From Water to Wood Storage

Our old water tank has a new lease on life as a wood shed.

It's very comforting to know that we're all set for wood to keep us warm this winter. The first half of the water tank was filled up with wood, most recently from a $35 bid at a clearing sale, and now we're cleaning up the area around the house so we've got a bit more to store. On goes the second half of the old water tank!

It's held up by star-posts driven into the ground and some fencing wire to keep it all up. Amazing that it works so well, really! :)

Pallets keep the wood from rotting on the ground, everything is quite airy, and so far, no snakes are interested in calling it home.

High 4 on the A414

We worked on the tractor for over a week. By the end of it, I certainly didn't want to smell oil and grease again for at least a little while!

All of the oils were changed (that's almost 40 litres / 10.5 gallons of oil!!), the tacho (or tractormeter, as the old manual calls it) was replaced because the old one was smashed long ago.. Various filters, pumps and other bits and bobs were replaced as we needed to, breaks and clutch peddles adjusted, and finally we were able to try mowing for the first time. But first, Marty had to try her in full flight!!

Flail mowing is done in low gear, though, and not quite as exciting! haha.

We've been taking turns mowing around the house, around the orchard trees, and even mowed a strip down to the dam. The result is pretty nice, actually. It's basically mulching our entire ground. Since we've even been so lucky as to have a little rain lately, the green grass that was hiding below the brown stuff now has a chance to grow a little.

It also has meant we've been cleaning up a lot lately. There are a lot of logs, sticks and such that have been hiding in the long grass. It's also given us the incentive to finally clean up around the old shed. (Will show those pics off soon!)

Moved the chooks

The chooks are under the apricot tree and fig tree too. The funny thing is, we didn't know we even had an apricot tree until just this week, when the fruits started ripening and falling to the ground. YUM!

The chooks were under the eucalypt trees near the top of the property, but it wasn't a big deal to move them. Especially since we had only just flail mowed the area around the fruit trees. It was a simple case of setting up the fence, moving everything over, and by dusk we took the three (remaining) chooks and put them on the perch in their new area.

They awoke to the smell and taste of fresh apricots, and immediately started to work on cleaning them up for us. This is exactly why we got the electric fence in the first place. We direct the chooks to where they need to be. It's an excellent system.

Sadly we've lost most of our chooks to heat and/or old age. Victor, our lovely rooster, has also passed on. With only our 3 young chooks left, and no crowing, it's a little quiet out there right now. We're looking into getting some more, eventually. Thinking that Dorkings - a heavy English breed - may not be the most suited to their current environment. (I think they would have rather us all moved to Tasmania.) We will think carefully about the chooks tolerance for heat before getting any more. We'll see.