Just for the record - we have offically entered our tenth year of drought.
It was a busy weekend. Finally had time to finish all those jobs I wanted to do over Christmas, fenced the cattle out of the veggie patch, cleaned up around the silo’s and removed all the rubbish from under them, attacked the pile of scrap metal down at the old pig pens – so what’s next – The Cook will fill me in soon enough!
I took the boy’s bow hunting the other night – every time I go out the back I see a fox, not this time! Kids loved it though – boy’s doing boy’s stuff. We tried to rescue the potatoes but I don’t think that’s a happening thing, not enough water earlier on was the problem. We are still getting a couple of spuds per bush but nothing like what we should. Our biggest problem is that there is just not enough plant material in the soil to hold the moisture – a common problem across the farm, so we are going about working on a solution. Of course, like everything else, it’ll take time but be worth the effort.
The Cook has managed to graze the apricot tree fruitless, she’s hopeless – I caught her sending Harry up a ladder to get the last few out of the top of the tree. Her sister is coming for a stay this weekend, always a pleasure. I’m sending them all down the coast for a couple of days, that way they can’t gang up on me about stuff. I’d rather have to feed the pigs on my own then be subjected to that again.
Our first pigs are supposed to be going for processing this month but I’m having trouble finding somebody who makes tattoo brands (slap brands) for the pigs. They have to be branded on either shoulder before we can send them off. It’s totally painless but makes the carcass with our PID number. I’ve been making them mud baths the last few days as things heat up, yesterday it almost made it to 30 Deg’s C and we’re forecast for warmer days up to 32 Deg C by Wednesday. No chance of rain either until at least next week. Probably rain when the girls go down the coast – I’d put money on it.
We had our first good look at he oats since it rained before Christmas. We had a slight hope it would grow the last couple of inches we needed to get it mowed, but unfortunately not. On the up side this will help the low soil carbon issue in that paddock.
Well, I need to get back to the ‘To Do’ list, it’s longer then the brown snake in the chook pen at the moment – which isn’t very healthy.
I took the boy’s bow hunting the other night – every time I go out the back I see a fox, not this time! Kids loved it though – boy’s doing boy’s stuff. We tried to rescue the potatoes but I don’t think that’s a happening thing, not enough water earlier on was the problem. We are still getting a couple of spuds per bush but nothing like what we should. Our biggest problem is that there is just not enough plant material in the soil to hold the moisture – a common problem across the farm, so we are going about working on a solution. Of course, like everything else, it’ll take time but be worth the effort.
The Cook has managed to graze the apricot tree fruitless, she’s hopeless – I caught her sending Harry up a ladder to get the last few out of the top of the tree. Her sister is coming for a stay this weekend, always a pleasure. I’m sending them all down the coast for a couple of days, that way they can’t gang up on me about stuff. I’d rather have to feed the pigs on my own then be subjected to that again.
Our first pigs are supposed to be going for processing this month but I’m having trouble finding somebody who makes tattoo brands (slap brands) for the pigs. They have to be branded on either shoulder before we can send them off. It’s totally painless but makes the carcass with our PID number. I’ve been making them mud baths the last few days as things heat up, yesterday it almost made it to 30 Deg’s C and we’re forecast for warmer days up to 32 Deg C by Wednesday. No chance of rain either until at least next week. Probably rain when the girls go down the coast – I’d put money on it.
We had our first good look at he oats since it rained before Christmas. We had a slight hope it would grow the last couple of inches we needed to get it mowed, but unfortunately not. On the up side this will help the low soil carbon issue in that paddock.
Well, I need to get back to the ‘To Do’ list, it’s longer then the brown snake in the chook pen at the moment – which isn’t very healthy.
2 comments:
It's heating up here - by 10am it was 35.7 then by 10.30am it was 38.4 and since then it has been hovering around the 33/34 mark. The girls have been swimming every morning - I can tell you that next week after the movers come in on Friday we will be swimming at the motel pool all week. Just need a swimming pool for the dogs now - the pup even ventures into the surf for a swim lately, I guess he is finding it too hot.
Hi there,
This is Ashleigh Ridley, Ben's new class teacher. Today he gave a fantastic speech about the farm and the farm animals antics. We all found his stories very entertaining. I hope you don't mind but we have kept the pictures, which are brillant, and have hung them on our class wall. The picture of the rooster, who is no longer with us, is a classic.
Post a Comment