A wonderful week with school students

Saturday 24 March

We have just had the most amazing week.  The school camp arrived promptly on Monday and everything worked out well.  The kids were fantastic, they came with two wonderful teachers, and the weather stayed dry and warm enough for swimming but not too hot for farm work.

As usual we had a camp meeting to allocate chores and farm main tasks.  Most of the kids would have preferred to work with the goats but they agreed to other tasks and played paper, scissors and stone if two people competed for the same thing. Then they all put up their tents and had lunch. After lunch we did tours of the farm and house and swimming.  The big thrill was meeting a large feral deer on the hill!

The work was done willingly all week and the kids related well to each other offering help when needed.  For afternoon activities they learnt about wilderness first aid and then divided into two groups, one to set up and act an accident scene and the others to decide on roles in the rescue attempt.   A teacher arrived with latex, make up and other stuff so that the kids could create alarmingly realistic wounds on themselves.

The first group acted a tractor accident where people and tools all got tumbled over together.   The tools and a huge tree branch were the hazards that had to be cleared and then the rescue team had to examine the accident victims and try to stabilise them until help arrived.  One teacher amused me by acting as the helicopter.  A young girl made the situation more confusing by acting as some one having hysterics and it all felt very real.

The next afternoon they swapped roles and the second group set up a house fire accident.  Here the victims were spread out and two decided they had been bitten by a snake dislodged by the fire.  It was just great to see everyone learning by play and enjoying it so much.  We did have a real situation when the young buck pulled the casing of his horn off and blood pulsed everywhere. The kids helped treat him and we stopped the bleeding by applying pressure.  The kids were all able to help, use the skills they had learned and keep calm.

For main tasks we got a chook shed painted, the ramps into the goat shed relayed and repaired, a fence put up, the old boats moved and manure fetched for the garden. In fact it was amazing how much work got done considering that many of the students were small girls. Having two teachers who were fit and pitched in helped of course.

The students were sad to leave and so warm towards Edd and I that instead of relief, I actually felt sad when they had gone. We have three more camps to go this autumn and I am not expecting the others to all be quite so outstanding.  The camp next week is only 4 days because of Good Friday so I have had to plan shorter main tasks.

We have had the first good rainfall of the year today.  My poor trees needed it very badly.   It is a good thing it came at the weekend and it has saved me at least two hours of watering work.   I am rather hoping it will clear up by Monday when the next group arrives.

fungal inspiration

Sunday 18 March

My olives are looking plumper.  A couple of weeks ago they all looked shrunken and wrinkled but twice a day heavy watering has made a difference.  Some days the sun shines and it is hot and dry and on other days it is cloudy and muggy and dry but there has been no rain for weeks.  A strong wind blew through for a short time this morning and clouds of dust rose up and blasted everything.  Most of our soil has set like a clay pot and is not going anywhere.

My watering routine has extended the harvest from the tomatoes, eggplants and zucchini.   The yellow beans yielded well but are now over and replaced with a new crop of lettuce and rocket.  The runner beans struggle in the heat so that the plants in the shade produce most.  The fig tree has drowned us all in fruit so that the restaurant staff now groan at me when I bring in more.  The quince trees have fruit but are susceptible to bird attack even before they are ripe so we will not be overloaded with quinces.

Tomorrow the first school camp for the year arrives.  We have worked hard getting everything organised clean and ready.  Edd laid the last of the dairy floor tiles yesterday and I grouted them today ready for the stove to be put back in place and the room sorted.  I am worried about the pool.  Edd has kept it clean and clear all summer and it chose today to go bright green.  Not a good look at all.   It tends to go green when there is thunder and we got one big blast this morning.  It might be the cause of several bush fires that ignited in the Kinglake area.  They are mostly under control now and there is no wind at present so we are not really worried.

I have put away all my craftwork because I will be busy with the school kids for the next few weeks.  I have completed the set of baby clothes I have made for Al’s awaited child.  Al ordered rainbow stripes of not necessarily traditional colours.  I had a lovely picture of many striped turkey tail fungus, which is used in Chinese medicine so I used this for inspiration. I thought it would be appropriate because Pip is a herbalist in the Chinese tradition.

