Around the "farm"...

Actually, I took these photos a few weeks ago and didn't get a chance to post them. At the moment we are experiencing hot westerly winds frequently and have had very little rain. The paddocks are dry and crispy and we really need some rain soon.

I harvested 2.5kg of beetroot and pickled and bottled it. We have been loving it with salad for lunch and I'm hoping the new crop grows quickly as we are charging through the bottles I made!

The apple and pear trees were flowering and now have fruit growing. They were here when we came so I have no idea what variety they are or when I should expect them to be fruiting.

We have five new chicks- supposedly Black Australorps but in reality a cross breed by the look of the mix of feathers they have. They have grown so much since I took these photos. We deliberately bought large, heavy birds this time, so that any that turn out to be roosters will be good for dinner. 

Our lambs have also grown.  They have gotten out a few times lately and caused trouble trying to catch them, so I have been thinking how plump and juicy they are looking! But...we are keeping these ewe lambs as our new breeding stock, so no roast lamb yet. It turned out that the other ewe we bought was not actually in lamb (just fat!!) which is disappointing. If she doesn't lamb next season she will have to go.

 We got rid of the other rooster, who was a bit cranky, so now Shadow rules the roost. He is an Ancona, and most handsome!

Hope your garden is growing well, and your animals thriving! My thoughts are with all those whose homes, gardens and animals have been affected by the NSW bushfires.

Newborns

On Wednesday afternoon we fed the animals as usual. All of them come around bleating, neighing and clucking their expectations of a good feed; it's a great habit as they come to me and I can check their well-being. 

I noticed that one of the ewes, Mary, had a very enlarged udder and a rather swollen-looking rear end.  After the feed I kept watching her and noticed that she wandered off by herself, lay down and then got up again. We weren't expecting lambs for another few weeks but didn't really know for sure. Since we've seen foxes here the last few mornings I quickly got the kids to help move the sheep to a safer paddock closer to the house, and then we waited. And checked her, and waited, and checked.

At 10pm I went out and shone the flashlight and saw Mary's eyes shining back...and then two little sets of eyes shining back near her feet! So exciting, our first lambs.

One was a lot weaker than the other, and the following morning it was sitting off by itself, shivering in the cold, while the other lamb and Mary had wandered off.  I got the little one up, which woke it and reminded Mary she had another little lamb to care for.  We have kept doing this over the last 36 hours and the little one has gained strength.

The lambs are so fragile, on their long spindly legs, seemingly holding onto life with such a frail grasp.  

They are both ewes, so our girls have campaigned for us to keep them both rather than eat either of them. Little Woolly and Daisy, I have to say that I'm inclined to agree :)

Fur, feathers and wool.

Often when starting something new it can all seem like such a big deal. Difficult and risky and maybe scary.  Somewhere along the way an invisible line is crossed and new and different becomes everyday.  Easy.  No problem.  Whatever.

Some sixteen years ago, when we were impoverished uni students, we got our very first pet.  The decision to get a pet was greatly debated.  It is a big responsibility afterall.  Eventually we agreed on something suitable and home they came.  Goldfish.  They were great.  And then they were boring.  And then they died.

Lets get a rabbit, I said.  It will be no trouble, I said.  His first mistake was letting me go alone to pick the rabbit up.  How is it? He said.  They are cute, I said.  It was going to be lonely on its own.  Of course, they both turned out to be boys and fought like crazy and sprayed each other and us with warm, stinky urine.  We paid for them to be desexed. They still sprayed wee.  They escaped from their cage and burrowed under fences.  We built them new enclosures, they escaped again.

Let's get a dog, I said.  It will be easier than a rabbit, I said.  There was some debate, and home came Hank, our first golden retriever.  Everyone loved Hank, even when he ate some fresh horse poo and later vomited it up on the carpet under my parent's dining room table.  During dinner.  Sadly, Hank died and we were without pets for a while.

Let's get another dog, I said.  Barely a murmur from my husband this time.  Along came Cooper, our second golden retriever.  He is lovely, and happily still very much with us.

It would be great to have fresh eggs, I said.  The kids don't use their cubby, it would be a great chicken coop.  We just need to build a fence to make a yard for them.  Maybe, he said.  And so six hens joined us.

Guinea pigs would be great for the kids, I said.  I guess so, he said.  We bought a small cage and Cocoa and Patch joined us.  

We got a male guinea pig today, I said when he got home. By the way, the guinea pigs will need a bigger cage to fit in all the babies.  

I really like those guinea pigs, he said.
 
I'd like a puppy for my birthday, I said.  Have you already picked one out? He answered.  Umm, yep.  Home came Saffy, a golden bundle of mischief.  She jumped fences.  We built new ones.  She jumped them. We built higher ones.  No problem, she can jump them too.  

How bout a pony for Christmas? I said.  No worries, he said.  So Fabros the paint quarterhorse joined us.

And then we moved to a whole lot more land.  Here's a great pony for the girls, I said.  Looks good, he replied.  

The chooks aren't laying, let's get some more, I said.  Good idea, he answered.  So just last week Milky and Silky joined our family.

Look at all that grass- we should get something to eat that, we said.   

