Back at work on the Cottage

Even though it has been a hot dry summer with regular temperatures in the thirties, we have been steadily at work on “Tenderbreak Cottage” (formerly our barn). Several helpers have helped us get the mud brick walls started and they are close to a metre high already.

Our latest helper is Andrea from Italy and he has helped us do one of the trickier parts of the retrofit, which is to strengthen the roof frame to make it strong enough to support a solar hot water system. This involved installing heavy duty beams to support the extra loading on the roof and bolting these into place.

 

The next step was to use recycled chipboard to make a temporary floor on top of the existing collar ties so that we had a stable working platform to walk on. Once this was in place we cut the extra rafters to size, installed them beside the existing ones and bolted them in place.

 

This job would have been quite difficult to do alone, and it was great to have an enthusiastic helper like Andrea.  He was happy to help to lift the long timber beams and work in the reasonably confined space (which was quite hot up under the roof).

He cheerfully contributed his muscle power, helped work out methods to overcome problems that arose and made a good working companion. In fact he was so keen, that on his last day when we suggested we could take him for a drive and look at some of the local sights, Andrea said he would prefer to finish off the roof frame because as he said “when he starts a job, he likes to do a good job and finish it”.

 

Thanks to Andrea our little cottage has moved one step closer to completion!

2012. Not the end of the world, but the start of a new journey

For us 2012 became the year we got fully into Helpx and started a new journey. The Helpx website links hosts with travellers who would like the opportunity to stay and work with local people and gain practical experience and cultural exchange in return for free board.

Alex & Karen

As Tenderbreak is a large rural property and as we are still building its key infrastructure, there is a list of jobs “a mile long”. We also try to grow as much of our own food as possible, so there are continual tasks associated with this process, from preparing and planting the crop, right through to harvesting and storage.

Sarah weeding the garlic

 

Now that we are in our sixties, sometimes our bodies have the odd objection to the ideas in our minds, so we end up with the occasional ache or pain to slow us down. The perfect solution is to welcome Helpers who have the energy, enthusiasm and interest to help us out. In return we provide free board, share our knowledge and skills and hopefully give them an enjoyable experience on their travels.

Jeff shifting mud bricks

This year we have had a total of 14 helpers from seven different countries. Every one of them are lovely people with whom it was a joy to share our lives. And they have all been instrumental in helping us do many important tasks that would have been much more difficult and slow-going, if we had to do them all by ourselves. We look forward to hosting many more Helpx visitors during 2013.

Jodie, Valencia & Tia

2012 was not all fun and games though. There were a few issues that caused us pain. Andrew was “out of action” for several weeks when he injured himself, and then there was some minor (but expensive) damage to the car. However the event that caused us the greatest pain (and still does) was the loss of our dear dog Blue (who starred in many photos in this blog). Although his passing happened in August, it has been too painful to do a post in memory of our friend. Perhaps we’ll do one in the new year when our hearts have healed a bit more.

Laura using human energy to clean the rugs

Olivia and Bryant

Christmas lunch

As mentioned in our Christmas post, Olivia and Bryant arrived soon after Ortzi, just in time for Christmas Day, and we had a ball.

The first few days were largely spent preparing for the big day and getting to know each other, but both Bryant and Olivia were so enthusiastic about getting some work done, we did manage to squeeze in some jobs such as watering the gardens (our summer is starting to get very dry), weeding and wood splitting. In any spare moments, Olivia would be outside finding more places to weed and harvesting these for our compost.

Relaxing under the verandah

Olivia and Bryant turned out to be a good team on the wood splitter with Olivia operating the lever that drove the hydraulic blade and Bryant manhandling the logs, lining them up to be split in the right spot. Even though the weather was warming up, we managed to get about a month’s supply of firewood stacked away, so it will be completely dry by the time we need to use it.


Planting some more lettuces

Olivia with our crop of broad beans

Together we harvested the last of the broad beans. The stalks were cut off at ground level and left on the ground to be used as a mulch, until we are ready to plant brassicas (cabbages, broccoli and cauliflower) later in summer.

We gathered green pods to shuck for the beans to be used in a broad bean dip and the ones that had dried out were collected for further drying, so they will be ready to be used as seed for planting later in the year.



Bryant shifting mud bricks. Phew!

After we had recovered from our busy and joyful Christmas we spent two days working on our new mud brick cottage.

Bryant helped mix up the mortar in the concrete mixer and shifted a huge load of mud bricks close to the wall that we are building. With his help, we have now laid a total of around 100 bricks (only 800 to go).

