Dearth of Blog Entries

 We have been a bit slack with putting up blog entries for a while. Our excuse is that other activities have filled our time and taken up our energy. Spring and early summer are always the busiest periods of the year for us. This year even more so, because of the rampant growth we have experienced as a result of all the rain and the humid conditions. We don’t know how people in tropical areas cope in normal years, let alone with this season’s tragic events.

Apart from dealing with planting, summer pruning, bushfire readiness, managing rampant growth, harvesting early crops and dealing with issues that crop up in life we have been doing a lot of plotting and planning. We will detail some of our ideas for 2011 in a future blog entry, but here are a few things that happened towards the end of 2010.

Gardens

We have had a late planting season due to the weather and some replanting has been necessary where small seeds were washed out. Lots of growth and although some vegetables have been slow to harvest, others have been prolific. For example we have had loads of huge, delicious cucumbers. Apart from eating these in salads Heather has made a delicious Cucumber and Apple Chutney.

Tomatoes in the garden have been a bit slow, but those in the hothouse gave us a Tommy Toe on the last day of November (our earliest yet) and we had a steady supply all through December.

We have tried Blueberries bushes several times before, but each time our northern exposure and hot dry winds have ruined the experiment. This year we tried again in a very protected position and (fingers crossed) they are doing well. One bush was even kind enough to grow a berry for us to share. One shared blueberry is not much, but the taste was superb.

Orchard

Most of our fruit trees were planted in 2005 & 2006. This year is their first prolific fruiting year. The mulberries and red currants bore plenty of fruit and the birds were kind enough to leave most of it for us to enjoy fresh or in jams. Most apple, pear, plum, nashi, quince trees are loaded with fruit. The almond crop is a bit light on- possibly because of the wet conditions. All four avocados (including our 7 year old seedling) had masses of flowers. Unfortunately most of these came to nothing, except for our Bacon avocado (4 years old) which has about a dozen marble sized fruit. We didn't get anything off our white currents, but the red currents more than made up for it with their brilliant colour display.

Chickens

Many of our hens went broody in early spring so we let one sit on a set of eggs. We have a very fast and lively Bantam rooster as well as a big handsome, slowish Australorp rooster. We were hoping to get some new Australorp chicks by crossing the latter with an Australorp hen. The result was not very spectacular with only 4 out of 9 eggs hatching out, and these all appear to be fathered by the bantam rooster. Then things got worse when the Isa Brown mother proved rather careless with her little ones, leaving us with only one chick surviving. Hopefully that one will be a hen!

Next time we try for chicks we will isolate the Australorps first to increase our chance of getting their offspring and we will use one of the bantam mothers to raise them.

Garlic

This year we grew our biggest crop of garlic yet. The photo only shows our first barrowful. Normally garlic doesn’t involve a whole lot of work, but this year the continual wet weather in late spring meant it was a real battle to collect the bulbs when they were reasonably dry and before they started splitting open and shooting again. Before Heather could plait them they had to be dried under cover, their condition checked and sorted according to size. We harvested about 20 kg and these are now safely hanging and airing in our barn.

Autumnfest

We are heavily involved in helping to organise Healesville Organic Farmer’s Market’s 2011 Autumnfest and the seventh market birthday. Apart from an expanded organic produce market, there will be entertainment and displays and talks relating to sustainable and environmental issues. The afternoon will culminate in a grand celebration of the opening of Healesville’s new Labyrinth. For a peek at the concept plan (It is under construction now) see http://www.healesvillelabyrinth.org.au . This year’s event on March 19 (mark it in your calendar) will be the biggest yet, because Healesville Music Festival is also being held on this day and we are working with their team to meld the events into one big day of celebration in Healesville that runs from around 8am to 9pm at night. More about this event in the coming weeks as details get finalised.

Out of the Black

Our daughter Sally has been invited to exhibit her photographic work at Yering Winery (Matt’s Bar). “Out of the Black” is her response to the physical and emotional trauma of Black Saturday and its aftermath, in photos. She has had several small exhibitions already, but this is the biggest yet. Our involvement apart from being in her support team, revolves around making 35 recycled timber frames to mount her work. We will do a separate post on the exhibition, but if you are interested, it is a free event and opens on February 4 and runs till March 20, 2011. If you would like a digital flyer or are able to advertise the event, email us and we will send one to you. Yering Winery’s web page is www.yering.com

Hothouse Makeover

Last year we built our hothouse (See it here) and for the most part it worked really well. We had early tomatoes (they grew phenomenally), capsicums and cucumbers and were able to get seedlings up earlier for planting out when the weather warmed up.

As we were away for much of the winter we needed to have a hothouse makeover day to get everything going again. We used this opportunity to make some improvements using found and recycled bits and pieces.

