What’s on my dance card this month – March

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.

As the lateness of my ‘What’s on’ post shows, it has already been a busy start to the month!

Here’s what March has in store for us:

1. Spending some quality time on the tractor making inroads to our new house

See what I did there 😉

In case I haven’t already warned you – there will be LOTS of ‘building a new passive house’ posts in the months ahead.

So with the arrival of lots of house building trucks imminent, we’ve called in the local earthworks expert to put in a bunch of new roads and fire truck passing bays (a requirement when you build in rural areas).

To help with the task, we’ll spend a weekend or two slashing to mark the path everyone will be taking to reach our house site.

2. Engaging in a spot of (de)fence manoeuvres

Most rural property owners devote considerable time each year to maintaining fences, including regularly checking your posts and line tension and clearing along fence lines to avoid damage.

This month, we’re doing something a little different. We’re temporarily taking down a few hundred meters of fencing to make life a little easier for our builder & tradespeople.

While I’m sure they’ll thank us, my arms may not. A quick test run has already confirmed that barbed wire and skin covered by protective clothing are still not a great mix!

3. Going into battle with the weeds (again)

I have told you staying on top of weeds is the country version of the never-ending story, right?!

This month we’re calling in the big guns for some backup.

Richard The Weed Guy (yes, I still get a chuckle when his name flashes up on my phone) will be here mopping up the latest patches of serrated tussock in our paddocks.

Serrated tussock really is the gift that keeps on giving. Its seeds can lay dormant but viable in the soil for years, and it also loves to travel – last year’s floods gave many seeds an expected and happy holiday while we were all in COVID lockdown.

If only my fruit and veggies grew so quickly!

4. Preparing the garden for our first frosts

In our first year here, I learnt the hard way that some plants and frost just don’t mix.

In what I now like to refer to as the rookiest of my rookie treechanger moves, I happily moved a small nursery’s worth of Sydney houseplants and outdoor pots to the country with us.

And promptly lost two-thirds of them when the first below zero frosty morning hit, including some treasured figs that had been with us for 20 years.

So with the temperatures already dipping, March is the time to cover or relocate our remaining frost-sensitive plants.

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How is your March shaping up? I hope you have lots of good things planned!