on with it and raise the money as we need it but it is worth a go to see if we can get some help. We all feel that other communities got the lions share of the donated fire relief. 

Too much water

2.7.2012

It is unbelievably wet. The paddocks are awash with water over flowing from dams and gullies and we have springs bubbling up where there have never been springs before! The cows ignore the rain. Donna carefully licks Sharron clean every day, even though she is old enough to be a mother herself. The horses are waiting at the fence twice a day for their feed and the sheep likewise. The goats stay in the shed and only come out at milking time but the dogs love to run and jump through the undergrowth. Today Flynn casually walked on a slippy fallen tree over the creek as if he did things like that every day.

Edd and I are more like the goats. We go out into the wet twice a day to feed and care for the animals but stay inside all the rest of the time. Edd is fixing the mud room cupboards and I have just about got the accounts up to date for the end of the financial year. All good stuff that really needed doing but would have got put off if the weather was fine.

The French wood fire is keeping the house warm on its own because the wood is not dry enough to use in the Essa stove. This is a problem as it means we have no hot water and the central heating does not run. We have tried all kinds of wood but so far little is dry enough. Wet wood results in a discharge of black liquid onto the kitchen floor and a grate below the cooking plates that has to be cleaned out every week! I really miss my old Aga who was much better mannered.

Edd had a concert with the Welsh choir on Sunday so I went to help Al repair his house. India, Pia, Kerry and I were putting up lime render in India’s room. Barry was cleaning the old paint off the brick chimney in the kitchen and Al was sorting out doors and woodwork. We all got pretty filthy, especially Barry who looked like something from a horror movie. Arden fetched us fish and chips for lunch, which ate squatting round a ‘table’ made from a bale of insulation in India’s room.

Al has to move his family and office out of the rented house in a matter of days now so there is a big rush to get the new place fit to live in. Unfortunately there is still a long way to go as the plumbing and kitchen are not done. However, he now has the floors back in and some of the internal walls are going up as frames. Pia has been hunting around buying old taps that match and fetching second hand doors and architrave. She is such a lovely person that she even seems to get enjoyment out of it all.

 A tiny, old, and broken, happy, house is worth so much more than a large, new unhappy place in real terms.

Eva and I have planned out a basis for a kids club and have sent off a first grant application. I do not expect to get this one but we did enough work to make a basis for other applications. Our idea is to use the new community centre and expand on what is going for kids. Recently Keith has started to show kids movies and the lions club gave steels creek a grant for a playground but we think there is a lot more we can do.

Marysville

25.6.2012

India reached Marysville for the weekend and we moved her backup van for the last time. The weather actually improved slightly on Friday but even so I felt no urge to do any trekking myself because it was still extremely cold.  The great thing is that India has really taken to the horses and loves working with them. I had given up hope that I would have a grand child who shared our love for riding.  It has been a good week for Australian horses with Black Caviera winning in the UK and being congratulated personally by the Queen. Now all we need is for all these equine friends to get home safe and sound.

Al is working hard on his new house. He thinks demolition starts on his rented house in about three weeks time at the latest so things are getting urgent. We took back tools we had borrowed on Sunday and watched iron go up on the roof of the new shed for India.  It seems we are all having to totally rebuild our lives and homes.

It is fabulous to have a house again but the next hurdle is to sort out the rest of our lives. I have been tackling the insurance issues and the company we were insured with before has quoted a price we could not possibly pay so I guess they do not want to know us anymore. We may have to set a holding pattern this year and see how we go. The chances of getting back into a business again are looking pretty slim, which is disappointing.

The jonquils are flowering and the citrus fruit are just about ripe. The ground is so wet that once again the goats are developing foot problems. Tonight I have made board walks for them from old pallets so that they can get to and from the milking parlour with dry feet. The chooks lay enough eggs for family and friends but with out the new point of lays we usually have this time of year there are no eggs extra to sell. Bo tells me all her chooks and ducks got taken by a fox , which is very sad.

Hurray for the Narby pub

20.6.2012

Just after Edd got home last night Bo rang to see if we had felt the earth quake. Tremors had been felt over large areas of Victoria and Bo said her house shook a lot. We felt nothing here and Al felt nothing up in the bush except the cold.

We woke to see a thick white frost outside. Inside the house the fire had gone out but the temperature was the usual 24 degrees. Going outside to feed the animals was rather a shock. Definitely a hat coat and gloves day. I was worried about how the horses and our family had coped in the forest so we left as soon as the morning chores were done and drove back up the twisty potholed trails to where the backup van was parked next to the horse yards.

The track ahead was not suitable for vehicles so we had to go back the way we had come past Mount St Leonard and drive to Narbthong via Healesville. By lucky co-incidence Al and India had arrived at the hotel just before us and it was lunchtime. The horses looked much happier than they had the night before and the riders reported that they were going a lot better. Apparently the ride had been totally stunning but very, very, cold. The sun was out but it had no noticeable effect.

India had lost her mobile phone some time the day before but she was in good spirits. She is booked into the bunk house for the night and her friends are coming up to join her for a meal this evening. The horses are rugged up in the yards and have a big shed as a windbreak. This is lucky because tonight we have huge winds as well as the cold!

We all settled down to lunch in the hotel and enjoyed the log fire and escape from the elements. We could not stay long because we had to give Al a lift back to Warburton and then get home before dark to look after the animals here. My big worry now is that I am still not on top of the financial situation. I have been so busy building that other routine tasks got neglected and the catch up work is horrific. Edd is off to choir tonight so I will try and get a bit more done.

Life on the Mondo trail

19.6.2012

I am so glad to be home in my nice warm house. Edd has just got back from the mountains where he helped Bo take an evening meal up to Al and India who are camping on the Mondo trail. Edd and I moved her backup van to the camp site in the afternoon, but it could only be reached by driving kilometres up a narrow muddy bush trail with constant turn offs for logging areas so we decided that Bo would never find it on her own in the dark.

I am not sure that I would ever choose mid winter to trek through the mountains but India has planned to do a section of the National trail for her VCE and it was now or never. It is really cold up there, but they have lit a good fire and the horses are in a yard with rugs on. Al is sleeping in a tent and India has a bed in her van.

End of an Era

9.6.2012

We are now having some pretty miserable weather. It is damp and drizzly most of the time with dull grey skies. Luckily our new house stays warm with minimal input so we can watch what is happening outside in comfort. We are still working on the house but at a much slower rate. This has given me the extra time to go to community meetings. Basically Steels creek missed out on most of the funding available for bush fire affected communities but Erin and Hannah have rallied us for one last effort to try and get help.

Last night we drove up the mountain track to Kinglake to meet Peter and Thea for a pub tea. They have now moved into their new house and are really happy to be out of rented property. Even the thick cloud enveloping all the top of the mountain did not detract from their joy of finally setting down new roots.

It has been a social week. On Thursday night Dell invited us over to watch the grand designs program. 

The friend’s house she is living in has pay TV so it was possible there. This week they showed the story about our own build, so we felt we should watch it to check out how it came out. We have known Dell for years, so I was not worried about being embarrassed in front of her. I do wish I did not have such a terrible English accent though! Otherwise the show was Ok but I would have preferred to see more of the builders and less of myself.

We have been filmed on and off for the last year and a half, so the showing of the film marked the end of another section of our lives. It was fun, in a way. Mostly I like doing everything in life that comes up, just for the experience. Now I am wondering if we could possibly restart our business here. The big question is, do we have the energy for one last massive effort?