Lights on the Lake

August 28 2015 28

We got some fine sunny days this week and used them to work on the new chook area we are building under the chestnut and olive trees. The finest day was Saturday. This was a minor miracle because Beth was organising a lantern party around the Yarra Glen lake. Lots of the local children had made lanterns by gluing tissue paper onto glass jars that had screw lids. The men at the Men’s shed attached the lids to pieces of wood. In the evening everyone put LED light candles into the jars and floated them on the lake.

Our job was to get the little boat there so that Morgie could row around standing up any the fell over or got stuck. There was a huge turn out and the weather was perfect. The best spectacle was at the end when Bo and Indi rowed round collecting the lanterns. Every time they got a boat full they brought them in to land and the boat full of light looked amazing.

On the farm we have a new problem. The goats moulted early but then some just went on moulting. I am worried that they have caught wombat mange. So far no one is itching much but this might be just the start. I have taken away the selenium lick in case they have over dosed and if all else fails we need injections from the vet.

The twin lambs have adapted well to the bottle and I have advertised them for sale in hopes that someone wants a pet. I do not want to put them out side yet because they would be very vulnerable to foxes.

August 19.15

There was another heavy frost last night with real ice on water left in the wheelbarrow!  My friend in Tassie keeps posting snow pictures on face book.  It makes me feel very glad that we don’t live there! At least the sun is shining today. It was overcast yesterday, but luckily it did not rain so we were able to fetch 21 bales of straw and some copper maron chooks from up Ballarat way. The maran chooks are the ones that lay the darkest brown eggs and we already have a maron rooster so I am hopeful that we may be able to breed our own.

The sheep in the paddocks looked in good condition but the farmer told us that they have been feeding out pellets for most of the winter because there had not been enough rain in autumn to get any grass growing. We are also still feeding out barley and hay to the sheep that have started lambing. The latest ewe to lamb is a hopeless mother so we have her in a pen in the shed with her twin boys. So far she ignores them so we are bottle-feeding four times a day.

comings and goings

Silkie, Ollie and morgan withGracie and Tommy

August 16.15

We have another warm day and I have been digging over the soil in one of the grow beds and moving goat manure to the place where we plan to build the next bed. I have picked the last of the boc choi, which we will eat tonight when Bo and family come over and I have picked and cooked some of the rhubarb to make a crumble for desert. The wood stove is up to heat and I have already started cooking a large organic chook.

Last night I avoided cooking for the second night because we went into Bo’s for the evening meal and met the new dog. Simon’s mother had brought round food she had cooked so we had a second birthday party for Ollie. Bo had been busy all day with a lamp-making workshop that she has organised to be ready for the lantern festival next weekend. She has been flat out working as a chef at her restaurant for weeks but she added the work for the festival just to make sure that every moment of her time was productive! No one can believe how much she gets done and she always remains good tempered, friendly and helpful to everyone at the same time.

Other local news is less happy. We heard today that a son of one of Bo’s school friends was killed in a road accident last night. Young blokes were driving unsuitably in Yarra Glen and this tragic accident happened. I am afraid that young people we know die far too often in cars round here. It is a small enough community that we all feel the pain.

August 15.15

We have actually seen some sun shine this week. The daylight hours are getting longer and the maple tree is coming into leaf. The wattle trees are covered with yellow blossom and the daffodils scatter cold at feet level. The year is definitely beginning to wake up. The goats are also close to kidding, too. We have wormed all that are not in milk and changed the paddock they graze in.

The workload will go up a lot once the kids arrive so Indi has organised new homes for the bucks and the ram. I tried to sell them but no one is buying and the effort it will take to feed and keep them is not worth their value to us. They are too closely related to the females to be used on the stock we have retained here.

Yesterday it was Ollie’s birthday, and we went with Bo’s family to the Indian restaurant in the evening. Al and Ti came so we were quite a crew. We all had a very merry time with lots of good food and Ollie showed us pictures of his new dog that he had on his phone. I have not met her in person yet but she is a rescue dog from the local pound of what looks like beagle and spaniel descent. Ollie is thrilled and so is Morgan’s dog Tommy the golden retriever.

