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.

30th November, 2024

More rain, this time an unusual easterly. Lots and lots of it. The wind is occasionally high, but not as bad as the big winds we had a month or so back. Hope it doesn't flatten the grass that is ready for cutting ! I won't need to water for a week at least.

I bit the bullet yesterday and paid $4500 towards the zero turn mower on two credit cards. I'll do another $2000 on Monday on a third, and NILS Tasmania said they'd lend me $2000 on a zero interest loan since I paid the last one back so I have a good rating. Even if BoQ do finally add to my mortgage I'll use that to pay the credit cards back and keep the zero interest loan as that's better than the mortgage rate let alone the credit card rates.

You can see how long the grass is by the picnic table

28th November, 2024

After some dry weeks we have had a good fall of rain. 43mm this morning with a few small falls since.

Jason packed away my hay before the rain came, always a good feeling. We'll be cutting most of the main paddock in the coming week.

Carrying the last two big bales and the little half bale. It's so quick when your tractor can carry three. 

Stacking them in the shed, easy with front lifts

It looks so green next to last years hay, hopefully another dozen to come

I turned the cows into the hayed area and they were so happy that Belle refused to come in for milking yesterday. I know she heard me because the cows next to her looked up, but she just flapped her ears like a hippo and went the opposite way. She was keen for breakfast this morning though.

On Tuesday I had an interview for the receptionist job at Ochre. I think it went well. I have an interview for the hospital job on Wednesday coming. I received an email from May Shaw saying that they hadn't forgotten me, the interviews were continuing with the last one on Wednesday coming and that they would then be in touch with all the applicants.

While I've ordered a ham from Josh at Ringarooma for christmas, we're curently enjoying a triple smoked ham from Woolies. It's Australian pork, which isn't so easy to find at the supermarkets today (unless you go to the local IGA or House Paddock here and you can get Scottsdale Pork), triple smoked and not pumped full of water. We soak the ham bag in vinegar to help preserve the ham and the combination of smoky ham and vinegar is one of my favourite smells.

23rd November, 2024

The weather is heavy and looming. One weather source says rain is decreasing as it approaches but the northeast should get the best of it. Another says we will be lucky to get anything with the rain going to the south. It seems everyone is pretty good at getting the temperatures in the right range, but the rainfall is all over the shop. 

The theme of recent years is that good falls forecast a week away almost always become nothing or nearly nothing by the time the day rolls around. It's frustrating enough for me trying to plan watering, I can't imagine having to plan irrigation for commercial crops, or when to cut or harvest.

Jason did indeed bale the hay yesterday afternoon, we ended up with 11 1/2 bales. I moved three of them into the barnyard to dry out a bit more before we stack them into the shed. I had to leave the rest in the paddock as Bessie is struggling to lift them. Jason came down and we did some trouble shooting. We solved the steering problems by adding air to the front tyres, and checked the engine oil, hydraulic oil and coolant (all ok). Then we worked on setting the ideal revs for the motor. 

Bessie will lift the bale all the way up but there is a whining noise from the 3 point linkage that sounds like the gears are slipping so that she has to rev harder to keep the lift. This means she is running too hard and hot. Jason will bring his big tractor back to put the bales away in a few days and the full service I had been planning for Bessie probably needs to include the hydraulics.

I have six rounds left from last year, used about 40 as I began feeding in January and went right through to October. Hopefully another cut from this paddock, though that would be a first in ten years. And maybe a few bales from the main paddock. The bales we just cut are beautiful, Jason says the best hay we've cut from here. They are lovely and green and smell great, which I put down to the fertiliser and the extra seeding.

These are today's bales, under a loomy gloomy sky that didn't rain.

This is a view across the cut paddock to the main paddock where the grass is still standing. I think we will cut all of that area too.

I repaired the irrigation line to the bottlebrush trees and grapevine. The person who whippersnipped the front fenceling managed to damage about half the sprinklers. I think I might spray the grass out from underneath the trees so they don't need to be trimmed. Clover and other flat weeds can remain , I'll just use a grass specific spray. I might do this around the fruit trees too, as whippersnipping too close can end up ringbarking trees and other people aren't as careful as me.

I slipped into town to pick up some medications and stock feed and bank some cheques. The power company sent us two $80 cheques because we had a blackout, one for the dairy meter and one for the house meter. Handy, but banking cheques is a chore and I am surprised they didn't just put a credit on the bills.

22nd November, 2024

It's been pretty warm and a bit humid. Less rain than forecast, hopefully a decent fall this weekend. 

