What's on in Girralong

Discussion in 'Members' Systems' started by helenlee, Nov 6, 2013.

  1. eco4560

    eco4560 New Member

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  2. helenlee

    helenlee Junior Member

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    I'm still thinking about what to say about this. I guess "WOW. Thank you." is a good start.
    But after that, I'm stuck. I can't find any words the right shape for this ...
     
  3. eco4560

    eco4560 New Member

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    They would be French ones…
     
  4. helenlee

    helenlee Junior Member

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    I don't understand a word of it ... & I understand every word of it.

    Bless you.
     
  5. helenlee

    helenlee Junior Member

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    “Permaculture is not about gardening. It’s about problem solving and decision making. It’s critical thinking. You USE permaculture. You don’t DO permaculture.” Larry Santoyo

    Thank god for fb, where I read this just now :)
     
  6. altamira55

    altamira55 Junior Member

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    Beautiful music!
     
  7. altamira55

    altamira55 Junior Member

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    Nice distinction. How are you doing, Helen? I need to read back through your posts and catch up.
     
  8. helenlee

    helenlee Junior Member

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    May I share my whinges a bit further please? :)
    We have had 40 plus frosts here. Yes, that is f.o.r.t.y plus!
    There isn't a blade of grass left in the district. Even the lantana is burnt off. And now, as a result of that, we have fires. Fires [/I,]can you believe? They were water bombing with a chopper in the next valley bar one on Friday!
    You can't give cattle away, no one will take them, because no-one else has any grass either.
    Hay is $22.00 a small square bale. Yes folks. That is twenty two dollars!!! And the hay that is there is not going to last long even at that price. I saw a bloke on fb this morning in Nimbin looking for hay ... so that probably means its now hard to come by in Lismore & Casino at least. What in the dear lords name we are going to do for the rest of winter I have no idea. I am spending my days like Heidi now - poking my remaining 3 cows & calves from one little area to another searching for a green pick amongst the frost burnt stuff, & eeking out the rations of hay like they are gold. The 2 cows with calves are not in as good nick as I usually keep them in, but they are good enough, which is a big jump up from all the other poor god-forsaken stock in the district.
    Most days it feels like "the end of days" is here :( I was talking to my neighbour the other day. His great, great grandfather "settled" the place they are on & they have never seen a year like it in all that time. Everyone is hurting :(
     
  9. helenlee

    helenlee Junior Member

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    Hello You :)
    Yeah I liked it :) The quote that is :)

    I think about you sometimes ... & wonder how you are doing. I haven't been on here much since kimbo fired an incendiary bomb that turned into a boomerang & smoked him =( That was just about the end of me. I've had an official grieving period & am just climbing out of the shell hole now.
    I've been hanging out on fb a bit ... easier you know ... all the opinions & slogans manufactured for you, prepackaged, pre-wrapped & (somewhat) spell checked so all you have to do is hit "like" and "share" & you can feel like you are still contributing to the world when in fact you are a sarcophagus (not a body, note, just a stone thing that holds a dead body) & can only stick one finger out the crack to type with :emo:
    Give me a hoy on my email address if you even feel the need to come find me ...
    helendotcairnsathotmaildotcom

    How are you doing? What exciting news do you have from your side of this poor aching planet?
    Something cool, & happy I hope :)
    Thanks for checking in on me :)
    It's awful to be playing King Lear without an audience :) ;) :)

    edited because even the stupid emoticons hate me.
     
  10. helenlee

    helenlee Junior Member

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    Hi songbird :)

    I'm so sorry I haven't answered your p.m. my dear patient man. Smack me. Please :)
    I've almost got my oestrogen patches & the wee bit of extra daylight to work together, & "the goddess who shall not soil her beautiful hands" has finally decamped back to civilisation (Sydney! ... ROFLMAO) & the 23 year old who cannot perform any task that cannot be performed while sitting on a high-powered dirt bike has hit the road (not literally thank god!) & I will be back in communication any old day now I think :) Unless the power company flick the switch because I can't pay my electricity bill or some other random act of god :(
    I hope you are well & happy & that your garden is awesome & you Mom isn't driving you out of your head & those cute birds you have had lots of cute babies & life is generally Walt Disney in your neck of the woods :)
     
  11. helenlee

    helenlee Junior Member

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    I don't know why I never though of that. I have been trying for forever to articulate what pc means to me, but couldn't get my head around a succinct, sound-bite like definition. I just knew that it was NOT about gardening :)
     
  12. andrew curr

    andrew curr Moderator

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    Its always darkest just before dawn!

