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Photographs by Vivienne
Burning ‘orff’ commences (view from front of house)
Burning ‘orff’ in all its glory an hour later (I zoomed in)
A rainbow
Arriving for breakfast
Gluten-free bread – looks like a brick and just as heavy!
A big yabbie – along with 7 others – became lunch.
Roast stuffed pork chops
A reasonably good salad featuring my home grown preserved olives
My office at knock off time
Window Dresser's Arms, Pig & Whistle 
Really nice views Viv, I’m envious. I have no real views and am surrounded by other houses however it is home.
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The view was of course always there but when we bought the block it was 8 acres of grasses of the hay making kind. No trees. The neighbouring property owners all embarked on tree planting once they saw what we were doing. Because of subdivision allowed for smaller rural properties over the years there are many more houses although we can see only one in our ‘view’.
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Yes, Viv, a lovely outlook, except during the hazard reduction burn. We, too, are blessed with a multitude of birds, frogs, lizards, snakes (mainly green tree snakes), and the odd echidna or kangaroo have been spotted nearby. Unfortunately we have no yabbies…what a bonus!
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Actually Big M ‘burning orff’ is not a hazard reduction burn. They burn the stubble after harvesting the crop (usually wheat). No crop planted this year – given a rest. It gets burnt every second year or so. A lot of farmers don’t do that anymore as it is a waste – some old habits are hard to break although burning orff will kill weeds and help eradicate mice.
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My mistake. I did see a farmer in WA who stopped burning orff, instead dragging a heavy bar across the stubble, which broke it up, and allowed it to compost down fairly quickly, thereby improving the soil. Perhaps this has caught on?
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Sounds as though it would work. The idea of not burning orff is to avoid using fuel in tractors which then sort of plough up and then rack to smooth before planting the next crop. Probably be quicker to burn orff (that’s what we say here at home). Alternative is a bit of grazing and then to direct drill the seeds and that is what has taken off.
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A bit like what humans did before ‘modern’ agriculture!
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I loved that smoky smell of rice-stubble being burnt in the fields outside Ubud, don’t they also do some burning off in the sugar cane fields in Oz?
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They used to Helvi but it stopped some years ago. There was a piece on the situation on the tele recently but I can’t remember all the details. The cane stubble is recycled and it is all good news. Might have been on the ABC’s Landline, this year.
Where is Ubud?
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They are making electricity out of it – the sugar cane stubble.
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…oops, I thought I had written it was in Bali, inland, in the hills where they grow rice..
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Viv, I admire your vistas. Space, serenity.
We have urban vistas. This year our builder put an attic into our roof space – and made it possible for us to get access to the tower – the first time since FM bought the place when the rotten old ladder-stairs were too risky. Anyway, now we can stand in the tower and survey our realm (photo pending). It’s a good view too – across to Botany Bay and the airport. – about 9-10 metres above the ground – itself on the side of a hill.
We have a surprising number of birdies too – mostly currawongs, some Lorikeets, a few Mynahs – and the next door neighbour has chooks. In the Inner West. Chooks ! George likes to go over there and play. They ignore him. MIffed, by their ignorance, he goes into their fresh hay and poops. They still ignore him.
I think yabbies are great. I put in a frog pond – since frogs have such a hard time in the city. It’s been a success – we regularly get spawnings and fresh tadpoles – and it helps to keep the slugs and snails under control without nasty chemicals – but the system lacks the main benefits of a dam full of yabbies !
Many thanks for your photo essay. All the best.
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The photo of the birds outside the window could be of White winged Choughs. They live in groups of six to ten. We had them on the farm. They scratch like maniacs, upsetting our vegie garden. Milo used to teach them a bitter lesson. (feathers everywhere)
This from Wiki;
The White-winged Chough is a large, almost completely black bird. It has a curved beak, a red eye and a large white wing patch, which is seen when the bird is in flight. The bill and legs are black. Both male and female share the same plumage pattern. Young White-winged Choughs start off duskier than the adults, and the eye is brown. They do not reach sexual maturity until four years of age and, during this time, the eye changes from brown to orange and then to red, and the plumage darkens.
