Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros

In a rare moment of down time we went to see my beloved Mumford Boys at the DEC recently.  Loved these guys who were there support act.

It's been a while

I can't believe that so much time has passed since I last wrote.  It's been 7 months now since we moved and life has been crazily busy, exhausting and simultaneously exciting.  It feels like so much has been achieved but what lies before us in terms of work and plans for this property of ours requires so much labour and time.  It's fair to say that we badly underestimated the time needed to work this land of ours and to move it toward a level of production and sustainability of that we hoped for.  Working full time simply does not allow for all that needs to be done.  Our dreams of being so connected to the land and living more simply have become murky with the exhaustion of  commuting and paid work balanced with the work the land requires.  But alas, we have not lost hope, and with each day comes a new learning, an achievement and an ever deepening love and commitment to this little piece of Huon paradise that we are now encamped in.  So things get thrown up in the air, questions about work/life balance emerge and new priorities reign.  The connection to community that we thought we may find is  to date only tenuous as the exhaustion that infuses our bodies each Friday night and the need to immerse ourselves in our home on weekends means that we barely leave the land. Yet when we do venture out we love the energy, creativity and resourcefulness of this small thriving community. There are 9 sheep here now and the attack on the Broome that threatens to consume us seems to be finally taking effect. I can bake a sourdough now, grow and consume my own veggies and I have formed an ongoing and intimate relationship with the lawn mower and in an effort to tame the ever encroaching grass. I completed a 6 week Sustainable Living Course recently that was brilliant and covered topics such reducing waste, growing produce, reducing energy consumption and making your own environmentally cleaners and personal care products. It was a great program not only for the knowledge obtained but for the motivation to commit to sustainable living practices. Shortly, we have two French guys coming to stay with us in a HelpX experiment where we offer food and accommodation in return for labour.  If it goes well we may have a steady stream of helpers for our land along with the benefits of some cultural sharing and friendship.  With all of this, I'm plotting reduced working hours and more time in the place that I love to be.  It seems I am a Valley girl now!

Preparing to Bake and Plant

I can't take the sense of pride of away after finally making my very first loaf of sourdough (picture above).  Many years ago, I used to make loaves of labour intensive bread that involved much mixing, kneading, rising and loads of hard work to make many loaves of somewhat white, dense bread. More recently, I dabbled in preparing bread in a bread maker with variable results and with not a great deal of satisfaction with the end product given that my input into the production was so limited.

Last night and this morning I ventured off to Kate's http://vegetablevagabond.blogspot.com.au/ house  in Cygnet to learn the art and skill of making a good loaf of Sourdough.  We gathered all 7 of us around Kate's country kitchen table and learnt through her warm yet rigorous teaching the finer but unbelievably simple rules of producing a damned good sourdough.  On my return home this morning armed with my rising dough mix I prepared to bake my loaf in the oven.  Even as I placed the mixture onto the shelves I doubted that my end result would be all that Kate suggested it would be.  As you can see, the results were superb and tonight Ian and I enjoyed our loaf with the most amazing organic sunflower oil and dukkah available from Kate's store, brie, sliced meats, dips, cherry tomatoes from the garden and a bottle of red.  It was a meal reminiscent of our holiday in France last year.

Earlier in the day Ian and I headed off for a meal in one of Franklin's pubs the Lady Franklin I do believe the name was.  With our bellies way too full after a large and enjoyable meal we walked to Franklin antiques that has a plethora of rooms upstairs and down that you really need to reserve an afternoon to do it justice.  We wandered through the various rooms lusting after various pieces, being silly with vintage hats and outfits and reminiscing at the retro furniture that is now so valued but so commonplace and mundane in our growing up years.  At the rear of the antique shop is Jills Bloomers and search through them we did!  We left there armed with cottage garden plants you will see in the basket above, a beautiful bowl perfect for rising sough dough but oh so pretty and hand painted on the island of Jersey and an exquisite hand painted Italian plate.  

From there we headed off to Huonville for some less interesting grocery shopping and then purchased lots of veggie seedlings to plant in our garden. Planting out the celery, coriander, beetroot, silver beet, carrots and leeks will be my task for tomorrow.

