Mangana Mission News - December 2010 and January 2011

Dear Family and Friends,
firstly may we wish you all a Very Merry Christmas and a  wonderful  New Year ahead for 2011.
The past year has flown by at warp speed and now here we are planning and preparing for another that has just begun.

Lunch on the Paddlesteamer Resteraunt, St. Helens

Apologies for not doing a December Blog however life at Mangana Mission has been so hectic over the past several weeks that my Blog duties were placed on the back burner.

Francois hard at work at Mountain Mikes

December saw us being graced with 3 great Helpers - Cara from Canada and Justine and Francois from France. The result of this strong team being here was that a huge amount of work was completed around the property.

Cara putting her back into it.

The vineyard has now been planted out with hundreds of Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris grape vines now in the ground. Cara has been kept busy over the past hot week keeping the water up to them!

Justine and Friend

The team also completed and painted the new " Chookingham Palace" where we now have our first real live stock on the property.

Painting the roof of the chicken house

 9 New Hampshire chickens which were collected from Ellindale South West Tasmania on the 9th January. Thanks must also go to Mountain Mike from Mangana Heights for all of his technical and building expertise that helped this project to be such a great success ( as well as being the Co-Driver on the chicken collection trip!)

Chookingham Palace complete

Cara and Justine spent 2 days creating a magnificent painting on the back wall of the stage whilst Francois became a talented lawn mowing expert.



Back wall of the stage thanks to Cara and Justine

Just before Christmas we were blessed by a new arrival at Mangana Mission. After the sad passing of Jeromie we were very grateful to receive a new baby boy kitten - Victa from Gary and Cody in the village. He has proved to be a wonderful addition to the family and is a constant source of amusement to all.

Our new kitten- Victa

We all had a very enjoyable Christmas Day and Boxing Day with lots of laughter, alcohol and friends dropping in. Mangana Central was really hectic!



Christmas lunch at Mangana

 New Years Eve saw us run our second Mangana Mission Party with about 25 friends attending from all over the North East Coast.

Steve and Jason on the stage at New Years Eve Party

Andre after being made up for New Years Eve

Live entertainment provided by Russell on the flute, Steve and Jason on their guitars and Phil from St Helens on his guitar as well. Thanks for the boys for their wonderful entertainment and by all reports a great time was had by all in attendance.

Francois looking coy with a wig on at New Years Eve Party.

We wish you all a Very Happy Year ahead in 2011. May it be filled with happiness, joy, love, success and most importantly good health.
Till Next Time,
Love and Light,
Andre' & Kate

Mangana Mission News - November 2011

Dear Friends and Family,
our apologies for the delay in the posting of the November Blog however life has been very hectic down here in Mangana

The 3 year anniversary of the Mangana Mission has now just passed (1st December 2010) and what a fun and thrilling adventure it has proved to be. The projects that were on our original 3 year plan have now been completed as well as a number that we could not have imagined back in 2007. The vineyard is taking shape more slowly than we had expected however what a large project it has turned out to be! 11 rows of 35 metres in length to be cut into the rocky ground, 88 gum bush poles to be cut and the bark stripped off, 88 holes to be dug into the ground to hold the poles, and then the wires and  planting of the grapes.



Vineyard Posts Finally In !!

 The French invasion has continued with the arrival of Dynamic Daniel followed by Jennifer and Etienne who have all played a major role in the Mangana Projects. Daniel was instrumental in the vineyard post and wire projects as well as the construction of the huge stage surround with the help of mountain Mike

 Daniel relaxing in the Spa after hard day on the farm

The stage surround was a huge job taking about one and a half days to complete however the end result is amazing as will be shown on the December Blog. We are now well prepared for our first Mangana New Years Eve Party in a few weeks time!

