21st February, 2025

Nights are cold and wind is nippy, but the forecast for the weekend is heat wave again. No wonder the plants are confused !

I visited with Beanie and Co. up at Jasons and perused his old cattle crush. Apparently I have earned enough money from the sale of Beanie and Co. to him to pay for both the crush and next year's haying ! So a double win, Beanie gets a good home and I can replace the crush that Leigh took with him and have a safe way of doctoring the cattle.

I sent photos of that mystery thistle to Biosecurity Tas and they advised it was a california thistle. Nasty thing with holly shape leaves and stands about chest high. I hit it with lontral and metsulphuron so all the plants should be dead, but they said it is a declared weed so I will monitor the site for new growth.

Geoff and I dismantled the structure for the old automatic gate setup ready to put new posts and gates in and attach the openers. I feel that this is an important job to get done before winter, life is too short to let little luxuries sit in the shed waiting for repair.

Had a really big day yesterday... Juliet, Robyn, Billie and I went to a Garden Party hosted by Elders at Brigendoon Estate down near Longford. It was a lovely day, we traveled by bus so no-one had to play responsible adult, there was a string quartet, all drinks (alcoholic and otherwise) were free as was the morning tea and astonishingly amazing lunch. A wonderful time was had by all, especially Robyn who was fresh from a family loss and deserved a good day out. Billie also left baby Thomas with his dad and had a big time. Hopefully they'll run another one next year :-)

Billie, Jacki, a friend of Robyn's, Robyn, me and Juliet.

The lunch, hard to see from here but the huge table was decorated beautifully and laden with so many delicious bits and pieces, it was a grazing platter the size of a bowling club smorgasbord.

Click on the arrow to play the video I took at the Garden Party. Turn the sound on if you want to hear the quartet. We had just arrived and everyone was wondering where to go and what to do, we soon all got into the party vibe.

16th February, 2025

Crazy weather, one day it's hot and windy and there's smoke from the fires on the west coast. Next day it's frigid and there's snow on the nearest mountain and the wind is clear and cold off Antarctica. I think Tasmania has menopause... jumper off, jumper on, jumper off, jumper on.

So today Beanie and her calf Selkie and Annie's 14 month old steer Abe went to Jason's. That leaves me with nine cattle and six sheep. I'll miss Beanie, the big lug. She's very food motivated and pushy but she's fun to have around. Jason fed her a treat and was scratching her tail, she'll be looked after there. 

I've got the piggery ready to karcher out, shoveled all the poop out and picked up the rubbish. I suspect Leigh was intending to bring his pressure washer down after taking his pigs but got sidetracked and forgot. We all think he's ended up with a brain injury from being knocked out twice in six weeks (working cattle in his yards) so I didn't bother trying to convince him it hasn't been cleaned. Once it's all cleaned Edwin will take off all the rusted fencing and weld on new mesh.

Here's some photos of the mulberry tree, if anyone has any ideas about possible deficiencies or overs I'll try some amendments. I have the clover in there as a natural mulch, water level indicator and nitrogen generator.

12th February, 2025

Wow ! Went from nearly every day to once a month. 

Move to Tasmania, they said, the pace of life is slower, they said.

Ok, at the moment I am working a full day Monday and a half day Wednesday at May Shaw. There should be more hours by the end of March. I haven't dropped any Woolies shifts yet as the extra money is helpful paying for the zero turn mower. I am also still talking to the hospital about some hours there. And I applied for the receptionist position at Ochre Health again and got knocked back again. I have a friend there and from what she tells me I probably won't apply again.

Loving the work at May Shaw, learning something new every shift and getting it all done. There is some enterprise bargaining going on and one our negotiating wants is apparently being able to order the hot lunches offered to the residents. I am all for that, they had bread and butter pudding yesterday and I would definitely have ordered that !

Gray and Nessa visited, it was lovely to catch up with Ness after so long. Gray fixed the run-out at the back of the dairy and put in a new gate to the yards. Today Edwin Hanslow got his welder out and in a typical Scottsdale black economy exchange for electrical work, fixed my loading ramp and ramp gate and made a tow bar for the quad.

We've also had another stretch of new fencing done, this one separating Willy's Paddock and the barnyard. Willy's Paddock is now combined with the Sheep Shelter Paddock and the old fence between them got rolled up and carted off to the tip for metal recycling.