The fairly flat roof rain allowed water to form pools and the weight of the water would cause the plastic to droop. Each day after rain we would have to push the plastic up to empty these pools, and this would create a waterfall of water running down the side (which could soak someone if they were too close). We solved this problem by stretching chicken wire tightly across the roof under the plastic. This supports the plastic and prevents pooling of water. An added advantage is that the tightness braces the whole structure preventing it from wobbling so much in strong winds.

We have also added guttering on one side to collect rainwater. This is fed into a 44 gallon drum and allows watering cans to be quickly filled with fresh rainwater which is preferable to using dam water.

We have finished planting in the hothouse and have rotated plants so they are not in the same spots. We have 6 tomatoes, 12 capsicums, 2 eggplants, 4 climbing cucumbers, 12 basils, 2 lemon grasses, 2 perennial climbing chillis (from last year) and heaps of lettuces. We also have numerous plants and seedlings in pots.

Having a hothouse is particularly good this year as it has turned out to be quite a cool start to spring. At least we should be able to get some early vegetables on to our table, even if the cool days continue.

The Big Wet gets even Wetter

2010 is set to be our wettest year for 30 years. Over the weekend we had over 150mm of rain which makes it our wettest October since we started keeping records. Although this has delayed our spring planting for a few days, it has given us many exciting (and sometimes amusing) sights.

Not only are our tanks and dams all overflowing profusely, but every depression in the ground is now full of water and creating little streams of runoff. As our son Greg commented, there seems to be water seeping out of every nook and cranny. Our wheelbarrow gets extensive use shifting all sorts of materials and this weekend we even had barrowfuls of water to shift (but nowhere needed water).



Our jetty nearly went underwater

When we were first looking for a property to purchase, one of our dream criteria was a permanent stream or natural spring. Tenderbreak has finally given us our springs (temporary we think?? ). They are popping up everywhere, as water seepage follows channels below the ground till it eventually comes to the surface. These are feeding our gullies which have turned into small streams, our main gully has turned into a fast flowing creek, Pauls Creek has turned into a raging river (nearly washing out our access road and the Yarra River has turned into an inland sea down at Yarra Glen.



When the dam outlet pipe couldn't cope, the overflow went over the driveway



Now we have a new range of adventure activities on our property.....white water rafting, surfing, canoeing, riding barrels over waterfalls or for the more fearful having “boat” races using leaves, sticks or bark.

All this beautiful water has given us an opportunity to flush water out of the dam. We opened the gate valve on the outlet pipe open for several hours allowing stagnant water sitting at the bottom of the dam to flush out. The fresh, nutrient filled rainwater then topped up the dam. The fish should find this very refreshing.



Releasing water out of the gatevalve



Some more photos that give an idea of the sights that behold us.



Emergency road repairs!



Rapids in Pauls Creek



Horse "float" Parking





Yarra Glen Race Track

Surfs Up as water enters the Yarra River

Pauls Creek is now a river

Murray and Vicki

Murray & Vicki have been staying with us since May. At the beginning they helped manage the place while we took a break, but once we returned home were happy to stay on (like long-term WOOFERS).

Whilst at Tenderbreak, they have been extremely busy gathering firewood, weeding, planting hundreds of onions, bushfire prevention work, helping out with tours, renovating our extensive network of garden paths, mulching and many other tasks. They have also used their culinary skills to create some wonderful meals and edible delights for us, including the Midnight Xpresso Chocolate Cake for Heather’s birthday and a wonderful cheesecake for Kathy and Sally’s birthday. On top of all of that they have entertained us with their recorded and live music.

Murray is a bit of an “ideas man” and came up with a unique way of using saplings. We laid them in a tight parallel pattern to make a raised footpath over a boggy area that had formed near the gate that leads to the chook pen. As you can see in the photo, it is not only very practical but also quite aesthetic, low cost and has low embedded energy.

Dedicated cook Vicki out in the rain collecting lemons for making lemon butter.

Vicki loves cooking and quickly mastered the subtleties of managing a slow combustion wood stove. She also “harvests” weeds with great thoroughness- our garlic patch has never looked better.

However what makes these long term stays memorable and special, is the bond that develops between hosts and visitors. As with our earlier guests, Murray and Vicki are easy to get along with, they blend in so well they are like part of our family. It is a real pleasure to sit around the dinner table eating delicious home grown meals with a glass of wine (or home-made ginger beer) and enjoying each other’s company. Thankyou Murray and Vicki, for sharing our journey with us.

PERMACULTURE IN ACTION” TOUR OF TENDERBREAK

After a long break over winter we are recommencing tours of Tenderbreak Permaculture Farm.

Bookings are required for tours on:-
Sunday, OCTOBER 24th, 2010 &

Sunday NOVEMBER 14th, 2010

Both tours run from 1:30pm to 4:30pm and include afternoon tea.

Our tours are suitable for anyone with an interest in permaculture, organic gardening, passive solar house design, tank water, mudbrick building, property design and layout, chooks and ducks, solar power, grey water systems and sustainable living. In fact our tours are a bit like doing a mini Introduction to Permaculture Course.

