31st August, 2024

Tasmania is experiencing gale force winds and rain over this week and more to come. Some areas are clocking gusts over 160km/hr and large sections of the island are without power. We still have power and the wind is howling but so far we've only lost a section of paling fence and the glass out of the back door. Jason, who bought my 75 acres, has lost the roof of his shearing shed and his chemical shed. 

The cattle are camped in the loafing shed, the sheep are in the hay shed, the chooks have taken over the sheep shelter during the day, and the dogs and cats have only ventured out of the house long enough to go to the toilet for the last three days. If I had any choice I'd be hibernating too.

I cut the bale wrap off the tractor axel and connected up the battery charger to Bessie as well. The wind tells me it's snowing somewhere and spells of cold weather are hard on batteries. I need Bessie to start first time every time.

I was half expecting that we'd get the call in the morning that we needn't go in to work because the roof had come off Woolies, but someone seems to have screwed it down since last winter.

Juliet came and got 6 litres of milk, and I am making Kelly 3 litres of yoghurt. I made 4 litres of yoghurt for myself and I'd like to get some mozarella made this weekend if I can get things under control. I need to fix a water line that got chewed by a rat by the look of it. It sprayed a fine mist over everything in the dairy until it was all dripping, just a bonus on top of the wind.

Each summer I generally host a couple of veterinary students on the farm to show them about country life and large animals. I am still not sure if I will be able to do it this year as I don't know which, if any, jobs I might get. I hope I get a part time one that gives me time to host as I do enjoy it.

Here is Sarge in his happy place out of the nasty weather.

30th August, 2024

The wind and rain are back, and will be back over and over again for the next two weeks. The low that is producing the fronts is over 3000km wide.

I seized the moment and put the second last silage bale out and brought the last one up to the barnyard so I can put it out Sunday or Monday when needed. I'll roll up the electric fence around where they were and clean up the torn off wrap on Sunday afternoon. That way when the new pasture seeds go in they can plant that area up too. I got some bale wrap caught around the tractor axle while moving the bales, as they have to be shifted in reverse gear to get the heavy bales over uneven ground. I'll have to take a knife down tomorrow and cut the wrap off.

Star followed Belle and Tiddy into the dairy, I couldn't get Tiddy in without her coming in too. While I was milking she cleaned up Annie's left overs, tried to nurse from Belle, pushed Tiddy around, and broke things. It was a very stressful milking and won't happen again... Yesterday Tiddy was in a sunny nest of hay when I came for Belle. He got up and started to follow, then thought better of it and went back to his sunny nest. Sensible chap.

This is an ornamental metal ring set into a gate with copper wire twisted to make a tree shape. I think it's really pretty and might try something like it (stealing some of Geoff's electrical cable) if I can find an ornamental metal ring.

29th August, 2024

Today started with more wind, but bright sunshine. The forecast is for more rain this arvo, but it's nice to see the sun. Little Tiddy won't know what to make of that big shiny ball in the sky.

Finally some word from the bank "go ahead and order your machine, we'll catch up with the paperwork". Of course I'm not going to order the mower without having the cash actually in the bank account, but that's a move in a positive direction.

It was so windy today that Belle and I were exchanging glances during milking, wondering if the roof was going to come off. The sheep have access to the hay shed again, they are tucked in among the straw bales and are happy as pigs in mud. The cattle have a choice of two sheds and plenty of hay, so of course they were out on the most exposed hillside picking at the remnants of the grass.

Another shipment of the little magnetic LED lights arrived today and I put some more up in strategic places around the house. They are motion activated and rechargable so they can be used always anywhere.

I found out today that the interview next week will also be for the part time job at Service Tas because I have been short listed for that.

27th August, 2024

We are currently on a severe wind warning for the whole state. Yup, spring. Hopefully all the sheds and the two houses will still have roofs by the end of the week. We are looking at two weeks of rain now.

One of the agronomists from Elders came out yesterday and had a look at my hay pasture. The barbero ryegrass that was planted a few years ago has reached the end of its life and the weeds are taking over. In the next couple of weeks we will direct drill italian ryegrass, chickory and clover into it, cut hay this year, graze over winter, cut hay again next year and then plough it up in Feb 2026 when the italian ryegrass has run it's course. 

The reason for this 18 month cover planting is that a permanent pasture mix should have gone in in February this year, so they are giving me a bridging mix to get hay back in the shed before we put in a very diverse mix that should last for hopefully 20 years if I can manage it properly.