The rain has gone away, and we are now doing the summer dry off. Alot later than last year, so I still have a little grass. Might have to start feeding hay maybe next week, maybe the week after. If we get the autumn break in March it will be a good season. 

I've kicked off the weed control with taking out the feral roses in the front yard. This week should also see another thistle spray. And in a couple of weeks it will be blackberries. I've spotted an unfamiliar species of thistle, a quite nasty one. I have sprayed all I could see, will take a photo of any survivors for identification and then spray again.

It looks like I have a good crop of potatoes and jerusalem artichokes. Apples are doing well and my little fig is fruiting beautifully. I get a couple of sweet juicy figs every couple of days.

Poppy, our old maremma, passed away last week. She finally got too weak in the back end to walk easily and I think her heart went as well, because she was panting alot for the last couple of weeks even though she was just laying around on a bed in the lounge room. Finn seems to be coping ok, we're giving him lots of attention.

My mulberry is struggling, the leaves are yellowing and folding up and I can't figure out what is going on. I drilled holes in the bottom of the pot to let water out, I've checked that that soil isn't dry, I've added a general fertiliser. I did put some blood and bone on a few weeks ago, maybe that was too much nitrogen ? The clover that is also in the pot is very happy.

The sheepies waiting for the shearer. 

Left to right Dea, Toot, Twinkle, Emmaline and Jonesy. Fang off camera.

A young bloke stacked this lot of silage for Robyn. He not only completely blocked the gate between our farms, he put it all up against the fence. Where my cattle could reach it. Luckily we saw the first bale get nibbled on and I was able to put up an electric fence before they moved on to the rest. He didn't think that one through.

Geoff's good friend George on the new rail pedal carts being promoted for tourists to use on the disused rail line at Lilydale. George isn't very well so it's nice to see him having fun.

10th January, 2025

Happy New Year !! It looks like an interesting one....

I have started at May Shaw. I did two 4 hour shifts last week and will have two 4 hour and one 8 hour shift this coming week. Hopefully they will settle on what day and hours I will do regularly as soon as possible so I can drop some Woolies shifts. As it is, next week I do four Woolies shifts as well as the 3 May Shaw ones and it will be quite a busy week.

The job looks interesting and varied and challenging, with backlogs and opportunities for improving procedures and documenting stuff. If I still have my old skills and haven't started slipping into incoherence I will be right in my element. So far the two shifts have been orientation and I think one of next week's is training. I can't wait to actually start getting my fingers right into the work !

It's a big facility, 61 beds (and residents) and 110 staff and it looks like a really friendly and caring place to live. Hopefully it will be a friendly place to work.

We had another round of aurora spotting. Apparently it wasn't as big an event as the last one I saw, but the atmosphere has been "primed" and the actual display was much more intense. This is the first time I have seen the wiggly curtain effect. This was from my back door.

We had two visiting veterinary students briefly. They were intending to stay a week but at the end of the second day there was a family tragedy and they flew home. I have two more coming in February. They are generally interesting guests and enjoy meeting the animals. 

Today Robyn and I went blueberry picking and I came home with 10kg. I will get some big ziplock bags and freeze them in batches of 500g. I still have half a bag left from last year. I think I have eaten a good 500g today.

I made a shade house for the sheep in the hops paddock. They don't want a bar of it because they hate that paddock. But they are going to be there over the summer once they are shorn (which is happening tomorrow morning) and will at least have the shade there if they choose. I made it using eight star pickets with polypipe arches, and then cable ties to hold the shade cloth on.

The hospital job became a bit confusing. Two different people came up to me to congratulate me on getting the hospital casual relief job. I had not heard anything from the hospital, but I was shown a copy of the hospital newsletter saying I had been given the job and would be starting on the 13th. I suggested that if someone wanted me there on the 13th the best course of action would be to tell me !

So I emailed Kayelene, the lady who interviewed me, and let her know what the situation was from my end. And that having signed the contract with May Shaw and starting there on the 7th I would have to decline an offer if one were actually made.

She asked me not to be hasty, and to find out my permanent May Shaw shifts first and then get back to her because she had a project that she was really keen to get me to work on. If she could fit it in around the May Shaw days she was certain I was the person for the job. So when I get some idea of what is going on I will call her and we will talk. They pay over $40 an hour for casuals, so I am at least interested in finding out how many days the project will take. It's a once-a-year clean up of all their paper records and requires attention to detail and accuracy.

