FRYERS FOREST
a gob smacking place
an intentional community of about 6 families on 330 acres nestled in the Castlemaine Diggings National Heritage Park - 15 minutes from the fabulous artistic community of Castlemaine and 90 minutes north of Melbourne
this is Stewart and Cath's house
May 21 to June 5, 2008
I spent all day on Tuesday May 20th hitch-hiking from Luc's house at Tailem Bend, SA to Castlemaine, VIC. That trip is 552k (345 miles) and is about a 7.5 hour car ride. It took me from 9am until 9pm and I rode with 7 different people. It went amazingly smoothly. If this is a trip to challenge my comfort zone, then this challenge definitely fit.
my new family for awhile - Stewart and Spike and Oscar and the little feathered Snowball who is always in the center of everything - here Oscar is making a secret compartment book and Stewart is helping cut away the book pages
this is THE BARN close to Stewart and Cath's house, a place for all visitors to Fryers Forest to stay, and for now is my little home - a great place to sleep and make a cozy fire in the wood burning stove at night - stack of wood on the left side right next to the composting toilet and the garden is out front
Sandy's yurt and property at Fryers Forest
communal composting area that we made near the chooks - built with some of Sandy's pallets - then Anthony and I scooped horse manure - filled a big trailer with horse manure - then I transfered it into the new compost bins - the chooks were so curious and had to be in the middle of everything - I love these chook girls - loved feeding them - loved watching them run after me when they knew I had the kitchen scrap bucket - and I loved looking for their eggs
Melbourne was not far away so I went to the city a few times - Jon and I stayed there a couple of days to check out the art scene - a great city
one day/night in Melbourne I stayed in this building - the one with the 2 brick stacks - an old kiln for a brewery turned into apartments - the arches of the kiln still the shape of the apartment ceiling with the holes to the smoke chimney still there - great - a beautiful building in Melbourne - many still preserved just like the grain silos to the left of this photo converted into apartments as well - stayed in this old kiln with Sandy and his friends
making sauerkraut at Stewart and Cath's
cleaning out the chook apartment
HARVESTING NUT GRASS
It was so great to see Jon again - he swung by on his way to Melbourne to sell his motorbike - we spent some good time roasting next to the roaring wood stove in the barn.
making bread - great recipe of Stewart's
8 Cups flour
4 Cups warm water
2 Tablespoons honey
1Teaspoon salt
2 Teaspoons dry yeast
baked in the wood stove oven
Snowflake hung out with us everywhere - he went to morning coffee with us on Mondays and Fridays, went on walks with us, hung out with us when we were roasting a lamb dinner in the campstove on the campfire, and even hung out with me in the wheelbarrow chewing on twigs while I gathered tinder for the fire
Stewart and Cath had some great cookbooks and I looked at as many of them as I could - I really liked this one, not so much for the recipes as for all of the stories and history and images of the aboriginal ways of using and collecting native foods
a gob smacking place
an intentional community of about 6 families on 330 acres nestled in the Castlemaine Diggings National Heritage Park - 15 minutes from the fabulous artistic community of Castlemaine and 90 minutes north of Melbourne
this is Stewart and Cath's house
May 21 to June 5, 2008
I spent all day on Tuesday May 20th hitch-hiking from Luc's house at Tailem Bend, SA to Castlemaine, VIC. That trip is 552k (345 miles) and is about a 7.5 hour car ride. It took me from 9am until 9pm and I rode with 7 different people. It went amazingly smoothly. If this is a trip to challenge my comfort zone, then this challenge definitely fit.
my new family for awhile - Stewart and Spike and Oscar and the little feathered Snowball who is always in the center of everything - here Oscar is making a secret compartment book and Stewart is helping cut away the book pages
this is THE BARN close to Stewart and Cath's house, a place for all visitors to Fryers Forest to stay, and for now is my little home - a great place to sleep and make a cozy fire in the wood burning stove at night - stack of wood on the left side right next to the composting toilet and the garden is out front
Sandy's yurt and property at Fryers Forest
communal composting area that we made near the chooks - built with some of Sandy's pallets - then Anthony and I scooped horse manure - filled a big trailer with horse manure - then I transfered it into the new compost bins - the chooks were so curious and had to be in the middle of everything - I love these chook girls - loved feeding them - loved watching them run after me when they knew I had the kitchen scrap bucket - and I loved looking for their eggs
Melbourne was not far away so I went to the city a few times - Jon and I stayed there a couple of days to check out the art scene - a great city
one day/night in Melbourne I stayed in this building - the one with the 2 brick stacks - an old kiln for a brewery turned into apartments - the arches of the kiln still the shape of the apartment ceiling with the holes to the smoke chimney still there - great - a beautiful building in Melbourne - many still preserved just like the grain silos to the left of this photo converted into apartments as well - stayed in this old kiln with Sandy and his friendsmaking sauerkraut at Stewart and Cath's
cleaning out the chook apartment
HARVESTING NUT GRASS
It was so great to see Jon again - he swung by on his way to Melbourne to sell his motorbike - we spent some good time roasting next to the roaring wood stove in the barn.
making bread - great recipe of Stewart's
8 Cups flour
4 Cups warm water
2 Tablespoons honey
1Teaspoon salt
2 Teaspoons dry yeast
baked in the wood stove ovenSnowflake hung out with us everywhere - he went to morning coffee with us on Mondays and Fridays, went on walks with us, hung out with us when we were roasting a lamb dinner in the campstove on the campfire, and even hung out with me in the wheelbarrow chewing on twigs while I gathered tinder for the fire
Stewart and Cath had some great cookbooks and I looked at as many of them as I could - I really liked this one, not so much for the recipes as for all of the stories and history and images of the aboriginal ways of using and collecting native foods
