22.3.2023

 

Our dear friend Benie has passed away.  She has fought so hard to stay alive for ages, but there was no happy ending. I am over awed by her courage. She kept working for her university students and her community till the end, and never complained about the disease or the treatments.  Several times a day I hear something and catch myself thinking” I must discuss this with Benie”.  We must have known her ever since we came to the area over 40 years ago.  We met when we joined the local after Xmas trail ride, and she became an important part of our large trail riding tribe.  When she left her husband, she lived with us in the donga until she brought herself a mud brick home up the mountain, but she would come down and join us for curry super on Friday nights where we would discuss everything.  We will miss her so much.

 

Whilst we were phoning the other members of the trail-ride tribe we discovered that another friend had also died that week.   Aunty was a small lady with a wicked sense of humour and a surprising amount of energy.  Perhaps our memories will be ghosts that find our ghostly horses and trek over the mountains for the rest of our lives. 

Heavenly autumn weather

 13.3.2023

 

The sun is not climbing so high as we approach Easter, and rainbows can be seen again inside our house where the louvered glass on the window deflects the light.

The weather is perfect, calm, warm, clear and sunny.  Yesterday Bo and I walked round the farm and gathered blackberries, pears and nashi pears to eat and process. It is nearly time for the apples too. I have harvested the sweet corn and bush beans, so already the freezer is filling up with food for winter. I am trying to organise a family get together for the equinox but it is difficult to find a date convenient for everyone.

 

I have had some good news.   One of my dear friends who moved to Queensland tells me she hopes to be able to move back here.  She is finding the heat and humidity of her present location near Brisbane too much.  I am really happy because I have missed her company.   I also heard today that another friend who moved down to Phillip Island has lost her house and stuff due to an electrical fault.   This is quite a common occurrence in Australia where houses are built largely of timber.  Luckily, she has a lovely daughter who she can stay with, but I would not wish this experience on any one.  Actually, getting the insurance money and being able to build our present house has been wonderful as we downsized without leaving our land. I love living in a house dug into the ground too.  This summer we have used it in “cave” mode with the doors open day and night and it has stayed a comfortable temperature (low 20 C’s).

 

Last night we all gathered at Bo’s house for the evening meal. We started with a nibble plate.  Bo’s home-made zucchini pickle goes really well with our soft goat’s cheese. Bo had been given trout by their friends who caught them but did not want to eat them.  Simon smoked them and Bo used the flesh to make a great salad dish that we all enjoyed. The puppies are now a week old and there was lots of puppy cuddling going on.  They are taking some goats milk to make sure they are all getting enough to eat.  Luckily, we have plenty of milk spare.  We sold two of the young goats with horns this weekend as well. They had started to dominate all the hornless goats and one even injured an older goat’s udder, so I was glad for them to be rehomed.  Now there are 18 goats to feed day and night but as our bale takes 6 at a time this is now exactly three runs. Very convenient.

 

Edd is struggling with the water supply to the donga. A bit ago Edd had to change which tank our water came from and the system has not worked right since then. This has been a long weekend and a very difficult time to get advice or spare fittings. It always seems to work out like that.  Even with out pressure pumps the water flows down to our house but the route to the donga is an uphill journey so even though we share a water system CB who lives there is affected worse. Josh has water from a different tank and his supply is managed by gravity.  We are totally dependent on rain water tanks and dams for all our water supply and keeping everything in working order is a constant pressure. We are told that La Nina is finally over and that the climate will return to being much dryer, so water and fires will be next year’s concerns. There are still massive floods in Northern Australia with large areas of land underwater and towns still being evacuated.

 

15.3.2023.  Edd solved the problem with the water pump. He found information on the internet that made it possible.  How did we ever manage with out google? The weather has continues sunny and mild with cool nights and it is quite heavenly here.   Today I am making more feta and saving stuff from the small old demountable. The roof has given way and is in danger of collapse. It is too old and too far gone to try and save. Luckily, Stevo put the upper floor and stairs into Edd’s shed so we have a place to store the unused beds and mattresses.   

