In a big rush, in the last month I like to plant (August), we got this year’s trees finished. 1200 in total for 2022. The final big planting day was both horrible and beautiful. Horrible was the weather, which was wet and windy, with everything mud-coated. Rain-catching coreflute discs that I now use instead of... Continue Reading →
GETTING SOGGY
I know we’ll need all the water we can get for another summer of heatwaves, coming in just a few months. It’s also perfect for this year’s tree planting that the soil moisture is good. However, the flooding is beginning to become just a little tedious – especially the creek. When Mullion Creek goes up... Continue Reading →
BOGGED
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 →
AFTER THE FROST
The Big Wilt has finally come. Every year when the frosts arrive, the summer plants die back and make way for the ones that can take the cold. This year we waited a long time for the changeover. In some ways it was a vindication of my messy, lazy style of vegetable gardening, the one... Continue Reading →
MIGHTY MURRUMBIDGEE
Even in the dark I can tell when the river has started to flood. I love to hear the normal soft rushing sound at night, a little like distant traffic. This is more. It's a freeway roar that means big standing waves crashing against the rocks. Big water on the move is magnificent. Whole islands... Continue Reading →
EARTH DAY SKIES
The Great Aerial Ocean above our heads, for me, is a reminder that we all live on the one planet. Only a thin band of atmosphere comes between us and the inhospitable vastness of space. I love that living here, we now have a grandstand view of the turmoil, as well as the sunny days,... Continue Reading →
WHO GETS THE RAIN?
From our verandah lookout at the bottom of the river valley, it often seems that summer storms pass us by on either side. Whenever the weather report says "showers" I assume that means "rain for other people". We look up at the ridgeline of Adnamira and see the clouds tumbling past on their way to... Continue Reading →
SEEING THE WIND
Things are blowing and banging around here. Trees lean over, the grass on the Adnamira hills ripples in patterns reminding me of a sandy sea bed. The hatch for our new guinea fowl house clatters every time a gust comes through. The irises in the garden flutter, no wonder they call them "flags". ... Continue Reading →