Crazy Lady on the ride on

Crazy Lady on the ride-on. We only a few minutes walk
from the village, in the background.
I thought I would bring this post forward, It's a little about Lavender Hill when we first bought it (saves you all going back in time) We had this 5 year plan, 3 yrs are gone and still I don't see that we're getting to the stage that we could live there fulltime. For starters We still have a morgage and need to build our cottage and a small stone house, shed/garage/carport Then all the chook housing and sheep sheds need to be built. We are going to be off grid if I can get my way George wants power for a small engineering/wood working set up, but we will see ...

Somedays I can't believe how much work we have put into this place already. LavenderHill was so covered in lantana which is ready considered a weed and very hard to get rid of. We have dug out heaps of the stuff and even got my friend Mark the Dingoman to help remove the stuff, with his trusty Kango. Burnt heaps of it which is the only way to get rid of lantana. But new plants keep popping up and it's a continued fight with nature. I have heard the younger the plant are the more posionous it is to goats, that according to my friend Lynne who had a small herd/flock of goats.

Wow the grass was wild then, poor Toro no wonder she died. I killed her! Dear Husband George did slatch the worst of the grass first, then I ran over it with the ride-on. We got given the old thing but she lived at the repair shop, so you never knew if you going to finish cutting the lawn or not. Eventually it all got to much! So we hunted around for something better and here she is



A trusty John Deere, now you should see the Crazy Lady go like a bat out of hell. Even got a little trailer to make my life easier. No more pushing a wheelbarrow uphill. Mate She goes well! Finally we paid the bank the last payment in half the time, now she's all mine.
We got nearly 5 acres to cut, our place is 3 acres, plus the crown land in front of our place and then the verge/naturestrip. The fencing is really bad on the crownland and seeing we mow it and keep it clean, I think we intitled to graze our sheep there, we going to have to repair it.(Done)Just another job to get done before Christmas Holidays, when I bringing the sheep to LavenderHill to let the grass rest a little in Sydney. Ever heard of sheep going on holidays!!!!!(2009 I spent 5 weeks up there, George had to return to work earlier and Cobi spent 2 weeks with me)




Now the post and rail fence is slowly creeping it way round the property. It look great but George started this expensive fence and it's costing a fair bit to put up. Rose Cottage is going to be a cosy little holiday cabin for Nilo and Des to use when ever they want to. It's their cottage!! Cost is not important cause we using recycled or seconds building materials were possible. Des brings loads of unwanted stuff from work and comes up with wonderful ideas too, and we had bought/been given a far bit of building material over the last 3 years.

Lavender Cottage is next and already we have wall studs, cladding, windows, wooden flooring, sliding glass door and a steel frame to build on. But no roof yet. I have changed my mind on where we were going to build it. So we need to do is move the caravan and clear that area before we can start with it. That's after Rose cottage get a bathroom and toilet, the septic tank which I have just bought needs to be carted up to Bellbrook and a hole needs to be dug for it, but I will look for someone with a backhoe locally.

So that's we were up too ...