 

Hay making

 13.1.2023

 

I have picked two beautiful red tomatoes from the garden.  Very exciting. Snow peas and zucchinis are the main crops right now but the beans are growing fast and are almost large enough to eat. I still have some sweet corn in the freezer from last season so we are eating it now before the new cobs form. It has been hot so getting new lettuce seedlings going has been challenging.

 

We have about half the hay we need in the shed. Wayne, Stevo, Graeme, Bo, Morg and his friends helped load trailers and stack it for us.  With such a large group of helpers everything got done without too much stress, in fact it was a jolly occasion.  Not so good is that Edd had arranged for the hay near us to be made into large round bales that he could fetch with the tractor but the hay contractor’s baler has broken down and so the grass has not been mowed yet.

 

Another problem is that Sev failed to put the break on hard enough, and Edd’s Ute rolled down hill and hit a tree.  One corner of the aluminium try deck was badly crumpled but it was possible to fix up the lights and use it to get hay. Now Josh has started on repairs and already it all looks much better. Josh is a bit of a genius at fixing things when the get broken.  He should know how things work because he spent most of his childhood taking everything to bit so he could see what was inside!

 

My problem is that we are under stocked and the grass is still growing. I mowed the house roof yesterday. If I had waited any longer the mower would not have coped and we would have had to whipper snip the lot!  As it was, I needed Edd to use the tractor and slasher for one corner.   We do not like to take heavy machinery onto the house roof or let the goats up there in case they damage the solar panels or sat dish.  Sheep are OK, except that we need lots more on years like this.

 

At least we are spared the floods. All over Australia people are still flooded. Fitzroy crossing up near Darwin is in terrible trouble and south Australia and up near Mildura are still in difficulties.  Fires have started in Queensland. Soon the whole of Australia will be a disaster zone if things keep going this way.  I felt very sorry for one dairy farming family who have lost all their land and have 700 cows to try and milk in. a neighbour’s rotary parlour. They think they will have to sell out and all find other work.

 

Xmas 2022

 

Pastie day

 3.10.2022

 

At last spring is more spring like and we have enjoyed the first sunny warm weekend we have longed for.  To celebrate the equinox, that conveniently occurs about the same time as the football finals, we had our usual pasty day.  The football match was not very interesting but we did not mind as most of the family was busy making pasties.  This year Indi took over their assembly, which she achieved with her usual neatness and skill. 

 

I do not make the pasties, but I grow the swedes, prepare the pastry and buy the onions and carrots.  All this takes long term effort so I feel OK about just sticking to the farm work on the day of the party.  This year Thursday was declared a bank holiday for the queen, so Alvyn arrived with some friends on Thursday afternoon and they all camped on the farm for the weekend.  During their stay a goat gave birth to twins and so did the second sheep. The young twin girls who were part of the camping group were thrilled to witness a birth but they also became very good helpers doing the farm work.

 

The rest of the family came on Saturday so we expanded to a group of 23. Wayne’s daughters made friends with the twins very quickly and every one had lots of exercise outdoors for once.  We were all exhausted by Sunday but had thoroughly enjoyed all getting together again.

 

From then on, the weather has continued to improve. We have wormed the sheep and checked their feet before moving them to new pasture. The goats have also been moved so that they can go down the gullies and eat out the new blackberry leaves as they emerge.

 

I have begun working on spring vegetables. We have lots of lettuce and purple sprouting broccoli but it will be so good when we can have zucchinis again. We usually get too many and quickly get sick of them but last year Bo found a great recipe for zucchini pickle that goes very well with our goat’s cheese. We definitely need more of it this year. The snow peas are slow to get going but I keep trying.

 

I also tried treated myself to a shopping day at the huge Knox shopping centre with a plan to get all the little things I have done without over covid. I was horrified to find all the shops I used 3 years ago have gone missing and even the floor tiles had been taken up so that walking between the shops that did exist was quite hazardous. I gave up and came home empty handed.

