Thanks for the update Grace. My heart goes out to you in your very real struggles.

Hello Grace

Wow, that must indeed be very stressful, I truly hope and yours will get some much! needed rain, please keep us posted.

Thanks anita & farmgal, your well wishes are greatly appreciated.

We are trying to stay calm and accept that we cannot do anything about it, but it's not easy most of the time. From all of this we have managed to try and look at a few positives...no lawns to mow, no muddy dog feet inside, laundry dries fast.. but recycling clothing for as long as possible before washing them to save water 🙂 The fire service from the nearest town are amazing and have delivered us two small tanker loads of water to help us keep going a bit longer. The mental and emotional prepping has been good for us I think, and pushed us beyond what we thought we could do...what doesn't kill you makes you stronger perhaps 🙂

Because NZ's main exports & trade come from our agriculture, dairy, farming, & forrestry, the overall economy will feel it, but people haven't even realised or thought of that yet. Animals for slaughter are piling up at the processing plants because there is far less feed for them or it's too expensive for farmers to buy it. Dairy herds are being reduced left right and centre. Water restrictions on commercial and domestic usage, so fresh grown produce will be affected very soon... you get the picture.

The major corporate money hungry GM crop growers did deals with many farmers this year, leasing much more farm land usually used for grazing, to grow GM's on ... well, they may have thought they would both win all round....don't think so.

Will update with any good news if it comes, thank you, it's actually helped a little to write about it, at least for today 🙂

I wish you all the best Grace.....hang tough. This may sound rude....but I hope it rains there for a month!

Grace, I feel for you - and I'm sincerely hoping you get some decent rain soon.
We've struggled quite a bit this summer as well - we've had bushfires in 5 states (with loss of life), tropical cyclones & massive flooding (twice) in Queensland and New South Wales (also with loss of life) and in Central Victoria we've had almost no rain all summer (with temps between 35 - 42 C almost every day)and the bush and farming country that hasn't been ravaged by bushfire is tinder dry. We finally got a little rain here (17mm in Central Victoria) it's not much I know, but it's a start. Hang in there.
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/01/07/fire-j07.html

Hey Glockman, lol, it doesn't sound rude 🙂 thank you for your kind thoughts. A little rain to start and built up slowly would be ideal, but we are at the mercy of ma' nature and will have to take what she hands out. A whole lot of rain at once would probably be disaterous as the ground would just not take it in quantity. Here's hoping for some relief soon to everybody in the same situation.

Susannah, thank you, we feel for you Aussie mates over the ditch too, been keeping an eye on your events and know that you are much more familiar with this than we are, and have been having more hard times. My sister is there and said it's not good. So difficult to imagine what people have been through there with the fires & flooding.

For us, bushfires are usually rare, but I now have a greater understanding of what you guys endure and expect every summer, it's very stressful having that feeling day and night for a long time. We are expecting to be officially declared a drought zone here and in other parts today or tommorrow. There's far too much of a slack attitude here about the fire risk & ban and the message doesn't get through, especially to morons like our neighbouring farmer....he reckons the bush is still too green to burn & the fire ban is bulls**t. He obviously has never seen that kind of fire before, how fast it moves, and the resulting devastation. My Dad was a firefighter for many years, so we had it drummed into us from a very early age.

So, here's to asking for a little of all that rain in Aussie being spread about for all who need it and give them a break in flood hit areas. I don't drink alcohol, but I'm seriously considering it at this point...at least until the rains come! 🙂

Grace, I agree that it's a stressful time (just knowing that a fire can take everything you've got including your life is reason to be fearful). Fire kills - it's a fact, floods kill too. The DSE, CFA & RFS here are all under incredible stress trying to contain fires that break out all over the country, some of which are deliberately lit (by idiots just like your moron neighbour). There are harsh penalties for people who light fires on total fire ban days (including criminal convictions and even prison) but it doesn't seem to stop them from doing it. I'm sorry to hear that you're getting abused by your neighbour - he risked your lives by lighting that fire so he needs to wake up to himself! Is he being charged for the offence? More importantly, do you have options to keep him away from you and your property? I'll keep my fingers crossed that you get rain very soon- hopefully the front that brought us a little rain will head your way. Regarding the price increases in food (and everything else) because of the drought (declared or otherwise) I believe that you're correct - less product means a premium price (IF you can actually get it).

Susannah, honestly, you are keeping me sane today matey 😀 We've never experienced this kind of stress before.. non stop day after day, night after night... it really takes a toll on the mind, body, and soul. My poor husband is worse than me I think because he still has to be away from home for work and he worries himself sick, especially as the drongo farmer down the road thinks it's OK to light fires right next to our property (well away from his house). I'm told by the RFO that the local authorities are speaking to him about it, but don't know yet if he will be prosecuted. I've half been expecting him to come charging up here again and abuse us again & make threats. I rang police, but the fire crew were more help in that respect really. We are pretty isolated here and have no other close neighbours to help if needed (hence we have always prepped to help ourselves for most things, but fire threat is very different). Have known him quite a while, he seemed a decent sort of person...my dogs obviously knew better 'cause they have never liked him.

