cleaning out the storage room

January 8 2017-01-08

Al’s house in Warburton is looking pretty flash now.  Pip and Al are determined to finish off every last detail before the tenants move in.  I have been painting the architraves and skirting boards and yesterday we brought a large chest of drawers that Al borrowed years ago back to the farm.  It only survived the fires because it was out on loan. 

Better news is that next week Al is coming to get all his office furniture that has been clogging up our storage room.  I moved all the stored stuff around and created a space so that Edd was able to put up some plank shelves to store our stuff out of the way so that we can get access to Al’s office furniture. When all this has gone we can think about getting a chest freezer and a mobile butcher to kill the male lambs.

This week we have hot dry weather, a much more normal Australian type summer.  The house continues to stay marvellously cool.  In this weather cleaning out storage areas seems like a good idea. Indi and Ben are very busy building their mobile home in our neighbour’s big shed.  They are looking after his place whilst he is away.  Ben found a big tiger snake in with their young birds but managed to get rid of it.

There was a picture in the news from one poor family that found a snake curled round their Xmas tree amongst the decorations!  I have now put all my decorations away and folded my tree back int5o it’s box.  The tree is also from before the fires and it survived because it was stored in our cellar. It is only a cheap, artificial tree but it now has survivor status, and has slipped its way into our family history and rituals.

January 3 2017

We are having unusual weather in that there has been tropical storms and other rain events that have complicated hay making and kept the grass green.  The blackberries that usually die off in the summer dry are having a field day and springing up lush and fast everywhere.  Today I have mowed the fire breaks round the old house site and the sheds. The blackberries in the fence lines need to be dealt with later.

In the garden the pumpkins grow about a metre a day! We have had a glut of zucchinis that go to the market and Bo’s restaurant, and the tomatoes that have formed a thicket. Yesterday I harvested more beans for freezing and the garlic which needs processing and freezing as ice cubes.  The physic garden is doing well and the plants are mostly looking strong.

We have been lucky with the hay. Indi and friends helped us get bales in and we dodged the un-forecasted rain.  We still have bales to pick up from the shed we put them in and we have round bales to sort out down Steels Creek road. Other people have not been so lucky and lots of hay has been ruined.  Still it is a bumper year with round bales thickly covering every paddock.