Guest Blogger_Deborah J. Evans

Back in May 2011, I was invited to be interviewed on North Shore Community Radio 99.3 FM by Deborah J Evans. It happened to be Deborah’s last program before she embarked upon something many of us would like to do but most often only dream about: she and her husband, Rod, packed up their city life and undertook a tree change. It seemed only right that I invite Deborah to be my first guest so she can share with all of you what it takes and how it feels to make such a dramatic lifestyle change. I thank her most sincerely for coming on my blog. I just love this joyous and invigorating adventure. The passion Deborah feels for the land is sympathetic with the themes in The Liberty & Property Legends, and her bold tree change in perfect sync with the ideals of liberty and property. While Rod has retired on the land, Deborah currently holds the position of Head Teacher, Business Services, Taree & Great Lakes Campuses of TAFE, NSW.

Breaking news: In the spirit of 'life is never dull when you live on the land', Deborah iphoned an update to her blog... after days of torrential rain her creek is in flood and swelling rapidly. She has sent through pics and video. As we know, this is an ongoing situation. I wish her and Rod well in this tree-changer's baptism of fire - er, rain?

In March 2011, my husband Rod decided that it was time to retire and resigned as the Station Manager at FM99.3; he wasn't sure what he would do next. We had always wanted to do a tree change and decided that the time was right.

I wasn't ready to retire so we decided that I'd look for a job in rural NSW. I applied for two jobs and in mid May I was offered both - decision time and we chose Taree. I resigned from FM102.5 as their Friday Jazz presenter and the Boards I was serving on and we started packing. My start date was mid July.

Oh my god - eight weeks to pack up our home in Marrickville, find somewhere to live in the Taree area, move, unpack, rent out the Marrickville house and start a new job. We did it but it nearly killed us. Rod’s son was fantastic and we would have been lost without him.

A quick trip to Taree at the end of May to look for properties and luck was with us. I found something that ticked all our boxes, was a mortgagee sale so available immediately and - I bought it. Rod only got to check it out on the net prior to purchase and I was sick to the stomach the first time we went there together - I was scared that he wouldn’t like it. I needn’t have worried. Rod loves the place and sees it as a dream come true.

We had a farewell party at the Coogee Surf Club and for those of you who made it, you know it was a wonderful afternoon.

The new job is fantastic, the new house on 10 wonderful acres is magnificent and the new life is unfolding… The two poodles are living the dream of dog heaven.

The house is about 20 yrs old but is a copy of a mid 19^thC house. It is two stories with formal and informal living areas, two bathrooms, a big spare bedroom and a granny flat for our guests. We have lots of room, 10 acres with a meandering permanent creek and more native birds than I can count.

The farm is just fantastic. The land is incredibly beautiful. We have four chooks who have a collective name – The Henrietta’s. We have just bought three steers to keep the grass down in the paddocks and given their job, their names are Victor, Rover and Flymo.

We have had to do a bit of work on the house, and property – a new slow combustion fire, two new water tanks, a pool, outdoor paving, an outdoor wood fired oven and two new bathrooms in the house. We removed the carpet in the house to reveal beautiful polished wooden floors, tiled the kitchen floor, remodelled the kitchen and tiled and carpeted the granny flat. Then there is pasture improvement and electric fencing. Oh yes, we’ve updated the caravan, bought a ride on mower, chain saw and petrol whipper snipper. And we have only been here for five months!

Rod has turned into farmer Joe. He slashes paddocks, cares for the livestock, collects and counts the four eggs per day, and supervises the workmen. He has also joined the local Men’s Shed.

Actually, Rod went a bit crazy in the beginning - that bloke thing. Put him behind an engine and he turns into a hoon. He managed to almost wreck the new ride on mower which needed a new shaft and blades after two days. He got a dressing down from the mower man (and me) that lasted for about a week and now he is at it again. Thank God, he has joined the Men’s Shed - I’m hoping that he can blow off some steam there and make a few bloke friends. We have now bought a second ride on mower, (a rough and tumble second-hand thing) as a paddock basher. He is loving being on the land and being farmer Joe.

