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.