tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-78891714874797079602024-03-09T07:23:28.332+11:00We did it for the Chooks!OffGridMandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02220285707868101127noreply@blogger.comBlogger100125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7889171487479707960.post-32316022983278270492023-02-14T20:03:00.002+11:002023-02-14T20:03:34.445+11:00Dam report 2023<p> Greetings from the waterside this summer. <br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcCEjodhqD-D974vGiyH7kg0vPoCU1opgeQUPQo7qJ9YC2fivdRnqaod6313YGnIJ7vu0mbAFyPfH95d2YEkOHwttEX00pq_V7M3yoewHOK5QiFSrpmDsF0xMFN_XBxgveZjEySnM2WjCibwJpuwXxpuN0ttBcTXSkPsGh_UlT4bgqWGdHOswTYPXmIQ/s1200/Dam%20Summer%2023.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1200" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcCEjodhqD-D974vGiyH7kg0vPoCU1opgeQUPQo7qJ9YC2fivdRnqaod6313YGnIJ7vu0mbAFyPfH95d2YEkOHwttEX00pq_V7M3yoewHOK5QiFSrpmDsF0xMFN_XBxgveZjEySnM2WjCibwJpuwXxpuN0ttBcTXSkPsGh_UlT4bgqWGdHOswTYPXmIQ/w400-h300/Dam%20Summer%2023.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>The dam is continuing to improve, after filling to capacity and beyond during Spring, we wanted to hold as much of the water as possible. Marty talked to a previous owner of our property who had the dam built. He explained that the dam had never successfully held water above the natural soil line despite it being re-lined with clay shortly after it was made. We decided to try adding bentonite clay, just one bag, around the edges where the leak might be. We waited a week, and as the water level dropped, we checked the back of the dam wall for moisture and targeted the opposite side of the wall for another bag of bentonite. Repeating this over the span of a couple of months, we have narrowed down the problem area to just the south east corner, and concentrated spreading the clay to that area. We're happy to say that the water level has never been this high at this time of year before! <br /><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihG0bbJwx9h_Fnzh7xRjqBBkJbmc36nPFlvkTwSXgtnSsNTtzeWKcBnvliWEH5k1Zl7awIlIPPOFV8rn0c6MeVX8RQ5Pk3XnZvbP85Q3oowm3WAJJAxVoHEzR5GTgMVhBAG9bIgii9gT47wf8CQODAwzs1EMZmg3HhSCytKaKTaCObD6KoC4u6l_p8Sw/s1200/Dam%20Summer%2023%20water.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="900" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihG0bbJwx9h_Fnzh7xRjqBBkJbmc36nPFlvkTwSXgtnSsNTtzeWKcBnvliWEH5k1Zl7awIlIPPOFV8rn0c6MeVX8RQ5Pk3XnZvbP85Q3oowm3WAJJAxVoHEzR5GTgMVhBAG9bIgii9gT47wf8CQODAwzs1EMZmg3HhSCytKaKTaCObD6KoC4u6l_p8Sw/w480-h640/Dam%20Summer%2023%20water.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">See-through water, can you see fish?<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p>I have read that the sealing of a dam is mostly attributed to an anaerobic layer of muck at the bottom, and the trick is to encourage that condition. It is said that fish poo and organic matter helps in this regard, so here's hoping the abundance of little fish are helping. The clarity of the water is helping the plants grow, as is the addition of a few buckets of shell grit (usually for chickens!) for calcium and pH buffering. The first bucket of shell grit went into the floating island, and the plants responded by growing like crazy!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmg7F-PZ5BBMbhXmOsassCyRVV7-VGo5N_MTDk6_s99ySNstwuGQzkMQY1HftpHj-zr3TzHQ32AS_MtuLLhYvvSaiXVKG3aGjSZ8YMiVCDwZ91dec_DeaCaGMYlFSNoT4zpsJhdQJtD11q2vSCfUhNzEbymQmray0DVk2AmvBi-JqPRePD5QFzkYE9AQ/s1200/Dam%20Summer%2023%20island.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1200" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmg7F-PZ5BBMbhXmOsassCyRVV7-VGo5N_MTDk6_s99ySNstwuGQzkMQY1HftpHj-zr3TzHQ32AS_MtuLLhYvvSaiXVKG3aGjSZ8YMiVCDwZ91dec_DeaCaGMYlFSNoT4zpsJhdQJtD11q2vSCfUhNzEbymQmray0DVk2AmvBi-JqPRePD5QFzkYE9AQ/w400-h300/Dam%20Summer%2023%20island.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p>This year a pair of diver ducks hatched 6 little ducklings, we've seen turtles, lots of little fish (of course) and dragonflies galore. The dragonflies have to be my favourite critters for their work eating the mozzies that were in crazy numbers after the wet spring. It was certainly a sight at dusk to see the dragonflies en mass, especially over the sheep!</p><p>We have lots more projects on the go, I'll be sure to update when I can.</p><p>Until next time!<br /></p>OffGridMandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02220285707868101127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7889171487479707960.post-456485652613193372023-01-11T15:28:00.003+11:002023-01-11T16:41:12.754+11:00January 2023<p> The summer is finally warming up, and although we don't love the heat, there are many plants that do. The summer growing grasses in the pasture are now happier, and the rain that overwhelmed the ground earlier has left some areas quite hard. Still, we can see an improvement since we started grazing only a year and a couple of months ago now. I have read that things become much better by year 3, though.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5Qk09KmaJ7jfyL0ZKcMjxwdvk5hBlIxjU9Y3vsT6dYbD0U0dyOsvNWmZUEop3qNL6YoQVNi6GP7w_D02ZGMRyxc92H0ML2Cu-uARnwN1hHTMxjSOg4y3lLau9biAV9nFMtfwFqeemJsfW5TqJi7YVt11f2rjMuhyZPFleQMb6OvXd93YP6hO1IIDneA/s1200/Shelters%20in%20Spring.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="902" data-original-width="1200" height="482" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5Qk09KmaJ7jfyL0ZKcMjxwdvk5hBlIxjU9Y3vsT6dYbD0U0dyOsvNWmZUEop3qNL6YoQVNi6GP7w_D02ZGMRyxc92H0ML2Cu-uARnwN1hHTMxjSOg4y3lLau9biAV9nFMtfwFqeemJsfW5TqJi7YVt11f2rjMuhyZPFleQMb6OvXd93YP6hO1IIDneA/w640-h482/Shelters%20in%20Spring.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p>The photo above was taken earlier in the season while the spring grasses were dominant. The sheep love to rub all over their shelters and rest under them. They're light weight enough that we carry them to each new grazing area that doesn't have a good sized tree, which is most areas still!<br /></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8MoTinfmWjWxlnQBavrZcr_Aq517vhods0-tl-jtqqP5IkojjKNPF3fJy-G7lGCeIiFpazdX3Lfv4PmB-OVTzKZ4l3uVnPTREh6zWw2ONIZnsN0hk9oG04W1eXCzABbXLHXNYC7Lmt5Gr14FT0DrAuga-itVFtktB5mjtqWLj_KIr8hu9rULnBpCdDg/s1200/Vicky%20and%20Chilie.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1200" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8MoTinfmWjWxlnQBavrZcr_Aq517vhods0-tl-jtqqP5IkojjKNPF3fJy-G7lGCeIiFpazdX3Lfv4PmB-OVTzKZ4l3uVnPTREh6zWw2ONIZnsN0hk9oG04W1eXCzABbXLHXNYC7Lmt5Gr14FT0DrAuga-itVFtktB5mjtqWLj_KIr8hu9rULnBpCdDg/w640-h480/Vicky%20and%20Chilie.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p><br />We named Sharon's lamb Vicky Winters, she's on the left in the picture above and growing up very fast. Her Daddy, Chilli is right next to her, with Star and her (and our) first born ram in the background. He's almost 5 months old now.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3I3CIKB8V_HG29KRic59cpCWUjCBcPREBwzdQ2LNMYxBHMDRMB4KwC71ld4RidTpwUUA3-n7R7nnMyKXTe6HzgaVtI2q9Xy4C-xldSH_utK8Pf0SMwMOmA1jwZoLlIF2XVwvifPxA3HNWpMRMuapBSr9DfgnYUh-D0qSLumM5yjBmnSnRKBlcTpMRaw/s1200/The%20Flock.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="901" data-original-width="1200" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3I3CIKB8V_HG29KRic59cpCWUjCBcPREBwzdQ2LNMYxBHMDRMB4KwC71ld4RidTpwUUA3-n7R7nnMyKXTe6HzgaVtI2q9Xy4C-xldSH_utK8Pf0SMwMOmA1jwZoLlIF2XVwvifPxA3HNWpMRMuapBSr9DfgnYUh-D0qSLumM5yjBmnSnRKBlcTpMRaw/w640-h480/The%20Flock.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p></p><p>The flock heading over to chow down on some fresh prickly lettuce. There are 13 here now, and we're still expecting a new ewe.. her arrival date has been pushed back to the 18th of January. She's coming all the way from South Australia, and there have been some logistical issues and flooded roads causing the delay. No worries!<br /><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCux_0nyqFTDLCL23oz3w2T1ot7eYbHGcYdsuEgxTq6ncCOLyfJOe9wmMxDGVWFIdvvmBKJSM3b--Y4JkqgqVppmSOtLl65DagvRJOMTYM7jjOAdAm2vxvnUaGotywO0hknMmGvaUb4Keho1j0QtF7V7YtJ_qh31qq63Ehattt3upfa6UmDTeL5xSQXQ/s4032/mineral%20feeder.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCux_0nyqFTDLCL23oz3w2T1ot7eYbHGcYdsuEgxTq6ncCOLyfJOe9wmMxDGVWFIdvvmBKJSM3b--Y4JkqgqVppmSOtLl65DagvRJOMTYM7jjOAdAm2vxvnUaGotywO0hknMmGvaUb4Keho1j0QtF7V7YtJ_qh31qq63Ehattt3upfa6UmDTeL5xSQXQ/w480-h640/mineral%20feeder.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><p>This is the new mineral feeder, made from an old pallet, replacing the old greek yoghurt containers. We keep the rubber flap off when there's no chance of rain. It gives everyone a good opportunity to casually choose what they'd like to eat. The most popular supplement is still the kelp meal, but the copper was essential during the wet spring. I credit the copper for keeping the flock free of worms, we haven't needed to "drench" and everyone is alive and healthy.<br /><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHlZcGE8QY2CVP5xJMvVJfZ0T1SK8XQqRYqZo21EVXbsVPWOlcOzP7554BVU75tRbIdwznniLdAMQzqbmtNRqXcw8Xm4j9rp7i13Sa9O4vEDSGb5WLd7ua7Xwu4-gcoDwngd9H4yusxe-GmPbCT0qw7UFJFiyFOq8gtUYM058HjT--tL0Y3KGfNyk1Mg/s1600/Marty%20and%20Rammy%20the%20Second.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHlZcGE8QY2CVP5xJMvVJfZ0T1SK8XQqRYqZo21EVXbsVPWOlcOzP7554BVU75tRbIdwznniLdAMQzqbmtNRqXcw8Xm4j9rp7i13Sa9O4vEDSGb5WLd7ua7Xwu4-gcoDwngd9H4yusxe-GmPbCT0qw7UFJFiyFOq8gtUYM058HjT--tL0Y3KGfNyk1Mg/w480-h640/Marty%20and%20Rammy%20the%20Second.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><p><br />The second ram lamb born, we nick name the ram lambs Rammy the First and Rammy the Second. This little guy is just over 3 months old and already looks like a mini version of his dad, with wrinkles on his nose and a love of scratchies!</p><p><br /><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQZMJ0BPzqjARhLE75TN8bJpzsP0xo7kEDEquj8QVMEPX7JYn-Q2S8tNuF8n_CbYkGyqEkkf-FpLQW5KhO7aTt4-lbszJuOFMLkmpcr3gTf6DsRdKbc00a_3PBwg6xBhXKwj1dkDrtQiQ2V2-2niFhDxZMDWM5_nyW0CrlUyk7BapfeFCXYSe5xe7XWw/s3540/IMG_20230110_112929_1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2655" data-original-width="3540" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQZMJ0BPzqjARhLE75TN8bJpzsP0xo7kEDEquj8QVMEPX7JYn-Q2S8tNuF8n_CbYkGyqEkkf-FpLQW5KhO7aTt4-lbszJuOFMLkmpcr3gTf6DsRdKbc00a_3PBwg6xBhXKwj1dkDrtQiQ2V2-2niFhDxZMDWM5_nyW0CrlUyk7BapfeFCXYSe5xe7XWw/w640-h480/IMG_20230110_112929_1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p><br />Vicky is 4 days older than Rammy the Second, and she's looking great and is very healthy. Her Mum is eating prickly lettuce in the picture above, right beside her.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibpDt7ekkj8HGbS_PYuww8kfgIO4R7GfzXHvQvtld7bL1_RoD0eR44tXwigXJhM7sIqOwD0oecd1NLvvnpF0NuvX0GG_Hdpr9I8oHBri5atdLhTkswn-cxfv-cr20xV8EdWZ1QlfAFCf7cAW9vV_2cZDzBQUWgGVOPszY0q2bJQOftSrG93w7OgAQ9gQ/s1200/Chillie.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1200" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibpDt7ekkj8HGbS_PYuww8kfgIO4R7GfzXHvQvtld7bL1_RoD0eR44tXwigXJhM7sIqOwD0oecd1NLvvnpF0NuvX0GG_Hdpr9I8oHBri5atdLhTkswn-cxfv-cr20xV8EdWZ1QlfAFCf7cAW9vV_2cZDzBQUWgGVOPszY0q2bJQOftSrG93w7OgAQ9gQ/w640-h480/Chillie.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>Chillie is great, we got lucky to have such a lovely mannered ram. He just loves scratches and would just about stand around all day getting them. It makes life so much easier having very tame sheep. If there's a seed (or 100) bothering them, we can get them out. If they need some foot care, we can get close enough to tip them upside down. When it was very wet, there was a couple of sheep who's hooves needed a trim, and we did it right there in the paddock without having to stress them out. No need for sheep handling facilities or races, and it's funny, but they forgive us pretty quickly, especially when they feel much better after having it done.</p><p>Moving the sheep to a new area is as easy as reeling up the fence a bit, calling "Sheep Sheep Sheep!" and they bound over and race in to see what new food they can find. We could manage pats and scratchies when there were only 4 or so that enjoyed it, but now nearly everyone enjoys some attention. Each sheep has their preferences, some like neck scratches and others prefer the other end. They're all intelligent and individual, but thankfully they do tend to follow Dark Wether when he leads. There have been quite a few times the fence has been knocked over by kangaroos, and the sheep aren't where we last had them. It's no stress at all to call for them when Dark Wether comes to us with the rest of the flock in tow.</p><p>It's exciting to see our land is still pretty green when our neighbours properties look as dead as ours use to be at this time of year. Sure, much of the green is "weeds" but the sheep don't seem to mind. Right now we're giving them large areas and moving them daily to keep the impact fairly light, just a bite off the top of the plant and move on, where-as in Spring we had them in smaller areas moving many times a day, to create more of an impact and putting much of the grass on the ground. It works out well for us too, moving once a day, about an hour before the sun goes down and things are cooler.</p><p>So, our lives right now consist of lazy summer days and enjoyable sheep moves in the evenings. Mornings are when I get some gardening done, watering before it gets hot, planting, repotting etc. I feel like we're getting away with something..! ;)<br /></p>OffGridMandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02220285707868101127noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7889171487479707960.post-78242347548743555902022-10-07T20:24:00.000+11:002022-10-07T20:24:15.431+11:00October 2022 - we're rich!<p>Winter is most definitely behind us now. Sadly we said goodbye to Sarah, the greatest little pup, she will always be here in spirit. We will miss her always.</p><p>This spring has been a very wet one, the annual grasses have burst into action and are flowering already. It's completely impossible to keep up with it, but I am hoping the summer growing perennial grasses will take over afterwards, and we can try to keep those in their growth phase much longer.</p><p>Our sheep family has grown by two recently, bringing our flock to 10, and we have at least one more lamb on the way any day now. I sure hope you enjoy pictures of baby lambs.. :)</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPHksqWrEAFx44FIwyY7SYPgqCJTgAo2yyGe0ncJwOt0AAxHAh5KUr1eX2pv-db0BwW6SrS4Ovvjv5l8sFq9G1wT4mt0g3vPSwdnq0E1J4uaGOa7FjkRTo4mnDHXG7ez6QrJCBqsVnGuU8i8t73eBnItL5MBgny_s8LJCQsdhRmS37aRVLMzuhLQfDiw/s1200/Star%20lamb.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPHksqWrEAFx44FIwyY7SYPgqCJTgAo2yyGe0ncJwOt0AAxHAh5KUr1eX2pv-db0BwW6SrS4Ovvjv5l8sFq9G1wT4mt0g3vPSwdnq0E1J4uaGOa7FjkRTo4mnDHXG7ez6QrJCBqsVnGuU8i8t73eBnItL5MBgny_s8LJCQsdhRmS37aRVLMzuhLQfDiw/s320/Star%20lamb.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><p>Star's lamb is a boy, and he looks just like his daddy, Chillie. He's 7 weeks old now, and Star is slowly weaning him off milk.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFdNJHZSN_Q0eilZyzf4xEEtboRd50c6-yQRPaUHbi70F3ew8gdG3uGLovz70wtKb4FIWsyK-aoT0g_fmn99Ziy_pnZEMzB7PX4YUfuBtZDwHKv44oX739JJXqq8zJx6aG_p0CvEJcratQsytSIMZ-USRLLGxJbpT6qesgNnBKsVRI67U79NNvWAzagw/s1200/Sharon%20and%20Lamb.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1200" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFdNJHZSN_Q0eilZyzf4xEEtboRd50c6-yQRPaUHbi70F3ew8gdG3uGLovz70wtKb4FIWsyK-aoT0g_fmn99Ziy_pnZEMzB7PX4YUfuBtZDwHKv44oX739JJXqq8zJx6aG_p0CvEJcratQsytSIMZ-USRLLGxJbpT6qesgNnBKsVRI67U79NNvWAzagw/s320/Sharon%20and%20Lamb.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>Sharon's lamb is a girl, and she looks exactly like one of the wethers.. coincidence maybe or perhaps he wasn't banded properly by the breeder? She was born just two days ago, and has a big appetite. Here's another photo, they're just lovely!</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKgfvWBDz9egaF5xU96XvhpAXe-bmkn-EC-I74LuuGs0_pl2ib1vKSmBO6JIJXwoq6Up1KGKBT2x3XReHYD-Dpiv4aqUDL45RjF757LoEuGS5ZqxRNt0xBcpZbue_TBintEipRsuCM72RmIhuULaK_LRugYnkSz0pvXL4efzxoN2-NIpbSmuBOggMu7Q/s1200/Sharon%20and%20Lamb2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1200" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKgfvWBDz9egaF5xU96XvhpAXe-bmkn-EC-I74LuuGs0_pl2ib1vKSmBO6JIJXwoq6Up1KGKBT2x3XReHYD-Dpiv4aqUDL45RjF757LoEuGS5ZqxRNt0xBcpZbue_TBintEipRsuCM72RmIhuULaK_LRugYnkSz0pvXL4efzxoN2-NIpbSmuBOggMu7Q/s320/Sharon%20and%20Lamb2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>Marty and I enjoy giving the sheep attention and scratches, and moving them to fresh pasture daily is great fun. There is something about listening to the sound of sheep eating fresh grass that is very gratifying.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEo1noxp3nXvIWs2m4eK5muDDqGBnpZuDU13Xfc66lY6T98N-IUAX2qY8AhF3_rz-mVEDzntyqAJmVZaQfOyMVujjUPAw1G1RK04Ynoc3fCIBJUGm7lgBx6sq3DXLqMzswiyAJI9MIU8Wt68qBoVJQmMluUHnbfzMfurVUGWkukqEAjddbWAKFKohjLA/s1200/pats.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1200" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEo1noxp3nXvIWs2m4eK5muDDqGBnpZuDU13Xfc66lY6T98N-IUAX2qY8AhF3_rz-mVEDzntyqAJmVZaQfOyMVujjUPAw1G1RK04Ynoc3fCIBJUGm7lgBx6sq3DXLqMzswiyAJI9MIU8Wt68qBoVJQmMluUHnbfzMfurVUGWkukqEAjddbWAKFKohjLA/s320/pats.