First Persian lambs are born

 17.9.2022

 

The weather is still awful.  It just keeps on and on raining.  Grey skies are not usually such a feature of life here and we are just longing for warmer times. Nature is not to be put off and spring is here, ready or not. The leaves on the oak trees are uncurling and the fruit trees are covered with blossom. We even have the first lambs. 

 

The old coloured ewe has twins, a boy and a girl.  The boy is white with black splodges and has hair like dad, but the girl has a tightly curled black coat that reminds me very much of the Persian lamb collars that great aunts had on their coats years ago!  The ewe is not a good mother so I have her and her lambs shut in the yards so that I can shut her in a shed each night. This seems to be working and the lambs are thriving.

 

We are lucky our vegie beds are raised because the grass around them is like a swamp. We have eaten all the yellow factual shaped cauliflowers and are now into the broccoli. The garlic is streaking ahead and the first set of snow peas are beginning to climb. Josh has seen brush tailed possums around the ruins but so far, they have left the vegie garden alone.

 

 The kangaroos are getting bolder since our dog has died. On occasions they are right up to my bedroom window when I wake up. The feral deer are encroaching too.  It is precarious being a plant round here at night!  The goats are in the shed most days as they hate rain.  This means we often add straw to the shed floor which is rising rapidly We will definitely need to get it cleaned out if the rain finally stops. It looks like the compost we harvest will keep every- one’s soli nourished for a few years to come.

 

Our dear friend, Benie, is seriously ill in hospital and we have a funeral for another friend from our old trail riding days next week. The Queen’s death dominated our TV and media screens most of last week. I think most people I know are sorry to lose her, but are not keen to go on attached to the UK through the monarchy.  The only problem is that it is hard to trust politicians too. 

We are following the coroner’s inquiry about the shooting of a boy in Yuendumu where we lived for several years. We found the way Aboriginal people were treated was extremely racist and evidence to show awful attitudes were common amongst the police are mounting. We all hope for change.                                  

working on the shed

 

I feel really down.  This winter seems to be duller, wetter and more miserable than any previous winters.  We are still busy. Steve and Josh have been working on Edd’s shed.  We put it up after the fires but never completed all the outside walls. Now, with some expert welding by Josh we have put up a central beam so that we can complete the upper story. Last week the flooring went in and the stair well.  I am usually really happy when we are making forward process but we have had several friends our age pass away and suddenly life seems too short.

 

I have injured my knee being stupid and dancing around with the great grand kids. It is taking time to recover and if I walk too much or twist my leg, I am back to using crutches again. This does not help my mood. Luckily, we reduced the farm work to a minimal this winter for when Edd was out of action with his hip replacement, so it is possible to do everything and Sev comes on Friday afternoons and does anything that is too hard for us. We were so lucky getting his help this year.

 

Ollie, Bo’s second son has turned 18. He had a party overnight stay in the ruins with his friends. I have no idea how they coped with the weather but they still looked amazingly bright come morning.  He is now waiting to do his driving test.  He has brought a huge 4WD vehicle at a very reasonable price and got it a road worthy so it is ready to be registered We had tea at Bo’s house yesterday and he looked very tired. He has to get up very early to go to work. I think going to uni is a much easier option after leaving school compared to being an apprentice.

 

We are so lucky that Bo lives close by.  She cooks us a meal almost every Sunday and makes sure we are managing OK.  Al has taken all his kids and their offspring up to the snow for a holiday.  I just failed to get the jumper I am knitting for Alice ready before they left, which was sad, but it is finished now. 

I did get the fruit trees pruned yesterday. The quince has already broken bud and the rest will follow soon, so it was the last chance to do them this year. 

 

We still have fruit from last year in the freezer but we have only one pack of tomato left and we have eaten the last of the stored pumpkin. We dug up the potatoes and ate them and the yellow pointy cauliflowers are ready. Next, I need to get the snow peas in.