Clever cat

yep.  This cat can open that latch!  How on earth did he work that out?

Hot and dry

Sunday 12 March

It is a lot cooler today but we have had the hottest driest weather for days and everything is suffering.  I have been watering the vegetables and trees twice a day but the olives look wrinkled and the vegetables are not producing so much fruit.  The fig tree is the exception and I get a bucket full of figs everyday.  Bo’s restaurant staff are complaining about the amount they have to deal with! Bo has given me a fig and nut cake she made that was too crumbly for restaurant use.  It is delicious.

Ollie is recovering from the loss of his dog and is beginning to hope he can get a replacement puppy soon.  The snag is that we are all working long hours and have no time to give a puppy the care it needs for the first three months.  A solution will have to be found.  Bo has still several months left of her training for music therapy and her chef has resigned so she I the head cook at the restaurant again.  Edd and I have four week long school camps coming up in quick succession so we will be totally occupied.

Al’s new baby is due in two weeks and I was hoping to get down to visit before it arrived.  There is no chance to do this until the Easter break.  Maybe it will hang on till then.  I am busy knitting small gear for the babies first winter that I hope to get finished by a week today when camp one arrives.

One good thing about this weather is that the sun starts to heat up the sunroom at this time of year. I have been able to dry various leaves for herbs and teas just by spreading them out on the table in there.  Perhaps I should try to dry some tomatoes.  The freezer is full and the restaurant over supplied.

Edd is working to fix the fences in the gravel pit paddock.  He has nearly made the fence on the gully side and will then need to work his way up past Indi’s area.  The horses have eaten everything they can off the hill, but we cannot move them to the gravel pit paddock until at least the bottom fence is done.  This fence will enclose all the zone 5 land where the fern trees used to grow. In Permaculture zone 5 is left for nature to do as it pleases.

The new cat has settled in but shows little interest in catching mice.  He has one odd skill in that he has learnt how to open the latched door from the mudroom into the rest of the house.  He kept escaping from the mudroom and I could not work out how but I actually heard the latch open last night as he got out for the second time.  He does patrol the big dam and the wood ducks have gone but I am not sure if these two facts are related.  I am very happy the wood ducks have gone, they are really geese and make a terrible mess whilst eating all the grass.

Tragedy

Thursday 8 March

There was no warning of the tragedy awaiting us when we woke to a perfect autumn Monday.    The sky was that beautiful crystal clear blue with not a cloud in site.  We spent the morning working peacefully in the garden and after lunch I collected Bo’s kids from their various schools and delivered them home.  It was foodies’ night in the restaurant, when a local wine maker gives a talk and a tasting and then we all sit down around a long table in the back room for a meal.   Edd and I were half way through the meal and relaxing with friends when Bo asked for help because there had been a dog savaging.

Ollie had been walking his dog, Gracie, on the lead past the shops when an Akita dog, tied up to the fire hydrant, attacked her.   This dog seized Gracie on the back and ripped open her abdomen.   Some men in the shop rushed out and helped Ollie by beating the dog off, but Gracie was badly wounded.   A vet nurse in the restaurant helped bandage her up and Bo’ and Ollie rushed her down to the vets but she could not be saved.  Gracie was a dear little dog with a coat as soft as silk and she was Ollie’s best friend so everyone was devastated.

Next day I helped Bo and Ollie bury Gracie and plant a rose by her head.  The ground was rock hard which made the job hard, but we took the work in turns and then took a little time to say goodbye.  Bo and I were both aware that this was a big lesson in Ollie’s’ life and we took pains to show him how life’s end is dealt with.  Silkie was also very upset.  It was the first time the kids had to face a death in the family, and this was such a terrible way for it to happen.

Luckily the whole episode was filmed on the security cameras and the other dog’s owner has told the council he will pay Bo’s vet bills and have put the dog down because it is too old to accept the conditions imposed for being declared a dangerous dog.  I hope he pays the bills and no one wants another event like this.  There have been several dog attacks in Australia this week and in one instance a chid was killed so it is a sensitive subject.