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>We have another couple of ewe lambs arriving tomorrow from the same breeder we purchased the first 5 from. They're mostly black and white, one with a little "blue" colouring. We also look forward to adding another ewe lamb from South Australia later in the month, she's brown and white. With all this rain and grass, we can use all the mouths we can get! The flock will number around 14 by the end of the month, and I'll be more than happy with that number for over the summer.</p><p>Otherwise, life here on our little farm is humming along, we're just doing what needs to be done as each need arises. Sometimes the world outside seems far away, and knowing what day of the week it is feels unimportant. We did go to the Henty Machinery Field Days though! It'd been two whole years since the last one, and it was quite a good day out. We brought home a few small Murray Cod fish for the dam, hopefully to balance out the tiny fish population a little. The tiny fish have done very well in the dam, and we've had success growing water plants and edge plants finally, giving the fish plenty of hiding and breeding places. It feels like an ecosystem now, rather than the big muddy hole in the ground we started with. We love spending time down there now, just watching all the life.<br /></p><p>Until next time.</p>OffGridMandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02220285707868101127noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7889171487479707960.post-56296605960661327472022-06-04T21:20:00.000+10:002022-06-04T21:20:21.793+10:00June 2022<p> The weather has cooled down, and we find ourselves in winter suddenly. Some of the deciduous trees haven't caught up to the idea yet, and are stubbornly holding onto their leaves, while the tagasaste trees begin to flower early in their eagerness.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwRU3UDdvooF50WhUoZgMCNQrz4mlCiVwheuJmvloPqdqRW5JB374Hu60ihmq84Wrb3whKI8IufqFhCt1_sa-MgeQ52eY4xkbsxrPP3859DIm80JDQk1JoC7fzjmUndcS0f834ZIZIYSskR2lSm_9718k7UGJ__skRloA7iwXxFsrnLSbfhiQQiN-IEw/s1200/IMG_20220524_101230.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1200" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwRU3UDdvooF50WhUoZgMCNQrz4mlCiVwheuJmvloPqdqRW5JB374Hu60ihmq84Wrb3whKI8IufqFhCt1_sa-MgeQ52eY4xkbsxrPP3859DIm80JDQk1JoC7fzjmUndcS0f834ZIZIYSskR2lSm_9718k7UGJ__skRloA7iwXxFsrnLSbfhiQQiN-IEw/s320/IMG_20220524_101230.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />In the first couple of rotations around the farm with the sheep, we mostly thought about how the fencing worked. The most efficient way to move sheep from one spot to another was tricky at times, the reels and fence posts were puzzle pieces. Now that we feel confident about moving 8 sheep anywhere on our property, we look around and find the pasture has it's own needs. In order to give some areas more rest, we skipped whole areas on the farm and moved the sheep onto areas that some grasses were back to flowering stage again. We're experimenting moving fast through the south of the property, but if we go too fast, the north of the property won't have recovered. Because the days are getting shorter and colder, growth is slower, so we may have to slow them down again now. Given that the ewes may be pregnant, we're prioritising their health and full bellies. With all these considerations, we're both glad we started small!<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX8-VRWHmlhnKuK8tejAVp0mD6Rhby0fl43APHBY5jTG5ss3kv-KcqIAQG_cOLpjfGsvu1JP7q0IKprf8ZoB4FkxYSgUFX95FFcnXQ5Q5Q5UOhMzECp_46zha_SBn8X5tB3Ii9uVjzYhILsmjVdAMbxdSFNbTFNazDIxpCutfPHspBpuLGCMNdYWmJ6Q/s1200/IMG_20220524_101519_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX8-VRWHmlhnKuK8tejAVp0mD6Rhby0fl43APHBY5jTG5ss3kv-KcqIAQG_cOLpjfGsvu1JP7q0IKprf8ZoB4FkxYSgUFX95FFcnXQ5Q5Q5UOhMzECp_46zha_SBn8X5tB3Ii9uVjzYhILsmjVdAMbxdSFNbTFNazDIxpCutfPHspBpuLGCMNdYWmJ6Q/s320/IMG_20220524_101519_1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p>Marty, Sarah and I are keeping warm and trying to get things done. Well, Sarah is concentrating on the keeping warm and comfy part.<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-o94IpySiCHS3NcuuGtudzT2m6yjVvblkBMJDzF-XIXg_ivI5eMBl73m0koi_Q0Y_LH3fi89YFnI28SORi0PEGSGbM5hAesZOOPXPRD4pVo84adE_DIMZvP8T4u2TaT6Rru22QWgnG5aLyJzayGHMyWXbflvb11Z0r96KSeR6Yhd3SXDTy7HrZdnM-Q/s4032/IMG_20220530_124239.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-o94IpySiCHS3NcuuGtudzT2m6yjVvblkBMJDzF-XIXg_ivI5eMBl73m0koi_Q0Y_LH3fi89YFnI28SORi0PEGSGbM5hAesZOOPXPRD4pVo84adE_DIMZvP8T4u2TaT6Rru22QWgnG5aLyJzayGHMyWXbflvb11Z0r96KSeR6Yhd3SXDTy7HrZdnM-Q/s320/IMG_20220530_124239.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p>Until next time.<br /></p><p><br /></p>OffGridMandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02220285707868101127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7889171487479707960.post-3273181613151333392022-04-05T17:59:00.001+10:002022-04-05T17:59:19.520+10:00Mostly Dry March, Happy Sheep and Happy Humans<p>It's been more of the same here on the farm, and that's been a good thing to be sure. The grass is holding up, despite this last month being pretty dry. We've only had a few millimeters of rain in total over March, but the forecast suggests we might get a good drop over the next day or two. I learned long ago to not get my hopes up when it comes to rainfall forecasts, and when something looks thirsty, I'll water it regardless of the predictions, because I've lost plants waiting for rain that never comes. For the most part, the ground is still fairly moist and the grass is still green in areas, and you won't get any complaints out of me!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyRBn5h0dD0UlaW08-fqPDpkE4XvgGspY8aa3XVxyKteSeF9uyGbTy2t6S9_iAUjwP6pNpiuqO_sXNFggOYkXFTifpin4tk0A-nvou9uI25L1Q_D2A-xKMDoiZ01itFrEFxR6dVpqWyHSR5BKJQw8niVqdm3rnhm0APO8eJAJgLgBdSgFuvPiWjRuNnw/s1200/IMG_20220405_090147_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1200" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyRBn5h0dD0UlaW08-fqPDpkE4XvgGspY8aa3XVxyKteSeF9uyGbTy2t6S9_iAUjwP6pNpiuqO_sXNFggOYkXFTifpin4tk0A-nvou9uI25L1Q_D2A-xKMDoiZ01itFrEFxR6dVpqWyHSR5BKJQw8niVqdm3rnhm0APO8eJAJgLgBdSgFuvPiWjRuNnw/s320/IMG_20220405_090147_1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p>The mineral feeder we made for the sheep is still holding up, there's a rubber flap protecting the greek yoghurt buckets from any moisture, and each one has a different thing in it. Seaweed is one of the most popular items, followed by salt. The charcoal and lime is occasionally eaten, and the magnesium and boron isn't needed as often. It gets bashed around a bit, and I was thinking of making a second one for the other side.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinfcnKGPK0nK5v1hVbO0d29GIP7NfnmBUBz_-Ew_5jx4RvQ7-AEmvhqr-OW2uJ4UV7YcNJ3jOWXMCWT0BWAibVvE7VY2aGSwSmM5DVpwNr_O2db3QhKTzQMuqZU3bskTJPRTWkoNhzwLQt2Mwx28G6LGRJz1eWd7MuJPF046URl0bgVNBO6jivZCfqGA/s1200/IMG_20220405_090220_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1200" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinfcnKGPK0nK5v1hVbO0d29GIP7NfnmBUBz_-Ew_5jx4RvQ7-AEmvhqr-OW2uJ4UV7YcNJ3jOWXMCWT0BWAibVvE7VY2aGSwSmM5DVpwNr_O2db3QhKTzQMuqZU3bskTJPRTWkoNhzwLQt2Mwx28G6LGRJz1eWd7MuJPF046URl0bgVNBO6jivZCfqGA/s320/IMG_20220405_090220_1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>They're in an area that is a bit drier than others right now, as we're heading up the hill on our second rotation around the property. There's a plant called cat's ear that they love eating the yellow flowers off. The section we opened up today was full of cat's ear, and we watched as they ran from plant to plant eating all the flowers off! We might move them through this part of the property fairly quickly, depending on how the sheep go. I love the flexibility of this rotation system, the sections can be smaller, larger, around obstacles or through the trees. So much easier than poultry netting!!</p><p>Marty was happy yesterday, since a second wether has trusted him with giving him scratches. I told Marty that he might end up having to spend all day out there scratching each member of the flock! Haha, we love it though. It's been a terrific experience so far. Winter is just around the corner, and the sheep are starting to grow an extra thick wool coat in preparation. We're starting to put on jumpers / jackets occasionally too. It won't be long before we're splitting wood for the first fire again.</p><p>Until next time.<br /></p>OffGridMandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02220285707868101127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7889171487479707960.post-1236873589362540302022-02-19T20:33:00.001+11:002022-06-04T21:20:45.515+10:00Spellbound summer<p>This summer on the farm has been the best one yet, with a massive amount of rain at the end of January. We had about 99mm (3.9 inches) in total, and although there hasn't been any rain in February yet, the grasses in some areas are looking very green and lush still. We decided that just 5 sheep weren't nearly enough, so found a few more mini meat sheep to join our little flock.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEicwxA-l5uIst0GrqudljMU9fiSoQTSXpr25ARiJyLDOh6UXRQz9yrWNlPs7VgUJSkN9eSYcMVgx5E5Vm9aU4iIno8bssBhle29WBLBiZi2G_7LBddzuLS0XUtyNVSoTd5b5cuvGLvoNnzgqGsrcHDpsLHGaHwqffYJmUjQI_7C47_WFeredeA3ftGtQw=s1600" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEicwxA-l5uIst0GrqudljMU9fiSoQTSXpr25ARiJyLDOh6UXRQz9yrWNlPs7VgUJSkN9eSYcMVgx5E5Vm9aU4iIno8bssBhle29WBLBiZi2G_7LBddzuLS0XUtyNVSoTd5b5cuvGLvoNnzgqGsrcHDpsLHGaHwqffYJmUjQI_7C47_WFeredeA3ftGtQw=w400-h300" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p></p><p>The trailer needed a few days worth of repairs before use, but it was a wrong turn down a very bad dirt road that really put it to the test! Luckily we found out on the way to pick up the sheep that the trailer's door wasn't secure, and we made sure it wasn't going to fly open on the way home, that's for sure! The trailer worked out just fine though, and we made it home with the youngsters in one piece!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiBLXEI-ZQ3Ti24rrP4aSvZmIX440zjHW4TRBofd5xJ183fZNM8oBsIcQ8sLBaI71j3k5yZBwTslx_8x9-zH-TErlNjp26eLoxuVhMFwPLtmqOm_ZJUunJQOY4ALXUNsJThlQzfUvoj74BOpaK-qULetztPMQKqurW4Ac1zbesAcP4HqSviB4g2qr8n6Q=s1800" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1013" data-original-width="1800" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiBLXEI-ZQ3Ti24rrP4aSvZmIX440zjHW4TRBofd5xJ183fZNM8oBsIcQ8sLBaI71j3k5yZBwTslx_8x9-zH-TErlNjp26eLoxuVhMFwPLtmqOm_ZJUunJQOY4ALXUNsJThlQzfUvoj74BOpaK-qULetztPMQKqurW4Ac1zbesAcP4HqSviB4g2qr8n6Q=w400-h225" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p>It took only two days for the three youngest members of the flock to figure out how the system works. We set up the fence with two lines of polywire to begin with. I just realised that even though it feels like they've been with us for months, it's actually been less than 3 weeks! The whole flock are staying where we need them with just the one polywire now, and they're all very happy.</p><p>When Marty and I moved them to a new spot recently, we watched as they galloped around the area, springing into the air as they ran. The next day we stood watching as they were frolicking around their shelters, jumping and playing. I guess they're still young, and as I said, the grass is exceptional this year. There is one special sheep that enjoys getting scratches from Marty and I. He's very smart, knowing he's very unlikely to end up as dinner! ha!</p><p>Aside from sheep, Marty and I have practically changed our diets once again to take advantage of the plentiful fruit available right now. My fig jelly experiment didn't work out, and I ended up with a slightly caramelised fig syrup instead. There are a few green grapes ready now, the dark ones are on their way. A few pears made it into the kitchen this year, but did not want to ripen, so I poached them in syrup. The sheep knocked off some apples in their excitement to get to the lower leaves of the apple tree. We've never had more than an apple or two from the tree before, and this year there were many kilos of them! We preserved them in some Fowlers jars for later. The peaches are ripe right now and there is a big pile of them on the kitchen table ready to be preserved. Yikes! We've had a few passionfruit, little "cherry plums", and lemons of course. Much more food than we can eat, but the birds and bugs are helping to eat the abundance too.</p><p>The dam is full of tiny fish, insects galore and a little diving duck and her chicks growing fast. The dragonflies are helping keep some of the mosquito population under control, as the wetter weather has made conditions prefect for more than just the nice critters to have around! There have been plenty of frogs, mice and rats, and the snakes to eat them. There are plenty of spiders, and lots of wasps that feed spiders to their young in mud nests (which they love to make in the bathroom, I might add). It's been a beautiful summer. Although I do wonder a little, if Marty and I are maybe under a spell, and any other person looking at our home and how we live might think it's absolutely awful! :)<br /></p><p>Until next time.<br /></p>OffGridMandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02220285707868101127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7889171487479707960.post-86306266799327472652021-12-23T16:32:00.001+11:002021-12-23T16:32:25.767+11:00Dreaming of a green Christmas..<p> It's late December, and for the first time in a long time, the pastures are still green this late in the year. We have had some very decent rain, and the dam rose considerably. We have also been mowing some areas much more frequently. We can't
really get to it all, but the areas mowed are all still green, while the
majority of the land turns brown as the very tall spring annual grasses
die off. We've also finished the sheep watering / solar energiser /
fence supplies cart.</p><p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgKJkw0Gp2jP7OLK3M_m1Kc8seDRExSVLdjqHG9n6nljpK1Ed2nmoYowi5vcqiTaiXma7mHpvN27NETkqQQjELcZTVumR3fM43eUKdEB8xvd4-Mp4EriKFve6v5otQkta62P1OwWPxuugZPS9ASaq3pwoq5YzqFd_Xss6WF8MH07vwhplvoqi8wA99pvg=s4032" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgKJkw0Gp2jP7OLK3M_m1Kc8seDRExSVLdjqHG9n6nljpK1Ed2nmoYowi5vcqiTaiXma7mHpvN27NETkqQQjELcZTVumR3fM43eUKdEB8xvd4-Mp4EriKFve6v5otQkta62P1OwWPxuugZPS9ASaq3pwoq5YzqFd_Xss6WF8MH07vwhplvoqi8wA99pvg=w400-h300" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>With the cart finished, we didn't have many more excuses to not get sheep. A breeder not far from us had some Harlequin mini meat sheep available, and we went to talk to her and see the sheep. After a couple of weeks deliberation, we decided to take the leap and give them a try. We've had the flock of five for a month now, and we have been learning how to fence a little better every day. They have learned all about electric fencing now, and so have we!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg2F6jy1PWOCiRgMQUUWvVSy8YDfrjSOsn8_dgAkey2EkpDrm4N567674BrSVLwNGpQMbwtu2TxM1G6akHNtoOkxJH2IYR3uutR1qUjgJo5rLoRLhcEfp5jVyk-yZVqTwAhS9Cl_z_bnhq1Xcj_s1HgA9AuTze7_Val74h0ff0qzVKusU5apJKd3RqzVg=s4032" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg2F6jy1PWOCiRgMQUUWvVSy8YDfrjSOsn8_dgAkey2EkpDrm4N567674BrSVLwNGpQMbwtu2TxM1G6akHNtoOkxJH2IYR3uutR1qUjgJo5rLoRLhcEfp5jVyk-yZVqTwAhS9Cl_z_bnhq1Xcj_s1HgA9AuTze7_Val74h0ff0qzVKusU5apJKd3RqzVg=w400-h300" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p>Marty and I welded the panels together after our awesome neighbour showed Marty what his look like and sold us the metal for us to weld some too. They worked to keep the sheep contained while learning about electric fencing. These young sheep were smart and learned all their lessons by day 2, so on day 3 we opened up a small area just outside the pen using 3 strands of electric fencing on the outside and 2 lines for the inner fences. When it was clear the smart sheep wouldn't attempt to cross 2 wires, we used 2 on the outside fence. Now we've moved down to the back fence, we're trialing a single line with the physical fence on the other side, and 2 wires everywhere else. So far, no sheep seems interested in escaping, they seem quite happy moving into a new area every day or more often than that if the spot is lacking in green feed.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhKJBCUAt3oiQHdKSbAHRYDqPQ718GvkaYy0oF4CXEKU0xK5Y3Kw7ajCVpkeTmc-ljbi5KgFUfZqKUWkcNYZd-s4Xw3E_31QpO4PDpzLe-rB40VJfHREQWd-DF7Iqi2qd9EO8t58tc1F2J5LSFq0ElQ3tKG3ISGaCuZdJCAS4WPKrhDYtCD4L8gYeT3RQ=s4032" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhKJBCUAt3oiQHdKSbAHRYDqPQ718GvkaYy0oF4CXEKU0xK5Y3Kw7ajCVpkeTmc-ljbi5KgFUfZqKUWkcNYZd-s4Xw3E_31QpO4PDpzLe-rB40VJfHREQWd-DF7Iqi2qd9EO8t58tc1F2J5LSFq0ElQ3tKG3ISGaCuZdJCAS4WPKrhDYtCD4L8gYeT3RQ=w400-h300" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p>The watering cart has been working out just fine, although it is possible to make the whole thing live and get a mighty zap. Like I said, we're learning all about electric fencing too. The sheep are getting quite comfortable with the grazing system and with us as well. We bring them edible weeds, poplar and grape leaves, wormwood branches and things from the garden. They run to us and rummage through the offerings. We also open up new areas, so in their eyes, us humans are good news. They've grown in just a month, their bellies are full and they've got energy to run and jump. They're about 6 months old.