ending up 2017

New Years Eve 2017

For the last few days’ weather from the storm up in Broome has been blowing across Victoria creating muggy, overcast but hot weather with thunderstorms.  Today it has moved on and we have blue skies again after a cold night.   Josh and I got up at daybreak but he took time to look over his car with Edd before he left on the long drive back to Brisbane.  We are sad to see him go but he is going to look for a new unit to rent and needs to get organised as the next year starts.

He has been most helpful whilst he was here.  He has sorted out electrical problems and killed and boiled up all the spare roosters.  I have separated the results into stock, meat and dog food to fill up all the air space in the freezer.   It is much quieter around the donga and milking shed now there is less crowing.

The chicks we are raising are settled down in the small chook house with just a light at night.  They are growing fast and will need moving soon but at least the rooster pen under the maple tree is now vacant.   It is hard to raise them at this time of year when there is a danger that they could die of over heating, though the trees keep the houses and pens in the shade.    We need to have them now in order to get point of lay chooks at the start of winter that will keep up the egg supplies as the older chooks slow their production.

Today I put away the Xmas decorations.  The bobbles and lights fitted back into their boxes OK but it is always a battle to get my artificial tree folded and packed up.  It breaks down into three stages that need sitting on and tying up before they can be controlled.  I have got fond of this tree because we have had it for years now.  It was in the cellar and survived the fires, which gives it a sort of status in the family.   I do not really like artificial trees, but I don’t like killing trees either, and this farm has as many x Christmas trees growing as it can handle.

We all feel we can give New Year celebrations a miss.  Like Edd’s birthday it all comes too close to Xmas.  Indi has gone to work and we are completing the post party sort out ready to get back into regular work in the New Year.  When we start talking about what to do next it is quiet scary.  There is so much that needs immediate attention.  Firstly we need to get hay in and complete the accounts and then we have to get the sheep shorn. Edd is half way through fencing the gravel pit paddock and we have still not completed the milk room floor.  So it goes on.  We are unlikely to get bored.

edd gets a birthday party

Food being prepared for the party

Yesterday we had a big party for Edd’s birthday. Edd has an unfortunate birthday date and it is usually forgotten in the midst of all the other seasonal events.   He was a bit upset that his 70^th passed with out being noticed so we decided to make up for all the neglected times this year.

 All the family, this time plus Wayne’s mob gathered in the ruins with long-term friends for a massive feast.  Bo organized all the food but she used a lot of farm produce supplemented by loads of fresh fruit and other luxuries.    We put tables in a long line under the shelter shed and laid the food out as a smorcas board so everyone could suit themselves.    Danni, Wayne’s lady, did a wonderful job arranging the food onto the plates in a very stylish way.   She is amazing at this sort of thing; in fact everything she does is done perfectly with real class.

It was a very hot day and Edd and I had worked hard trying to get the ruins and gardens looking their best.   Luckily the pool is a lifesaver in these conditions.  I had a swim before the guests arrived, and the kids and some of their parents all frolicked in the water as an alternative to cool alcohol consumption.    Silkie redeemed herself after the chocolate incident by being the perfect cousin and looking after Ella in and out of the water.

Today we are partied out.  We have been washing dishes and moving what seems like a ton of empty bottles.  Some thing, probably a dog, found and ate a whole box of chocolates.    Neither of our dogs is looking at all sick so may be it was Rosa, Indi’s dog, or perhaps our dogs are genetically able to cope with chocolate.    Alternatively the chocolates may have been more sugar than chocolate, who knows?

Josh has killed some of the roosters and we are cooking them up for meat and dog food. After the Xmas feasts my freezer is really filling up.   It is a large chest freezer but does have a limit to what it can hold.    All this food will come in very handy if we manage to get in working tourists again.    The donga is now clean and set up with beds so this coming year we have room for extra’s to stay.   

 I am a little intimidated by all the changes to the working tourist systems.    Once people phoned you, talked to you and if all sounded well they arrived here with in a day or two.  Now everything is on line and planned ahead.    I am not at all sure about this but I guess it is just another thing I will have to learn.  We used to have “Wwoofers” but my friend has “Work away” people and she has offered to show me how that system works.  

Xmas eve feast

December 28      2017

This has been a very busy week.  The family gathered here for a traditional Xmas meal on Christmas Eve.   I spent most of the day cooking.   Luckily the temperature outside was only in the low 20s so I was able to cook the turkey in the wood stove and use the gas cooker for vegies and everything else.  The wood stove cooked the turkey perfectly so that it was moist and juicy but cooked evenly right through. 