One of the highlights of today was meeting people whom I have known through blogging but not actually met face to face.  Reading people's blog sites gives you such an insight into their worlds but the opportunity to finally meet face to face is fabulous.  Kate who led the course and Susan http://huonview.blogspot.com.au/ were only known in the world of cyberspace up until yesterday.  It was so lovely to meet them both after long admiring their writings and sharings on their sites.  Jo another participant in the course is also a blogger and though I've not read her blog I look forward to doing so in the future.  New friends, new skills and new explorations they have been my day.  Each day brings a closer connection to my new community and to our land.  Finally, the random shot of Gerberas above is there because they were bought more than a week ago from  in Cradoc and they continue to provide a splash of colour and happiness in our new home.

We have landed...We now call Tulip Tree Cottage home

So much time has passed since I last wrote as life has been so incredibly busy as we prepared for and then went through the arduous process of packing and moving.  The last couple of months have been a time of anticipation, exhaustive activity, last minute legal hitches, mismatched settlement dates, a life lived in one room for 3 weeks, happy farewells and then finally the big move.

I so wanted to shout to the world we are here, victorious despite the challenges and now we have arrived in our new country abode. However, a move means a wait of nearly two weeks for internet connection not made easier by just a snippet of mobile phone reception here at Cradoc so my blogger celebration of our move begins now - 2 weeks after we arrived at our new home.

The first evening of our arrival we both stood on our new balcony overlooking the hills and looked in awe as the sun set of the rolling green hills of Franklin on the other side of the Huon.  Not a day has gone by where we both have not stopped and just gasped at the beauty of the environs that embrace us in our new home.  I do wonder if we will ever fail to see that view in the way that time can numb the wonder of what in its newness is so striking.  I have committed to never let this be so.

Our first two weeks has been marked by work, work and more work. Ian has been consumed with two key tasks.  The first being to wire over all of our wooden paling fences in an effort to keep our to Houdini pooches contained before we both return to work.  The second is to try and drive what sounds like an army of rats that live in our roof space but that fortunately rarely ever seem to venture downstairs.  Nevertheless, their rumbling upstairs are enough to raise the hairs on my arms and leave me feeling hyper alert.  The first is a battle we felt quite defeated by yesterday when we returned home from an outing to see each of them either side of the front gate like guarding lions like those of the pyramids and patiently waiting our return.  The latter is also a battle we are losing with 5 critters caught already and yet early evening still heralding a rampaging march within the roof that I'm beginning to think that only mobilisation on the scale of that seen for the Normandy landings will defeat.

I've been focussing on unpacking the inside and finally feel like this week I may have broken the back of it and the final touch will be getting up all of our pictures.  I think then it will truly feel like home.

With our absolute lack of knowledge around gardening equipment beyond a domestic lawn mower we headed off today to the Hounville STHIL shop. One and a half hours of the intricacies of operating a Work Boss Chain Saw and a way too powerful Brushcutter...nearly $2,000 poorer but laden with all the essential extras we left the store feeling we were well on the way to becoming true country folk.  

Two weeks of immensely hard work, physical, mental and emotional challenge that has been coupled with immense joy, excitement and sense of awe and wonder at the beauty, serenity and soul affirming environment that is now ours.

On Saturday and Sunday I will join Kate (Vegetable Vagabond) and others in Cygnet to learn about Sourdough bread making.  The first of many steps on the journey to a more organic, sustainable and self productive life.  I look forward to sharing more in the months to come and hopefully documenting our progress and achievements at Tulip Tree Cottage.

We are moving at last and Cradoc is our new home!!

Finally, the contract on our home is unconditional and I can now reveal that we are moving to Cradoc in March.  A last minute, nail biting hitch and a few scary moments but today we have finally confirmed that it is all going ahead.

So here is our beautiful Huon cottage.  I can't wait to get get there and begin our new life in the country.

Our new cottage!

Festive Times

Bella our much loved pooch

Holly our new puppy and friend for Bella

Happy 2012 everyone form the not so frequent warbler.  It seems an age since I last blogged a reflection of  just how busy life has been of late. Nevertheless, I've been busy reading everyone's thoughts and I've loved the inspiration and pleasure of hearing of everyone else's worlds.  Keep the blogs coming please.