Today Edd is pumping water up to the head tank for the dairy. He looked in the tank and found the water there is getting low. There is plenty of water in the big tank by the dairy but it has no roof so we do not use it for anything but watering animals and trees. The big tank below the old house is not full either. It has been a funny year, lots of dull, drizzly days but no heavy rain. Luckily the dams are full so we will have enough water for the stock and vegetables when summer comes.

I have been struggling to sort out the accounts. We have had so many medical expenses that we are quite stretched and now the insurance company wants more too! We need the insurance to cover Edd staying in hospital for a long period if anything went wrong, so it looks like we will have to keep it up for another year at least. The trouble is that you still pay extra on top of what the government and the insurance refund you. For instance none of it covers anaesthetist bills, which seem to come out at about $500 per procedure.

wombats in the roof

Wind  destroys the poly house

Wombat damage on the roof

We still have a pile of pumpkins in the mud room

August 11.15

We had huge winds this week and the polythene on the large tube house ripped right down the length of the building with a sound like a thunderclap! Edd, Indi and I tied down the flapping plastic with baler twine to prevent damage to the frame but basically all that shelter is now lost.  The only bright side is that it served its purpose after the fires and made a great venue for Al’s wedding but it was a bit of an eye sore. Perhaps now we can cover the frame with netting and make a huge cage to protect some fruit trees.

We are still planting trees, but will we still be here to see them when they mature?  Everything is changing fast. Apparently our neighbours on the hill opposite are moving out in six weeks time. A young couple expecting their first child have brought the land and plan to build a new house there. We have not met them yet, but it is sad that the last Hargreaves have left the land here. Once the family cleared and owned all our little valley and we have know them over three generations. The view from their hill is absolutely amazing and I know it will be hard to leave for B and L. We will miss them; they have been the best neighbours.

Edd is recovering quickly from his last operation and is now back on his feet again and making up for lost time on the farm. He has set up the incubator and loaded it with what we hope are fertile eggs. We have a marron rooster the so we could get some nice chicks if we are lucky. It is a good time to put eggs on because it gives us point of lay chooks for next winter eggs.

The other problem this week was found when we took a permaculure group around last Saturday. When we walked across the roof we discovered that a wombat had dug a large hole near the first chimney! Edd has filled it in but we will have to keep watching. Wombats can be very determined and dig huge holes. Please note, you lot who think moles are a problem have probably never seen what a wombat can do! Believe me they are in a class of their own as far as digging goes.

Life, death and health problems

Hatti trying to kid

August 2.15

We are not out of the woods when it comes to illness yet.  Silky is crook, though, we have no confirmed diagnosis yet and Edd is having more surgery on his legs next Wednesday. This time it is to fix his varicose veins, which have to be sorted out before any more can be done on his knees. We are now into a new stage of the year because the first lamb has arrived this morning and the first goat kidded on Friday. This makes handing over the work here much harder. At least one goat needs milking twice a day and the sheep will probably all lamb soon.

The goat, Hatti, was in labour all day and it became apparent in the evening that intervention was needed. I managed to get my hand in and find the kids front feet and head. It was obviously stuck and I had to basically pull it out. Unfortunately, the huge male kid was already dead but Hatti seems to have recovered well. I once tried getting the vet out in this situation but I ended up loosing both the kids and the goat so I just deal with it myself now.

It has been pretty miserable weather wise. The news tells us that we are had the coldest July for 20 years and I believe them. The goats are spending most of their day in the shed and Edd and I have portioned it off into different areas so that we have kidding pens. I have advertised the male goats and the ram to try and cut down on work but I am not sure that they will sell fast at this stage of the year.

Edd has been working out what seeds he needs to start going and has pruned the raspberries. We are also collecting up what ever we can find in the way of pine posts so that we can put up a fence for the next chook run close to the dairy. At the moment we let the new chooks in that shed out for a supervised run later in the day but this is not ideal and they are in danger from foxes, which is a worry.

My next job is to grout the wall tiles in the bathroom. I would have done that today but I do not seem to have a sponge and the small buckets I brought have disappeared. I will have to get more organised before I can start. Al is now back from the UK so I am hoping he will find time to help us put the next layer on the shower walls. It would be so great to get that job done.