Saturday, February 25, 2017

Resume the position...

2016 turned into the sort of year largely best left un-mentioned. Partly sheer battle-fatigue. We did go and see Paddy and Clare in the UK and Patrick and Judith in Brittany, but something about that turned occasional tinnitus into a permanent chorus in my ears. My writing career went along swimmingly... as the man said of how things were going when his home flooded. It's still going. I'm planning on doing more self-publishing through Amazon in the future, and have started a mailing list - if you're interested you can sign up here. We did more pigs and more bacon and ham... just battering on, not losing too much ground, not gaining any really.

But in the latter half of the year we had a bit of a financial shock - the great deal we had on the present house we are tenants in got revised. Now, we're very grateful for what we'd had, and this was fair enough. But... it pushed things into a situation of instead of saving furiously and hoping we'd have the cash in hand when property prices fall (as they must, eventually. If interest rates rise, the Australian job situation worsens or the farming situation changes for the worse - Flinders will be one of the first places hurt. All those second holiday homes will, if it is a choice between paying home mortgage, or the holiday place mortgage - you know which one has to go)- to one where we felt we were going to lose ground, or take the step of buying something with what we had.

So... on Friday next Barbs and I will start the next phase of our adventure. We'll have 43 acres of rocks, bush and not very arable grazing land, about 800 meters from the beach. Oh yeah, and next to no money. So what else is new?

But somehow we're going to raise a house on it. Sheds, Veg gardens, an orchard, and eventually some fencing and livestock. It's not ever going to be commercially successful farming at that size - but we should be pretty much self-sufficient.

It's going to be tough. Make and scrape, paint it blue and make it do. But... I have done tough. And I am longing for a place of our own. I want to build... for me and mine. I want to plant trees I will see fruit and harvest from.

I want to say 'this is my land.'

And I will.

17 comments:

  1. Doesn't 800m from the beach describe most of Flinders Island? You know, except for the bits that are less than 800m from the beach. Best of the luck with your new endeavour and my you raise a bumper load of rocks (and whatever else you decide to raise there).

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    1. It's about 25 km wide, actually. But rest assured our rocks are non-GMO rocks and will be raised organically.

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  2. Wow, fantastic news! Never easy, but if anyone can do it, it's you two! Love from the Knotts:-)

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    1. Yeah... it's even making me nervous. The bureaucracy side and astronomical costs for no gain associated with it :-(. Oh well. It is what it is.

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  3. CongaRats on the place of your own.
    Must say, even though mine is an in town place and not a 40 (or a Half 40 ... land here is usually based on how many "40s" it is as in "Ive got two 40s" being owning 80 acres) it is nice to know "It's MY house" even if it is an older, built in 1949, needs some wire work, etc.
    I looked at a place with 27 acres, butted against state forest land, near a rive boat launch onto Lake Michigan, but, and this is an annoying thing, No one would lend me that little!
    I decided to go into town, and got a old place for a song, lent myself the money from my retirement and will pay that off in 5 years while interest will be higher than the retirement was making at the time, (and is still a bit more than it is making, but just).

    Tinnitus.
    the assurance you will never again have pure silence. Also a way to tell if you might be running a fever (mine gets way louder when I do, anyway) A nasty ear infection, and a very loud race car did me in.

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  4. DAVE and barb we will be blessed to be a part of your next phase and support you all of the way with as much help as we are able to contribute.

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    1. Peter, I wouldn't have got this far without you! The rests going to be an adventure, and I'm going to drag you along on bits of it.

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  5. All of the best, you two special people, with this next exciting step. I'm so glad that you love living there so much.

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    1. I have this theory that everyone has a right place, most of us never find it :-)

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  6. Replies
    1. But I can't eat a whole one in one sitting. Do they freeze well?

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  7. Wishing you and Barb all the best Dave! You keep writing, and I and my friends will keep reading and buying your box! :-) If I ever get back down under, I'll see if I can make a side trip down to Flinders to meet you in person!

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  8. Books! Books!!! Autocorrect is my worst enema. :-)

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  9. Based on your descriptions of the island..... rent out a shack for writers that want to get away from it all.

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  10. Great to see you back Dave and air the best for the next chapter of your life Hope that .22 is still shooting straight. John & Wendy

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