• Cyclone Season

      The end of last year and the start of this has been a busy period with two cyclones having had an effect of us already, and the season has really only just begun! We feel like we’ve been very fortunate with how we’ve fared through each of them, but that makes us that bit more nervous for the ‘next one’… In less than 2 months, we have had over 1200mm of rain and the ground is definitely now beyond saturation point. We had some earth works done on the Farm in the middle of last year, and they have made a world of difference in the water being able…

  • Winter on the Farm

    Winter on the Farm

    The rains have been in for the bigger part of the last month… Not the heavy deluges that are much needed around the country to fill tank and dams, but the mizzley rain (mist crossed with drizzle) that keeps you indoors, and turns everything to slush or mould… 😐 We have managed to get two new

  • Bye 2018!

    bye 2018

    And here we are already, saying “Bye 2018“… It’s thoroughly ridiculous, it feels like this year was only a few months long!! Alas – if you’re waiting to see some snappy photos of our internal wall lining, we’re sorry but you’ll have to wait a bit longer! The panel did finally arrive at the hardware store, but we decided to leave it stored there – just in case the cyclone did damage to our little home – because at least if it got damaged at the hardware store, their insurance would cover it rather than ours. Not toooo silly eh..!?!?! The cyclone ended up being a bit of a non-event…

  • It’s not for everyone…

    its not for everyone

    Last week someone said to us that they don’t know why anyone would want to live in a shed. And we get that. It’s not for everyone - but then our idea of fabulous isn’t living in a 4 bedroom 2 bathroom show-home with granite benches and a family room.

  • March Monsoons

    As happens in the monsoon season — its been raining. And raining and raining and raining!! Its definitely been a proper wet season so far this year, and one that we have needed, as despite how wet it was this time last year, we really didn’t end up getting our ‘usual’ amount, for where we live. We heard on the radio the other evening that Darwin has had over a meter and a half of rain already!! The front wheels (literally) fell off the mower a couple of weeks ago – yes the new one (!!) – and so it has been into the shop for repairs. It seemed to…

  • Not feelin’ the ‘love’!

    . There hasn’t been much ‘accomplished’ in the last couple of weeks. Firstly we had about 10 days of much needed rain, which of course made the paddocks super-sloppy, and meant that no mowing could be done during that time, so the grass almost got away from us again – but we managed to get it mown in fits and spurts during a couple of dryish days, when the storms didn’t come in until the afternoon. After the rains, came the insane heatwave that most of Eastern Aus has been experiencing – and with the energy-sapping heat – it meant that just making it through the routine mundane chores that…

  • Hot & Moist

    . We’ve had a couple of weeks of extremes on the weather scale… This time last week we were in the midst of a deluge, and were out in said deluge digging drainage trenches, and watching our 10kg doorstep float away!! The good thing about the rain is it replenished some ground-water, which was badly needed. Everything was getting very dry! It also meant that for the best part of a week, we got away with not having to water the gardens and orchard. This week, we are suffering through 32+ degree heatwaves. [35 today!] A lot of the plants – especially those in the nursery – are sagging from…

  • Cooler Evenings

    Another couple of weeks seem to have flown on by, and the much welcomed cool evening are finally settling in around Strigidae Farm, and we’ve been plodding along – getting bits and pieces done about the place. We had some fairly huge downpours when the cyclone was shifting off down the coast, some of which came in – but we’re old hands at this now, and its nothing that a couple of well placed towels couldn’t fix! One of the fun things we’ve done of late, is to make our own laundry detergent. Its a super easy process, and doesn’t take too long at all – and cleans the clothes…