    8)
     
  13. helenlee

    helenlee Junior Member

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    Yeah I know ... I shouldn't whinge ... I'm just watching the news now & remembering again that I have nothing ... NOTHING to whinge about :(

    But I still wish it would RAIN!

    How's things in your neck of the woods?
     
  14. Terra

    Terra Moderator

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    40 Frosts that's making it tough for you , do you have any feed reserves (hay) ive gotten through tough periods before by feeding soaked lupins with a little bit of hay . Takes very little lupins to keep livestock in good condition mix a few minerals in with soak water .

    Ive had a good talk to the rain it can tick off to your place for a while , so hoping that works .
     
  15. andrew curr

    andrew curr Moderator

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    Had plenty frosts! A f ew pipe busted pipes! The grass was slowly growing but losing soil moisture so really slow now!
    Faba beans and corn here! and i got a few manufactured nuts recently !
    Still a few honey locusts to descend to earth!
    calving in a few weeks!
     
  16. eco4560

    eco4560 New Member

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    How exciting that the little birds have left the nest again! Bugger about the frosts and lack of grass cover. Its hard to prepare for something that no one would reasonably predict would happen. You might need to start pinching seed from andrew to grow fodder trees ready for next winter.
     
  17. helenlee

    helenlee Junior Member

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    Geezus Andrew ... busted pipes! Ewwwww ... now THAT is cold. I'll stop whinging now :)

    Re: the feed situation. Dairy cows are a pain in the ass. The neighbours Murray Greys are sleek & happy on pasture that is a lot more bare than mine. My cows are just fussy & spoilt. OK - it's not JUST that. Dairy cows need a lot more calories to make all that milk. And they're fussy because they know they can't waste time with burnt off grass with low nutritional value. But mine like to push the envelope. They ARE spoilt. They turn their nose up at black wattle ... the only "alternative" tucker they agree to is my mandarine trees, which have copped a flogging this year. They got into the house yard the other day & raced around (with me in hot pursuit) taking a mouthful of everything on their way around. They're absolutely painful. God only knows how long I can go on like this for :( As you say Andrew, the ground moisture is all but cactus, & it's not looking good for a spring break happening anytime in the next ... oh ... decade or so!
    I'll try the lupins Terra. They might like them. They like soaked oats & barley. They have mineral blocks & I put copper, sulphur & dolomite in their feed everyday. Can't afford the kelp any more, & it's probably radio active now anyway :(

    Having said all that ... I have all of them but Lou advertised for sale :( The time has come to lighten my load so I can take my place in the front line at the Leard protest camp. Dunno what I'll do with Lou. I can't think of anyone to baby sit her & I won't sell her. She's a pet - the old bag :) I have thought about taking her with me (depending on the price of feed in Narribri). I reckon the mob at the camp could easily be talked into putting up with her in return for fresh milk every day :) That'll get 'em talking ... some old hippy chick turning up with 5 dogs & a cow :) :) :)
     
  18. songbird

    songbird Senior Member

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    Occupation:
    gardening, reading, etc
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    near St. Charles, MI, USoA
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    -15C-35C, 10cm rain/mo, clay, full sun, K-G Dfa=x=Dfb
    oh dear!

    it's ok, i figured you were off enjoying your time with your munchkin.

    wow, how images in my mind have to change with your recent reports, usually i imagine your place as a green haven with so much moisture you have slugs and snails and puppy dog tails... i've no idea what to do for greens in a drought, fire hazard is so rare around here with the farm fields being bare for large chunks of time. putting up hay bales as a reserve is a bit late now. i got a wry chuckle out of the image of you, the dogs and a cow showing up at the camp... : )

    i'm sorry to hear it's so dry down there and wish i could send some rain your ways. we've certainly had enough with more likely for the next two or three days. purslane i've found to be edible and seems to grow well about any place even in hot/dry weather. do you have it down there?

    mostly i've been weeding when i can get outside and tackle the last of the gardens that i had not weeded at all yet. it took me a week to do it and the garden is about 3x3 meters. but at least now you can see the bean plants. :) and it does make Ma happy to have things neater. onwards to other tasks this week if i can get to them. my hand still isn't right, but it's gradually improving if i can remember not to do stupid things with it. the scarlet runner beans are hummingbird magnets along with the bright red lucifer (crocosima) and bee balm. Ma is out chopping down the flowers of various plants so they will not drop seeds all over. one of the plants we thought was oregano, but now we realize the oregano was overtaken by another plant which is supposedly to keep away mosquitoes. the bees love it anyways, along with the mints and thymes which are all in bloom now. and i can't get the camera to work much any longer... grr! still worked well enough for seven years so it will be time this year to think about what next.

