Welcome to Sunny Acres DIY, where a steep block, some old gear and questionable ideas collide in the name of learning by doing. Dam builds, fence fixes, utes, tools and plenty of “why is it making that noise” moments.
A very scientific blend of clay, sweat and mild panic, trying to turn an old hole into a reliable water source for vines, trees and grass that wishes it was lawn.
A rotating cast of “this will only take an hour” jobs that somehow become multi-week adventures. Here are a few of the bigger ones.
Clearing the old spillway, checking clay content, reshaping the wall and trying not to end up with an accidental infinity pool in the paddock below.
Swapping saggy rust for straight lines, proper strainers and gates that actually close. Trying to balance practical with “does not look like a prison”.
Racks for timber, places for tools and at least one clear bench. No promises, but the goal is to spend less time hunting for that socket you just had.
A mix of paddocks, trees, machinery, mud and sunsets. Plus the odd moment where everything actually works at the same time.
Simple, practical breakdowns of what actually worked on the block. No fluff, no “influencer magic”, just the stuff that survived first contact with reality.
Walk the wall, look for cracks, animal burrows and wet spots. Check the spillway gradient and confirm where the overflow actually goes when things get serious.
Mark out safe machine tracks, plan spoil piles and always have a “how do I back out of this” route. Gravity is keen and very patient.
Decide what gets patched, what gets replaced and what gets ignored until the next escape attempt. Star pickets, strainers and decent wire do most of the heavy lifting.
These will turn into proper written guides and videos as the projects land. For now, they are a sketch of the method behind the madness.
A bloke who works in tech, loves problem solving and thought “how hard could a steep hobby farm be”. Spoiler, harder than it looks, but much more fun.
Sunny Acres DIY is a personal project and vlog about learning how to run and improve a small hobby farm near the Sunshine Coast. Expect experiments, failures, wins and plenty of on the job learning. Think of it as a living notebook with slightly better camera angles.
The focus is on practical improvements, long term planning and keeping things simple, honest and useful. No perfectly staged farm fantasy, just the real process of turning a block into something special.