Wednesday, December 3, 2008

100 ham countdown

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2008/12/02/1227980003246.html

Fame at last! Well sort of... this unexpectedly arrived in the Sydney Morning Herald yesterday. The timing was good as we are at Pyrmont in Sydney tomorrow. The phone has not stopped ringing so we are working our way through the ham list rather quickly. I was envisioning that everyone I knew was going to have to have one for Christmas whether they liked it or not however this may not now be necessary.

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Countdown to Christmas

Not only are the kids eagerly awaiting the 'chocolate calendar' that they so fondly remember from last year, James and I are counting down in our own way. 30 hams down, 70 to go. After our 6 months of production we have stockpiled 101 hams for the festive season. They went off yesterday to be cured and smoked and will return back next week. Assuming we will have one here for the big day we are left with 100 to sell. Both of us are outwardly confident but inwardly hoping we don't end up with a lot left over. Orders have been coming in on a daily basis so the ham count goes down each day. We have also sent off 6 sides of bacon to make sure that nobody misses out on that either. The Christmas market run starts next week with Sydney then continues for 3 weekends until we finish on the 20th with Mudgee and Dubbo markets. I guess I then have 2 days to do my Christmas shopping and generally do everything last minute. All attempts to find a rare/heritage breed turkey pair to breed up here have not given me much hope. I will hopefully find something next spring so our rare breed turkeys may be a while coming.

I have declared war on kikuyu grass which I am unfortunately losing. It is very grateful for the irrigation in the vegetable patch and is cunningly trying to strangle everything that is growing in there by putting its roots deep underground and outmanouvering me every time I think I have a solution. I have gone back to digging, pulling and feeding to the pigs in fear that if I put it in the compost it will show up in vegetable patch no. 2 (my contingency plan) which has been built up in an area with no grass around it whatsoever. It is currently being battered by the chickens but at least has no slugs and slaters in it.

Last Monday poor Beccie died unexpectedly of an infection that happened very quickly. Being the hardened farmer that I am I admit I obviously cried my eyes out - she was such a lovely gentle pig (and had bloody big litters with piglets that grew like the clappers) so it was all very disappointing. It brought up the inevitable problem that we had been avoiding of how on earth we were going to dispose of 250 kg of dead pig. Luckily the local earthmover who buries many a horse around here very kindly came up first thing and buried her...and yes, I am going to plant a flower on the grave.

Friday, November 21, 2008

Rain, mud and new arrivals







In my last post I had a picture of the kids jumping about in the rain....it kept going and going...and going. Over 3 days we had about 3 inches. In case this figure means nothing to you (as it wouldn't to me a year ago) I can tell you that it is a lot for us. Our driveway is starting to cave in for god's sake. It has been hanging in there for a while now but I think the 30 rotarians coming up the driveway and the torrential downpour were the last straw and it has given in to the temptation to have a little river in the middle of it. The plants look terribly happy about it all and we are having a planting flurry to take full advantage of it. In the middle of all this rain we took a long and wet trip 7 hours north to Inverell to add some more pigs to the herd. With the possibility of a farm shop we have decided that keeping the breeding herd on the smaller side (around 35ish) is a good aim and so rare/old breeds are on my list along with the white crosses to keep Maguire busy too. I had long had my eye on a saddleback and as luck would have it there was one up at the farm, along with a large black that is staying with us for a while before going off to another local winery with one of our berkies as breeders. From left to right we have Olive (James' new favourite), un-named large black and Winifred...already called "Winnie" (my new favourite). They have settled in well and are in their quarantine pen for a week before heading out to run about with the big herd. With no market this weekend James is busily building a brick pig run as initial attempts to vaccinate the sows by running them through the yards originally built for sheep (and perfectly good for weaners) ended with them picking up the panels and throwing them aside as though they were as light as a feather...and not bolted to the ground (which they were). "You win" we said as they looked at their handy work with obvious pleasure. James always gets the last laugh however..a concrete slab has been laid and a run will be built capable of holding a small elephant - I just hope they can't climb very well.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

The Novelty of Rain?!




