JUDITH Reid never has to wonder where her husband Ian is.
"He'll be out in the old dairy working on his collection of vintage farm equipment and other paraphernalia," Judith remarks.
Ian has been fascinated with horse-drawn farm implements ever since he bought his first plough more than 15 years ago.
It was completely dismantled and he enjoyed the process of putting it together again.
During the mid-'90s, the couple hunted auctions and clearing sales across Victoria.
As a result, Ian now has more than 100 pieces in his collection that includes mowers, rakes, spreaders, disc ploughs, mouldboard ploughs, cultivators, seeders, chaff cutters, gristers and reversible ploughs.
He estimates that a wooden beam plough is the oldest, while the Asian plough is the rarest.
"It would have been pulled by water buffalo or oxen," Ian said.
He also collects buggy jacks and various tools for repairing ploughs, carts and wagons.
"I've rescued many rusted-out pieces from the scrap heap. All have needed meticulous attention to bring them back to working order," he said.
The collection has grown to include vintage household appliances and farm implements of every description.
"I collect everything from cork screws to ploughs and everything in between."
This extends to buckets, scales, bench drills, lanterns, watering cans, gardening implements, wheelbarrow wheels, wagon wheels, shoe lasts, separators, milk testers, kitchenalia, coffee grinders and butcher's gear.
Ian has had to rebuild some of these from scratch.
All that remained of an ancient wooden washing machine was the metal hardware; the original timber was rotted and infested with borers.
When they moved from Healesville to Nilma North in West Gippsland six years ago, the couple made 68 trips with two cars and trailers to transport their collection.
"We travelled over 15,000km and spent $1500 in fuel," Ian said.
Ian and Judith have great respect for the physical labour endured by women in the days of yore.
"It required considerable dexterity to master this early hand-operated vacuum cleaner for instance," Judith said.
"It needed one person to pump it and one to work the suction part.
"Likewise with the irons. It would have been a hot, arduous task. Some were so heavy, I don't know how the women managed to lift them."
The 80 irons in their collection include coal irons, slug irons, fuel irons, cast irons and a flat iron that once belonged to Ian's mother. One of their treasured finds is a crudely constructed bush timber stand.
"This is a piece of real Australiana," Judith said.
"It has great rustic charm and I was delighted it came complete with the original enamelware that includes basins, plates and cooking utensils."
Other unusual items include a corn de-cobber, a turnip chopper for pig feed, a kangaroo butter churner, a rare engine-driven plough disc sharpener, a hand-operated wool carder, bench - mounted mangles and an old chemical toilet.
There's a cultivator that would have been pulled by a goat for use in the garden and of particular sentimental value is a spray vat once used in the family orchard.
"Even though our ancestors didn't have the technology that we have today, they were resourceful and invented a tool for every task," Ian said.
On Ian's wish list is a stump-jump plough from the Mallee and a Furphy water tank.
"It's becoming increasingly harder to buy big implements," he said.
