Thinking a little bigger

The last clearing sale we went to was the clearing sale to end all clearing sales. We are so overwhelmed with our latest purchase that we haven't been to any others!

Not only did we come home with a ute absolutely full of stuff (again..) but this big beauty was delivered to us the very next day.

Yes, Marty is on the phone. I think the conversation went something like "Help! We brought a tractor!"

This wasn't an impulse purchase at all. We've been considering the need for a tractor.. it's been a tough decision. We were offered to purchase a tractor locally, we also looked at an advertised tractor for sale, but we could see it'd had a hard life. Of course, we've seen them at clearing sales very frequently. This one, I think, was a hidden gem.

It's an International A414. It's not a "little grey fergie", so it's not collectable, and it's not fancy, but has enough horsepower to be able to run the few implements we would like to. We spoke to the man who was selling it (ok, yes, it was after we won the auction - but it still counts!) and he confirmed what we could see with our own observations. This was a well looked-after tractor.

Bidding was pretty conservative.. Marty didn't even join-in. He waited until the last bid was called ($1800) and simply added $50 to it. I was in knots inside as we waited for the auctioneer to call it. Marty must have been, too, because he said aloud, "Finish it!", which made the auctioneer and a few others laugh, and stalled things even longer. But thankfully no-one else bid again, and the tractor was ours.

The main thing we would like to do with it, initially, is flail-mow the very long dry grass. Since we don't have stock yet, but would like to improve the pasture, flail-mowing is one solution. It's a big mulching mower.
Another thing we would like to do is run a PTO driven chipper some day.
But for now, we have the new flail mower, and that should also help reduce the fuel load in case of fire.

 It took a bit of effort for two newbies at farming to get to this stage! We havn't even used it yet.

The desire to fix the old girl up (the tractor, that is!) is strong. This bolt was snapped off, and Marty got it out and we replaced it, so now the step up to the tractor is a bit more firm. There's a lot more that needs doing, but mostly cosmetic things. The tractor itself runs very nicely (unless we forget to turn on the fuel supply).

We're just waiting for the right weather to start mowing now. A nice day after some rain would be lovely, and keep the fire risk lower, as well as the moisture in the ground under the mulch.

Water gardening

Sometimes we need a kick in the *you know where* to get moving on a project. There are so many projects to choose from around here - occasionally a deadline really helps. The deadline for this project was that I ordered the water plants online, they arrived 3 days later, and now we've got to deal with them!

The concrete water troughs are a new use for an old item. They originally belong in a laundry, but one was outside next to the old kero fridge when we moved here, and the other was a bargain at a clearing sale.

Marty and I had recently been to a workshop hosted by the Albury seed savers group, which inspired us (in a roundabout way, since they were talking about wicking worm beds) to connect the tubs together with plumbing. The first two tubs overflow into the second two tubs, which will (eventually) overflow into a nearby swale.

The end result is a home for the three water plants. Ferny Azolla, Kang Kong (water spinach) and Chinese Water Chestnut. The Azolla was suppose to be for the dam (to help reduce evaporation), but I wanted to start it in here before moving some out onto the dam.. just in case something might like to eat it. Especially since there is no other water plants in there yet.

Behind the water garden is a small cut in half water tank that is keeping some garden straw and a bicycle dry, and one day will be raised-up a bit higher so we can walk in there. I want to attach some old gutters to the sides and collect the rain and channel it directly into the water garden - topping it up automatically.

These things take time, and since our rainfall isn't very regular, and the water situation isn't great just yet, I thought it only appropriate to start small.