It is pretty dry here most of the time... well I can't complain as we have had a lovely spring. Lots of warm weather with showers in between. Today has been the first truly wet weather day that I can remember in a while. The kids had colouring books and dvd's and all the things I thought they would need to keep them out of my hair whilst I sorted out Christmas orders and got busy in the office. After a while I wondered why they were so quiet... and where the dogs were... On going outside the rain was obviously too much fun to be ignored. After sneaking a few photos I called out to ask what was going on and was told they were "refreshing themselves". I am not sure what the 30 rotarians who are coming around for a farm tour this afternoon would make of the above spectacle on arrival so I had better leave my computer and pay them more attention.

Monday, November 17, 2008

Hunting, Horseplay and Hatching


It was a big weekend for little Jessie who at almost 12 months old went on her first rabbit hunt. As I am not one for banging rabbits on the head with a big stick there are no action style photos. I haven't actually been ferreting and I suppose I envisaged a sort of stampede of rabbits thundering out of the nets and being set upon by men with sticks. Yuk. In fact Jessie and Coco made a good team, with the help of the boys admittedly and they got 4. James insists this is because we don't have that many rabbits on the place but as I get up at 5.30 most mornings to go running on my crazy fitness phase I see all the cute babies happily bouncing about like those little chocolate Lindt bunnies at Easter time. I think they are smarter than we think. Anyway, Jessie came when whistled, didn't bite anyone and was so tired in the end she refused to go down any more holes and just lay in her box. She slept for 24 hours and seems to be recovering well. Now she looks at me like Coco waiting for a walk when I walk past on the way to the veg garden. James is very proud.
Every Wednesday Emily and I have been taking Ruth out so she can have a riding lesson and Ruth can get some exercise. Mickey thinks this is terrific and delights in attempting to play with me as he would another horse. This involved galloping around towards me, rearing up, jumping about and generally being a pain in the bum....even his Mum gives a sigh and looks at me as if to say 'boys..what can I do about him'. We decided it was time he learnt some manners...or at least got used to a head collar so he is a bit more controllable. James held him whilst I put the headcollar on and gave him a good rub down. On coming back about 10 minutes later he was throwing the head collar about with gay abandon. Similar results were achieved by letting him lick a sugar cube instead of being restrained...he stood quite still to have it buckled up but I am sure it will be off again tomorrow morning.

Wendy the silky has done me proud this time hatching 9 out of the 10 duck eggs that were under her. On cleaning out the nest of old egg shells and 2 unhatched eggs we discovered one of them was cheeping. It had a chicken ceasarean (okay duckling) and we left him beside Mum to bond. On coming back about 1/2 an hour later the poor little thing was covered in ants who were eating him alive. He was dunked in water and looked as though he had one eye..thereby being christened 'Winky'. Maternal urges poured forth from me as usual and the kids took it in turns to warm him up and cuddle him. What is another pet duck to add to the flock I reasoned with James. He regained the use of his eye after 24 hours and became quite demanding...and quite strong. I kept finding him running about in the house cheeping for someone to feed him. James decided enough was enough and put him back with his brothers and sisters. We waiting anxiously but apparently imprinting is reversible dammit - he is happily living back with the whole lot and doesn't even recognise me when I go and visit him. The other two duckens, despite all our best intentions of eating them have gone off to a new home as I got too used to seeing them wandering about outside and resolve weakened. They are currently nestling up to the rooster and not showing any recognition of the other ducks that are at the farm presently. They may end up on someone's table afterall but we are all hoping that instinct kicks in soon.






Ormiston Swimming Ponds


Once upon a time, actually in what seems another life by now, James and I first saw each other without clothes (but with swimmers on thank you very much) at the Hampstead mixed swimming ponds. How strange that how ever many years later we have never tried out our own ponds until this weekend...and by we I mean James as I was too chicken. I am not a fan of water in which I can't see the approaching shark/crocodile/yabbie (delete as appropriate). This is made all the worse when I have seen the geese coming out of the water with leeches on their legs. Three brave young men in the form of my cousins were the intrepid first swimmers because we were all dying of heat and nobody could be bothered driving into town. Felix found it hilarious, Emily was slightly worried..the goats were bemused and the ducks weren't really sure what was going on. It must have been okay as it was used extensively over the weekend and James even decided to brave it all by Sunday. Coco will mistily remember it as her best weekend ever as she swum happily around with everyone, usually with the ball in her mouth. Woody, who has never gone in over his toes had a few enforced swimming lessons and seems to think that the water isn't the invention of the devil afterall. James can be seen coaxing him in above.




