Each day, a wild family of Australian Wood Ducks spends time on and around our dam, before going back to their home on a neighbouring property. We’ve watched as the 11 ducklings have grown from balls of fluff to small ducks taking on adult plumage. The ducks seem to live on a tiny, muddy pond … Continue reading Australian Wood Ducks
Ancestry, Gardening and Food Plant Recognition
Inspired by perfect Spring weather, last Wednesday morning I headed out into the vegetable garden. Now that the potato plants had sprouted leaves, I could see where they were and clear the ground around them. Surrounded by tall eucalypts and calling birds, it was easy to relax into the task. I realised this is what … Continue reading Ancestry, Gardening and Food Plant Recognition
The Red Wattlebird
While sitting at my computer in the study, I heard a strange bird call from the back yard. Rushing to the kitchen window with my camera, I was able to capture this Red Wattlebird feeding on nectar from some of the succulent plants in our yard. Click on the photos to enlarge them.
The Cat Enclosure Dilema
As responsible cat owners, we will build a cat enclosure before we allow the cats outside. Our intention was to have this enclosure built before we moved in, but the existring fence structure was not strong enough to support the cat netting we need to secure to it. The new fencing materials are due to … Continue reading The Cat Enclosure Dilema
Sunset through the trees
Even after two months here, I am still marvelling at the beauty of the land around our house, and the wildlife it attracts. Mid-Spring means fewer grey skies, and more colourful sunsets. Last night I was about to cook dinner when I noticesd the vivid colours – dinner was put on hold while I took … Continue reading Sunset through the trees
Australian Native Flowers
We showed a friend around our property today, and I took the opportunity to take photos of some of the wild flowers we saw along the way. I won’t pretend to know what they are all called, but the common feature is that the flowers are tiny.
A taste of Spring
While the weather here is cold enough to keep the wood fire burning, it doesn’t seem to have stopped the birds from getting into the swing of Spring. When I walked around our boundary fence yesterday, I could hear baby magpies, and was swooped by adult magpies. From the safety of the house, I could … Continue reading A taste of Spring
Straw Necked Ibis Roosting
Last night, just before dark, we had a flock of around 100 Straw Necked Ibis land in our trees to roost. We’re not sure where they came from, or where they were headed, but this morning when we arose they were all gone. Enjoy the photos.
An end to the 2 Bar Blues
Out of pure frustation, and not expecting much, we phoned the Government communication people to enquire if there was a subsidy to install a satelite. We were more surprised than anyone else when the answer was ‘Yes’ – if we were on a list of approved regions. Thankfully, our region was one of those listed. … Continue reading An end to the 2 Bar Blues
Growing Food
Our plans for growing food are beginning to take shape. Eventually, we will have four separate growing areas: 1. Open air vegetable garden 2. Greenhouse for all year round tomatoes, capsicums etc 3. An open air herb garden 4. The fruit orchard. This post documents our starting points for all four areas. See the photo … Continue reading Growing Food
The changing view through my study window
A quick tour of our bush habitat
We are very fortunate to have friends who know much more than we do about the native plants on our land. It turns out that our property is rich in native orchids and native lillies. A couple of weeks ago, we had 6 species of native orchid in flower, and another six to ten which … Continue reading A quick tour of our bush habitat
The cats approve of the move
We had wailing cat ‘sirens’ in the car all the way from our old house to the new one – about 30 minutes of anxiety for all of us. So I was more than a little worried about Luna and Clio, and wondered how they would settle into their new home. As it turns out, … Continue reading The cats approve of the move
Taking a chainsaw to my green ideals
When we moved here, I knew we would need a chainsaw. We had so many trees, and our heating comes from a wood-burning fire. In my mind, I could see that after a high wind, it was inevitable we would need to clean up fallen branches, and I knew there were some dead trees which … Continue reading Taking a chainsaw to my green ideals
Catching My Breath in Slow Motion
The pace of life seems to have slowed since our move. Partly this is simply because we have passed through three frantic weeks of cleaning, packing and uppacking boxes, shifting furniture into new formations that suit the new spaces, and the settlement on our former home has successfully come to a close. Now we just … Continue reading Catching My Breath in Slow Motion
Boxes, Birds and Wood Fires
For a week now, we’ve been living in our new house among a sea of boxes. Piece by piece, we unpack our old life and see how it fits with our new life. Already we find that some loved items simply don’t fit into this (smaller) house. We knew this would be the case. Part … Continue reading Boxes, Birds and Wood Fires
If you are reading this, it’s a clear day
When I started writing this blog, full of idealistic notions of the way we would live on our new property, I imagined we would face many challenges. I didn’t imagine that even being able to log onto the internet would be one of them. Our property is 30 minutes drive out of a very large … Continue reading If you are reading this, it’s a clear day
We have arrived!
This is a short update because we are in the process of moving in. Enjoy this photo gallery!
Moving the Cats
It’s getting exciting now. Only one more week before we can move to our fifteen acres of bush. Apart from madly packing our stuff into boxes, we’re starting to narrow down the list of things we need to do so we can move in. The very first thing we will need to do in our … Continue reading Moving the Cats
Lotions, Oils and Scrubs
One thing I have been doing for a while now is making my own cosmetics. I have not had a need to buy hand creme, body lotion, face moisturiser, face scrub, lip balm, soap, liquid soap, foot creme etc for more than a year. Setting up was a little expensive. In order to have the … Continue reading Lotions, Oils and Scrubs
Book Review: Keeping Chickens in Australia
In a previous post I boldly stated I would review two books in a few days time. It’s a bit late, but here is an overview of information contained in the first book “Keeping Chickens in Australia”. As I don’t yet have any chickens, I really don’t know enough to review it from a position … Continue reading Book Review: Keeping Chickens in Australia
Chicken Breeds in Australia Poster
I found a fantastic poster outlining chicken breeds found in Australia on the Poultry Hub website. This shows an image of the male and female, outlines their key characteristics of the breed. This allowed me to immediately narrow down to a few breeds to investigate in more detail. I like the look of the Sussex … Continue reading Chicken Breeds in Australia Poster
House Naming Ceremony
It’s four weeks to go before we get the keys to our new house. Sitting here at my desk in the sunshine with a coffee, it seems a long way away, but I know this four weeks will fly by. I want to prepare by doing or buying things now so when we move in, … Continue reading House Naming Ceremony
A Wishlist
Waiting for the property settlement gives me time to dream and plan -there’s seven weeks to go…. I’ve never lived anywhere but in a suburban house before, so thinking about what I could do on 15 acres of land is both exciting and daunting. For some people this probably seems a very small land holding, … Continue reading A Wishlist
Fifteen Acres 