Talking about the weather

We've had a glorious amount of rain lately! Yesterday and last night totaled 30mm (1.18 inches). The 22,500L (nearly 6,000 gal) water tank is almost full and we're starting to think about overflow options. We just didn't consider a wet summer, but we've had over 62mm (2.44 inches) this month already! Marty and I planted everything that was still in pots, most suffering badly from the heat in the days before. Now they've got a chance of survival at least, and the soaking rain is a huge bonus.

Just before the change in weather, Marty and I achieved our aim of getting the huge pile of wood and junk cleaned up. It has been there since we bought the farm, and blocked our view of the pasture. Armed with only a small electric chainsaw and a Ozito silent shredder (electric too!), we chipped and cut our way through the whole thing. Finally, the tractor and flail mower finished it off, and you can hardly tell where it once dominated.

After mowing the small leftover sticks, I took the mower around the property again and mowed more long dry grass and up around the old orchard. The difference between the original mowing and the new is the colour. The mulching we did about a month ago now is green with new grass, and the new is brown with straw. I think it's making a positive impact.. since the remaining tall grass is very much brown, with very little green growth.

Experimenting with electricity

We're getting brave!

The poor old truck battery isn't going to be happy about this. :)

We've started playing with the 12V system available to us here. (It's a cool inside project, so we can hide from the summer a little).

It all started when the router lost our "fast" connection (as good as we can get out here anyway!), and we ordered an antenna. We figured we could now move the router into the house and install the antenna on the roof. Ha!

Then came conduit. Yes, I know, most people simply run the wires on the insulation in the attic, but with our mouse problems, the heat up in the attic, plus the condition of the old wires we took out, all say to us that we'd rather do things "right" and give the wiring all the protection we can. Plus it's a little less fire-risky too.

So, we install conduit, pull the wires through it, and kind-of bam, the router is installed in the spare room (which will be the bedroom some day). Then Marty gets a bright idea.. Lights in the kitchen would be nice, yes.. would save us some money on candles, yes..

So, we've finally got the parts together, we'll give it a go. If the battery doesn't like it, we'll just have to bite the bullet and upgrade the system. We have to anyway, if we ever want to get the freezer running!

Will update on the progress, but of course, things could come up and derail the whole thing for a month or two, or it could get finished tomorrow. Life is like that, huh. :)

2014 Catch-up

We've been pottering around the place, working on the smaller projects on the farm, avoiding the hottest part of the day and doing what we can at the cooler times. About a week before Christmas, we did our best to make the most of the beautiful fruit from the fig trees.

They were quite sizable! Very sweet and yummy too. We gave bags of them away, and ate lots, and of course, the chooks were moved under the trees and enjoyed the bounty as well.

One of many baskets of figs.

The second crop is developing nicely, and we hope it's just as good as this one was!

The winds have been a tad on the strong side lately too. One of the old peppercorn trees couldn't stand up to the wind anymore. Luckily there wasn't anything stored underneath that one!

We spend a bit too much time going to town, however. Our food storage situation consists of a small esky and a bag of ice. It has been lasting for around 2-3 days, and that's far too short a time to go shopping. We're very much looking forward to getting a bigger ice box, and hopefully some day, we'll get the freezer powered-up and then we can make our own ice, too. :)

Attic ladder priority

Don't worry, there is no electricity up there! :)

We just couldn't stand it anymore! The access hole for getting into the ceiling has always been in the kitchen. I suspect because it was the first room created when they built the house, but that's just me..

Every time we accessed in the attic, bits of insulation and who-knows-what else floated or fell into the kitchen. YUCK! Since we're on a meeces-to-pieces campaign again, we have been setting mouse (and the odd rat) traps up in the attic, and it's real important to check on them regularly.

So, we spent a day cutting a new attic hole, and installing an attic ladder. Problem solved, life improved immeasurably, not just with the mouse control, but also access to the insulation and soon-to-be wiring for the lights etc.