MORE STICKS AND STONES

During the winter we finally got some huge branches of the golden cypress trees chopped.  There are seven of them in the garden and they all create a lot of wreckage, although I do love their shade and the raggedy umbrella look they have.

They regularly get too heavy at the ends and fall down making a huge blockage of that section of the garden.  Some of the fallen branches were dead, some was still green, but it all had to go. 

A cunning plan, we thought, was to chop it and throw it over the fence into the paddock next door.  That paddock actually belongs to our neighbour so we had to get permission to use it to come around with the trailer and pick up the mountain of branches. 

Unfortunately, with the rain, the track up to my main location for erosion control, where I wanted to use the branches, was continually wet and slippery as well as boggy, so there was no way to take the trailer up there. 

Andrew was not too happy with the piles when he was trying to burn off and spray the African lovegrass in the paddock and couldn’t come close to it. 

Finally, I realised that we had to find another gully to protect, so I chose one of Dad’s erosion control projects on Adnamira.  Because there were lots of old appliances, fridges, stoves, kerosene tins, old tyres and other junk lying around from the previous owners hoarding, he threw them all into some narrow washouts where they’ve done some good, but the fridges still stick out, and the whole thing looks like a junk pile. 

So I decided to transfer the cypress branches on top and cover them up.

I’ve done this before with some success in one of the two gullies we planted around in 2020.  That included hundreds of old tyres which break down into toxic compounds in sunlight, so it’s helpful to get them undercover.  There were also two old Volkswagen beetles, looking pretty much the worse for wear.  I found after going back and checking on the coverup job, that someone or something had moved the branches away from one of the Beetles so they could open the door and look inside. 

I don’t think that was a wombat.

We only managed one day of transfer, getting five ute-and-trailer loads moved before another storm moved in.  Since then the river bridge has been pretty consistently flooded, and I’m too nervous to try driving even on that fairly stable piece of paddock near the house. 

So…still more to get done as soon as there’s some dry weather and we can get back into the paddocks. 

At least I have one less eyesore to see as I drive along the track home. At the moment, though, if I look anywhere but the potholes I’m going to be in deep trouble…