Action!

Clearing operations on the ground

At last I can report some action on the ground: the scrub and fallen logs, the weeds and stumps, have been cleared from the block. There was quite a bit of this debris, mostly confined to the back twenty metres. Now, suddenly, there seems to be masses of SPACE.

The clearing job was done by a burly arborist and his two off-siders in the space of a couple of hours on a Wednesday morning. I didn’t see the chainsaws and stump grinders in action, but I arrived to find they had created a wide open space of possibility.

There are four tall trees left at the back of the block, one of them quite stunning, and three at the front. While trees are lovely to gaze upon, they are a big responsibility—falling branches, their general health—so I’m happy to have only these few in my care. Of course there is thick bush behind the back fence, a protected forest reserve which is the responsibility of the sisters of Loreto College. They also own and maintain the security fence along the back boundary (which you can see in the ‘After’ photo above), a fine metal fence through which there’s a lovely view of deep bush.

My first thought when I saw the ‘new’ space was: I may need to double the landscaping budget. My second thought was: writing shed! However, next steps include the survey, bushfire report, arborist report and ecologist assessment.

So you’ll need to Watch This Space.

Celebratory coffee at my Normanhurst local