I even managed to toast another month’s supply of muesli whilst all the cooking was going on.   We like to make our own muesli with lots of nuts and different grains and toast it with just a bit of coconut oil and honey so that it is not too sweet.   We have it for breakfast every morning with fresh fruit and freshly squeezed orange juice. 

Josh drove down from Brisbane and arrived at midday, and Al and Pip came up from the coast in the evening.   Indi picked up her younger brother from his mum’s house and Bo, Simon and all their kids drove in from Yarra Glen.  Wayne and his family were at his in laws and Arj is still in Germany but we still had healthy numbers present.

We all sat round a big table in the farm kitchen and enjoyed our first feast of the season.   Silkie managed to get most of the chocolates from the crackers and was most upset when she was told to share them out.  She had helped me make them earlier in the week and she had chosen the chocolates, so temptation to horde was strong.  The kids opened their gifts and we adults exchanged small home made food gifts.  Well. That is the idea.  In practice, after the oven door crisis, I decided I had the perfect excuse to buy everyone cakes instead of baking them.    Bo cheated too, and gave me a voucher for a massage, which was much too nice a surprise to quibble about.

On Xmas day we all drove up into the forest and had a BBQ lunch by the river.  The heat was building up again but it is much cooler in the forest and it was a perfect day for playing in the water.   Josh helped the younger kids move rocks around to dam half the river and create a pool.    Bo brought seafood and salad to go with the sausages and we all relaxed.    It was one of those perfect days.

Problems and sorrows

December 21      2017

The Xmas cakes did not turn out well.  They tasted OK but crumbled to bits when I tried to cut them.   Worse than this, the oven door shattered when I opened it to get the cakes out.    Apparently it was mostly glass and some how the handle came loose and then broke the rest when I used it!    This was a great worry because although Edd found a replacement oven door it was in Sydney and they could not send it down here until next year.   I had visions of having to light the wood stove to cook the Xmas meal and everyone partying outside to get away from the heat whilst I slaved over the cooking!

Luckily my family is not defeated easily, and no one wanted to forgo Xmas food.   Edd and my son-in-law arranged a private currier who got the door down south in record time.   Edd was able to pick up the door from the brewery yesterday and battle it into position.   I am now very wary of oven doors; I definitely prefer the caste iron variety over the glass ones.  The door though has not been my greatest worry because the cat had disappeared.

Officially we do not own a cat, having both agreed that they did too much damage to the local wild life.   After the fires some cats survived when their owners were burnt out, and they had to fend for themselves.   One cat visited our shed at intervals and we found kittens one year that my grand kids found homes for.  Then one evening a cat (possibly the kitten producer) turns up at the dairy with a large wound on its neck.  I gave it a dish of milk and from then on the cat stayed.

It was actually a very useful cat.    It dealt with the rat and mouse population in the shed and then started to work on young rabbits, bringing them to the dairy to show us before eating them.   All that the cat asked for was a bit of milk morning and evening and it worked tirelessly to protect the shed and vegetables from vermin.   Sometimes it attempted pet behaviour but it was a grizzled old thing and was difficult to even stroke. It would rub against my legs mewing when it wanted me to hurry with the milk often almost tripping me up.

Where ever I went the cat was there.   It was there whilst I did the milking, it followed me to the vegetable garden when I worked there and we just sort of did everything together.   The cat did not like school camps and would be off to better hunting grounds when the school groups were here.     At first when it was missing I did not worry but it got to the time when we were pretty sure something had happened.   Today when I was mowing I found a dried up body by the big water tank.   It was the cat, its grey and black striped coat all dull and lifeless.   I feel as if I have lost a best friend with out the chance to say goodbye.

This cat chose us and did enough to help us that we were glad it was around.   It looked after itself and mostly led a very independent life.   A cat like this cannot be replaced. I feel we need a notice on the gate declaring a vacancy for the farm cat position so that any passing homeless cat knows there is a job going but I will still miss this particular little animal.

Reviving the donga

Morning sun enters our valley, viewed from the house.

December 17      2017

This is the run in to Xmas.  I am pretty close to panic mode.  Today I am attempting to cook Xmas cakes, I am afraid that this sort of cooking is not where my talents lie.  I am also making a hard cheese in the dairy and I am much happier about that.  This year the vacuum packing has allowed the cheeses to mature well with out going mouldy or drying out and they are very successful.  Cakes are another thing altogether, but we have decided to give small homemade gifts between family adults and I have to try. My biscuits last year were pretty hopeless!