Daniel celebrating the completion of the Stage Cover

Daniel sadly left us to continue his Aussi adventures however the next day saw the exciting arrival of Jennifer and Etienne from France. The first reason for the excitement was that Jennifer left her bag on the bus in Fingal and for the first time in 3 years we had to chase the Callows Coach down the 20km road to St. Marys! There was much flashing of head lights on the car as well as a little driving over the speed limit however we finally caught our prey in front of the St. Marys Newsagent and the bag was retrieved.


Jennifer working in the vegetable garden

 A great deal of progress has been made in the vegetable plot with nearly all of the beds being weeded and then mulched (thanks to Jennifer and Etienne )followed by the planting of dozens of seeds and seedlings. We are optimistic of a bountiful havest this summer.



Jennifer and Etienne weeding the vegetable garden

 We have also been blessed by a wonderful French cook in Etienne who has graced us with his cuisinary delights every evening supported by his trusty assistant and dish washer Jennifer. The plants are not the only things growing at Mangana- so are our waistlines!!


Jeromie of Mangana - The Foreman RIP


The last day of November was a very sad day with the passing away of our beautiful boy cat Jeromie. We went looking for him as he was late home for dinner and Vanessa and Marie were already in their bedroom. He was discovered behind the bulb garden in the front yard sadly deceased. There were no obvious signs of any injury so that we think that maybe he had been bitten by a snake. There have not been any sigtings of snakes at Mangana Mission for almost 3 years however Jeromie often roamed far and wide.
He was buried at his favourite hiding spot in the vegaetable garden area with full honours and Mangana Mission will never be the same without him.

We wish you all a very Happy Christmas time and a Safe, Healthy and Prosperous New Year.

The next blog will include pictures and maybe even a video of our News Years Eve Party!

Take Care, Keep Safe and Enjoy Life

Love and Light,

Andre' & Kate

Mangana Mission News - October 2010

Dear Friends and Family,
where has the year gone ! They are now selling Xmas Cards at the local supermarket!

Digging for Mangana Potatoes

 The apparently endless projects continue here at Mangana Mission however the end is getting near. Our 3 year plan is now almost complete and we are pleased to advise that things are looking pretty darn good.

Flora Rotary Hoeing the Garden Beds

This month has seen us blessed with the arrival of 2 wonderful members of the HelpX program from France- Flora and Adrien They spent just over 2 weeks here at Mangana and were actively involved in a number of projects. They helped to harvest the potatoes, rotary hoe the garden beds in preparation for this summers crops, make the trails around the orchard, help create  a pond , collected fire wood ,detailed the 2 vehicles, mowed the lawns and pulled up thistles and spent one day helping Mountain Mike on his property. They also cooked wonderful crepes and Flora was a great dish washer and window cleaner!!

Steve "Mayor" Parker and Jason playing music at the party !

This was over and above their help in setting up the Mangana Muster Party as well as being the signature International Act playing 3 French tunes to rapturous applause!

Andre' & Jason singing at the Mangana Mission Music Night

October has also seen the arrival at Mangana Mission of "Mountain Mike" from New South Wales. Jason made the initial introductions however Mike has now become an integrall part of Mangana Mission. He has proved to be extremely skilled and a font of much knowledge that has been gratefully lapped up by us.We are most thankful for his efforts in repairing the dune buggy as well as supplying over 80 gum posts for the vineyard and spars for the soon to be constructed stage cover.

Mike and Andre- The Mangana Nights!

As another year draws to its inevitable close it is a time to reflect on the past as well as plan for the future. We have managed to survive the challenges that "Cosmos" has dealt us over the past 10 months as well as keep our vision firmly planted upon our "Mission"- to try and create an almost self sufficient livestyle on a small holding.. The farm is now almost complete with vegetables, orchard, berries and vineyard. The only planned additions that we currently have room for are a number of feathered friends  including chickens, ducks, geese and more. They will provide an organic pest eradication crew as well as eggs for the kitchen table. Plans are also afoot for a small flock of black sheep to keep the grass under control and to be friends to Jeromie, Vanessa and Marie (our cats!). There is a chance that we may be able to look at purchasing an adjoining block in the New Year which will allow us to expand the vineyard and run some Clydesdales. Time will reviel all!
Take Care, Keep Happy, Safe and Carpe Diem (Sieze the Moment!!)
Love and Light,
Andre' & Kate

Mangana Mission Mail- September 2010

 Dear Friends and Family,

Spring has arrived at Mangana Mission and has seen the return of the prodigal son- Mike from Scotland.

