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.
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