Goodbye Blinky-Bill

Why did the koala fall out of the tree? ... Because it had chlamydia. No, its not a joke. We have never seen a koala on our 25 area block of aussie bush, until this week. The kids found this male koala at the bottom of a gum tree, shaking feverishly on its back, having vomited on itself. Very distressing! Dave carried it into the house and we called WIRES (wildlife rescue service). Our friend, Flo asked about his eyes that were all bloated with skin and pus - yuk!

It had chlamydia, a highly infectious disease affecting many koalas. We took him to a local koala care specialist. She was amazing. So committed, with 7 koalas already. This one, she said, would be OK after 10 days of antibiotics and constant eye baths. We look forward to getting him back next week and letting him go back into our nearby bushland. Nice to think that in desperation, he followed his nose to us and we could find such wonderful people to help. Thank you to all WIRES folks and all who support them. for more on caring for injured koalas, see http://www.koalasincare.org.au/index.htm

Baling, baling, baling!

Straw-baling on a Sunday is a wonderful diversion from the tax-time data entry. On this gorgeous winter day, it was soul-food to get out and heft bales into the wall with my family. Dave was on the chainsaw, shaping bales around posts, while our oldest son, Josh and his devoted Tessa (med-student and part-time Grassroots wonder-shopgirl) learned the process of building. I am sure they were not just helping us for no reason - I suspect they have eco-building intentions.

The straw is wheat straw - sharp and coarse, much harder than the rice straw we used in "stage one" of our home. Small bales are getting harder to come by in this area. Most farmers are baling into the big 8'x4'x4' bales lifted only by a machine. The walls go up fast, with a 3m section taking 30-45 minutes to reach ceiling height.

The "mudding" will start soon, that is my earth-mother time. Being connected to my place by the earth is important to me. I feel very grounded by holding each and every handful of earth render as it passes from ground to mixer to bucket to wall. Each surface is sculpted with 3 coats of earth-lime render, taking half a day to cover that 3m section in one coat, on one side. Stay in touch for the mud.