What’s on my dance card this month
To give a bit more insight into what it’s like to live in the country and own acreage, I thought it would be interesting to start each month with a list of what’s on the cards (or rather the never-ending job whiteboard) for the weeks ahead.
Before moving here, I *thought* I understood what living on 100 acres surrounded by bushland would involve. I should have multiplied that understanding by ten and then some!
When you live on a property like this, there is always something to do on the weekend – whether it’s maintenance and undertaking repairs, or building on what you have and doing things to make life a little more efficient or comfortable.
Here’s what the month of February has in store for the Tree Changer household:
1. Cutting wood, wood and more wood
As Mr Tree Changer likes to say – cutting firewood is a special gift to your future self! While our new house is getting closer by the day, we’re still facing one last winter in the shouse (shed house) with our little wood fire burning around the clock to give us a chance of staying warm! I can assure you that cutting wood in sideways rain and sub-zero temperatures is not fun, which is why we’ll be ramping up our chainsawing and wood stockpiling this month.
2. Going into the next round of battle with the weeds
Staying on top of weeds is not just good for how your land looks and functions – you can (and will) get fined by the local council if you don’t take reasonable steps to manage any weeds on your land in rural areas! We’ve spent a good chunk of time, effort and money battling the serrated tussock, blackberries and thistles we inherited when we bought our place. While we’re getting the upper hand, it can take at least seven years for dormant seeds underground to cycle through, which is why you’ll see us back out in the paddocks spraying (again) this month.
3. Completing some emergency road repairs
We’ve had A LOT of rain in the last little while, which has been fantastic for our tanks, dams and fruit trees, but not so kind on our mixed dirt and gravel roads. I see a lot of shovelling loose road mix in my immediate future, to help even out the deep ruts caused by flash flood water running rapidly across our roads.
4. Enjoying a spot of apple picking
Our tree’s fruit is now so close to ripe that I can almost taste the apple pie! After our year of ample rain and the right growing conditions, we may finally get a decent haul from our apple tree – provided the cheeky cockies don’t get to the spoils first!
5. Exploring accredited snake handling courses
Unfortunately, the excellent growing conditions we’ve experienced in the last 12 months have extended to the local snake population, and we’ve had an increase in the number of curious youngsters checking out the shouse this Summer.
WIRES has been unable to help on the occasions we’ve called them for assistance given the lack of snake handlers in our immediate area, so we’ve decided to investigate what it takes to become one (provided I can overcome my squeamishness!).
How is your February shaping up? I hope you have lots of good things on your dance card and lots to look forward to!
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