Fire refugees and other difficulties

It may be true that problems come in threes.  It started when Al cut his finger on a bread knife and had to go to hospital for surgery.  Then our friends from NSW came to stay and we had a frustrating time trying to help them with all the problems they are facing as fire refugees.  If you have not been in this position it would be impossible to comprehend the scale of associated problems.  I don’t think Edd and I were able to help much despite hours of effort, but our friends were courageous enough to share a few laughs.

The day after they left, we woke to find it had rained heavily overnight.  This was good.  As we began our farm-work though, we noticed that all the animal’s troughs that we had left with clean water in the evening before were now thick with red brown mud.  The dust storm had been brought to ground and almost all our water supply has been polluted!  Luckily, we have a tank where our cottage used to be and this one is not connected to any roof so has remained OK. At least we have some water to wash, cook and drink with for now.  We are not the only victims. The Yarra river and various swimming pools have also suffered, and the pools have had to close.

At least the rain has helped green grass come through and reduced fire danger here. Our NSW land is not so lucky.  Fires have flared again further north and yesterday a large water bombing plane crashed in that area and the crew were killed.  As far as we can tell our land and our friend’s home have not been burnt out. The roads are closed with fallen trees and the air there is heavily polluted, so we all have to keep away until conditions improve.  Our friends had no water left when they escaped from the fires.

 My vegetables are now dirty with topsoil from the Mallee but at least I have a reprieve from constant watering.  Yesterday the temperature dropped, and it was actually quite cool.  I even had to light the stove at night to get hot water!  I have no idea how we can prepare for the school camps in these conditions. The pool is full of mud and it is difficult to plan anything.  

Our goats are coping well.  They thrive in the searing heat and find shade in the rough areas where they eat blackberries. During the day we sometimes catch a glimpse of the herd far away on the hill, but they come back at night and when it rains.  The kids were born early last year so we have been able to drop down to once a day milking.  In the evening they come in for a feed in the bale and so we can make sure they are all safe before nightfall. Two of the goats will be fifteen years old this year, I am surprised they have lived so long. They look fit too.

Water at last

We have a reprieve in the form of rain and cooler conditions.  Suddenly everything seems rather flat after we were all geared up to fight fires.  This time last year we had over seas workers here but with the danger this year we have not taken on travellers.  I have put the donga on an air B and B list as accommodation offered free for disaster victims but so far nothing has happened.

It is just so quiet here.  Indi tells me that she and Ben have now separated.  The beautiful little settlement they set up on the farm has been abandoned, and I miss having all the young people around. We are very worried about how Indi and baby will manage in the longer term.  Life is hard enough for couples working together, it is lucky she has been able to move back to live with her mother, but this is not the long-term plan.

 There is, of course plenty of work for us to do on the farm.  Last week the hay we arranged to have made at a neighbour’s property was cut.  The day it was due to be baled we had storms forecast.  Edd wisely checked up on the workers and said he would have small rounds instead of squares because that was the machine, they were using first in Steels Creek.  This meant that our hay was baled before the rain struck.  It is fairly secure left outside in round bales and if it had stayed on the ground it would all have been ruined.    That gives us enough hay so another of our yearly tasks has been completed.

The fires have awakened memories for all the people affected in 2009. One of my friends said she was not concerned at all about losing possessions as it is only stuff.  I think many of us feel that way and once you acknowledge the feeling it means that acquiring stuff loses its attraction. Working hard to make a beautiful home and garden seems pointless when you know it could all be lost in a matter of minutes and one of life’s pleasures is diminished.

Bo is much in demand for her work as a music therapist and therapy organiser for the local fire affected areas. She has a few private clients and a school teaching job so that there is probably too much work lined up wanting her services.  Simon has been making cider as well as beer and reorganising the brewery.  Indi has been working helping them with the open brewery set up on Fridays when they get in a food truck and host a pop-up venue. Simon made fabulous wooden tables with benches that stack up in a huge pile when not in use at the entrance of the brewery.

Tomorrow Josh flies over to join Bobby in Perth.  She rang me yesterday to tell us that the rats had all arrived and survived the journey. I was a bit worried about the rats, so I am relieved with this news.  Perth is hot and very quiet after Brisbane, I am told.  Today parts of Brisbane are flooded again, I Just hope Josh can get out. Bobby says he has got a job close to where they are renting, and he did his master’s degree in Perth, so he already knows his way around. She has found that public transport over there is not very good so they may need a second car.  Her lecturing job at the university is in the opposite direction to Josh’s work which doers not help. Hopefully these are just teething problems.

A difficult start to the twenties

The vegetable garden


The hole for the car por

t

Indis abandoned home



Clearing up waste for fire safety.