So, many months of no success at finding jobs and now I have more than I know what to do with !

Gray, my ex brother in law, and Nessa, my niece, will be arriving tomorrow for a few days here before Nessa flies back to Canberra. It will be lovely to catch up with her.

I potted up the dwarf mulberry and I hope it enjoys the new space. The rest of the plants are growing and bearing, picking raspberries and thinning the apples. I bandicooted some lovely new potatoes and we had them roasted in ham fat. And the Amish have pod peas again so I have been eating plenty of those straight from the pod.

The animals are all well, there's still plenty of grass and after a fall of 16mm last week and more rain coming on the weekend we might have grass into Feb. If the autumn break comes in March we may not need to feed out hay until June. What a contrast to last year when we were feeding out by the end of March !

I think that's all for now.

29th December, 2024

More wind, more frizzle. Frizzle is frittery drizzle. Enough rain to stop you doing anything useful but not enough to give the plants a good water. Bleh.

I slept in until 10am, got up and had ham and eggs for breakfast and then went back to bed. Got up at 2pm, jumped on the quad and went up to Robyn's to fetch Star back. She's been in with Robyn's heifers for a couple of months in with the bulls. I called her up, put a halter on and she followed the quad home. I am not sure if she's made friends there and will miss any of the other heifers, but she was glad to be home. Here are some pics of our progress. 

The mob of heifers she was in with, lining up to
watch us because nothing is as curious as a cow.

Being a good girl in the halter. She followed me home on the quad all the way, except for a brief detour to pose in front of the milking herd.

And finally back home with Auntie Annie and the gang

28th December, 2024

A few frittery rain squalls and alot of wind. Note to self : when I build my new house I will have a walled courtyard for sitting among herbs and scented plants out of the wind !

These are the peach tarts I made for dessert for the dinner at Pete's last week. They are a vol u vont case with the bottom filling made from cream cheese mixed with honey and brandy. The peaches were caramelised with butter and brown sugar and spooned in on top. Warmed in the oven so that the butter melted again and served with fresh cream.

This is the cow herd (minus Belle and Star). The oldest is at the back, Jack. Then ages range down to the newest calf, Eloise. All fat and shiny. Belle was out for milking and Star is still with Robyn's heifers, I'll have to get her back soon.

Here is Belle, my first full dairy cow and the source of much milk at times and not much milk at other time. Like now. Today I bought shop milk, it's just as well we can buy decent milk here.

27th December, 2024

So, the weather has been mainly dry with just enough rain to keep the grass growing. Temps mostly low 20's with the odd excursion down to snow weather and one tilt at high 20s. Last night was a windy and damp one and the morning misty and cold, but the bit of rain and the cool change was a welcome relief from the hot and muggy conditions.

Jason baled the second area and I got 22 bales out of that, for a total of 34. Three short of last year, but I did have a decent area grazed off. The second lot of bales have been moved into the barnyard ready for stacking, Bessie and I managed those. They are packed a little lighter and the grass was a little dryer when baled. I also know a bit more about an appropriate rev range for carrying, so it wasn't too bad a chore.

I no longer need to milk Belle every day, Tiddy is taking all she makes. Indeed, if I want milk I have to shut her away from him overnight to get a decent amount. I will probably have to make a decision soon about whether to wean Abe and go to milking Annie, or buy milk for a month or so.

We got the septic pumped out and the guy checked the pit over at the cottage. It was partly full of kids clothes, the previous tenant's small child being the habit of flushing her soiled short and undies. So that one got a pump out too. This should hold both pits until my super comes out and I replace both with new systems.

I heard back from Ochre Health, they appointed someone else. Which is fine, because I've signed the contract with May Shaw and filled out about a dozen forms and once those are finally processed by HR I might even get a start date. The pay rate is $35.26 an hour, which is casual rate. No word on the hospital job yet, though the person who interviewed me for that sent me an add for a part time job there as opposed to the relief casual that I interviewed for.

Geoff has got most of the main drive area mowed, some areas have had a second and third mow as the grass is growing back quickly. Once the initial four foot high grass is down the follow up mows take a fraction of the time.

The potatoes in the raised beds are going gang busters, the hops are doing well, apples of both cider and dessert varieties are happy. I am picking cherries, but didn't get any peaches or plums set due to the wind. I have jerusalem artichokes in abundance too, I do enjoy those fried.

