Bidadisndat
Contributing Member
When Dirk’s parents returned to the city on the Monday afternoon it was after having seen the town and the village plus a good deal of the surrounding countryside, and had met many of the friends he and Sally had made, all of whom had left a very good impression. Bjorn had also helped his son put corrugated sheets of clear Alsynite on top of the pergola over the front deck, and suggested that perhaps sometime in the future it could be enclosed with clear plastic roll-up café curtains, thus turning it into a sun-room of sorts.
There was some discussion about where the generator should be sited so that it could supply power to both the workshop and the cottage without the sound of its running being intrusive to either, however it was decided to leave it where it was for the time being.
The workshop would need to be enlarged, said Rob, and it wouldn’t need to be triangular as suggested some time before by Sally, because he’d enrolled to do a Small Engine Maintenance and Repair Course at the TAFE College, and would eventually need a workbench of his own. He had done this after learning that the mower repair man in town wanted to retire and for some time had been looking for someone to buy out his business, but so far without success.
“I find that rather surprising,” he added, “because he always seems to be busy and has lots of customers lined up with machines that need to be attended to. Not just lawn mowers but also whipper-snippers, brush-cutters, chainsaws, log-splitters, generators and Lord knows what else. You’d think there’d be quite a few people wanting to take it on and be their own boss, wouldn’t you?”
“That’s because he wants to sell the building along with the business and his asking price is considered by most to be way too high,” said Dirk. “Frank and I were over there last week to have the post-hole digger looked at - gear box is stuffed - and were asked if we knew anyone who might be interested. Mind you, he’s apparently being saying that he’d like to retire for the past ten years, so maybe no one’s taking him seriously.”
“How much does he want for it, did he say?”
“He told me he’s hoping to get around $32,000 for the whole shebang. It’s well known that he always pays all his bills on time so his accounts payable would be minimal, but as he usually gets paid promptly for the work he does his accounts receivable wouldn’t amount to much if anything either. From what I understand he doesn’t keep much in the way of saleable stock other than spare parts, and if you take out that, plus any equipment that goes with the sale, and the market value of the premises, I think his asking price is probably based a lot on goodwill.”
“$32,000 is way more than I’d want to pay even if I did have the cash. Just out of curiosity, what do you think the building’s worth?”
“No idea, but I suppose I could find out for you if you really want to know.”
“Nah. I haven’t even started the TAFE course yet and I reckon you’d need quite a bit of experience in the field before approaching a bank for a loan, and I’m not thinking of getting into that business anyway. I’m doing the course mainly because I’m concerned about having nobody around here to repair our machines if they break down after he finally does retire, though admittedly it might also be way to earn a bit of pocket money further down the track.”
“It’s a good idea, but if somebody did want you to work on something it’d be best if they dropped it off and picked it up at the recycling centre rather than have them come here.”
“Oh, that’s for sure,” said Rob who in truth hadn’t given any thought to that aspect until now but would in future be careful to keep it in mind.
With the days now noticeably shorter and cooler there was less call for Dirk to assist Frank with fencing jobs, which meant more time could be devoted to projects around the farm, and all agreed that work on the veggie garden plus establishing a productive food forest of fruit and nut trees would take priority.
Close behind that of course was the construction of the fishing shack with the intention of having it ready for occupation by next summer, giving them a good six months during which they would all work like Billy-o to complete the build.
A greenhouse was a structure that would need to be put up soon and to that end Dirk and Sally drove into town a couple of days later and purchased the HDPE pipe and star pickets to be used for the arches supporting its shadecloth covering. Whilst not selling either product themselves the staff at the irrigation shop advised them that they should also use polycarbonate film in combination with the shadecloth to help retain heat, and they were fortunate to find that it could be purchased in wide rolls at the hardware store where they were buying the shadecloth.
Rob had taken it upon himself to visit the person who he knew had the type of greenhouse that Dirk wanted, and after spending some time examining it and talking to the owner was able to provide some sound advice when the group’s own was erected on the following Sunday. He turned up at the greenhouse site early that morning with a large stack of pre-drilled wooden battens and all the nuts and bolts needed to attach them lengthways between the arches, both to make the structure more rigid and to help prevent its cover from sagging.
Oriented so that its length ran North-South, a perimeter of 2” x 6” treated pine sleepers was laid down and would be used to secure the shadecloth around the base as well as contain a thick bed of coarse woodchips for the floor. A full truckload of chips was to be delivered FOC by Dave’s mate Charlie who had contracts with the local council and the power company to do tree trimming, and until he’d met Dave had had problems trying to offload the chips and mulch produced by his big machine. Dave had offered him the use of his farm to dump some of the stuff with the idea of using it himself, but without realising just how much there would be... And there was literally tons of it.
