Lavender Farm

Winter is upon us. Zima je opravdu tady.

lavenderfarm — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 00:18:56 +0000

The sky is blue but winter is here. Returning from our holiday in summer has been challenged by local temperatures. Our fireplaces has kept our house nice and toasty but the morning frost is not hiding the fact that we are in the middle of australian winter. I have added a few other photos of our house but more importantly pictures of our flourishing citrus trees.

Nebe je modre, ale zima je tady. Krb nas doma krasne zahriva, ale ranni mraz je dukazem toho, ze jsme uprostred australske zimy. Teploty pres den se pohybuji kolem 12-15C. Brrr! Pridala jsem take par fotek naseho domu z jinych uhlu a hlavne ukazku nasich citrusovych stromu. Dari se jim krasne.

Toasty fire. Nas krbik.

Nase baby mandarinka, zasadili jsme ji pred asi 3 mesici. We planted the mandarine only about 3 months ago.

Tangelos – neco mezi mandarinkou a pomerancem. Malicky strom – divim se, ze to ovoce vubec unese!

Citrony krasne dozravaji – z tech tri starych stromu jich budeme mit tuny! Lemons are ripening beautifully – we’ll have thousands from our three old trees!

Zivot nam tu kvete

lavenderfarm — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 22:12:24 +0000

Months have passed since our last post and it’s time to share more photos. Our front rock-garden is doing well and we have lined our driveway with citrus trees. We are yet to pave the area around our house but that has to wait.

Mesice ubehly od naseho posledniho zapisu a je na case abych se podelila o vic fotek. Nasi skalce/zahradce pred domem se dari a podel prijezdove cesty jsme zasazeli citrusove stromy. Kolem domu chceme vydlazdit, ale to bude muset pockat.

Petunie jsou pro me vzpominka na rodnou hroudu! Vzdycky jsme je doma meli na balkone… Memories of home – we always had petunias on the balcony.

A toto je avokado strom v kvetinaci – zatim za domem. Budeme ho presazovat pozdeji. V ostatnich kvetinacich se pokousim pestovat ruzne zeleniny, nez se nam podari udelat poradnou ‘jedlou’ zahradku.

Nase 3 citronovniky jsou letos obsypane. Our lemon trees are full this year!

Toto byl darek od Jimmyho k narozeninam. Ctyrkolka! Pojmenovala jsem ji cervena koza (Red Goat). Ted mame kazdy jednu… My birthday present in 2011 – I named my quadbike “Red Goat”.

Moje houpacka za domem. Nekdy prijdu domu z prace a sednu si tam na chvilku… nez zapadne slunce. Ted v zimnich mesicich je v uschove. My swing behind the house. I like to sit there after work… watch the sunset. Now in winter months it’s in storage.

Tady je nase pred-zahradka/skalka, kterou jsme vytvorili na jare 2010 (zari-listopad). Our rockery garden – we made in Sept – Nov 2011.

Vyhled od prednich dveri. Podel cesty ted uz mame nove citrusove stromky (jejich fotky pridam brzy). View from the front door.

Klokan u domu – chodi k nam casto z lesa na veceri …. ahrm… vlastne jen na travu! Our regular visitor!

Spring is here! Jaro je konecne tady!

lavenderfarm — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 01:03:47 +0000

What a better way to welcome spring than by pruning and planting fruit trees! We decided to extend our family of elderly looking apple trees, plums and lemon trees – they all still a lot of fruit but deserve some younge siblings! We added another plum, a fig tree, cherry, apricot, lime and peacharine. For the past few weeks, wild daffodils have been springing up everywhere, creating spectacular views of our land. It was time to commence the work on our front garden! After a couple of weekends, we’re barely half way through our planting plans, while landscaping ideas keep growing. More granite rocks and paving are now on our list. The photos below are a snapshot of our property in springtime.

Jak lepe uvitat jaro nez prorezavanim a sazenim ovocnych stromu. Rozhodli jsme se rozsirit nasi rodinu starnoucich jabloni, svestek a citronovniku – sice stale nesou bohate ovoce, ale zaslouzi si mladsi sourozence. Pridali jsme dalsi svetsku, fikovnik, tresen, merunku, lime (limetkovnik?) a napul broskev s nektarinkou – v prekladu neco jako broskarinka. Narcisky se pred par tydny zacaly probouzet a vytvorily krasnou louku – nadherny vyhled z okna. Vedeli jsme, ze je cas zautocit na nasi zahradku pred domem. Po par vikendech jsme sotva v pulce sazeni rostlin (ktere jsem opatrovala v kvetinacich uz mesice) a pritom nam plany na ‘upravu krajiny’ – pred domem i okolo domu, stale rostou. Vice granitu (zulovych kamenu) a dlazdeni okolo domu. Prilozene fotky jsou momentky z naseho pozemku na zacatku letosniho jara.

