We've had two decent falls totaling about 40mm and everything is suddenly green. If we can get rain regularly before it gets cold we might go into winter with grass. I've put out two round bales and the second one is lasting well. Assisted by the fact that half the cattle (the fatties) are out just on grass and only the dairy girls are on the bale.
I had the BWS interview last Tuesday but haven't heard anything yet. In the meantime the lady who was retiring from May Shaw suddenly decided not to retire so I and the other casual hired ready for her retirement are now on just one day a week each. Very frustrating and because she's still there we now won't be taking over her work, so we are just general dogsbodies. At least we are being paid $36 an hour for it.
One of the carers had a little of border collie puppies so she brought them in for cuddles for the residents and staff. Very tempting, but I wouldn't have the work to keep a border collie busy...
I've begun windows for the chook house. I had an old cafe curtain (clear plastic) blocking rain and wind from the east (the rest of the directions have walls) and it finally perished. So before winter I am going to build an alternative to provide shelter while still letting light in. This photo is of the other end of the chook house, which is yet to be re-fronted, but it gives an idea of the "before" of the area I am working on.
Here is a photo from the dinner we had at Mark & Sally's. Left to right : Tim, Pete, Sally, Shane hidden, Juliet, Mark and me, Geoff next to me but out in the kitchen when the photo taken.
We had nibbles with Pete and Tim and Tim's partner, Andrew, on Sunday night. It's a bit frustrating that our little house doesn't have room for a gathering. I feel a bit like we should have everyone over but there's no room.
Geoff and I did some more internal fencing, there are now two complete paddocks at the far end of the farm. The next one should be simpler, and I went out and did some groundwork for that today so we can do the next step on the coming weekend. We also put the towbar that Edwin made on the quad ready for the trailer he is building. It should be nice and low and carry all the things I need to use around the farm at a height that is easy to load.
I harvested the white potatoes today. I'm going to store them buried in straw in the old chiller that is used for stock feed storage. It's cool and dark. I think I'll do the dutch cream potatoes tomorrow. The jerusalem artichokes have not yet flowered so I don't know if they have made any tubers. The apples are nearly ready too, so I need to get out the dehydrator and the apple peeling doovie.
