Easter with family

March 31 2013

Easter Sunday. We started the day with a family gathering. Bo’s kids ran round the new and old house sites searching for the Easter eggs that I had hidden before they came. Meanwhile we adults cooked a very sumptuous breakfast. Home made bread, fresh eggs, tomatoes, zucchinis and mushrooms from the market plus the luxury of bacon tasted really good. After the meal we all went for a walk round the farm.

Al had his new puppy, Amy, with him. She surprised us all when Ollie walked across a tree that we had placed over the gully and the puppy followed him. If I had not seen this I would not have believed it. Amy is a very young Great Dane and none of us guessed that she would have the intelligence or co-ordination for such a feat.

We pushed our way through the over grown gully at the lowest point on our land and walked up bone hill. Silkie seemed to take the climb in her stride and Al went to the place where he had planted iron bark trees before the fires. Amazingly, several trees have survived and some are now quite tall. From the top of the hill we could look down on our house site. The ruins are nearly hidden by the trees round them and even the new house seems to be settling in.

It is a strange year. The weather is now more normal for the time of year but the jacaranda is flowering and the goats have still not come into season. Yesterday I slashed the reeds and bracken in the hay paddock. I have a plan to plant a grove of stone pines in the triangle of land by the road and stage one is getting the site ready.

March 27 2013

This day might be a time of transition in many ways. It is probably Edd’s last day teaching at the living and learning centre and is rumoured to be the last hot day of summer. Last night an enormous full moon rose over Hargreaves Hill and today we have heat, high winds and fires again. We are waiting for the wind to change.

Stevo and Chrisco are now working on the shed walls. They are making up wooden frames that bolt on top of the block walls and go right up to the roof. The wind is not making this job any easier. I have the used barley from the brewery spread out on a tarp to dry but the tarp keeps getting blown into folds and I am worried that the barley will still be damp when the rain comes. It goes mouldy really fast if it is not completely dry.

Yesterday I skinned and froze all the large ripe tomatoes. They are now packed in glass jars in the freezer ready for winter soups. The great zucchini glut is now over but the silver beet is up and running. We have already eaten half the Bok choi but last week I planted parsley and rocket so more greens are coming. The sweet potatoes are growing lots of leaves but they do not look large enough to have produced much in the way of tubers yet. I have never grown them before so it is all a bit experimental