Bryant mixing mortar

Bryant and Olivia were keen to show us some of their favourite recipes and we were happy to oblige. They took a turn in the kitchen and not only produced some delicious food, but gave us some great recipes too.

Yummy tortillas

The meal of Tortillos was not only beautiful but very, very yummy. It may have been the artichoke hearts that were added that made it SO tasty.

At work in the kitchen

 

For dessert they produced a “Dump” cake (a special recipe of Bryant’s mother), which was absolutely delicious with its filling of blueberries and pineapple. Then the next morning they made some delicious pancakes using, mashed bananas, eggs, cranberries and using no flour.

The delicious "Dump" cake

Apart from the great company, we really enjoyed Bryant’s and Olivia's visit because of their enthusiastic interest in learning about how permaculture principles can help people develop sustainable lifestyles. As they learn more, they are passing this information on through their blog and have plans to develop an online library of articles, informative video clips and other resources. Ultimately they would like to put all their knowledge into their own property.

Hmmm! I smell a tortilla coming up

Olivia and Bryant have now returned home to Wellington in New Zealand and are back at work, and Ortzi is staying for a few days in their flat. Hopefully one day we will catch up with our wonderful helpers again.

An International Christmas with Ortzi, Bryant & Olivia

Ortzi &Andrew replacing the hothouse plastic  cover with shadecloth

Ortzi came to Australia from the Basque region of Spain as part of a study trip to investigate sustainable developments in Australia and New Zealand. He managed to include quite a number of interviews and visits into his short trip, including a few days at Tenderbreak. He has been teaching at a university at home and gained a small grant to fund the trip, so only had a limited amount of time to complete his research, which he intends to publish when he returns home.

Ortzi, Bryant and Olivia fetching our Christmas tree

Ortzi was a ball of energy and worked so fast and efficiently that sometimes we had trouble keeping up with him. Within a day we had cleared the over- grown sides of much of our long driveway- a job that would have taken us a week to do alone. 

Ortzi & Liss decorating the tree

A few days after he arrived here, two other helpers also joined us. Bryant and Olivia are originally from Florida, US, but have been living and working in New Zealand and were also interested in sustainable lifestyles.  

 

We all shared similar interests and passions and within a short time we had developed a close friendship. Everyone was blessed with a good sense of humour and our discussions and tales of the past were filled with plenty of fun and laughter. Ortzi, Bryant and Olivia enjoyed their time together so much that they have arranged to meet up again in New Zealand to catch up on their respective adventures. 



Liss, Sal & Ortzi preparing the feast

As their visit coincided with Christmas it was a very international affair for us this year. Our celebration actually started on Christmas Eve when we had a Christmas Eve supper supplied by our son Greg. It was a great evening of conversation, laughter and good cheer and continued well into the evening. Then it was all hands on board early on Christmas morning, to get ready for lunch. We had a total of 16 family and helpers coming for Christmas lunch so there was plenty to do. Ortzi, Bryant and Olivia helped shift the furniture, arranged a series of tables into a super long table, set up and decorated our very Australian Christmas tree (a young eucalypt sapling) and helped Heather prepare the food.

Enjoying Christmas dinner

After our sumptuous meal and a leisurely afternoon, we took Ortzi to the local station so he could travel to the airport to catch his late night plane to NZ for the final leg of his research trip. We continued on for a family gathering and more food, drink and conversation at Andrew’s brother’s place. The next morning we all had a much needed sleep in and then enjoyed a restful Boxing Day.

 

Ready for work!

 

Sarah from Germany

Sarah is our first Helpx helper from Germany. She is on a short working holiday in Australia and stayed with us for the past couple of weeks.

Some of the jobs she helped with included weeding many areas of the garden (we have renamed Sarah - Wonder Woman Weeder), helped with our market stall, collected firewood, planted our beetroot crop (and it looks like all the seeds germinated), harvested berries, helped with composting, helped clear around one km of tracks that had become overgrown after the 2009 bushfires, helped out with most of the daily chores and more. She was such a great worker and always asking if she could help.

Of course she was very keen to meet the local native animals, and had a close up encounter with an echidna. Whilst here, she also saw mobs of kangaroos and many of our colourful parrots and other birds.

There was some wildlife that Sarah was not particularly fond of –spiders. We do occasionally come across these beautiful creatures but she would rather they kept their distance. We think she may not be quite as afraid now- in fact she may want to keep one as a pet!

The stay was not all work of course. We enjoyed each other’s company and spent much time sharing stories and laughing together. Ruby the dog thought she was wonderful because Sarah took her for walks around our tracks and spoiled her with loving pats and cuddles.

