The road to Amherst

inspiration from Tuscany

2009-06-13T13:38:00.004+01:00

We got back a few days ago from a short break in Tuscany, Italy. We stayed near Lucca with the aim of visiting lots of old villas and gardens. After reading the book "A Garden in Lucca" it was something I'd always wanted to do, although we unfortunately didn't get to visit the actual garden in the book as they only did group tours.

As per usual, I kept my eyes open for ideas for Amherst. We visited 5 gardens but our favourite by a mile was Villa Reale di Marlia. It was the largest and where Napoleon's sister lived. Here's some things I found that could be really interesting for Amherst...

I really liked this garden room, which had a central structure with vines all around and climbing over the roof. Might be an interesting alternative for the gazebo thingy in the middle of the walled garden, or as an outdoor lounging area in a corner of the secret garden? Or even perhaps up on a hill near the olives as part of a BBQ area? Maybe Dave could grow his grapes over something like this and not just on boring rows. :-)

I also liked the way they used little ditches of water flowing at ground level in the Spanish garden. It lead to a fountain at the end here, but I can imagine it working just as well without. There's a short video of it here, see especially the 2nd half, but the photos will give you the gist.

I was also intrigued by the way they used terracotta pots to make a garden. The Lemon tree garden at Villa Reale is supposedly famous for this, and because it gets to cold for them to survive the winters there, they have special orangeries (or actually they call them limoneries) where the pots get wheeled off to every winter. :-) This might be an interesting way of getting our "secret" garden in the courtyard going. We won't be able to plant things in the ground until the new house is built or else they'll just get trampled, but there's nothing stopping us from growing in pots which can then be carted off elsewhere when building starts...

Every garden we visited had a grotto style fountain. I didn't find them that appealing to be honest, with the exception of the one at Villa Reale which I liked for the simplicity of the steps shape...

Finally, my other big inspiration came not from a garden but from a tower. The Torre Guinigi in Lucca to be precise. It has trees growing at the top of the tower! Perhaps we should think about this for our mini-library tower... I suspect it would be an engineering nightmare and wouldn't pass any of the fire hazard criteria, but hey I can dream... ;-)

climbing back on the blogging wagon

2009-06-13T13:34:00.003+01:00

So I fell way behind on blogging. Tons has happened, and I can't believe I haven't posted since February!

Rather than try and catch up on everything now, I'm going to pick up the story from recently, and then add backdated posts to fill in the gap as I get time. Then once I finally catch up, I'll delete this post so no-one will ever know... Sshhh :-)

Time to begin...

to chlorinate or not to chlorinate...

2009-02-26T11:47:00.001Z

When I researched Ozzikleen online to see what others had said about it, I didn't come across much. But there was one mention that gave me cause for alarm, in a 2006 forum posting:

From Aussies Living Simply forum (scroll down to about 2/3rds way down)

What a horrendous mistake we made back 3 years ago when we were so new to this game. We were told that we could no longer allow our grey water to run off under the house as it was. We were running a septic tank for our toilet system. Because we were townies and had absolutely no idea about anything to do with owning a rural property we were crapping our daks about the council and felt pressured to do what they told us to do. With a million and one other things that had to be done including building a retaining wall to stop the house from falling off the face of the earth before we could purchase the property we were lured into purchasing a biocycle system (OzziKleen). Now that I have had a chance to do heaps more research I would certainly have gone with another system.

As Frosty points out, it is very expensive (cost us $15,000 with plumbing inc). Worse than that though, because we use such little water there is a really strong chlorine smell that eminates from it when it flushes itself out, which is quite regularly and there is an ongoing cost forever of $60 ( currently) every 3 months to service it. Grrrrrrrrrrrr. I am not saying that it is an inferior product at all, just not what I now would have chosen.

The discussion continued with many pointing out the problems of the chlorine smell with these systems - but then others saying that you didn't always have to add chlorine; that it depended on your council/how it was being used. So I asked Dad to follow up with the local plumber to find out the situation for us.

Dad replied that Malcolm said there was no need to have chlorine if the water from the system went to pipes under compost. The law requires chlorine if it comes to be above the ground before absorption into the earth. He advises not to have chlorine because there is no advantage. The chlorine is not set at a level that will render the water to drinking water standard, or bathing standard either. But it cannot be stored for long unless it has chlorine. Hence if you wish to pump the water from the system into the cistern of your toilets you must chlorinate it. If not, don't chlorinate it.

(And in any case, we aren't allowed to store it even if chlorinated at the moment, so the whole point is moot).

We will definitely be looking to go with a non-chlorinated approach - besides being more environmentally friendly, it will be cheaper and less risk of smell.

more info on Ozzikleen system

2009-02-18T11:22:00.000Z

Dad sends more information about the Ozzikleen wastewater treatment system...

Email from Dad (Feb 12)

Hi again,

Here is a scan of part of the brochure sent to me by Ozzikleen.

I have taken time today to call the Vic Rep to enquire of some factors that impact on your use of the water:

1. Malcolm said the system could be upgraded to another level of water treatment by installing a sand filter initially. Russell, the Vic Manager said this was possible and that back washing it quarterly as part of the EPA required periodic maintenance would be about $25 extra. The cost of maintenance for other things is about $80-85. If you add chlorine it costs more. There are many applications for the water which doesn't require chlorine to be added according to Malcolm so we need to check this out as chlorine costs about $25 extra too. The water is tested and the chlorine concentration required set and is then added automatically by the system for that quarter.

2. I explained that the system will not be commissioned for many years and that Malcolm advised that we could extract the submersible pump, which is contained in a PVC cylinder, and store this in the shed so no maintenance or deterioration was going to happen while this period passed. He agreed with this appraisal.