I think I am going to put up a sign and James is considering building a jetty...

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Farm Life can be Cruel


These pictures don't really show the true horror of what James has done to Coco.... she has been suffereing terribly with the little grassheads and burrs that she picks up on the property. We are as sick of combing them out as she is of carrying them around. We marvelled in fact that she is probably single handedly responsible for spreading the little seeds over most of the town (and extensively through the car). By yesterday they were clogged in her ears, through her tail and up her legs. Drastic measures were called for. "Shall I book her in to the dog groomer to have a summer shave" I asked James. "Don't be ridiculous..I can do a perfectly good job at work". We took her in and she lay very happily on the table as even James realised once he had started that maybe he should have let the nurses do it because "they would have been much neater". Not only does Coco now look like an English Pointer..or a Cocker Spaniel..we can't decide - she has great bald batches all over her and a tail with no feathers on it whatsoever. Woody can be seen sniffing her in the above photo to make sure it is 'really her' - although he does usually have his nose up her bum so maybe it is just the norm. Anyway - I admit she is much more comfortable but next year I am sticking by my guns and booking her into the doggy equivalent of Toni and Guy so she doesn't have to suffer this sort of indignity.

Monday, November 10, 2008

Emily turns 4...




I'm sitting here waiting for the cheese curds to need their next stirring after giving Ruth a messy bath with Emily and am suddenly overcome with guilt that this blog is getting so neglected. There being no time like the present it seemed an update was a good idea.
Firstly obviously is Emily's recent birthday. She is pictured here with her brother who seems to be in training as a supermodel if his pose is anything to go by. She had the obligatory party at the local indoor play area, as well as a separate family one and a cake at school today to top it all off. Whilst we were having a cuddle yesterday she became quite thoughtful and said to me with a sigh "Mummy, I really am very sad that I won't be 3 anymore".... how soon it starts. She is currently in serious practice at her local dance class for the Christmas concert. She gets to be a Christmas tree which thank god I don't have to sew - I just have to pay an arm and a leg for it. Felix has started his 'Mudgee Beginners' at the local school and decided he doesn't need to go to preschool anymore because he is too grown up for it.
I never thought I would actually be taking photos of a silo, but as you can see above this year has been a first for many things. Its just so shiny! As we, or should I say the pigs, are going through a tonne of food a week now we finally decided to save ourselves about $200 per tonne by buying in bulk - serious bulk however, at 14 tonnes per delivery. There was nothing else to do but take the next step and buy a silo. Second hand requests didn't amount to much because most farmers are holding on to silo's with grain being scarce at the moment. We had to bite the bullet and buy a new one. James laid a concrete slab and it was delivered on the weekend. Woody is very unsure about it - not sure what sort of image it is in dog-sight however it is large and reflective and he spent a long time barking at the large monster that is endangering his pigs. Woody has been doing his job recently as one of our sheep got flystrike unexpectedly so he was called upon to herd our growing flock up into the corner of the field so they could be drenched and checked over. We have no sheep handling facilities at all - so Woody would bring them up and James would launch himself at the nearest one whilst the rest ran off. Felix found it hilarious each time James ended up face down in the paddock, which was often to begin with.
We are of course gearing up for Christmas, we have had our first lot of bacon cured by an organic smokehouse in Sydney and been a bit overwhelmed by the demand for it at all markets. We are sticking with traditional hams this year but will move to have them organically cured next year. So our life continues along the same routines of markets, butchers, abattoirs and plans. We are trying to decide which way to go with our little business - whether we can afford to wholesale the meat which means competing with farms that can do it cheaper, or stay in control of it from paddock to plate. At this point we are throwing around the idea of a proper farm shop which is starting to look more like the way we need to go. We are encouraging farm visits and have people coming from far and wide to see the pigs and buy some pork - so maybe it will be in the spirit of Jimmys Farm afterall.
I'm off to try out my new running track which James has obligingly mowed again - am slightly tentative as a friend riding her bike down our drive a couple of weeks ago came across a large brown snake making its way along her path and was so surprised she fell off. I guess it can only make me run faster.