She has now left our place and managed to find paid work on a local berry farm to help fund the rest of her adventures in Australia and New Zealand. Once again we have enjoyed the company of a wonderful person and helper and we hope Sarah enjoys the rest of her trip around Australia.

Karen & Alex

Mastering the wood splitter

Our latest helpers (via Helpx) were Alex and Karen who came from Hong Kong on a working holiday in Australia. They are in their early 20’s, were keen to learn about Australia and were very enthusiastic in giving us a hand with various tasks. Although they only stayed with us for eleven days they helped get much work done.

Some of the jobs they helped with, included clearing an area for a new orange tree (to be known as the Karelex orange - a blend of their names ), weeded many areas of the garden, shifted bricks and a pile of building timber, helped with our market stall, washed windows, cut back bushes that were blocking paths, mowed the grass in the orchard, shifted, split and stacked a large amount of firewood, helped out with most of the daily chores and more. Phew!!!

Weeding the asparagus with Ruby on guard!

Karen especially enjoyed collecting eggs (although she was not quite brave enough to collect them from under a sitting hen. She also made us a delicious meal of sushi, that was so tasty and beautifully presented that we ate it before we remembered to take a photo – so you will have to take our word for it.

Alex washing dishes

Of course they were very keen to meet the local native animals, and for once the animals cooperated. Whilst here, they had regular sightings of a pair of swamp wallabies (who are normally very secretive and shy) and also saw mobs of kangaroos, echidnas, a wombat, a goanna and many of our colourful parrots and other birds.


Helping with our market stall

The stay was not all work of course. We enjoyed each other’s company and spent much time laughing together. Ruby the dog thought they were wonderful because they took her for walks around our tracks each day. We also spent some time exploring a bit of the Yarra Valley including Maroondah Dam and Mt Dandenong. Once again we have enjoyed the company of some wonderful helpers and we hope both Karen and Alex enjoy the rest of their stay in Australia


On our way to the wall of Maroondah Dam

Sarah from Brunei

Over the past 12 months we have had many helpers from different countries. Our latest helper is Sarah, who is Australian, and has been living overseas with her family for over a decade.  At present she lives in Brunei, but also spent a few years in Dubai. One of the reasons she came to our place was to get some ideas about sustainable living and property design that her family could put into practice when they return to Australia in the future.

Sarah "liberating" broadbeans from the weeds

Sarah adjusted really well to the change in climate from tropical weather with temperatures in the thirties to temperatures here in the teens. She has been very helpful and although only here for a short time, has helped us out with many tasks. She helped set up and run our stall at the Healesville Organic Farmers’ Market on Saturday, thoroughly weeded our broad bean and garlic  patches (which were drowning in a sea of competitors) , planted and mulched a new garden of native plants and helped with daily chores.

Putting mulch around a new native garden

 It was such a pleasure meeting Sarah and sharing our lives for a time. As we worked, we chatted and laughed, and shared thoughts on how people could become more sustainable in their ways of life. We also learnt about life in Brunei and the Middle East

We feel really privileged to have people like Sarah come here.   We wish her all the best in the future and hope she finds her dream property when she eventually returns to the Land of Oz.

A Busy Winter

For the third year in a row we are experiencing a wet winter. After around 10 years of drought we are not complaining, but are finding it takes longer to get some jobs done.
However, with the help of Jeff (see our last post) we have still managed to complete a number of tasks that needed doing.  Many of these were listed in the last post, but we also painted the battery room, did quite a bit of work on our barn conversion (see future post) and paved the back area of our large shed (using secondhand pavers) which means we no longer have to trudge across the clay to gain access.

Sadly, Jeff has now left Tenderbreak to continue his Australian trip and will shortly return to China.  We did manage to fit in a bit more sight-seeing, including a trip to Heathcote where we visited Sally and Liss. Although the kangaroos at our place kept out of sight, there were plenty around the Heathcote township, giving Jeff a chance to get some great photos. 

We also visited our friend Pete the Permie to buy a heritage apple tree. We chose Opalescent, which happens to be our favourite eating apple. Whilst there, we showed Jeff around Peter and Silvia’s nursery and farm. He really enjoyed meeting the sheep and especially the Llama.

Before he left, Jeff wrote a message on the supporting post that he helped install in the chook pen. Although the message is in Chinese, he put the translation on the other side. We wish Jeff all the best for the future and perhaps one day we will meet up again.

Our New Helper Jeff

Our latest helper (via Helpx) is Jeff, who is on a holiday in Australia, after finishing his degree in China. However it is not much of a restful break, because he has very kindly helped us out with many tasks. Normally at this time of year, most helpers head north to keep away from our cold Victorian winters. But when we told Jeff that temperatures can drop to zero on some nights, he replied that where he has come from, the temperatures can drop to minus 17 and snowy conditions prevail for months on end. Our winter was mild in comparison!

