The big move

It's official, I live on a farm!
I moved the kids and I two days after Australia Day, and haven't looked back. Tom is still based in Melbourne because he hasn't quite got round to quitting work (how does that slip one's mind?), but he IS on two week's leave with us to get a few things done, ready for when he does move down and take on new work in the area.
Now, I've spoken to the CMA guy again about our creek. In a couple of weeks he'll bring round those investors and he is positive that we'll be green lit for this work. He assures me it the willows will be out by Christmas and the reveg will be done for next winter (2012). Like everything else, I'll believe it when work starts, but it doesn't hurt to look forward to something. This work will pave the way for our farm planning on that creek section and we can put in some paddocks that will be easier to work with than the current configuration.
I'm really looking forward to establishing a better quality wildlife corridor. We've seen our second koala passing through just this week, so we know we could get more of these wonderfully interesting creatures (two thumbs! On each hand!) when we have more to offer them.

Thanks to an observant and resourceful friend, I have tracked down and bought a tube of a tree I have fallen in love with at the local outdoor pool. It's a Weeping Peppermint, and when I've chosen a location and planted it I'll post a picture. Also, I have some gums that koalas like to munch on, but I've already forgotten their names! Not to worry, I have two that I'll put in a nice spot for shade and a nice, native welcome to the hill track.
We've started a veggie patch (by 'we' I mean 'Tom'), and we're recycling the sheep poo pellets and straw from the cow shed/sheep shed. As we empty out the shed floor for converted living space, we're growing our own food. We'll soon peg out an orchard and start planting our fruit trees. A neighbour has suggested we plant some nut trees as soon as possible, too - good idea.
It's rained in the last week, but as the ground really needed a wetting it has soaked it all up and gone spongey, instead of spilling out of springs in the hills. It's raining as I type, and this rain may start to run off, if we get a good fall.
The annex is up on the caravan, so we have some more undercover living space until the roof gets put over the van. It's nice to sit out here and watch ABC's iView offerings (when the mobile internet network is working!) in the evenings after the kids have gone to sleep. And after our ritual outdoor shower!

I've adapted surprisingly well to living out of a caravan and shed, and wouldn't go back to suburban living in a pink fit. This is the life for me. I always knew it was true and I have to keep pinching myself every evening when I sling the Small Girl onto my back and take her for a walk down the road, along the creek, watching out for wombats, picking up signs of fox activity, calling the dogs alongside me and taking in that wonderful air full of the scent of eucalypt and creek water. It's a smell I fell for as a child whilst camping annually at Buchan Caves, in East Gippsland, and now it's mine to enjoy for as long as we're lucky enough to live here.
I'm expecting my horse, Dante, to join us in the next week, and I am making preparations for his arrival. I will order some salt licks, follow up on getting his paddock buddy down here, I have his rain sheet hanging on a fence (to wash some of the dirt off in the rain!), his tack is down here and now I just have to get his other rugs and feed down here. Though with this grass, my boy won't need extra feeding! All my puzzle pieces will fall into place once that critter is here. Then begins the fun work of finding someone to trim his feet, establishing a new vet relationship and seeing how far down the road I get on him...
What else? The moths around here are impressive - I'll have to get a photo of one of them, too! We've taken some photos of Wedge Tailed eagles in flight up on our hills, and they are truly majestic.

Tom has put in a tap from the water tanks to the shed. The meter reader was finally able to gain access to the meter for a reading and we may even get a bill this time! It won't be pretty, because they haven't been able to give us a bill while the shed's been locked.
Oh, and I installed the letter box! By myself!! I've become a lot more resourceful since moving here - I used a cordless drill in anger for the first time ever. And almost completely ruined the letter box installation, but it all came together in the end.
So, we're in residence and work on the shed is in place - photographic evidence forthcoming!

