I have caved. Although it’s early, the generator is humming away, drowning out the sounds of the bush. The cool air from the little air conditioner is blowing on me, whispering to me I’m a fraud for not being able tough it out without some modern conveniences.
But by golly the Australian summer is tough. There is rain predicted this afternoon and the air is heavy and still, without a cloud in the sky. In the few short minutes it took me to hang out a load of washing, sweat dripped down my back, causing my dress to cling to me uncomfortably.
The kids are playing monopoly at the kitchen table, breakfast dishes are piled up in the sink, the Wheetbix setting like glue. I should do them, but that would require moving away from the cool of the air conditioner so they can wait. Our air conditioner is too small for the space due to needing to run off the generator, but it’s something. At least for the person sitting in front of it.
Elsie is shuffling about in her cloth nappy, happily flicking through books. Every few minutes she comes up to me wanting a cuddle, contemplating her morning nap and then pulls away just as her eyes begin to droop. She is not a fan of naps. Which is unfortunate, as I‘m rather fond of them.
Elsie loves sitting in front of the screen door watching the world
On the farm, things are moving along slowly. We are itching for progress but everything takes longer then we expect. The last few weekends Grant has been laying the timber flooring which is a fiddley job due to needing to work around the lattice walls. Ideally, it would have been laid before we built the yurt which would have been quicker and easier, but that's just not the way things worked out. It seems to be a common problem we experience here. We don’t have the funds to do something straight up, so everything takes infinitely longer as we work around whatever systems we have had to put in place to make do in the meantime.
The weeds are overtaking the gardens due to the combination of rain and sunshine. The harsh summer sun and lack of shade around the veggies mean I can’t plop Elsie on the ground while I work to keep on top of them. The sun is in the middle of the sky a 9:30 am at the moment. With Grant back in full-time work, everything is looking rather wild and I have been feeling a little disheartened.
Like with anything that's not working, we have had to re-assess and simplify our expectations. After some conversation and looking at where each of our interests lies, I think we have made a mistake with the initial garden designs. Both of us have limited time, for Grant, it's due to work, for me it’s due to Elsie. Grants first passion is livestock. He loves the goats and woodies so his priority is rightly those at the moment. Getting the fencing up and his shed built is necessary infrastructure because without decent infrastructure, everything is significantly slower which is wasting both precious time and money. With 4 young children and one of us in full-time work we just don't have the time to dabble in too many directions and have different projects on the go. As much as we would love too, this is simply not the season for it. A lesson we have perhaps learnt the hard way. But adjusting expectations and shifting how we are doing things is possible. It just takes a little reflection and humility to say we made a mistake and move on. Afterall, we love this place and hope to be here for the long haul. We will get there eventually.
Plants from a neighbour
Aside from blogging, vlogging and cooking our family nourishing meals, I really enjoy gardening and I am impatient to get chickens again. But the current veggie garden as is too far away from the yurt and due to its layout I'm unable to do incidental maintenance on it when I happen to be outside. So, once this season's veggies are picked I’ll build a few small beds and plant a couple more trees for shade/fruit in the yurt yard, to create a very simplified food forest style garden. The big veggie patch will just need to be put to rest for the next year or two. Since the yurt yard is already fenced, it will mean there is one less job for Grant and hopefully, the chooks can free range in the house paddock.
Grant, however, is not remotely convinced by this idea, but he admits he doesn't have the time at the moment for everything so he has agreed he will do his thing and leave me to do mine. He’s also not convinced my beds won't get dug up by the dogs but it's only Aggie who digs and jumping isn’t her strong point. I figure the kids and I can make some little 45cm garden edging out of weaving sticks or something similar, it doesn't take much to deter her. The thing is we don't have to agree on everything. We only have to agree to respect each other enough to let the other explore the avenues they are interested in, within reason of course.
But seasons and all that. In a year or two, he can re-instate his big veggie patch to his hearts desire if that's what he wants.
However, I did manage to find him a rather handsome boer billy goat recently that the kids have named Bob. Bob has moved in with Esme, Vicki, Shirly, Maggie, and the rest of the girls. Hagrid has accepted him as one of his mob and we hope to hear the pitter-patter of little hooves in the middle of the year.
So, that’s where we are at in the beginning of 2021. Are you doing any adjusting of goals this year? If so I’d love to hear about it.
Much love,
Emma
xx
P.S. I’m having a little trouble responding to comments and I apologise if I havn’t responded recently. I can assure you I have tried! Blogger wont let me reply to each one but I can often reply as a whole new comment. Hearing about what others are doing is one of my favorite things about this little corner of the web.
