Not much is happening

It feels like not much has happened here lately. Work on the dairy has slowed right down as I wait for my order of timber to arrive. I was planning to spend the week making window frames before the studs arrived but even the timber for those hasn’t been delivered yet. I’ve been reduced to stripping and painting the old windows, getting them ready for when they have to go in. I had visions of cleaning up the brass hinges on the casement windows but after hours of work on the first set, painting them started to seem like a really good idea. On a trip to Port Macquarie I found a set of wooden sash windows at a demolition yard that were in good nick. If you ever come and stay at the dairy you can admire them as you sit at the table or do the dishes. They will look out onto the verandah, the lawn and the forest beyond. Up until last week you would have only been able to see the water tank but I moved it and cleaned it in preparation for the backhoe man who came this week. Now you can see the lovely view framed by our shady pecan tree.


Who would have thought that cleaning out a water tank could get so hot!? I don’t think I have ever sweated so much in my life, and it wasn’t helped by the stench from the decomposing snake. The backhoe man dug a new site for the tank behind the dairy so it will be out of sight. He also excavated where the verandah will be so we can have a wooden floor; created a swale/drain for our drive; scraped back Ange & Ken’s drive, laid roadbase and dug a swale/drain for it; dug and levelled a shed site for Ange & Ken; and dug and levelled a site for our two 5000 gallon tanks on the hill. Such wonderful, powerful machinery. While he’s been doing all that for the last few days Sue & Rob have been having their house re-roofed which means lots of tin for the dairy’s verandah, carport, compost bins, chook house, etc. The shack might even get some. I don’t think it’s normal to be this excited about old tin.


We’re starting to be able to see the garden around the dairy now - in our minds, squinting and dreaming. Emma is keen and impatient, has started a herb garden and now goes down most days to dig and mattock and plant the garden into existence. We’ve made a plan and consult it before planting trees in the middle of the bare paddock, knowing that they will provide fodder and shade for the chook house, screen the lounge window from the road, or shade the lawn. Edges of garden beds are being scratched out of the lawn, and pegs mark the veggie patch, and homes for the chooks and geese. We made a big load of compost last month from mulching up the trees and ferns we removed around the dairy and then added slashed grass from the paddock and cow poo. It’s almost ready to use.


We’ve started a garden club here, continuing on from where we left off in Freo and we had our first gathering at our house a few weeks ago. It poured with rain. Instead, our friend Pete ran an impromptu bread-making workshop and made a couple of loaves, as well as a fruit scroll. During a break in the weather we managed to get down to the dairy and plant about 50 little trees we got from the local Landcare nursery that will form our screen from the road. Then the rain started again so we headed back for tea and fresh bread. All organic and delicious.


Ange & Sophie are still here, which is great. Noah and Sophie get along well most of the time and they entertain each other. We’re still having hot humid days when it isn’t pouring so we copied our friend Bryony’s idea and bought Noah a horse trough to use as a paddling pool. The kids went to the Camden Haven show last weekend, they go to playgroup, they got to milk the neighbour’s cow, and they went to a reptile show which included the horrifying finale where a young girl had an olive python sink it’s teeth into her arm and refuse to let go. They’re non-venomous, but there was a lot of blood.

Living the good life

It’s been raining here for about a week now. Not too much, but enough to soak the soil so that it is now full, squelching underfoot. A week ago I was struggling with the heat in the middle of the day; now I’m sliding sideways through the mud, putting the car in reverse and trying again. The mist hangs low in the hills.


We had our slab poured the other day. Two young roosters turned up in their souped up ute and barrowed and screeded and floated until we had a new floor for the dairy. Everything seems to change so slowly, one day at a time, but having the slab poured is like the click of a ratchet.


It’s a good life here. There’s nothing I’d rather be doing. I’ve been learning fun new things from Rob – re-threading stripped nuts and bolts with taps and dies; the gentle art of drill bit sharpening; sharpening my panel saw; how to drive the tractor.


Angela and Sophie have arrived today for another prolonged stay which is especially exciting for Noah who will enjoy having Sophie to play with. Riding on the truck that delivered the new water tanks and having a cement truck come to your house is very exciting but memories fade fast when you’re two.