I had lunch with Juliet and Britt at the House Paddock yesterday, the place reminds me of the providores we have for a while back in Dubbo. I picked up some haloumi and cous cous to bring home. Then we went up to the shoe shop that is having a sale and I picked up some boots to replace my old riding boots that are by now just leather socks. The new boots are pale and look funny, but a good coat of waterproofing will darken them.

Belle is being a great mum and Tiddy is doing fine. I took five litres of milk for the house yesterday and ten today. Juliet is going to get some for cheese making and the dogs and chooks are doing well too. I can't milk her out by hand, but I keep the milk moving and her production will lower to meet our demand.

I made yoghurt today in the multicooker. It has a yoghurt program that raises the temp to 82 C to scald it. This is to denature the proteins rather than sterilise it. That makes the texture more like a creamy solid, if you don't do it, it can be ropey and slimy. The best thing about fresh milk yoghurt (which is pretty darn good itself) is the cream-gurt on top. Divine ! The hole in the middle is where I cut a serve because I couldn't resist long enough to get a photo of it all smooth and golden.

23rd August, 2023

More windy grey days, I know spring is here because the wild plum has blossomed and the wind is blowing the petals off. It's kind of traditional now. The orchard plums are just starting and the nectarine down at the other cottage is showing it's bright pink flowers. The dwarf mulberry has leafed up and there are funny little fruits forming. There is a huge blob of rain just starting over us, the beginning of ten days of falls.

Belle calved last night, a little angus cross bull calf that has somehow been named Teddy. Oddly though, I keep pronouncing it with a New Zealand accent, "Tiddy". Perhaps I have been hanging around with Robyn for too long. Or maybe his name is actually Tiddy. Either way, he's up and drinking and very good at following his mum at heel.

 

I milked as much as I could while her let down lasted and put 5 litres of good colostrum in the freezer. One quarter is a little brown, I think that is the one he didn't drink from and the pressure has burst a few capillaries. I will make sure to empty that one until it comes good. Three days of colostrum and then good rich jersey milk for the house !

The lady who runs the restaurant that we ate at last Saturday thanked me for eating there when she came through the checkout this week. I mentioned that I had meant to buy some of her home made fudge but had gotten distracted. Tonight she dropped off a selection of flavours for me to try, which was very kind of her.

I have arranged for the once a month garbage pickup, it feel like a little luxury. Nice to be a bit pampered, especially since the back door slammed in the horrible wind and the glass window fell out. We'll cover that with a piece of board for the moment and replace it with perspex next time we get down to Launceston to buy some.

The grass has started to really stretch, if this rainy weather isn't too cold we might get enough growth to eke the bales out. Some people have started feeding soy meal and corn husks and other stuff that is actually digestible for ruminants but is generally considered feed of last resort. Chloe will be taking Freya and Zippy next Sunday, and Charlie will probably take Moose to Greenhams with his steers soon. That will be a few less to feed.

Finn went to the vet on Wednesday for a check of some skin patches. He seems to have some hot spots and the vet gave us some Neocort cream to rub in. He was also due for a vaccination soon, so they did that and it will save us a trip. Mind you, he does enjoy a trip out. He greeted all and sundry at the vet clinic and was the star at the supermarket when I stopped to pick up my phones, which I left there the night before accidentally.

I've been watching "The Great Kiwi Bake-off", and apart from the cool cakes and desserts (and breads), the location is just amazing. A farm on a promontory, green and blue and misty and golden light. Absolutely beautiful. Reminds me a bit of here (if here was on a cliff above the sea).

Still no action from the bank, I don't know what's going on there. I am going to plan as if it has been turned down, and if the money comes in I can replace what I am about to strip out of the credit cards. Not the best way to go, but the driveway grass is already a foot long since the last mow that Brad Hill did for me and it's only going to get longer, and cost $280 each time he mows it. While the interest rate for the credit cards is steep, at $280 a month the charge is comparable to not having our own mower.

18th August, 2024

I did another shift in the office this Saturday. I had hopes that it would lead to more hours, but Woolies has just cut office hours nationwide and between that and the hours that have had to be given to staff that are on full time contracts but don't have enough hours in their own department, the Saturday once a fortnight looks like all I will get. 

It's a nice little top up to my wages, but the 9.15pm finish on the Friday followed by the 7.15am start on the Saturday is rough. I might make one more attempt to move my day to follow the 7pm Friday finish, and if that doesn't work sit down and really think about whether I want to keep going. Doing it once a fortnight also doesn't allow me time to get fluent in the job.