Food on the farm is a safer bet.  We have beans and zucchinis, and lettuce and spinach. The snow peas are coming to an end but the tomatoes are growing and the sweet corn has started to develop heads. We have parsley; chives and today I harvested the first garlic.  The young chicks have grown well but they are stinking out the house and need moving to new accommodation.  The goats love the freedom hot weather brings and swagger home every evening with bulging sides. Annie, who broke her leg, is now back as part of the herd and is coping well, with no lingering problems.

I have spent a lot of time working on the donga.  We hired a carpet cleaner from the local super market and cleaned the floors three times removing vast quantities of mud and dog hair.  We also cleaned the couch and Edd’s ute seats.  This all worked better than I expected and was well worth the effort.  We resurrected two beds from dumping spots and brought two new mattresses so the accommodation is now ready for Xmas visitors.  I have had fun choosing bed linen and towels to match.  Today I got down on my knees and scraped what I assume was bee’s wax off the kitchen floor.  The floor looks a lot better with out big black stained areas.

Edd is trying to organise a fly screen for the donga door.  The donga heats up in the evenings so we need to let the hot air out as much as possible. I have hung old curtains over the west facing windows to keep the evening sun out which helps.  We need a new tap for the sink as the existing one has collapsed and refused to function but other wise things are now not too bad. I was very, very grateful about being given the donga to live in when we had no house after the fires and I feel happy to see it cared for again. If I can get it to last another ten years it should see me out.

One day holiday

 Barwen Heads near Al's house

December1 2017

OK.   I think this valley can now say we are feeling the effects of climate change.  Last week it was really hot and now we are having a weekend of tropical type storms.   More rain has fallen in a shorter period than any I can recall.  In practice this means that all the dams and tanks are over flowing (good), the risk of bush fire is nil ( good), The water has worked its way through several rooves so that the donga has a leak  in the small bedroom soaking mattresses etc because the pan I put in overflowed in the night.(bad).

In the house the water is coming down the stove chimney.  Creosote flakes have washed down and blocked the chimney and water has collected in the stove so it smokes rather than heats water (bad), at least we now know the smoke alarm is working (good).  The big goat shed is half flooded for the first time.  The goats solved their problem by jumping out of their accommodation and raiding the feed bins (bad).   Now the shed is a total muddy mess (bad), and all the feed is gone. (bad).

On the good side the drives have stayed in tact, and the dry creek bed has taken flood water away from the house to the dam so that the house has not flooded.  The dairy and cheese room are also OK. That leaves my wood stove. Obviously it has filled with water and needs help before we can have hot showers again. 

I am being fairly philosophical about all this because I have had a holiday this week.  Al was working in the Yarra Valley on Tuesday and Thursday so I cadged a lift with home with him and spent Wednesday  down by the sea.  It was amazing!.  We had an evening meal in a restaurant on a peir over the ocean and on Wednesday I spent the day in Barwyn heads relaxing reading a book on the beach and exploring the shops. Pip and Al met me after lunch and we drove to a surf beach for a swim and enjoyed really hot sunny weather. Looking back it seems another life time ago.

I can see why Al loves his new location it is a sea side area that is not developed or over exploited yet and offers surf beached and native wetlands.  He is working on expanding their house to include an office for architecture and a clinic for Pip’s Chinese medicine.  The new extensions have got shape but no roofs yet so I hope this tropical down pour has not done too much damage.

Edd took Bo back to her surgeon this week and he has  given her he all clear to drive an automatic car.  This is a big improvement and saves us the time involved in getting her boys to and from school.  She is looking much better too but she still needs crutches.  My mum has had a 97^th birthday this week ,  which she has enjoyed. Everyone sent her flowers and she had cake and visitors.  She actually sounds really on top of things at the moment.  I am more worried about Pip’s father who is still sick after contracting thunder storm asthma.  He is an amazing man who we all love so we hope all will be well.

I have put the goat Annie back in the herd.  We needed the space in her pen because of the floods and her leg has mostly healed.  She got rather pushed around at first but seems to have coped.  Usualy I mend broken legs with poly pipe splints and cotton wool but this time I had to substitute with bamboo and sheep’s wool. At least I know this is now possible.