Relaxing in the spa after a hard day trail making




  Mike has taken up the mantle of being our first ever returnee! This may have been as a result of my desperate email begging his return to help get the property ready for our first big party or maybe it was just the power of the Mangana Vortex!



Mangana Mission Stage and Amphitheatre



 Either way his return was a time of much joy and has resulted in several tons of gravel being moved from up the hill and now laid upon the Mangana Mission Paths. These are not only a landscaping feature but also provide a means for Kate to visit the entire property on her scooter. (  to ensure that the crew are hard at work!)

Andre standing beside the Mangana Monolith

Thankfully about half of the paths are now complete- we now have a trail all the way up the hill to Scotty's Cabin as well as one across the front formal garden to where the Chicken Hilton will reside and one to the stream near to the Mandela Berry Garden. It has been a challenging job however the results are wonderful.We now await the next delivery of gravel to allow another major project to be completed!

Mangana Rock Feature Beside Trail in Front Garden

The hot houses are packed to capacity with vegetables waiting to be planted as well as over 300 grape cuttings that we plan to plant in the vineyard in November.




The Mangana Muster Party that was planned for the 25th September was rescheduled to the 16th October. The organisers happened to forget that the 25th September clashed with a major Australian Cultural Event- THE GRAND FINAL! Thankfully Jason and The Mayor were on the ball and pointed out the challenging clash of dates! We look forwards to an update of the party on our next blog.




Mike planting the first crop of broad beans.



The stage and amphitheatre are now complete after some rather tense times- moving 3 logs that weighed about 1 ton each into position with the help of the Delica and a couple of crow bars. I was fearful that Mike would end up returning to Melbourne being 4 metres tall by .5cm wide! With a great deal of care and diligence the job was completed safely and another feature is now in place for future events.

The period ahead looks quite promising with Gemma and Sean coming from the UK next month, followed by Janelle from Taiwan and then Cara from Canada to see the year out.

There may be some others that we don't know of yet but time will reveal all.

Kate has been having an Art Frenzy spending hours up in the Scotty's Cabin Art Room putting together pieces for an exhibition in Launceston.

Thankfully all of our original plans appear to be coming to fruition. We set ourselves a 3 year plan to regenerate the property and complete all of the major projects by December 2010 and thanks to all of our Helpers and WWOOFERs the dream seems to be becoming a reality! Warm and Sincere Thanks to you all.

Love and Light,

Andre' & Kate

XXXXOOOO

Mangana Mission Mail- August 2010

Dear Friends and Family,

our good fortune continued with the arrival of Mike from Scotland at the end of July.

Mike has been in this great brown land for almost 1 year and was looking for WWOOFING work to assist with obtaining a second years Visa in Australia.

He arrived whilst the lovely Laeticia was still here with us and as "Cosmos" determined, his home town was Edinburgh Scotland- just where Laeticia was moving for her next years university studies. He was able to assist her with places of interest, good suburbs and contacts to assist her on her quest. It truly is a weird and wonderful world that we live in!

Mike the Mangana Barrista at Work!!!

Whilst residing in Melbourne for the past few months Mike had worked in a restaurant and his Barrista skills were gladly accepted with a daily express at lunchtime.

Mike the Bushranger of Mangana

Mike entering the Mangana Vortex!!

During his 3 week stay at Mangana Mike was involved with many jobs and projects including the clearing of gorse,reeds and tussock grass from Stage 2 of the vineyard, fencing the new extended house paddock, rotary hoeing of the garden beds, fire wood transporter and splitter and most importantly trail blazer with the new paths around the property. The work was at times challenging however the results are amazing!

