By Winston Tattersall

I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that our little rest room/storage room, our little home away from home, is ready. The electrician has been, the wiring is good, we can now boil the billy without boiling ourselves. The plumber has been, we can flush the loo without causing a flood, and the multi-talented Christine McKenna has created a little nameplate for our new quarters - "The Diggers Den". How great it sounds! Now the bad news - there will be no guided tours, the only way to pop in for a peak or to have a twinkle in the toilet is to become one of us, a Linnwood Digger.

In the midst of some of the buildings at Faulds House, there is a little courtyard, well hidden from the view of any passer by. In this area certain people gather, for whatever reason, and keep themselves warm and cosy on cold nights with the radiating heat from a little fire built within a square, bricked-in container, and they sit around this fire in chairs gathered from around this site. Some members of the management committee expressed fears that there existed a potentially high fire risk due to the large volume of combustible material such as leaves and dry grass that lay around in fairly copious quantities within the area. It was thought that the risk was even greater because of the approaching Queen's Birthday weekend and the associated firework displays.

On Tuesday 7th June, in response to those fears, the "Linnwood Rapid Response Team", Pam and hubby Roland, loaded their car with brooms, rakes and shovels and rushed over to do a clean-up job. They slaved away for most of the day, filling 11 garbage bags with rubbish and also ended up with a fairly large pile of leaves, which they left to compost away at the fringe of the green waste heap to the east of Faulds House. I was called in on the following day to cut down the remaining long dry grass and finish the job.

Working Bee on 3rd July

It was a lovely sunny Sunday morning, and at approximately 9.00am or soon thereafter, the Diggers slowly gathered on site, ready to wield pickaxe and brooms, and dig with forks and shovels on their chosen tasks for the day. When I arrived, Pam was already working away, getting "The Diggers Den" ready for us to use for the very first time. Coral, Sue and Flo were just about to get going on their mission for the day, and Russ and Adriana arrived a few minutes after me.

The Three Digateers, Coral, Sue and Flo, decided to recreate a little garden bed around what was once a memorial fountain located in the lawn at the front of the house. They discovered an already existing brick border which they had to re-align in some places. They dug up the soil and pulled out all the weeds, then replanted with some Violas and two Geraniums (all of which were donated by Beth Werner). They also planted a border of Mondo grass, the same Mondo grass (originally donated by Flo McMaster) that was rescued from the large fountain, and some Alyssums purchased from Sundowner with Garden Committee funds.

From the little fountain to the big fountain

Last year, you may recall, the fountain was filled with mulch and that mulch got a bit hot because it began to decay. In order to speed up the composting process we were advised by our horticultural expert, Lesley Appleton, to spread some high nitrogen fertiliser like Urea around on the surface and dig it in and then cover with black plastic. During the composting process, there are millions of little critters down there all hungry for nitrogen, hence the need for Urea. Pam got the ball rolling by purchasing a bag of fertiliser and donated some black plastic. Russ and I then took over. We spread the fertiliser and dug it in, then gave the whole area a light watering. Pam and I finished off the job by covering the entire area with the black plastic. Unfortunately we did not have enough to finish the job and had to buy some more from Sundowner. We did eventually get the job done. So! If you happen to walk by the fountain at any time and you notice the plastic heaving up and down, do not panic, it's just those little critters in the mulch, gobbling up all that lovely fertiliser.

Now you may be wondering why Russ and I did not finish off the job of covering the mulch. Well! Russ had a pre-ordained mission to perform a little bit of land clearing. He and his mower trundled off down the paddock to an area near the side fence, just east of Faulds House in order to clear some space for us to store our green waste as far out of sight as possible. I took a stroll down there just to see how he was getting on and I can tell you this was no Buffalo lawn. He was putting his little mower through hell. The growth was at least 4ft high and some stems were as thick as my little finger. By mid afternoon Russ had done as much as he could, and surprise, surprise, his little mower was still in one piece.

Meanwhile, what of Adriana….?

Adrian has taken it upon herself to be the dragger of the group. Any vegetation that has been removed is usually dragged away to the green waste area by Adriana, with some assistance from others when they have time available, but the principal person on the job is Adriana. Now that Russ has cleared a new spot for the rubbish, she will have further to drag it! We may have to put in a requisition for a little Quad bike and trailer for her to drive around on, or a donkey perhaps. She had a fair bit of walking to do on Sunday, that's for sure.

Pam was kept busy with clearing the footpath around the area of the Den, as well as ensuring that the billy was boiled in time for smoko and lunch. It wasn't too bad getting back to work after smoko, but it was a different story after lunch, but Pam insisted that we had more work to do before we could knock off for the day. At this point, I would like to thank the ladies who brought along those delicious cakes for all of us to enjoy and made getting back to work that much harder.

After lunch, it was all hands on deck to clear away the privet and African olive that had taken over the garden bed at the base of the wall, just outside the Den's door. Some were sawn down, others were chopped down, and still others were pulled down. Where the roots needed to be cut, Flo was there with her pickaxe. She is merciless when it comes to chopping out the roots of any invading plant that happens to be in her way. By day's end the job was done.

At the setting of the sun, we put our tools away and made our weary way home, and I'm sure that we all felt satisfied and happy with our efforts on the day.

A date for your Diary

If you feel like coming to the next working bee and enjoying our new facilities, please pencil in the 25th September 2005, in BIG BOLD letters.

In closing, I leave you with a quote from one of those little books of quotations:

Yesterday is a cancelled cheque.
Tomorrow is a promissory note.
Today is the only cash we have.
Spend it wisely.

I thank you for listening.
Winston Tattersall