Measuring four metres by ten it wasn’t an overly large greenhouse, but it would not only be sufficient to begin raising the many seedlings they needed for later transplanting but also house plants that didn’t grow well in the full sun of a hot Australian summer. During that time the polycarbonate film covering could be removed to turn it into a shade-house, although it was later agreed that the more practical suggestion made by Reb after the fun of putting the film on in the first place was shared by all, a second structure should be built for that sole purpose. Ventilation, needed to lessen high humidity within would at this time be achieved by simply rolling up the covers at each end, although Dirk’s plan was that sometime in the future the end covers would be replaced by doors and flaps that could be opened would be placed between the arches along the length of each side. He’d also have to knock up several trestles that would support long planks running the full length of the southern side to be used as a potting bench and to hold seed trays, leaving space on the opposite side clear for pots containing advanced seedlings.
Charlie turned up with the woodchips and his two sons, Adam and Troy, on the Tuesday just before noon, and with all wielding mulching forks and rakes it took less than a half hour to have the entire truckload spread evenly throughout the length of the greenhouse. Whilst they were doing that, and despite Charlie saying it wasn’t necessary, Sally had prepared a large plate of sandwiches and big mugs of hot soup for them and as they all sat around the table for lunch Dirk told Charlie that if he ever had more woodchips and mulch than Dave could handle he’d be welcome to offload it right here.
“I’m sure Dave won’t have a problem with that at the moment,” replied Charlie with a laugh. “I don’t think he had any idea how much our chipper turns out each week so I’d be happy to bring it here until he decides he needs more than he’s got already. But what are you going to do with it?”
“Just let it rot,” said Dirk, and then laughed at the look on Charlies face. “No, seriously, Charlie, that’s what I intend to do, though maybe I should have said compost it. You’ve seen our veggie garden and to you it probably looks good, but believe me, it took a lot of work to get it to where it’s at now. The soil here is really sandy and we had to add lots of grass clippings, horse poop, loam and store-bought compost to begin turning it into relatively good gardening soil. I figure it’d be easier if we were able to make our own compost on site, and that’s where you come in: If we make a long pile of woodchips and add grass clippings, horse poop and blood and bone meal it’ll eventually decompose into a good additive we can mix with the dirt here.”
“Sounds like a very long-term plan, Dirk.”
“We don’t plan on going anywhere anytime soon Charlie, and I think if we do it right we could be using some of the compost as early as next autumn.”
“The chips I delivered are quite big because they came from the old machine we use now, but the new model we’re getting at the end of next month turns out much finer mulch which will probably be even better for what you want.”
“Actually the coarse chips can be put to good use Charlie, and we’d be happy to take all you can deliver until you switch to your new machine.”
“That’ll be no problem ‘coz we’ve got quite a lot of work lined up at the moment. How soon can we start bringing it in?”
“Just as soon as you like. I’ll mark out an area alongside the chicken run where you can offload, though you’ll have to remember to leave a bit of clear space around the gate on the side so I can get my wheelbarrow through.”
“You said you also used grass clippings. Where’d you get those?”
“The grass here was pretty long when we first arrived and that gave us a good start, but unfortunately the beautifully manicured field of weeds spread before you now isn’t going to yield nearly as much, so I don’t mind at all if you want to add your own lawn clippings to the mulch.”
“Not so much mine: A guy I know has a lawn mowing business and he pays me to take bales of the stuff off his hands on a regular basis. I toss them in with the loads I take to the council’s tip where I have to pay a fee for the service, so if you want them it’d save me a few dollars. A win-win arrangement if ever there was one I reckon. Well, apart from the council that is, but they’re already losing out because Dave’s taking the mulch off my hands.”
It was an arrangement that Dirk and Sally were quite happy to agree with.
“Where’d you get the horseshit?” asked Troy, earning a glare of disapproval from his father for speaking, to his mind, indelicately in front of a lady.
“We get it free from a woman who runs horses on the other side of town,” Dirk told him. “We’d like to get a lot more than she can give us but at a dollar fifty a bag from most places around here it’d work out to be too expensive.”
“Why not see if you can get manure from the stock sales yards at Maitland or Singleton?” said Adam, but emphasising the word manure with a cheeky grin at his father and a sidelong look at his brother.
“We didn’t think of that. Brilliant suggestion, Adam,” said Dirk.
“Yes, especially as it’d be mostly cow manure, which I’ve read is even better for growing fruit and vegetables than horseshit,” added Sally, and the emphasis she’d placed on the last word set the two boys to laughing so hard that even Charlie had to join in.
