I spent the weekend being back in the house I grew up in a place called The Offords Ripplebrook. The Offords was the name of the farm, so called because my Grandfather lived in the villages of Offord Cluny & D’Arcy in England, that farm had been in the family for 1,000 years, who knows why he immigrated with his 8 children & wife in 1914, having another 2 on arrival in Australia & purchasing 109 acres at Ripplebrook in 1921 it was known as Longwarry South but there was a competition in 1933 to rename the area & family legend has it that my Grandmother s entry of Ripplebrook, named for the 2 little creeks that bordered the farm, won. Sadly about 25 years ago my brother had to sell off or buy big to survive, He retains his house & 5 acres, the house built in 1921, the house I grew up in, spent nearly 18 years of my life , the same heavy front door, high ceilings, a hallway that seemed so big when I was a kid, a fireplace that is made of grey stone, the same as I sat by for most of my childhood & teens getting lost in other worlds reading, never milking a cow, but had my chores of feeding the calves & chooks between reading books. My brother still milks 3 nights a week for a friend, his daughters help him, I was astounded it was the last thing I ever wanted to do milk bloody cows but a girl I was chatting to lost her job during Covid & now milks a few days a week, absolutely loves it. My nephew who is 17 works from 3am to 8pm, with a few hours off in the middle of the day, milking 700 cows, twice a day, he loves it, it is definitely in my genes this dairy farming thing, I love cows, they rear a few calves on their little farm & to go down to pat the calves & have the suck your fingers I hadn’t felt that for many decades. There were 2 lemon trees & a orange tree around the house that are still thriving, bearing fruit how old are they I often wondered if my grandmother planted them long ago.

I wasn’t going to stay the night but the house embraced me, gave me a big hug, drew me to stay. After a night of so much delicious food, laughter karaoke with my beautiful nieces , being half Philipino they have beautiful voices unlike me but we had a ball. Sleeping by the fire in my child hood home I honestly felt protected & an all encompassing feeling of memories past swirled around, a childhood of cakes, lamb shank soup always on the woodstove every winter, a warmth embraced me,the meaning of home sweet home has some resonance with me now. I left as soon as I finished high school and have never slept there since.

The grass is as green as it ever was, the cows are calming, the view hasn’t changed much, gently undulating land.Gumboot country.

Its a wonderful thought knowing that this house will be venturing into its hundredth year filled with laughter, love & the same family that built it.