Not yet though, we said. So much to do with the renovations and all.  And that fence for Saffy.  And getting rid of the barbed wire so it's safer for the horses.  And building a new dome for the chickens. 

Then a few weeks ago we went to Tocal Field Days.  We should buy those sheep we said.  The fence isn't sheep proof and what'll we bring 'em home in?  Pfft! Mere details, we declared.  What can't be achieved with a few zip ties, some wire and a bit of old reo?

So we drove along with a crazy gleam in our eyes and our makeshift cage rattling on the trailer.  We collected Mary and Molly, two Wiltipoll ewes who are most likely pregnant, and they have joined our menagerie.

Can we get some chicks, the kids asked, while we were at Tocal.  Why not! we cried.  Clucka, Sweetie, Ginger and Shadow now also call this home.

BTW, I think we need to move to somewhere with more land. And, no kids, Mummy will not ever buy an elephant. Promise. Probably.

Bees!

When we moved to our new house we inherited two beehives.  I've had a dream of having our own bees for a while now, and we thought about keeping them.  Bees need to be checked and managed, they are not a set-and-forget project, so in the end we decided that with everything else that requires doing and tending here it was just not practical to become beekeepers right now.  

Enter Scott from our local beekeepers club. He bought the hives from us, but as they were too heavy to move he first harvested some honey from them here at our place before taking the hives away.  What a treat! I find bees so fascinating, and it was fantastic to watch the process of harvesting the honey from the hives.

First up, getting the smoker ready. Time spent setting the smoker going well prevents the disaster of getting part way through and running out of smoke just as the bees are getting agitated.

 All suited up, Scott opened the hive and started pulling out the frames from the top box.

Next,  Scott checks the frame to see if it is ready to harvest.  Unfortunately, these hives were not set up very well. A fundamental aspect is to use a "queen excluder" which keeps the queen bee in the bottom box ("super") of the hive.  This keeps the baby bees, or "brood", down the bottom with the queen, and clean honey in the top super which is the one you harvest from.  Without a queen excluder, there was brood in the frames up the top, making the honey and wax dark rather than clean and clear.

 If the frame was ready to harvest, Scott gently brushed the bees off and placed it in a plastic container.  The container lid was put on to keep the bees from following along to the location where harvesting would take place.

You can see the beeswax capping over the top of the honeycomb in the photo above.  This wax was sliced off to open up the comb to enable the honey to come out.

You can see the honey in the frame after the wax has been sliced off in the photo above.  Below is the beeswax still dripping with honey.  This wax is drained for a couple of days and then can be used to make candles.  This wax may be difficult to turn into candles because of the mixed in brood cells.  You can see that it is dark and dirty looking rather than pale and clean.  We will still attempt to make candles with it-stay tuned for more on that project :)

 Into the centrifuge to spin the honey out.  Scott spun the frames fairly slowly to protect the honeycomb and minimise the amount of repairs to the comb the bees will need to do after the frames are returned to the hives. The more energy the bees need to put into repairing the comb, the less energy they will have for making honey.

 The honey is poured out of the centrifuge and through a fine sieve.

Finally, the honey is poured into jars.  Although we were only able to harvest from four frames, we collected about eight kilograms of honey.

My fascination with bees has increased after watching this process and I think I will keep bees sometime in the distant future.  And of course, the honey tastes superb :)

Another new addition...

Last night we welcomed the newest member of our family..."Spud", a little welsh pony.  This morning he was brushed, washed and fussed over.

Hopefully it is the beginning of a happy partnership and plenty of fun for the girls and their pony :)

Dreams, hopes, adventures and reality...

Long time no post! 

Well, we have done it. Moved house.

We dreamed of a farmhouse with room for veges and fruit trees and ponies and kids adventures.

  With space and opportunity for our own adventures.

 We moved from a new, spacious, insulated, air conditioned home (with a pool, and built in cupboards) to an old, crooked, hot, small farmhouse.

 In the middle of a heat wave. 

The reality set in somewhere around the time that the temperature hit 40+ degrees and we melted in an uninsulated old house and wished for our old pool. And as I was struggling to find a place for all our stuff in a small house with zero storage. When we had a visit from a second brown snake in just a few days. As two different bushfires burned nearby. As I tried to cook in a miniscule kitchen with an oven that turned out to be broken, right next to the dishwasher that is also broken.

 We found a few nasty surprises under the house...

 

Somewhat in shock, we have set out to work hard to turn this place into the gem it has the potential to be.  First up, removing all the many bits of yarding and fencing...

And then the weather cooled, and we all breathed easier.  We relaxed and looked up from this little old house and were reminded of why we came here.  Six and a half acres. Space.  Open skys.

My own horse in my own paddock :))

Then the rain came (lots of it!) and our little creek flowed.  Adventures in swimmers, gumboots and the rain.

As the shock subsides, the dreams and hopes resurface.  There is lots to do here, especially on the house. I suspect this blog will be overtaken by renovation stories now.  We have plans to extend the house, put in a new kitchen and bathroom and generally repaint everything. Fix the floor framing.  Polish the 75 year old floor boards.  I can see in my minds eye how this place will look when we are done, it's just going to take lots of hard work to get there :)

 

Stay tuned :)