We seem to be turning into a desert

March 29, 2019

It is getting dark earlier now, but the hot dry weather continues. We have had almost no rain at all for months and our water supply is dangerously low. The ground appears to be changing into sand and tonight there is a strong wind that whips the grains up and blasts everything.  There is no feed left for the animals in the paddocks, so we are feeding the sheep barley from the brewery and everything else hay. So far, the animals  are coping.

We water the plants twice a day and this seems to be keeping them alive.  I would never have managed to do all this without Dan’s help. Having an extra person working has made a lot of difference. This week he has also cleaned out our old sand pit area and it looks an inviting space to develop as a fernery.  I probably shouldn’t be getting more plants in these conditions but mostly I can use plants I have in pots already.  My only purchase has been a very small tree fern. All the tree ferns on the property died in the fires ten years ago, and I have missed them.

The pool survived the first camp and was well used by the students.  Mostly the week went well, and one group have almost moved all the broken brick pile we had left by the ruins.  They cut out all the blackberries, so it looks much more maintained there, now. Another group sorted out all the old tins of paint and combined them in big buckets. They then painted a design on one of the walls that was really very well done.

Edd took a group down the gullies collecting and fire wood. This is always a popular task because it means rides in the trailer and turns using the wood splitter. We have a big wood splitter we borrow from our land care group that is safe and reliable for this job.  It is good to see a pile of winter fire wood building up in the shed.  I don’t suppose this heat will go on all winter, so we will need it. 

The other task was repairing the old nature ponds. The dry weather made it possible to completely clean them out and mend the cracks.  We then sealed them with a pond liner paint, so they may hold water again now.  I was a bit worried about how the students would cope with black sticky paint but mostly they did Ok and only one girl managed to get significant amounts of paint on herself.  I moved the papyrus into big plastic laundry tubs , before the pools dried out and it is surviving happily with the other pot plants. 

More goats have come into season and Turnbull has already mated Rani.  Edd has repaired the  fence between the two buck paddocks because it is time we moved the young buck into his own pen where we can put does with him for mating.  He seems to have recovered from his broken leg, so we hope he will cope in his new role as a stud buck.  

mending the pool

March 3, 2019

The first camp group of 20 students arrived yesterday.  For once we are quite glad that there is no rain forecast for this week.( 22 people in wet tents is not a good look.) Edd and I decided that the pool would be essential ,l  but it had developed a leek and was losing water every day to below the skimmer. This meant that it had to be topped up before we could use the filter and that meant big water losses.

The pool liner was badly damaged in the 2009 fires, but I managed to patch it up and we have used it for another 10 years. It was not even new when the fires hit so we have had more value from it than could reasonably be expected.  The snag is that the pool top edge was also damaged in the fires and all the plastic joining pieces melted into place.  Moving everything might make putting in a new liner difficult or impossible. Also finding water to refill would not be easy.

WE are trying for a few extra weeks by redoing all the patches. We fetched some special vinyl adhesive from a boat place at Frankston and lowered the water to expose all the patches.  Once we looked carefully it was amazing it had lasted so long.  There were many huge gashes, but we have repatched them and amazingly it is holding water and being used! I don’t think it will last  much longer though.

Dan and Edd fixed the fencing and moved the horses onto the hill but Indi is still in difficulty because their solar system has stopped working.  They have a small air conditioner and that is the only way they can try and make things bearable for Indi’s last few weeks of pregnancy.   I am happy for her to be in my house, but it is not the same as having  her own place, especially when we have swarms of teen agers everywhere.

The weather is not changing but the animals are.  Twin lambs have been born and at least one goat has come into season.  With help from Dan’s watering efforts we are getting a bumper fig crop too. I have to be quick to pick the ripe fruit or the European wasps move in and eat them.  I have picked the nashi pears because the wasps were eating them too. The snow peas are growing well, and we are getting some runner beans. The only vegetable really thriving is the Warrigal greens plant , a native spinach.  I am getting used to using it in various dishes.

Next for harvesting will be the pumpkins. They have started to die back now and will need moving soon. The tomatoes are still going strong. I am getting lots of small types that are great with salads.  All the young chooks are laying, and we have lots of eggs too. 

The school students are getting in firewood and splitting it for us as well as mending the waterfall pools, digging out blackberries and shifting the huge pile of broken bricks by the ruins. I helped a group find all the tins of paint and sort them out into big batches of colour. They can start to paint the wall by where the bricks were piles tomorrow.

Smoke haze

I have painted the water proofing layer onto the garden wall.

March 10, 2019

The valley has been full of smoke from the bush fires in the ranges and all of Victoria has been under health alerts for air quality. The distant hills are invisible, and the close ones are blurred.  There is still no rain and the paddocks are turning to dust that whirls upward with each gust of wind. Many houses have been lost in these fires but luckily no people. We have not been under threat, but we monitor all that is going on very closely.

All we can do is try to carry on as normal.  Edd has plumbed up the dam water system so that we can now pump dam water into the new plastic tank.   We can  then use it for watering the plants by the house and the fruit trees.  It makes the job of keeping plants alive much quicker and easier especially as now two people can water at once.   I would love to put plants in Toby’s garden around the new gazebo, but just at the minute they are safer in pots. 

Edd’s next job is to fix the fences so that we can move the horses and goats up onto the hill. There is no feed left in the gravel pit paddock and they are driving Indi mad trying to raid her vegetables.  She also has to open and shut the paddock gate every time she goes anywhere, and this is a big ask at now she is so close to giving birth. The dam in the hill paddock is broken and empty so we will need the horses to have access to the small dam . This means having an electric wire on the top of the fences below the dam, so they do not knock them over.  The hafflingers do not like taking “no” for an answer and barge right through fences if it is possible.

Today Dan and I pulled out most of the zucchini because they were going down with mildew.  We also need somewhere to start the winter crops.  We also pulled out the sweet corn which has also been harvested.  It was not as good a crop as last year even though we put in more plants.  On the other hand, the pumpkins have gone mad and taken over everywhere.   This year some are very large, green and warty.  They are probably from our saved seed and may or may not be edible.  Pumpkins are inclined to cross pollinate with anything, so we often get unexpected results.

At least one of the sheep is bagging up and looks heavily pregnant.   We have just started feeding them brewers grain which they are very happy about.   Even the sheep who turned their noses up at grain last year have dived in with enthusiasm today.    We have now weaned the buck kids  and are winding down the milk for the doe kids.  The goats are producing much less now, and it will soon be possible to go down to once a day milking. None of them has come into season yet so it looks as if we may have another year with late kidding.