Monday, October 13, 2008

Foal Fun



Just when you thought you were sick of photos of baby animals I add a new species. Driving up the driveway after running 7.5 km as part of my new bootcamp regime this morning I assumed I was seeing double, however Ruth in her usual capable and calm way delivered this little bundle at some point last night. The kids were very excited this morning for about 5 seconds but soon wandered off whilst I stood there and stared until they were late for school. I don't think I have mentioned Ruth before, however she has come up to stay for a couple of months to make completely sure that the kids really really do like riding before we make the decision to add pony club to the ridiculous array of sports that I seem to spend my life driving around to. So far Emily in particular shows no intention of losing her interest in it and Ruth is proving to be an incredibly sweet and gentle little pony.
Today at long last we made the decision to buy a ride on lawn mower.... the thought of pushing the hand mower around on a weekly basis to keep up with the grass in the garden, orchard and now down the driveway was just all too much. We gave in. James then drove it around like a dodgem car mowing the lawns at a speed that I am not sure it is really meant to cut grass at. I may never have to do the job again.
We are gearing up for a big weekend with 2 markets, sausage selling at Day on the Green with 4,000 people expected and a farm walk open to the public on Sunday. With around 60 piglets born over the last 2 weeks we have plenty of cute factor to cater to the masses.

Friday, October 10, 2008

Sydney Markets and Farm Mobility..





We now feel like real Aussie farmers... the quad bike and soon to be arriving silo complete the picture. After moving the sows and weaners up to their new paddocks the walk with the wheelbarrow seems like about 2 km each way. After the wheelbarrow even blew its tyre and James started to look a little peaky and eat us out of house and home after each feeding time we thought enough was enough. Enter the new quad bike. As of today life has become much easier...it takes 2 minutes to pop down and see the sheep and feeding the pigs with the trailer on the back is a 15 minute job instead of an hour. Watch this space to see if James starts to grow a beer belly. I on the other hand have signed up for Boot Camp and 3 mornings a week I stumble out of bed at 5.30 (which is way before sunrise now the clocks have gone forward) and join many others to sprint up hills, run around the pines and do boxing... unfortunately any good that I am doing is matched by the calories that I am consuming like a labrador when I get home so that I have the energy to get through the rest of the day.
The duckens (or as James prefers to call them the dicks) are thriving with their chicken mum. I am slightly concerned as they may never learn to swim, however apparently I only need be concerned when the mother is a duck and she takes surrogate chicks for their first outing which turns into a mass drowning. They are very visible waddling after Mum while she scratches up morsels for them to eat. We have about 60 piglets here at the moment, Bev, Rosie and Deb have all had piglets, and Harriet once again decided she would farrow ferals in the big pig field. They are thriving of course but are wild little things that bark and flee at the sight of us. Bev felt that the straw filled hut was too hot for her and made a lovely nest outside where she has had 9 little Berkshires. It is hard to believe that she is on her 3rd litter with us one year in.
Great excitement this week with our first bacon and ham coming back from the charcutier... the bacon is excellent and has been organically cured so 'nitrite free'.. it has its first outing tomorrow at Orange Market. We finally got to Pyrmont Growers market last weekend... whilst we got drenched with a downpour only Sydney is capable of we set up our stall on the pier with about 300 other regional producers. The buyers started coming at 7am and by 10.00pm we sold even the trotters of the 6 pigs we took down there. It was exactly the type of market we had been looking for in Sydney and everything you could imagine was there...quails eggs, free range everything, veggies, jersey milk, venison, partridge and lots more. Unfortunately we had our heads down selling and didn't get too much of a chance to go for a wander but next time I will be prepared.
The kids have been home for 2 weeks on school holidays and it will be to mutual relief when pre-school resumes next week. Suddenly they have learned to say 'I'm bored'??

