Fencing Part 3: Dip your poles, droppers and fence

August 31, 2015 by easternhighlander

So we’ve started dipping the giant pile of poles, one by one, two by two! At this stage we reckon on needing 450 poles and droppers at 10m spacing.

Poles dipped in carboliniumPoles dipped in carbolinium

Poles dipped in preservative

Three by three also possible.

Poles dipped preservative

Garikai is determined to catch that sun.

Poles dipped in preservative

Poles leaving the dip tank

Reflecting in the dip tank

Don’t forget the secret sauce

Dipped pole

Now a giant pile of dipped poles

Happy Days Pole Dipping Plant

Part way through we also dipped the rolls of veld fence (Bonox fence) in bitumen to provide some protection to the bottom of the fence in contact (or buried) in the ground. No pictures of the operation due to yours truly being the ‘senior driver’ but we used the forklift attachment on the front loader to pick up each roll held on end. Then dipped it in the butumin and placed it on the stack shown below. Each roll is 100m and weighs approx. 90 kg.

Bitumin dipped veld fence

Bitumin dipped Bonox fencing

Fencing Part 2: Produce your own poles and droppers

August 5, 2015 by easternhighlander

In clearing the fireguard area more completely this year we have been able to tackle a large area of Wattle trees and make our own fencing poles and droppers (narrower supporting poles).

The Wattle is a highly invasive foreign species i.e. a weed in Zimbabwe that is out of control. Seeds can stay dormant for 50-70 years so its not going away anytime soon. Based on the clearing of the fireguard last year I can see new saplings (from previous roots) growing to 2.5m high in a single year! That is no joke when it comes to trying to control the spread and growth of this tree.

Wattle trees on the boundary

Loading 3m droppers on the trailer

Wattle droppers loaded up

Arriving at their temporary resting place to be skinned by hand

Below right you can see the already de-barked poles left to dry in the sun.

Ramius and crew unload

Off they come

Mid air wattle

Garikai with de-barked pole

Wattle pole before drying

Still very heavy as you can see

Wattle poles after a month of so of drying in the sun

Wattle poles after a month or so of drying in the sun

OK lets end with a true local botanical – at least in the foreground (wattle and pine in the background of both pictures below – you see the challenge!)

Indigenous aloe in winter bloom. Mufenge to left and right.

Aloe arborescens blooming on Hornbydale

What is 4500kg, 80 HP, 4 WD ?

July 18, 2015 by easternhighlander

Back in Feb 2015 we took delivery of the best toy ever. Here is a sneak preview:

What is that in yellow … a front loader perhaps!

As well as some other bits and bobs:

Double axle trailer

Potato lifter undergoing refurbishment

And in Steampunk mode …

Mr Chihwy the welder

Petra has puppies!

October 19, 2014 by easternhighlander

Labour pains

Back in August Petra gave birth to seven small Jack Russell puppies in the high-tech Hornbydale birthing suite. Yours truly was midwife for the day – though in the end Petra was an excellent mother and knew exactly what to do. Extra heat lamps provided as it was still winter here in Zim. In the end five pups have survived and are doing well. More ‘cute’ pictures and their names to follow (after much lively discussion, a high level board meeting and a shareholder vote).

Petra resting

The puppies

The birthing suite

Petra nursing

Our play pen outside

Three puppies

Danger! Men at work

July 17, 2014 by easternhighlander

We have a few tricky overhanging tree and branch projects. Something that Tendai and I get up to with the 6 ton winch when everyone else is away (pure coincidence)! Obviously he is the brave one here… (with me safety on the ground working the winch and taking these pictures).

Mr Tendai tree cutting

Pulling tree branches with 6 ton winch

6 ton winch pulling gum tree branch

Tendai at work

Wind damaged gum branch

Tendai making rope holds in gum tree

Tendai using rope to shin up gum tree

This row of tall gum trees remains a pending project themselves.

Operation Fireguard

July 13, 2014 by easternhighlander

It’s a cold, dry winter here in the Eastern Highlands. Soon the grass burning season will begin as the vegetation becomes completely dry like tinder. For the last month we have urgently been working on our fire guard. This will protect the property from fires that get out of control and blown in our direction. Judging by the tree height it looks like this is the first time in 20 years that it has been properly done. We have chosen a 6m wide, 4.5km route right round the property that has to be totally denuded of vegetation, trees, grass – the lot . This will hopefully prevent any fire jumping onto out plot. Below is a picture of the new fire guard, taken from one of our southern side boundary pegs going west for 900m.

Hornbydale fire guard

Following is a ‘before and after’ of a northern 700m stretch facing Troutbeck. In the top right you can see some of our cleared fields showing brown in colour.

Hornbydale northern boundary

And after the team has been through!

Hornbydale northern fire guard

This picture is a very good example demonstrating the reason why a fire guard is important. A nearby property (in white) completely burnt out. Our own property suffered a huge amount of tree loss 2 years ago and lost one small building – which we are now refurbishing.