Peppercorn 'party tree'

Dad has made a big symbolic step forward in his dream of having a 'hobbit house'. He has planted the "Party Tree".

According to Wikipedia, the Party Tree from Tolkien's writings is "a tree that grew near the Bag End in the Shire. During the renowned party held by Bilbo Baggins in S. R. 1401, a huge tent was build around it, where the main guests were assembled".

So, it needed to be planted somewhere level and to be of a kind that would grow fast in the dry conditions. We decided upon a peppercorn tree as it looks nice and should be a great feature shade tree out in the paddock for the sheep. :-)

Passionfruit vines in the orchard

As a surprise, Dad did some more orchard planting. He had the idea of putting in passionfruits to grow high along the wire fence.

I hope they survive - Dad was told that if they can get through first year OK then they should just take off. Even when it is dry at our place, there is water in the soil below so they just have to tap down deep roots. So fingers crossed!

Round the corner on the old house...

Dad has now moved on from the side verandah to focus attention on the back of the house. This was where there used to be an extension, but because the roof wasn't replaced it was virtually fallen down.

This is what it looked like when we bought it:


Last weekend, Dad and Pete knocked the rotten parts down, and got it cleared ready for Dad to start working on replacing the weatherboards and installing windows.

Now it looks like this:


They salvaged as much as they could, so now we have yet more Piles of Stuff. But it'll be worth it, I'm sure I'll be able to build a shed or something out if whatever they can't re-use.

So exciting to see more changes underway... :-)