Weeds and Dry

It's been a tough gig for Tom, who has been getting very cosy with his backpack sprayer, whilst keeping the world safe from Ragwort. Ok, so maybe not the world, but definitely our paddocks! I'm sure he's dreaming Ragwort eradication at this stage of the game. Ragwort has a seeding time of 5-6 years, so time will tell how many summers will be spent roaming the steeper hills on foot. A quad bike will take care of flatter areas and save on Tom's poor feet.
Meanwhile, the actual move to the farm is delayed by a few factors. Water is one - since we put in our tank there has been no rain. Today may see some, and more is promised by the Bureau. As a new South Gippslander, I'm supposed to be asking if it ever stops raining and instead I'm asking when the rains will come. The worn pathway in front of the caravan is so dusty, and Saturday night's smattering of wet stuff didn't even cover enough to act as a dust suppressant. Weird weather, lately!
I went to the Coal Creek Farmers Market on Saturday and picked the brain of a local garlic grower. His farm has been growing garlic for 15 years, and it's now organic and all work done by hand. Initially, I thought that my plans to grow commercial garlic may be treading on toes, but I think that having two garlic farms in the same district may just mean the world has more nice garlic to go round. Plus, I'll hardly be 'competition' for the foreseeable future - I have so much to learn, and a phobia or two to overcome...
Plans to move my horse down are also stalled because we'll explore local employment options for Tom. I'm champing at the bit to move, but between low water storage (for household use - the animals are fine), one car between us and his job being in the Melbourne Metro, I'm having to put off the move with the kids. Gone are the days when you could live solely off your farm - not on under 400 acres!
Still, we now have a letter box - just have to sand and paint it, and we'll have postal service...

Settling into the neighbourhood

Another productive weekend just gone.
We attended the district Christmas party (and were told about the Australia Day party to look forward to) and met our neighbours. Not all of them, but a lot of them. Some of them grew up in the area and return at Christmas to visit family and these are the ones who were very enlightening. We learned things about our property that a real estate agent wouldn't know (though we did like our agent!). It's time, in the 19th Century, as the site of a settlement with a train station came to a close when a landslide occurred. Not only did the landslide wind down trade by the creek, when the dam broke it flooded the next town, just a few kilometres downstream, and finished that off as a town, too. Our whole property was ploughed, by hand as well at tractor, later, for snowpeas. Even the steep bits I've only walked a couple of times - that's dedication! The last footage of the steam train that used to travel the railway was taken from the end of our hill that looks towards the Prom. The house that existed many moons ago would have been dismantled by the 50.
Tom had to fix a couple of things with the tank and it is now collecting rain water without leaking. Next time we go to the farm we will be able to plumb straight into the caravan - mod cons!
And the Tibetan Prayer flags are in place. It's feeling a lot more like 'home'.

Love your Catchment Management Authority...

I'm loving ours. The CMA in our area works very closely with Landcare in our area. Actually, they share the same building. That's how close they are!
I just got off the phone to the same guy I spoke to earlier this week and we are both very happy with the win-win situation presenting itself to us. I heard correctly last time when he said our creek falls under a priority area for the CMA and that there was the possibility of assistance with fencing and planting. He elaborated today, after calling me from where he was standing at the bridge over our creek, that our property will be high up on the list of priority properties for assistance in their program. In fact, he is compiling a list of sites to take investors to, and ours will be one of them.
He is impressed with the remnant vegetation at both ends of the creekline on our grazing licence area, there aren't that many willows and the creek isn't in a bad condition. They require an average of 10 metres on either side of the creek, which is half of what DSE required for EcoTender (about which we still haven't heard and now no longer require) for protection of the creek and the best bit is to come: the CMA will pay for fencing, erection of fencing and plants. Landholders pay for the first 10 metres of plants and the CMA pays the rest - sweet!
That leaves us with more money to fund conservation on the hills and fencing that Landcare won't cover on those projects. I am really having fun with this. What we 'lose' in grazing land (and it's debatable just how much was productive grazing land) we will gain in quality of life and boosted health of the remaining grazing paddocks. Instead of having 160 acres of varying quality land, we will end up with at least 30 per cent vegetation coverage, a very healthy waterway attracting aquatic, marsupial and monotreme life, a koala biolink, dreamy bird life, an exploratory wonderland for the kids and friends and family, and our grazing paddocks will thank us for it. In other words, there is no 'lose', only adjustment and gain.
We will meet with this key contact in the early New Year and then with these investors soon after that to make it all happen. The sooner we start the protection and reveg plans, the sooner we get to enjoy a wonderland that makes us money and gives us life.
As we approach our last Christmas in the Dandenongs, and begin to wind up our time here, I've got a skip in my step and a vision in my head to keep me from looking back. Forward motion.

