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A little March update

Salvias looking great all around the garden.

Cherry tomatoes still going strong in the tunnel.

For the birthday boy.

Birthday boy taking his first run grass carting down the hill.

Keira catching a ride back up the hill for another go.

A test for the eyes - a tiny jigsaw puzzle of a vintage world map.

Keith hard at work in his 'office'.

New mulch in front of the house.

Taking a walk in the mist.

Snakes alive!

According to wiki 

The Eastern Brown Snake is the second most venomous land snake in the world.

Sharyn & I were enjoying a pleasant morning tea when one slithered past our feet less than a couple of metres away.

He was hunting for lizards and had the scent of one behind  this rock wall.

While peering into a crevice between the rocks it suddenly thrashed it's body and disappeared completely. At the same time a copper backed lizard dashed out from the other side and headed for cover elsewhere.

The Eastern Brown emerged, still hungry, but ready to strike. Shortly afterwards it hide itself behind the same rock, waiting for the lizard to return.

I didn't do any wall building for a couple of days.

Garden in December

The garden has a few new ironstone walls, and some of the flowers are showing signs of recovery after the the 'roos have left. Early  morning is the best time to shoot - photos, not 'roos. The thyme and salvias are thriving - the 'roos tend to avoid them. Although, the strawberries behind are a favourite of theirs, we've put mesh over a small area, they can share the rest with the bower birds and currawongs.

This area close to the pizza oven is a favourite of mine, it shows the tiers of rock walls we've built to define areas for planting.

The herb garden - thyme, oregano, rosemary and sage, with a few curry plants, lemon thyme and mint hidden amongst them.

New rock wall lined with hebes and westringea.

Cales and I have been experimenting with concrete garden art. We started with a couple of spheres. They fit in well with the salvias, dianthus and ironstone.  The mulched areas will be massed with flowers eventually.

Snow in October

We had a snow shower in August, nothing especially unusual, we often have a t least one snow day up here in the mountains. However, they forecast snow for today. When I woke up at 6:30, there was nothing, then a couple of flakes drifted down. By 7:25 there was light snow, so the kids got dropped at the bus stop as usual. We later heard that the last bus to get through to school before the highway was closed to all traffic was theirs!

By 8:30am Hat Hill Farm had a 100mm dump.

And it continued till lunchtime. The most snow for 22 years according to the locals. There was damage to many trees along the road - they have never experienced the weight of snow on their branches, some cherry trees split in two.

Reconciliation project

Our first born had to do a visual arts project on reconciliation . . . after much use of a famous search engine she came up with the almost original idea below, and got very good marks.

Open Gardens at Mt Wilson

We visited Mount Wilson on Sunday to get some inspiration for our garden. We usually only visit Mt Wilson when we are camping or canyoning, but this weekend there were many gardens open to the public. Although there are over a dozen gardens open, we only managed to visit three of them - Nooroo was the first.

Nooroo

It is famous for it's wisteria collection - a little disappointing although it is a little early to expect any flowers.

It's a beautiful garden with a country feel - wide walks with massed colour.

Breenhold

We visited Breenhold after lunch. It is a huge private garden - 12 acres - all full of interest.  It's known for it's clouded azaleas. The hedge lining the long curving gravel driveway is a taste of what's to come.

After greeting the owners we followed their recommended route around the property. And soon came to a beautiful pool, surrounded by mossy local stone. The brolgas were the first of many tasteful pieces of garden art to be found.

After meandering through the cool shade we came to a grassy area and our first sight of the clouded azaleas.

A more formal area was next - a perfect curve lined with precision cut box and more azaleas.

The topiary continues....

Around halfway through the garden this delightful gravel path wended it's way around a large man-made lake. The vegetation spilling onto the path is a fantastic look - it's clean, looks natural, is low maintenance and feels like it's been there forever.

This is just a taste of Breenhold - highly recommended.

The third garden was very disappointing - make sure you start with a well known garden and get a recommendation about other gardens that are worth seeing.

Yengo is definitely on the agenda for 2013.....