3. The natural next question was whether rainwater could be stored in the tank during this period before commissioning and pumped out to use on the garden or/wherever. He said the tanks were made from potable water grade PVC so that would not pose a problem.

4. I then asked about the greywater system. Before commissioning a starter kit of bacteria is placed into the tank's 3000 litre treatment section. Water is pumped into a pumping well as the next stage, which is ready for use, but only 300 litres. This is of great concern because I had wanted to pump water from this reserve on an automatic basis into the cistern supply to flush the toilets. That is one of the main functions of the pumping well. When this well is full it is automatically dispersed to the irrigation field, or wherever we choose.

5. So I asked then if I could disperse it to the open stock tank and use it for growing the water lilies. A phase of this would be to aerate the water that has a dual purpose of allowing uptake of oxygen and purification by sunlight. He agreed that this would be entirely okay.

6. I asked if I could store it in a tank for dispersal later, and he said that was fine because of the chlorination process. So you can get set-up to store water for irrigation at a time and to where you like. I asked about using it on vegetable and fruit, and he said this was perfectly alright and permitted. So it could be pumped uphill to the irrigation tank and await use on the garden where-ever you choose and whenever you choose. I would prefer you chose to keep the irrigation tank used for the dam water separate from that acquired from the greywater. I think pumping it to a tank on the other side of the house but uphill of the walled garden would be the best solution, but that is your call. I think where possible you should distribute the water as soon as possible to sites about the property as needed by plants.

Update (April 2009): Unfortunately, we later learned that storing the water for later dispersal may not be possible for us, at least initially. It would be perfectly safe to do so given the treatment to the water, but the local council apparently doesn't allow it yet. It's a bit like when I was a kid they used to ban (seriously!) rainwater tanks in suburbs - vs now they give subsidies to encourage people to install. Apparently some councils are already more flexible on this, so hopefully ours will have changed by the time we move back...

7. I spoke at length to Malcolm about the irrigation system. He said we could setup the system with a manifold which permited by valve management routing water to whereever we wished it. At present we cannot plan to store any of the black water, but that may be possible one day. That is the smaller supply because it involves only water used when flushing the toilet. The showers, washing machine, kitchen wastes, etc goes to the greywater system. A grease trap is usually incorporated in the waste from the kitchen supply. There are several sizes of traps available. This is part of the connection to the house phase of the plumbing and doesn't need be involved in this septic waste system right now.

Will talk more later. I strongly advise you to use OzzieKleen. I am much more impressed with their product range than with Septech, and having Malcolm to maintain it and advise on other plumbing design is going to be great.

Septech out, Ozzikleen in

2009-02-12T20:45:00.001Z

So, continuing in the saga of the wastewater treatment system. We are now almost certain to be going with an alternative supplier: Ozzikleen

Dad's email from Feb 3rd:

Hi again. I have good news on the septic system. I have heard nothing from Mike at Septech, even after my second phone call and his promise to action his second quote that very afternoon.

So today I called Ozzi-Kleen again. Their sales manager got in touch with a plumber in Castlemaine who is a regular installer of these systems over the last 6 years or more. He phoned me and spoke for quite a long time. I will be meeting him on the block next week. He is very interested in doing the plumbing of the house. He has 3 men working for him. He said he likes to get the owners to install the irrigation system because it is cheaper for them then and they better understand the system. He said he could arrange the delivery of the system to the block. I will give him all things needed to quote the job and discuss plans for development next week when I am there. I hope you don't expect me to chase after Mike for a quote any longer - if quoting is so difficult how might getting the work done and servicing be later. No, I am not disposed to use Septech any longer. It is your call of course, but I have to be frank.

Update (April 2009): After Dave stepped in and started chasing, we did eventually get a quote from Septech - but it turned out to be just the same as the standard one they'd sent us months earlier, without any of the in-between discussion incorporated. A little annoying... Then, when we looked into Ozzikleen a little more, it sounded like their system might be better anyway. Specifically it isn't so sensitive, you wouldn't have to restrict yourself to just special cleaners, and it seemed like it would be less hassle to install. Also, Ozzikleen had a plumber locally (well within 1 hour's drive which counts as local there!) who was interested in the work - and crucially able to meet our timing. So, in the end, Ozzikleen is who we chose.

Dad has watered and also bought a ladder

2009-02-10T10:53:00.000Z

Some more news from Dad about the garden and also a ladder...

Email update (3rd February)

I managed to get to Amherst to water the orchard 2 weeks ago. It was okay after having recent rains, but the newly planted trees were showing marked stress. I transferred apx 800 gal from top tank to irrigation tank and connected the new trees to the grid and setup the slow flow to each tree of this tank of water.

I have purchased the ladder for your place. I took the option to get the longest ladder we could store in the container and move about by one person. I also spent the extra for a safety feature you will appreciate on the block: a self-leveler. The ladder I bought is a Bailey 5.1-9.09mtr (extends to 30ft). Anything higher than this is far too high to work without a scaffold.

Update: you can see a photo of the ladder here, where it was being used by Dad while working on the roof of another house at Toora (a whole other saga in itself)...

Ebay wins: Lloyd loom

2009-02-08T17:38:00.003Z

I love Lloyd Loom furniture. We have a few chairs and laundry baskets, but in the past month some more interesting pieces have come up on Ebay, of which I've managed to win a couple.

First, this is a chest style that I'd not seen before. It needs a little repair but should be straightforward:

From the Ebay description:
Lloyd loom 3ft tall slender chest, bronzey gold colour, with opening door for storage. In excellent condition generally except that knob is missing on door and door chain needs joining up. But the feet are there and the basket work isn't broken. 35& half inches tall. across 18 inches. depth of storage space 2.5ft

Next, this stool. Comes from a different buyer but is in the same faded gold colour, so they'll make a great set for the bathroom perhaps.