As for food & dairy availability and prices.. yes, already starting to hear/read things on TV & news sites...That's usually when it's too late. Our big vege gardens are just big piles of dried out vegetation now, harvested only a few pumpkins & potatoes and a handfull of capsicums & chillies. The rest are dead. The big old grapevine is still hanging in there though and near ready for picking in about 2 weeks...could be time to take the flip flops off and make some vino!! 😀

Grace, I'm glad I can be of some help to lessen your stress levels even if it is just a tiny bit. My vegetable garden was taken out as well by the relentless heatwave with hot north winds (nearly every day) that sucked every bit of moisture out and no rain (even though I was carrying buckets of rainwater from the tank every night in the dark to try and keep them going). My fruit tree's held up (probably because of the noctural waterings they got) so I'm thinking seriously of replacing the raised beds with more fruit tree'sand natives and using large pots and barrels to grow veggies at the back of the house in the shade. You have clever dogs - I've found that if your dogs don't like someone there is always a reason....they are exceptional in their character assessment! Grace do you have a dam on your property? And, if I may ask, which "general area" is your sister located?

You have given me the best day I've had for weeks Susannah... many blessings to you! It's been amazing to be able to convey these feelings to someone who is only too familiar with it and understands. It's the fact that we are tucked right into huge hills in the valley and no real road to speak of that gives you the "freak out" feeling with fires. We do have a large pond further down the valley but it's not easily accessable. I've often thought we might head to that if we had no choice for escape during a fire. We never thought we would ever want to leave this place, it's a paradise most the time, but this last week we would have jumped at the chance to go somewhere else to live, and may still consider it rather than go through this again in future. Perhaps even a big ol' house truck or something!

I think the hot winds have definitely taken much more from the soil, grass and plants than the sun itself. Like you, we walked with buckets of water that comes from the stream to the animal troughs after sunset, otherwise there would have been nothing at all for the vege gardens. I think your ideas about planting in contained pots or barrels is a good idea and I will look seriously at doing that next season.

Yes, very clever dogs they are, and I have retrained them in another language so they can't be told what to do by others...works very well. My sister is on the upper GC, she got hit by the last big storm there. I guess we are learning to adjust to the planets' changes and adapting things to get through tough times.

Grace, I hope your sister up north on the GC coped OK with that awful storm they had - it must have been terrifying for her(both times)! This year has (apparently) been our driest for four years so you guys are most likely in the same boat, so if you really love where you are then just make sure that you have a really good fire plan ready to go! You could live in a city and have the same situation (threat of bushfire) occur so I'd be very wary of sacrificing your lifestyle on the off-chance that something bad could happen. Just be vigilant and enjoy your lifestyle. Any sign of precipitation (not saying the "r-a-i-n" word) yet??
http://www.weatherzone.co.nz/satellite/ The satellite is looking promising!

Yes, she is fine, thank you. It was pretty wild there she said, and it even prompted her to prep a little, something I have been trying to assist her with for a couple of years but she has never taken seriously or done...until now!

I hear what you are saying, as time passes and things hopefully improve here we will get over the stress caused by recent events. It's just so damn difficult getting your head around how/which way to get out if a fire starts on any side of us as we are completey surrounded by huge hills & difficult terrain, but we do have a fire evacuation plan in place and practice it at least 3-4 times a week with the animals included as well so they get used to it and may not panic as much during the real thing. I wish we could just have one night of decent sleep y'know? Sleep deprivation for weeks on end is not helping that's for sure.

Still no sign of any of the "R" word, metservice say they are not holding their breath BUT we may possibly get a small amount in around 10 days time if it keeps on course and doesn't break up on the way. I never ever thought I would be looking forward to winter soooo much!

I know how the lack of sleep makes you so exhausted that you begin to question your preparations (& lifestyle choices) during the "bushfire season" - but when you are well aware of how fast and how huge some of these fires are it's hard to be willing to shut your eyes at night (so I do sympathise with you).....and I'm looking forward to winter too so you're not alone there! The front that hit us (and it had some "r") a couple of days ago should be there soon, here's hoping that you don't have to wait another 10 days! Hang in there Grace!

Susannah, this came up on our weather watch news page tonight. Note that they say this could become the "norm" and see much more of it in future.

If we don't get the small amount of rain that they say "maybe" will come around mid March, there will probably be none until April 😥

Australia: Hottest summer ever on record
Posted by wwadmin on Fri, 01/03/2013 - 19:00
Filed in:News
It's been an incredibly hot summer for Australia and the latest stats out prove just how warm it has been.