Goats in season

April 8 2013

I start every morning by walking the dogs up through the east paddocks and taking feed to the cows. The dogs chase each other through the ti-tree thickets and swim in the dams, and I enjoy the view of the surrounding hills. Every morning is different. This week the fires lit to burn off undergrowth in the forests are making everything hazy, but as the sun shines through all sorts of unusual colours appear.

The eucalypts were affected by the very dry weather this year and through out the bush the rust coloured leaves of the dead ones can be seen. Many saplings sprouted after the fires and it is probably natural selection allowing only the toughest to survive. Dead trunks still dominate the far horizon but the closer hills once again have a canopy of leaves. The scenery is looking much less traumatised now.

Finally the first goats have come into season and there is a lot of complaining in the form of loud bleating when we do not take them straight to the buck. I like the goats mated every second year so that we always have milkers over winter and the goats get a chance to recover and pick up condition. The goats, obviously, have other ideas and spend all day to trying to work out how to thwart my plans.

It is pretty noisy around the shed anyway because this week Stevo and Chrisco are putting up the corrugated iron on the walls. Last week they made a wood frame to nail onto, and this week it all gets filled in. I hope the goats appreciate the extra protection they will get from the wind and weather this year. It is still fine and warm enough to dry barley outside on a tarp but it could change soon.

Edd has gone off with the ute to fetch a ton of oats to use as winter goat feed and I have had a permaculture group here for a property tour. This time there were only four students, which was great. They were a lovely bunch of ladies and we had a really fun morning. Some great stories came out and they arrived with heaps of food for lunch. There was so much that we had enough for us, the builders and then some left over! It was really delicious food too.

At the weekend I employed Ti, who was over on a visit, to cut off all the dead heads on the agapanthus that were going to seed. I love their big blue flowers. They cope and look good in the hardest of conditions, but they are officially a weed, so we need to make sure that they do not spread, especially if we have permaculture groups coming!

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

lots of action(0ld post)

10.3.2012

BUILDING NEWS

The massive spurt of activity has continued. The great ground guzzler got into gear and all the spare soil that was stored in heaps and below the dam is now in the mound covering the new house. This was not at all straightforward because various layers of drainage cell, geo-fabric and foam insulation had to be put in at the correct levels.

Al came to inspect the work because he wanted the finished mound to look right and echo the shapes in the surrounding hills. He has not seen the completed job so I am not sure how well we have done at achieving this. The earth moving gang have been superb. They kept up the enormous concentration needed to move heavy stuff in constricted places faultlessly. The only casualty is poor Skiddy who was used to do the levelling work on top of the roof and who now has a serious bearing issue. (Don’t ask me the details; I’m not mechanically minded).

The diggers also dug the ditches for all the services. Amazingly the telephone lineman arrived exactly on schedule and we now have working phone points in the new house! Today Charlie is down the ditches sorting out the electricity supply lines and we have the pipes here ready for the water. The idea is that everything goes in the same service trenches.

Gary arrived on Friday and is well into building the inglenook seats. Steve is doing a work of art in the shower room and we have measured up for the linen press cupboard. With so much going on I am often asked if I am excited. It is hard to explain why not.

I can only make a rough analogy of our mental state by comparing it to a person undergoing treatment for a terrible disease. The shock, when the disease happens is life changing, but the treatment is actually more wearing and painful. Towards the end of the treatment one is only cheered by the hope that the pain will end and a real healing can begin. You know that your former life, work and ambitions are changed but there is no way to know exactly what the future will be like.

We hope that all the suffering we are experiencing will mean that we will not have our life threatened by future fires. We are aware that there are no guarantees, but we have done everything we can think of to try and have a future free of worry. We are now totally at the end of our coping skills and just pray we have the fortitude and energy to last until the building process is complete. At this stage we both still feel that it is better not to pin too much hope onto what life will be like afterwards.

luminous fungi and earth moving (old post)

15.12.20011

BUILDING NEWS

Frank arrived early this morning and the back fill of the house began. It was amazing to watch the huge machines work within inches of the walls moving vast amounts of earth really carefully. I was surprised at how much they got done in just one day. They have even got the first layer of polystyrene insulation foam in. They dug a trench for this after they had filled the earth in and just slotted it down.