From the Ebay description:
Original Lloyd Loom stool by W. Lusty & Sons Ltd. It is gold in colour and would look great as a dressing table stool or in equally in the bathroom. Height 48cm, Width 50cm, Length 32cm

Organs of the Goldfields festival

2009-01-17T00:24:00.005Z

Last weekend Mum went to the Organs of the Goldfields Festival recital held in St Michael's Church in Talbot. Here's her email report, and a couple of photos:

"I went and it was a good day. We walked down to the church whilst the first recital was underway and bought tickets for the 12 noon one.

Then went and had a $7 morning tea - tables groaning in the hall bit and then into the big high ceilinged hall where they have cakes etc at the Town hall market to sit and eat it. I went with Wendy from church. Cup of tea or coffee and help yourself to gfood. Sandwiches and cakes and scones and…

We walked back to the church as the previous lot were coming out and were lucky to get in. Talk about crowded. People sat EVERYWHERE including on the floor!

Afterwards, we sat and ate our sandwiches in the memorial park - along with lots of others. We had to share a table - and most were doing that and as soon as we vacated, our spot was taken by more folk. There was also a spit roast and salad at Chesterfield House if you wanted it - the queue was quite long for that.

Up in market square they had an actress ct the part of a lady touring with the theatre, acting here at Talbot in the 1850s, did a second tour a few years later, and had the fire truck named after her. I liked her bo Peep long knickers! Like chook fluffy legs. She must have almost expired, it was far too hot for anyone in the sun let alone wearing thick velvet.

perhaps it won't be Septech after all

2009-01-03T19:44:00.002Z

Before we can get the building permit for the old house, we need to submit plans for the wastewater treatment system. It is turning out to be less straightforward than we anticipated.

We thought we'd decided on a supplier - Septech - who were the only ones to respond to our original email queries. We had some phone conversations with them and despite the hiccup that the Council wouldn't let us store the water, we were planning to go ahead.

But now, unfortunately things have gone very quiet at their end. We need a new quote from them and input on the layout of the dispersion field, but despite Dad chasing and explaining the urgency there's been no response. So, to hedge our bets, we're now having to look at alternative suppliers.

To fill you in on the gory details...

The last news we'd had was on 28th Oct, when Michael emailed to update us on his phone call to the Council:
"Just a follow up to our previous conversations and emails. I have spoken to John Kelly from the health Department and at this stage “Central Goldfields Shire” will not endorse any Grey water systems to store or reuse grey or black water at the moment. The reason is for not when the systems are operating correctly but for when they are poorly maintained or just faulty it could pose a health threat. The new EPA Guidelines do allow for it to be reused if the council approves, so my suggestion would be to put the one system at the moment with two separate lines going into it one Grey and one Black because I can see a change in council’s attitude in a couple of years, and this would allow for an easier transition to the grey water reuse system".

I replied on 31st Oct:
"Thanks a lot for contacting John Kelly - what bad news! Oh well... I share your opinion that they will probably change their minds in a few years, so the suggestion to put in separate lines for black/grey water to allow for easier updating in future is good.

I'll let Dad get in touch to make plans for next steps, but we should go ahead with the basic system for now at least so we can get the building permit sorted for the existing house repairs. I've made some suggestions to Dad about where the irrigating pipes should go (ie: not on the lemon gums) but rather a bit further down to the orchard (provided it isn't a problem being close to the dam) or alternatively closer up to the house above the driveway (where we will one day have flower beds: and so if you can give me the parameters for what shapes the pipes can be in then I will design the garden bed layout around them)"

Dad also followed up on 6th November:
"Hi again Michael. I have been to Amherst again since getting this email from Lyn and Dave. I took measurements of the area where the wastewater effluence field can go for your calculation and design purposes:

The optimum position is in the area above the driveway (as defined by the row of lemon-scented gums) and the house. I assume you will place the tank in line with the front of the old house, but down the slope just a bit from the level of the commencement of the new house planned. The distance from the tank placement therefore and the road is 45 metres, and the width of the area is also 45 metres. Therefore fitting in a length of 400 metres is quite possible with 10-12 traverses across the slope. The road is 54 metres from the dam. The orchard is 27.5 metres X 37 metres. This is mostly off to the side of the proposed effluence field however. It should be possible to place the entire field so no water will seep into the orchard area.

Lyn and Dave have purchased a B21 Kubota frontend loader/backhoe in order to do terracing of the block. This is essential in order to retain water for garden beds. Therefore our option for installation of the pipes of the field will be a surface pinned pipe with terracing completed to accommodate the system design you propose prior to placing your pipes. It will also be possible for the hole required for your tank to be dug by ourselves if that is any savings to us in your quote for installation. You will need to specify the size of hole needed of course and it's orientation on the block to suit your system.

Could you followup this email with instructions to us as to your system requirement, ie how many traverses of the slope you need for the pipe, so the terraces can be constructed and soil installed appropriately, and appropriate garden plants installed over time. Is it possible I could install your effluence field to your specification, and thus save some money? I really don't mind having you install the pipes, however, but it would mean dovetailing our terracing and soil installation with your piping. Not a problem however either way since you will likely need an inspection by John Kelly before we backfill over with mulch material.

What is most needed now is your application to John Kelly for the septic system the old house will use, which is the same as the new house. (When we apply for the building permit for the new house, I will be getting you to apply again if required.) I cannot proceed further with the building permit for renovating the old house until this is completed.

