November26
Amazing weather. Hot,
overcast and lots of thunderstorms.
One poor young woman was killed by lightening near here this week! On Friday we had the last student
workshop for the year. Luckily the
rain held off and everything went OK.
We even got the last of the wood piles moved before everyone cooked
pizzas for lunch. This month has
been pretty full on and we are now trying to remember what we were doing before
all the school camps started.
November 22 2017
A week ago we had a
school camp and it rained half the time.
It rained so much that one day we all retreated into the house, made
bread and marmalade, saved seeds and did craft work. As soon as the camp left the weather cleared up and
this week we have been above 30 C most days. Tonight the valley is full of smoke fumes from fires in
Gembrook, but the CFA has planes, dozers and every imaginable vehicle dealing
with them and they are not worried at this stage. Even so, it is an early and ominous start to the bush fire
season.
Despite the weather
the students got a lot done. A mountain of firewood was collected and
processed. Star pickets were put around the stone pines and replacement trees
put in where the deer had killed the old ones. Several were fenced with high wire and are hopefully now
protected from further attack. We
would have fenced the lot if the weather had not been so bad. The first two days of camp were too hot
and it was lucky that Edd was able to work a miracle on the pool and get the
water blue and inviting. Another group of students worked on the new orchard
and took out the weeds along the fence lines. I started to clean out under the trees and altogether it
looks a lot more cared for now.
I missed the last day
of camp because I had to take Bo to hospital on Friday to have an operation on
her foot that was giving her a lot of pain. She had smashed her big toe by dropping a heavy log on it
and needed a bone fused.
Wayne collected her from hospital on Friday because she was still
feeling the effects of the anaesthetic but it still gave Edd and I time to go
out to various chook breeding establishment and collect some more day old
chicks. The camp students had set
up the heated chook box in the mud room and we already has six commercial Australorps
chicks but we had to travel further to get Rhode island reds, Araucanans and
black copper Marans. Last year Edd incubated and bred chicks
but he still has not dealt with the resulting rooster problem. I have decided that from now on we by
sexed day olds and avoid the issue.
One of last year’s
kids, Anna, had managed to break a leg and has been isolated in a pen to heal.
She had only had the splint on for four weeks before she managed to get it off
but I have not replaced it because she seemed to be managing. We are up to week five now and she is
using the leg but it is still slightly week. I normally allow six weeks but I may have to keep her penned
for longer this time. The goats are all going right up the hill to graze and
coming back through the gravel pit paddock. This is a long days walking and
probably Anna needs to be fitter to cope.
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