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Preschool Farm Tour





It started with one class and ended up with 60 children coming up to the farm to watch our sheep being shorn. The event was much anticipated by Felix, who suggested the day before that not only should the kids be able to come to the farm but I should be making cakes for them all, something I somehow got out of. Hay bales were brought down as seats, the shed was swept and Mick, our neighbour who gamely volunteered to shear in front of such a large audience brought up his dogs to move our girls up to the shed. "Do you realise that your sheep are lambing", he asked on arriving up. "Impossible" I answered, "they haven't been in with a Ram and they are so old". "It must have been my orphan lambs you saw down there, I just put them in the big paddock". Off we drove to move the sheep and sure enough there was a tiny newborn lamb in the field. After picking my jaw up off the ground and doing some quick calculations we can only assume that some funny business must of gone on at the saleyards, and I became very happy with my bargain pregnant sheep. Driving them up it also seemed obvious they were all heavily pregnant - not a great time to shear, but the school was coming up so it had to go ahead. We settled them into a straw filled yard and left them for the evening.
By morning one of the others was down and lambing, James ended up pulling the lamb out and after moving mum and baby (and getting butted up the bum in thanks), we thought the others would be okay.
The children arrived en masse - the 2 buses they had booked couldn't get up the driveway so they all walked up in high excitement. Into the makeshift shearing shed and 2 of the sheep were shorn whilst they looked on. Mick taught them how to throw the fleece, I watched on with the same degree of attention as the children, amazed at how compliant the sheep are whilst being shorn and assuming it is a 'play dead' type behaviour that is similar to chickens and rabbits. Anyway, we went up to the pigs, which I have to say were the hit of the day. Leanne and her piglets, particularly a tiny runt called Pee Wee stole the show, and Lucy and Molly were also very charming and friendly. Mick brought his little calf up for the kids and my goats as always were up for a bit of petting and fuss. All was going well until a new horse put in the paddock by Scott (who rents one of our fields for his charges) ran through a fence and broke its leg. The kids were on their way out anyway (thank god) so after running back and forward to deal with the aftermath of that I walked back up to the house and was just about to try and convince Susie to take the little ram that had been born that morning. On the way back we noticed that one of the other sheep was down with a lamb head hanging out the other end and not much else happening. Coffee was thrown aside and Susie thanked god that she didn't wear her best clothes out (she knows better now anyway). Lamby had one leg out and one stuck back behind him. We ineffectively tried to free the leg, stuff it back in and re-birth it, swear, call James and demand he come back more quickly and generally flap around. I thought that lamb was turning blue and obviously dying until after the event when I realised it was joined by the umbilical cord and could have stayed there for quite a while longer. Anyway, a large amount of obstetric gel and a good push from Mum with my hand on the side of the lamb and he came out - huge and covered in shit...his Mum didn't clean him so well and I am sure it is because he was just too revolting for even her to contemplate.
She then lay there without responding for quite a long time - Susie and I contemplated blankets and hot water bottles, we told her a lot to get up. I think at some point we discussed getting her up but just assumed she was going to die. It appears to me sheep and I have some things in common - being overly dramatic when not well. She had convinced herself she too was dying (and I truly believe she would have if we had left her). Mick came back at this point and took one look and hoisted her to her feet. She then shook herself and realised that in fact she was very much alive and we all gave a sigh of relief. It reminded me of the midwives that wanted me up and on my feet as soon as I came back from the c-section while I wanted to wallow in my bed and eat chocolate. Anyway, no more mollycoddling - its all tough love for the animals on the farm from now on I tell myself - thank god James is a vet because I think the chances of that are slim to none.

September Catch Up








It is with some trepidation that I log back into the blog to see just how far behind I have left everyone with our news. Happily I can see that it has almost been a month - but not quite.. It has been a little different to previous months because we had almost 3 weeks off markets. This has been a great opportunity to write down lots of things on a 'to do' list and realise that we have probably not fulfilled very many of them at all. Anyway - productivity seems to have resumed and we climbed back aboard the market train last weekend. This time we combined Dubbo and Mudgee in one day (James and Dubbo and me at Mudgee). Luckily I was ably assisted by James' sister Hannah, who had a crash course in pork cuts and Danielle, who is our usual Mudgee helper. I was sold out of meat by 10.00, as was James, again we have increased numbers of pigs so hopefully we can start to fulfill the demand a little more effectively. Much fencing was achieved over the market break and the sows moved up to 'Sow Hill' which is their new huge fenced paddock. The downside of Sow Hill is that when you take people on farm tours now they are often unable to see the pigs at all as they are busily going about their business in the long grass. Our boar paddock was finished and Maguire came out of Sow Hill for a bit of a break to let Dennis have a run with the girls. He hasn't finished sulking and has refused to get out of bed for 2 days unless to eat. The weaners moved into their large new paddock, making it 4 weaner paddocks in total, which means we can rest each one for a large portion of the year. We tested our theory of them being able to cope with electric fencing only briefly... it ended when gardening on the weekend down at the house we were joined by a group of curious pigs who had shorted out the fence and decided to go visiting. More fencing followed.


