Nuts

April 10 2016

I am now officially
one year older.  We celebrated the
even with a family meal at the Indian restaurant and a picnic up in the forest
by the cascades.  The water coming
down the falls was at low ebb so we were able to help Silky climb over the
rocks and view the whole area.  The
surrounding bush was badly damaged in the 2009 fires but it is now
recovering.   The old wooden
bridge at the lowest level was destroyed and has been replaced with an ugly
metal structure but the place is so beautiful even this out of place structure
cannot destroy the ambience.

It is still really dry
and I am very glad we have reduced our stock levels.  We are able to keep all the remaining animals looking fat
and full but there are reports of starving horses in the newspapers.  I have just been told that we can buy
oats too. Our usual farm we buy from did not get a crop this year so we are
lucky that he has some left to sell.   We are still using the large bales we had left from
last year for the goats.  We
brought far more than we needed but it has been a lifesaver because there was
little available round here this year.

The big news is that I
have finally grown a nut!  I have
been trying for about 30 years without success.  In fact I have harvested 4 edible chestnuts so far.  I have been watering the trees. It is
obvious that daily watering is needed to grow nuts or olives.  The chooks have eaten most of the grass
under the trees but we have put down hay from the rotted outer edges of the
bales, which is protecting the earth and keeping the chooks entertained as they
spread it out for us.

We were all very
worried last week because Ceci, Indi’s new puppy, got very sick and had to stay
at the vets on a drip.  Much to
everyone’s relief she recovered and today she is back at school, learning to
work sheep.  She is still very thin
but at least she is full of energy. 
I was very worried that we would loose her but Indi took her to the vets
in Healesville who are very good with small animals.

Edd and I went to the
Agricultural show near Druin yesterday to look at various things. We found lots
of Dorper sheep and have decided on the white ones rather than the black
heads.  We want this breed because
they shed their own wool so there is no need for crutching or shearing.  We are also looking for a poddy calf to
drink the spare goats milk.