You'd be forgiven for believing we'd been shaken off or washed away
from our farm...but, no. My absence is due to getting caught up in all
this life caper I've opted into. Meanwhile, we have survived one of
Korumburra's infamous quakes (well, it's a quake by Oz standards - 4.3
magnitude), and what is increasingly being reported at THE WETTEST
winter EVER down here in South Gippsland. So, at least it's not just us
who are wading through mud to get to our cars and veggie patch...
So, we've got the paperwork that formalises the works on the creek through the CMA! A machine will come through and excavate these willows out of the creek, then the fencing will be done and in 12 months' time revegetation will be underway. I'm busting out of my sides for this to happen. What I'm also quite pleased about is that the CMA will be bringing a Cultural Liaison Officer on the day the machine will be here, in case anything of significance is found that needs recording or preserving. As the area will be locked up for biodiversity, I don't mind anything being protected in there (and I'd like to think I wouldn't mind protection of anything that were important to Bunurong Dreaming, no matter where on the farm it was). It's not likely, given how deep into the Great Southern Forest this are would have been, but being a waterway, you just never know.
Pasture has taken a great hit in South Gippsland, and giving the horses somewhere to hang out has been a challenge - they have been leading a very nomadic life, moving from strip to strip, with the help of some electric strands. Hay nets are de rigeur and the horses go just a bit nuts for their supplementary feed when it arrives. Not that the ponies need it - they are hardy little critters!
The shed is close to completion for moving in, and the wood stove is proving itself as a focal point for our family. We cook on it, we huddle around it to eat our dinners, and when children go down to sleep, I slip out to read and collect my thoughts in the evenings. I just can't wait to be living in this space.
This week, also, saw contamination of the creek via diesel spill, that I found myself attending, in my capacity as a firefighter. As soon as I realised it was in a drain closer to town, the mission was set to follow how far down we could smell the fuel. Despite reporting to the relevant authorities that we could smell it down as far as at least seven kilometres away, the Shire and DPI only got round to warning farmers today (two days later) that it was dangerous for stock to drink from the creek. All seems well here, and I hope the rest of the creek is unharmed. So, even if we'd fenced off the creek sooner we would still be facing the danger of contamination, because the troughs would be fed from the creek. Interesting scenario.
After a few days of beautiful sunshine, giving the caravan and road a chance to dry out from the ever-present mud, we are anticipating rain tomorrow again. It will flush out the creek, at least. That's the only upside I can think of at the moment - there IS such a thing as too much rain!
So, we've got the paperwork that formalises the works on the creek through the CMA! A machine will come through and excavate these willows out of the creek, then the fencing will be done and in 12 months' time revegetation will be underway. I'm busting out of my sides for this to happen. What I'm also quite pleased about is that the CMA will be bringing a Cultural Liaison Officer on the day the machine will be here, in case anything of significance is found that needs recording or preserving. As the area will be locked up for biodiversity, I don't mind anything being protected in there (and I'd like to think I wouldn't mind protection of anything that were important to Bunurong Dreaming, no matter where on the farm it was). It's not likely, given how deep into the Great Southern Forest this are would have been, but being a waterway, you just never know.
Pasture has taken a great hit in South Gippsland, and giving the horses somewhere to hang out has been a challenge - they have been leading a very nomadic life, moving from strip to strip, with the help of some electric strands. Hay nets are de rigeur and the horses go just a bit nuts for their supplementary feed when it arrives. Not that the ponies need it - they are hardy little critters!
The shed is close to completion for moving in, and the wood stove is proving itself as a focal point for our family. We cook on it, we huddle around it to eat our dinners, and when children go down to sleep, I slip out to read and collect my thoughts in the evenings. I just can't wait to be living in this space.
This week, also, saw contamination of the creek via diesel spill, that I found myself attending, in my capacity as a firefighter. As soon as I realised it was in a drain closer to town, the mission was set to follow how far down we could smell the fuel. Despite reporting to the relevant authorities that we could smell it down as far as at least seven kilometres away, the Shire and DPI only got round to warning farmers today (two days later) that it was dangerous for stock to drink from the creek. All seems well here, and I hope the rest of the creek is unharmed. So, even if we'd fenced off the creek sooner we would still be facing the danger of contamination, because the troughs would be fed from the creek. Interesting scenario.
After a few days of beautiful sunshine, giving the caravan and road a chance to dry out from the ever-present mud, we are anticipating rain tomorrow again. It will flush out the creek, at least. That's the only upside I can think of at the moment - there IS such a thing as too much rain!