CATCH UP PHOTOS

Geoff on the new mower

May Shaw and the NESM Hospital

 Jason baling the second paddock

(video, click arrow to play)

26th December, 2024

Where did the month go ?? Retail work at Christmas is all I can claim as an excuse. Will post properly soon and in the meantime here is my first mulberry on my dwarf tree that Robyn gave me.

9th December, 2024

A series of windy days with alternating sun and cloud. Rain threatens every day, or perhaps I should say humidity rises every day. But the wind is keeping things dry. I have even been able to get through the washing despite only being able to do one load a day unless I want to provoke a leak.

Jason ended up cutting the second hay paddock on Saturday. It's going to be slow drying because of the humidity, but at least it's not getting any closer to aging out.

This is Jason cutting my paddock

The pale areas are Jason's hay paddocks on the ridge and
hillside opposite me

I opened a feed break for the cattle. We left a week's feed standing so that by the time the bales were done and put away I would let the cattle onto the hayed area to clean up the leftovers then close it off again to regrow like the first paddock. You can see the lighter green of that on the right of the photo above. The far end has grown back nicely so they can graze that for a couple of weeks. With any luck I will have feed to rotate onto through summer, unlike last year.

I'll need to set up a laneway again. I have the posts in to do a proper wire laneway fence but have not had the time or energy to do it. I will buy the bits and pieces and ask Cliff to do it and offside for him. That will be probably ten times faster than doing it by myself as even having someone to hold the other end of the wire speeds it up and he will be good at the actual knots. I can do an approximation of them, but it's a bit of a slog with small hands and large tools.

May Shaw didn't call today, the email did say "next week", but I guess I expected Monday to be the day for a call. I don't even know if the manager works on Mondays. I am just a bit impatient to start on this next adventure.

The zero turn mower is arriving tomorrow, and the NILS loan was approved today. Still no word on the mortgage addition. It's a pity I can't get machinery in to hay the main drive, I reckon there's a good two bales in it. At least with a good mower here it will become respectable again. And I can use the zero turn to slash around the buildings for fire protection. If I can learn how to drive it, they say it's easy once you get the hang of it, but it looks like dodgem cars to me !

6th December, 2024

A couple of warm days that were humid, a selection of rainy and cloudy days, and one cold day. The plants are loving the wet and warm combination.

Jason was going to try and cut my second paddock of hay this afternoon, but as I come home in the dark I won't know if he got to it until daylight tomorrow. We are supposed to get more rain tomorrow, but not enough to damage the down hay. Fingers crossed it got done because the grasses are going to flower now and will start to head soon.

The zero turn mower should arrive on Monday or Tuesday, I will have to remind Geoff to get a jerry can of fuel for it. He is very excited :-)

We seem to have a wave of technological failures striking the house. The washing machine is still alternately overflowing or working fine, the randomness making it hard to isolate and fix the cause. The dish washer is still struggling with the dropping water pressure, Geoff can't make any of the old laptops or computers play his old game disks, and now the electric squeegee that I use to suck up condensation on cold mornings has stopped dead. Oh, and the septic needs pumping out before Christmas.

Jason spoke to Phil Chappel, the tractor repair guy who specialises in Fergie tractors and confirmed that Bessie should have no trouble lifting 5 ft bales if she is working right. So I will ring him on Monday and book a home visit to check her over.

On the jobs front, I had the interview with the hospital for the relief admin on Wednesday. As it's a government job it could take until after Christmas for anything to come back. It's also short notice relief, in that they could ring at 6am and say they need me, with no guarantee of hours in any given week. The pay rate is $40 an hour, but it's probably not going to work as I still need a reliable income.

The lady who interviewed me for the Ochre Health job has apparently departed without notice and cleared her desk, taking all her interview notes with her. No-one at the surgery reception has any idea what is happening with the position in the short term as the management try to figure out what they can salvage.

And I was offered the May Shaw job today !! As I was already at work when they tried to ring me, they left a message with the offer and said they'd catch up with me next week to talk in detail. This job is one day a week before new year with another day or two a week likely in the new year as someone is retiring. 

I am happy with three 8 hour days a week, that will be as many hours as I work at woolies over in three days. Leaving me 4 days off. I would probably still do one or two shifts a week at woolies until we pay off the mower. Here's hoping they're offering a good pay rate, as they were a bit uncertain about the pay as it would be dependent on the skills of the successful applicant. Hopefully I am very skilled !

Here is a little personal philosophy for the day.