<br /></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjOtQiNvp02JlJWv59dmb7nvl-n26HCPNcYKAXC6skLbkx298JNWJzj6_k_v3_1wv_QrHmgiWPVnpNysuvXGItDabeV0xEPELR48uCSRtV2KEH3Mk4Sil5lil8j02DVzPHKloy5gvvvx7MbIeq7sEItjFMwU_5sJ13WJg_bajFcZP3wDR1H6IGwy1G1Kw=s1200" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjOtQiNvp02JlJWv59dmb7nvl-n26HCPNcYKAXC6skLbkx298JNWJzj6_k_v3_1wv_QrHmgiWPVnpNysuvXGItDabeV0xEPELR48uCSRtV2KEH3Mk4Sil5lil8j02DVzPHKloy5gvvvx7MbIeq7sEItjFMwU_5sJ13WJg_bajFcZP3wDR1H6IGwy1G1Kw=s320" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgdvTSiNBrUkI8LQfuNcezLhHg5Olpy72fiX5YaKzvWN_1V-JXAoGMZzXOMdlmF9TmL4PMc9LJaQZS1TpWaxehziHzwxl7CeyIidKD5mBCh4ZpTPs1hf4CTqKh6TzMNVEtW9pyXB9Dwyx8U3zRmArqCBAasIHZ0vzSWLqzgFYI7re0JHG7PZulEb3tuWg=s1200" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1200" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgdvTSiNBrUkI8LQfuNcezLhHg5Olpy72fiX5YaKzvWN_1V-JXAoGMZzXOMdlmF9TmL4PMc9LJaQZS1TpWaxehziHzwxl7CeyIidKD5mBCh4ZpTPs1hf4CTqKh6TzMNVEtW9pyXB9Dwyx8U3zRmArqCBAasIHZ0vzSWLqzgFYI7re0JHG7PZulEb3tuWg=s320" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p>Recently it became much more of an encumbrance to, well.. shop. We have been pairing down what we need to get from the outside world, aside from food. I am lucky to have come across the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/Jadamorganicmedia/featured" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">JADAM</a> method of making liquid fertilisers. It's easily comparable to commercial fertilisers, only not as concentrated. I use it more generously too, because it costs so little to start and nothing to make, and the plants are noticeably happier as a result. <br /></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj_ScrxMexZw4b2o9SXXu42tQPEjlasnvJwylWySva3wRg5PDaGZrwOFv15PunZyqxhvUdkm9P2XuNiN8HcoekkHWbjG9Idmw96ShEERJdPDrm5sqE02XSPU-o5lv7XVRD50FkyQZwseaLXCcobkOOCx5vH_2MmZ7cqFCAI0Bps4MscJBnNtGAu_yyOGg=s1200" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1200" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj_ScrxMexZw4b2o9SXXu42tQPEjlasnvJwylWySva3wRg5PDaGZrwOFv15PunZyqxhvUdkm9P2XuNiN8HcoekkHWbjG9Idmw96ShEERJdPDrm5sqE02XSPU-o5lv7XVRD50FkyQZwseaLXCcobkOOCx5vH_2MmZ7cqFCAI0Bps4MscJBnNtGAu_yyOGg=s320" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>The Sebago potatoes we planted in the shadehouse back in August are mostly harvested now, and I packed the biggest potatoes in straw in a couple of milk crates. We don't have a cellar, but our kitchen does stay fairly cool thanks to the thick mudbrick walls and high ceiling. If they sprout, we'll have to re-plant them, because they do taste nice, and they are dense and firm. We have plenty of garlic and herbs, so my next plant challenge is carrots. We started eating raw carrots and drinking orange juice after listening to and reading the great <a href="https://raypeat.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Dr Ray Peat</a> talk about their benefits. Otherwise we've been ordering our lamb directly from the butcher, saving by buying a whole carcass, and getting quite practiced in cutting up a whole lamb ourselves. We save even more by having beef or lamb heart in our stew and boiled beef kidney occasionally as well.</p><p>So we continue in our quest, at a snails pace it feels like, but even small steps are still progress, and we won't fail if we don't give up.<br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>OffGridMandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02220285707868101127noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7889171487479707960.post-854113948916090572021-08-01T17:17:00.000+10:002021-08-01T17:17:51.145+10:00Real life<p>It has been far too long since I updated you here at the blog, real life has been all consuming! I rarely have a moment spare that I'm not reading or watching something educational or doing something that either needs or wants to be done in the real world. I don't really have an online presence apart from here, nor do I have the stomach for it these days. I'd much rather be out in the garden. As you might imagine, some progress is being made here on the farm.</p><br />
<p>The best news is the dam has finally cleared up. We did a few more sample tests using gypsum in the water, and figured out exactly how much we needed to add to the estimated volume of the dam. It turned out to be half a ton of gypsum, so we found a supplier and got one ton and brought it home in the ute. We then measured a bucket's weight of gypsum and worked out that we needed 50 buckets worth. We mixed the gypsum into a barrel and mixed it as well as we could with the dam water, and released it into the dam using the pressure of the header tank to push it through. It worked exceptionally well, and through the magic of chemistry, our dam cleared up beautifully!</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0_5GdjX-SEVUDVxDEWMcK2Qgn42Pg08zovAoOCTOoe469d3SgvfsPco3E5svrKo8VCgYl1rRXatITlEobo-KhdGjSDtJzv2GaZe406OZwZPFmcw0pELjI6cf5UCtTW4vgitQ2Qzp-Z0P1/s1200/cleardam.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1200" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0_5GdjX-SEVUDVxDEWMcK2Qgn42Pg08zovAoOCTOoe469d3SgvfsPco3E5svrKo8VCgYl1rRXatITlEobo-KhdGjSDtJzv2GaZe406OZwZPFmcw0pELjI6cf5UCtTW4vgitQ2Qzp-Z0P1/w400-h300/cleardam.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<p>We added some habitat logs and branches, and we can see through the water for the first time since we've been here. It tastes a lot nicer, and we feel a lot more confident using it for the chooks and garden now too. The plants no longer have stains of silt on their leaves, and it smells perfect. For the first time, we had a Little Pied Cormorant spend some time diving in the water this winter, hopefully a positive sign of the water quality improvement!</p><br />
<p>We've spent quite a bit of time and effort covering the sides of the dam with old straw. It's a long process, and takes many large round bales to do just one side. There is cover on just about all the walls now, and the erosion ruts are just about all filled in with soil or straw or plants. We have also added some plants, like poplar tree cuttings along the north of the dam. If they take root and grow, they'll help provide summer shade, autumn leaf litter, fodder for sheep, wind protection from those hot northerly winds, bird habitat and gosh, probably another 50 things I can't imagine! Here's hoping they take root and thrive!</p><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5hIGt_CmoL5XHc4yM0FtghJo7rE_YE9CXr6tRUep7mdobhOzk2yV1H9jeHuAN5nbiLnZoGnWzhKHDJlfKpwZQdHAzsBYRRaX9WXp5a7yFWHXPb7Cg7T3fJJiX6OaufqDt5BrgJ9stNvsJ/s1200/frog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1200" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5hIGt_CmoL5XHc4yM0FtghJo7rE_YE9CXr6tRUep7mdobhOzk2yV1H9jeHuAN5nbiLnZoGnWzhKHDJlfKpwZQdHAzsBYRRaX9WXp5a7yFWHXPb7Cg7T3fJJiX6OaufqDt5BrgJ9stNvsJ/w400-h300/frog.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<p>We dug an old bath into the ground in the shade-house and filled it with water plants, hoping to increase their numbers before trying them out in the dam. A Peron's tree frog found it too and spent the warm days of summer hanging out there. We were thrilled!</p><p>The shade-house was a massive success last summer, we have more pumpkins than we know what to do with. Nothing wilted, nothing scorched in the sun. Watering was more effective and didn't just evaporate away. We had increased the size of the shade-house and the annex just made everything easier. All the gardening tools, all the pots, all in one place and easy to use and put away afterwards. The beds are ready for planting potatoes now, no risk of frost in there it seems, nasturtiums and garlic are growing well at the moment.</p><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrRKnrZtWVKtQPoZLSIEn2V_8eExivHcCsdXLjiGhAl5Gv2AtS7jpsxlfSNrflBjYBwPKSGW_4pcZpfsiw9O0C2SuPBUDX4tAcZox9k-2x0IjrD26BT1msAml2mpWeZdC0oo1N6CoYFrJQ/s1200/renomarty.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="900" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrRKnrZtWVKtQPoZLSIEn2V_8eExivHcCsdXLjiGhAl5Gv2AtS7jpsxlfSNrflBjYBwPKSGW_4pcZpfsiw9O0C2SuPBUDX4tAcZox9k-2x0IjrD26BT1msAml2mpWeZdC0oo1N6CoYFrJQ/w300-h400/renomarty.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><br />
<p>Marty and I pulled down the wood around the kitchen door, which wasn't doing anything useful anyway. The back area is much cuter now and we can install a screen door at last! It should make for a more comfortable kitchen this coming summer. We found an old screen door in our pile of useful junk, and will use what we can of it and replace the rotten wood. That is, after some other jobs are finished, but hopefully before the weather warms up.</p><br />
<p>Speaking of kitchen, Marty and I were about to give up on the old IXL no.4 and pull it out to replace it with a big Baker's Oven, similar to the one we put in at the Old Miner's Cottage in Stawell. Before we did, I decided to search on YouTube for some information about cooking in antique wood stoves. The tidbits I gleaned from the videos were that I need to use "kitchen wood" in the stove. A term that meant the smaller sticks and rounds that aren't suitable for a wood heater. Another thing was that once it was going well, it needed to be topped up about once every 15 minutes. Ah-ha! We decided to give that a try. We checked the flu, cleaned out the stove and fired her up. Wow, what a difference! We made bacon and eggs, boiled a kettle for a cup of coffee, and the oven got hot enough to roast pumpkin! So, that settles it! We're keeping the IXL no. 4 for good. :) </p><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmkAHXJDdYo7nfWPM7qHDO0DrLOq-rBteGyIcZ-8OSMmxOOMBo-xrq4wdFx4z8BjgZ8M-db2dWQju7XONMGCD7GSVCOXEJc3LbpAZwsImEGcf1-zA2yVzgdJWLBhvgeRVUMy8D0Lt5Czpl/s1200/diggingsarah.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmkAHXJDdYo7nfWPM7qHDO0DrLOq-rBteGyIcZ-8OSMmxOOMBo-xrq4wdFx4z8BjgZ8M-db2dWQju7XONMGCD7GSVCOXEJc3LbpAZwsImEGcf1-zA2yVzgdJWLBhvgeRVUMy8D0Lt5Czpl/s320/diggingsarah.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br />
<p>Sarah spent the summer helping to control the mouse "plague". She had an absolutely wonderful time digging and chasing mice. She's spending this winter resting up, sleeping on the bed in front of the fireplace. We're hoping she'll be with us for another summer, but only time will tell. We're both so glad she's spending her retirement with us on our little farm.</p><br />
<p>We've been feeling more energetic and motivated since adding some fruit and potatoes to our otherwise meat-based diet. Our mandarin tree had a productive season and is overloaded with fruit. First, one possum found it, then a friend joined him or her. Looks like we will have to install the possum nest box somewhere nearby for them.</p><br />
<p>There are lots of other projects in various stages of completion, we're waiting on online orders of electric fencing supplies and seeds. There's still plenty to do, and we've no time to waste! The goal is to be able to provide for ourselves, all the meat and fruit and vegetables we eat, the water we drink and the electricity we use. We have half of that list complete, and a solid plan for the other half. We need to be self reliant, or our choices in how we live in the near future will be very limited indeed.</p><br />
<p>Until next time!</p>OffGridMandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02220285707868101127noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7889171487479707960.post-85946775453824908962021-02-18T20:56:00.004+11:002021-02-18T21:03:53.251+11:00A very fine February<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGQpNsOIdQle_gJ4Bd8gHMPqIEqjSKfEE4GTpJ4M86D8LpFSWfHM5nMPfK9AmIQn8psjA0iErlEWvez9dAg8n6h3t-tQQVEhiShE-r4JL14I88ZsE6sO3eoYcCy4zv-edwvgHiAppelgd7/s2048/IMG_20210129_083800.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGQpNsOIdQle_gJ4Bd8gHMPqIEqjSKfEE4GTpJ4M86D8LpFSWfHM5nMPfK9AmIQn8psjA0iErlEWvez9dAg8n6h3t-tQQVEhiShE-r4JL14I88ZsE6sO3eoYcCy4zv-edwvgHiAppelgd7/s320/IMG_20210129_083800.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>We've been very lucky and grateful for the weather this summer. Only a few days of over 40°C, but we had three downpours of over 20mm each over a week or so which made the grass green and all the plants bounce back beautifully. With Mum and Mike staying in their campervan they couldn't have gotten any luckier!</p><p>The garden is doing great, and there is abundant peaches, pumpkins, spiders and insects, and the crested pidgons are nesting again this season with two more chicks on the way. Although not all the abundance is welcome. We have had many more mice and rats this year too, which is keeping Sarah (Mum and Mike's dog) very busy. She has been digging out the nests and doing her terrier duty quite well. We'll miss her when she moves to Victoria in a couple of weeks.</p><p>She's been aging backwards since eating carnivore like us. Her fur went from wirey, dirty and constantly shedding to the complete opposite! Soft as silk, doesn't fall out every pat, and dirt just falls off her for the most part. Now you actually want to pat her, which is great since that's her favourite thing in the world next to catching mice. She doesn't yelp when being picked up anymore and she has loads more energy. We can't be sure but we think her cancerous lumps might be getting smaller too. Either way, for an old doggie who everyone thought was on her last legs, she has certainly perked up!</p><p>We have finished the irrigation, filled in the whole trench by hand and have shown off some local landmarks to Mum and Mike. We hope to get some more projects started and finished again real soon.</p><p>Manda.<br /></p>OffGridMandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02220285707868101127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7889171487479707960.post-72922862150269025642020-12-01T10:52:00.001+11:002021-02-18T20:15:46.537+11:00More dam projects, open borders, hot windy weather<p>Another month flies by, and we've been working on the dam water quality. I have been reading about the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venturi_effect" target="_blank">venturi effect</a> and decided to make a venturi and set it up down at the dam in order to oxygenate the water. The idea is that the oxygen will help settle the excess iron from the water and clear it up a bit. Marty can swim well, so he put the pipe down in the middle of the dam! <br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMFIMZwDrA3FgLgi2NrQ1CIpVnuu5A0Mpsf0WkXaVLwi4yl54Lev-I0wxMKZ-1AJQ56T5KrgUtbjCR-ymyEaOkZEZL8cGyizl9TnWG12Jn7v1vcKRa4o0l0B4Aaw19IEURqKePwjOSm_SS/s1200/Marty+in+the+dam.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMFIMZwDrA3FgLgi2NrQ1CIpVnuu5A0Mpsf0WkXaVLwi4yl54Lev-I0wxMKZ-1AJQ56T5KrgUtbjCR-ymyEaOkZEZL8cGyizl9TnWG12Jn7v1vcKRa4o0l0B4Aaw19IEURqKePwjOSm_SS/s320/Marty+in+the+dam.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>The venturi works, although it drains the 22,500L header tank very quickly, like over night! We decided to go ahead and get two solar panels for the pump so we can run the venturi more often. That meant a trip down to Victoria to pick them up and thankfully the border closures had stopped the day before, and we decided to go quickly before they closed them down again. Thankfully we avoided the whole mask stuff, and the business we went to were not pandering to the fear either.</p><p><br /></p><p>We've spent the last few days putting up a stand for the panels, Marty digging in the hot sun, yesterday we made about 10 or 11 (little) loads of concrete to hold the posts up, and today we're going to attach the panels, all going well. The wind has been terrible lately, and we were held up by some awfully hot weather. It has been over 40°C, and up to 43°C the other day. (109.4°F) We're all coping pretty well so far.</p><p><br /></p><p>Mum, Mike and Sarah came to visit down from Queensland finally, when their border opened up. We looked after Sarah for a few days while they went down to Nana's place for a visit. Sarah seemed to enjoy being a carnivore! She ate the same foods Marty and I did, with farm fresh eggs. Her fur became softer, and it was shedding a lot less by the time they came home again! Sadly, none of them are carnivore now, but I bet Sarah won't forget her time here with us.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMGIJyu8MonuEfFlq5Ff5OtDBwtcZlJwzp9ze9cjCs_bg5wrpThhhlvLZLdettOo8FC8WiV9hUnfG4UPN0aGsGBV7HAeV1Chjv6ISALtZwbkCqZZIDEL5FnVVXjIzqvf6En2O53dKHZuKz/s1600/Marty+and+Sarah.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMGIJyu8MonuEfFlq5Ff5OtDBwtcZlJwzp9ze9cjCs_bg5wrpThhhlvLZLdettOo8FC8WiV9hUnfG4UPN0aGsGBV7HAeV1Chjv6ISALtZwbkCqZZIDEL5FnVVXjIzqvf6En2O53dKHZuKz/s320/Marty+and+Sarah.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p></p><p>Anyway, like I said, we have panels to put up today. Hope you all have a lovely day!<br /></p>OffGridMandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02220285707868101127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7889171487479707960.post-3969312195363987182020-11-08T21:42:00.000+11:002020-11-08T21:42:19.756+11:00Milestone Day for Irrigation<p>Today was the day that we first pumped water from the dam into the header tank on the hill. I can hardly believe it!