Robyn and I went up to visit Billie and the baby, Thomas today. We took a selection of cakes and slices from the House Paddock cafe. He's a peaceful little baby, five weeks old. We also visited her deer, hand raised. Billie mentioned that she wishes she could get out more, so I think we will pick her and Thomas up next time we go for a cafe visit.

Geoff and I had dinner with Kelly and Derek at the RSL on Saturday night. The meals were big and tasty, but very light on vegetables. I think next time I will ask for half the chips and add a salad. I heard there had been a crash on their road home about the time they left, so I spent a worried night before Kelly replied to my message that they were fine and had passed the crash scene on the way home.

Belle is now showing clear goo and her udder is about half inflated. She could calve any time between now and two weeks I think. I have the dairy cleaned up ready to milk her, as I can hand milk her it won't be a huge added time burden on top of the feeding. Annie is still getting a small meal each day to keep some condition on her, I will have to transition her to getting that in the yards while I milk because they will squabble if I put her in the head gate next to Belle.

Still no paperwork from the bank. While I am impatient this has not been an unusual experience with my bank. Every interaction for the last 20 years has been slow and poor communication, but they generally accommodate my requests so I put up with it. Hopefully this will be the last adjustment I have to do before I pay it out.

Calab took all the rubbish bins to the tip today. Robyn told me that Tubby Kettle does a once a month pickup of $20 per wheelie bin. Since it takes about a month to fill a bin, I am going to ring him on Monday and organise a pickup service. That will save the tip tickets for general farm rubbish.

No word on any of the jobs I applied for, all have said they'll get back to me in due course. So I will just keep an eye out for other ads while I wait. Suzie is willing to wait with me, she knows how to take it easy.

14th August, 2024

The rain is back, just light but topping up the grass. I am organising for an agronomist to come and help me draw up a plan for fertilising and reseeding the pastures to be more diverse and responsive to climate variations.

Geoff's ute went in for new back tyres today and had a new radiator put in last week. With the new clutch in my subaru we have fed the mechanic for a few months. The red ute needs a new exhaust system but that will have to wait a month or so. At the end of winter I want to book Bessie in for a complete refurb so that I can be wrangling hay with her for many more years.

Here are some photos of the craft room. From the back door looking towards the butcher block where the kettle and microwave will make my snack centre.

This is from in front of the butcher block looking toward the back door. This shows the shelves that I got from woolies after the refurb, old bread shelving. There's a sink on the left and two tables, that's a hammock hanging from the old meat rail.

13th August, 2024

Today was quite warm for the time of year, it will have perked the grass up no end. I sprayed the peach and nectarine with copper sulphate again yesterday to help head off leaf curl. The buds are about to burst and I think that will have been the last spray. I also did a thistle spray, I've got those pretty well under control.

Jason has been burning blackberries across the road at every opportunity. Yesterday was fine with a gentle breeze and he got a great slow burn on the neglected far end on the block. He's going to have the helicopter drop some grass seed into the ash bed and with some soft rain will get pasture going quickly.

The groomer came and did the dogs again, Poppy took 2 1/2 hours as she has started shedding for spring. But they do look more comfortable and lots cleaner and they smell better. Finn has some kind of skin condition so I'll book him for the vet next week.

I heard from Kevin the bank manager today, the appropriate staff member has been off sick and is still sick but the extension to the mortgage has been approved. Seems like an insufficiency of redundancy when having one staff member missing grinds everything to a halt, but that's cost cutting for you.

Belle is still slowly preparing for calving. She's getting quite smoochy, a sign that mothering hormones are kicking in. I hope she chooses the first fine morning of a run of fine days. I've organised two more bags of lucerne cubes from Launceston, as those are about to enter short supply.

I put out all of the dozen remaining old small squares of hay. These are four or five years old and not far off mulch. They were going to have to be fed out this year or not at all, so six out on Sunday and six on Monday and most of them got eaten. That's saved me a round.

I added alot more lime to the limewash mix and this time the application was more successful. All the trees in the orchard by the highway are done and I might as well do the cider apples and the nectarine in the cottage yard.

9th August, 2024

A lovely foggy morning, one of those days when the sun shines above a lake of billowing white below and everything is quiet because the fog muffles sound. I scored a weird shift of 9am to 2pm, so the clouds had come over by the time I got home.

I had the interview at Elders on Monday, and I think I did ok. I was able to answer all the "can you tell us about a situation where you..." questions (which I hate) with examples that were a bit different to the normal. They don't have to fill the job until November, so I don't anticipate a quick outcome.

Kelly and I met for a cuppa and snack at the House Paddock, the new cafe that has replaced the art gallery. They have heaps of fresh produce and gourmet shelf items. I bought salted caramel melting moments for Geoff and rose turkish delight dipped in chocolate for me. There were heaps of home made cakes and desserts.

