On Monday I applied for my passport. I gave in and pushed aside my sense of bureaucratic injustice and went for pragmatic expediency. They told me 10 days to 6 weeks. Fingers crossed it's closer to the ten days, because if the SMSF is still open when the financial year ticks over at the end of June, it will need another audit and tax return, which both cost.
I planted the saffron bulbs in pots and put them out on the front yard path in the hope that sunshine would kick off chlorophyll production and they'd recover. When I watered them on Monday they showed shoots of green. I will add some fertiliser and mulch them so the bulbs stay a bit warmer over winter.
I walked the areas I have previously sprayed for thistles and did any that hadn't started to curl, and picked up any dropped but still edible hay at the hay ring and piled it on top of the bale. This is worth doing to get the most out of the bales, and doesn't take long.
Tuesday I cut the hop vines at the base so they wouldn't get pulled out by the roots and opened up the hop area for the sheep to graze. I fenced off the passionfruit as I think they would eat those.
Leigh came and took his crush to the farm he is now grazing his cattle on. He also took the two long gates and post he'd made a race with. I'll now sit with the yards as they are for a few weeks and plan where to put new structures that suit my management system.
Wednesday I did another round of thistle spraying, in the soak and around the houses and sheds. I'll leave that for another month and start on the grass and blackberries. Probably the blackberries first as they are heading into winter torpor fast.
I'm working my way through the reading pile, magazines, brochures and papers that I put aside for a "quiet moment". I figure if I take one item off a day I will eventually reach the bottom.
Thursday I went and picked up stock feed, had a visit with Siobhan who is recuperating from her operation, and picked up medications. The chemist advised that my lyraglutide script had none left on it so I need to make an appointment with a GP to renew that. Luckily I still have half of the last repeat left in the fridge so I have a couple of weeks. I am down to 93.9kg from 97.9kg. A slow drop of 4kg, but a drop all the same.
I removed the brackets from the bent automatic gates and put those and the bolts in a bucket. The hydraulic arms are now not under any tension and won't be further damaged if a cow leans on the gates. Next step is to work out where the arms are going to be moved to, if we are moving them, and measure the gap for new gates.
Charlie came and got three bales of silage and fetched down three round bales of hay for me, moving them from the top layer to ground level so Bessie could move them. Bruce doesn't have the greatest lights and it was well into twilight so I shadowed him back to Robyn's so no-one came up behind him unexpectedly in the dark.
It rained Thursday afternoon and night, we ended up getting 20mm. This is a lovely fall and with luck the grass isn't too cold to respond.
Today was cold and windy, but I tossed a couple of loads of washing out on the line to flap around. I shut Jaffa's group into the barnyard/sheep shelter/cowmahal paddock areas so the rest of the main paddock will get a chance to make the most of the rain.
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