It's amazing how the Australian vegetation recovers from something as violent as a bushfire. When I took some photos of the burnt areas I never thought that after three and a half years I'd have trouble trying to push through the regrowth.

 If it isn't one thing it's another. I'm recovering from COVID. Yes it finally found me. Much more than a cold, aching all over my face, temperature, coughing and sneezing. It's been 7 days and while the aches have gone there's still a cough and now the overwhelming feeling of being tired. I did mange to take the dogs for a walk up the back of the property, they needed to do something and I survived just. The view over the dam is much different to the one 3 years ago.

 Maybe time to try and post regularly again. The last few years have been unreal, like a dream. Who would have thought the world would shut down, everyone remaining at home, social distancing and wearing masks. Arguments about vaccines and general hygiene. Covid19 became an everyday threat and news. We were lucky living on a property, there was room to move around and breath. I feel sorry for those in lockdown who lived in an apartment or a house with no garden. Developers don't seem to like building houses with gardens these days, but that's another topic. So we survived the bushfire just to be hit by a world wide pandemic, moved back, out of peoples awareness and forgotten. We were still dealing with things, loss of stock, loss of fences, the landscape slowly returning green but forgotten. Like the bushfire was in the past and we should be over it. Hard.

 

December 20th 2019.

The smoke from the fire that devastated our neighbourhood.

Amazingly the fire went around our house but the rest of the property was completely burnt. Most of our sheep were either killed or burnt. Later those burnt were shot by PIRSA as there was no way to help them. The horse and donkey survived but with burns. A Vet came to treat them and then they were taken to a clinic for further treatment.

What a sight to return too.

 

 

It's been awhile but we're coming up to the second anniversary of the bushfire of December 20th 2019. So I thought maybe I should start my Blog again. I'll be looking back to that date, a stinking hot, extremely windy day, that changed our environment. We left our house taking the dogs and caravan. We put the equines and sheep into a grazed field which had a largish dam. We thought we'd be back the same day but that huge black 'cloud' we could see heading our way turned out to be the fire that had started that morning, heading straight to us. It burnt completely around at least five towns and rushed through our neighbourhood that night. Many of our neighbours stayed to fight it. We watched the smoke from our escape town on the River Murray. not knowing what would be left. It would be two days before we were able to return through the dangerous fire zone.

Lambs.

With the dry start to the year we weren't thinking about a planned lambing. We had to divide the sheep up as to which would stay and which we would sell. Those that stayed went in with our ram. These were old thin ewes, some small lambs and a few nice ewes. Usually lambing at our place starts at the end of July but this year we had no idea when any or if any lambs would be born. So it was a nice surprise to go up to the flock and find a couple of lambs. Over the last three days we've had 4. The ewes won't let us get close and are very protective. We may get a few more.

Dams.

August has been a good month for rain. We can face the coming summer knowing the dams are full of water and the grasses should grow nicely now. The front dam has come a long way from back in May when it was dry and just been dug out.

Amazing what a trickle of water can do!

It's been a few days but wow look how the dam's water level looks like! Long may it continue.

At last!

We've been hoping and had our fingers crossed that this would happen, particularly when the long term forecast has constantly stated there would be below average rain, but at last the creek has  started to flow! Well it's more a trickle, but the last two days of showery weather has been enough for it to start. Amazingly the dam has risen by a foot with only a trickle! If this continues the dam should fill which will be relief to us.

  

The equines were on their best behaviour!

The farrier visited this morning and for once the horse behaved himself! Maybe the hay helped? So their hooves are all tidy and cleared of muck.

To be a blogger!

To blog or not to blog? It seems the radical animal rights people try to read all the blogs written so to target farmers and those in primary production. So should I continue? We aren't serious farmers keeping our few sheep to eat the grass and provide a bit of meat. I enjoy thinking up topics and posting the photos but also don't want the hassle if the above happens. What should I do? 

Water.

Water! How important it is. Water and it's component parts basically brought life to the earth. After a few days of showers suddenly there's new growth and green everywhere. Areas which looked bare have tiny leaves reappearing. Now many of these are weeds but it's refreshing to see green again. So why is it so hard to realize the importance of water, why we should protect it, respect it's role in life and remember we wouldn't be here without it.

Our spring.

We only got 24mm with the first rains of the year but the recharge of our spring is amazing. Tomas can swim again although it is still muddy under the water! We're due more rain in a few days so it will be interesting to see how the springs levels react.

Some rain at last.

After three days of constant showery weather we've recorded 24mm and found there was a puddle in our freshly dug out dam. Now for lots of follow up rain !

It's dry.

Well the weather bureau have told us something we already knew, it's been a dry start to the year. They've told us in fact the driest four months since 1888! The senior locals have said they've never seen it so dry. Our rain gauge is gathering dust and spiders. So far our totals have been: January 0, February 7, March 6 and April 0.5. See we're down to recording halves!

Down sizing.

It was a cold morning when the truck arrived for the lambs. There was the usual chaos as the lambs were loaded, they aren't the brightest! We finally got them loaded and of to the market they went. In the end we got $70 a head. It's always sad to send stock away but we're getting short of water. The ewes we can't keep will go next. It's not just water, the paddocks are turning into dust so we're hand feeding and we only have three round bales left. So the next time you think 'what a beautiful day' just remember that farmers really need rain!

The front dam.

 It's only taken 19 years but the front dam has finally been dug out. It took two days and there was lots of silt to remove. The eroded overflow creek was also filled in and it all looks so different! Pippa's dam will be much deeper when she can next swim in it. Hopefully it fills this winter.

Sorting the sheep.

Our water is getting low and feed short, so we've made the sad decision to reduce our stock numbers. We brought the flock in to sort out which to keep, a few healthy ewes for the ram and those to skinny to go. One positive from today was Tomas began to show greater interest in the sheep. Even wanting to help. He puzzles me that he's quite keen to confront a single sheep but wary of a flock. One sheep is harder and more likely to stand up to him than a flock!

The spring.

I went to check our spring. I was pleased to see there was still water in it. I did the stone test, listening to the depth of the plop as the stone hit the water. Feeling pleased I was brought to earth when Tomas decided to go for a swim. He sunk into half a metre of green mud and struggled to free himself. I thought I may need to help him out but he pulled himself out. Now I'm glad we don't have any sheep in the spring's field as they'd just get stuck going for a drink. Tomas had a spray to clean the stinking mud out of his fur.

Botanic Gardens.

After travelling a lot to Victoria I've noticed that most of the towns there have a Botanic Garden. From the small cities (Geelong) to the larger towns like Hamilton, Daylesford (beautiful rhododendrons) and down to small towns like Koroit, there's a Botanic Garden of varying sizes.  That got me thinking why did they plant these. Was it civic pride? Was it due to the town coming into money? Was the natural vegetation to alien so they needed plants they recognized? Most of the plants tend to be from North America, Asia and Europe. Cedars are popular. Of the Australian trees Moreton Bay Figs and Queensland gums can be found. Most of the trees would have been small when they were planted which we enjoy in their full adult glory, so some fore thought for future generations did occur. Having seen some photos from the 1800's the settlers did clear most of the natural vegetation so a Botanic Garden provided a shaded, green area for the community. My next thought was why did Victorian towns regularly plant these gardens compared to South Australia. Was the climate better for planting such a garden. Whatever the reason these Gardens provide a quiet and beautiful location for us all.

Top Garden in Koroit. Rhododendrons in Daylesford. Colac.