One Hundred and forty four

Until last weekend it had been a dry month, only 30 or so mm, then it RAINED. Month total 144mm. Every gully was running with runoff and the creek was a torrent.
Heres the BOM rainfall for that week..we are right near the blue spot. Perhaps one of the few places left in Aus with above average rain?

This ones normally half full

And this is normally dry

The weather suited our furry friends

First crop of Calendula drying

Daffodils

So all the fruit tree's are in, it will be interesting to see if the figs go. Its time to propagate summer vege seeds in Melbourne to transplant up there in time for (hopefully) Xmas.

The ginseng project is finished and it can be left alone for 5 years. Everyone is happy about being able to get on with house building and other projects!

Not much joy on funding issues with the Shire regeneration fund being the only hope at present.

Full wattle glory, in the regenerating forest section

Our new sunny half house

Sunroom/dining room in detail

The lower dam, full!

Look carefully to see 2 dozen tree protectors regenerating in the valley

Home sweet home

I wandered lonely as a cloud... Jon enjoying the walk up the back

An unexpected find!

One hundred and forty!

yep an amazing 140mm of rain in the month of August..we love it!

Rain rain rain

Rainfall check: April 82mm, May 65mm, June 40mm, July 82mm, 2 weeks into August 70mm!
Its wet here, much wetter than 2008, water and moss is everywhere, but spring has been sighted..yep the silver wattles are out in absolute splendor, and everything else is rearing to go, all the fruit trees are budding up, with the peach trees already blossoming.

Recent plantings include:

Autumn raspberry
Gooseberries
Cranberries
Warrigal greens
Elderberry
Borage and comfrey seed in fruit tree mulch
Truffled English oak
Truffled French oak
Quince
Hazelnuts
Walnuts
- Andean
- black
- Chandler
- Wilson
Chestnut
Gooseberry
Nellie Kelly strawberry

Recently, we also got to try wild duck, shot down by the neighbors overnight. Thats the country lifestyle!

Silver wattles in the regeneration zone

View to silver wattles from waterfall

Area below waterfall

Forest across from waterfall

Waterfall fairy?

Even the small trees are full of life and color

Kangaroo fern in full splendor

Blackwood and moss

Fern gully #3

More Blackwood moss

More fungal wonder

Wendy just made it back from the waterfall

The forest floor rejuvenates after blackberry clearance. Native elderberry, musk wood and kangaroo paw trees are quick colonizers. In the open pastures I found 20 young blackwoods today, all munched to near death by friendly marsupials. Now there are 20 blackwoods with tree protectors around them, they should take off and help regenerate the first valley area.

Renovations and explorations

WE started renovating the kitchen...

The slabs are solid granite....

But 3 days of slog...

and now we have a fabulous new kitchen!

next is the living/bedroom space, owch, aching muscles!!

Luckily our vege patch survived the worst of a cow invasion...

We had time to explore the south end of the property, the native bush seen is pretty much all ours...the pines above will get the chop sooner or later...it will sure look strange...a bit like this:

This is the view from the south across the cow farm to our trees on the highest hill

In the forest at the south end are wonderful trees, mosses, ferns and fungi:

And some surprising animals...

Lets hope the shire will give us grant money to fence the cows out from the whole creek and forest area..

July update

Loads of rain folks, some 40 ml in the first week of July, coming off what was perhaps a dryish June (40ml total). Its lovely and wet up there, but the shed is now almost weather proof and we stay cozy by the fireside at night. Ginseng operations have begun in earnest. We even planted some saffron as a trial, but it seems like one needs 5 acres of flowers to make 500 grams of saffron stamens, so its not likely to be commercial venture!

Trial of Dong guai in the dappled forest creekside

More crazy fungi

Laurie loves the outdoor table, a sunny lunch spot in winter, shady in summer

Black wallaby in the pine waste

Our access road after forest thinning operations, much better!

10 year old American Ginseng, destined for our forest soil as seed stock