We’ve set the workshop side of the garage up as the laundry, space for our wardrobe and a summer kitchen with a gas camping stove. Of course in winter we’ll be able to cook on the wood stove inside the living area.
And then there is Atomic, Marvin, Cinder & Ella’s new and absolutely amazing cat cave come circus arena, made completely out of recycled materials and bush poles. All we need to do is build some tunnels, shelves and their trapeze, then fit Atomic with his ring master hat.
Here they are making their way inside for dinner through the tunnel that connects the cat cave to the garage…
Ella favours the little house below, while Atomic has claimed the igloo (both of which we found at the tip) and Marvin has laid claim to the bush pole…
We’ve met some of our other flat mates already, the Welcome Swallows being the first, who are now settled into their nest in the carport. We also share the land with a gorgeous little Pademelon, which are similar to wallabies in many ways, with the main difference being that they are much smaller. She mostly hangs out near the caravan and doesn’t mind us being only a few metres from her now, which is just lovely.
And we have two residents inside the fence, a Bandicoot and this blue tongue lizard. They are both welcome in the garden; the Bandicoot feeds on soil invertebrates, worms and some garden pests, so apart from digging little holes in the bark mulch it doesn’t do any damage. We think it lives inside a hollow in an old tree stump that we left in the back corner of the fenced area as a reminder of what once was.The blue tongue lizard is wonderful for pest control because they love eating snails and slugs.
They also love eating strawberries, but so far it hasn’t managed to get to them before we do… and we’re harvesting a full punnet every second day.
Our neighbours, Ben & Mog, are also moving onto their land in December, so we’re having a combined house warming and NYE party on the land (hint hint Sydney & Melbourne friends).
Apart from finishing the shed fitout, we kicked off the month by manning the Permaculture stall at the local farmers market for Celia, who was convening the Permaculture Design Certificate course. We got to know some more community members, and discovered the wonderful array of local produce we have to look forward to; home made goats milk and herb soaps, chutneys, breads, as well as loads of vegie seedlings and other goodies.
The following weekend we took a few of the introduction course students on a tour of two other permaculture properties. They witnessed a great variety of techniques and ideas, and it was fantastic to see that people who attended the introduction course are fully committed to implementing permaculture design on their properties.
We did a one hour presentation at the Middleton Community Hall, and community members came to our property for a tour a few weeks later. Students of the Permaculture Design Certificate also toured the property as part of their course, with the water harvesting techniques and wetlands being a major highlight. A friend who attended the Permaculture Design Certificate course that I did in Melbourne also took an interest in the wetlands system, so we forwarded the plans over to to India, where it will hopefully benefit their village one day.
We always planned to develop a permaculture demonstration site, but thought it would take 2-3 years before it was ready for public tours. It’s just incredible that we’ve already hosted three tours, and really do have the Conservation Volunteers to thank. They had a fantastic final month; surveyed to bury a sock drain into the dam to catch even more rain water from the lower slope, did loads of mulching, planted over 40 bee and bird attracting natives in front of the fence, made “sausages” out of shade cloth and filled them with soil to place plants on the frog pond shelves (which will hold the soil in place), finished dressing the pond, planted dozens of comfrey plants and tagasaste seeds and weeded all the shrubs around the dam.
It has been such an amazing experience being project partner for the Conservation Volunteers over the past six months, but it has now come to a close. Not only have they helped develop the property enough for tours, but watching the boys take an increasing interest in permaculture and all the other creatures we share this planet with has been truly rewarding. They even save slaters from underneath timber before moving it now. It’s been a real journey, which was celebrated at their graduation ceremony on the land with family members, Conservation Volunteers staff members, Land Care, the Living Boat Trust and HuonLinc. We aired the following You Tube video to remind the boys of just how integral their role has been in laying the foundations here.
Another event that finished in November was my studies in Accredited Permaculture Certificate IV. I’m really glad I did the course, especially in unison with starting to develop the property. Some of the assignments gave me a “kick up the bum”, in particular topics like studying food miles in detail, which has really changed some of our habits to buying a much larger portion of locally grown organic produce. And I observe much more on the land now, every insect, every effect of weather events etc.
But of course with these endings come some new and exciting beginnings. We registered to become Wwoof hosts, which involves sharing knowledge with, feeding and accommodating “willing workers on organic farms”. Not expecting to start hosting until January, we browsed through the bulletin board and came across Al, who lives in Melbourne and was specifically looking for a permaculture property to work on. Al arrived last Friday and we spent our first afternoon together collecting some pavers that Des and Joan had left after their renovations, followed by collecting shells off the beach for the chicken’s shell grit. Al then helped us move house, and he moved into the caravan on the land the same day we moved into the garage. We look forward to teaching Al as much as we possibly can about permaculture, and hope he really enjoys his time with us.
Jules and Peter have built a wonderful compost toilet near the caravan for guests and Wwoofers, again out of bush poles and recycled materials (except the bin).
The entrance is on ground level, with the structure set out over an embankment to catch the deposits in a chamber below, which is a wheelie bin. It’s completely airtight so no flies can get in, and even has a vent to air odours. Sawdust and hay is added to the deposits to help the composting process, then when the bin is half full we’ll swap it with an empty bin, and fill it with organic matter to set aside for a further year, after which it will be wonderful humanure for the trees.
And of course we’ve had fun… here’s Jules expressing his excitement over the loo he built, with Kyle break dancing in the background.
Lots of other exciting things took place here in Tassie Mania during the month too. We placed a strainer at the end of the suction hose to pump water out of the dam, and placed it inside half a 44 gallon drum in the dam, to avoid the pump sucking up clay and debris from the bottom. Unfortunately the hose came out of the drum when we connected it to the pump, and with Karim threatening to empty the dam in order to put it back in place, I had no choice but to test the waters. It was bloody freezing to say the least, and what felt like hypothermia resulted in an unsuccessful mission, so I’ll have to try again. At least our friend’s dog kept me company.
And our friends have started to enjoy the jetty too.
The fruit trees are looking very healthy thanks to loads of TLC, and we’re now harvesting the strawberries along with herbs, lettuce and kohlrabi.
Paul finished the quoll proof chicken McMansion, and we’ve marked out the internal fencing for their permanent run, plus two areas for forage rotation.
We’re hoping to introduce five hens this month, and after loads of research about different breeds we’ve chosen Wellsummers, which were developed in the Netherlands and introduced to Australia in the late 1920s. Each hen produces as many as 160 large eggs every year, they are beautiful birds, docile yet active, excellent forages, and are not flighty. Finding them wasn’t so easy, but we managed to track down a new breeder only 15km away. We’ve also done loads of research on their feed and other requirements (such as grit, dust bathing etc) and natural preventative treatments against common ailments such as worms, scaley mite and lice. Initially we’ll have to purchase some free range grain mix, but the plan is to produce all of their feed and other requirements on the property, including worms for protein.
And last, but definitely not least, we had a little ceremony on the jetty for Paul’s 39th birthday last Tuesday. We feel your positive energy all the time Paul, and draw inspiration from you whenever we start having a winge about something. We aren’t disappointed that you never made it to visit us in person down in Tassie Mania, because we sense that you visit us quite often now... but I still miss our Maternity Ward texts on a Tuesday night.
Blimey... did all that happen in the last four weeks??? Have a wonderful Christmas everyone, and don’t forget to toast the Tassia Manians on NYE.