From a distance, the White-winged Chough may be confused with one of the Crows or Ravens, Corvus sp., but the curved bill and red eye distinguish it from these birds. Crows and Ravens also lack the white wing patch. Currawongs,Strepera sp., have white wing patches and mostly black plumage, but the patches are smaller and the birds also have yellow eyes.
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They are most definitely mapgies Gerard. Not one bit destructive. They are adorable. We grew the trees and they came and have stayed ever since – generations of them. Our patch is home to six of them at present – 4 adults and two young ones born in the Spring. At the most we have a family of ten. One year during the long drought they did not breed and I observed, very clearly, that one born the previous year pretended to be a baby for three months – demanding to be fed.
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You are right. They have white bills. We had one young falling out of our tree last year. Milo somehow knew and walked in a big arch around it, not wanting to upset ‘the boss’ little bird. Sweet really. It just shows that animals have more sense than many people. However, away from the boss Milo would happily kill a duck or a rabbit. We tried keeping the bird alive but after a few days its mother stopped feeding it and it died.
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Oh for an office that tidy. Mine resembles something Emm put up recently. Thanks for sharing that photo story. Are the yabbies off your property?
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Our office is reasonably organized, but we still have too much stuff here I have to get rid of; it’s time consuming to decide what to keep and what dump…
I hope GO does not take photos of this room 🙂
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Yes, yabbies from our dam. We never had yabbies until one daughter put some in it (they were meant to be fishing bait). Then they multiplied.
I can’t work in a mess – I’ve been like this for ever.
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I can if its organised which most the time it is. Unfortunately the office became the junk room and that is something I can’t work with. On of the reasons I no longer work from home.
I’m envious of the yabbies though.
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From my office space I can see out the front window as well as the back. If I lean back I can see the tele. It would have to be tidy ! Sorry to hear about yours turning into a junk room. All that sort of ‘might come in handy junk’ goes into our garage (it’s huge, on purpose).
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I’m not so sure about the caption on that rainbow photo. Isn’t that a DOUBLE rainbow?
That’s a lovely vista from the front of your house, with the closer trees framing the background and both bows within the frame.
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There is a teensy bit of a second one there. The vista is bigger than shown in the photo – if I walked further down from the verandah I’d have to take say four shots panning across. It’s pretty good and always a surprise to new visitors as the view from our little hill is not at all apparent from the gravel road.
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Voice – you are very observant. Because – I now recall that there was a second very complete rainbow. By the time I got the camera out and went to take the shot it was on its way out. It is a regular occurrence here. As they say, well spotted!
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Yes, Viv, some breads are as heavy as bricks, I bought my favourite heavy one, Estonian Sweet and Sour…I freeze one half and the other half last me for a week…toasted of course…
I like your pictures, they tell a story.. .:)
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Good morning Helvi and guess what? – I too cut the bread in half and freeze them. I make two loaves at a time and they are for daughter who is gluten intolerant. Of course I have to taste test a slice to ensure it is up to standard.
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A wonderful photo essay, Vivienne. I would love more of these. I like photos. I love your story of the things that happen and that you love and food and where you hang out a lot in your office. Best photo essay ever.
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You’re so lovely Shoe and I am very glad you enjoyed this little photo story.
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Viv;You have a nice view from your office. The salad looks jummie or yummy. I’ll have the pork chops. Did Lola get the bone?
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Thanks Gerard and no, Lola doesn’t get the bones – she’s too small to manage them and only has chicken wing tips (raw). I wanted the opportunity to show off the olives – you may remember Ato and I were working on our bumper olive crop at the same time a couple of years back. I’ve still got olives to last for quite some time.
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