</p><p>We've probably walked the 250m distance between the dam and the tank about a hundred times by now, and we're not quite<span></span> finished walking yet. I tried to capture some of the essence of the project in photos to share with you. <br /></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEmg-rdVSK0W_AH4U5HKYdvcfPuDygBVlwqR1ZLB0r3l7bEwUD_y2XOJkQ2g91Yr-vsai04hwx1tIF_5lHb7z2-Oi_5WVMiBTRdINlKyq16BSi0-fhNfQ2_0U_ttM-STOSC6mMUSr_7nkb/s1200/IMG_20201012_121518.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1200" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEmg-rdVSK0W_AH4U5HKYdvcfPuDygBVlwqR1ZLB0r3l7bEwUD_y2XOJkQ2g91Yr-vsai04hwx1tIF_5lHb7z2-Oi_5WVMiBTRdINlKyq16BSi0-fhNfQ2_0U_ttM-STOSC6mMUSr_7nkb/w400-h300/IMG_20201012_121518.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Marty, the International A414 and the big white tank on the hill.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzxX5cFAovG-TaE4OzAzyXGo0PH3hlxq49rSBY_tQQdvniGfO6LDBLQ1di07gssXzT5p2C8y7atrFqN-ES4zFkAYtakAhToB4PJi692soZnS2Y1AGtoQLJk6-nQMGlthjx7a1m_YOLo1zw/s1200/IMG_20201012_121704.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="900" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzxX5cFAovG-TaE4OzAzyXGo0PH3hlxq49rSBY_tQQdvniGfO6LDBLQ1di07gssXzT5p2C8y7atrFqN-ES4zFkAYtakAhToB4PJi692soZnS2Y1AGtoQLJk6-nQMGlthjx7a1m_YOLo1zw/w300-h400/IMG_20201012_121704.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We used the single tyne ripper quite a few times along the run.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL3FerKgJ4iUgE_H9wBQfVpg8B0ZvcZdubYInj0zVFJDP82VZngDRfYMzXJdfVqbt7xeiW3iceSOXml_mzJvv0f6eVvLUMvRY8fmnXcCT3KmNerGnC2PNrk_-HAfEtuaWxQ8Bne4o0JMyd/s1200/IMG_20201012_121733.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="900" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL3FerKgJ4iUgE_H9wBQfVpg8B0ZvcZdubYInj0zVFJDP82VZngDRfYMzXJdfVqbt7xeiW3iceSOXml_mzJvv0f6eVvLUMvRY8fmnXcCT3KmNerGnC2PNrk_-HAfEtuaWxQ8Bne4o0JMyd/w300-h400/IMG_20201012_121733.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We've had fun and learned a lot!<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p>In the photo above, it turns out Marty was taking this little video: <br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gljBZAlOml0" width="320" youtube-src-id="gljBZAlOml0"></iframe></div><br /><p></p><p>We're super grateful for the advice we've received from our local farmer friend, he saved us oh so much money! The irrigation and farm stores would have had us installing either 2.5" high pressure poly pipe, costing a fortune and being much more difficult to work with.. another was asking if we were SURE we needed 2" and thought that was overkill. Still others would have us spending big bucks for a centrifugal pump that might block up due to the particulate matter in the water. So thank you Richard for giving us spot-on advice and answering even the most newbie questions we had, you likely saved us at least $6,000 on this project.<br /></p><p>We put pencil to paper and drew a rough plan of the irrigation, a few times actually, refining it each time. It really helped us both visualise the layout, count the parts needed, and we actually ordered exactly what we needed! It was awesome to have everything on hand, without rushing off to the shops for forgotten fittings. Oh, except plumbers white-tape. We needed an awful lot of that!<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLJuBBN3gXin_v7gf-HJq42LsuuN1UuuJK7-o2ej42OKyCxGSxmkLUrmBchhMObUsFYBRIvJvHprKtwwluouKFJ_PnhoW6uakOrAFP0AVo8cQYN10HAimox2xdTF_VymIMpfszPUPBBvPR/s1200/IMG_20201108_195125.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1200" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLJuBBN3gXin_v7gf-HJq42LsuuN1UuuJK7-o2ej42OKyCxGSxmkLUrmBchhMObUsFYBRIvJvHprKtwwluouKFJ_PnhoW6uakOrAFP0AVo8cQYN10HAimox2xdTF_VymIMpfszPUPBBvPR/w400-h300/IMG_20201108_195125.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyd6MB6hgBDkYqZQwkfMeQdTWUYFGT0kt1VVuN8UODZMHG-tghgkHJxRAPw61FYcUA1TVL8w9Z0-WHlYeJd5kekOjRJWgKm2iFiN2x0MPw_Z-WMvUjTtm_0IGluJOt5G4oHBLLkigec0S7/s1200/IMG_20201108_195217.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1200" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyd6MB6hgBDkYqZQwkfMeQdTWUYFGT0kt1VVuN8UODZMHG-tghgkHJxRAPw61FYcUA1TVL8w9Z0-WHlYeJd5kekOjRJWgKm2iFiN2x0MPw_Z-WMvUjTtm_0IGluJOt5G4oHBLLkigec0S7/w400-h300/IMG_20201108_195217.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p>I found a website that sold the parts we needed very cheaply, and almost finalised the order when Marty thought perhaps we should give the list of what we need and the online prices to our local "Ag n Vet" rural supplies store, just to give them a chance to match it. Not only did they match it, they beat it! They also had the cheapest price on rural green-line poly pipe in the whole area, so we ended up getting just about everything very locally.</p><p>They were able to let us know about a local man who had a pipe laying attachment for the tractor as well, which was great as we already knew Pat! We are happily returning it to him tomorrow after finishing using it yesterday.</p><p>So, after lots of walking, assembling the compression fittings, using about 5 roles of white-tape (and we had avoided as many screw-on connections as we could in the planning stages), re-applying yet more white-tape as we found some of the connections leaking due to too little used, and re-tightening the compression fittings, we were happy to see the water slowly flowing into the tank. I guess I didn't mention the pump float we made with stormwater pipe, but I'll have to show that off in another post.</p><p>The water finally flowed into the tank for a few hours before the sun headed off to the West and a gum tree shaded the panel. We'll need at least a couple of good days to fill the tank completely, so we're thinking of purchasing a matching second solar panel to give the pump a little more juice.</p><p>Speaking of juice, Marty and I have been feeling much better now after falling into the sugar trap over winter. We started eating some, and we just couldn't stop! Sure, we gained a little weight, but that was nothing in comparison to the health effects. Our energy levels started to fall down again, Marty's asthma and eczema became worse than ever, and we weren't sleeping well either. After only a few days of being perfect carnivores, we started enjoying the benefits of good health once again. Sleeping soundly, needing less sleep, waking feeling good, (no back pain for me in the morning! hooray!) having enough energy to do this crazy irrigation stuff, and Marty's asthma and incessant itchiness finally settling down.</p><p>Yeah, it can be a little boring at times, but it's worth it. Just one hour of eating sugar equals many more hours of feeling less than optimal. That certainly isn't worth it.</p><p>Dr Ken Berry on YouTube is a great source of information and encouragement for us, I thought I'd share him explaining just some of the bigger issues with eating the addictive stuff:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SZFzR3TPOHM" width="320" youtube-src-id="SZFzR3TPOHM"></iframe></div><br /><p>So, we're off the sugar again, and feeling a million times better for it.</p><p>I wish everyone good health and success in your day. It certainly feels good to make progress!</p><p><br /></p><p></p>OffGridMandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02220285707868101127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7889171487479707960.post-183627547020530012020-10-03T19:47:00.000+10:002020-10-03T19:47:02.015+10:00Making progress on the irrigation<p> The weather has been typical of spring, we had a cold snap and needed to start lighting the fire again..</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdDrS3Ffk8TsqeOw2Et_E5yZRu2fRu6B40gWVAz62sCeN22nMCKypxqSZmGJ_EYLYzaLYgcIktFsUOyX6vtKygavFK4VgfWsijMuMltsMXtcgY6jMdYMGjO6mkfcrBTaMxJJWCo_REjYQV/s1200/IMG_20200926_105442.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdDrS3Ffk8TsqeOw2Et_E5yZRu2fRu6B40gWVAz62sCeN22nMCKypxqSZmGJ_EYLYzaLYgcIktFsUOyX6vtKygavFK4VgfWsijMuMltsMXtcgY6jMdYMGjO6mkfcrBTaMxJJWCo_REjYQV/s320/IMG_20200926_105442.jpg" /></a></div><p></p><p>Now that the weather is warm again, we even got a little sun burned today while ripping a trench with the tractor. No pictures of that, I'm afraid! We were both concentrating on the task and didn't spare a thought for picture taking. We made a single rip through the soil, ready to accept poly pipe, from the brand new big white tank on the top of the hill, all the way down to the back of the property.</p><p>The local wildlife enjoyed the exposed ground, Choughs filled their bellies with worms! We've been lucky enough to see a lizard sunning itself in a patch of capeweed.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM-90hWZlTw3LTEZbYDmIPndL9GimJhv0F51IbK18bkk8HozyMt6OAU_mHGTHARP18Onr0eAa_6MBWge8R8UnBO3MRagEUkbKYObihfFMq-CeZV1CJAlQQqKJqJByPmGzOKdbVmA6T5pF2/s1200/IMG_20200914_115325.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM-90hWZlTw3LTEZbYDmIPndL9GimJhv0F51IbK18bkk8HozyMt6OAU_mHGTHARP18Onr0eAa_6MBWge8R8UnBO3MRagEUkbKYObihfFMq-CeZV1CJAlQQqKJqJByPmGzOKdbVmA6T5pF2/s320/IMG_20200914_115325.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>We recently got the test results back from our a water sample we had taken from the dam. The results were overall pretty positive, only an alarmingly high aluminium (Al) number confused us (and everybody else we asked). Thankfully the pH value is neutral, and the most likely explanation that I can find is that the aluminium is natural gibbsite bound to organic matter in the water. Our soils are also naturally high in aluminium. We're both comforted by the fact that turtles, frogs, yabbies and other little critters live in the water and are seemingly healthy.</p><p>Marty and I donned our white lab coats to set up an experiment. 4 jars of dam water; one control, one with 2 tablespoons of fine agricultural lime, another with 2 tablespoons of hardware store gypsum and the last with 2 tablespoons of shell grit from our chook supplies. We wanted to see what effect any might have on the water. Nothing much happened over a few days, only a slight change in pH and hardness, most noticeable with the shell grit. The tiny black critters swimming around the jars didn't seem to mind either way. Adding a small dose of Charlie Carp (which is a fish-based fertiliser) to the shell grit test after the experiment was over made a sludge layer form at the bottom and seems to have killed the tiny critters! Something we certainly don't want to replicate on a larger scale!<br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0Q2S3y__5tyqqNNGV_DhVhcNiCtOg32KUISUJnbHhlAssmvWaqpbsaOrjn2txVuLARteXZA_bmGNssoFkRFsMPYhk1vvo0DxDp-ZS3jijqiYY1jI7gheaiEMz2f-ARQhOsQcgBDeRl6EB/s1200/IMG_20201001_170226.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0Q2S3y__5tyqqNNGV_DhVhcNiCtOg32KUISUJnbHhlAssmvWaqpbsaOrjn2txVuLARteXZA_bmGNssoFkRFsMPYhk1vvo0DxDp-ZS3jijqiYY1jI7gheaiEMz2f-ARQhOsQcgBDeRl6EB/s320/IMG_20201001_170226.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>Since pH is an important factor in making sure our water stays healthy, I decided to bust out the old soil test kits. I think they're both far too old to be of any help anymore though! One ancient test kit (yep, we got it in a "lot" at a clearing sale) was showing our soils to be 4.5, the slightly newer (but at least 6 year old) kit was showing a pH of 6 on the exact same soil. I think it's time to get a new kit, or perhaps upgrade to a digital pH meter.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIoaTdfQeZSdGi2G74y5b9YjPazhzAzF1apVpwfTeIizoI4kM69t4rVJeF6p6pmwehxlFVK0stmmj4xM_jL1HGmD0Lnm0OZXMR9tk1cbbZB7W52XPkE7beIrENOdXDdXTDMDMEe_hdUpOF/s1200/IMG_20200929_135358.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIoaTdfQeZSdGi2G74y5b9YjPazhzAzF1apVpwfTeIizoI4kM69t4rVJeF6p6pmwehxlFVK0stmmj4xM_jL1HGmD0Lnm0OZXMR9tk1cbbZB7W52XPkE7beIrENOdXDdXTDMDMEe_hdUpOF/s320/IMG_20200929_135358.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>So, we are moving forward with the dam water project. The next step is buying poly pipe and fittings, and setting up the solar
water pump. As simple as that sounds, I know it's a bit more involved
than that. We have been getting lots of practical advice from a very helpful and patient local farmer, and also watching lots of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi8jM5w49UezskDWBGyKq5g" target="_blank">Greg Judy videos on YouTube</a> about rotationally grazing sheep.</p><p>Stay tuned!<br /></p>OffGridMandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02220285707868101127noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7889171487479707960.post-82370241426667812182020-09-14T09:02:00.005+10:002020-09-14T09:21:06.413+10:00Getting dam prepared<p> Marty and I have been pottering around, planning and purchasing! We did hours upon hours of research about submersible pumps, measured the distances required, decided which one to buy, and even ordered a 10,000L water tank to put up on the wall of the dam. Then we went for a visit with a local farmer, Richard, who suggested a different way of doing things again!</p><p> We came home and immediately got to work measuring up the new distances and researching again. Richard had suggested putting a big tank on the top of our hill instead of a small one on the dam wall. We would run a larger pipe to the bigger tank and have gravity pressure water available farm-wide!</p><p> So, Marty called <a href="https://www.bushmantanks.com.au/" target="_blank">Bushmans tanks</a> to change our order to a bigger 22,500L tank. Richard told us his pumps were from <a href="https://www.commodoreaustralia.com.au/" target="_blank">Commodore Australia</a>, which are cheaper and seem to be a better fit for our situation than the more expensive pump we were originally considering. So we ordered one and now we're just preparing for everything to arrive.<br /></p><p> We've also been working on tidying up the annex area, getting ready for installing a little water tank to collect the water from that roof. I have a huge collection of plant pots that I won in at least a couple of different clearing sales, and they were stacked up high behind the shade house. We spent a good couple of days cleaning some and organising the rest of them for storage. We couldn't use them all if we tried!</p><p> I've enjoyed using the potting bench in the annex for potting up a few saltbush and lavender cuttings, and sunflower seeds are popping up now.</p><p> We are extremely grateful for another local farmer, Grant, who has huge round bales of old hay that he's happy for us to take for free. We recently got 4 of them, and used one to cover the ground of where the chooks were at last. They'd been on the hill and the ground is terrible up there. We added the straw once we moved the chooks away in hopes of improving the ground. Another bale went on the dam walls to try and protect the bare sides from erosion. It appears to be helping quite a bit, with more plant growth and many more frogs croaking in the night! We've used old peppercorn logs given to us by a Permie friend, Jim, and even a dead wattle tree that gave up the ghost. Dotting them around the walls of the dam is giving the plants a chance to grow without kangaroos, wallabies and harsh rainfall preventing them from establishing.</p><p> We also have some water plants almost ready to go into the dam this spring, originally from a local(ish) waterway. We're trying to get the water to clear up a bit, as it's quite silty and brown. Plants are the only way that's going to happen, as the silt just doesn't settle on it's own. This is all heading towards getting sheep, and with the rain and lovely spring we've had, there's certainly enough grass for the time being.</p><p> Just another 2 round bales of hay to put down and we're close to covering the entire dam wall.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLPhB8pP1RbV_Orw8hNOEIDQQtffJ2l_SNfJfpaV1GmAd7zh77Xy3Cj8Py9h7g1CKrdMNudpDOLUYQ2NJl_uctsz_mGfsYAT_GaKR8ZImF2lzyPhk3lP1d8lRjheAxVrxCzp5P7qiG2ZmF/s2048/MartyStraw.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLPhB8pP1RbV_Orw8hNOEIDQQtffJ2l_SNfJfpaV1GmAd7zh77Xy3Cj8Py9h7g1CKrdMNudpDOLUYQ2NJl_uctsz_mGfsYAT_GaKR8ZImF2lzyPhk3lP1d8lRjheAxVrxCzp5P7qiG2ZmF/w300-h400/MartyStraw.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhushHPbfmLmqHIg-_iIuXWKu-1lR2XHtGmFabp93_ZGzqFKwjPt5mniz9yamWv2aMZh4geyEVGj7tnjc-g3Z5sZ0MMpCQ9MGD7keTVpQ8InYsW8bOx1Cr52jiBthYxI78bAq0D-5p5zTp_/s2048/MartyStraw2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhushHPbfmLmqHIg-_iIuXWKu-1lR2XHtGmFabp93_ZGzqFKwjPt5mniz9yamWv2aMZh4geyEVGj7tnjc-g3Z5sZ0MMpCQ9MGD7keTVpQ8InYsW8bOx1Cr52jiBthYxI78bAq0D-5p5zTp_/w300-h400/MartyStraw2.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><br />OffGridMandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02220285707868101127noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7889171487479707960.post-60176640150952155962020-08-03T10:51:00.000+10:002020-08-03T10:51:10.245+10:00Annex progress & pastured chicks<div>Well gosh, time sure does fly by! Marty and I have been working on the annex to the shade house and the shade house itself is now covered in shade cloth and is keeping seedlings out of the frost and cold winds. We have native seedlings for planting around the farm, wattles mostly. There are tagasaste sprouting and cuttings from forage plants taking root. I intend on planting plenty of sunflowers for the poultry this season, too!