Although our property is a large bush block, we provide information and ideas that are suitable for both rural and suburban dwellers. The size of the groups is limited to ensure there is plenty of scope for questions and discussion. Contact us for more details or for bookings at tenderbreak@bigpond.com

The Big Wet



2010 will be remembered by us as “The Big Wet” after “The Long Dry Spell“. We have been keeping rainfall records since 1995 and this year we have already had more rain than the annual total in each of the past 4 years. We are on track to match (or possibly surpass) the annual rainfall total of our last “Big Wet” which was way back in 1996 (It’s a long time between wet years).

All our tanks and dams are full and overflowing., which means we will have plenty of water for the coming summer should we need it.

The rainfall is also just what our bush needs. Steady, consistent rain soaks down deep into the ground for the trees to draw on in dryer years. It is also providing essential moisture for the massive amount of regrowth that is occurring after the fires. Many of the saplings have grown at remarkable levels. In just over 18 months they are well above my height (some are 5m).

Along with the massive amount of green at ground level there are plenty of other surprises to be found. At the moment the purple flowers of the native Hardenbergia are at their peak, along with the yellow flowers of the various wattles. We have even found two Hardenbergias which differ from the hundreds of others in that they have pink flowers.

Our property has several gullies running through it. These usually only flow with water after heavy rainfall and this year (for the first time in ages) they are running most of the time. Our main gully is very pretty with its winding stream, especially where the water drops over a rock ledge creating a beautiful waterfall over 1m high.

Although more than half of the bigger trees in the forest are now dead, there is a huge amount of life at ground level. Perhaps the saying “You can’t see the forest for the trees” should be changed to “You can’t see the forest for the regrowth”.

I Can See Clearly Now

Up until now this blog has been fairly factual and mostly focused on our ideas and work on our Tenderbreak property, but this entry is different in that it covers an emotional journey we have been on.

It all started when we returned from a 9 week trip which involved exploring my family roots, meeting a number of wonderful permaculturalists and plenty of walks through open spaces and to the tops of mountains to let the fresh air blow the cobwebs away. After 9 weeks of pure bliss we returned home.

Blue skies

Instead of waking up invigorated and ready to fire on all cylinders I found myself in a place I had never been to before. After a very relaxing holiday with nothing more to think about than what to do the next day, there was suddenly so much work to be done and things started looking very bleak. This was made harder by the fact that this year was the cloudiest and wettest one for many years, so it was a battle to even start outside jobs. Then on top of all of this, was the return to our fire ravished bushland with thousands of dead, blackened tree skeletons with bare arms stretching skyward.

Even though I was quite aware of the fact that I had so much to be grateful for, the negative stuff started taking up all the room in my head. For the first time ever, I began to wonder about other “roads” we could be on. Growing most of one’s own food and running a house with independent services and planning new projects requires constant management and lots of hard work. On top of this, the forest which was one of our key attachments to this property had (like us) undergone major trauma. It would remain black for many years to come. It wasn’t only the forest that was black however. I knew I could choose to look at the half empty or the half full glass, but it was the empty half that filled my mind and dominated my thoughts.

The forest starts to heal

As I sank deeper into this horrible space it was Heather that kept me afloat. She knew how debilitating depression could be after a serious and painful back injury severely reduced her mobility for most of 2001. She gave unending, loving support and using her wisdom, worked at lifting me up to a brighter place. She put up with my constant negativity and guided me along the rocky path that I was following. I won’t go on about  the detail too much, but the trigger which finally helped me get out of the dark hole, was a song. The song that I will be forever grateful for, was Johnny Nash’s “I Can See Clearly Now”.

Heather and I were sitting down having our morning coffee, and she had put on a CD. As I sat there gazing sadly out of the window, the words floated across the room and went straight to my heart. They completely overwhelmed me.

Thinking about it now, I know it was a combination of a relaxing moment with a steaming cup of freshly ground coffee, a nostalgic song with words that were speaking directly to me and most importantly, the company of a beautiful and loving partner. It was the perfect coming together of all those magic elements that gently lifted me up and opened my eyes.

For those that don’t know the words they go like this:-

I can see clearly now, the rain is gone,
I can see all the obstacles in my way


Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind
It's gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright) Sun-Shiny day.
It's gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright) Sun-Shiny day.
I think I can make it now, the pain is gone
All of the bad feelings have disappeared
Here is the rainbow I've been prayin' for
It's gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright) Sun-Shiny day.

Look all around, there's nothin' but blue skies

Look straight ahead, nothin' but blue skies.

I can see clearly now, the rain is gone,

I can see all obstacles in my way

Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind

It's gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright) Sun-Shiny day

Up until now, I thought this was just a lightweight bright and breezy tune, but now I feel every line was written specifically for me. Since that moment I really can see more clearly. I have re-found my enthusiasm and drive. My head is filled with plenty of things to write about, and this blog will blog along again. Of course there’s suddenly so much else to do as well, so entries will have to wait till I have time to spare.