Rushworth Floods 2013

 

It has been an interesting week here in Rushworth and for me personally. The first and most upsetting thing to occur was the sad demise of my precious cat "Snake". Having been born as a feral, he got to the point of puberty and it resulted in him reverting to being feral in a big way. He attacked me quite savagely and continued to behave erratically. It has resulted in me having to euthenase him, which has left me heartbroken. Then, Rushworth was hit with torrential rains and flash flooding, a very frightening night indeed. The video you see was taken on my property during the initial stage of a 15 minute downpour that resulted in 126ml of rain in the guage and a mess that will take me weeks to fix. I have been left in an emotional state of limbo and unsure of myself and my ability to manage if worse was to happen

 

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Bye Bye 2012, Hello 2013

2012, what can I say.  It was a year filled with challenges, changes and the new beginning.  I will begin by saying the start was one that brought me back around to another run of chemo, the search for better digs and the move to the new place.  I hosted some wonderful WWOOFers, who helped me get a good headstart on establishing the permaculture system that is now well on the way to being very efficient and productive.  It saw a group of wonderful Permi folk from Ballarat, Geelong and Melbourne drive up to run a permablitz here and share a great time over fantastic food. Lots of stories told, laughter heard and big cuddles with a georgeous little boy.  Chestnuts roasted over a drum fire and finally a good night of rest in readiness to do it all again the next day.  I made several trips to Ballarat for workshops, blitzes and to celebrate winter solstice and Christmas.  Made some fantastic friends I will treasure always.  More trips made to my hometown of Wodonga to recurtain a house for a friend and celebrate family birthdays.  The final but most fantastic thing that 2012 brought my way was a trip to Rosebud over Christmas.  Sharing many fantastic moments with dear friends, walks along the beach and time with a fishing rod in hand at the peir. Brilliant sunsets and the chance to watch 4 amazing stingrays circle that section of the bay.  Eventful, crazy and so wonderful.. Goodbye 2012. 
I now face 2013 with a great deal of excited anticipation.  I have 7 weeks left of treatment and am confident it will be the last.  My burgeoning gardens are producing a prolific crop and I am madly working on preserving, pickling and bottling all the abundance that surrounds me.  Then come mid year I will begin teaching Introduction to Permaculture at a local centre.  Something that the last 4 years has been all about and that I can't wait to get my teeth into.  So many people who are keen and need more knowledge, it would be a sin not to share that.  Snake has grown to a massive cat and now at 2 and 1/2 years old, he is finally becoming a calm and affectionate creature.  No,  I don't let my guard down as yet, he still has ferocious moments that take me by surprise.  This really promises to be a year of endeavour and achievement.  I hope you will all enjoy my blog journey with me.

Growing Melons On Frames

 

Above you can see the frames built for growing melons such as, honeydew and rockmelons. The issue that arose from this method, heavy melons that are hanging break vines.  I set about looking for ideas on how to prevent this from happening and came up with the hammocks you can see in the photo below.  Made from cheap cotton fabric and using a good twine for the ties,  they do a great job of holding up heavy melons, which in turn saves vine damage.

 

At this stage the largest of the melons have a couple more weeks before they are ripe enough to eat, meanwhile I drool daily while watering them all.