<br /></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7xVK4JJIVw2WAKuXRQeN8gtSQdtSn7fRFjEiVZD2zkGFCvFOmZqvZsrZuZZIEb10SEWV3zorRY30OEGij8StVR-2bA2P7_hwWb_E5EMs8ixZf8JBtmcGCY0JtQQN8YXjEaetJ_Emt0aiQ/s1300/MartyDrills1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="975" data-original-width="1300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7xVK4JJIVw2WAKuXRQeN8gtSQdtSn7fRFjEiVZD2zkGFCvFOmZqvZsrZuZZIEb10SEWV3zorRY30OEGij8StVR-2bA2P7_hwWb_E5EMs8ixZf8JBtmcGCY0JtQQN8YXjEaetJ_Emt0aiQ/s640/MartyDrills1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTBGnmVRgx9e74wa1MpPLMqJ8BMB-6Hzff3acQtYTcwG2oWhRdhPX3OnSoyJzND1Co-z_v-U-V1HCIqJ_SpxRhCYOqoXyx3VjK1Mq678ZQt-Z5EmXZLyn_eibLa9ooMq5G0D4MsveOhPD2/s1733/MartyDrills.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1733" data-original-width="1300" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTBGnmVRgx9e74wa1MpPLMqJ8BMB-6Hzff3acQtYTcwG2oWhRdhPX3OnSoyJzND1Co-z_v-U-V1HCIqJ_SpxRhCYOqoXyx3VjK1Mq678ZQt-Z5EmXZLyn_eibLa9ooMq5G0D4MsveOhPD2/s640/MartyDrills.jpg" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcx7mw7XtT25d7cf8e821mMCssdkbzG-d_jEnyYhyiCoZsA3dmuRu4WcxFpCf1bBrxmaMV6kekB24ufR0y4hmo2QRqXfjdMfJnuqCjmwY0lb80Ds07a7cyR86tlG6KrA8H0UsAB4BwiIoS/s2048/IMG_20200608_140859.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcx7mw7XtT25d7cf8e821mMCssdkbzG-d_jEnyYhyiCoZsA3dmuRu4WcxFpCf1bBrxmaMV6kekB24ufR0y4hmo2QRqXfjdMfJnuqCjmwY0lb80Ds07a7cyR86tlG6KrA8H0UsAB4BwiIoS/s640/IMG_20200608_140859.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Last piece of tin for the roof!<br /></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwR2krMEAMLTKsb1GGhGeiCm_AzNlj5Op1jKs16FVyY8WqR76sxgOcFdXNRp0ftagT7iC8dy6bXrcOQtFN5ZU7nl8seogfrO6mq-E61b-Q918Z0frSdJzuJUjKXeiixktrPtQfXwzFhwuS/s2048/IMG_20200620_123225.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwR2krMEAMLTKsb1GGhGeiCm_AzNlj5Op1jKs16FVyY8WqR76sxgOcFdXNRp0ftagT7iC8dy6bXrcOQtFN5ZU7nl8seogfrO6mq-E61b-Q918Z0frSdJzuJUjKXeiixktrPtQfXwzFhwuS/s640/IMG_20200620_123225.jpg" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Inspecting after a rain.<br /></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOKa1jOf5c0R8mpIMA-mitfKi8oc55m_YxqFMAWgOJnu_VgOQJZIGDFrzxNhyphenhyphen7npbaIWI1qy4rYhcs0sgtoJDsEgDgGiCRHgDGmiNV3ac-UAyBhIY6cDI1RyMK5-TcNzq8VEhY74kKYKxi/s2048/IMG_20200728_125951.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOKa1jOf5c0R8mpIMA-mitfKi8oc55m_YxqFMAWgOJnu_VgOQJZIGDFrzxNhyphenhyphen7npbaIWI1qy4rYhcs0sgtoJDsEgDgGiCRHgDGmiNV3ac-UAyBhIY6cDI1RyMK5-TcNzq8VEhY74kKYKxi/s640/IMG_20200728_125951.jpg" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>The potting bench was made last weekend from scrap and reclaimed ply-board. I painted it in a "subtle nightsky" colour, leftover from renovating the Old Miner's Cottage in Stawell. I honestly can't remember where we used that colour though!<br /></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmWAMs4LCaXfvzZm0x883FbktEFp0G43vvl_r0yRWMtsLQ70NltbtTXxRBTaPRVDfKFSXcQ-ZtSPhKWBf5WhJ-3QxgzP0kzajIKDW8DPgGSbu-bqTcH7KLKqv297-clRJ9ckhMHsDpoSkg/s2048/IMG_20200803_100025.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmWAMs4LCaXfvzZm0x883FbktEFp0G43vvl_r0yRWMtsLQ70NltbtTXxRBTaPRVDfKFSXcQ-ZtSPhKWBf5WhJ-3QxgzP0kzajIKDW8DPgGSbu-bqTcH7KLKqv297-clRJ9ckhMHsDpoSkg/s640/IMG_20200803_100025.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>We welded up a stand for an old laundry tub we got from a clearing sale years ago now, and it's ready for plumbing in. There's a trench cut beside the path ready for the water line, which hopefully I'll get done this week. Eventually the outside tin and roof will be painted, we tinted the paint "fairy wings" quarter, so it'll be a light pink colour!</div><div><br /></div><div>There's still three doors to be made, a bit more shadecloth for the east side of the hoop house, and shelves to put up inside the annex, but it's all coming along. The chicken food is now stored all in one location in lockers to the south of the annex, so feeding and moving chickens is so much easier now.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhckq29KQ2GXmy8brR8MugnluHuJuAfv0t8uUon39mGI965U2aGVDj3AfWvATtxw9Q93LduZZg0QRX96l_OyfNgzmR3JGc7XnKiv4V3NXaVSEYuRDFnctv-j1qmDij-cq5-8AIYZgcz3FfB/s1733/ChickSetup1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1733" data-original-width="1300" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhckq29KQ2GXmy8brR8MugnluHuJuAfv0t8uUon39mGI965U2aGVDj3AfWvATtxw9Q93LduZZg0QRX96l_OyfNgzmR3JGc7XnKiv4V3NXaVSEYuRDFnctv-j1qmDij-cq5-8AIYZgcz3FfB/s640/ChickSetup1.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div>The old aviary has been excellent for raising chicks. They have a little nest box where they sleep with the broody at night, and a new area to scratch up every day. I put dolomite lime down on the previous day's ground to help keep the flies away from the manure, which is also remineralising the ground as well as helping break down the old grasses.</div><div><br /></div><div>We kept the chicks like this for just over 18 weeks, now that they're "point of lay" we popped the pullets in with the adult hens and the cockerel will soon become the best quality roast money just can't buy. :)<br /></div><div><br /></div><div>I really enjoyed raising the chicks like this, and will definitely do it again when one of the adult hens wants to become a mother again. The last broody happily stayed with the chicks for over 10 weeks, which is a testament to the system. Usually our hens will get sick of the chicks and smaller pen size in around 4 or 5 weeks.<br /></div><div><br /></div><div>So there's plenty to do, and we're working on the logistics of getting sheep so we can rotate them around the pasture as well. That won't be for a little while yet, but it's higher on the priority list now. We've measured the height of the dam wall, sized a couple of pump options and got a rough idea on what we need to get before we take the great leap forward into purchasing our first 4 legged livestock. </div><div><br /></div>OffGridMandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02220285707868101127noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7889171487479707960.post-42749896466857759702020-05-20T08:52:00.000+10:002020-05-20T16:25:50.577+10:00Autumn ActivityWe've had a couple of good night's sleep without the 3am microbat intrusion! We thought maybe it was getting in through the air vents, and although we'd already sealed them from the outside, I put tape over them on the inside just to make sure. Nope, that wasn't where it was getting in. While I was up on the ladder, I noticed a bit of a gap around the top of the window frame, so that was plastered over and it seems that was the answer. At least the bedroom is even more air-tight now, so there's an upside!<br />
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The brakes on the International A414 tractor are now back together and working as intended. It was the idea of lifting the back end of the tractor and adjusting the breaks while it was running was the most stressful part, but in reality it was no big issue. The old massive bottle jack and some big heavy bits of metal worked to hold her up just fine. Once adjusted, Marty took her for a run up the driveway as usual, and we discovered that the handbrake is adjustable from the top!<br />
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After the tractor was back together, we hooked up the single tine deep ripper and dragged the old A frame out from storage. We started by marking a contour line in the woodlot area using the A frame with the level attached. I then drove the tractor alongside the posts, and the deep ripper sunk into the ground, moving the soil but not turning it over. We did a rip on each side of the posts, and we planted the trees that I had waiting all summer for good weather. We planted a line of 14 trees, mostly Yellow Box and Blakey's Red Gum, in between the two ripped areas. Usually people plant IN the rip, but if it's a wet winter, they'd easily drown, so we planted them between the lines. The silty soil in the woodlot is deep and becomes a heavy clay at the bottom of the rip.<br />
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Then we took the A frame and tractor up on the top of the hill, and made a couple more contour lines up there. The soil there is rocky and hard, and the ripper didn't go in nearly as far. We hope to see some improvements to the soil and hopefully some more natives will volunteer to grow up there now. It would certainly be easier and better than buying and planting more trees and plants, but I started some locally saved seeds just to see if I can get any to come up. If they do, I'll plant them between the rips up on the hill. There is plenty more land we can rip and plant trees in, and we certainly intend to!<br />
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Since then, Marty and I have been working on a project we've had in mind for a while now, a covered annex to the shade-house. We worked on it all last weekend, and there are now 4 poles in the ground, and the ground is roughly leveled using the little Kubota. We'd planned a little garden shed in that general area, but weren't exactly excited by the plan, but we came up with a better idea and just went for it with the materials we have on hand.<br />
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The little cement mixer that Mum and Mike gave us before they went to Queensland was awfully useful. We plugged it right into the solar system, and it uses only 150W. Much quieter than running the generator for mixing a little concrete for the posts. Not to mention the bags of cement they left came in handy, too!<br />
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The next step requires some welding, and we're expecting a bit more rain, so we'll continue it when we can. It'll be such a useful little space once it's complete - a bit of storage for chicken feed, gardening supplies and tools, and shelter for potting up plants etc. It's also a bit of practice and a confidence building exercise before we start on the bigger shed we've wanted since we moved in. We'll get there!<br />
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PS: I forgot to mention how nice and easy the tractor is to drive now! It stops easily, and the handbrake works perfectly, which makes us both feel more relaxed.<br />
<br />OffGridMandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02220285707868101127noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7889171487479707960.post-54318464344093524882020-04-24T10:27:00.000+10:002020-05-20T09:04:07.980+10:00Big catch upWe've had a very very long autumn here, the summer heat was gone by February and by March things were downright wet in comparison. Trees, shrubs and grass all began to green up and even flower. Fruit trees threw a few flowers out just to give the bees and bugs a little extra food before winter arrives. The drought had been so depressing, but I ordered a few more plants for the garden that are suppose to be extra tough. Mostly succulents. The rain inspired me to get into the garden again and I'm so glad I did.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Volunteer silverbeet, chard, and sunflowers among the perennials</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Succulent and cacti raised garden</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">How green the kitchen garden looks!</td></tr>
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The chickens then surprised me when a broody chook showed off her new chicks. I'm embarrassed to admit that I had no idea anyone was sitting. One of the chicks was hatched out a couple of days later than the others and wasn't ready to be up and about just yet.. so I took him inside and warmed him up with hot water bottles.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_Pc3oHh3-9HPdwrd3G6bU_Y51AIyzZc34TaYxJZNrnkY_tz6JlsOKigEkG1USVa5f9GRPcdMwbVN_kUI7b98YrJUWoOaFhPr8HuCOKxMX_MJdoVpqGDIZHcj5Ncu2mO48b-Bjvngjm2fI/s1600/chick1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_Pc3oHh3-9HPdwrd3G6bU_Y51AIyzZc34TaYxJZNrnkY_tz6JlsOKigEkG1USVa5f9GRPcdMwbVN_kUI7b98YrJUWoOaFhPr8HuCOKxMX_MJdoVpqGDIZHcj5Ncu2mO48b-Bjvngjm2fI/s320/chick1.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hot water bottles, a Styrofoam box, a little fish tank and a lot of old towels.</td></tr>
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<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ37TxswxZkY6tzRhBChekoXwii-CE5T4c9DrVMIq8M6A2JNTPhwx5hGDxly4HSDeIgNt0ZTrv5WZpdLkxHm82YpMM5N8KAl61snEJKGRGc7v9tKpPG3zdfE117xpNW0t-PcLNF3EeiW4a/s1600/chick2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ37TxswxZkY6tzRhBChekoXwii-CE5T4c9DrVMIq8M6A2JNTPhwx5hGDxly4HSDeIgNt0ZTrv5WZpdLkxHm82YpMM5N8KAl61snEJKGRGc7v9tKpPG3zdfE117xpNW0t-PcLNF3EeiW4a/s320/chick2.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Little chick just needed a bit more time and warmth.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVYQC-OF3D5iQP1SmqT3d0mmCIf17cJqq7NE0I4n37J8U8WuHoUgmNil5WzLGVkMyDvNfiZ7RxzidWpsg690k7JdrlZNuMNcBEolQJKsKFxfow-Er5Lm1eooq2TLO8T2QvwHFh9K-rt6lR/s1600/chick3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVYQC-OF3D5iQP1SmqT3d0mmCIf17cJqq7NE0I4n37J8U8WuHoUgmNil5WzLGVkMyDvNfiZ7RxzidWpsg690k7JdrlZNuMNcBEolQJKsKFxfow-Er5Lm1eooq2TLO8T2QvwHFh9K-rt6lR/s320/chick3.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sometimes little chick just needed some love.</td></tr>
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That was 4 weeks ago, and as I hoped, you can't tell which one of the little boys that chick is now! He went back outside with broody after 2 days and one (tiring) night of re-filling hot water bottles and monitoring temperatures.<br />
<br />
This is their mobile broody pen in the pasture, it gets moved almost daily now, and they've grown up so fast. The two boys will stay in the pen, while the broody and two female chicks will be joining the main flock later on when they're ready. The pen is actually Squeak's old aviary with round metal poles welded to the bottom of it so it can be dragged around more easily.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi6md6wE8DtHww3ixxBZsoPMX52OVaPXAyTrS8vzFSELzGLnqKZeMUaiuhgGJ51Jvs1LSMB2PSKFx_Dk-BS6HBVraZP5Q9Nh83XBcvPpAJsfHGT-KUoAVkrbKd8R3SH_syVHW_6ZRvhmiP/s1600/broodypen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi6md6wE8DtHww3ixxBZsoPMX52OVaPXAyTrS8vzFSELzGLnqKZeMUaiuhgGJ51Jvs1LSMB2PSKFx_Dk-BS6HBVraZP5Q9Nh83XBcvPpAJsfHGT-KUoAVkrbKd8R3SH_syVHW_6ZRvhmiP/s400/broodypen.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Broody pen on pasture.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
All the rain also encouraged us to do some chimney maintenance, and we replaced the caps on the chimneys with concrete. The mud worked fine for years, but had begun to crack and let moisture in. It also made a mess of the gutters as sand and clay collected in them. Hopefully it'll be many years before we need to go climbing onto the roof again now.<br />
<br />
Ticking more projects off the list, the tractor's breaks have been pretty bad since we got it. We'd purchased new breaks years ago now, but hadn't gotten around to doing anything about it. Originally, it took all my weight and effort to stop the tractor, which improved a little after we adjusted the breaks to as far as they could be adjusted. Recently, however, the breaks have begun working rather too well. I only need lightly press them and they stopped the tractor with a jerk. That's just not right and had me worried something odd was going on.<br />
<br />
I had read about a deep ripper being helpful with tree planting and water penetration in compacted soils, and decided to try out our cheap second-hand clearing-sale find of a deep ripper, but noticed that the wheels of the tractor weren't behaving normally. One was spinning just moving the tractor without the implement! We decided now was the time to check out the breaks.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUG0v8V6sZVeLildP2FjpTfLRxDBe_gawEWoyGncPkhjaU-Ep4cnB5TonaYMcGCYSjWW7-PI9r4fVVhulyIkI7KC_S8RVvsjZoUyD_SrZd76Iyhl-MZz43pVTElLiS3meBnlpyzwVbh3TO/s1600/break1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUG0v8V6sZVeLildP2FjpTfLRxDBe_gawEWoyGncPkhjaU-Ep4cnB5TonaYMcGCYSjWW7-PI9r4fVVhulyIkI7KC_S8RVvsjZoUyD_SrZd76Iyhl-MZz43pVTElLiS3meBnlpyzwVbh3TO/s320/break1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of the breaks, before we fixed them.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
It took some effort to get them off, since the fenders and even the ROPS (rollover protection) had to be disassembled to access them. Turns out they had nothing left on them, and one was even broken. We cleaned everything up, installed the new pads and the rubber boot to stop dirt and seeds getting in the housing again. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3gX_2UuBnU0dWWS-7RyyLBptp0q8UVaJAfX66ziNtNk-Nd8kcXywOugEAFqPNw2QQGYnPErqRUtkhmlrszjne4rvJh2pi_TYUcUxKWMm09lYOnbSRhfzuJ73F31eT8n_ZReCqZXmQjdRE/s1600/martytractor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3gX_2UuBnU0dWWS-7RyyLBptp0q8UVaJAfX66ziNtNk-Nd8kcXywOugEAFqPNw2QQGYnPErqRUtkhmlrszjne4rvJh2pi_TYUcUxKWMm09lYOnbSRhfzuJ73F31eT8n_ZReCqZXmQjdRE/s320/martytractor.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Marty under the A414.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Next job will be to adjust the breaks, which involves jacking up the entire rear of the tractor and running it in gear! Hopefully once that's done (this weekend) we will be able to get to the job of deep ripping some of the wood lot on contour and then planting out some more trees for this season. We lost last year's trees, but the previous years trees are all looking healthy and are taller than we are.<br />