Belle has started filling her udder and her pin ligaments are going soft in preparation for calving. It could be anywhere from about three days to two weeks. Lots of good milk for the house when she does.

The grass is just starting to grow. Brad Hill and his offsiders mowed for us as the driveway area had reached about a foot long. We are still waiting on bank for finance for the mower, we were supposed to hear by Tuesday last week, Wednesday at the latest. The bank manager is not answering calls or emails, I'll ring the branch if I haven't heard from him by lunchtime Monday. He'd mentioned he had alot of staff off sick, hopefully he's just been off work himself and not avoiding me.

Tried to lime wash the fruit trees to keep off cherry and pear slug, but the mix was too runny. I revisited the website with the recipe and found the small print that said "add more lime until the paint is thick enough to adhere to the tree bark". So I'll add more lime and try again. That really should have been part of the instructions ...

I have finished the craft room clean and layout, all the furniture is in place and the stuff on the shelves is sorted and tidy. I still have the frame to hold the sink, and the plumbing for it, internet access, and some door painting to do but that won't stop me using the room. I picked up a motion sensor light that will activate when the door opens, as the switch for the main lights is on the other side of the room from the door, for some strange reason. I will take some craft supplies down this weekend from the spare room and spend some time just fooling around to get into the habit of going down and being creative.

It looks like the hens are on the way again, I found a nest down in implement shed, with a week's worth of eggs. I'll put fake eggs in to keep them coming back. Stuart Burr has some australorp pullets for me in spring that will give us enough eggs for the house since most of my girls are retirees.

4th August, 2024

We had a few spits of rain yesterday and today, adding up to 4mm. I washed today and the wind flapped most of the moisture out, just needing a quick finish in the dryer.

I lodged 5 out of 6 Tasmanian public service applications, they are mostly part time relief registers. A couple of Service Tas customer service jobs. The one I still need to do is a nat parks job register and the application is through a recruitment agency instead of the state government website, so I'll work my way through that tomorrow night.

Freya and Zippy seem to be staying weaned, it will be good if I can leave everyone together and just put out the one lot of hay. Belle seems to be staying a bit separate to the other cattle. She could calve any time now, though the vet put her at September rather than August, so I will start watching her closely. Last calving was a bit traumatic because she freshened with bloody milk and no colostrum. It was a bit of a shock but her milk came in with regular milking to clear the blood and Robyn was able to give me some colostrum for Moose.

I rolled up the water line for the orchard, that can now stay out of harms way until the summer dry sets in. One less thing to move for mowing.

I'll be catching up with Kelly for a cuppa tomorrow afternoon, debrief after the interview and try out the new cafe that has replaced the Art Gallery, called The House Paddock. It has local produce and homewares as well as the cafe. There is another new one on the other side of Scottsdale called Mulberry Lane, I'll check that one out later in the week.

I liked this one :-)

2nd August, 2024

The weather has been mostly dry, if cool. Forecasts are for rain coming in.

I've had a big few days pruning the orchard with Geoff. It was the last week to do it as buds were about to come in and the trees would have put lots of energy into leaves only to have them cut off. I also got a second spray of copper anti-fungal onto all the trees that were affected by leaf curl. Next stage is to lime wash the trunks so that cherry & pear slug can't climb up them.

The sheep spent 24 hours in the hop paddock munching grass, which is growing back nicely there. It shows that while it is very slow, the grass has not stopped growing this winter and we can hope for a good surge come spring. I moved them back today ahead of the rain, because although that paddock has shelter they won't use it. 

I also rejoined all the cattle into one herd, for simplicity. Joey and Star have had their last weaner pellets and are a year old now. Freya and Zippy should be well weaned and Moose was probably long weaned even before splitting the kids off. With any luck they can now be one herd without trying to nurse on their mums.

I have closed off the main paddock to allow some grass to grow, as the knoll paddock will need to be locked up for hay in September. Ideally the main paddock should be too, but that will depend on if we get an early warm spring with rain, or any other variation of cold, dry and late. Perfect conditions will let me have the piggery paddock, barnyard, hops paddock and sheep shelter paddock all knee high in grass to allow the hay-able paddocks to grow. Probably unlikely.

I found some ads for Service Tasmania customer service officers, and will put applications together this weekend as they close next Tuesday. The cyber investigation job application went in on this Tuesday. In encouraging news Elders rang this afternoon and want me to come in for an interview on Monday. Lots of irons in the fire.