After sitting on her eggs for a record 40 days the above hen, to her relief and ours, hatched out these 2 little ducklings. James was obviously thrilled and commented "I'm so glad we have yet another species with identity issues" however the hen is scarily protective of them and although they may drown at the first sight of water they are having a lovely time being duckens.


Luke and Leiha (don't know how to spell it) moved down to the adult sheep paddock with Bruce and Barry our 2 cross-bred lambs. I didn't really want to give them names as they are meant to add to our self sufficient meat supply when old enough, however on the ute journey down we bonded a little and they clearly needed an identity. They are huge compared to the little Wiltshires however everyone is happily bleating away and enjoying the spring grass.


The kids finished up the school term and go into the last one in a couple of weeks. I took the photo of them in their pre school 'uniform' because it is just hitting me that Felix will soon be going to 'big school' and I wanted to commemerate the moment. I had his parent teacher interview recently, which was all good - although I will just repeat a little paragraph for his embarassment when he is older:


"Felix gets along well with other children in his class and has a particularly good friendship with Alex, Lachlan, Lachlan, Maree and Isabella, with whom he enjoys playing pretend games. Felix often plays the role of the family pet, with Isabella leading him about the playground and teaching him tricks"


Cassie the farm cat who just isn't continues to rule the roost - she will now sleep on a cushion in front of the fire, when not in Emily's bed and enjoys a leisurely stroll to visit the ferret each morning.

Friday, September 5, 2008

Friday, August 29, 2008

Spring has sprung early..




Well, technically we still have another week to go but babies are everywhere here at the moment. Luke bonded pretty well to Chloe our little goat kid, but it isn't the same as having a sheepy friend. I knew another local Wiltshire breeder and asked her to keep me any poddy lambs that became available. Low behold she had a little ewe-lamb that she was ready to get rid of. She has been christened Princess Leia (god knows how that is spelt all you star wars fans) by Emily with pretty heavy persuasion by Felix. We have the pair now...Luke and Leia - Luke is very pleased with her, they sleep cuddled up and quickly became inseparable.
Meanwhile Dora was looking bigger and bigger and I was convinced she was carrying triplets, however she very calmly delivered the above enormous twins yesterday and is her usual lovely self. It is nice to have a calm and friendly mum who is happy for me and the (human) kids to come and stroke the babies and she hasn't forgotten the milking routine as she is so full of milk
I have had to take some off her so the babies can actually latch on. They are both boys which means that theoretically they will end up in the freezer... Maggie is starting to sway and waddle and I am crossing my fingers for a girl from her. Leanne our teenage pig mum (disgraceful behaviour has been going on in the weaner paddock) after all our worry over her had 11 piglets that are very small but seem to be doing okay, and much to our surprise one of the other young Berkshires who was in with Dennis has also farrowed with 3 piglets. Not surprisingly Dennis has been very disgruntled as he hasn't had a chance to show us what he can do yet - I am pretty sure that the piglets are the work of Dale the ginger handraised piglet - his act of revenge for us sending him off for bacon.
Angelina has started laying her lovely blue eggs and Brad is quite taken with her (following their namesakes). They strut around the yard together (again, like their namesakes) and Brad still takes any opportunity to jump on the big hens when they least expect it. Sonny (son of Brad) is indeed a rooster, as he showed me today by attempting his first strangled crow. Despite being soft hearted and keeping everything I can I think he is going to have to go. I will leave it to James to carry out the deed, however I think all he will do is provide a meal for Jessie.
We are in the middle of a market break, with this weekend being a 5 week month (markets only on the first 4) and we are moving things around a little which gives us 2 weeks off. Fencing is underway as is the redoing of the stockyards with concrete runs after James attempted vaccinating the sows the other week and they lifted up the entire metal run and just threw it aside and calmly walked out of them with a glint in their eye.

Felix turns Five..
























