Dirty fences and determined sunflowers

It's been one of those glorious autumn days at Taggerty, with a clear blue sky, warm sun and a light breeze. We had a lazy morning enjoying lots of fruit on the veranda, some of it local. Our oldest passionfruit vine has been prolific which is extraordinary because it is on the side of the little old house that caught fire on Bushfire Saturday.



The fire burnt right up to the house on that side - all the grass was burnt but has since come back and the house was only just saved by the local hero up the street. Since then we've enjoyed semi roasted passionfruit but also plenty of beautiful juicy fresh ones.

After our fruit brekky this morning we headed down to the little house with all our fence destroying gear. Fence pulling after a bushfire is a very dirty job and can be quite frustrating although ultimately satisfying. Here you can see a sequence of attempts on a post.




The next post proved too much for one so our neighbour Doug helped. He still wears protection over a burn on his arm from Bushfire Saturday.




The last couple of weeks we've noticed a number of unseasonal happenings. The old plum tree behind the little house has sprays of blossom at the top of burnt branches.



Many trees are coming back after the burn sprouting fresh green leaves. Some of these are deciduous and would normally have mature leaves turning autumn tones soon. I imagine the trees need this last spurt of activity to store enough energy to see them through the winter.



I expected any iris that had survived to be shooting about now, but was still struck by their resilience coming up from the blackened ground.




If nature can do it so can I, so I put aside my reservations and learned to drive the tractor today. I used to drive the old tractor but we bought this tractor just after I developed complex regional pain syndrome so didn't get to know it early on and have just left it to Kerrin. Today was the day to break through that block and it turned out to be very easy to handle.



Tired, dirty and hungry I was glad to leave the fences or what's left of that one, lying on the ground for another day. There is still so much fence to pull out I just don't want to think about it. One step at a time. On the way up the hill to the main house we stopped off at the big dam. The water level is down but it's beauty always calls us to stop a while and enjoy the peacefulness of the water.



We are blessed with lots of water storage so have been pumping water up from the big dam to the dam near the house. It's always a joy when the water comes gushing out.



I couldn't resist going into the orchard and just doing a couple of things before dinner :) That's always risky. Sure enough, it was a couple of hours before I could leave it and come inside. Kerrin just rolls his eyes when I head for the orchard, he knows he'll be cooking dinner again if he wants to eat before sundown.

It's the best part of the day for me. I lose myself in the pleasure of the moment, grubbing out fire weed, mulching, watering. I wander around with a pocket full of seeds - broad beans, beetroot and carrot today - and often just plant them where the whim takes me. There are always lots of surprises popping up in unexpected places. currently I have zillions of little cotyledons popping up amongst the carrots. I guess I'll find out what they are in a few weeks when they become more recognizable.

Just before I finished tonight I went down to admire my compost - lots of good worm castings helping out at the moment. On the way I glanced over at the old sunflower stalks, burnt brown in the heat of the fires. In amongst the brown were lots of happy new flower heads.