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.