14.1.2020

The fires are along way off but once again our valley is hazy with smoke.  It is very unsettling and is affecting everyone.  The tourist business, usually at its peak at this time has slowed down and my grandsons have had their holiday work hours cut back.  I feel sorry for them because like everyone else the money they earn in the summer holidays is the most for the year.  The good side of this is that Morg has been free to help us on the farm.  Today he has used the tractor to slash the old hay paddock.  

We are all slashing and clearing to try and reduce the fuel load around the buildings.  The feeling is that we will be very lucky to get out of the fire danger period unscathed.  The fires have worked their way down from Queensland burning all the forests on the Great Dividing Range and they have now arrived in East Victoria.  There is chaos.  Thousands of kilometres of roads are blocked with fallen and dangerous trees and our broad band communication system has been tested and found wanting.  Mobile fire towers burn and here where we have underground copper lines, they come through a junction that needs power and runs out of battery pretty quickly.  The army reserve has been called out and are now helping clear the roads and get supplies into isolated communities.

People are divided into two camps.  One lot say this is the predicted result of climate change and the other group say that there have not been enough controlled cool burns done and that fire is normal.  For us we have watched the climate change. In the eighties and early nineties, we could leave the farm after Xmas and holiday with friends.  Usually we all set off on horseback and camped in the forests.   Sometime after 2000 we found that it was not sensible to leave the farm at this time.  Conditions had changed and plants and animals needed more care to survive the extra heat and dryness.

We felt happier taking a holiday in midwinter. This is quite easy because the north of Australia and the northern hemisphere are warm and welcoming in our winter.  Last year we flew up to Brisbane to see Josh and Bobby which was great.  An added bonus is that the farm work is at its lowest then too. The garden does not need watering and the goats can be milked by hand once a day.  Changing our habits was a no-brainer.  It has now been suggested that more people should adopt this new pattern.

The fire brigades say they have done cool burns but the safe period for doing them has reduced and in some instances their efforts have had no effect on slowing the fires. As far as I can see half the community think we are in a climate crisis and need immediate action and the other half do not believe it is necessary to make any quick changes to their lifestyle. The good thing is that a change has been made so that communities are being kept informed about their local fire threat and are being asked to evacuate. This reduced the number of people dying in the fires dramatically.

Edd and Steve worked all yesterday doing the layout for our new car port. They put in hurdles and worked out where the footings have to go.  Now we are waiting for our friend John to come and dig the footings and do the concrete work.  Joining it all up to our existing courtyard is a bit difficult. Al has drawn us plans but exactly how they work in practice is complicated. Perhaps it will become clearer at the next stage.

Fire

It is hard to know what to write.  Australia is in Crisis with out of control fire storms tearing through bush, farms and townships.   Finally, the forces have been activated and the reserves have been called out to help.  Most people feel it is too little, too late and our PM is being heavily criticized for refusing to meet with fire services in the winter and put plans in place for this type of emergency.

Today, we have a reprieve from the scorching conditions and a cool change has brought some welcome rain. It is not making much difference in other places where the wind change tended to make things worse.  Even though the fires have not reached the Yarra Valley most people are directly affected in some way. My friend’s youngest brother has died on his farm and our next-door neighbour in NSW is under ember attack.  We will be lucky if our property up there does not burn.

Strangely the nearest town, Cooma has had an extra problem with flooded streets and houses when a massive water tank burst. Typical Australia. You are busy trying to survive one form of danger and another sneaks up from behind and gets you whilst you are preoccupied.  There is so much happening that you have to actively search the internet for specific places to know of anything dramatic is going on.

Our media is full of apocalyptical pictures of red skies and people huddled on beaches as a last resort.  The roads are mostly closed so thousand are being rescued by sea.  This means holiday makers have to abandon their cars and trailers, but even where roads are open the lack of power limits the availability of fuel.  This crisis is terrible, but the longer-term effects will cause problems for years as we well know. On the land fences and fodder are all lost and cannot be easily replaced.

We have got most of the hay in, thanks to Morg and his friend, but a shed full of hay is also a big fire risk. Luckily the farm buildings are well away from our house. We are preparing our property as best as we can.  We are putting the farm equipment in our fire reserve and moving any essential stuff to the house cellar.  On Friday we had a digger come and excavate a hole in the bank for us to put up a car port by the house.  The pile of earth at the side is actually a welcome fire barrier.  I have given up caring about aesthetics!

 We are not sure what to do with the gas tanks.  They are prone to explode in extreme heat and go off like bombs.  I feel that they should be thrown into the dam but Edd says this is impractical.  Luckily the gas tank for our house is in a pit behind the house roof but we have tanks for the donga and dairy that are actually close to the hay shed which is not a good look!

In the last fires we got all our animals into our fire reserve and they survived OK, so we plan to do the same again.  The wild animals are more at risk and there are fears that rare species could be wiped out completely.  I suppose the same applies for flora.  It will be a long time before the full effects of this calamity can be assessed