Big catch up

We'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.

Volunteer silverbeet, chard, and sunflowers among the perennials

Succulent and cacti raised garden

How green the kitchen garden looks!

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.

Hot water bottles, a Styrofoam box, a little fish tank and a lot of old towels.

Little chick just needed a bit more time and warmth.

Sometimes little chick just needed some love.

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.

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.

Broody pen on pasture.

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.

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.

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.

One of the breaks, before we fixed them.

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.

Marty under the A414.

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.

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!

West wall - before.

West wall - after.

North wall - before.

North wall - after.

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.

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.

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.

December 2019

Conditions 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 Old Man Saltbush 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 Cootamundra Wattle 'Purpurea' 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.

Squeak's story

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.

As for our health

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 sleeping this part of the experience away.
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.
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 Sally Norton's talks 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.

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.

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.

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. :)

I found the following website 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.

Marty - at the end of August 2019

Winter 2019

Technically, 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.

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.

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!

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. :)

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.

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!

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!

Other than that, we've been doing a fair bit of this..

The BabyQ gets used every single day, rain hail or shine.

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.

Not just brisket though, but in this case, ribs too. No, we didn't get through it all in one sitting!

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.

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.

Excuse me while I show off my little repair job on Marty's work pants. :)

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

So hopefully all's well that ends well. I'll let you know how it goes - my inner geek is all excited!

As little as possible

Marty 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.

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.

Marty started working again for the same company, only extremely 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.

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.

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.

Brisket has been our favourite so far, and it's very well priced.

We're still eating meat and drinking water, and mostly feeling only benefits.

Hoping we can get away with as little as possible for a while yet. :)

April update

Marty and I have been improving small things around the house, starting with our own hot shower. The hot water is made possible by a Joolca Hot Tap. 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!

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.

We purchased a Weber Baby Q 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 this rolling bar cart plan by Ana White.
 

We had a visit from an echidna recently too! First time we've seen one here, and I hope you don't mind, but I got a few photos..

Echidna walking over some irrigation pipe.

The echidna rearranging the logs in the garden between the lavender and the rosemary bushes. There's no shortage of ants here.

The echidna digging out the dirt from a pot of native violets. The violets are ok, I'm sure they'll re-grow!

Walking through the garden, it wasn't scared of us at all.

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 wattle trees and old man saltbush, since they're tough enough to survive the dry summers.

Until next time!