“I don’t think I’d put cow or horse manure on my strawberries though,” she added when the sound died down.
“Oh really? What would you put on them?” Troy asked innocently, and her answer of “Cream” sent both boys into another paroxysm of laughter.
There was some discussion about where the generator should be sited so that it could supply power to both the workshop and the cottage without the sound of its running being intrusive to either, however it was decided to leave it where it was for the time being.
The workshop would need to be enlarged, said Rob, and it wouldn’t need to be triangular as suggested some time before by Sally, because he’d enrolled to do a Small Engine Maintenance and Repair Course at the TAFE College, and would eventually need a workbench of his own. He had done this after learning that the mower repair man in town wanted to retire and for some time had been looking for someone to buy out his business, but so far without success.
“I find that rather surprising,” he added, “because he always seems to be busy and has lots of customers lined up with machines that need to be attended to. Not just lawn mowers but also whipper-snippers, brush-cutters, chainsaws, log-splitters, generators and Lord knows what else. You’d think there’d be quite a few people wanting to take it on and be their own boss, wouldn’t you?”
“That’s because he wants to sell the building along with the business and his asking price is considered by most to be way too high,” said Dirk. “Frank and I were over there last week to have the post-hole digger looked at - gear box is stuffed - and were asked if we knew anyone who might be interested. Mind you, he’s apparently being saying that he’d like to retire for the past ten years, so maybe no one’s taking him seriously.”
“How much does he want for it, did he say?”
“He told me he’s hoping to get around $32,000 for the whole shebang. It’s well known that he always pays all his bills on time so his accounts payable would be minimal, but as he usually gets paid promptly for the work he does his accounts receivable wouldn’t amount to much if anything either. From what I understand he doesn’t keep much in the way of saleable stock other than spare parts, and if you take out that, plus any equipment that goes with the sale, and the market value of the premises, I think his asking price is probably based a lot on goodwill.”
“$32,000 is way more than I’d want to pay even if I did have the cash. Just out of curiosity, what do you think the building’s worth?”
“No idea, but I suppose I could find out for you if you really want to know.”
“Nah. I haven’t even started the TAFE course yet and I reckon you’d need quite a bit of experience in the field before approaching a bank for a loan, and I’m not thinking of getting into that business anyway. I’m doing the course mainly because I’m concerned about having nobody around here to repair our machines if they break down after he finally does retire, though admittedly it might also be way to earn a bit of pocket money further down the track.”
“It’s a good idea, but if somebody did want you to work on something it’d be best if they dropped it off and picked it up at the recycling centre rather than have them come here.”
“Oh, that’s for sure,” said Rob who in truth hadn’t given any thought to that aspect until now but would in future be careful to keep it in mind.
With the days now noticeably shorter and cooler there was less call for Dirk to assist Frank with fencing jobs, which meant more time could be devoted to projects around the farm, and all agreed that work on the veggie garden plus establishing a productive food forest of fruit and nut trees would take priority.
Close behind that of course was the construction of the fishing shack with the intention of having it ready for occupation by next summer, giving them a good six months during which they would all work like Billy-o to complete the build.
A greenhouse was a structure that would need to be put up soon and to that end Dirk and Sally drove into town a couple of days later and purchased the HDPE pipe and star pickets to be used for the arches supporting its shadecloth covering. Whilst not selling either product themselves the staff at the irrigation shop advised them that they should also use polycarbonate film in combination with the shadecloth to help retain heat, and they were fortunate to find that it could be purchased in wide rolls at the hardware store where they were buying the shadecloth.
Rob had taken it upon himself to visit the person who he knew had the type of greenhouse that Dirk wanted, and after spending some time examining it and talking to the owner was able to provide some sound advice when the group’s own was erected on the following Sunday. He turned up at the greenhouse site early that morning with a large stack of pre-drilled wooden battens and all the nuts and bolts needed to attach them lengthways between the arches, both to make the structure more rigid and to help prevent its cover from sagging.
Oriented so that its length ran North-South, a perimeter of 2” x 6” treated pine sleepers was laid down and would be used to secure the shadecloth around the base as well as contain a thick bed of coarse woodchips for the floor. A full truckload of chips was to be delivered FOC by Dave’s mate Charlie who had contracts with the local council and the power company to do tree trimming, and until he’d met Dave had had problems trying to offload the chips and mulch produced by his big machine. Dave had offered him the use of his farm to dump some of the stuff with the idea of using it himself, but without realising just how much there would be... And there was literally tons of it.