Mike and his Mangana Hoe !!

Mike is also an amzing musician and he was involved with the establishment of a new Mangana Mission tradition : The Friday Night Pizza and Jam Nights. This involves local musicians from the village coming to the Mission to share Pizza, laughs, a drink or 10 and play music,every Friday night. Thanks for your great input Mike and the tune that the Blues harp loved!

Mikes solo jam !

It was a true pleasure to share our lives with Mike as he had a ready smile, great work effort, fun to have around and most importantly loved to wash dishes and was a dab hand in the kitchen! We await your return to Mangana!!!!

Guest Book Comments:
Well guys,my time here has been truly something else! I've been a gorse and tussock grass assasin, fencer (not the sword kind), rorary hoe driver,gravel shoveler,rock carrier,river creator (the most like God that I have ever felt),lumberjack, barrista,chef,flood chaser,and the rest that I have forgotten due to so many good times.And all in 3 weeks!
Thank you so much for making me feel so at home in the Mangana vortex.It can be a scary place what with the mayors stories of ghosts and UFO's and the way time and phone reception dont exist. In reality of course it is paradise.
A paradise created in the unique and brilliant minds that are yours, Andre' & Kate, and made a reality by your hard work and belief and the help of us wwoofer's. I must say I'm ,pardon my French, pretty fuckin proud to have been a part of Mangana Mission and I'm sure that a wee part of it will always be with me. And I'll of course have to return to see the finished paths and the amphitheatre! I've got to come back for ManganaStock! It'll be massive.I'm gonna tell everyone I know and we'll all come om a musical pilgrimage ans it'll be like the original Woodstock only smaller and instead of Hendrix we'll have Jason who's just as mesmerising.
anyway! And Kate will be there on her keyboard and you'll be there on the blues harp and picolo trumpet(when its fixed) and the mayor!!! bashing out tune after tune until 3.00 am. Wouldn't miss it for the world!
So good luck with the music and the pizza and self sufficiency ans love and light and making your dreams a reality.The world needs Mangana Mission!!
A million thanks
Mike X
PS Tell  Jason and the Mayor I say farewll for now M 

Mangana Mission News July 2010

Dear Friends and Family,

after a couple of quiet months here at the Mission with a derth of Helpers or WWOOFER's we have been blessed by an angel.

Laetitia from the North East of France via Paris arrived at our humble abode and had an immediate impact upon our lives and the projects that we had planned to complete over the winter months.

Thanks to her great efforts Stage 1 of our vineyard was completed as well as the Mandela Berry Garden . Laticia also looked after the kittens for 2 days whilst Kate and I travelled to Dover to spend a very enjoyable night with our  friends Kat and Paul at the St. Imre Vineyard as well as obtaining part of the root stock for the upcoming vineyard..

The time she shared with us was undoubtably one of the most special and rewarding of all of the 56 people who we have been fortunate enough to open our home and hearts to. Laetitia thoroughly enjoyed the daily challenges of farm life, applied herself diligently to all of her chores and always had a smile on her face! Most importantly she had a thirst for knowledge and a desire to learn new skills.

 During her almost 3 week stay at "Peaceful Valley she had a trip to visit the magnificent sites of the North East Coast including Scamander.Beaumaris, St Helens and of course Priscilla at the Pub in the Paddock at Pyanganna,. This was followed by an afternoon jaunt up the mountains to Storeys Creek and Rossarden as well as a day trip to Launceston to see the monkeys at Central Park.

We both hope that she will find the time to return to Mangana in the future to help with the pressing of "Laetitia Lane Pinot Gris" and to share her infectious smile with us and the entire township of Mangana!

Guest Book Comments:

Dear Andre' & Kate,

words are hard to find to describe what I feel towards your place.It is home and not home at the same time."Home" because it has everything every Homo Sapien (UGA BUGA) can want in a home "not home" because it is out of place and out of time (well of course because it is in a vortex!!) Something between a dream and a memory of a better place and better time.