Behind the house – Za domem

Blossoming plum tree – Kvetouci svestka

Kangaroo in front of of our dinning room (photo through a window – chair and a candle in the shot)- Klokan za oknem (zidle a svicka schvalne v obraze).

Sunrise – view from our bedroom window. Vychod slunce – vyhled z loznice.

Apricot – Merunka

Peacharine – broskarinka.

Non-glamorous gardener – nepritazliva zahradnice

Evening – behind the house. Vecer za domem

Our street – nase ulice.

Settled in/Zabydleni

lavenderfarm — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 00:23:19 +0000

Months have passed since the long awaited handover and we are still expecting a few fix-ups. More importantly, we finally feel settled in and the house seems to resemble more of a home (little bit more than at our housewarming party on Australia Day). Winter has delayed our landscaping but with spring just at the corner and wild daffodils springing up everywhere, the next post will hopefully document our first gardening success. In the meantime, our old lemon trees make us proud, apple tree is ready for a dramatic hair cut and plum trees will get covered in protective nets this season (so that we can enjoy the “fruits of our forest” as well). James is eagerly planning a veggie garden trial and we keep talking about new additions to the existing fruit trees. We don’t take our land for granted. Taking walks through our own forest is one of the most enjoyable ways to relax after work. The goats follow us everywhere and love when we take them bush walking – they sniff and nibble on every bark and jump over fallen logs like deer. Life is good!

Mesice uplynuly od predavani domu a stale cekame na par oprav. Co je vsak dulezitejsi je ze jsme se konecne zabydleli a nas dum ted vypada vic jak domov. Zima nam oddalila plany na upravy/vytvoreni zahrady, ale jaro je za rohem a divoke narcisky se objevuji vsude mozne po nasem pozemku. Doufejme, ze pristi zapis na blogu bude o prvnich par uspechu naseho zahradniceni. Mezitim jsme radi, ze nase stare citronovniky nam hrde davaji spoustu plodu, staricka jablon vsak potrebuje dramaticky ostrihat a letos dame na svestky site, abychom si je uzili i my (ptaci je obvykle sni nez maji sanci dozrat). Jimmy dychtive planuje zvlast zahradu na zeleninu a rozhodujeme se jake dalsi ovocne stromy mame prikoupit. Rozhodne si naseho pozemku vazime. Prochazky vlastnim lesem jsou nadhernym zpusobem jak relaxovat po praci. Kozy za nami vsude behaji a miluji prochazky bushi. Ocichavaji a okousavaji kuru stromu kde muzou a skacou pres parezy a pokacene stromy jako jeleni. Zivot je fajn.

Final touches/dodelavky

lavenderfarm — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:16:29 +0000

The last week saw a lot of progress as we are pressing the builder to finish the job. All windows with visible scratches have been replaced (cca 20!) and so were our kitchen cupboards (we asked for no handles to be installed). The fire place mantel piece looks great in glossy white and our balcony has been finally tiled. The soil spreading is finished and the bricklayers are coming on the weekend to change bricks that were discoloured.
We’re quite pleased with the look of our door handles – we bought 40 sets a couple of months ago and the builder has now agreed to install them (instead of those we had to select from their limited range).
Stainless steel flyscreens and doors security screens are scheduled for Monday… all in all, it looks like we’ll be moving soon.

The “girls” already have their house finished – I’m enclosing photos of their 5 star luxury timber resort.

Minuly tyden se toho na stavbe hodne udalo, tlacime na firmu, aby konecne vsechno dodelali. Okna, ktera byla ponicena (poskrabana), byla pred par dny vymenena za nove (asi 20 oken) a kuchynska linka ma take nova dvirka (bez drzatek/klik, tak jak jsme je puvodne chteli). Rimsa krbu byla dokoncena v bile barve a vypada skvele. Balkon ma konecne dlazdice. Hlina venku je docela srovnana a o vikendu prijdou zednici vymenit cihly, ktere byly pospinene a nejdou umyt. Jsme spokojeni s tim, jak vypadaji nase kliky. Koupili jsem jich 40 paru a nase stavebni firma ted souhlasila, ze ty nase kliky nainstaluje (misto tech standarnich, ktere by dodali oni).

Vsechno se posunuje rychle dopredu, tak doufame, ze se budeme brzy stehovat.