Thanks again for time spent with John Kelly, and Lyn and Dave. John"

Then, things went quiet... We found out that Michael had been on holiday in 2nd half of November so waited. We finally got a reply in response to question about what the next steps were on 3rd Dec:

"I need to confirm the quotation in writing with you and then if you are happy with that Send the acceptance back and then I will fill out you application and do a sketch for the council and forward it to your father to submit...... Then the council will probably contact me to do a site visit to confirm"

So we waited. And waited. And waited some more but still no quotation has come.

I get that it is Christmas and holiday time. But come on, seriously. How hard is it to do a revised quotation? It's doubly bad given that they know how urgent it is at our end. *sigh*

inspiration from Sagamore Hill

2009-01-02T23:50:00.010Z

We were just watching an American history documentary, when it showed a house: Sagamore Hill in Long Island, New York. It belonged to Teddy Roosevelt. It's a great house, but what struck me on sight was the colouring. We both really really liked it, to the extent that I'm wondering whether we should mimic the colours at Amherst.

Thanks to the wonders of Flickr here's some photos, showing it in different lights and seasons. (Thanks very much to those who took these photos and posted them in a form they could be blogged).

Sagamore Hill
Originally uploaded by cyclingbill2003

Sagamore Hill
Originally uploaded by halgil

360/366 Sagamore Hill
Originally uploaded by Amberture

The main house is coloured blue - of a similar albeit slightly lighter hue than the one we picked for the cottage. But what's different is that they've used a darker grey colour as accent for the window frames - whereas up till now I'd been planning to use an off-white.

I also really like how they've got the contrast with the rust red on some walls. That could work perhaps for the extension parts of the cottage - the upstairs bathroom part; the laundry - as well perhaps as the library extension on the main house? Need to think some more about this, but it has certainly given me some more ideas... Even if we didn't go with the red colour - the idea of having a sharp contrast - green perhaps? - is appealing.

daily weather during 2008

2009-01-02T15:39:00.005Z

Checking the annual weather for Maryborough (nearest weather station to Amherst) is becoming a tradition - I did it in 2006 and 2007, and now here it is for 2008.

First, a graph of the maximum & minimum temperatures reached each day, in celsius:

(Click graph to see it full-size).

The hottest it got was 41 on 1st January 2008. This was the same maximum temperature as in 2007 which occurred the day before. The coldest was -1.8 on 8th August. A little better than here in London at least: we got down to -8 the other day, it is *freezing*.

Next, here's the cumulative rainfall, plotted daily:

Unfortunately we didn't have the same rain as in 2007, in fact it looked like it was going to be one of the driest years for a while until 13th December when over 50mm fell! Overall, there was only 376.8mm of rain for the entire year, meaning that the 13th December downpour represented over 13% of the entire annual rain.

To put this into perspective, here's a few chart looking at the pattern of rainfall historically:

Ebay win: painted firescreen

2008-12-27T23:43:00.002Z

I'm a big fan of fire screens... I've found they're useful not only for redirecting heat but also hiding messy corners, whether they have fireplaces in them or not. :-)

So when I saw this I couldn't resist...

From the Ebay description:
A small Victorian fire screen with wonderful hand-painted floral decoration. It measures 33" high x 20" wide. There are many signs of general use, wear to the fluting on the legs & 1 panel is split as shown, but the wood is a wonderful colour.

Recent photos

2008-12-26T10:18:00.003Z

Here are a couple of photos taken a few weeks ago that Dad just sent me.

I can't get over how big the trees are now... they almost look like proper trees! As well I'm really pleased with the deep blue colour of the house.

a stained glass Xmas present

2008-12-25T09:59:00.000Z

Dad got Dave and I a great Xmas present this year... an antique stained glass window that he spotted in a Reclaim yard, that he says will go perfectly in the bathroom of the cottage.

Thanks a lot Dad. :-)

Ebay win: door handles & a large trivet

2008-12-12T22:14:00.004Z

It's been a week for wrought iron. Two things came up on Ebay that we liked enough to bid on, and luckily we won both.

First, my favourites: some ornate door handles:

From the Ebay description:
Pair of 18th(?) century wrought iron decorative door handles with thread. They measure 16cm long each, thread is 6cm long.

Second, a large Victorian-era trivet:

From the Ebay description:
This is a wonderfully characterful if slightly wonky (but remarkably sturdy)
Victorian wrought Iron Trivet or Footman. I believe they were used for warming plates, kettles etc beside an open fire. It has nicely shaped cabriole legs at the front and makes a nostalgic display item or a usable accessory if you are lucky enough to have an open fire!

RIP little ones

2008-12-07T08:01:00.002Z

It has been a tough month. On Thursday our beloved pet rabbit Giantess passed away, the Saturday before poor Frenchie succumbed, and 3 weeks before that, we lost Little Miss. This post is a tribute to them.

Giantess aka Maggie Pie

We adopted Giantess about 2 years ago from a rabbit rescue centre. She had been stuck in a small hutch all her life until then, so it was wonderful to see her glee at realising she could run around free. She quickly bonded with Bert and helped him overcome his grief at having lost Snoozie.

Giantess got her nickname because she was the biggest bunny we'd had: an English spot breed. She was over twice the size of Bert, and it was very cute to see them cuddling together, sometimes she almost draped herself over him!

She was quite overweight at the beginning: but luckily she soon got to a healthy weight with all the exercise. Her favourite was to get inside the round wicker toy we christened "the tardis" because she used to like to stand up in it and then swing it around, bashing into things to make a lovely attention-grabbing banging noise! When she'd had enough it also proved a great place for a nap (see photo).

Giantess was a lovely girl with a mind of her own. She quite liked being patted so long as there was a lolly at the end of it, but was never happy about being picked up. She really came into her own as a carer when Bert got ill. She spent hours each day grooming him and making sure he felt loved. I don't think Bert would have made the adjustment to being blind and paralysed back legs without Giantess's care.

