2.1.2025
Happy new year to all my friends. The world is a worrying place but life is relatively calm on our farm. Hay making has started in the valley but we still have a lot of green grass. It is probably the abundance of rich fodder that has caused the goats to produce unexpected volumes of milk. We have several maiden milkers and goats who kidded years ago are still coming in with tight udders. In previous years we would have raised calves but we are slower and less energetic and hence reluctant to take on any more work
Egg production has gone down after a day light fox attack that resulted in the death of 4 of our best chooks. We have now put all the surviving chooks together in the pen under the oak trees where they are less likely to be attacked. Vegetable production has been difficult. We got a heavy late frost that killed all the beans and zucchinis etc that had just got going. It decimated the mulberry crop but luckily the loquats were ok. In fact, they are juicy and plentiful but do not make a good crop to sell as they go off fast.
We had our annual family solstice feast at Bo’s house but this year it was too cold for anyone to use the pool or spa. The food was fantastic and the kids were all spoilt with a deluge of gifts. Bo and Simon managed to get a tap room open at the brewery in time for the Xmas holiday. Simon has worked really hard to get his own retail outlet to add to his wholesale business. He had to fight the council to get the right permits and then set up a commercial kitchen and a bar. Josh welded up table frames and Bo organised plants and taught workers how to produce food. Her daughter, Silv, is the best worker. Silv has one more year at school and Bo’s two sons have completed their apprentice ships.
Our great grand kids are such fun to have living here. They now know where to find fruit and love tearing around on bikes. When the family was here for Edd’s birthday, we had a huge flock of little kids on bikes.
