Life and Wildlife on the Banks of the Murrumbidgee
As the roads have turned to soup, the hills have become treacherously soggy as well. Behind a group of fig trees is a valley I’ve been considering for some time how to protect and improve. It’s tricky because there are power lines overhead nearby, plus two steep hills, with the water source for the grazing... Continue Reading →
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. Craig extreme weeding under the cypresses, 2016 They regularly get too... Continue Reading →
Since lately we've been staying in town whenever the road is blocked and we have commitments, it feels as if, instead of going to Canberra for a night out and entertainment, we come home. Most recently we were able to sit outside eating dinner and watch the eclipse of the moon, conveniently located for our... Continue Reading →
Living on a farm in Australia means driving, lots of it. The nearest grocery store is twenty to thirty minutes away, traversing a couple of low bridges, gravel roads and the Barton Highway. That's why it's worth keeping chooks, a vegetable garden and fruit trees so there are always emergency food supplies. Fifty years ago... Continue Reading →
Grasses make my head spin. There are so many of them and I can still only identify about a dozen types confidently. About half of those are non-native, and the worst of them is African Lovegrass (eragrostis curvula). It was accidentally planted in the Monaro area, south of us, as a contaminant of the closely... Continue Reading →
I was fascinated at the sight of a table full of drones among the local wines and handmade firepits at the 2014 Murrumbateman Field Days. Suddenly these flimsy machines could be owned by individuals, not just used by governments to drop bombs. I failed to find a real excuse for us to own one, although... Continue Reading →
The wheels whir. There's no forward motion. Damn. Another bogging. The problem with having machinery is you rely on it. And then it bogs or breaks. This last year has been a big one for breakdowns, most spectacularly when the wheel fell off the truck on Dog Trap Road. Craig was quite surprised when he... Continue Reading →
I have a love-hate relationship with fences. A good fence is essential for stock management and control. On the other hand, I hate having to get over barbed wire, as I’m not good at the seamless leap over. Barbed wire is particularly important if you have cattle who like to lean on them. Sheep don’t... Continue Reading →
Bloom of rust on an old disc I love the texture of old rusty iron, the subtle ripples of its surface where air has nibbled it away over decades. I love the red-orange colour which is earthy and natural, a far cry from primary colours and shiny galvanized silver of new metal. I have quite... Continue Reading →
Living at the farm, I’m often reminded that we are surrounded by other life that insists we make way for them. Hundreds of cockatoos have been screeching at the bottom of the garden for weeks, while they strip the walnut and olive trees. Moths beat at the windows at night, flies do the same by... Continue Reading →
Since the drought broke, we've had lots of rain and most of it was gentle enough to soak into the ground without causing flooding. The most recent lot, though, was a reminder of what it's like when the river and creek both swell and take over the land around them. A reminder of how the... Continue Reading →
Since the end of the drought there has been a spate of sheep and cattle thefts ("duffing") particularly by thieves using empty caravans to stuff suddenly valuable animals into. It's suspicious if an apparent grey nomad has a trailer that bleats or moos. That's not the sort of stock-taking I'm doing. With my mother's death,... Continue Reading →
In May, during the Covid lockdown, my mother Barbara Hamer, died. While she was much luckier than many others have been at this time, (a painless fade, with family to support her), it is still a loss. She was always busy, tending to rush full tilt at life expecting it to get out of the... Continue Reading →
We got 40mm, plus a few beetles, in our rain gauge. It’s not enough. While we were getting monthly rainfall in the single digits, I found myself begging the clouds for a single millimetre to take the edge off the damage from the heat, and maybe keep a few things going that would otherwise die. ... Continue Reading →
I'd given up watching the local radar loop for rain. It's been a long time since we had water falling out of the sky. This year's lambs will be very confused when it happens. The land around us is dimmed by the smoke haze from the fires on the coast and to the south. Jessie... Continue Reading →
A scratch at the door. The dog knows to come around to the laundry. Another scratch at the door. Finally I get up to take a look. It's the termite inspector. I know there are many types of termites all around us, just waiting to have a little chew on the timber parts of the... Continue Reading →
When trees attack they often do so without warning. A few months ago, a massive old eucalypt (I thought possibly a Blakely's red gum, but my identification skills are poor - or maybe a very large Red Box (eucalyptus polyanthemos ) in the crop paddock near the house suddenly turned into a crushing giant squid-shaped... Continue Reading →
I love work. I can watch it all day. For several days this year I've had an extra farm assistant in the form of backpacker Emil, who's been doing things that I've managed to avoid for months, but know are necessary. He meticulously painted the trailer, which got left in the paddock last year becoming... Continue Reading →
The problem with Australian summers is you don't know which you're going to have: a nice day on the river, dinner with friends, or an invasion of flames. We've had a hot summer, with the compensation of time on the river in my new canoe. Learning to use it involved lots of shouting, and... Continue Reading →
All those months waiting for rain in the autumn, and now we have too much. While the hills are green and the ground is perfect for planting, this year's fences are delayed because vehicles that try to get up with loads of concrete and posts are in grave danger of getting bogged. Or sliding... Continue Reading →
One Bend In The River 