Giantess got ill so suddenly we didn't have time to deal properly with it. One day she was bounding around, the next just flopped out and not eating, so cold and losing strength. Vet did tests and found her kidneys had shut down. The vet taught us how to inject saline fluids under her skin, to help keep her hydrated, and we managed that for a week, but then it just stopped working. The skin punctures from the needles weren't healing so we couldn't keep the saline in, and it was clear it was time to let her go.

Sadly, Thursday morning I took her to the vets. Before taking her up, I moved Bert over to be close to her. Even though she was so ill herself, she still spent 20 secs washing his face. I think it was her way to say goodbye. RIP Giantess, the house isn't the same without you.

Frenchie aka The French One

Frenchie was one of the three battery hens we adopted last year. She quickly became a favourite due to her quirky character. Frenchie was initially picked on quite a lot, and yet she was the smartest by far.

To help build her confidence in the early weeks, she used to practice putting on a fight in the mirror. She'd sit in front of it and puff out her chest at the reflection (her), then peer up over the top to quickly check there was no real chicken there.

She was the first to master the art of "carrying". Previously when we put in a treat for them like pieces of toast or cake, there would be a giant scrum over it wherever it lay. Frenchie figured out she could go in, grab some and then run away holding it so she could eat somewhere else in peace! It took months before the others caught on and started to copy her.

She was also the only chicken we've had who "used tools". Frenchie loved to eat snails, and of course the shells are quite a hard defence. The other chickens used to give up most of the time, but not Frenchie. She worked out that if she found a snail, she could carry it over to one of the garden stepping stones. She then banged the snail forcefully against the hard stone a few times to crack the shell. Such a clever girl.

Frenchie got her name because of her comb. When she arrived from the battery farm, her comb had grown so large it flopped over and covered half her face - like a beret. Over the year it gradually shrunk to a more normal size, but still she retained her distinctive look.

Poor Frenchie died in her sleep last Saturday. She had been ill the past week and although we'd tried to tempt her with treats, etc sadly it was not to be. RIP dear little one.

Little Miss

Little Miss was a pampered chicken. We loved her although I don't think she ever fully forgave us for taking her from her original flock. Back when C1 died we were left with a distraught C2. We needed to find her a friend, fast, and the only place we could find in London that was willing to sell us a hen was a children's farm in Islington.

A huge donation later, and I was driving home with a very grumpy clucker in the back seat! She'd had an idyllic life there with her flock, lots of barns all with hay for them to play in.

Back home she was introduced to C2 who was just so clearly delighted to see another hen she couldn't stop chirruping. Little Miss gradually warmed to her new life and ended up forming a close friendship with C2. At nights they would snuggle together, and Little Miss laid us the most fabulous pure white eggs.

She never lost her attitude though - her name truly suited! She was a lovely chicken in her own way though and we were very sad for her to have gone.

Ebay win: bentwood chairs

2008-11-23T19:48:00.000Z

I stumbled across these chairs recently and loved them from first sight. Not only do I love the styling of the arms, they're a brilliant size: armchairs of a sort, but actually quite compact. It looks like it should be a pretty straightforward re-upholstery job too when the time comes.

From the description:
Two rather special 1920's/30's Art Deco reclining armchairs. Can be upright or reclined. Chairs need upholstering with a sympathetic material to suit their style, and one needs some very minor repair work which will be totally invisible when complete. A very simple restoration which will yield stunning results.

The restoration talked about is very simple: basically just one of the arms has come loose but all the parts are there. Just a case of some strategically placed glue/screws.

To terrace or not to terrace?

2008-11-18T19:36:00.000Z

In parallel with the wastewater treatment decision, Dad is very insistent that we decide right away on the garden layout, and in particular that we put terraces in. I am less sure, not least because I'd never envisaged having terraces nor had it been something we'd discussed.

Much exchange of emails ensued... At one point I had talked myself into terracing, to the extent of having a giant HaHa... but then Dad talked me out of it again. So now we're back to square one, no decision on layout yet made and awaiting input from Michael from Septech on how detailed we need to be in specifying pipe layout.

I can't face summarising it all, so here's the email conversations recorded for posterity. ;-)

On 11th Nov Dad wrote:

I think terracing of the block is essential in order to retain water for garden beds. I believe each terrace can accommodate two rows of appropriate trees, at the high side and the low side. The stepdown of each terrace will give a place for trailing plants and for shrubs. The size of each terrace is dictated by your plans for the area other than as an effluence field. The pipes can be buried beneath the surface if it is more appropriate for the use you intend for the terrace. In fact, you may not want to put in terracing at all. But you need to take time to consider this in the light of needing to direct Michael, and when he proposes his pipes you need to accomodate these adequately. You are the one with the masterplan.

I replied:

In terms of terracing, I don't know yet. There are pros and cons. But at this stage, I don't see that whether we have terraces or whether we have the pipes simply laid on the surface with mulch would make a huge difference to the length of pipes we'd need. I will ask Michael though. For the moment I think we go with whatever layout in that specific area is the simplest for him to quote on, so we can get the plans submitted in order to get the building permit underway. If needed we can then revise the details of piping layout later as they'll remain in the same area so can't see it being a big deal

On 13th Nov Dad replied:

I suspect from your last email that you are not aware that the council health inspector will not permit us to move the field as established by the drainer before commissioning the system without another inspection. That is why I wanted you to consider the size of each of the terraces if terraces were to be used at all. Terraces make the area more efficient for use as a soakage of wastewater area. As the gradient is such that over the distance from the corner post under the master bedroom of the old house to the cornerpost under the kitchen on a diagonal is approximately 1 metre in fall. That translates to about 1m fall in approx 12 m. Since we can curve the terraces to the shape of the hill we can gain a slightly sloping open area with a width of 3m and a step down for each area of about 400mm. The 45m area available would permit 4 such terraces. The field has to be accounted for the minimum of 400m only on the parts where the pipes are going on the level along the length of the terrace. The drop down to the next terrace at either end does not apply to the overall capacity of the system to dispense water.