“Holky” uz svuj domecek maji hotovy, prikladam fotky jejich 5ti hvezdickoveho luxusniho dreveneho strediska.

Almost there/Skoro hotovo

lavenderfarm — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 01:31:06 +0000

So close we can almost taste it! The electrical and plumbing fit-offs are nearly finished, the team of cleaners completed the first pass and now we mainly deal with the fix-ups. One of these includes the replacement of all interior doors that had their handle holes cut in 10 mm larger than our handles can cover. Initially a small oversight by the builder when ordering doors with 50 mm holes instead of 22mm but now it means a lot more work to paint and fit them again. A similar mistake was made on the kitchen cupboards when no handles should have been fitted and now all the cupboard doors have to be made again.

The balcony is still awaiting its tiles and ballustrading but has been water proofed.

The photos I enclose show some of our light fittings installed without the glass shades. The bathrooms’ photos were taken before the clean up.

Elektrikarske a instalaterske prace jsou temer hotove a uklizeci ceta o vikendu umyvala okna a uklizela co mohla. Ted jde hlavne o opravy a dodelavky jako napriklad vymena vsech dveri, ktere maji diry na kliky vetsi nez by nase kliky zakryly. Puvodne prehlednuti ze strany firmy, ale ted je to pro ne drahy omyl, protoze se nove dvere musi znovu natirat atd. Pro nas je to dalsich par tydnu cekani…

Balcon je zaizolovany proti vode a pripraveny pro obkladace a zabradli.

Na fotkach, ktere prikladam, jsou videt nektera nainstalovana svetla, avsak bez sklenenych stinidel. Fotky koupelen jsou pred uklidem.

Master bedroom/Nase loznice

Master ensuite/Koupelna z nasi loznice

Powder room/umyvadlo a zachod v prizemi (pro navstevy atd.)

Guest suite/Pokoj pro hosty

Guest suite – ensuite/koupelna z pokoje pro hosty

Upstairs bathroom

Upstairs view/prvni patro

Winter sunshine/zimni slunce

lavenderfarm — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 02:15:05 +0000

It was a gorgeous day on Saturday! The winter sun was shining on the freshly spread piles of mud and we had the opportunity to walk inside the house and see the latest progress. In case you ask, no, we are not having professional landscaping company so the job to attack the mud will be ours only.

V sobotu byl opravdu nadherny den! Zimni slunce zarilo na cerstve rozhrabane kopce blata a my jsme meli tu prilezitost podivat se dovnitr na nejnovejsi “vyvoj prace”. Pokud se ptate, ne , nebudeme platit firme za zahradni architekturu, takze na to blato budeme muset zautocit jen my dva.

Garage door/vrata

lavenderfarm — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 02:02:21 +0000

Not a perfect colour match with our cedar gables but not a reason to cry!

Barva neni dokonale sladena s nasimi cedrovymi stity, ale neni to zadny duvod k placi!

Staircase/schodiste

lavenderfarm — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 01:55:27 +0000

Half of the staircase has been stained with “Jarrah”, it will look great when it’s finished!

Polovina schodiste byla ‘namorena’ (je to to spravne slovo?), bude to vypadat super az to dokonci!

Bathroom tiles

lavenderfarm — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 01:46:40 +0000

Our master bedroom ensuite is slowly taking shape. The tiles are very neutral, which allows the dark jarrah double vanity to stand out. We opted for a pebbled border, it is subtle but goes well with the soft stone hues of the tiles (a texture which is not well conveyed through photos). The tiling of the corner spa bath is not finished but I will post new photos in the next few days. The tiler looked puzzled why we did not install a triangular- shaped spa bath – so in case others are asking too: we rely entirely on a tank water so the water usage/bath’s capacity in litres played an important role. Also, we really liked the idea of an oval bath placed diagonally and the corner hob. The builder’s standard inclusion in fact was a corner spa bath but we upgraded it to this one.

Koupelna u nasi loznice se pomalu rysuje. Obklady jsou velmi neutralni, coz vyzdvihuje tmavou barvu dreva nasi skrinky. Rozhodli jsme se pro lemovani/okraj z oblazku – hodi se to k jemnym odstinum dlazdic, ktere maji texturu napodobujici kamen (fotky to dobre neukazuji). Obklady nasi rohove vany jeste nejsou hotove. Obkladac se hrozne divil, proc mame vanu ve tvaru ovalu umistenou v rohu. Nam se to libi vic nez vana ve tvaru trojuhelniku, ktera puvodne byla zapoctena v nasi smlouve. Spolehame pouze na filtrovanou destovou vodu (vodovod nam sem nevede), takze kapacita vany a spotreba vody hrala velkou roli.