The climate at Mt Wilson is very similar to ours, many of the species will thrive here at Hat Hill Farm. We took hundreds of photos - I hope we can replicate the 'look'.

Cales and I did a walk down to the Blue Gum Forest. We stopped for a snack at the camp ground - only one other person was there - so we had the place almost to ourselves. (Cales is now very close to beating me on the ups & downs.)

Some of the trees down there are huge.  Not many leaves though supporting such a huge volume of timber.

August Snow

On Friday we woke up to a beautiful white morning . . .

It only lasted the morning, but it was a little taste of Thredbo for us and looked gorgeous.

Long weekend

Had a lovely (birthday) weekend.

Planted a Magnolia x Soulangeana, purchased from the nearby Weber's Nursery. I've loved this type of magnolia for a long time. As a kid I can remember them coming in to flower in and around the suburb I grew up in in Sydney. So pleased we've planted one here. Of course it's just a stick really at the moment . . . but hopefully when spring comes I'll be able to take some photos. (Weber's also has a cafe that I'd recommend. It serves really lovely cakes and is great value for money.)

Saw this new Australian movie (which is fantastic), at the wonderful and slightly quirky Mt Vic Flicks.

Had much fun playing with my new toy, this great digital internet radio. Now we're listening to music from all over the world despite living in a non-digital radio part of Australia.

Visited the local Growers Market. Which has an amazing range of products. I love talking to people who actually make things! Each time I go I meet new people, and this time I discovered there is a buffalo farm in East Kurrajong. Their ice cream made from buffalo milk was sensational.

Enjoyed spending time with visiting family. A weekend visit is the best way to catch up!

But I'd have to say the highlight was High Tea (with champagne!) at the Carrington Hotel in Katoomba. This was a lovely way to celebrate a birthday with the whole family and a great thing to do in the mountains on a misty, winters day.

Having the extra day off school/work made such a difference!

Heating & a new project

The sun is out today which is great after the last few days of cold and lashing rain. This will be our first winter with our underfloor heating working throughout the ground floor of the house. Quite a milestone! 

Of course the piping was all put in when the slab was poured right at the beginning, but it wasn't until last spring that we were able to purchase the heat pump that makes it all work. 

There isn't any natural gas at this property, and as we have quite substantial winters, it's important that we are able manage the running costs of whatever heating we use. We have a wood burning fire in the family room that we light in the evenings that adds warmth and makes the room feel cozy. There is a lot of timber lying around that we are able to collect from the property and this fire is also connected to the piping in the floor and gives the heat pump a hand. 

We've recently been doing some work on the garage/studio. Mainly installing new windows and doors in the garage section. Upstairs is the two bedroom studio that my sister and her children lived in for a few years.

New timber door and windows at back.

The main push to finish this building now is because we would like to be able to rent out the studio for short stays. I think it will be a good project for me to manage and hopefully will provide some extra funds to help negate our heating bill!

New unpainted garage doors at front.

Keith has built the garage doors and once they have had some details added, I'll give them a coat of paint. There is quite a bit still to do, but we've made a good start and hopefully it won't be too long before both the inside and the outside are ready. Can't wait to show some 'after' photos!

Small 'wicket door' for easy access.

This is the picture we used as the starting point for inspiration, minus the top row of glass.

(Photo from AGD Systems)

For Mum

Happy Mothers Day.

Painting by Margaret Olley, Coastal flannel flowers (1976)

Slashing

We've been having a bit of fun over the last few days driving this little tractor, with slasher attached, around some sections of our property.

As we are the first people to ever live at Hat Hill Farm, giving shape to the land is up to us. Our attention has definitely shifted from mainly working on the house to now being focused on the land, and we are spending more time thinking about how we want different areas to work and look.

This weekend we'll work on clearing up some of the fallen trees and logs that came down in the storm last year. Which will help build up our firewood supply for this winter. The autumn weather has been amazing so far and we haven't lit the fire yet, but I'm sure we'll need to soon!



Note: There are more photos of me on the tractor than Keith, but he has done most of the work . . :) !