If you wanted to have only 2 terraces then the stepdown would be approx 1m. That may be more suitable to you. It would mean moving subsoil down to the lower area after scraping off any soil that could be used on the finished terrace. That applies to all terracing of course. The stepdown requires a slope rather than a sheer drop. This takes away from the available width of the area to accommodate the terraces, but a slope is more serviceable in the long run with less maintenance.

As long as you have a clear idea of this information you can make a considered choice about whether to have terraces or not. If you like you can simply distribute the pipes on the existing gradient. You also have the option of having the pipes buried at least 300mm under the ground or lying atop the ground with mulch atop them

I replied:

Yes, I understand we can't move the overall location of the field.. But, if the field is defined as simple a specific area - ie if you imagine we roped out a section of land between the house and the gums at top of driveway, then it may be that provided we stick to keeping the pipes within that specific area, we might have flexibility to change the precise details of pipe arrangement prior to implementation.

It all depends on how detailed Michael has to be in terms of how he describes things. Eg: if he has to describe the location of every single individual pipe and bend, then we wouldn't be able to alter a thing without having another inspection. But if all we need do for the permit is to commit to there being a set length of pipe in total and for it to be arranged over this particular plot of land (but not give details of precisely how the pipes would be arranged within the borders of that plot) then we would still have flexibility to decide the best garden (and thus pipe) layout closer to implementation.

Eg: do the pipes have to be evenly spaced within a given area, or can their arrangement be more finely targeted, so it only goes on those areas that have garden beds and not on the areas that are paths? As an illustration, see:

If we went for a garden layout sort of like this, would we be able to focus the pipes in just the dark green bedding areas? This is what I want to find out from Michael. (nb: this is just one illustration: I would want to liaise with Prue before confirming precise shapes of beds etc, just showing to you so you get the gist of what I am asking).

Of course, it would be possible to still have terracing with this sort of garden although you wouldn't want too many... But, thinking about it more, there is another reason why having at least one terrace would be good - and that is so that we could use it as a Ha-Ha.

In case you don't know what a Ha-Ha is, it is basically an invisible fence. They used them a lot in old country houses here in the UK, as a way to keep sheep and cows out of the formal garden areas without having to build an obvious wall that blocked the view from the house.

I wonder if we could do a form of this encircling at least the bottom parts of the garden which had a HaHa type cliff edge - of a sufficient height to stop sheep/cows/etc. We could use the clay that we have excavated from other areas, supplemented with lovely topsoil that we buy in for the top for planting in - to help build up the height sufficient to give a high enough edge.

This would also solve a problem I have been worried about: how to be able to have a nice garden area without sheep getting into it and having to erect yet another fence. You mentioned if we had 2 terraces the step down would be 1m. So does that mean if we had only one terrace, that the step down at the outside edge would be 2m? This would be big enough to keep out sheep wouldn't it?

What do you think?

Dad replied:

1. A metre fence with a slope to complement it will be adequate. There are not slopes that a sheep or cow will not go up for good tucker, unless we are talking a sheer wall of sleepers or rock.

2. If we have only one terrace it will make a wall about 1.6m to 2m as a rough calculation. This terrace will not be level, most likely, but have a small gradient. Before beginning any excavation I would establish the gradients required to follow by placing markers for the man on the machine, and by frequent checks of gradient points as the excavation continues.

3 .The problem with moving the pipes is that you cannot handle them unless licensed to do so. They are a health hazard as they carry black water to be treated in the ground.

4. However you go about this there is sufficient area to get 400m of pipe in for the dispersal of the water. I would imagine there are guidelines as to how close together the row can be, and this relative to the percolation value of the soil. I am sure they will have it worked out to be certain all water delivered remains under the surface and doesn't seep to the surface because of saturation of the area.

I replied:

Hi Dad,

Re: 1)

We *are* talking about a sheer wall of rock. That is what a Ha-Ha involves.

I just realised I have some photos of a real HaHa that may help explain it better. In fact this is of the oldest HaHa in the world that was installed in the late 1600's and has been keeping out sheep ever since. I saw it with Mum at the Levens Hall garden a few years ago up in Cumbria. This is me standing on the edge of the Levens Hall HaHa with my toes nearly off the edge, taking a photo of the rock retaining wall. See, it's really clever, you can hardly tell there is a wall there even when standing right above it.

And this is the photo I took, looking down. You can see they had pebbles at the bottom and rocks lining the wall side

I like the idea of a HaHa aka an invisible fence from the house side, because I really don't want to have everything looking like it is fenced in. The orchard wall was something that we were forced into and luckily you can't see the wire from the house, but it has spoiled my plans for that part of the garden... kind of hard to stroll through the trees down to the dam when you have to go through giant fencing. But hoping it will be OK in the end because we will grow things on the wall and make it look less like a prison fence encircling them. We had no choice anyway, protecting the trees was the top priority.

Re: 2)

A wall of 1.6 - 2m at it's highest point down near the driveway sounds great - although I want to discuss with Dave too. It would mean that even as we got up the hill towards the house there will still be a reasonable sized drop quite a way around. So it would only be near the house that we had to worry about having a low height fence.

We could have one small part where there were steps and a gate in the wall to allow you to walk up through the garden from the driveway.

Re: 3)

Of course I understand we can't move the pipes once they have been laid. But there is a long long time before a single pipe will go near the place. To spell it out more clearly, this is my understanding of the timing.

