Getting hotter, and waiting for the shearer

 24 1 2021

 

The hot weather is here.  Forecasts predict temperatures in the 40’s tomorrow and guess what!   The shearer has finally said he will be here in the afternoon.  We have been waiting over three months so we will not say no!   Last week we gave up waiting and marked the lambs with help from Ollie.  Only one lamb was too big to castrate. I was expecting worse. 

 

To complicate things further the Montessori school staff are coming at lunch time.  We have told them that we will not be hosting camps this year.  Our equipment is all wearing out, the pool is on its last legs and we are getting too old and slow to keep twenty teenagers safe on the farm for a week at a time.  It has been great having the kids here but last year the virus stopped everything.  

 

We had not heard from the school at all and I felt that they had probably found somewhere else to camp until they phoned last week.  Apparently, they had found somewhere but it fell through.  I said I would do day trips if they were desperate.  I am not sure what they are doing but we will find out tomorrow. We are actually much more worried about the sheep.  Now that the grass is drying off, we need to sell them as soon as possible.  The stock sale yard about an hour away is still closed and those open are much further. We will just have to bite the bullet and cope because we need to destock urgently.

 

It is not just us.  Shearers are in short supply for everyone. They have not been able to come from NZ as usual with virus rules.  There is also a big problem with fruit pickers who also come from overseas.  Crops are being wasted because they cannot be harvested on time.  I suppose we will have to adapt as the climate and other things change and think of new solutions.

 

Our food crops are doing well and as most are for domestic use, we do not have large amounts to harvest. The zucchinis always overwhelm us, but I have tested them on the goats today who ate them with no hesitation.  We have eaten our first tomato and the cucumbers are trying to rival the zucchinis in the glut stakes.  We still have too many cauliflowers, which is odd.  Perhaps the goats will eat what we can’t give away.

 

Bo and I have been packing up all the stuff in her house. Bo has then repainted the insides of the now empty cup boards and we have stacked boxes of the contents in a corner of her lounge room.  They have access to the shed from Tuesday and then they have between 8am and midday to complete the move on Friday.  I can see it will be a pretty full-on week!

 

Bo’s kids are enjoying our pool and camped out by the ruins last night.  It is lovely to hear their music and remember what it was like at that age when childhood constraints could be abandoned, but adult responsibilities had not been fully taken on. Having them here activates happy memories and makes me feel young again.

2021 starts with changes

 13 1 2021

 

It is really hot today, but over caste.  A cool morning helped us yesterday when we had to get the hay bales from Judy’s paddock back into our shed.  Graeme came over with his trailer and ute and we employed Ollie and one of his friends to help.  This year the paddock gave us a good yield and it was baled before it all dried out too.  Most years we have to wait until last to get our hay cut and baled and it is usually too late. The boys have been good workers. It is hard to find younger people who will do the hard farm work these days.

 

In normal years we have Woof or other travelling workers who help but with covid these people are in short supply. Also, we have CB living in the donga, so we have no workers accommodation available.  CB wants to stay on, but we are going to ask her to pay rent. Then we have money to pay for help when we need it.  This year she has just paid for services because of the Covid crisis.

 

Victoria has the virus under control at the moment, but we remain very concerned, especially with the new more infectious strain reaching Australia from overseas.  Everyone needs a permit to enter Victoria and we have a “traffic light “system about hot zones and less troublesome areas.  Edd and I would like to go to the sea for a day, but we are still in the school holidays and everyone else has the same idea.  

 

I do not feel I can relax yet.  I have got the accounts in, hosted everyone through Xmas, and have the gardens under control, but the shearer has still not come, and the sheep problem gets worse.  The only reachable market is still not open, and the sheep are totally trashing the paddocks.  It was so wet in winter that they padded up all the ground and it is now very lumpy   I mowed around the house site yesterday and the poor mower and I nearly got shaken to pieces.  The paddocks stayed green for ages this year and are only drying off this week.  I do not think it will be a bush fire year but even grass fires can burn everything. One town interstate was damaged yesterday by a grass fire.  

 

Bo is packing up ready to move house. I took over newspaper today and helped up pack crockery and kitchen stuff into boxes.  Josh has already moved and is pleased with his new place. It is a time for big change.  We have been horrified over the events in the USA. We need to peacefully transition to the Biden presidency before we can relax about what will happen next there.  Australia has strong military ties with the USA so madness in the leadership is a real concern to us.

 

On a better note we are enjoying summer food.  This week we ate our first of the season’s cucumbers and made pesto from the fresh basil and garlic. We have lettuce but no red tomatoes yet.  The beans are in full swing and I freeze a couple of packets most nights.  Strangely the cauliflowers are finally ready to eat. I can handle that.  The milk yield has gone down but we still have enough for cheese and feeding the kids and egg production is OK. Most days we have fresh strawberries with our breakfast and the apple trees in the new orchard have lots of fruit on them.  I just need to get to them before the parrots.  It would be possible to net the whole area, but we have not got round to that yet.