Six months and more off grid. Small and cosy

Inside our little house on wheels is pretty cosy. The winter annex is up, with the hooded Bbq at one end and the folding bed from the shearing shed still in there from when our oldest son from Brisbane stayed to help with the shed.

It is cold so the bed is dressed for winter with K's favourite Wolf blanket. I am a very accommodating wife.  (Ok those of you who know me ....stop laughing) No flower patterns for us.

My camp twin tub fits next to the annex door in cold weather. Too cold to stand outside to do the wash. I confess to boiling the  kettle to take the chill off the water. My hands were very thankful. Now that the shed wood fire is going, drying winter jumpers and jackets is easy. I just peg the things to metal coat hangers and brave the scary step ladder to hang them from the metal roof beams. Clothes dry in the hottest part of the shed. We won't talk about how long it takes me to climb down again and recover my balance. I hate heights and slopes.  I have perfected the art of knocking the hangers down when its all dry and catching the stuff before it hits the ground thus avoiding the step ladder. Big things hang off the line in the open bit of the shed or on the pull out racks on the back of the caravan. The other minki blanket that I found in storage boxes is hanging on those racks waiting for the rain to rinse out the dust before I pack it away again. My twin tub is not up to that amount of wet blanket. In fact I think the blue minki, yes a blue wolf patterned minki, has only ever hung on the line and had soap and water sprayed on it and been hosed off. Even in a real house I never had a washing machine up to its bulk.

We are used to working half of the year, but the wait for K's medical treatment has us grounded in this delightful place. After living here off the grid I think returning to work life and having people close in a caravan park is going to take a bit of adjustment. Although electricity and water on tap might be worth it....maybe.

One of the byproducts of being on our own most days is taking pleasure in the daily tasks.  I realised just how far I have relaxed into semiretired life when I was telling our granddaughter what my day was like.  Make yoghurt, mix bread and rise it in the car window, bake it in the Bbq, wash clothes, light the fire, throw a ball for the dogs, read a book, slow cook dinner on the fire and crochet lots. All of this interspersed with trips to hold things for Mr Fix It and remind him that we live in a caravan so that whatever it is he has salvaged can go on the pile of things for the tip.

Talking of the tip we took a load there yesterday. This is always a hazardous expedition causing Mr Fix It great pain. You see people throw out things; sinks with fittings still attached, belts, pulleys, nuts bolts, tv's and such. He has to leave them there, unlike in Mataranka where the tip is the unofficial spare parts shop. Oh well life is not meant to be perfect.

Cheers Sue

A Ferg on the Move

Beautiful sky, cold weather

Just thought I would drop you a few photos of the beautiful sky here. Storm coming in over the hills was just spectacular earlier this week. It tried to snow a bit as well.



At the moment it is a very warm 12 degrees today and the sun is shining.  I still have winter clothes on,  admittedly a layer or two less than normal, but a few crazy locals are in short sleeves.



We have been sorting through the things we packed in boxes 7 ish years ago when we first moved into the caravan as our home. We moved them here to Crookwell I found some photos, boxes of them that I have never sorted through. I found of all things a box of socks and gloves. I must have decided that I didn't need them in Mataranka. I was very glad to see warm things in that box. All washed and dried and put away.



  On the theme of warm clothes I finally gave in and put my summer stuff under the bed. I have very few real winter clothes so the spare clothes box is full now and the clothes cupboard shuts easily for the first time in a while. And I don't have to climb under the bed to grab a jumper.



We rang Mataranka today. 26 degrees with a cold 10 tonight. This time last year that was freezing. Now I wouldn't mind a warm 10 overnight.

Just goes to show how big this country is. I used to show my indigenous kids photos of snow here in Crookwell and us swimming in 32 degrees at Mataranka on the same day.



Ok back off to the farm now. Catch you all next time we are in town.





Cheers Sue
A Ferg on the Move

Simple food and nosy neighbours

The cold winter weather continues here on the farm. Brisk mornings with thick mist meld into intermittently sunny and raining days. The solar panels work hard in the sun creating power between showers. The generator is working a bit in the  evenings now to top up the batteries and charge appliances.



This morning I unzipped the annex to greet our neighbours the rams who are very much at home harvesting the grass under the solar panels. Believe it or not  the grass is higher under the panels. Something to do with the warmer soil there I think.



One of last seasons lambs was a bit caught up in the blackberry bush behind the van as well and had to be rescued. Must be green grass in there somewhere. It nicked off without even a baa as a thankyou.

The rams have been helping us tune the tv satellite dish. K obviously has it wrong because they reposition it each morning.



However they  were nowhere to be seen yesterday mid afternoon when I put lamb shanks on the wood fire. I always feel a bit funny cooking lamb where next seasons' meat  can smell the aroma....but that's farming.



Simple food all in one pot. Can tomatoes, potato, carrot, sweet potato, my Italian herb mix and some red wine. It spent the afternoon on top of the wood heater in the shed. We were sorting through boxes (and yes K did throw some things out) smelling the lamb  cooking away.



I love lamb shanks. K does not. So I did dumplings as well. I got most of the shank. He got most of the dumplings. Harmony in marriage at its best.





Cheers Sue.

A Ferg on the Move

Back to cooking on a wood fired room heater

Mr Fix It has made friends with half of the business people in town. The hardware guys, the car and electrical parts bloke, the camping, canvass repairs place. He has been setting up the shed for storage and has closed one bit of as a sort of hard annex. Been popping into town for bits and pieces.



One visit resulted in the offer of a second hand wood fired heater in need of a bit of tender care and at a quarter of the price of a new one. Ideal shed heater. And with a cooking grid as well.

He hammered the baffle plate flat. Fire cemented the chimney fitting, rubbed back and re enamelled the base. Our son-in-law helped him lift it into place onto a fire resistant sheet and then we waited for a break in the rain.



I am an accomplished assistant. I pass things. Hold onto ladders. Remind him to watch his step. Remember where he left the tools. And worry. I worked overtime that day. The roof was slippery and the wind a bit gusty. K kept telling me to chill. He had it under control.

A few hours later, after a quick wood hunt in the rain smoke was curling out of the chimney.




In a previous life we had a wood heater and I used to cook all the time on the top of it and in the coals. There is nothing like fire baked potatoes. I was keen to see whether I had lost my touch.


The score so far is:

Baked potatoes
Slow pot roast chicken and pork.
Braised vegies.
Toasted pita on the top and in the  fire on the end of a fencing wire toasting fork.



Now you all know I hate open fires. Fire behind a glass is the  best. I am gonna make the best of it while we have the caravan parked near the shed. 





Cheers Sue
A Ferg on the Move