We move onto the land in four weeks (and counting)! A sea container has been delivered ready to store most of our gear. You can’t see it at all from the top of the property, or from the garage, tucked away behind these trees…
But here it is…
The new abode is coming along beautifully. The plaster on the garage walls and ceiling was sanded…
Then we took to the paint brushes and rollers for one base coat and two top coats (low VOC paint of course)!
Our art framing training and equipment came in handy to cut and install the architraves and skirtings around the windows, doors and floor…
The electrician has hooked up all the lights and power points, and the plumber has installed all the taps and the drainage system to the wetlands, so we can now have a hot shower yipppeee!
All we need to do in the next few weeks is attach the skirtings then puddy, sand and paint them; install the blinds; fix and fit the kitchen doors; lay the splashback tiles; have the wood stove installed; erect the shelving and wall cabinets; install the door to the carport; install the cat flaps and tunnel; connect the phone and internet; have the floor coverings laid and install the compost toilet. Damn, that actually sounds like quite a lot! Oh, and the internet speed isn’t up to scratch for Karim’s work, so we’ve decided to look for an office in Huonville. It’ll be a much better work life balance for him too, not working in the same room he’s sleeping in, and will give him the opportunity to enjoy a beautiful 9km cycle along the Huon River. And let’s not forget the biggest benefit, I won’t have to listen to IT jargon :o)
We’re not the only ones building our nest in the shed either. Some Welcome Swallows started visiting a few weeks ago, and are the tamest birds we have ever come across. They fly into the carport when we are in there, and have been building their nest right in front of our eyes under one of the overhead beams.
Jules is back from holiday and has started building the cat cave with Peter and the volunteers. We’ll have an excellent view of it from the garage, and the cats have quite lovely views of the dam, forest and river. These posts outline the perimeter of the cat cave, which were taken off the property and cemented into 1m deep holes. Once the main structure is finished we’ll attach a door and build a tunnel to connect it to a cat flap in the garage wall.
The main project we completed with the volunteers in the past few weeks was the frog pond. It took two coats of render, as well as a lot of skin off my fingers, but has turned out absolutely beautiful. Frogs are extremely sensitive (they breathe through their skin) and cement is very alkaline, so we lined the pond with leaf mulch to release tannins and create a more neutral balance.
The shelves offer three levels in the pond, creating environments for emergent, submergent and fringe plants, as well as extra edge habitat for tadpoles and frogs. Speaking of which, I noticed dozens of tadpoles and sensitive invertebrates in the dam the other day, an excellent sign of a healthy environment. A neighbour from down the road visited and couldn’t believe it, saying “I have never had frogs or tadpoles in my dam”, then said “oh well, I’m off to spray the orchard”. And he wonders why he doesn’t have frogs… I’m confident we will see them in this pond in no time.
Quite a bit of silt was still entering the dam with the water run off, so the volunteers have also built a much deeper silt trap. This will prevent the dam from becoming shallower over time as silt enters it and sinks to the bottom.
We burnt a large pile of Blackberry and Spanish Heath after eradicating it from the forest, and the intensity of even this small fire really bought home the need for us to develop our bush fire plan before we move onto the land.