I can hardly believe it, however I can also hardly forget it as I am sitting in the middle of face-painting instructions, a 'how to make balloon animals' kit and am paper-machaeing (spelling?) a pinyata pig in readiness for the birthday party this Sunday. This year Felix has very specific instructions as to how he wanted his birthday to pan out. Despite my best efforts to have a party at the local McDonalds/indoor play area/park I was shot down very quickly as he told me he had discussed it at length with his friends and it was to be at home. He then outlined the general run through of the day and showed me a picture of a Harry Potter castle cake that he had decided on. Make sure you keep checking to see how that little beauty turns out (based on my previous efforts I think you can probably guess it may look more like a Harry Potter cave but lets wait and see).

Anyway, after a week of 'how many more sleeps' questions and 5 late night toilet trips during the night the big day dawned. At 6.30 the house was woken up and great excitement followed. Emily as you can see received a hoop and a fairy costume as let's face it, sibling birthdays can be hard. She coped pretty well and enjoyed the fact that when Felix went to pre-school that day she could play with all his toys without him knowing. He had cakes at school and then we organised to take him to a local Thai restaurant (his choice) with his friend Sam for dinner. He was amazed that they brought a cake out at the end and played Happy Birthday over the speakers - 'how on earth did they know it was my birthday?'. The night before James and I went to the orientation day at the local primary, Mudgee Public. Between that and his birthday the next day I spent the day in dark glasses in case as every time I thought of him being five I got quite stupidly emotional.

Friday, August 8, 2008

A lamb by any other name



















As I type this our newest addition to the farm, the above lamb, is sleeping peacefully on the verandah. He has chosen to lie about 1/2 a metre away from Woody who is eyeing him with the tenancity that only a young sheepdog can muster. It seems that Woody is convinced that it is only his unblinking stare that is keeping the lamb in his place, where is the lamb is completely at ease and totally oblivious to the whole process. Woody seems put out. Anyway, we have been busy as usual and freezing cold at the same time. Although we have had some welcome rain, the days are mostly clear skied with a good frost each morning. Last week after getting back from Dubbo we got a call to say that an orphaned lamb was looking for a home... our merino girls need a meat ram and I have always been taken with the Wiltshire Horn sheep. We have been putting everything into the pigs for the moment so buying any of them was out of the question - however we were lucky with Luke. The naming of the lamb took place, Felix was very excited because it was a boy, he must be feeling a little emasculated with all the breeding females that we keep and wondering why none of the boys get to stay. Anyway, although little and cute we thought it was important that he had a strong and manly name for the future. We all put in our ideas but Felix stood firm. "His full name is Luke Skywalker the Jedi Knight" he told us "but you can call him Luke for short". My suggestion of Sean fell on deaf ears and so Luke it has stayed. He bleats incessently at me and is drinking with great gusto from his bottle. So far he has been to a kids party and to pre-school with Felix. He has had his tail ringed and is probably the only sheep in Australia who had this done with a local anaesthetic.

Beccie's spotty piglets have ventured out and we bought in 10 berkshire piglets to boost up numbers who have promptly joined Kimmy and Lil's litters and proved once again how complex the maternal behaviour is in pigs as they have been adopted pretty readily. This means we have to wean all over again but at least everyone is settled and happy.

We have had a flurry of interest in the farm recently, an article in a Sydney newspaper (Manly Daily) http://www.manlydaily.com.au/article/2008/08/01/11372_news_feature.html will hopefully boost Sydney sales. Also in the media have been the latest campaign by Animals Australia to stop sow stalls (which have been illegal in the UK for a long time) http://www.animalsaustralia.org/lucy_speaks/. Lots of orders are coming in and the upshot of it all is that our numbers are starting to look small. It is all good but with lots of our income tied up in hams waiting for Christmas and demand that is getting hard to meet we are up against it a bit. We both want to stay loyal to the farmers market customers and always make sure that we have meat to sell at the markets, but on the other hand wholesale sales will always be vitally important to keeping us running. James has been fencing the next phase over the last week and we will be changing markets around to give us 2 weeks off sending any pigs off at the end of the month. It is hard to believe that it is almost one year since the first pigs came on to the property. Bacon and ham is still our next hurdle.

James' shooting abilities are improving - he managed to bring home a hare this week. It was then cleaned, cooked very slowly and turned into a sort of rilette or terrine (above) with some pork belly and eaten on crusty bread. I was initially dubious however admit it was delicious, I was surprised at how dark the meat was but it wasn't as gamey as I was expecting.