<br />
Finally, a little renovation inspired by a couple of less than ideal night's sleep, thanks to a tiny little micro bat invading the bedroom in the night. It somehow made it's way into the canopy of the mosquito net (clearly not effective against micro bats!), flapping about and waking me up.. we got up and opened the back door and it flew out the door without us having to do anything else. After it happened again yesterday, Marty prodded me to have a look for any gaps in the bedroom. Oh yeah, there were gaps!<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4hicMendcXgtpS116BRBN1urdZkOxtdnM8M0DdHyOarx5iE7cP1nY2tIAYTezCETSv8I2hj9mBxZrx4Q1TpFuULJFH56Y39GP4NyPEONRf-HdtMnMxjkls9kICmCEcFOPTDQgscijhsa7/s1600/beforewest1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4hicMendcXgtpS116BRBN1urdZkOxtdnM8M0DdHyOarx5iE7cP1nY2tIAYTezCETSv8I2hj9mBxZrx4Q1TpFuULJFH56Y39GP4NyPEONRf-HdtMnMxjkls9kICmCEcFOPTDQgscijhsa7/s320/beforewest1.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">West wall - before.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipAhT_8pJ0ohvwHWezhTWUAhghjIj36ZsmAeaQ0ZE661BzzDzRFyNBViKGqyWovpTcMALbbgJJrCaa54mCwgDo3cl1caxEnXRACzCus7klmMpOf2oDTbxQQavA2NpIRxjvsi3FWJFy1vrv/s1600/afterwest1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipAhT_8pJ0ohvwHWezhTWUAhghjIj36ZsmAeaQ0ZE661BzzDzRFyNBViKGqyWovpTcMALbbgJJrCaa54mCwgDo3cl1caxEnXRACzCus7klmMpOf2oDTbxQQavA2NpIRxjvsi3FWJFy1vrv/s320/afterwest1.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">West wall - after.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijNXqY-Ki7HW5T3n1_NW403tQXYnLYQIqimcFNZqO9BwUKxQVdmGybsqpHNWXOc0D1tGW2dRojFrktc6xNnST884g1JUxqP5_uLDjwSsQs7aQYl1hgMpqIXk1udYL5WhfX4ehfiWANqS51/s1600/beforenorth1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijNXqY-Ki7HW5T3n1_NW403tQXYnLYQIqimcFNZqO9BwUKxQVdmGybsqpHNWXOc0D1tGW2dRojFrktc6xNnST884g1JUxqP5_uLDjwSsQs7aQYl1hgMpqIXk1udYL5WhfX4ehfiWANqS51/s320/beforenorth1.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">North wall - before.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt3Bae-MOV0tHfdf5e7CXfvDW7tN6ZgGs4KUNj0p57SuKM-GOxiDT2Mtko7LEFsCYlrLimQ5y74pvUd8zmrgoUGdTo5vHwdxpkDbN8FIWBppjo8ys5WbbhW_UOoWaNXuLVDYmmi6gCmH-W/s1600/afternorth1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt3Bae-MOV0tHfdf5e7CXfvDW7tN6ZgGs4KUNj0p57SuKM-GOxiDT2Mtko7LEFsCYlrLimQ5y74pvUd8zmrgoUGdTo5vHwdxpkDbN8FIWBppjo8ys5WbbhW_UOoWaNXuLVDYmmi6gCmH-W/s320/afternorth1.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">North wall - after.</td></tr>
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The skirting board had come away completely behind the biggest cupboard we have in the bedroom, I sure hope the bats came in that way! It wasn't too difficult to re-attach the board, and I plastered the gaps with gypsum-based plaster. The room feels different now, quieter.. I noticed the temperature in the room is noticeably warmer, which is nice because haven't started the wood heater yet this season.<br />
<br />
We're otherwise doing ok, mostly unaffected by the crazy world going on outside. The only change has been that the local pub has been forced to close, so with that, we're no longer cleaning it. Marty has been working as usual, and we don't tend to go out much otherwise. We've been shopping for the few essentials at the local IGA's (small independent supermarkets) instead of going in to Wagga Wagga and the big supermarkets there. Our butcher continues to supply us with beautiful hind-quarters of beef about monthly, and we have been enjoying kidney, liver and heart as well. I credit eating as well as we possibly can to getting over the 3 week long, but mild illness we both developed early March.<br />
<br />
I'm hopeful we'll get many more projects complete in the near future and that the world will get back to the good old normal very soon too.OffGridMandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02220285707868101127noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7889171487479707960.post-75753076162262732512019-12-04T11:59:00.000+11:002020-05-20T09:09:40.319+10:00December 2019Conditions around the farm have predictably dried out, and although we've had some 40°C (104°F) weather, we've also had some very cold weather that saw us both sleeping fully clothed in jumpers and scarves the other night. Most of the trees we planted over winter have dried out and died. It just hasn't been the right year for tree planting again this year. Still, we haven't lost any established trees yet, although their suffering is obvious. The fig tree leaves are very small and sad this year, and many trees look very thirsty. We received 4mm (0.15 inches) of rain recently, and there was a 20mm (0.78 inches) rainfall early last month which helped but didn't save anything. The dam is at it's lowest level, loosing about a metre (or 3.28 feet) of water last month. I water what I can, but the ground around the trees is so dry, the water soaks in but seems to achieve very little. The <a href="https://tuckerbush.com.au/old-man-saltbush-atriplex-nummularia/" target="_blank">Old Man Saltbush</a> planted nearer to the house gets some dirty dishes water, they're still looking thirsty - saltbush is suppose to be really very tough, but even they need a good winter season to establish before the 40° degree days hit. We have a little <a href="https://www.anbg.gov.au/acacia/species/A-baileyana.html" target="_blank">Cootamundra Wattle 'Purpurea'</a> that is being given some dishes water too, and happily it looks like it might be tough enough. It has purple new growth and grey leaves, and will be a lovely big tree dropping plenty of biomass as it gets older. I planted it where we'd originally planted a Paulownia tree, who didn't stand a chance in hindsight. I have some carob trees I was going to plant, but I'll keep them in their pots until autumn and hope for a better winter next year. I don't like wasting effort, money or seedlings.<br />
<br />
<h4>
Squeak's story</h4>
I was in the garden, watering trees, when I saw a blue faced grass parrot hanging around Squeak's aviary. I'd actually seen her once or twice over the last few days, and didn't think much of it other than she was a very lovely little grass parrot. Turns out, she was very interested in Squeak, and he was very interested in her! She hung around his aviary, squeaking in the same tone as he does, even landing on the door and peering in. Marty was sitting on the porch at the time, watching the scene and being moved by it too, and I asked him to come open the door for them. She was so infatuated with Squeak, she didn't fly off when Marty came to the aviary door. She just hid around the back of the aviary and waited while Marty propped open the door and slowly backed away. We both held our breaths as she almost made her way inside the aviary (which would have been wonderful), but then Squeak realised the door was open and shot out like a bolt of lightening, and she followed! They rose high into the blue sky, flying around each other, flying free. I figured if she's made it in the wild, then she can help Squeak make it in the wild too. We hope that Squeak is happy, making lots of little Squeaks, or at very least, enjoying his freedom. It certainly beats waiting for old age to take him in his 3m x 1.8m aviary. We think about him, sometimes wondering if we've done the right thing. I put his feeder out and made it available to all the birds. Maybe he'll remember where to come back to if he needs it.<br />
<br />
<h4>
As for our health</h4>
I wanted to wait until I had a "success story" to write about health and the carnivore diet, but that could be years off yet. We felt fantastic in the initial 3 weeks, which was very important, because it gave us an idea of what things could be like, what they WILL be like once again. We felt strong, energetic, vibrant. Right now, though, I've been dealing with joint pain like I've never felt, even before the diet. It's called "oxalate dumping", and I can testify, it hurts a hell of a lot more coming out than it did going in. Oxalates are sharp crystals found in plants (and chocolate) that damage the body where they are stored. I think women in general are more likely to have oxalate issues because of the silly amounts of salads and green smoothies, almond milk and dark chocolate we consume, in general, that is. Well, I tend to think there's some people who just aren't good at getting rid of oxalate from their system, and it causes issues from the get-go. For me, it was constant urinary tract infections from my teenage years onward. They also seem to have collected in my joints. Added to that the tendency I have for muscle soreness due to the hyper-mobility in my joints (I can do bendy tricks with my fingers, wrists and my lower back is also hyper-mobile, making me a limbo winner, but at the cost of constant back pain). The oxalates stored in my joints are being shoved out at what feels like a slow but painful rate. They're also causing some urinary discomfort, and an angry skin rash on my forehead. My energy levels have tanked and I feel like <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnjeAux3n5Q" target="_blank">sleeping this part of the experience away.</a><br />
Marty has been dealing with psoriasis (or what looks like the oxalate dumping rash as well) on his feet almost since the beginning of this diet, which is considered a common symptom. His asthma alternates between vast improvement needing no medication, to coughing up gunk and feeling worse at times. His energy levels aren't the best right now either, but thankfully he has had good days, like me, as well.<br />
On our more recent good days, we did some work on the shade-house. We took down the old one, which was falling down, and got the metal, bent the hoops, measured and put in the posts, welded the hoops and posts together, made a side for the door, added one piece of shade-cloth to the structure and.. that's where we stopped. I know we will finish it in time, but it can be frustrating looking out on our half finished project. I have faith, if you can call it that, that this too shall pass, and we will enjoy good health and energy once again. I've educated myself about oxalate dumping from <a href="https://sallyknorton.com/interviews-talks/" target="_blank">Sally Norton's talks</a> and have ordered some electrolytes that help support our bodies during this process. The alternative is that our health will continue on a downward spiral, and we may as well give up and move back to civilization. No! I won't accept poor health. What keeps me going is knowing that I'm doing what's best for our health, and I don't plan for either of us to get worse, like everyone we know seems to be.<br />
<br />
Mum visited us last week while they were down for some doctors appointments. I'm sorry to say, but I've never seen her look so sick. I really hoped they'd stay on the carnivore diet (or a Ketogenic or at very least Low Carb High Fat diet) which was having so many benefits for them before. They'd lost weight, Mum said she felt mentally clearer, her husband had to reduce his blood pressure meds all within a week of us visiting and feeding them a meat only diet. Since that time they've eaten anything they like and they've both gained a lot of weight. Mum's legs and feet are so swollen, stiff and sore. She's cut back on her work shifts, in constant pain, and she's become very forgetful and not "with it" like before. We showed them the educational videos, and I talk about carnivore diet's benefits almost constantly, but Marty and I feel helpless.<br />
<br />
There was a point in my life where I stopped going to doctors to "fix" my health problems. Early on I was diagnosed with IBS, with PMS, with UTI's, and they ignored any other symptoms saying that they weren't caused by X, so they don't exist somehow. They had no answers, only more pills and useless surgeries / procedures. Unsurprisingly, anxiety and depression kicked in. We found a naturopathic doctor who accepted all my symptoms, diagnosed me with a mycoplasma infection and fibromyalgia, and her solution was a strict elimination diet and antibiotic regime which we followed for 6 years, it helped but didn't solve everything. We tried for years after that to be healthy, eating mostly a plant based paleo diet and all the green organic things we could get into ourselves.. when all this time it turns out the best thing we could do is the simplest: to only eat what is necessary for optimal human health. It comes down to meat, salt, and water. So simple.<br />
<br />
So, while I can't claim that Marty or I are carnivore success stories just yet, we're on our way. It's almost been a year since we started. We have days and sometimes a whole week of great health. I wish there was some way I could convince everyone who is suffering from pain and poor health to give this a try. It really has changed my life, and Marty is pretty healthy and happy these days despite his feet and being a bit low on energy for the time being. My mental health is very much improved and I feel happier and more relaxed. My teeth are smooth and clean and my tongue is pink rather than white. I have woken without back pain for weeks at a time! I have had many good days which were completely pain free, which is amazing for me. My monthly cramps have eased, no more passing out from the pain! Neither of us have become sick this past year, we've lost weight but retained (and even gained) muscle mass. Marty and my hair and nails are stronger, longer and healthier than before. Bloating and stomach pain is a thing of the past for both of us, and all the bathroom issues are fixed as well! Falling asleep is so easy now, we no longer dread lying awake for hours in bed. Making meals is easy and fast, grocery shopping is a breeze, life is just all over better on the carnivore diet. So, overall it's been worth it, and the story's not over yet. I look forward to this second year of carnivore and all the good things that will come with it. After all, the only real downside is not eating for entertainment / just for fun. Well, plain beef jerky can be kinda fun. :)<br />
<br />
I found the <a href="https://justmeat.co/" target="_blank">following website</a> recently that is chocker-block FULL of very useful links about the carnivore / keto / LowCarbHighFat diet. I do hope it can help someone out there.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAsLhkN6OMH2CEcHZy54hytEGb-yNgrqRHBOjFfc62nDIrabgEP4rRm18Q0gBUX4BRv4r8oWNEtT_4WGIKS1j_HGgs-PrpHjB0lOQkh4padiONVCikz036n43e04GBl4r7RgCqjlB9kzZg/s1600/martybutcher.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAsLhkN6OMH2CEcHZy54hytEGb-yNgrqRHBOjFfc62nDIrabgEP4rRm18Q0gBUX4BRv4r8oWNEtT_4WGIKS1j_HGgs-PrpHjB0lOQkh4padiONVCikz036n43e04GBl4r7RgCqjlB9kzZg/s320/martybutcher.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Marty - at the end of August 2019</td></tr>
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<br />OffGridMandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02220285707868101127noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7889171487479707960.post-86007894519287099012019-08-21T09:05:00.000+10:002019-08-21T09:10:06.702+10:00Winter 2019Technically, it's still winter time here, but the almond trees herald spring's arrival with a loud buzzing of bees working on their prolific white flowers.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTzhVCrXDVKz6nGSfw7jYytu04Bi3w-jEQsKC8qZZeyvnVlCMQEVaie42wSPteLycB6kffbAKbQoPvsdQBMXDPf-kehvRp2rk4wIcj1VLQ99bkOzbLDt6rylPGgCG5z2OdQJOYHVcN744x/s1600/AlmondTreesinSpring.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTzhVCrXDVKz6nGSfw7jYytu04Bi3w-jEQsKC8qZZeyvnVlCMQEVaie42wSPteLycB6kffbAKbQoPvsdQBMXDPf-kehvRp2rk4wIcj1VLQ99bkOzbLDt6rylPGgCG5z2OdQJOYHVcN744x/s400/AlmondTreesinSpring.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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You may see Squeak's aviary back there.. he's on the ground waiting for the sun to arrive. The tree guards at the front of the picture are young Saltbush plants. Saltbush are known to be extremely tough plants, good for beneficial insects and food for stock like sheep. We'll use them as a hedge and as mother plants for many more cuttings to be planted around the property.<br />
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I zoomed-in on the daffodils that have been flowering for a month now. Some of them were pulled up by cockatoos last year, but these two remain, thankfully! <br />
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We planted some trees a little earlier in the winter, putting in some tagasaste and saltbush mostly. Someday, stock will enjoy pruning them for us. :)<br />
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We still have at least 25 or so more trees and bushes to get into the ground this season. They're almost all locally native, with a few exceptions for other tough trees. They really have to be tough! They should be going in this week.<br />
