Big House in the Outback

G'day!

I'm making kindling so I can start the boiler

I'm getting heaps of new experiences here at Moora Moora.   First, I'm going to explain the set up here.  Jolanda is the wwoof co-ordinator.  She sets our schedules and provides us with groceries for when we are not eating with hosts.  Right now, there are 3 of us wwoofs.  Kirsten, 26, (6.5 weeks) is from New Hampshire and Wenzel, 18, (7 weeks) is from Germany, and me (almost 2 weeks).  We work ten 3-hour shifts a week.  Morning shifts are from 9 am til 12 noon.  Afternoon shifts are from 1 pm til  4 pm.  We get 4 shifts (2 days) off.  Moora Moora resident members can hire 1 or more wwoofs at $4/shift.   So basically, it costs them $8/wwoof/day primarily to pay for our food.  As our host, they are supposed to provide us with lunch at 12 noon for a morning shift or dinner at an agreed upon time for an afternoon shift.  Many of our hosts give us tea/coffee or water which means a 5-15 minute break.  And occasionally, we don't work the full 3-hours.

A wheel hoe to make furrows for new seedlings

Amy and Luc run a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program whereby members pay an agreed upon fee for weekly vegies.  They use wwoofs a lot.  We generally work at least 4 shifts a week for them.  I've picked heaps of string beans, apparently one of the least favorite jobs.  I've also transplanted brassicas including kale, broccoli, cauliflower, and brussel sprouts and watered them in with Seasol, a seaweed fertilizer.   I've also hula hoed beetroot beds and weeded empty beds in preparation for new planting.  When weeding empty beds, you still have to stay off planting areas to avoid soil compaction.  We used Korean tools called "homies" which are handy for weeding, making furrows, etc.   Luc and Amy use pre-spaced drip irrigation lines, row covers on metal hoops, organic fertilizers, and formal crop rotation.  I've decided that I don't want to be a farmer (not that I ever thought  I might want to become one).   It's a lot of hard (back-breaking for me) work and you always have to worry about something.  Rain - too much or too little and the timing of it; grasshoppers; cutworms; rats and rabbits; harvesting to meet distribution schedules, etc.  I do want to have a vegie and fruit garden though.  Small scale.

The Log Splitter - I love this machine!

One of the more exciting jobs I've done is splitting logs using a pneumatic log splitter.  It's a pretty simple machine that runs on petrol.  I've often wondered how and who on earth chopped all the firewood every where.  I could see that it was not done with a chainsaw; it looked hand split.  Now, I know.  Some is probably split by hand (very, very tiring -  I know, I've tried it)  but most of it is probably split with mechanical help.  Jon, a British bloke and I ran the log splitter together.  Actually, he did most of the hard work.  He lifted the chainsawed rounds of log onto the machine.  After making sure his hands were clear, I pushed the lever that moves the wedge forward until the log is split and then move the lever/wedge back.  We had to split each log several times to make it an appropriate size for a wood stove.  Then we had to toss the wood over an existing wood pile to make a new pile.  I used a shot put motion to toss the wood high and far enough.  I thought my arm and/or shoulder would be sore the next day but it wasn't.  Rusty, our host, Jon and I are very proud and happy about the huge pile of firewood we made.

Close up is my woodpile - I had to heave wood from far left

Sometimes we work for the co-op for the Land Management supervisor.  So far, we've pinched the heads off of ragwort and pulled ragwort seedlings out.  Ragwort, cootch grass (with long white runners) and blackberry are the most noxious weeds around here.  We've had to use pickaxes or mattocks to dig blackberry roots out for several hosts. Other jobs might include filling potholes and ??, we'll see.   When we work for the co-op, we are responsible for our own meals.  On Friday afternoons, we clean the lodge and help the Caretaker, Russell, with whatever needs doing.  Since his apartment is in the Lodge, we see him a lot.  He's a former wwoof, a very mature and responsible 25 year old Kiwi ex-Air Force officer, has a car and takes us on adventures with him whenever possible.

 One of his jobs that we share with him is lighting the boiler in the afternoon so that the lodge has hot water.  I can now get a fire going the first time 'round.  I've also learned how to make kindling.  It's much easier to use a wedge instead of an axe.  I've moved heaps of firewood closer to points of use.  Each time I deal with firewood,  I take a piece and knock it on several pieces at various places in the pile to warn snakes to go away (hopefully not in my direction).  Supposedly snakes like to hang out in wood piles.  The spiders (except the huge larger than 2" diameter ones) don't bother me any more.  When you have venomous snakes to worry about, spiders that merely make you sick aren't quite as frightful.

Sometimes I feel like I'm Laura Ingalls Wilder living in the Big House in the Outback.  I can't believe that I had to make a fire in the boiler and then wait half an hour in order to take a hot shower today.

Cheers!
Cyn