working through winter

July 31 2016

The sun is shining, last night’s storm has passed and pleasant working conditions exist outdoor.  Edd is climbing ladders and trying to fix gutters that have blown loose so that we can store all the water that comes with spring rains.

I have been active in the vegetable garden turning over last years pumpkin bed (lots of worms) and planting snow peas. The snow peas are the first vegetable we can get from spring plantings.  This year we were very efficient and got an autumn snow pea crop too but I am rarely organised enough for this.

The chooks are doing well but we need to start collecting eggs for hatching.  Sadly, our rooster Doodle one disappeared whilst we were in Dromana but we still have the marron rooster and Rufus, who we bred last year.  I will have to move the copper marron hens so that they are with the marron rooster before we gather eggs.

This week we had enough milk to make a feta cheese. Last weeks effort was not quite set enough but I allowed extra time this week to get better results.  We took our cream cheese to the land care meeting and everyone loved it so I was very happy. Some of the goats are starting to look pregnant.  We will have to sell several, as the numbers have built up.  I hate selling goats.  I feel so guilty breaking up their relationships and families.  If possible I sell goats with friends and family but one can never be sure they will be kept together after they leave here.

Indi’s bees are very active amongst the wattle and lucerne tree flowers. Every flowering tree is bussing.  Indi has shown me the plans that she and Ben have for living space on Ben’s parent’s property.  I am so happy for her that it is all working out but we will miss them when they leave.  We have not had any Woofers whilst she has been in the donga; I have kind of missed that too.

Most of the last week has been wet and cold and I have been happy to stay in the bathroom tiling.  I have done all the mosaics down to floor level and have started on the white bit of the walls. I will do the floors last, because we will need to put another layer on the waterproof membrane there before the tiles go on.  It is slow work but progress is being made.

I am worried about my mother.  She was moved into a different room in the nursing home and her phone has not yet been reconnected.  The office takes her a mobile phone when I ring but she can hardly hear it so it is most frustrating for both of us.  My sister is on holiday over seas so she can do nothing to help at the moment. Mum has also been given what is called ‘calming medicine’ and finds it hard to stay awake. She has a strong reaction to drugs and on previous occasions where she has been badly affected by them she has told me that it is like trying to fight your way out of a grey fog.

I just have no idea what is best for her at this stage but I do feel that it is not a good situation.  

mid winter activity

July 26 2016

I am still spending 4 hours or so in the bathroom every day putting on the mosaic tiles!  There is not much to say about this except that it is chilly and wet outside so there is little to distract me.  We force ourselves out by 9am every day because animals have to be fed or milked and two hours later I am very happy to retreat indoors until the evening feeding rounds are due to start.  It is probably the right time of year to do the tiling job.

The cooking also has to be done.  Pumpkin soup for lunch today.  We have eaten all the cauliflowers now as well as the broccoli. There is too much celery and silver beet to make any impression on but spinach, turnip and parsley are good. I have discovered that raw turnip is nice grated or lightly steamed. We still have lots of turnips but the swedes are not ready yet.  The chooks are laying well, despite the cold and the goats are still giving enough milk to make cheese twice a week.

On Sunday we had dinner at Bo’s house with her family and parents in law.  The latter had just come back from a cruise and then a holiday in Queensland. They were not impressed with the cruise and did not seem particularly happy with Queensland.  At least we were able to thank them for letting us use their unit in Dromana.  We definitely enjoyed that.

Bo is busy preparing for the Yarra Glen Festival of light but she also had to get in a submission for funding the event next year.  Silky helped by modelling lanterns for the local newspaper.  Now that her kids have settled down in education and are more independent Bo is trying to work out how to restart her career life. At present she is looking into music therapy.  She got her doctorate in Music research and her last masters in opera performance but now she is returning to her childhood talent and bringing her guitar playing back up to date.

When she was about 16 she sold her horse and brought a second hand Gibson guitar that we all know as Gibbo.  Unfortunately it was badly damaged when her young brother accidently dropped a gun on it. (This is a very rural story).  She had attempted some repairs but this week we took it down to a specialist guitar mender who works from a shed in a back yard.  It was almost impossible to get in the shed because it was chock full of guitars in hard cases piled up like bricks. People were arriving with more guitars all the time but he reckons Beth’s will be back in action by next week.

Luckily for me the repairman lived very close to Garden World and we had lunch there and a look around.  It is orchid season and the place was full of the most beautiful orchids imaginable.  What a wonderful experience. There was also a display of geodes taller than I am that were cut in half to display a lining of amythist crystals.  Garden world is basically a garden shop but it is actually a really enjoyable display of all the things I love.  I came away with a poor orchid that had made it’s way into the ‘has been’ stage and some colourful bromeliad pups.  Too much temptation for total resistance!

what the sun does in winter

 The winter sun comes into the house and reaches the back wall of our living space

 Only one of the orchids flowered this year

The hydro phonic system is now growing brahmi and watercress

The moat reflects light above the doors.
When the sun shines the house gets beautifully warm when we open the doors into the sun room.

winter pleasures

 Evening sun in winter

 The picture we liked

July 9 2016

Everyone helped Edd and I have three days off in Dromana on the Mornington Peninsular. Bo looked after the farm and her parents in law lent us their unit to stay in.   I booked us in to the hot spa for two evenings so that Edd could work his knee in the hot water.    It was gorgeous.   Edd spent most of the time in the deep hydrotherapy pool but I explored all the other pools that could be found by walking on concrete paths that wound their way up the hill under the Ti-tree.

There was a Turkish steam bath and a very hot sauna too.   It was actually raining and quite cold, but I was quite comfortable walking round in my bathers because I could jump into a hot pool every few yards.   It actually rained solidly all the time we were away.     We had planned to walk along the beaches and beach trails but it was not the right sort of weather and we soon worked out that walking up and down the town streets was a better way to go.    They are all next to the sea so we still got lots of fresh sea air plus I found lots of charity shops to rummage through.  

We found a fabulous picture in an art gallery of women in the rain.   We would both have loved it but it was not in the sort of price range we would ever consider.   The colours, composition and light were superb and you could have stayed interested in what was going on for years.   I found it truly inspirational.

On the way home we arranged to visit a man who sells bromeliads.   He had an amazing small garden packed full of many coloured bromeliads.   Small paths led between them and the man knew each plant by its common name.     He had created an absolute paradise, and transformed his back yard into something very special that he even earned money from.    I brought several small plants to add to my own collection but I would have loved to come back with a truck full!

We are now back on the farm and have spent this afternoon trying to save the Bhutan pine that was attacked in the night by feral deer.   The deer have never bothered us before so this is a very bad sign.   The rabbit proof tree guard that the deer threw aside is now replaced by a much tougher one of chain link and four star posts.    I just hope the tree survives.

I am  spending time every day tiling in the shower.   Owing to all the curves each mosaic tile has to be laid individually, so I have rather a long task in front of me!   I am using small mosiacs on the lower parts and base of the shower and bath because they do not need cutting.    Cut tiles tend to have sharp edges, which are not good for standing and sitting on.

I took Al and Ti to the airport last week and they are now visiting family in the UK.  My mum seems amazingly with it and cheerful and has loved seeing them.  Not bad when you consider we were all expecting her to die with in hours a few weeks ago!   She may make her 96^th birthday yet.