Today was an Excellent Day

Today Di and I got busy preparing stuff for the earthworks which is now happening next Monday. We seriously pruned the oaks above the house so the excavator can dig the diversion drain and access road. We organised heaps, including a certified cable locator who will visit to tell us where the telstra cables are so we don't cut them to shreds by mistake. We went and bought 180 trees - casuarina cunninghamiana x 50, casuarina stricta x 50, blackwood (acacia melanoxylon), several varieties of native legume shrubs, silver wattle (acacia dealbata) and a few other things. Ian Starky of Koorooman nursery just up the road is wonderfully knowledgeable and happy to share. On his advice we're thinking of, for the boundary plantings, sheet mulching with cardboard and then with gravel. We also spent some time thinking design thoughts about the area south of the house, really focusing for the first time on how important that area will be as the initial entry and gathering point for future tours and other visitors. We went into Leongatha and harvested some cardboard and bought some more stakes, nails, dowel for the chicken house entry, an 85 mm openal pocket knife for Di, some drill bits, a washing machine and a stereo. Slowly we're getting organised! Soon we'll even have a camera here so we can post photos and we're borrowing a movie camera to get footage of the earthworks.

Even though we're just getting started, it's nice to be eating from the property. The little quince bore two big quinces yesterday and cooked up they were absolutely divine. We also harvested and ate a fig from the fig Di planted too close to the deck. From the garden we've been eating silver beet, parsley, eggplant, tomato and zucchini. Also been eating rhubarb, apples, and lemons all from on site!