As for what I feel towards you Kate and Andre',words are much easier to find: I LOVE YOU! I think those are the best and simplest words I can find.

Be sure that I will be back very soon to enjoy life in the Mangana Way and above all life WITH YOU. I will miss you. Thank You

Laetitia

April 2010 at Mangana

Dear Family and Friends,
another month has passed at "Peaceful Valley"  and we are pleased to advise that all is well and we have managed to complete a number of new projects around the property.
The month commenced with the arrival of Masato from Japan. He proved to be a diligent worker and was always up to the challenges given to him. During his 2 weeks at the property he worked hard in the vegetable gardens,the removal of tussock grass from the orchard, weeding and rotary hoeing of the top garden bed near the cabin, splitting a mountain of fire wood and cooked a number of delicious Japanese meals.
He was a great WWOOFER  and his efforts and commitment will be sadly missed. We both wish him well in his Australian travels and English studies in Queensland.

GUEST BOOK COMMENTS:
"Thank you 4 every thing while stayed here could enjoy all of time.After to Brisbane will study hard if have much more skill in my english we would be able to enjoy much more.Will come back here at this time mangana mission must be much more bigger so cant work alone, will make girlfriend and come back here.Really appreciate for you.Thank you very much for two weeks nice meeting you take good care"
 Masato from Japan

After a short break of 2 days from the time that Masato left us  Michael from Yorkshire in the United Kingdom arrived at Mangana to take up the challenge! He started his involvement with a day of removing our friendly thistles and a very thorough job of weeding the water feature. His weeding was exceptional and no plant was safe from his wrath (this included ferns, flowers and more!) Thankfully the majority of the good plants were saved from the sheep and replanted from whence they came.

After a number of months of watching the lifestyle shows on Cable TV Mangana Mission was abuzz with plans of an internal Spring Clean in Autumn! Thankfully Michael and his partner in crime Mandy from Texas in the USA who had arrived here the day after Michael were up to the task. The entrance way and kitchen/family room were repainted in white (this makes them look bigger!), the trim was repaired and repainted, plaster cracks repaired, lounge recovered and the 80 year old cabinet was stripped of several layers of paint and redone in varnish and stain. We are pleased to advise that the place has never looked better inside!

GUEST BOOK COMMENTS:
"Thanks to you both for a fantastic stay.The glorious landscape is the perfect setting for a peaceful two weeks with the most relaxed people that I have met so far on my travels.The food has always been fit for a king.The spa was very relaxing and the wildlife was plentiful.The days off were not wasted just like the days worked.
Thanks again Andre & Kate (and the cats)P.S. Good luck with the beer and moonshine."
Michael - United Kingdom

GUEST BOOK COMMENTS:
"Dear Kate and Andre',
my time here was some of the most peaceful that I have ever had.Your hospitality made me feel at home right away and also like a real contributing factor to the household which was lovely.I enjoyed your conversation,easy going routine and sense of humor.
Thank you for the tours and the Ben Lammond summit hike.I won't soon forget the beauty of Tasmania now! Remember me when you see the tiny flaws in the new cabinet and walls! There are quite a few. I won't forget you! All the best with the beer and smokes, fried green tomatoes and everything in between"
XOXO Mandy - Texas USA

        

After 4 hectic and fruitful months Kate and I are looking forwards to a little quiet time at the "Mission".The helpers have been wonderful however the pace of the projects has been frenetic. Thankfully the foundation of all of our major projects are now almost complete (except for the proposed vineyard and free range chicken run) and with the days getting shorter and the temperatures dropping we are looking forwards to having some time in front of the fireplace with the kittens!
Take care, thanks again to all of our international family of helpers/ WWOOFER's and we look forwards to keeping you all posted of developments as they occur!
Love and Light,
Andre, Kate and the Kittens!