It has now been three months since we (myself and my parents) made the move from crowded outer suburb to peaceful rural village.

The move itself was fairly traumatic, given my parents had lived in the old place for a quarter of a century and both are obsessive hoarders. After the few essential boxes were unpacked I took a chance to wander around the block with a measuring tape and note pad and make accurate scale drawings of our space. The block is long and narrow running south to north from the road, sloping gently south, mostly level, and the soil seems fertile. The grey-black light clay topsoil overlays a stickier yellow clay, but both have a remarkable ability to retain water already. A couple of improved sections indicate how spectacular it becomes with a little more organic matter.

The front acre is currently occupied by a rangy old horse but will be prepped and halved soon with a view to turning it into an orchard. Liming the site with about 250kg of dolomite (Calcium and magnesium carbonate) and 50kg of Gypsum (calcium sulfate) resulted in a flush of clover growth. The effect was made more noticable by delays between liming different parts of the space. The condition and fly resistance of the old horse improved markedly, and he was observed to spend much of his time grazing the limed areas. I intend to plant about 100 trees, with a strong emphasis on nut crops to allow easier storage of surplus. Later on I will trial muscovy ducks (and maybe chinese geese) to graze the rows. Dividing the space into four will allow directed grazing and possibly growing field crops in the rows.

North of the orchard is the vege patch of about 400 square meters, divided into about forty beds of 1.2m x 4m. In half of the space the soil has been broken but not turned with a fork, limed and left to bake, killing most of the grass off. It was then turned over and shaken out (the residues composted) and planted with a green manure crop of buckwheat, cowpeas and japanese millet. They have all germinated rapidly without any supplementary water. The buckwheat bolted to seed as it is photoperiod sensitive, but its shallow roots have meant it is easy to selectively pull it out without disturbing the other species, adding an early layer of mulch. After a month the crop is about a foot high, and should be dug in at the end of February to allow mid march sowings. A chicken pen is set to go into the middle of the vege patch, with a rotation system of chicken tractors planned. I am aiming to have half the vege patch under green manure at any one time to improve the soil and provide food for the chickens. I estimate 6-12 austrolorp hens should be right.

At the northern end of the block sits the house (a 3 bedroom with magnificent wrap around verandahs) a large four bay work shed, a small garden shed and a couple of ornamental plant houses (put up by us). A poorly planned shrubbery is due for gradual removal to be replaced with carefully weed mat and mulch protected beds for a large ornamental garden for me. I have decided to divide the space into a series of color themed garden rooms. I figure if I am going to make a small business out of it a gimmick like that would have wide appeal. In the middle of my garden I should be building a small liveable shed so I can have my own space away from my parents. The very northernmost strip is for my Dad to grow his orchids and bromeliads. Water collection from the roofs at the top of the block will provide gravity feeds to the vegetable patch (probably essential) and perhaps to the orchard (hopefully optional to boost yields of selected trees at selected times).

Living on the property (now named Caledon, after the one part of Scotland that the Roman Empire never managed to capture) has been surprisingly uplifting. Over most of summer I fell into a routine of waking early for yoga on the verandah while looking out over our local mountains, then working in the garden until it got too hot. A lazy lunch followed by reading or cooking, then returning to the garden around 3-4 to weed and dig until dark, quiet nights reading or planning, repeat.....bliss. I was constantly surprised about how I never tired of its beauty.

Neighbors and community have almost all proven to be friendly and wonderfully quirky. The town has a good mix of sincere old timers and hopeful new arrivals. I finally got to meet a peak oil contact from years ago who happens to live down the street! Swapping seeds and cuttings and carpooling to permaculture meetings have been tangible benefits, though having a like mind to talk to nearby is priceless.

Since then I have managed to get a cheap small room in Brisbane for part of the week to fit in with a part time lab management job with my old PhD supervisor. It provides more regularity than lab tutoring, and opens possible avenues to free lance lab organisation work, or more general admin work (more likely to be on offer closer to home). For this year it is good for balancing out the extra establishment costs. Next year I may be able to rely on highschool tutoring in Noosa (already starting that part time) and Nambour and Gympie. Having most of my daylight hours free to garden would be wonderful. A few years later I should have a better idea of how worthwhile growing surplus for the local markets will be (or maybe a roadside stand?) and I will have built up my plant stocks enough to look into starting a nursery. Linking the supply of plant material with designing and planting (and maybe maintaining) a garden may be the best business model. Time will tell, but I intend to keep you posted.