Jason cut the hay as planned, and has tedded it twice. This is fluffing it up to help it dry. He was going to bale it this afternoon, after I had gone to work, so I'll have to check in the morning. We decided on 4 and a half foot bales rather than 5 foot to make them easier to handle for Bessie.

No word on the May Shaw job yet, but I have an interview for the Ochre job on Tuesday. I am still waiting on details on the hospital job from DEC, I hope they get back to me early next week.

Work is madly busy and we seem to get fewer and fewer staff each week. It is certainly helping me get over any hesitancy about changing jobs !

I have ordered a ham for christmas from Josh, the butcher at Ringarooma. He's doing a nice triple smoked one for me. Mangoes are in at woolies, but they are picked green and don't stand much of a chance of ripening. I remember being able to walk into a shop and know they had mangoes in, nowadays you can't smell them even up close.

Either Belle is dropping production or Tiddy has stepped up his take again. Given the sausage shape he has going on I suspect he is eating very well. I am still getting enough milk for the house, but some days it's close !

When I was in Switzerland I saw a few stoves like this. Combining heating and cooking, with a bed on that upper platform, it seems like a wonderful way to keep warm in winter. The sheer thermal mass of the structure should keep the bed warm all night. It would certainly appeal to the cats.

18th November, 2024

We had a bit more rain over the week, about 8mm, and a few nice days and another windy day. So, the usual mixed bag.

Today Craig, the shearer, came and put Pickle down. It was also the first day she hasn't hoed right into her treat bucket, so it was just in time. I will really miss her, first Suzie and now Pickle, and Toot is probably next. It's always the sweetest ones that go first, a manky temperament seems to be the key to a long life. Perhaps there is a message in that ?

I've laid out the line for the ciders, but haven't tested it yet because of the rain. The cabbage palm is in full flower and the wonderful scent drifts in the back door and pleases me no end. Hopefully Beefy will come and give the front yard a good cut back this week and I will begin by spraying down the grass in a corner of the yard that matches the needs of the wildflower seeds I have on hand. 

I never use the lawn for lawn uses as we have the circle in the driveway for picnic tables etc, and a self maintaining wildflower meadow has appeal. It will supply cut flowers, feed the bees, be lower maintenance and look pretty out all of the windows. I'll keep throwing seeds at any bare spots and I should end up with a set of plants that are happy with the conditions and keep coming back. Sweet peas, carnations, californian poppies, nasturtiums, mint-type herbs, calendula and forget me nots seem to do well. I will also add cornflowers and mixed natives like paper daisies.

No word on the May Shaw job yet. There is a receptionist job at Ochre Health and another casual admin job up at the hospital open now, and I am trying to decide if I should go for either of those. I'll probably skip the Ochre Health one as that is pretty thankless, I know they cop alot of flack from people who want appointments right now.

Jason has been keeping an eye on my paddocks that are locked up for hay, and called this morning to let me know he'd be cutting one of them today as it was on the turn. I love that I have neigbours that look out for me. We'll put it into 4 1/2 foot or 4 foot bales for ease of handling. I came home from lunch with Juliet, Robyn and Brit to find it done and I could see him cutting his own hay fields up on the ridge opposite me. After doing the sums the cattle I sold him covered the last two years haymaking and should do this years as well.

I also tidied the craft room after the last round of improvements and shifted down some craft supplies and some paints, brushes and working surfaces that I got on clearance from Temu. Next jobs are to connect the internet and get the second power point working. I've found someone who makes custom garden shed sink shelves and I'll get one made up for my sink with some shelves and hanging rails.

This photo shows the paddock next to the house, the Sheep Shelter Paddock. You can see alot of longer patches of grass, which are also darker than the surrounding grass. Each of those spots has a cow poop or pee, and the grass is responding to the nitrogen.

13th November, 2024

We've had a couple of warm days, a brief one minute rain today, but I've started watering for the summer.

On Monday I planted out the seed potatoes, dutch cream, and cleared the weeds out of the jerusalem artichokes. They come back every year because you can never get every tuber.

I also walked Star up to where Robyn has her heifers in with the bulls. I was worried she'd jump a fence and try to come home, but she seems to have settled in well.

Today I set out the irrigation for the hops, silver birch, orchard, fig, bottlebrushes and olives. There are a few repairs needed, and tomorrow I will try and do the lines for the cider apples. The lines for the side garden and vege garden are working. 

I need to find a simple design for the front yard, the trees in the centre of each square make a single sprinkler set up impossible. Pragmatically I should remove those two rhododendrons, but they are so beautiful in flower and the shade is great.

10th November, 2024

SUNDAY MORNING 

A quick zigzag between driving rain, high winds, lovely sunny days and gentle breezes. Random weather as usual in Tasmania in spring. Today is one of the nice ones. 