Dec 2008: Michael creates application including plan (to whatever level of detail is required)
Jan 2009: Dad gets building permit to start work on the old house
Sometime in 2011 or even 2012: We actually get round laying the pipes.

There is a lot of time between now and when the pipes need to be put on the ground. All I am saying is that why commit now to a detailed layout of exactly where each individual pipe will go, where it will bend, etc if we still have years to go before it will be implemented? The *only* reason to commit so early would be if the council required that level of detail for the permit, but that is for Michael to tell us.

Of course: the one thing I need to check in having just a single big terrace - which can't do until on site and can see the gradients - is whether having such a terrace would mean you couldn't see the dam from the house. I'm hoping not, am hoping that the slope is such that you would still be able to look down and see it, that the only parts that may be hidden are the driveway and part of the orchard...

Dad replied:

I did not say the wall was to be down near the driveway, but I referred to a terrace created by removing soil and subsoil layers to whatever size you wanted within the 45x45 area. The thought I had was that the terrace would ultimately regain the original level of the ground near the trees. I never thought you wanted to dig below the level of the trees to create a trench. Doing this may compromise the runoff prospect from the saturation field. You cannot go closer than the front of the house with any diggings because of the underground pipeline restrictions, so to manage a trench to runoff would have to be arranged in the other direction,across the road and thereby require a bridge of sorts.....I thought you would use the extra soil from the house excavation and from small terraces to build up a roadway between the trees. The idea of a Ha Ha for the wastewater area is going to greatly restrict the area available for pipes. I was talking about a wall or slope at the high side of the wastewater field. The vegetation of this field cannot be fruit trees or vegetables. Nothing that will be consumed. The area you have bending up towards the house is where the septic has to be put. This cannot be too far from the houses nor be too low as a very low gradient for the septic inflow pipes from bathroom and other area is required (apx 40/1 if it hasn't changed since I last laid such pipes). The tank could go under the area for the herb garden in your sketch, but must be not directly under as access needs to be readily available for service. A large terrace may require another percolation test as the test had only 600mm holes into the undisturbed terrain of the area. I think Michael's input is required before too much more detail is added to the area.

update from Dad

2008-11-10T10:49:00.001Z

Dad writes to tell of his plans for later this month, focusing on watering. It is coming into the hot season there...

Email from Dad (2nd Nov)

In three weeks time I have two days together, a Sat/Sun scenario, so will go up to Amherst.

I will pump 1000gal into the tank for irrigation as a drip to all the trees over as long as it takes for the tank to empty. Each of the trees has a pipe with a valve that is a gate valve, a very important point for a drip system because the pressure does not affect the leakage from the valve as in the tapwasher type valve used in high pressure systems. I will only be watering the fruit trees in this way.

As well I will thoroughly drench the trees while there working on other tasks. I will pump water from the dam while watering full bore all the trees and only leave when all the trees are well watered, and there is a full tank for using as a slow drip to the trees in the ensuing period until I can return. I envision it would take about a month for a slowly dripping system to empty the tank. I aim to encourage the trees to seek deep water by this method, and feel the lesson learned by not watering the lemon gum trees during the drought will apply here as well. There seems to always be water deep down in the clay areas.

I will mow the olive grove and the orchard as well while there.

fake lawn becoming more popular

2008-11-09T10:23:00.000Z

It seems like at last fake grass is starting to catch on in Australia - see extracts from article below.

I suspect we are going to have to go down this route at least in part so I don't go nuts from lack of greenery. Fake is better than nothing!

I reckon too it could also be a really practical lower-maintenance alternative to gravel or cobbles for the pathways between garden beds...

Extracts from "Which Grass is Greener?" (November 4, 2008)

Frustrated at seeing their once green lawns turn to parched, dusty hollows because of the watering ban, many people are weighing up the choices: is synthetic turf that you don't have to water kind to the environment or are drought tolerant grasses the way to go?

Peter Ammoun, of Lifestyle Turf, says demand has never been higher for his artificial turf, with this winter "the best ever".

"When we first started, the requests were in summer and for smaller courtyards and little shady areas," he says. "The average size was about 35 square metres, but that has doubled and people are doing their front and back gardens and around swimming pools, plus nature strips." ...

While sales of artificial turf have increased, demand for the real thing is still high, according to HG Turf's Peter van Leeuwen. He concedes that synthetic turf is more practical because there's no need for watering or mowing, but it doesn't have the same feel underfoot as natural turf, which is softer and more cooling...

"A lot of drought-hardy warm season grasses are available and, once established, require little water," van Leeuwen says. Instead, drought-tolerant, warm season grasses such as soft-leafed buffaloes are being grown including Sir Walter, sapphire and palmetto.

Kikuyu, used at Melbourne's Royal Botanic Gardens in heavy traffic areas, and couch are also viable alternatives. However, like buffalo, they brown off (already there are signs of lawns under stress after two dry months) but they bounce back after rain or being refreshed with grey water...

The cost of natural turf and its synthetic counterparts vary greatly, with real grass costing $7-$10 a square metre and artificial turf, fully installed, $80-$90 (depending on the quality and supplier). If you choose to do it yourself, the cost is about $35 a square metre.

update on trees

2008-11-04T18:23:00.000Z

Dad recently did a trip up to Amherst to fix the irrigation for the new orchard trees. While there he took photos, here's a few:

In Dad's words:

These were taken when I went there to install small watering pots to the new plants, and check progress of olives. Only 3/4 of a tank of water has rained since transferring water to the large tank. I will pump the irrigation tank full next time I go and water the entire orchard. I will also install a drip attachment to all the small watering points for the orchard and allow the full tank to slowly drip into these tree pipes. That should help them through the dry season.