We still await the final sale of our house so that we can make the move out to the Huon but as usual Christmas has slowed things down for the people trying to sell their house, so they can buy our house, so we can buy our gorgeous cottage and in turn the people who now live in it can move on to their new home.    The dominos simply need to topple!

Christmas was a wonderful time spent at home with family, way too much delicious food and wine all coupled with a wonderful sense of freedom as the constraints of routine and schedule were lost for a while. I always find these times away from work allow me to enter a space where creativity and the pursuit of things I normally feel too exhausted for come to the fore.  So much so, that Amy my eldest daughter and I both confirmed non seamstresses, decided that we would have a crack at making Christmas stockings for those attending our Xmas lunch.  We cut and sewed and trimmed and chatted as we worked and were very proud of our final creations.

The holiday period has also seen us with a new addition to our family in the form of a beautiful 5 month old pound puppy  Beagle X Jack Russell (Jack a bee ) with a touch of staffy thrown in.  As she came to our family on Christmas Eve we have called her Holly.  Holly is being fostered at present by Amy until we are able to move to our new home and then she will join us to be a companion on the land for our much loved Maltese X Bella.

Our first Xmas craft venture

And the table is set let the feasting begin

So its back to work tomorrow not with a great sense of enthusiasm I might add but with a great sense of anticipation for the changes that the year ahead will bring.  Wishing everyone, loads of happiness, special moments and positive physical and emotional well being for the year ahead.

We have a buyer and I think our little C cottage is about to become a reality

Things have been brewing for over a week now but I can finally say with great exhilaration that a contract will be signed tomorrow for the sale of our house. Even better our purchasers are the most wonderful couple who will add so much to the community that has been our home.  It will be a pleasure to pass our home onto them. I can't begin to explain the sense of anticipation and excitement we are feeling at our potential move.

Bizarrely our purchasers found our home and the info about Cascade Cohousing on this Blog site.  Move over Real estate.com, Domain and the like Blogger yields sales results.

So we now await our purchasers sale of their own home. Given they are in a highly sought after area it is unlikely that we shall have to wait to long for all the dominos to fall into place and we will soon be on our way.

So with some licence now I can now allow myself to dream of the veggies we shall grow, the chooks that shall roam our land and the gardens we shall plant.  I'm so looking forward to that amazing sense of serenity that overcomes me when I am in the country and breathing the sigh that comes with it everyday.  It will contrast the crisis situation in which I work and provide respite from such a challenging yet rewarding work environment.

I do realise though that we are so incredibly 'green.'  Green in the environmental sense of course but 'green' in terms of our naive knowledge and experience of living on the land.  I'm almost laughing now in anticipation of the mistakes we will make and the mirth we will elicit as our landed neighbours look on at us in despair.  I remember our agent saying that when you live in the country if something needs doing an you can't then you will be shown.  If you need something then it will be provided and in turn you will do the same. I was a bit dubious at first recognising that she was in the middle of her pitch.  However since reading so many of your blogs, it is apparent that there is a culture of support and pitching in that eludes a large majority of those residing in the city.

Two weekends ago I travelled to my future region to stay at a B&B http://www.huonvalleybedandbreakfast.com.au/ with my friend from the North West so that I could show her why I had chosen the area as my future home.  The first night we ate at Huon Manor Restaurant and enjoyed superb food and some wonderful wines.  The following day was spent checking out the galleries of Cygnet and lunch at the Lotus Eater.  From there I took her to see my new home.  I must admit it was with a great degree of trepidation that I entered in case I found I still did not feel as I had the first time but instead I found I love the house even more and as the owners were so generous with their time I learnt so much about our home to be.  That night we ate at Petty Sessions before returning to the luxury of our room.  The following day we set off to explore more of the region, take a scenic walk to Lymington and then partake in a traditional burger at the RVL.

As we wandered around I found myself just watching people and observing how the community in which I will live connects, and all I can say is that in this neck of the woods they have got it all going on.

I look forward to being able to finally reveal our future home...something I should not disclose until its a done deal for all parties.  In the meantime I'm counting the days to Xmas and New Year in the knowledge that we shall soon be heading South.