I was going to spray on Saturday because I had the whole day off, having declined any more office shifts, but the weather was foul. Despite liking the office work the turnaround of an early shift after a long late one that is often tough going was too hard. So I will try to spray the thistles this arvo, and maybe walk Star up to Robyn's yearling herd to go in with the bulls that are in that herd, as they are bulls that are good for heifers. Hopefully barley grass spraying on Monday. Perhaps. So much to do.

Finn dealt with the possum that had been trashing the dairy. Not the end I wanted, but I had given up on trapping as there had been no sign of the possum for a week or more. I guess that means I can open the windows in the dairy room again and get some good drying and fresh air.

I opened up access to the hay shed for the sheep on the rainy day, and found a new nest in the top of their round bale. We seem to have three or four chickens laying, and the three that have just come out of broody jail will probably have been laying before going broody (though hens can go broody after no longer laying and they are all up there in age) so we probably have a 50% free loader rate.

The sheep spent Saturday night in the loafing shed and I got up early and moved them to the shearing shed to clean out before the shearer comes to shear and do feet and deal with Pickle. 

After the vet's hail mary shot of high potency antibiotics she did seem to improve, but it's become clear that the mess is progressing and it won't be long with the warmer weather before it becomes fly blown. She's cheerful, mobile and has good appetite right now, so it feels sad to take this step, but that could change any day and at least she won't have suffered.

The washing machine is overflowing if I run a second wash too soon after the first. It overflows on the rinse fill. Based on when and how the overflowing occurs, we suspect the air pressure tube that signals the machine to turn off when the rising water pressurises the air in the tube enough to set off the switch. To look at it we'll have to move some freezers out of the laundry and set up the washing machine outside and take the back off it to run it. Until we have the time to drag everything out I am just doing one wash per day on woolies days and one in the morning and one in the afternoon on non woolies days.

The dishwasher is suffering from the reduced water pressure in the laundry, it takes several goes to fill its tank enough to set up the cycle. I think the old water pipes are slowly filling with corrosion and with the lower mains water pressure due to irrigation starting is enough to step over that threshold. Water pressure is higher at night so I put it on when I get home from work and it usually finishes in time to open the door for drying by the time I go to bed.

SUNDAY AFTERNOON

Well, that was a wipeout. The shearer arrived late, 11am instead of 9am. He sheared Jonesy, after I took a blow to my knee moving the sheep into the pen. Then we went to trim Jonesy's hoofs and he kicked out and knocked the shearer's hand and he cut his left hand open with the trimmers. Off to Accident & Emergency where it took 30 mins for the doctor to arrive, 15 good stitches and alot of local anaesthetic that I reckon hurt more going in than the wound. The Dr did a good job though, was thorough and careful. Ah well, it's slow but at least it's free.

He will get the stitches out in a week and should be able to shear again in two weeks. Missed everything critical luckily. I paid him for the visit so he has some money to eat with and he will come back and do Pickle asap and shear the rest when he gets the clearance.

I sprayed the whole place for thistles, which demonstrates how far I have come. Once upon a time I spent several days in any one paddock, now I can get all the thistles in one hour. The blackberries are putting out new leaves so I can do a pass on them too now.

7th November, 2024

We've had a couple of warm days, circa 25C. Clouds coming and going, wind coming and going. We are now ready for another fall of rain to keep the grass growing.

The critters are on their second strip of grazing. They were on the first strip for two days and really did have another day, so I will give them three days on the second strip to allow 2 1/2 days on each before moving to the next one.

I had an interview for the casual admin job at May Shaw today. I think it went well. Right now they are looking for someone from 8am to 4pm Wednesdays, with more days starting in 2025. I know they contacted Pauline to get a reference, not sure about Sharon or Dr Deb. Three days a week would be good, 21 hours over and done with in three days at casual pay rates.

We've been spending hard over the last month getting stuff done around the farm, time to duck down and take some time paying that off before the next round. The cost for the fertiliser for the hay pastures was alarming, but it was needed and it actually did make quite a difference in grass growth.

I had to bring Finn in from outside tonight. Normally he spends the days inside due to his loss of pigment on his nose (sunburn risk) and Poppy spends the nights inside because she is old and likes to sleep by our bed. But he was barking his fool head off and when I went out with a torch to see why I found the target was a very small quoll hiding under the red ute. 

Quolls are chicken killers, but they are native animals and I would rather this one live to fight another day. Hopefully it will decide this place is too doggy and move on. If it doesn't and decides to go for a chicken dinner I will have to trap and relocate it. At least it has had a chance to learn about the dogs in a non-fatal contact.