Rod is still the executive producer of GMC [Good Morning Country] and the presenter on Thursday mornings. On Wednesday and Thursdays the signal comes from a local radio station called 2BOB (well named) and goes to Sydney via mobile phone, then to Belrose and the Satellite, then to 80+ radio stations around Australia. Isn’t that amazing?

My job is bigger than I realised which is probably a good thing and my team are fantastic. As Head Teacher of Business Services - Taree & Great Lakes Campuses I have a team of about 25 teachers (and they are all great) and about 1100 students, many of whom are online and scattered around Australia.  The section covers Management, Marketing, HR, Accounting, Retail, TVET, Hair and Beauty and Retail Warehousing.

I miss having friends near home but that will change with time as we meet new people. It must have been really hard on people before phone and internet.  We don’t have mobile phone coverage at the farm, we do have a land line and we have satellite internet. It has made me realise how important the NBN [National Broadband Network] is. We are a 30 minute drive from Taree and 15 minutes from Wingham yet we have no mobile coverage and the phone lines do not support internet. Seems amazing to me - but I guess once you get out of town and away from the coast the Telcos can’t see the profit in providing mobile coverage. We could have satellite mobile but the cost is extraordinarily high - and we can’t really justify it.

The summers up here are quite hot and dry in terms of Sydney humidity, although everyone is predicting a wet summer this year. We have a permanent creek and have cleaned up all of the crappy stuff (lantana, weeds, privet etc).  We have picnics by the creek under the shade of the big gums and river oaks.  When we cleaned up the creek we found a big swimming hole, 7m in diameter and 1.2m deep with a gravel bottom – how lucky is that. The water is a bit too cool for Rod (he is a wuss about the cold) but I love it and swim there regularly. It’s a great place to skinny dip. We have built an outdoor wood fired oven and a brick terrace to the rear of the house and Friday night is Wood Fired Pizza night – who needs takeaway. It is the only way to cook on warm summer nights and a lovely way to meet the neighbouring farmers – invite them over for pizza.

As I write I can see my two grandsons (Paddy 6 and Ryan 4) fishing for yabbies in our dam. They are here for a week, their fourth visit. Over December and January we had about a dozen house guests and we love it that our friends are coming up to stay. It’s lucky that we have a granny flat and guest rooms in the house. 

The land is amazing. I have always felt that I have owned the land that I own. I feel that way about the home paddock which is where the house is but that is only 10% of the property. The rest, the paddocks and creek, I don’t feel that I own, more that I am the custodian/ keeper/carer. I think I am starting to understand how the aboriginals feel about the land. It owns you rather than you owning it.  

It is easier being a greenie when you live in the country. We are now eating meat from a cow that we met when it was living on our neighbour’s property. We only have tank water and the postman delivers the newspapers each day.

There is plenty to do in the area. You can camp by our creek, go yabbying in our dam, Wallis Lake oysters are fantastic, good beaches from Foster up to Crowdy, lots of lovely walks, falls and natural beauties. The local pub has great blues on Sundays, the entertainment centre has classical, jazz, county and blues as well as theatre.   

Then again, there is always just the wrap around veranda at the farm and a glass of wine while you watch the native birds feed at dusk. And there is the quiet.   

We have made the tree change and we are loving it - we are living our dream.

Deborah J. Evans, guest blogger.

Post Script: Since writing this blog it has rained for 10 days and our creek is in flood.  Terri has asked me to include a photo of the land, and these 2 shots show our creek in flood.  If I’m invited back as a blogger, the next shots will be of the house, the henriettas and steers. 

 

  

Shot of our land with the creek in flood

I really like this one as you can also see one of the cows

It is amazing how quickly things happen. Except that the main creek is a bit up – everything is back to normal. The rushing waters in the video are normally a trickle of a spillway from the dam that we have named Deborah Creek, it normally trickles into the main creek at the back of our property. We (human and livestock) are all safe and dry. The video is of a flash flood that lasted for about 5 hours. Makes you realise how dangerous these things can be. The Manning is on flood watch but not expected to flood.

Deborah

Terri: Deborah, these flood pics and video are awesome in every sense of the word... the power and drama of water surging across your land untamed! Thanks for sending them through. I've been hoping you would like to return as guest blogger in the near future. Shots of the house, the henriettas and the steers would be perfect! Thanks again for a remarkable guest blog.