Random acts of blogging

The fan inside the laptop started sounding very sick early this month, and just before it gave up entirely, we found a replacement on eBay. Shipping from China is a little on the slow side, but having received it today, we installed the fan this evening and it's working perfectly! So we have a laptop in one piece again, and it's quieter and cooler than ever. :)

Only hours earlier..

So, since the last time I wrote, we had our very own activity day here at the farm with the Permaculture Riverina group. They're such a nice group of people!! The activities included pruning our many very old fruit trees, and making a HUGE 20 metre (65.6 foot) long hugelkultur bed. It was a massive effort, but made SO much easier by having all our friends to give us a hand and have fun too. Hopefully I can snag some pictures from everyone else, since Marty and I were a little forgetful in that regard.

The Permie day was on the 13th, and before that Marty and I were very busy getting everything ready for it, which involved digging out the shallow swale where the wood would go. That was a bit of an experiment involving a borrowed disc plow (that didn't work as hoped, but it did help break up the ground so Marty (mostly!) could dig out the dirt by hand).

Disc plow adjustments

Precision tractoring along contour

Marty using the A frame level

Ready for Permies

In the house, we have been cleaning up and chucking out, making room - literally - a whole new room! We have been holding onto a lot of junk, and it was holding us back from sleeping in the bedroom of the cottage. So, we got tough, and gave away literally suitcases of clothing and boxes of stuff that we never used (after all, it was all packed away!), and gained a bedroom. We've moved the bed (a huge undertaking in itself) and we set up the loungeroom with the couch and piano and bookcases and all the things that we enjoy having on display. Hooray!

Otherwise, we took an old water tank down beside the house. It has been empty for a while now, but full of silt, sludge and of course, concrete which Marty smashed into bits.

Marty opened the top and climbed in to break up the concrete

I sliced it open with the angle grinder

Half a tank

 
So, coming-up, we plan on getting the house batteries hooked up soon, and we need a little more soil for the hugle bed before we can plant some herbs on there, and Marty's getting pretty keen on getting the shed started again. Big projects, but taking them one step at a time.