Better still all the rubbish at the front of the house was carefully sorted and the real waste trucked behind the house for burial. Richard also arrived early and has worked hard on the rendering. Edd and Josh got up at the crack of dawn and moved all the stuff from behind the house so Frank mobs could start and guess what? I did more grouting.

Just when it looked as if everything was going to plan we noticed that the glaziers had not showed up. This is really bad news. Why not? They left yesterday complaining madly that Yarra Glen had run out of meat pies but surely people do not stop work over that!

After a few phone calls the boss man turns up with his poor wife instead of the labour team, but by this time the day is nearly over and it is really hot. They did get some of the front panels in but the coloured glass and the rest of the double glass were in the too hard basket. We think we have extracted a promise to come back on Monday but it looks very dodgy.

OTHER NEWS

I have lost all interest in the aesthetic side of our building project, and can now only think of features that make it liveable as soon as possible. Our thoughts are dominated by worries about our family and really nothing else counts for much. How does one deal with these times? Is it better to aim at distraction or just acknowledge the situation as it really is? I suppose that I see my role as being on standby for whatever is needed. Other than that we must work as hard as possible on the house, which will give us the resources to be more helpful.

On a lighter side, Josh has found a magnificent growth of luminous fungi on the big gum tree stump. We all trouped out for a viewing last night and a neighbour with a good camera took photos. Josh had taken some shots the night before but we all felt they could be better.


14.12.2011

BUILDING NEWS

Today the glass started to go in. A team of guys arrived in the morning and unloaded the glass and then some stayed on to put it in. they were a bit of a Laurel and Hardy act at each other all day. Richard, Edd, Josh Stevo and I helped when needed but mostly got quietly on with our own jobs.

I began work on the snug floor because no one really needed to go in there and Josh took his turn at the waterproofing. It was a good job he did because Frank’s gang arrived this afternoon and announced that they will start earth moving tomorrow.

Some big machinery arrived tonight so they are obviously in earnest.
Richard has nearly rendered almost all the kitchen wall and Edd helped Steve put in the laundry doorframe and the last of the architraves. Things really are changing now and it is hard to keep up with all that is needed.

OTHER NEWS

Yesterday the chook run door opened and the chooks got out. Unfortunately the fox noticed before we did and several are missing. Josh and I picked up stragglers all day. The buff Orpington was badly injured so she is on her own in an old beer drum where she may or may not recover but is at least safe from being pecked to death by her former friends. Chickens have no empathy for any of their mates who show weakness.

I moved the sheep out of the earth moving area. This was an easy job because when they saw me they followed me to the gate and went through of their own accord once I got it open. We also need to move the buck but that is harder as he has a sort of shelter that has to move with him. Then there is the fence! We probably should have moved that too. Oh well, we still have two hours of daylight.

I am rather relieved that the hours will soon start to shorten again. The sun now sets over Mt Everard but in mid winter it sets to the right of our own hill, which is a huge difference. We tend to work outside until dark so by the time the hour changes we are pretty worn out by all the extra activity.

resignation

March 26 2013

Edd is off at work today, but he has resigned, so he will be home working on the farm more next term. He was told the job was for two days a week but there is so much paper work that it actually involved a lot more time. He is worried too, that the work will not achieve very good outcomes the way it is set up.

Since he began this job he has been under enormous stress so I am relieved that he is getting out. Now that we are living in a proper house again and the huge pressure of getting re-established has died down we both feel able to relax and as a result the stress of the last four years has started to find expression. We are not coping as well as we would normally do with all the issues that come up and our health leaves a lot to be desired.

Luckily, we get talks starting this week about posttraumatic stress and how best to deal with it. This is one outcome our community achieved by getting funding through the fire committee I worked with last year. I have now stopped all the committee work I was doing because I just do not feel up to it. We have big things to sort out here too. I turn 65 in a few days time and we need to have sorted out our pension scheme by then.

