In a week dominated by news of heat and bushfires, the extreme weather even hit our cooler location. On Monday the mercury maxed out at 38 degrees. We tried to prepare the plants as best we could, watering early, laying frost fleece on two beds and putting old sheets over our new teepees. Then we thought about as many administrative tasks as we could that would take the rest of the day. Unlike our friends and family on the mainland, it was our first day smelling smoke and checking where it was coming from. Fortunately for us, around 7mm of rain fell overnight and we had no heat problems all week.

The wind seems to be more of an issue for us. There are strong westerly/north-westerly winds some days and we have watched them batter our young plants. This week they even blew out the bean banjo’s strings. It is all part of our learning process. We will improve the technology. But short of installing a ready-grown forest, we will need to think of ways to soften the blow and adapt our planting.

Meanwhile we added two more garden beds to our small square of mown grass. And the surrounding grass continued growing while we wait for it to be mown. In parts it’s more than twice Ebbi’s height so calling her when we were off the one mown path became a bit like playing Marco Polo. Still a fun game, even if one sided (she always found us). Every day we look at the grass wondering what it takes to be “ready”, given how high it is and that it is yellow-ish to our untrained eyes. The increasingly interested wallabies have discovered our vegetable patch and they haven’t yet gorged themselves, they’ve started to treat it as a snack bar.

With limited space to expand in the very near term and pumpkin and zucchini looking ready to burst out of their pots, we scouted for other locations. The small tunnel beside the old chicken coop seemed like it could be a good frame for pumpkin and could keep pollens from our second corn variety far from the first.  We cleared the ground with knives, laid cardboard and voila – our temporary bed. A couple of days later we found a brushcutter in the shed…Oh well, at least we were fossil-fuel-free?

Our highlights of the week were our visitors. We welcomed neighbours on Monday, one of whom grew up in our house. On New Year’s Day, an echidna plodded up the driveway. After running to get a camera, I realised he was heading into the shed. After taking a tonne of pictures (of course!) the focus shifted to coaxing her out. But whenever I talked to her, she hid behind the perlite bag, curled up in a prickly ball. Eventually I saw her out the door and around the corner. We also welcomed our first friends, Jess and her lovely family. We had prearranged a tour of the property and lunch at the Kermandie Hotel. While the food is great and the views over the marina and river are relaxing we hope we will soon be able to provide even more local meals, from our own gardens.

By the end of the week we had clocked up two more garden beds in the paddock, “thistle compost tea” (Alex’s own recipe to make sure that the thistles we cut out are completely gone), and more seeds and transplants. My first sourdough loaf was edible (thanks to some expert advice from Dave). In sum, we continue to muddle through and learn, mostly by trial and-error, with emphasis on error!