    got to visit my Dad and StepMa the other day for the afternoon, hang out and talk, work on puzzles, harrass each other a bit, run around for takeout, my StepMa is on oxygen and doesn't move much at all. they are usually down in FL for the fall/winter/spring and so when they come up for the summer to escape the heat/mosquitoes of the Everglades i get a few chances to see them.

    i'll do a bit of a rain dance today and hope that helps and keep you in mind. *hugs*
     
  19. altamira55

    altamira55 Junior Member

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    Fire and Drought

    Helen, I had no idea conditions are so bad in NSW. I just checked a news story on the drought that's showing areas that have had the lowest rainfall on record over the past two years. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-03-12/tony-abbott-drought-severity-claim-checks-out/5295232

    So on top of drought, you're having abnormally cold weather as well ... are the two related? Not enough humidity to hold in the warmth at night?

    We've just come through the worst drought on record here in central Texas -- actually we're still in it, but things have gotten a little better (at least temporarily) this year. A friend of mine went to a cattle auction during the height of the drought and saw a trailer with a sign that said, "Fee Calf." There was one calf in the trailer when he went in; four when he came out. People who wanted to hold onto their cattle had to ship hay 1000 miles or more. Even so, Do you usually get rain in spring?

    Do you have a way to get you and your animals out if a fire comes too close? Two valleys over sounds way too close for comfort.
     
  20. altamira55

    altamira55 Junior Member

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    Dog Days of Summer

    So catching up on the past several months Kimbo ... bomb ... just climbing out of the shell hole? WAS Kimbo your alter ego? Nah, I don't think so.

    I first encountered my husband Damien on an online Forum when I was posting under the alter ego Nigel Hammerstead, a dealer in rare coins with a small shop in Cairo (I assumed the alter ego after one of the male members of the forum contacted me privately and suggested that we engage in cyber sex). As Damien and I became more friendly, I began to feel uncomfortable deceiving him, so I sent him a private email explaining that my name was not actually Nigel, and I didn't live in Cairo.

    I've been hanging out on FB way too much, but I've tried to balance things by socializing with real life friends occassionally. I'm such an introvert, it's hard to overcome the inertia of enjoying my own company. In November I did a road trip, just me and my dog, from San Antonio, Texas to Elko, Nevada, where my daughter and her husband live. About 1600 miles. There was this one stretch of US Route 6 through Spanish Fork Canyon, UT that I drove over at night, in the rain. It was one of those times when you have to sort of dissociate from the situation to be able to bear it. Narrow, two-lane road, bad visibility, hairpin turns, traffic moving at interstate highway speeds. I later read that it's one of the deadliest highways in the U.S. That was the only adventurous part of the trip. Well, that and trying to get my dog to void her bowels while on a leash outside rather than in motel rooms. I saw some beautiful things -- a snowy mountain pass in Colorado and the painted desert around Moab Utah; and my dog and I ran on the salt flats west of Salt Lake City. It was wonderful to see my daughter. We went hiking in the Ruby Mountains where there were already several inches of snow on the ground. First time my dog had ever seen snow. She loved it. This was the area where the Donner Party met their fate in November, 1846 (the same year as the country-wide potato failure in Ireland).

    My daughter came to visit me this spring and told me she was pregnant. It will be my first grandchild. Due in January. She wants me to be there with her, and of course I'll go, but I don't know if there's a way to drive without going on mountain roads that are likely to be icy. Will probably fly into Salt Lake City and take a train from there to Elko. But that would mean leaving my dog in San Antonio, and my husband hates my dog. It's all very difficult. If I can figure a way to get there without going through mountains, I'll drive again.

    So now we're having 100F+ degree days, and the grasshoppers are defoliating my young trees, despite the best efforts of the chooks. But I'm learning more about them all the time. I've found that the grasshoppers tend not to molest trees that are planted within the root zones of other trees. So I'm starting with the hackberry / prickly ash and mesquite copses and working my way out from there to establish forested bands across the property. One of my neighbors has a backhoe and says he'll help me put in swales and ponds, which will help a lot too. The ponds should attract grasshopper-eating birds.

    King Lear ... Are you still suffering from oestrogen-depletion madness? Here's some encouragement -- I think menopause is one of those what-doesn't-kill-you-makes-you-stronger events. My post-menopausal life has, overall, been far happier than my youth. I'm sure part of the reason is not having hormones jerking me around.
     

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