Herb harvest

Cam and Yarrow collecting calendula flowers to dry for tea.

Spawning frogs

One of our lovely students has given us some eggs from her established pond to hatch frogs into ours. I've slopped them in among the water plants and fingers crossed they make it through to frog-hood!

Go well, wee froglets!

Yarrow puts foot in mouth

Fox-proof fencing to keep chickens safe

Cam did a design at the start of the year for a couple in Eltham who are mad-keen bottlers and preservers, whenever they go on trips they scour all the little local op shops for forgotten boxes of Fowler's preserving jars...

They wanted a large orchard plum-full of all sorts of delicious fruit, as well as vegies and chickens and drought-proofing for the whole place, fire-proofing etc. Ro and I came along for the day as Cam took his students from the permaculture diploma course at Eltham College to do some prac about fencing and irrigation at the property.


Here's Cam laying out a "skirt" of chicken wire at the bottom of the fence, which will be buried, so foxes can't dig under the fence into the orchard, where the chooks will be roaming and feasting on fallen fruit and insects, and dropping poo as fertiliser:



The top of the fence is angled out, and deliberately loose, so foxes can't climb over it:

The skirt being buried:

The students tacking the fence to the poles (orchard swales in background):

Meanwhile, Yarrow just adjusting the mirror and getting ready to drive us home at the end of the day:

Tree lingering

Out walking with Ro and we came across this tree, for all the world like it had its bark knickers caught in its bottom! 

But stunningly beautiful, even as it made me smile.

Ro's first birthday

It was Ro's first birthday just a little bit ago, and I was on midwifery placement caring for women in labour, thinking, "This time last year I was in Samoa doing this..."

Wow.

...woke up just before dawn in the glowing white box of our mozzie net in the moonlight, full moon out the window, with the first pains just starting quietly, and our little man was born in our bedroom with two local midwives, five incredible hours later.   

And now that small, naked and slippery little fella, so freshly new -  but surely somehow always here too! - is one! And I've been a Mum, and Cam a Dad, four seasons. 

Wow. 

Walkabout at the coast

Mum came down to help us out while I'm on a midwifery placement at hospital. We went down south for a wander in the rainforest and played on a play-ship, washed up on the beach...