Money and water.

We have a tank installed! Silly me took a photo of the ground being prepared for the smallest tank to go in first, and I didn't take one of the tank installed...ah, well!
With a little help from a brother, Tom worked hard last week (with two trips down straight after work) to prepare trenches and pipes so that the small tank could start collecting water. I will be able to report after this weekend as to the efficacy of works undertaken.
I've also had a chat with our accountant about our tax affairs. It was scary in anticipation of the appointment, but now I have complete confidence in what I have to do...wholly and solely because I've been recommended I leave the hard work up to the sweet, sweet magic of...SOFTWARE! The package she recommends is a PC-only job, and I don't fancy messing around with Parallels to get Windows on my precious Mac. So, I'm going with a package called MoneyWorks Express. I'm mostly through the tutorial and really excited about setting up account codes, recording receipts and generating reports. Sad, I know. Efficient, definitely.
I've been on the blower to the CMA guy who said he was going to do a walk of our creekline to determine if we qualify as priority landowners for assistance in water frontage management. He reckons we do, and he'll go back to do a more thorough inspection. Between children annoying each other (loudly) and dogs barking, I *think* I heard him say we ARE in a priority area and will be eligible for fencing and reveg assistance - brilliant! He also said they have done some work upstream and a bit downstream, so I'll be interested to see those works and plans of action for them.
Oh, and possibly the most important part of proceedings is the news that I have two poles ready to be 'planted' into the ground by the hill track gate, for the purposes of attaching our Tibetan Prayer Flags. It's gotta be a good vibe for us to implement this vital detail for the prosperity of the farm and of the universe we serve!

Learning, planning, observing

It has been a very, very wet spring. Even for South Gippsland standards, so I'm told.
Our hillsides are soggy from the overflowing springs that stream into the creek below, and the rains have kept coming...all the while, we still don't have our tanks connected...doh! Not to worry, if it's going to rain again anywhere, it will be in our neck of the woods.
This weekend just gone saw the conclusion of the workshop I had participated in, called Horse Property Management, that I have referred to previously. It was just brilliant for a newby like me! And not just for the horse knowledge. Not at all; it was a great overview of farm management with a view to sustainability of the environment that will provide a lifestyle and income. Of course, I learned some highly relevant and key things about horse management on any property, and that we are at an advantage for having purchased a 'blank canvas' of sorts, because we can design things much more cheaply than if we were redesigning an existing set up.
Many things I learned are held in common with broader Landcare principles, so we are still going to fence off the waterways, refence along contour lines, fence off erosion areas and revegetate, remove problem weeds and minimise hoof impact on the soil and grasses. Jane Myer, of Equiculture renown, educated us about horse herding and grazing behaviours, and opened our eyes to a lot of truths that have been obscured by 'common practice'; practices that worked for humans when we were managing a very different beast - the one that worked all day long, every single day. For example, stable design has, for the most part, not changed in 200 years, yet the use of the horse is almost unrecognisable from earlier times. Same for horse nutrition. People believe they are loving their horses more by filling them with the same grasses that cattle farmers use, yet all horses need is 'poorer' pasture and good rotation, based on various physiological and herd behaviour factors. We were most surprised to learn that best practice nowadays is to keep stallions with a herd of geldings or select mares - 'best' practice is most certainly far from 'common' practice. Most stallion owners still firmly believe in separating their entire beasts, believing this will protect both him and other horses. This is only true because the stallion has been kept separate all its life and has NO social skills, so feels threatened by other horses and becomes dangerous - it's not an inherent trait. After all, geldings are stallions who don't realise they've got no testicles, and don't miss what they never had...the urge to mount a mare. It all made sense when explained to us, and one participant reported at the second workshop that a friend had acted on this advice and now has a very happy stallion in with mates!
Anyhoo, I procured an aerial photograph of our farm, for the purposes of the workshop, where we learned about Whole Farm Planning, though we were specifically looking at accommodating horses on farms. Most participants had between 2 and 20 acre properties, with only a couple of us having more. No-one else quite had 160 odd acres, but then I was quick to point out that I don't have that whole 160 odd acres for my horse interests, either! The farm planning tools I have now I am sharing with Tom and have injected me with a new vigour, and also a fresh eye for observation of what's happening on our farm.
I'm noticing soil structure, type and land classes. I'm noticing grass types and growth patterns, steer behaviours, and natural features of our property. Most of all, I can't wait to fence off the creek and start tackling the pest weeds - the willow being the biggest offender. I have been learning about willow management and I'm keen to start rehabilitating the creek, with the front section of our creek line being what I want the rest of the creek line to look like in about 10 years. I'm in contact with the CMA (Catchment Management Authority) and the DPI (Department of Primary Industries) to see how we can get some bucks and expertise for this purpose, with the trade-off being that our Crown licence will be reviewed and adjusted, according to how much less land we'll be left with for actual grazing, once land is fenced off. Win-win. If we can come to this arrangement, then I will surely be the Landcare Queen! But before I get carried away, we have yet to do the more formalised Landcare iFarm 21 planning course, where we learn to do farm planning with provided software...and then I shall prepare for regal duties...
The grass is growing at an astounding rate, the temperature is rising through this season and snakes are becoming active. I saw my first one yesterday, in the creek, and it was black as black and FAT. So, we'll have to start slashing the roadsides and the areas surrounding the caravan, in order to be able to see any of them coming our way. And I'll have to keep the gate shut to the caravan yard unless I am walking down our road with the kids. They are not snake savvy at the moment, and it's only a teeny comfort that there's a hospital about 5 minutes away...
We're a lot more decided on house site location, and were only talking tonight about how to set up the dam there for swimming in. It's years off materialising, and so much fun to plan!
We have a gutter up on the shed and plan to do more to set up the tanks this weekend. This needs to be done, ideally, for us to make our farm move. I'm really, really ready to make the change and start living on our patch of paradise.
ETA: I forgot to write about the wet wombat! A flooded creek meant an evicted wombat had to wait for its home to dry out - but not before availing of the grasses along the creek. Here he is (or she, it didn't declare itself...):

