Chicks stink out the mud room

Zak waiting to be adopted

 18.9.2021

 

Every day the number of new virus cases in Victoria goes up. NSW has completely lost control of the pandemic and it looks as if we will soon be in the same situation.  We still do not have enough vaccine for everyone but at least Bo’s boys are now booked in for their first jab.  Silkie is on treatment for a bee sting so she has to delay the vaccine until she has completed the medicine courses she is on.    I will be much happier when all the family is vaccinated.

 

Everyone is now struggling with lockdown; it has been too long and as birthdays and other event pass uncelebrated for the second year it is harder to keep a positive outlook.  We are lucky because we have plenty of “at home” space on the farm, but others are restricted to one hours outside exercise a day.  I feel that we would be very selfish if we complained but this does not make things easier.

 

Half way through the week the chickens became large enough to stink out the mud room. Josh has moved them to a slightly larger pen in the ruins’ but they are growing so fast they will need moving again very soon.  He has almost finished building himself a cabin and is making more bee hives.  I have taught the lambs to suck a bottle of milk through their pen fence. When they first came, we needed to catch them every feeding time so it is much easier to care for them now.    We have also sold the male kids to a local family and the remaining 7 kids are together in one pen, so looking after them is much faster.

 

The weather is typical of Spring. We get some glorious sunny mornings when CB sits outside on the donga porch and serenades us on her concertina with Irish tunes. The music reminds me of a stream gurgling along over rocks and is a good tempo to work with. Then just as we get going with all the outside work the temperature drops and we are back to near freezing nights and wet windy days.  

 

 Today we started to build a sheep handling area with a foot dip.  We were doing quite well before a storm hit and we had to retire to the house.  The lettuce seedlings I trans planted yesterday are getting a battering from the wind before their roots have got a good grip, which is not helpful.  Josh has spent the week with Stevo doing building work.  We miss having him around to help with things but he is enjoying having a legitimate reason to be away off the farm for a bit.

New arrivals and our first proper Spring day

 4.9.2021

 

This week we had the first really warm day at 26C. Unfortunately, this did not last and a huge, thunder storm yesterday heralded in torrential rain that turned all our roads into rivers. Once again I was glad we have the big moat drain at the front of the house. It channelled the water away fast enough to avoid floods. Today we are back to miserable drizzle and 14C.

 

It is far to wet to work outside but luckily Josh has now got the roof, door and windows in his cabin making it water proof.  Last weekend I brought two female Persian lambs.  They are just babies and I had to train them to drink goats’ milk from a bottle.  They are in the shed next to the goat kids but and seem to enjoy the company of the goat herd.  They are amazingly solid and heavy but have spindly legs. The goats were terrified when they first arrived but they are cool about them now.

 

About 25 of Josh’s chooks hatched.  They are under a heat lamp in the mud room. This week Josh has added a tree section into the cage so they can learn perching.   It seems to be working.    Josh was worried at how difficult it was to get the point of lay commercial chooks we brought to perch at night so he decided early training was what his little chicks needed. The chicks are growing fast and we will need to move them to a bigger set up soon.

 

When the sun shines, I love working in the garden.   I have moved the raspberries to what I hope will be a better location, and am slowly weeding and sorting the flower beds.  The snow peas have started to climb and large numbers of lettuce, mizuna and wild rocket seedlings have sprung up so I have plenty for us and plenty to share.   Indi brought the horse float over and filled it with goat manure for the garden beds she has built.  They look fantastic and Bo has ordered her a load of mushroom compost to top up with.

 

We were lucky that the paddocks were dry enough to visit with out being bogged for Indi to get manure and for Josh to set up his new bees next to Indi’s hives in the old vineyard paddock.   Moving life stock is one of the few things we are allowed to do in this lockdown, so it gives us a little window of interest we can exploit with out risking anyone’s health.   Australia is gradually coming to terms with the fact that the virus is not well contained and that we are way behind with vaccines.  It is all very worrying. Indi and Bo’s sons have tried to get shots but there are none available for weeks.