Mostly Dry March, Happy Sheep and Happy Humans

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!

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.

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!!

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.

Until next time.

Spellbound summer

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.

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!

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.

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!

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.

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! :)

Until next time.

Dreaming of a green Christmas..

 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.

 

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!

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.

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.

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 JADAM 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.

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 Dr Ray Peat 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.

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.

Real life

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.

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!

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!

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!

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!

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.

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.

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. :)

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.

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.

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.

Until next time!

A very fine February

 

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!

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.

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!

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.

Manda.