After a short visit to some Chinese friends in Springvale and Strathmerton, Jeff travelled out to our place. He has been very busy ever since. Some of the jobs he helped with, include digging out and mulching an old blackwood tree, weeding and mulching the garden, shifting mudbricks, replacing a post that held up the chook house roof, collecting trailer loads of old bricks and transporting them home, helping with our market stall, covering our hot house with plastic sheeting, cutting back vegetation that was encroaching on the drive, shifting a piles of gravel and earth, digging drains, jackhammering a hole in a brick wall, mowing grass, helping out with most of the daily chores and more.

Jeff is keen to learn about Australia, its culture, our food and of course permaculture. We have spent many evenings discussing these things and for us learning more about China. He has a very good appetite and has enthusiastically eaten a wide range of meals that differ greatly from his normal diet. In fact he has not only eaten them, he has often taken photographs of our meals. We jokingly told him he could turn his photos into a cookery book. Jeff has even adopted our habit of starting the day with a bowl of porridge- in fact at the moment he is our chief oat roller. The only food he cannot cope with, is the one that most visitors to Australia find hard to take- vegemite!

Of course he is very keen to meet the local native animals, but so far they have been very uncooperative- only the wombats have been out and about. However, while he was shifting some mud bricks he did uncover a baby (40cm) snake (deep in hibernation mode). After that, we took over shifting the rest of the bricks, just in case the snake’s parents were around. Fortunately, all we found was one other baby, and we made sure both reptiles were safely transported away from our buildings to “snake corner” where they were released.

The stay is not all work of course. When possible we have managed to explore a bit of the Yarra Valley and taken the dogs for walks around our tracks. So far we have visited Healesville, the local tourist railway line, Maroondah Dam, William Ricketts Sanctuary, the Skyhigh scenic viewing area on top of Mt Dandenong and we spent a day exploring the Mornington Peninsula.

Jeff has made good friends with our dog Bluey and Ruby (a dog we are dog-sitting for a friend). In the photo above, you can see Jeff testing out a Chinese saying that says “if you ride a dog, it will rain on your wedding day”. Hopefully the saying won’t come true!

Enjoying the Moment



Bubble beards!

This year is the first time we have taken on so many helpers over the summer period. Tim and Mike bring the total to 6 so far for this year. We really appreciate the help our visitors offer, but more than this, we enjoy sharing our lives with these generous people. Apart from the work, we try to ensure that there is plenty of time for pleasure, merriment and rest.  A good mix of work and play allows everyone to enjoy both pastimes for what they have to offer.

Face Off!

Many people need to press buttons on some technological gizmo to gain entertainment. Our enjoyment often comes from our natural surroundings – the antics of birds in the garden, the excitement at the appearance of particular insects, birds or other animals, the catch-the-ball acrobatics of our dog Blue, the clouds and the stars, the intensity of colours at particular times of the day and of course the company of like-minded friends.
We also make an effort to show our visitors a bit of the magnificent Yarra Valley and areas close by. Because Tim and Mike are with us for a while, we have been able to make several trips to Healesville, we have visited several parks including Maroondah Dam and Knox Arboretum, one to the Dandenong Ranges with a wander around William Ricketts Sanctuary and one to Dandenong Market. This adds a bit of variety to their stay at our place.
We also create our own fun; usually whimsical in nature. The simple pleasures are said to be the best, and luckily for us, Tim and Mike have a great sense of fun too.

Tastes like moon.

We sometimes play a curious, little game we call “Finding Lizzie”, which works a bit like the “Where’s Wally” books that were all the rage in the 1990’s. From time to time someone hides a soft toy lizard (Lizzie) around the house and the others try and find it. Sometimes it takes hours or days, and whoever finds it then has their turn. It may seem like a bit of silliness, but some light heartedness is a healthy emotion? Happiness can be a choice if the mind is receptive.

Serenading the corn

As a guitarist, Mike has daily practice sessions. When his music is wafting across the garden it not only adds another beautiful dimension to our surroundings, it may even help the plants grow! 

When in Rome........!

Mike also gets on well with our dog Blue, and they often go for walks or just hang around together contemplating life.  

Joie de vivre!

Tim is also an accomplished and creative photographer with a gift for catching the “quirky” or capturing a special moment in his images. He has a knack of being able to reveal different aspects of everyday objects. He shows that there is more to a flower or a face than we see at first glance.

NOW back to work everyone ...chop chop!!