Measuring four metres by ten it wasn’t an overly large greenhouse, but it would not only be sufficient to begin raising the many seedlings they needed for later transplanting but also house plants that didn’t grow well in the full sun of a hot Australian summer. During that time the polycarbonate film covering could be removed to turn it into a shade-house, although it was later agreed that the more practical suggestion made by Reb after the fun of putting the film on in the first place was shared by all, a second structure should be built for that sole purpose. Ventilation, needed to lessen high humidity within would at this time be achieved by simply rolling up the covers at each end, although Dirk’s plan was that sometime in the future the end covers would be replaced by doors and flaps that could be opened would be placed between the arches along the length of each side. He’d also have to knock up several trestles that would support long planks running the full length of the southern side to be used as a potting bench and to hold seed trays, leaving space on the opposite side clear for pots containing advanced seedlings.
Charlie turned up with the woodchips and his two sons, Adam and Troy, on the Tuesday just before noon, and with all wielding mulching forks and rakes it took less than a half hour to have the entire truckload spread evenly throughout the length of the greenhouse. Whilst they were doing that, and despite Charlie saying it wasn’t necessary, Sally had prepared a large plate of sandwiches and big mugs of hot soup for them and as they all sat around the table for lunch Dirk told Charlie that if he ever had more woodchips and mulch than Dave could handle he’d be welcome to offload it right here.
“I’m sure Dave won’t have a problem with that at the moment,” replied Charlie with a laugh. “I don’t think he had any idea how much our chipper turns out each week so I’d be happy to bring it here until he decides he needs more than he’s got already. But what are you going to do with it?”
“Just let it rot,” said Dirk, and then laughed at the look on Charlies face. “No, seriously, Charlie, that’s what I intend to do, though maybe I should have said compost it. You’ve seen our veggie garden and to you it probably looks good, but believe me, it took a lot of work to get it to where it’s at now. The soil here is really sandy and we had to add lots of grass clippings, horse poop, loam and store-bought compost to begin turning it into relatively good gardening soil. I figure it’d be easier if we were able to make our own compost on site, and that’s where you come in: If we make a long pile of woodchips and add grass clippings, horse poop and blood and bone meal it’ll eventually decompose into a good additive we can mix with the dirt here.”
“Sounds like a very long-term plan, Dirk.”
“We don’t plan on going anywhere anytime soon Charlie, and I think if we do it right we could be using some of the compost as early as next autumn.”
“The chips I delivered are quite big because they came from the old machine we use now, but the new model we’re getting at the end of next month turns out much finer mulch which will probably be even better for what you want.”
“Actually the coarse chips can be put to good use Charlie, and we’d be happy to take all you can deliver until you switch to your new machine.”
“That’ll be no problem ‘coz we’ve got quite a lot of work lined up at the moment. How soon can we start bringing it in?”
“Just as soon as you like. I’ll mark out an area alongside the chicken run where you can offload, though you’ll have to remember to leave a bit of clear space around the gate on the side so I can get my wheelbarrow through.”
“You said you also used grass clippings. Where’d you get those?”
“The grass here was pretty long when we first arrived and that gave us a good start, but unfortunately the beautifully manicured field of weeds spread before you now isn’t going to yield nearly as much, so I don’t mind at all if you want to add your own lawn clippings to the mulch.”
“Not so much mine: A guy I know has a lawn mowing business and he pays me to take bales of the stuff off his hands on a regular basis. I toss them in with the loads I take to the council’s tip where I have to pay a fee for the service, so if you want them it’d save me a few dollars. A win-win arrangement if ever there was one I reckon. Well, apart from the council that is, but they’re already losing out because Dave’s taking the mulch off my hands.”
It was an arrangement that Dirk and Sally were quite happy to agree with.
“Where’d you get the horseshit?” asked Troy, earning a glare of disapproval from his father for speaking, to his mind, indelicately in front of a lady.
“We get it free from a woman who runs horses on the other side of town,” Dirk told him. “We’d like to get a lot more than she can give us but at a dollar fifty a bag from most places around here it’d work out to be too expensive.”
“Why not see if you can get manure from the stock sales yards at Maitland or Singleton?” said Adam, but emphasising the word manure with a cheeky grin at his father and a sidelong look at his brother.
“We didn’t think of that. Brilliant suggestion, Adam,” said Dirk.
“Yes, especially as it’d be mostly cow manure, which I’ve read is even better for growing fruit and vegetables than horseshit,” added Sally, and the emphasis she’d placed on the last word set the two boys to laughing so hard that even Charlie had to join in.
“I don’t think I’d put cow or horse manure on my strawberries though,” she added when the sound died down.
“Oh really? What would you put on them?” Troy asked innocently, and her answer of “Cream” sent both boys into another paroxysm of laughter.
