Hannah and Paul

I arrive back at Imago Forest to be greeted by two new WWOOFers, Hannah (now there’s two of us which could get confusing!) and Paul. They are also from England, and are going to be helping me in the Mandala Garden as well as pursuing an exciting project of their own…building a small shelter on the property.

Julian, Hannah and Paul go off to Singleton for deliveries this Wednesday so I formulate a list of activities to keep me busy in their absence. In the cool of the early morning I paint wound dressing onto the grafts we planted in the orchard two weeks ago to stop them dehydrating in all the recent hot weather…I pray for success and a little bit of rain! Following this I bag up some grass cuttings that Paul has slashed over the weekend, and spend a few hours raking, sweltering, drinking gallons of water and applying copious amounts of sun block. Lunch time is a much needed rest in the shade of the yurt, safely away from the three brown snakes I’d encountered during the morning! The afternoon is spent in the shade writing and improving my farm instructions.

Thursday comes round quickly and we WWOOFers spend the morning out in the Mandala, pruning, tidying and getting to know each other. We talk about things we miss about England, and things we love about Australia. Julian does a farm tour with a family from Newcastle, and Perra looks on in amazement at all the unusual noise and activity. We sell some of our stock of eggs…the chooks have been extremely busy of late! After lunch we chill out briefly in the cool of the tipi where we chat about Hannah and Paul’s amazing building plans. They tell me stories of falling frogs and kangaroos outside at night and I wonder if I’d be brave enough to sleep out there! In the afternoon I lead in planting two more beds with help from Hannah and Paul. We plant summer vegies that are a little more drought resistant such as capsicum, eggplant and tomatoes, so our veg variety is increasing quite nicely. After a successful day we head inside for a movie and homemade pizza…heaven.