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As you can see, some of the grass and weeds have grown a bit out of control. We've not been using this garden bench, you can't really get to it!<br />
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It's a bit of a jungle, but it won't last long as the weather warms up. The mandarin tree has lush green leaves in places where they were badly burned last summer. We've gathered a lot of lovely green grass and added it to the compost heap. It makes a big difference to our otherwise high carbon-to-nitrogen ratio compost. Sometimes we've been using the little Kubota with the front end loader to mix the compost, and it's steaming and looking very good!<br />
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Other than that, we've been doing a fair bit of this..<br />
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The BabyQ gets used every single day, rain hail or shine.<br />
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The old Weber kettle set up for low and slow brisket. This is the snake method, which keeps the kettle going at roughly the right temperature for about 12 hours. The wood chunks add a pink colour to the edges, and also a flavour that's hard to beat. <br />
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Not just brisket though, but in this case, ribs too. No, we didn't get through it all in one sitting! <br />
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We're doing pretty well on the carnivore diet, although it's no quick fix by any means. Part of me wants to tell you that we're miraculously healed.. Well, our health has been improving, but it comes in cycles. The good days or weeks feel quite good, the bad days or weeks are not as bad as they use to be. On the purely positive side, this diet is the easiest we've ever been on, and we're not tempted to cheat often at all.<br />
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Last weekend we needed to be in Wagga Wagga, and we were tempted by the thought of eating out. It would have been 7 months since we cheated or had any carbohydrates at all! We walked into one restaurant and walked right back out again! We didn't end up cheating, it just didn't seem like it was worth the potential pain or bloating, or the setback to our healing progress.<br />
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Excuse me while I show off my little repair job on Marty's work pants. :) <br />
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We've also been playing with our solar system lately. Realising that Blue (our Victron charge controller) is STILL acting up, Marty has been keen to get it sorted out. We think it might still be under warranty. The only trouble would be that disconnecting Blue and sending her in to see someone will leave us without power for potentially weeks. So, to get around this issue, we researched alternative charge controllers, and found the Morningstar TriStar.<br />
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A quick search on eBay, and wouldn't you know, there was someone selling several lightly used controllers, with the monitor, for less than half the price of new. Excited, we purchased one, and went on the hunt for the required cords and instructions. We've managed to update the firmware and program it to suit our batteries. That was fun!<br />
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We learned about serial to usb adapters, and that, try as I might, I couldn't update it using Wine under Linux, so we eventually gave up (it took until 3am for me to give up, Marty went to bed a few hours earlier!). We then tried using a virtual machine running Windows XP. That actually worked, and now we're ready to swap them over, just as soon as this last cable arrives which measures the battery temperature.<br />
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The benefits of this charge controller over the Victron is what made us keen to try it. The firmware on the Victron couldn't be updated without spending at least $650 on a special cable, and we were not happy about that at all. (The TriStar itself cost us $500, and the cable cost us $40-something, but can be found cheaper online.) The TriStar's data logging is comprehensive and able to be viewed, saved, and graphed over our local network without additional expensive devices or cables. If it works (fingers crossed), we'll have a much better idea of what is happening with our system over time.<br />
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If Blue is still under warranty, we'll send her back and maybe they'll be able to fix her up. We can keep her as a spare, or use her to control another system of solar panels some day. Of course, the same fault may occur with the TriStar at the helm, in which case the issue may be with the batteries.<br />
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So hopefully all's well that ends well. I'll let you know how it goes - my inner geek is all excited!OffGridMandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02220285707868101127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7889171487479707960.post-39432369979677657202019-06-11T18:14:00.001+10:002019-06-11T18:14:15.587+10:00As little as possibleMarty and I are enjoying doing as little as possible lately. There have been a few days of rain and gloomy weather, which is wonderful! Not enough power to turn on the NBN internet, so just sitting and reading, keeping warm with the wood fire.<br />
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Marty is reading "Building Your Own Home" by George Wilkie, and I am reading "The Sheer Ecstasy of being a Lunatic Farmer" by Joel Salatin. We read the best bits to each other, it's almost like reading two books at the same time. Marty showing me all the ways one can make foundations, and me reading almost whole chapters to Marty.<br />
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Marty started working again for the same company, only <i>extremely</i> casually, he only went in one day last month! It's so fantastic having him home all the time! We're still cleaning the local pub every weekend, and the less we do, the less we need.<br />
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We stopped in at Morgan's Lookout in Walla Walla, on the way to Albury for some food shopping, climbed the granite boulders and explored the surrounds. We spent an afternoon walking around the beautifully natural Mundawaddery Cemetery right near us. There is such a diverse number of local plants, I just love the trees that shade the cattle that utilise the area occasionally. It's certainly something to aspire to. We'll have to check out The Rock on the way to Wagga Wagga next time perhaps.<br />
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Duel BBQing has been a thing. When you've got an 8 hour brisket going in the kettle and need a little something to tide us over, a steak in the BabyQ is delicious.<br />
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Brisket has been our favourite so far, and it's very well priced.<br />
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We're still eating meat and drinking water, and mostly feeling only benefits.<br />
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Hoping we can get away with as little as possible for a while yet. :)OffGridMandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02220285707868101127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7889171487479707960.post-28635534055628388122019-05-03T20:56:00.000+10:002019-05-04T18:03:53.184+10:00April updateMarty and I have been improving small things around the house, starting with our own hot shower. The hot water is made possible by a <a href="https://www.joolca.com.au/pages/hottap" target="_blank">Joolca Hot Tap</a>. We dragged the bath into the bathroom from it's home outside in the sun. We put up the shower curtain that was purchased at Ikea when we visited Marty's Mom just before we moved in here.. has it really been 5 years?! We even made another shower curtain for the other side of the bath as well. It looks all mismatched and crazy, but I love our bathroom now! Marty does too!<br />
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We have been eating a carnivore diet for 4 months now, we even quit drinking coffee (the first couple of weeks without caffeine was rough!!). So we're eating mostly beef, liver and kidney, and extra fat from suet, and drinking water. It's a simple diet, but it seems to be working wonders. Our weight is stable now, I'm 51-53kg (112-116 pounds), Marty is 55-57kg (121-125 pounds), but that's only a side benefit. My joint pains have settled down now, and my menstrual cycle is getting easier to deal with every month. Nails are strong, skin issues are clearing up. Our sleep is great, bathroom issues are non-existent. Our moods are stable, we have more strength and energy than before, although there is still room for improvement there. We're healing though, we can feel it.<br />
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We purchased a <a href="https://www.weberbbq.com.au/barbecues/weber-q/baby-q/baby-q-premium-q1200au/" target="_blank">Weber Baby Q</a> and really enjoy doing all our cooking outside now. It keeps the kitchen much cleaner, and it makes food taste delicious. We just finished making a trolley on castors for it, using a modified version of <a href="https://www.ana-white.com/woodworking-projects/simple-rolling-bar-cart" target="_blank">this rolling bar cart plan</a> by Ana White.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj62hLAz1kGlUpR44MNZF88IjBzhGXPp4rWF6Bx6rz4V5dJ6t5doA1iUtF7SwyvgzSK92BV3eI_1jfQ3buopUKhK3EGIhJtbCUPHhyphenhyphen1mOpizAwBd5aQnQrnLca9BewcikvmBiYbb8udQeiW/s1600/IMG_20190503_100016.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj62hLAz1kGlUpR44MNZF88IjBzhGXPp4rWF6Bx6rz4V5dJ6t5doA1iUtF7SwyvgzSK92BV3eI_1jfQ3buopUKhK3EGIhJtbCUPHhyphenhyphen1mOpizAwBd5aQnQrnLca9BewcikvmBiYbb8udQeiW/s320/IMG_20190503_100016.jpg" width="240" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC8iEWeAjyN8Coz5jChrq9Lrt-boj_0-fNpLLCY3g0Oit6vx6fcimY3NdXh-HnvzPK1DFKYFxHUgBRZuR7rWdRiiTNkpv1QHKwtp6uuKtVKS3Tkl54238dIcKW6q4CjPptm9ECLE8sj6Ki/s1600/IMG_20190414_091213.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC8iEWeAjyN8Coz5jChrq9Lrt-boj_0-fNpLLCY3g0Oit6vx6fcimY3NdXh-HnvzPK1DFKYFxHUgBRZuR7rWdRiiTNkpv1QHKwtp6uuKtVKS3Tkl54238dIcKW6q4CjPptm9ECLE8sj6Ki/s320/IMG_20190414_091213.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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We had a visit from an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echidna" target="_blank">echidna</a> recently too! First time we've seen one here, and I hope you don't mind, but I got a few photos..<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjheBULb8Jt_Aq7_oHObMy4lMZM_m4A5i8WGCfPfNuU0IHvn7yJsHQyK1m_n1paGqKfNRh1AIEzFbNDr8mpkFOFQHwoirJZif6h-3Ag51HfSEVMIPCKdtdJX-EEoKEakGI1W5dj33AA5Wll/s1600/echidna.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1202" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjheBULb8Jt_Aq7_oHObMy4lMZM_m4A5i8WGCfPfNuU0IHvn7yJsHQyK1m_n1paGqKfNRh1AIEzFbNDr8mpkFOFQHwoirJZif6h-3Ag51HfSEVMIPCKdtdJX-EEoKEakGI1W5dj33AA5Wll/s320/echidna.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Echidna walking over some irrigation pipe.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFw-5yNVDZDZ4xegpUjJRn_7WV1TezLr2bfNMQrT2rC1P3TmuZmP6MY6AXHAbMoUukw9Hzx2ifkZD9knpsAe8GH3bXhT0lKScvUL4zgO5EWTgb7ibsEsdVqFwDeV9MDgHb2YoMAXStrh6K/s1600/IMG_20190415_150354.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFw-5yNVDZDZ4xegpUjJRn_7WV1TezLr2bfNMQrT2rC1P3TmuZmP6MY6AXHAbMoUukw9Hzx2ifkZD9knpsAe8GH3bXhT0lKScvUL4zgO5EWTgb7ibsEsdVqFwDeV9MDgHb2YoMAXStrh6K/s320/IMG_20190415_150354.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The echidna rearranging the logs in the garden between the lavender and the rosemary bushes. There's no shortage of ants here.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-1dPQfhqvib94wK3zXWPTFwLcrlqSoJFzzAJ_yAMi7VJlI3FH36htv1Jby-i02H1AFg6dCuhRp2-1oRbuinTmHdGRn9Oyd5dkCfEG8_whSTYYDFDYNZSPhZiyhq_Pb_7rYzmrhVZEuxld/s1600/potplantechidna.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-1dPQfhqvib94wK3zXWPTFwLcrlqSoJFzzAJ_yAMi7VJlI3FH36htv1Jby-i02H1AFg6dCuhRp2-1oRbuinTmHdGRn9Oyd5dkCfEG8_whSTYYDFDYNZSPhZiyhq_Pb_7rYzmrhVZEuxld/s320/potplantechidna.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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The echidna digging out the dirt from a pot of native violets. The violets are ok, I'm sure they'll re-grow!<br />
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Walking through the garden, it wasn't scared of us at all.<br />
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Mum and Mike came to see us on their way down for an appointment and were lucky enough to get to see the echidna too, but we haven't seen it since. The weather has cooled down a lot since then, and we've had the fire on just the once. Last night we were fortunate to get 56mm (2.2 inches) of rain! The water tanks are now half-full, and we're even planting some trees. Well, local <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acacia_sensu_lato" target="_blank">wattle</a> trees and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atriplex_nummularia" target="_blank">old man saltbush</a>, since they're tough enough to survive the dry summers.<br />
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Until next time!OffGridMandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02220285707868101127noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7889171487479707960.post-49497918951341162642019-03-06T13:57:00.001+11:002019-03-06T14:27:18.263+11:00Washing DayIt's something we all gotta do, and I usually have trouble keeping up with it..<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilfaSvpnA8iXEENcdF7YLohYouYVV4UqHwtuB7QGUzAcZ_QK1H_lgDZcb6mpfD0WsYatwbSbDqKXVDHB33WH1NM-zAE3Xq1gc0xWoYQYCy-BjN5jHAMYcQO-asLFP8Vj09_t7tun8AneSN/s1600/WashingDay.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1104" data-original-width="1300" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilfaSvpnA8iXEENcdF7YLohYouYVV4UqHwtuB7QGUzAcZ_QK1H_lgDZcb6mpfD0WsYatwbSbDqKXVDHB33WH1NM-zAE3Xq1gc0xWoYQYCy-BjN5jHAMYcQO-asLFP8Vj09_t7tun8AneSN/s320/WashingDay.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Our twin tub saves on both water and electricity. Water has been in short supply here since last winter was very dry. And yes, while our electricity is 'free' from the sun, it's actually more like pre-paying for it, and of course it's limited by the size of our system and available sunshine (we do get plenty of sun!).<br />
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We got the twin tub at a clearing sale one hot summer day a few years ago now. I'm not sure if I remember correctly if it was $60, but I'm sure it didn't cost more than $80. It was so clean, it hardly looked used!</div>
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I give my Mum credit for suggesting using the Sunshine bar of soap for washing. (She told me that she had to use it when I was a baby, or I would come out in a rash.. why doesn't that surprise me?) I just grate it up and it dissolves no problem. Oh, I see they changed the name, it's Sunlight now. I think it's just over $3 for 6 bars. I wasn't happy using the 'greywater safe', 'eco friendly' liquids and powders full of salts and phosphates on the garden.</div>
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Soap works just as well for us as laundry powder or liquid. Rinsing is much easier because there are less bubbles, I'm getting away with just one single rinse, I'm not even using vinegar!</div>
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The <a href="https://breathingwasher.com/" target="_blank">Breathing Mobile Washer</a> is a blue hand-held thingy I got online and was kindly sent to me by Marty's Mom in the USA! It's great for washing (especially if I want to wash on a cloudy day) and I use it for rinsing the clothes in the bucket below. That way I can have a second load of laundry going while I rinse the first load. I think I might have this down to an art! ;)</div>
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Anyway, that's how I'm doing the laundry and saving money and resources. The less money we spend, the more time Marty and I can spend together.</div>
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Marty has only two weeks left of work, something we've been looking forward to for some time now. Now that we've paid off the farm, we're going to give this thing another shot. One last solid attempt before deciding if our future is here or if we'd be happier somewhere else, doing something else entirely.</div>
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OffGridMandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02220285707868101127noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7889171487479707960.post-91279097392086758922019-02-07T17:17:00.000+11:002019-02-07T17:17:18.306+11:00Hanging in there<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEZAZw8Kir5KYxGzdYuMnLhLYNF3g_-7IVd9HA2Bv6f6fyfLSWD_8fOletn0EgfPrZaOuoTcj1IacVAWOzxA6bEJ3QoeDbkIDOTRyujFC-2klmvMiyWQ5HH4hbmp2wrHQyNNjy5JFrjFNF/s1600/IMG_20190125_154042.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEZAZw8Kir5KYxGzdYuMnLhLYNF3g_-7IVd9HA2Bv6f6fyfLSWD_8fOletn0EgfPrZaOuoTcj1IacVAWOzxA6bEJ3QoeDbkIDOTRyujFC-2klmvMiyWQ5HH4hbmp2wrHQyNNjy5JFrjFNF/s320/IMG_20190125_154042.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">113° Fahrenheit</td></tr>
