Now that we’re home, and getting over the “post holiday blues”, how did we go in terms of sustainability on the farm.
First of all we used lots of water, about 600 litres, or 60 litres per day. This is way above what we would normally use, but Doc was concreting and I cleaned the walls in the kitchen and bathroom, which took up a lot we wouldn’t otherwise use.
This also included our water for washing up, cooking, washing ourselves and washing our clothes. And, of course, pouring over ourselves to cool down! All things considered, probably not a bad result, particularly when you consider that back in the city a standard 4 minute shower can use up to 80 litres if you don’t have a water saving shower head, or 40 litres if you do.
This is water from the tanks only and doesn’t include drinking water. For drinking (including tea and coffee) we take extra water with us. In 10 days we went through 25 litres of water and more than that in soft drink, mainly iced tea.
That leaves us with 2,000 litres until it rains again, which it doesn’t do much in summer. I hear this is going to be a particularly dry summer, so it’s probably not a good time to start that vege garden!
Before I started going to the farm food consisted mainly of meat, mate. Steaks, chops and sausages thrown on the hotplate over the fire for every meal. The only way you could tell it was breakfast was the addition of eggs. All very blokey!
I’m trying to introduce a rule that if you want meat you have to kill it yourself. Given the number of roos and rabbits out there now I don’t think anybody would go hungry. And with the wood stove burning all day in winter rabbit stew is fabulous.
As I’m a vegetarian we now take lots of vegetables out with us, and in summer keeping them cold and fresh can be a problem. The small bar fridge we have (gas operated) was really doing it tough this time trying to keep everything cold. It might be time to invest in something a little larger – don’t you think Doc???? Though in winter the fridge is hardly needed at all, things stay cold sitting on the veranda!
I really would love to start a vege garden at the farmhouse, but would need something that can take lots of neglect as we’re not there all the time. All my previous attempts at growing vegetables have been disastrous, except for tomatoes, and that has been when I’m around all the time to take care of them. Though perhaps that’s been the problem – too much caring.
If anybody has any ideas on what vegetables I can grow, and how a herb & vegetable garden might work in those conditions please let me know. I haven’t met a vegetable I don’t like, so I’m open to all ideas on what might grow. The farm is near Yass, so the climate is hot and dry in summer and cold, wet and frosty in winter, and the soil is clay.
We’re not planning any big trips this year (apart from a few weeks to the Cape again), so let’s see how sustainable we can make our part-time life on the farm.
