Well, we've certainly had some wild weather! Lots of wind and rain means lots of extra work to do in the clean up but before that we just have to get through the storm.
I started to prepare for it by heading up to the hay shed to move the trailer out so that the animals could have some shelter from what was to come. Unfortunately I hadn't realised how much rain we'd already had to that point. The paddock was pretty slippery and yes I got my car stuck up there. I was worried about digging a bigger and bigger hole in the pasture so decided to leave the car until it was all a bit drier. So the sheep, cows and alpacas didn't get that shelter for the stormy night. Needless to say I didn't sleep well through the windy, rainy night worrying about them all and imagining my car sinking in the mud!
Next day revealed a few trees down including half a large gum tree at the back of the block. Lots of water in my swales which I'm always excited to see. My dam which had been down about one metre, due to the leak it has, was nearly full. I'm always amazed at how quickly it collects all that water. The muscovy ducks seemed to be delighted with the situation with all the extra water creating more choices for exploring and digging in the mud. The damage, thankfully, was minor. The small trees on the swales that had fallen were my quick growing support species. All of my fruit and nut trees survived well.
With the wet and windy weather brings extra work of course. The massive, half a tree, fell across an area of pasture so I will need to get that cleaned up pretty quickly so the grass can recover for the next round of grazing. I'm starting with shredding all the leaves and smaller branches. I'll be able to use a lot of this to help clean up the chook and duck areas which got very sodden and muddy with all the rain.
I had the power out all day on Thursday, which wasn't too bad given what some have had to put up with. I didn't have a great day that day, starting with putting the wrong fuel in my small generator. Tried emptying it and refilling with the correct stuff but, no go! Unfortunately that left me with no fuel for my large generator and with a car stuck in a paddock I couldn't go and get more. As my phone and internet were both out I hadn't realised all the petrol stations for miles around couldn't help anyway with the power being out for all. This is when my neighbours came to the rescue. Thursday, just before dark, they helped get my car out and tucked away in the carport. They brought me fuel and got the generator going and then they collected fuel containers from around the neighbourhood and drove half way to Melbourne to refuel to keep us all going. What LEGENDS!!
Of course that deserved a thank you basket with some preserved goodies, eggs and pumpkin. Thank you guys!
Hey, I've just uploaded another video, filmed back in April. I just go through my food forest mulching activities and explain a little bit about it. Have a look and be sure to leave a comment and tell me what you think!
Any way have a great week everybody and I'll see you later!