Putting one foot in front of the other.

It’s been a busy couple of weeks here on the farm with Rohan on holidays and the advent of spring. It seems like we’re always busy though, and I do sometimes wonder how we will continue to keep on top of all the work that needs to be done. In the meantime, it’s one foot in front of the other and keep ticking things off the to-do list.

One of the items on the to-do list has been there since we moved in and is: Find the Septic. We made an attempt when we first arrived but with no luck and then a couple of weeks ago a letter from our local Shire arrived to say that they were conducting septic audits and trying to update their records as so many people move into properties and, not surprisingly, want to know where their septic is. We too had done this and been given a handdrawn map. Clutching it like an ancient treasure map we began to dig, leaving little holes across a patch of green grass, until….. at last we struck concrete! Our poo treasure was uncovered as we peeled back the earth to find the inspection plate lid of our septic. I can’t tell you how excited this made me and as I type this I wonder who the hell I am and what has happened with the real Sharon? If this is how my friend Leah feels about septics, no wonder she loves her job as an enviornmental health officer! So far the septic has been working perfectly and I figure all those little bugs have reached a happy, optimum state as they munch through our waste matter, but  when I didn’t know where the septic was I was having trainspotting  like nightmares of sewage going everywhere.

Having started with some digging we continued as we tackled the roots of the prickly pear row. It had been there for quite some time and while we’d flirted with the notion of making prickly pear wine, neither of us really got further than me buying the wine yeast and putting it in the fridge. The actual business of wearing sturdy gloves to harvest the prickly pear just seemed too much to fit in and so we’d left the fruit to the currawongs who seemed happy to pick at them. While I’d been in Daylesford eating at my favourite restaurant Mercato, Rohan had decided it was time for the prickly pear to go and had chopped off most of the leaves and large parts of the stem, throwing them in one of our pits of despair. I grabbed the mattock (is it meant to feel that heavy when you first pick it up?) and began working on trying to dig out the roots. I felt like I was in some sort of prison chain gang as I began picking my way through the earth. Sweat was rolling off me, and my arms and legs shook as I swung the mattock back and forth through the air. Rohan had put on some chain gang music in the studio to keep us company as we dug. By the time we came to the last, original root, I was spent. I could have thrown myself on the prickly pear leaves in the pit and considered it a comfy bed. Rohan, however, was not going to admit defeat and was determined to rid the earth of all remnants of prickly pear. He swung and dug until the last root finally gave way and then he rolled it into the pit, it’s final resting place. I’m sure the previous Italian owners probably offered up a groan somwehere as their prickly pear patch came to an end. We meanwhile, fell into the spa. I’d been suspicious of the spa when we first came to the farm, but after days like this, I was quick to realise what a joy the spa can be for aching muscles! Now the challenge will be to stop the prickly pear from growing back and bringing that patch of soil back to being part of our vegie strip. In the meantime the view from the studio to the olives is much better without cactus and netting.

Next on the list was our solar hot water something we’d been wanting to get installed since we moved in and discovered that the previous electric hot water system was chewing through power. Last week the guys turned up and installed the new tank and solar system and we now have the lowest electricity usage we’ve had since we moved in.

The next step was to get some bigger water tanks installed rather than rely primarily on our bore. As we all know tea tastes better when made with rainwater! Rohan got 13 tonnes of rock dust delivered from the quarry down the road and began his next lot of chain gang work by shovelling it behind the sheds to make the tank pads. Getting the dust from the quarry was something we hadn’t known we could do until our neighbour let us know. He also told us that the previous owner had decided to spend a significant amount of money getting a second bore rather than tanks as he considered tanks ugly. I can’t quite get my head around this given the fact that he obscured the beautiful view of the mountain by closing in the back verandah. I guess beauty really is in the eye of the beholder…

In preparation for the water tanks we needed to ensure that we had over 5 metres clearance from all the pine trees so the truck can get in, and that meant  it was time to do some more serious pruning. It smelt like Christmas out there with pieces of pine tree coming down, needles and cones smattering the ground. Rohan spent yesterday chopping the bigger branches into logs that can dry out in the wood shed and will make perfect kindling for the winter to come. With yesterday’s 25 degree weather it felt odd to be thinking about winter, but the dried out cones and wood will be invaluable when winter returns. Smaller bits of prunings went through the mulcher, along with some more olive prunings and we still have the bigger pile of prunings in front of the hay shed to mulch as well. We weren’t sure what was under there, but when Rohan investigated it’s mostly orchard prunings that can easily be mulched. I know lots of people around us are burning off branches that they have cut down, but there’s a good feeling about mulching  the prunings and returning them to the soil. It’s a nice cycle and reminds me to think about what we use, what we waste and what we throw away without a second thought.

Meanwhile we can continue to hatch plans for what we will do next. Rohan’s taken down one of the fences blocking off the orchard and plans to build a wider fence that runs down past the sheds and will give Indy more space to run outside. We still need to finish patching up the pizza oven shed and then we are going to move our ancient hills hoist and pave the area outside between the pizza oven shed and the house. We can picture a table and chairs out there, the door open, pizzas cooking and friends and family feasting. The trout need to be moved from the original tank into a new trout pool that will back onto the orchard and where the aquaponics tanks will sit. That means we can also pump some water onto orchard to give the trees and hopefully get some fabulous fruit. Once the fish are moved we can then begin work on turning the old square concrete tank into my ‘plunge pool’. The plan is for a wooden decking up the side of the shed leading to the tank, some steps, some tiling, a filter and come hot weather we can plunge into the pool and float away while looking at the view of Mt. Bunninyong. There’s a lot to do before my pool, so I figure it might not be this summer that I’m plunging!

Still, this is part of the beauty of living here, the ability to dream of what you would like and to begin working towards making it happen. It’s not about wrestling the land into shape, but of seeing what will work with the land and the existing infrastructure. The longer I live here the more I become aware of what we can grow and of what we can recycle and reuse. When we first moved here I wrote of wanting to give it a year to live through all the cycles and it’s nice being here in spring when everything is ‘springing’ into life. Sure I have a permanent job on the mower and the grass seems to grow as quickly as I mow it, but seeing the trees in the orchard full of blossom and the vegetable seedlings all getting fuller and taller is beautiful to behold. On beautiful spring days the dryness of summer and the crisp cold of winter seem like a lifetime away. Each day brings a new dream for what we could do and we pull on our farm gear, take a step and move towards making it happen.