Naughty dogs, moths and gin & tonics, a unique Boxing Day for me, but hopefully it will become a tradition.
BOXING DAY DOG WALK
THAT FANTASY PLAYGROUND
When you were a child did you play on building sites, climb trees and jump off. That nervous excitement at falling and that life affirming jolt as your feet hit the ground? It made me smile to see the kids (and dogs) on the building site running amok, making ghastly potions for each other out of barbecue sauce and Tabasco and climbing and dreaming.
From what you hear that kind of play is dead, or at least frowned upon with all these identical blue and red playground with tanbark and monkey bars lowered year after year at the whisper of danger. I saw it happen while I was at Primary School the exciting timber castle replaced with shiny and slick and same same.
But, there are some big kids at heart out there letting kids run wild, what a relief everyone hadn’t lost their sense of fun.
THE COBURG PERMABLITZ PART 2 – ESPALIERS & BEER
After an incredible lunch of beautiful curry, rice and roti and a quick swig from our personalised cups we set out to get this thing done!
We had reached that satisfying point where, the really hard slog finished, things began to quickly take shape. The paths greedily gobbled barrow after barrow of mulch and garden beds brimmed with compost and a lucky few got their comforting layer of mulch.
The poles for the espalier supports went in nice and deep. A young permablitzer observed the 700mm footings and wryly asked whether we were expecting a tropical cyclone. Our numbers diminished as the day drew to a close, but the few remaining were gifted for their dedication and got to watch Adam’s espalier workshop and have a nice cold beer. Or in my case greedily devour the remaining cheese and fruit salad.
It will be amazing to see when the garden is planted out and lush. Perhaps with some mechanical help those palm roots can be put in their place and the pond canbrim with fishies and frogs. It was such an exciting experience to see our plans take shape. What a dedicated group of amazing workers!
A PERMABLITZ IN COBURG PART 1 – BRICK SOLDIERS & PALM ROOTS
Dylan and I arrived at Gigi’s at 8:30am, welcomed by concrete rubble and pavers erupting from the earth. The compost and mulch piles loomed ominously at the back gate, the stairs presenting a cheerful bottleneck for the wheelbarrows. The delivery men had meant to deliver half of the mountain to the front. But Dylan and I were naively unperturbed, despite or perhaps because of never attending a Permablitz before and finding ourselves in the driving seat. So I attribute the smoothness of the event to delicious beginner’s luck and the dedication of Adam Grubb of Very Edible Gardens and the lovely group of people who turned up to sweat it out digging holes and untangling the terrible mat of roots where the palm tree once stood.
Amongst the rubble we discovered a treasury of worn bluestones that my amazing team of retaining wall builders jigsawed together. In the background four grim faced mattock wielders had the unenviable job of trying to cut through the unmoving mass of palm roots to cut the path. Leaving me with the cringing feeling of being a prison guard driving a chain gang they broke through the mass with what seemed like sheer strength of will and sweat rolling down their brows. Like soldiers on parade the brick edging quickly fanned around the edge of the path waiting for its mulch filling.