The pad was rapidly dug into the slope and the earth compacted into cubes and stacked one on top of the other to reshape the hill. Finally the roof was laid out on top of a concrete and mesh slab with square holes cut into it to allow the natural light to filter through into each of the rooms. Soil was shovelled on top of the compacted earth and beds mapped out for vegetables and flowers. Plumbing and electricity were connected; the kitchen and bathroom were kitted out.
9 months after the first clod was removed, Sarah, Albert and Phillip moved into the cool and musty air of their new home, moving their existing furniture, bedding and appliances by horse and cart around the dam. It took a while before some sort of order was brought to the house and it attained that lived-in feel and smell, but with each advancing day they grew more comfortable and the cooking smells merged into the dirt surrounding their lives. The change revitalised them all- the build itself kept them busy, and the transformation of the space into a home filled them with a feeling of absolute contentment.
The move affected them to such an extent that they started to pester my parents about rebuilding and moving themselves. The original groupie shack, despite the continual maintenance and love that Mum and Dad put into it, was now gaining the appearance of being well past its use-by-date. And to my brother and sister-in-law’s eyes the only logical conclusion to this was that they start again.
But to our parents this while notion was nought but the vague speculation of a new generation. They saw no true reason to leave their existing home, regardless of the physical appearance it may present to an outsider. Together they had celebrated, mourned, toiled and loved within its humble confines. All their memories were papered into its cracks and flaws. So there they stayed, caught up in their precious memories until frail and beloved in their old age they would die within 2 weeks of each other through pneumonia and heartbreak.
By the time they were all settled in their new abode, protected from the chill of winter and heat of summer by the tempering earthen walls, Phillip has started courting the eldest daughter of a family farming a valley on the other side of the shire. They had met at after the annual meeting of the shire branch of the Farmer’s Federation, a time when each member of each family involved in the organisation was invited along to share in a barbeque and drinks. The State President tended to the sausages and steaks while the district President serves as his lieutenant, and in time honoured tradition scarcely a morsel of meat escaped the blackening tongue of the fire, and the dogs went home well fed and comatose.
Phillip had only recently began to associate with the farmers from the neighbouring communities under his own steam. His father had challenged him to get to know what was happening on farms outside of his own cloistered little world, to call on neighbouring farmers and foster his own relationships with them rather than merely treading along in his father’s footprints. And so he had nervously set out to achieve this.
He had ventured across to the Monroe’s and Mayfield to get a handle on the idea and technique of talking with farmers about the weather, their crops, their land, their habits and their ideas. It was a tradition intended not just to suss out what the competition were up to, but also to foster a sense of community and an exchange of wisdom.
Phillip listened intently to what his elders had to say, looking for any grains of advice that his father and grandfather had either omitted or had not thought of before. As with everything else he did, he was intensely focussed on what was said and done so as not to miss out on anything. He naturally assumed that his peers knew more about a topic that he did, so tried to absorb as much as possible so that he could put into practise all that he learnt. Sensing this naivety, his hosts, rather than using the occasion for opportunism, were actually more helpful and less guarded than they otherwise would have been with his father or grandfather. Here was a young man trying to live up to the reputation of his forebears, living in their long shadows somewhat that they were empathetic towards him based on his clear enthusiasm and earnestness.
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