"FarmI" ask@itshall be given wrote in message
...

I always feel a sense of real wonder when I contemplate how much can be
achieved over time and with effort and water.

i know!! it's just so thrilling!!!!!! it's nice to know lots of other people
understand this. i feel i've hit upon my life's work :-)

I went to visit some Open Gardens in the Nimmatabel region of NSW some
months ago. I well remember one farm. It was like a moonscape.

Typical Monaro sheep country - naturally treeless and rock stewn but good
basalt country and all it needed was water. It was a 3 km drive into
where the house sat under the lee of an east facing hill but subject to
Southerly winds.

The before pictures were amazing. A disgustingly sad weatherboard
cottage, missing many boards, peeling paint, broken windows with a ratty
old garage set in a desertlike landscape of no grass or trees or
anything - the only thing missing was the pic of sheep wandering through
this old house. It sat in the middle of a big paddock.

To see how much the owner had achieved over a 25 yr period, and the life
they had brought tot his moonscape was astounding. First plant trees and
lug water to them - this went on for years till they built up surrounding
wind breaks. And the garden! It was now a to die for garden. Lush grass
on that rich basalt soil, a thriving veg garden and chook runs and a
superb flower garden with the most glorious Peonies I've ever seen. I can
still see it in my mind's eye. More power to the lady of the house who
did, and continues to do, a brilliant job.

wonderful! very encouraging. i must say i'm lucky in that we have a fairly
good (for want of a better word!) climate here, so it wasn't a moonscape &
there was much to improve upon. (starting from scratch would just overwhelm
me, i'm like that - i can't design :-) but yes. very encouraging. i like to
see other people's stuff.
kylie