A rock for Toby

March 28 2017

Today I am working in the kitchen.  I have finally processed the last of the tomato glut and I am now toasting the muesli for this month.   Whilst this is going on I am working on ideas for a garden in memory of my niece's little boy, Toby, who was laid to rest this week.  As a family we feel isolated from our relatives at the other side of the world.  It is too far to travel for funerals, but we all feel the need for some sort of ceremony to mark the passing of our elders.  We hit on the idea of getting a large rock and settling it into place with a gathering of song and sharing.

Loosing a baby is very different and at first I felt paralysed by indecision.  Bo’s kids felt that a rock was the right response but I needed something special. In the end I remembered that we had a large hunk of rock crystal that we had lugged down from a mountain in the central desert.  I found the rock, gave it a clean and put it in the sun to dry.  It can live in my indoor jungle until the garden is ready.

I was hoping for a bit of relaxation at the weekend but I was out of luck.  John turned up with a truck and a digger and we spent all Sunday scooping the deep litter out of the goat shed and trucking it down to the hay paddock.   We now have a mountainous pile of compost that will have to last over the next few years until the shed is full again.   We had to take down the pen fencing to do this, and then we had to put it all back again before the goats came in at night.  It meant a long day of work but we managed.

On Saturday we cleaned up and did the washing, which sounds OK but we also had people here to buy goats.   Mellissa, Qantas and Hatti have now gone to their new home.  The couple that brought them were very nice but I was worried about how well the goats would travel as they were in an open trailer.  I hate selling goats but we need to make room in the herd for the new ones we have bred.  It is much nicer when several goats go together because at least they have friends to share the experience.

The remaining goats look very happy and smaller now that the shed is back to ground level with only one layer of golden straw.  Edd fixed the fence round the closest paddock so that they could go further to graze, and that pleased them too.  We had to leave the fence down until we picked up all the posts from the old vineyard but the students did that last week which was great.

The next thing to do is to repair the fences so that we can let the horses loose into a larger area.  Edd has started working on this today but I am back at the house trying to restore some order.  We have UK friends coming to stay at the weekend and I want them to feel comfortable. 

The hour changes next week so our long summer workdays are coming to an end.  It has rained well enough to get us some water in our newly roofed tank and the grass is going green again. Luckily there are still very warm days so the grass is also growing and we look to be getting a good autumn break.