More land management learnings and caravan life

Well, we are now members of the local Landcare group. We met with the new landholder co-ordinator and she was very excited about our place and we joined up. This will open up a world of grant money for various projects that EcoTender doesn't cover (if we even GET EcoTender money).
Meanwhile, the Yarra Ranges Council (still getting used to them not being a Shire anymore) is offering a Horse Property Land Management course that runs over two days. I tried my luck, asking them if it mattered that the property in question is not in the shire but that we are. It never hurts to ask, and in this case that held true! I'll be doing the course this Saturday (no farm on Sat for me, but this is for the benefit of the farm and one must suck it up from time to time), and on another Saturday, with lunch and nibbles provided - may as well avail of my shire while I'm still in residence here! Participants also receive a $500 grant from Landcare (or DSE, one or the other, I can't remember!), which isn't huge, but may pay for a drinking trough that doesn't have to come out of our personal funds. Every little bit helps, especially when we're aiming to do the right thing by our patch of dirt, in the scheme of the biosphere.
Our steers are busy eating down the tall grass in the creek paddock - it was almost waist high two weeks ago, and they are making progress down that narrow strip of title. The grass is green as can be and we have more rains due this weekend. It's a pity our guttering still isn't done to fill our tanks (currently resting on their sides!), but if it's going to rain anywhere any time soon, it will be here.

The composting loo is set up in the shed, with its little fan running and is making life on weekends quite a bit more comfortable for everyone. It means I don't have to think of a reason to drive into town to use the public amenities...which is a shame, because I rather liked feeling compelled to go to the bakery for croissants! And I am rather enjoying the drive up a nearby road to buy farm-gate eggs - $1.50 for half a dozen and $3 for a dozen...yes, please!
We were also graced with the presence of a koala and her baby, in a tree right next to the caravan, for the entire Cup long weekend. It felt really nice to be chosen, and when we returned the following weekend she had taken her leave of us. I wish the wombats would!