Stevo is doing great things. He and Chrisco built the new water tower last week. Getting the tank on top was challenging, especially as I was needed to work the winch. I usually get as far away as possible when dangerous task are attempted. It was a bit scary but the tank is now strapped on top of the tower and all we need to do is plumb it up so that we get gravity feed to our house.

This week Stevo has started on the wall to install the wood heater in the donga and next he will do the barn walls. We are all getting set up to cope with winter. I have been working in the laundry doing the tiles. All the splash back is done, but I have enough tiles left to put some on the walls too. I will need the doorframes on before I can do this so that I can tile up to them. There is a lot more tiling to do but I decided to start in the laundry because it was the least important area to get right and I had lost my confidence.

It is great having Bo and family home again. We all had a meal at her house this last weekend. Al came over with India and Arden. India has been riding up in the high country and has started to spin up the wool from the big ram we sent up there last time she was down. She told us that they all waded across the river carrying the ram and were terrified to slip in case he got his wool wet and consequently became twice as heavy! Arden has used up all the money he earned on the farm last time he was here and is asking if we have more work for him. There is always more work on a farm.

march marches on

March 20 2013

There was really good news yesterday. Our friend Beni who is living in the donga has finally solved some of the problems forced on her. We had all just about given up hope, and it was beginning to look as if Beni had no reasonable future at all. I just wish that Al ‘s problems also sorted out. We are all trying to visualise a time when all this upsetting business will be finished with and we can start working at sorting out the mess. I am totally unimpressed by the way it all works.

Anyway, with Beni feeling better we all went out to supper at Bo’s restaurant and had a good laugh telling stories about the time we all used to trail ride together over the mountains every summer. We remembered our first meeting with Beni and the rather difficult horse she was riding. She told us that he was a very well bred thoroughbred who had difficult moments. He came to a bad end one day when Beni was helping muster cattle. She went back to get in a lost bull but the bull spooked the horse who threw Beni, and then fell down from a ridge.

Beni found him with a totally smashed shoulder and knew there was nothing that could be done to save him. A friend arrived in a vehicle, but he did not have a gun with him and drove back to get help. Beni could not bear watching her beloved horse suffering so she took off a stirrup iron and tried to knock him unconscious to spare him pain until her friend arrived back with a gun! We had to be pretty tough in those days!

This week’s animal drama came when the young buck, Banjo, broke off a horn spur. We found him in the morning with blood all over his head and the horn hanging down from his forehead by a small strap of tissue. We had to catch him, remove the horn and clean the wound. He is now recovering but he is being much more careful about butting into things. The bucks are now both very smelly and waiting for the girls to start cycling.

The does are very late this year but the weather is so mild that perhaps they think it is still summer. I thought that the shortened day length brought them into season but maybe other factors have an influence as well.

March 19 2013

At last the temperature has dropped below 30 C and cool nights result in morning dew. Plants everywhere are starting to recover. The fig tree has grown new leaves and the paulownias trees are preparing to flower. In the garden we have a glut of very delicious tomatoes and already the Bok choi and misuna are ready to eat.

We have a young man working here filling the holes in the concrete blocks of the shed walls and putting in steel rods so that the timber above the wall height can be bolted on. Yesterday Steve started to build us a new tank stand. We need a head tank so that the water can flow to the house by gravity. All our water comes from rain, which falls on the shed roofs and collects in low tanks. At present a pressure pump supplies water every time a tap is turned on. The snag with this is that it uses a lot of electricity and fails to work every time there is a power cut. We get a lot of power cuts so we get stuck for hours with out water for cooking or flushing toilets.

We had a high tank before and pumped water up once a week. The good thing about this was that if someone accidently left a tap on we only lost a week’s worth of water rather than several months’ supply! Anyway, we are now putting a similar system back and putting up walls on the barn so that we have a place to store fire wood and better protection for the hay and goats when it rains. We have also got the stove back after it has been repaired. We plan to put it into the donga so that it will be warmer this winter. Everything is now possible with Steve back.