Clewed Up

The Value of Volunteers

Where would we all be without volunteers? Every single one of us has at some time been the beneficiary of a volunteer organisation or been a volunteer. I feel that I was born to it as both my mother, father and grandparents always volunteered their time and talents willingly and freely from before I was born. I have always found that being a volunteer rewards me much more than any money could ever pay. There is a certain joy that one experiences when a job, task or service is done without the expectation of payment and is given with kindness and the only reward is to see something or someone else happy or helped. Many of our volunteers have reported a significant improvement in their mental health as well as their level of activity and just general health and well-being. This phenomenon is now known as the Melangata Magic and quite often it is so strong that they don’t want to leave. Over the years that I have been involved with the 4WD fraternity I have experienced many clubs, groups and individuals taking on projects and adopting places to be maintained, repaired, cleaned up and just generally left better than they were. Melangata, as I have mentioned before, is the recipient of many hours of work from enthusiastic people who want to come away and not just sit around and still need to keep busy. This past April, the Friends of Melangata Station busy bee saw an amazing amount of work done and jobs ticked off the 'wish list' although it feels like the Friends of Melangata view my wish list as more of a challenge than wishful thinking. The gateway into the camp ground has now been moved away from the facilities and a new entry statement has been made. New shelving has been installed in the cook house for the book exchange, toy and game library. There are now new gravel paths at the shearers' quarters and around the homestead and garden furniture has been rejuvenated and positioned in various sheltered locations around the grounds. The glamp camp has been put back up and the area defined by quartz rocks collected from around the property. Furniture has been moved around to create different room configurations in the homestead and the shearers' quarters and little jobs I have been wanting to get done that I have not been able to get to have all magically been completed. All the wire and old posts from a fence that was washed away has been carefully wound up and the fence line cleared and let’s not forget the stunning efforts of my army of wonderful weeding women who made short work of the couch infestation

Pulling old star pickets. Closing off the original campsite entrance.

The newly defined glamp camp.

in the garden beds so I now have a blank canvas to fill up with flowers for spring (so long as I can keep the Maremmas off it). Most of April's Friends of Melangata group were repeat offenders and as such know the lay of the land pretty well and it takes no time at all for them to get started on something. Most of them now know how to build a fence, operate the bobcat and the various attachments, drive all the station vehicles (although most are itching to learn how to operate Dorothy the dozer. That will be for next time). Keen and passionate we are, but swimming in money we are not, so to make things just a bit more challenging most of the materials that are used are recycled from around the property. Most of the solid, up to 100-years-old, mulga fence posts had been salvaged when we were putting in new fences and have been brought back to the homestead to be repurposed elsewhere around the grounds. Corrugated iron from various outbuildings that have been dismantled has been used for windbreaks and repairing other buildings. Salvaged timbers from a little old shed that was destroyed by a freak summer storm in 2018 have been used throughout the veggie garden to make shade structures for summer. Absolutely nothing is ever just rubbish and most things will have a second or third life as something else if it waits around long enough. Melangata Homestead is a special building and as such I feel a responsibility and obligation to do my best to preserve it so it is still here in another 100 years. I also don’t have a problem with calling on other people to help me out as in all honesty, even though we pay the mortgage, the building sort of belongs to all of us and the more people that feel a connection with the place, the greater chance there will be that there will always be enough extra passionate people out there that will take up the challenge to make sure that it does indeed survive into the future. Special thanks go to all our past volunteers and especially our latest group: Barry and Ann, Peter and Joy, Jane and Bruce, Adrian, Pauline and Laurie, Mark, Allan and Janet. I feel sure we will all meet again.

Benches getting some TLC.

CLEWED UP

with JO CLEWS

Our hard-working volunteers.

Nachos

If you know me (heck even if you don’t know me) then you will know that I will encourage anyone to have a go at cooking just about anything they can think of in their camp oven. The general rule is 'if it can be cooked in your oven at home then it can be cooked in your camp oven'. This means all those tried and true family favourites you create at home can be recreated whilst you are out camping. Sometimes a full blown meal is not always required but a tasty morsel is appreciated and nachos fit the bill perfectly. They are quick, easy, everyone loves them and will be quite a surprise to your mates when they are removed all golden, hot and dripping with melted cheese from your camp oven. This recipe will make two 22cm plates of nachos.

You will need:

1 bag of corn chips, your favourite flavour 1 400g can of kidney beans drained and lightly mashed 1 jar of salsa, your choice of heat 1 onion, finely chopped ½ red capsicum, finely chopped 1 cup of grated cheese 6 spring onions, finely sliced 2 tomatoes, finely diced 200g tub of sour cream 2 tablespoons oil In a pan on the stove top heat oil and lightly fry ¾ of the diced onion and ¾ of the diced capsicum until onion is just slightly browned. Add the salsa and beans and cook for a further five minutes. Evenly divide the bag of corn chips between the two plates leaving a hole in the middle for the bean mix. Spoon bean mix in the centre and sprinkle the corn chips with cheese, place in a moderate oven for five to ten minutes. Take care to check as the corn chips burn easily if the oven is too hot. While cooking the nacho mix combine the rest of the onion, capsicum and tomato together in a bowl and mix together. Remove nacho plate from oven and spoon some of the tomato mix over the corn chips. Apply a generous helping of sour cream and finally garnish with spring onion. I can guarantee that these will not last long so make sure you have plenty of extra ingredients on hand to whip up another batch. Enjoy.