Good and Bad News

The solstice has passed and though the days will gradually get longer, the coldest days of winter are yet to come.  This week has not been too bad. We are into he third dry day with sun shine, not that the mud has noticeably started to dry up yet.   It was dry last week too and the machinery arrived and put all the earths back around our new carport. It was too wet to do the top soil but the back hoe was able to lift the car port roof beams up into position.   Luckily Edd and Stevo had got all the measurements correct again, and the bolt holes all lined up perfectly.  It was all pretty worrying, especial having machinery on the slope behind the carport. I chose not to watch!

Indi is moving house. She and a friend who also a single mother are renting a mud brick house on a small holding,  She is even able to get her horse back again.  Moving with a toddler is hard and she is very stressed but we will all go and help later in the week.  She also plans to move her bee hives but luckily Josh is very keen to get his own hives here so we will still have the benefits of pollinators and honey.      Indi has brought her caravan here and left it by the ruins so Josh could move in to it. I am sure he likes having his own space but I am missing having him around the house already.

This morning we had sad news from the UK because Edd's brother in law has passed away. He has been in hospital for weeks but took a sudden turn for the worst this week.  We feel so sorry for Edd's sister. At present Edd can not even phone her because she can't hear us.  We are not sure why but think there is a problem her end as we can phone every one else in the UK.   Luckily Edd's niece is keeping in contact with us.  We just feel so bad about being unable to help or offer support.

This has been a bad Covid week too.   Most states are in some form of lockdown now that the Delta strain has got loose in the community. Victoria is OK for the moment but things could change fast. The problems are that hotels have been used to provide suboptimal quarentine accommodation and there does not seem to be enough of the recommended vaccine. Al and Josh have had two shots but the rest of us only one. There are long waits for appointments.

 

Bad gets worse

14.6. 2021

 

This week has probably been the hardest one we have experienced recently. On Wednesday night the state of Victoria was hit by horrific storms.  The electricity went off in the night as trees fell and took down all the power lines. After a few hours all the phone lines went dead too. There are electrical connections on the mobile phone towers and thel nodes on the landlines that have a limited time of battery backup.

 

We were already under covid lock down rules and so when we lost communications it was illegal to physically visit anyone. To make matters worse the torrential rains caused the flooded rivers to overflow into the surrounding land and closed the main road into Yarra Glen, among many others. 

 

Indi had a friend who lived in a yurt by a river. On Wednesday she gave birth just before the floods started to rise. The midwife, (who we all know), was worried about the family so she ended up swimming through the water next day so she could check up on how things were going. The water was just below the platform supporting their yurt, and she was worried that the whole set up was in danger of floating off in the flood. The baby’s father was not worried and felt that if the worst happened, he could load his family into his canoe!  Somehow the danger of being afloat in a raging flood had escaped his thinking.

 

When Indi heard about this, she tried to ring the SES, but of course the phones were out of action and even the triple zero emergency line was not working. She thought about going to the police but as the living arrangements for the family were not exactly legal, she decided to mount her own rescue.  She could drive through the water to a certain point but then she had to wade to get everyone out. They all ended up at her mother’s house, but I don’t think anyone got much sleep.   Some candle wax got on the carpets too, which did not go down well.

 

We were all very relieved when our power was restored, and we could communicate again. We are the lucky ones and only had this situation for 4 days. Other areas with more trees down are still waiting and it might take another three weeks. Our house works OK without power too. The water still flows by gravity, the stoves are wood, and gas and our toilets still work without the pressure pump. We also had brought a generator so we could keep the freezer and fridges cold, but everything still took more effort.

 

Honey harvesting

 5.8.2-21

 

Winter is officially here, but the weather is variable. Some days are warm and sunny, and some are wet or cold. Today we combine cold and sun for a change.  The steel roof girders for the car port have been delivered but the man who is to put all the earth back could not come last week. There is no point replacing the stone on the drive until that work is done so we are having slosh through mud every. time we go to the sheds or get into a car. Not much fun at all.

 

Josh and Indi tackled the bees last week and took out more honey than they expected. Indi has taken the frames to a friend who is going to spin them, and Josh has been working with everything left over to extract the wax, honey and honey water. The honey tastes fabulous. There is still a lot left in the hive to keep the bees over winter. I love having bees as part of our enterprise but I am fairly allergic to bee stings so I can not work with them myself.   It is quite amazing to me that Indi and Josh can get stung and have no reaction!

 

Last Wednesday I had my first covid jab and so far, I have not had any aftereffects. Less encouraging is the fact that the delta virus strain has now been found in Melbourne. This is the bad one and up until today no one could find how it arrived in the community.   There have not been enough cases here for spontaneous mutation.  Now it has been traced to an arrival from overseas, so there is hope that restrictions can start to be eased.

 

Everyone seems to be finding the lockdown very hard this time.  Usually at this time I am planning for our midwinter feast but now it is looking as if we will have to miss out on it again this year.  Our tenant CB is suffering from the isolation and has been joining us for some evening meals.  That makes 4 people to cook for but at least we all have a laugh.

 

Yesterday Edd and Josh managed to pick up planks to build the car port roof. We need to move the soil before they go up because the soil has to be lifted over the walls and this would be impossible once the roof is on.  This is a very slow building project but once again school visits are off so we can all just keep going with the building.

The goats are pregnant and not giving much milk but the bit they do give is rick and once again I am making hard cheese. Three goats have been sold to their new homes which is sad but necessary if we are to have room for the kids once they arrive.