Another weekend and another trip to the farm. After staying out late after dinner with friends on Saturday night, Kath and I got up at 6am on Sunday to go to the farm. The temptation to stay in bed and sleep in on Sunday morning was great, but it still wasn't enough to stop us heading off!!
This trip was a bit special, as it was the first time I had taken my new purchase to the farm - a 1999 Suzuki (Suzi) Grand Vitara. The 2 door Lexus was never going to cut it as a farm car, so regrettably it had to go. There were no favours for Suzi's first trip and she was loaded up with tools and 5 bags of quick set concrete (20kg per bag). The road into the property was pretty muddy so I got a chance to spray around some mud so it looks like a real 4wd.
Fonzi the site manger is guarding the tools. Careful, he'll take your hand off!
We arrived at the farm at about 10am after stopping for a coffee, fuel and a rest break. With black clouds on the horizon, we got straight to work on the boundary fence. I've enjoyed digging holes so much (not!) that I started on the next post in the boundary fence, which is located about 100 meters from the front boundary post. Here's Kath and Fonzi near the marker for the fence post.
I fired up the Auger and got down to business. This time I was not surprised to hit solid rock after drilling about 30 cm of soil but came prepared with a pry bar to break the soil up. I ended up drilling the hole in less than half the time as the previous hole and used a quarter of the fuel. Here's the post already in the ground and concreted in. There wasn't much time to take progress photos because those black clouds were getting closer.
Right on cue (and just as I finished setting the post) the heavens opened up and it rained for over an hour. I'm sure the local farmers love to see us because every time we turn up it rains!!
This trip was a bit special, as it was the first time I had taken my new purchase to the farm - a 1999 Suzuki (Suzi) Grand Vitara. The 2 door Lexus was never going to cut it as a farm car, so regrettably it had to go. There were no favours for Suzi's first trip and she was loaded up with tools and 5 bags of quick set concrete (20kg per bag). The road into the property was pretty muddy so I got a chance to spray around some mud so it looks like a real 4wd.
Fonzi the site manger is guarding the tools. Careful, he'll take your hand off!
We arrived at the farm at about 10am after stopping for a coffee, fuel and a rest break. With black clouds on the horizon, we got straight to work on the boundary fence. I've enjoyed digging holes so much (not!) that I started on the next post in the boundary fence, which is located about 100 meters from the front boundary post. Here's Kath and Fonzi near the marker for the fence post.
I fired up the Auger and got down to business. This time I was not surprised to hit solid rock after drilling about 30 cm of soil but came prepared with a pry bar to break the soil up. I ended up drilling the hole in less than half the time as the previous hole and used a quarter of the fuel. Here's the post already in the ground and concreted in. There wasn't much time to take progress photos because those black clouds were getting closer.
Right on cue (and just as I finished setting the post) the heavens opened up and it rained for over an hour. I'm sure the local farmers love to see us because every time we turn up it rains!!While waiting for the clouds to clear, we took the time to have some lunch and talk about the various projects at the farm. There was a hint of blue sky in the distance and it wasn't long until there was a break in the weather. We still had a couple of hours before we needed to head off, so I decided to try and put the post stays in (they're the diagonal supports which strengthen the fence posts). The concrete on the post I just put in wouldn't be dry yet so it was best to start with the front boundary post stay.
After working out where the stay will sit, I dug a hole with the mattock. Once I thought the hole was big enough, I dug some more!
I then wedged a large flat rock at the bottom of the hole. The theory is that the main force on the stay pole is to drive the pole deeper into the earth, so you put a large rock in the hole to stop the post moving. Fingers crossed it works!!!
Being Italian, I love to concrete!!! No surprises that I then concreted the whole thing in place. My hope is that nothing will move this post and the fence doesn't fall down. Otherwise, it's back to square one.
After letting the concrete dry (it only takes about 20 mins) I covered it with dirt. The dark clouds were also coming back so I didn't want the concrete to get washed away before it completely dried. Here's the finished post at the front boundary. It is now ready for the wire and mesh to be connected. That's one of the next (big) projects!
Well, we still had about 40 minutes before we needed to leave, so Kath took the opportunity to plant some mondo grass near the cabin site. Ahh, I remember that unfinished project! The site for the garden is around the big tree near the cabin site.
The horticulturist came out in Kath and she had the mondo plants in the ground in under 10 minutes. With a couple of minutes to place the stones around the outside of the garden bed to give the garden a boundary. Jamie Durey would be proud!!!!
This is part of the garden with the Mondo grass in (the big dam and the camp site are in the distance, but just out of view).
By now it was close to 4pm and we had to head back to Sydney to make sure that we weren't driving on the country roads too much after dark. Those kamikaze kangaroos can be trouble.
There's a dozen projects at the farm now, so stayed tuned for the next installment. The next trip is planned for 28 June (weather permitting) and who knows what we'll get up to.
After working out where the stay will sit, I dug a hole with the mattock. Once I thought the hole was big enough, I dug some more!
I then wedged a large flat rock at the bottom of the hole. The theory is that the main force on the stay pole is to drive the pole deeper into the earth, so you put a large rock in the hole to stop the post moving. Fingers crossed it works!!!
Being Italian, I love to concrete!!! No surprises that I then concreted the whole thing in place. My hope is that nothing will move this post and the fence doesn't fall down. Otherwise, it's back to square one.
After letting the concrete dry (it only takes about 20 mins) I covered it with dirt. The dark clouds were also coming back so I didn't want the concrete to get washed away before it completely dried. Here's the finished post at the front boundary. It is now ready for the wire and mesh to be connected. That's one of the next (big) projects!
Well, we still had about 40 minutes before we needed to leave, so Kath took the opportunity to plant some mondo grass near the cabin site. Ahh, I remember that unfinished project! The site for the garden is around the big tree near the cabin site.
The horticulturist came out in Kath and she had the mondo plants in the ground in under 10 minutes. With a couple of minutes to place the stones around the outside of the garden bed to give the garden a boundary. Jamie Durey would be proud!!!!
This is part of the garden with the Mondo grass in (the big dam and the camp site are in the distance, but just out of view).
By now it was close to 4pm and we had to head back to Sydney to make sure that we weren't driving on the country roads too much after dark. Those kamikaze kangaroos can be trouble. There's a dozen projects at the farm now, so stayed tuned for the next installment. The next trip is planned for 28 June (weather permitting) and who knows what we'll get up to.
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