Getting ready for Christmas

Things are so much easier these days in the run up to Christmas.

When the kids were little and I was working full-time it was a miracle of time management and energy to get it all done in time: the Christmas letter and cards, the gifts, the house preparations, the tree, the Santa stuff, the stockings, the school concerts, the awards nights, the parties, the cooking and finally, the night before, always the late night wrapping before falling into bed utterly pooped. I used to put breakfast cereal in their stockings and instruct them to open only their Santa present and on no account wake the grown ups before 7am. Each child would get a Santa present with a card giving feedback on their year.  Santa was in cahoots with the parents on this one and the Santa cards were intended to be hilariously accurate. Many a true word. Just to sharpen their sense of humour Santa would occasionally ironically designate one of the five as a "bad child" and the Santa card would reflect this. This only provoked tears once. The year the Santa cards stopped happening (when all five were officially adults) there were howls of protest.

This year was our first Christmas in the new house. Let me share the progress in the garden in the week leading up to the first guests arriving.

Water-harvesting swales have been constructed along the land contours, according to permaculture principles learned in the course we did years ago at Bega. This is intended to slow down run-off and keep water and nutrients in our soil.

The vegie and fruit garden areas have been designated and work has started on getting the soil prepped. The answers lie in the soil. It is the foundation of everything to come. This is the hard labour stage of garden establishment and we are noticing that our bodies are twenty years older than the last time we did this...

We have had a rock entry constructed by our local stone craftsman Cliff. There are upright beams installed on each side. This concept is strangely confronting to some. We keep being asked, "But what are they for?"  Oh, we say vaguely, maybe some flags? Or something to aim between when you're backing out? Or we could string something between them? The consternation being caused is a a source of delight for us.

This is where the plant propagation area will be set up. It's hot and will need shade. We had to get awnings for those west facing windows.

An early gardening triumph. A wonderfully aromatic tarragon plant struck from a sprig bought at a supermarket in Canberra.

This is the swampy area below the dam. David has been working on taming it to drain and de-snakify it. 

The big yellow machine arrives on its truck.

And Adam, that genius of heavy earth moving, creates a perfectly shaped drainage channel running from the base of the dam to the culvert going under the road at the front of the block, complete with a settlement pond to delay the water rushing off. All this was to David's specifications, after his consultation with the water catchment authority.

Adam has the finesse with his bucket, to sprinkle rocks exactly where he wants them and then tamp them gently down. Amazing. The drainage channel was first replanted with reeds by his machine, then lined with local rock from the quarry. It will eventually soften in appearance and become like a proper little seasonal creek.  We will plant native species heavily on each bank.

The day after that work was done, we planted about fifty donated rainforest plants into the area at the top end of the block, furthest from the road. Thanks, Terry of nearby property Raintrees, who is our local rainforest expert:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/blackdiamondimages/sets/72157601709403369/

These plants will be watered by treated water from our wastewater system. So they should grow like the clappers. We've also planted twelve more lillypillies along the entire northern boundary. These will eventually become a visual buffer between us and our neighbours uphill.

It was an absolute pleasure to welcome Malise and John who came to stay for a couple of days. They helped us make a start on the supplies of Wallis Lake oysters and champagne.

They got an extra thrill when a young steer went walkabout from the paddock across the road. He came to commune with Dude the horse and wandered all over the dam. Malise was especially taken with the idea that we have wallabies in our back yard and frogs to sing you to sleep.

This is her lovely sketch of the waterlily dam and of Dude in his paddock next door.

In other creative pursuits, I can report that David's efforts with the latte art are coming along nicely.

Have a lovely Christmas!