Proud owners of a tractor

2008-10-30T17:45:00.001Z

I'm still awaiting photos, but Mum reports the tractor is now officially ours and sitting in Dad's driveway. In her words, "it looks very nice"! :-)

More info from Dad's email on 25th:

I have arranged to get the tractor home to my place on Weds. The new front tyres are not yet ready for fitting. He hopes they will have arrived by Mon. With the work he has done and the tyres you have had a reduction in the price by $300-400. He is also giving the full service history and owner manual for the tractor and backhoe. I went up there to ascertain whether I had to jetison my garage door to fit the tractor into the carport, and have found it is not necessary at all. I do have to raise it as high as possible and then it fits like a glove. The overall length is perfect too. I need to obtain a posthole digger for it whenever, and some anchoring things for when it is on the trailer. It fits perfectly onto my tandem trailer. I need only to devise the ramp arrangement. With the hydrostatic drive it will be very easy to ease it up onto the trailer for anyone.

buying a tractor (perhaps)

2008-10-18T13:02:00.003+01:00

Dad emailed yesterday to say he'd found a secondhand tractor he recommended that we buy.

We've toyed with the idea of getting a tractor a while. It would mean we could do all the excavations needed ourselves and save a ton on labour and equipment rental. And once finished, we could sell the tractor on again to recoup some of the capital outlay.

It is a B21 Kubota, 4 1/2 years old but has only 860 hours on the engine clock. It comes with a bucket and a backhoe, but not a posthole driller (although it is possible to buy them for it). Before selling, the dealer will be putting on new front tyres and replacing a bush in the front bucket, along with a new pin to lock the backhoe apparatus mechanically for safer transporting. We'll be getting a mechanical test done on it before decided to go ahead, but assuming that gives the all clear then it looks like I will soon own a tractor!!

From the description in the dealer's book:
"Extra heavy duty machine; For contractors requiring a heavy duty machine capable of handling long hours of operation in punishing conditions, the B21 is ideal. Specifically designed for the construction industry, the B21 has a reinforced frame, steel bonnet, cast iron front axle, heavy duty transmission and a 4 post rollover frame with steel roof. Features 4 wheel drive, self-levelling loader mechanism, industrial tyres, wet disc brakes, optional vertical stabilizer and optional 4-1 bucket (although the one we are looking at has a standard bucket, not the one that has a splitting capacity to more quickly fill it). HP 21, Engine 3 cyl diesel, Transmission is Hydrostatic, Backhoe has a max dig depth of 2330 and a reach of 3080. The Loader lift height is 2250 and lift capacity of 420 kg.

Priced new 18 months ago it was A$49150 + gst. The one Dad found second hand is A$25000. Still a pretty hefty sum, more than I've ever spent on a machine (I can see I am doomed to never have a new car!!) but given it's $500+ per day to rent the darn things that is only 50 days worth of rental... I am sure we will have more than 50 days worth of digging to do with all the excavation work needed for the garden, house, tanks, trenches for electricity wires, etc etc.

Apparently the hire firm selling it bought it new in order to rent it to one customer, a gas maintenance firm in Shepparton. It has been used by one team since new, has had all dealer services as required. Has had a new clutch plate installed 10 engine hours ago. The engine has only 860 hours total work time in the 4 1/2 years. It has been placed for sale because when it was returned from this firm for whatever reasons it meant there were too many in the yard for hire than the usual business pattern.

It weighs 1.2 tonnes, so should be okay for Dad to transport on his tandem trailer, meaning that it can be stored securely in town rather than left at the block. Dad assures me too there are ample service depots in Ballarat, and probably even in Marysborough, given it is a popular, tough machine.

update on wastewater plans

2008-10-16T12:41:00.000+01:00

We're in the throes of trying to sort out the wastewater treatment system.

Even though it will be years yet before we install, we have to get the plans in place now in order to be get the building permit for the old house.

It's a little frustrating given that technology will no doubt advance in 4 years, but given that we've had no luck getting responses from local plumbers in Maryborough, it looks like we'll have to go with getting people up from Melbourne to quote and ultimately do the work.

(The way I figure it, if people aren't interested in helping us out now with a quote/plan even when we offered to pay for their time to do it, then they don't deserve our business in 2-3 years when we come to install).

We're in discussions with Septech, the company who won major brownie points nearly 2 years back by being the only one of 5 to respond acceptably to an email.

Dad has been to see them this week and I've had a phone conversation too, with a nice guy called Michael Pound. Michael needs to call the Amherst health officer (John Kelly) to clarify what the precise requirements are, and make a site visit before he can give a final quote. We'll then need to pay 20% deposit before he'll work on drawing up the plans.

The one hiccup is that in speaking to him it became clear that the system didn't do precisely what I'd understood it did. Although it does recycle everything: greywater and blackwater, treating it so it is safe for irrigation; because of stupid council regulations it isn't allowed to be stored!!

So you currently can't do what I'd envisaged, which was to store it in a special tank that could use to selectively irrigate the garden. It just waters it 24/7 along the 400m of irrigation pipe. And the pipe has all these restrictions on how far away from the house it needs to be etc so I can't even use it to water the courtyard garden which is the area that will need water the most. It's *very* annoying.

It's not a total writeoff though: there are trials underway with some councils in which they are letting people store the treated water to re-use on their property, and Michael said he was confident that by the time we come to live there it will be allowed. Fingers crossed.

Patch Rogers: arts & crafts dealer

2008-10-07T12:19:00.001+01:00

If you like this era, you will love this shop. I stumbled across it by accident when I looked at a listing he had on Ebay. It looks like not only does he specialise in Arts & Crafts, Art Nouveau etc, he is heavily involved in gathering pieces for the Liberty exhibitions too.

You can see latest stock including photos and (for most) prices on his website here.