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The sad face on the weather station is apt, but it's got a pretty narrow happy zone, although it's happy today! It has since cooled down and we've even had some decent rain for the first time in a couple of months!<br />
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You'd think that would mean a few good night's sleep, but alas not yet. We're both feeling a bit like zombies, and my fibro has flared up as well. Neither of us feel like doing much of anything except keeping the chickens and Squeak fed and watered, and we dragged the remaining few plants from the shade house to under the veranda. That makes watering them easy, and keeps the humidity up a little. Not to mention, the wild bird's water and some water for the neighbour's Guinea fowl who are still sitting on a clutch of eggs under the almond tree.<br />
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Oh, and we're continuing to eat and drink as well. As much as we can given the conditions. I've been reading a book called "Strong Medicine" by Dr. Blake Donaldson - you can get a free copy from <a href="https://zerocarbzen.com/2018/07/11/strong-medicine-by-dr-blake-donaldson/" target="_blank">here</a> - which I've been enjoying. While the rest of my body is happily repairing skin, strengthening nails, gaining muscle and loosing fat (I didn't think Marty and I had much to loose, but wow!), I've been researching the side effects..<br />
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Mostly hormonal effects so far, as fat is used, oestrogen is released, and all kinds of chaos ensues. I know that it's just part of the adaption process, but I've made a chiropractors appointment anyway. I feel like so much of my body has changed lately, and so quickly, that things just don't "feel right". I've tried lying on the floor, and oh! I got so much relief of the pressure points when I put a rubber ball under the painful areas of my back and hips! (I found that tip today while I was unable to get pain free, stumbled upon <a href="https://www.doctorschierling.com/blog/category/fibromyalgia" target="_blank">this awesome website</a> which really helped me!)<br />
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We've been eating carnivore since December, but I discovered I react to eggs in January, so it's only really been just over a month of eating meat, meat and more meat. I am on the road to mastery in cooking roasts in the Weber thanks to <a href="https://amazingribs.com/" target="_blank">this website</a>, learning about making a perfect pot of french press coffee (thanks to <a href="https://youtu.be/st571DYYTR8" target="_blank">YouTube</a>) because it has to be pretty good if you're drinking it black without honey, sugar or milk, and I have a couple of different salt varieties to choose from now, including <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-04-28/pink-lake-harvest-provides-best-salt-in-the-world/9706706" target="_blank">this one</a>.<br />
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We don't have much urge to cheat, and if we crave anything, we just grab a bit of meat from the fridge and eat - craving gone! Shopping is simple, I buy all our meats from <a href="https://www.instagram.com/waggameatsupply/" target="_blank">Wagga meat supply</a>. There is so much less plastic packaging when buying in bulk, no more silly plastic trays! We're spending about $200-$250 a week on roughly 14kg (31 pounds) of meat for the both of us. It works out about the same, if not a little less than we were spending before, except this time, it's just the meat, the real food, no fillers, no junk!<br />
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We're saving another $200 a month on vitamins and supplements. We stopped taking vitamin C, activated B complex, activated folate, ginseng for energy, fish oil, and extra vitamin B6 - all the most potent brands I could find. None of that stuff really helped except the magnesium, and we still take that when required.<br />
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Everything I thought I knew is wrong, and it turns out the truth is the complete opposite in many cases. It reminds me of one of my <a href="https://youtu.be/KThlYHfIVa8" target="_blank">very favourite Weird Al songs</a>!<br />
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Well, a lovely sounding storm looks like it's heading this way from the SouthWest. The rain has come a little late for some of the trees and plants, but it's amazing how quickly things turn around given the right conditions. 😉<br />
<br />OffGridMandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02220285707868101127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7889171487479707960.post-28015053935734127672019-01-24T13:47:00.000+11:002019-01-24T13:47:07.515+11:00SweatingVery hot, dry weather has me indoors for the day again. The mornings are nice enough to put on some jeans, feed and water the animals, water the remaining plants, and do the composting. The rest of the day is spent sweating and trying to get the indoor chores done. 40°C+ (104°F+) weather outside is for the critters; the insects and the reptiles. The poor magpies and choughs seek shade under the veranda, and I have water set out for them. In a blatant waste of water, we spray down the area around the back door, keeping the plants, birds, insects and the solar system slightly cooler. The ants are so thirsty, they take the water immediately, and the bees will come drink off your skin if you spray yourself down first!<br />
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It's very difficult to get a good picture of the wasp above, but it's black and white and is dragging a big brown spider into a hole. The spider is paralysed and can't do a thing about it, and will become a meal for the wasp's babies when they hatch. They're amazing, and they always find the biggest spiders that we generally don't see.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2Eb4FN9z5TsPjg6i5CdnO_f87l1zubls6GNbMZuQ6yvwHb9rYZK3APYlFgPxPEqXWwO_nZgEozeObUkEYV0CI2-IpfmltyFT_zcq3GBb-Jj6wxXkbmJufl9sR5xT3c_lgzHmFzp-1lPZr/s1600/IMG_20190105_172352.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2Eb4FN9z5TsPjg6i5CdnO_f87l1zubls6GNbMZuQ6yvwHb9rYZK3APYlFgPxPEqXWwO_nZgEozeObUkEYV0CI2-IpfmltyFT_zcq3GBb-Jj6wxXkbmJufl9sR5xT3c_lgzHmFzp-1lPZr/s200/IMG_20190105_172352.jpg" width="200" /></a><br />
Marty and I at the big Murray Cod by the river in Tocumwal, NSW.<br />
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Marty and I have lost a bit of weight lately, since starting the all meat diet. That wasn't our aim, but we're not complaining. It's more of a toning than anything, bloating, water weight, that kind of thing. We're both feeling better, no more wondering what made us feel terrible or bloated after a meal. I haven't had any more joint pains and the pain in my sciatic nerve from my lower back down to my legs has calmed down a lot. We have more energy than usual, more often than usual. We're on our way to better health, anyway.<br />
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We're both torn between staying here and leaving for the greenery and healing ocean waters of Queensland. On the one hand, this little home on 20 acres is paid for. We can keep sheep and/or cattle if we wanted. We're free to do as we please, for the most part, and we do love it here. It's not an easy decision, and it occupies much of our thoughts.<br />
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In the meantime, we will keep working on making this place better, and hopefully Marty will be finished working in town soon, and we can really start to make some progress.OffGridMandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02220285707868101127noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7889171487479707960.post-34836362932656690912019-01-09T08:23:00.000+11:002019-01-09T08:23:59.040+11:00What happened in December?Marty returned to work this morning, so I thought I'd take this opportunity to catch you all up on the holiday happenings.<div>
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It's been a wild December, with my Mum making a big move to Queensland, we did what we could to help out. Since we're only a couple of hours from the home she's now selling, we could get down there and make it look all pretty for prospective buyers.</div>
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Then, while Marty had a little time off from work, we spent a week up at Mum's new place, in the sun and sand.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYGPHj3r7VgQwIlU1tV8EczMiVWfWoJGQ2CMQY0lr9MBhC0ViMlyMZEbY4CvlIhUq9fmNWggdXQAP9gFhi89a_uWj9vHuM2Lv0nKdnXZepCAlkuHgsdSm67268k1iF32G_xjwbeMidGh_1/s1600/IMG_20181223_121256.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYGPHj3r7VgQwIlU1tV8EczMiVWfWoJGQ2CMQY0lr9MBhC0ViMlyMZEbY4CvlIhUq9fmNWggdXQAP9gFhi89a_uWj9vHuM2Lv0nKdnXZepCAlkuHgsdSm67268k1iF32G_xjwbeMidGh_1/s320/IMG_20181223_121256.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The roadside honey was delicious!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMwxriVl-odvvgDv_xo_s23MrM3B669zdhq9pLGb0sQsDQgvHMdSEMZ4HCYVOVdWimPkI6JWVTfAOMSYHQD8sAusjQDgr49kz1zpuj5OFaaS2tZFe5iwiKtRc6Kj3-DBcnqPQEdctOu2lo/s1600/IMG_20181225_111504.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMwxriVl-odvvgDv_xo_s23MrM3B669zdhq9pLGb0sQsDQgvHMdSEMZ4HCYVOVdWimPkI6JWVTfAOMSYHQD8sAusjQDgr49kz1zpuj5OFaaS2tZFe5iwiKtRc6Kj3-DBcnqPQEdctOu2lo/s320/IMG_20181225_111504.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Marty with his feet in the water.</td></tr>
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It was lovely up there, so green and the humidity was quite bearable. Actually, we're both glad we took our jumpers with us, because it got a little chilly at night. It made a wonderful change to the weather at home, since it's so hot and dry, there's not much green left. While we were gone, the forecast said 43°C (109.4°F) at home, and I know we're consistently warmer than the forecast ever says. Many plants simply cooked in the heat, despite being irrigated on a timer.</div>
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Luckily the chooks fared ok, although somehow a fox (I guess) took our elderly hen, Toupee. It was sad, but thankfully everyone else is ok. The electric fence is usually fox-proof, so it must have been one desperately hungry fox!</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPUaWYn8arONWN9LwuPh-3LY0u4S-YjkIzXl4JcuomP5dqGG0whQV9OODkVfEiXBjqKsW4SDfTQghehfbzL0HKoYt_b_wQoF91i5crDAMxqdpCY1X0plKZ5P6FQoR15rm5k6nxXSbxqTFE/s1600/IMG_20181231_173605.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPUaWYn8arONWN9LwuPh-3LY0u4S-YjkIzXl4JcuomP5dqGG0whQV9OODkVfEiXBjqKsW4SDfTQghehfbzL0HKoYt_b_wQoF91i5crDAMxqdpCY1X0plKZ5P6FQoR15rm5k6nxXSbxqTFE/s320/IMG_20181231_173605.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Areas of raised dust.</td></tr>
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We drove home to be greeted with the usual dusty dry conditions. The photo above was taken north of us, near West Wylong. That's soil, and it seems to have become a new normal. They just call it "areas of raised dust" in the weather forecast. It occurs when the soil is left exposed, around here it's done by plowing (which for some unknown reason, we've seen plenty of this December), or letting stock eat at the same ground for far too long, until there's no cover left. It upsets me, but money comes first in this world, not soil heath, not animal/stock or even human health.</div>
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Speaking of human health..</div>
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I'm always researching and learning about all kinds of things, and health and food is one of the most important things. I know that you are what you eat, and since Marty came to live in Australia, we've been trying to fix my health with diet. We've tried an elimination diet that my Doctor had us on for 6 years with some good results, but our energy levels were never great, and I still was in pain for too much of my life. We tried Paleo when we moved here to the farm, and the goal was to grow as much food for ourselves as we could. Thinking it was the poor quality food we were eating.. but that left us feeling really terrible, and in order to get more energy, we went back to eating sourdough bread and even started adding lentils and beans to our diet.</div>
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Still not satisfied with my health, poor strength or lack of energy, I did some more research and found out about <a href="http://meatheals.com/" target="_blank">the Carnivore diet</a>. So, after a bit of re-training my brain, to begin to accept that meat is nutrient dense, that we don't need plants after all, and that yes, it really could be that simple.. Marty and I got stuck in.</div>
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We've been eating meat for about a month now, and there have been days where we can really feel the benefits of this way of eating. Super energy, super strength (I did the first chin-up of my life!), less anxiety and depression, and no pain anywhere. Other days haven't been so great, and I've had short bouts of fibro pain and on others it feels like we're walking through mud. So, yes, we're still in the transition period, but it seems to get a little better every day. So far, though, this is an improvement on how we were feeling before, so we're sticking to this for a while.</div>
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Given the change in diet, our whole perspective on things has changed a bit. It'll be interesting to see what happens over the next few months! Right now, I'm less worried about having water in the tanks, because we're not relying on the water to grow any of our own food. As long as we've got enough to wash our hands and water the chooks (and Squeak!) then it's enough. Besides, since when did worrying bring the rain anyway?</div>
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Will update again soon. :)</div>
OffGridMandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02220285707868101127noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7889171487479707960.post-31504125543501941922018-11-12T16:29:00.002+11:002018-11-12T16:29:49.090+11:00Rain for the trees & frogsOh it was beautiful! 50mm of lovely rain followed by a light show of 4 thunderstorms in the distance between Tumbarumba to our east, and Albury in the southeast, making the grain silo look like an evil castle in an old movie.<br />
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The tanks are in a much more healthy state, and the plants that made it until now are very happy indeed. The rain spurred some native gum trees to flower, as are the peppercorn trees, which are humming with bees again.<br />
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Speaking of bees, the Blue Banded bees have awoken finally, I was beginning to worry, but they were only sleeping-in.<br />
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We've been spending our weekends sorting the irrigation in the shadehouse, and now we've had a little rain, I feel more confident planting some things in there. The chooks will be moved to their favourite summer spot under the figs next month. Although I prefer to move them more often, they will most likely stay under the figs for the whole summer, because it's the most shady place available.<br />
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Yesterday's snake didn't even see us! Marty and I were feeding the worm farm when I saw a golden brown shimmer in between the dry belladonna leaves. I didn't feel very comfortable standing there anymore, but Marty finished up so I kept my eye on the garden. All of a sudden, the snake realised we were there and took off so fast in the opposite direction, Marty didn't even have time to turn his head to watch it disappear. It may have been the same one we spotted by the water tank earlier that day. That's a pretty popular spot, offering warmth of the water storage, some mid morning sun, as well as a quick escape route behind the pump locker. I intend on making the walkway there a little wider, less grassy and more visible, just in case.<br />
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The recent rains soaked into the land like a sponge, with not a puddle left behind. it's certainly given rise to some optimism and good cheer. The weather people are saying there's a high chance of another decent drop tomorrow and Wednesday. We're certainly hoping so. I bet the <a href="https://frogs.org.au/frogs/species/Litoria/peroni/" target="_blank">Peron's tree frog</a> would also like some more. I hear it's call just the once every day, but we've seen them in the worm farm (probably enjoying a worm feast) and even in the chook's water buckets. I love to hear critters enjoying the garden, and it's been lovely hearing people on talkback radio say they're keeping their gardens messy for the frogs!OffGridMandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02220285707868101127noreply@blogger.com1