Orange markets tomorrow in the (forecast) snow, and poor James will then get back and head straight to Sydney for the Balmoral Mudgee Food Festival. We are selling our pork and porcini sausages in a roll on Balmoral Beach. I am staying home to look after the pigs...it's a good excuse.

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Winters latest..



It has been a disappointing month for piglets really. With Kimmy and Lillian only having 4 and Andrea having 6 (of which two died of some kind of infection - unfortunately despite all our best efforts Aiden came through the operation well but even the handknitted jumper didn't help once he got sick). All hopes were on Beccie who copes with life with with a very sweet and laid back way. She was absolutely huge but decided to farrow outside while we were away - this wouldnt have been a problem but 3 of her littlies decided to wander off at 1 day old, and another 2 died the next day. This leaves her with 7 strapping little piglets. She moved them inside and James built a doorway on her hut, she repaid him by chasing him down and scaring the *&^% out of him. With numbers low we have bought in 11 six week old weaners from a Berkshire breeder not far from us. Little Leanne looks as though she is having her first litter, although we are not sure if the father is Maguire or if one of the males in the weaner paddock got in there first. The next lot of fencing has been planned which will mean we have 4 large weaner fields, a boar paddock, a nursery paddock and we can winter the sows in the large field at the front, but bring them into the woods for the summer shade. Winter has meant that we have planted our asparagus crowns, mandarin trees and raspberries. We said goodbye to Joker who went back to his owners, much to the disappointment of the kids (and me) so I guess we are on the lookout now for a pony, maybe a bit bigger so that I can ride it as well.
Emi's cat, re-named Cassie (her choice) outdid herself by catching her first mouse at her young and tender age. The other day as I walked into the toilet one ran out and disappeared into the kids room. It think it is safe to say that rather than coming from the shed we obviously have a family of them living happily somewhere in the house. Coco has become very adept at catching them so we brought her inside and told her to 'find' the mice. She became very busy and excited and looked to be doing the job...but came back with a tennis ball. I have started shaking my shoes out before putting them on and the cats are keeping busy at night hopefully getting rid of them. There are rabbits everywhere, which is kind of scary for mid winter...can't imagine what spring will be like. James still strides around taking pot shots of an evening but it seems the rabbits are pretty safe. At the recent Small Farm Field Days Show we found someone with a company called 'Bunny Blasters' which looks to be an effective and humane way of quickly destroying warrens and what is in them. It may come to it as there are scrapings and holes all over the place. Jessie is still yet to have an outing and just grows fatter and happier in her cage.
On the animal front Dora is so round she looks as though she is going to pop, however still has 6 weeks to go I am looking forward to seeing how a goat manages to waddle...Maggie also seems to be looking pregnant, however goats are notorious for being difficult to predict so we will have to wait until September and keep guessing. We have a new Gander, named Snowy... two of our other geese have gone to my friend Susie and as with most things here have missed out on being Christmas in July dinner. They have a very plaintiff 'honk' and I don't think either James or I could face it. Snowy is getting bullied by the drake who obviously has little man syndrome and picks on him terribly. He seems to be a gentle giant. Lastly I went to shut the chooks in last night and Wendy and Son of Brad (I'm sure it is a rooster) were roosting in the main chook house - he was sitting up next to his Mum looking very proud of himself, it was quite cute.

The chickens stay free range...



Part of my plan with the 'big' vegie garden at the back (next to the orchard) was to run it in a permaculture system. This would mean rotating each garden bed and using the chooks to clean up the old vegies and fertilise the area at the same time, ready for replanting. According to the book this required me to use a chook dome which James obligingly agreed to build for us. The idea is that the dome goes over the bed, and the chickens live safely in there protected from foxes and the like, while the other garden beds are in turn protected from them until we are ready to move them on. All the theory seemed sound. It even had instructions on how to build a chook dome using only piping and bailing twine with some wire over the top. A morning's work in fact. On the right is what it was meant to look like - on the left is what it looked like before the bailing twine 'cross braces' were put on. There was a lot of swearing from James about 'bloody hippies' not knowing how to build anything...let alone write instructions. Once done we all stood back to survey the structure and unanimously agreed that it looked awful. It is still sitting sadly in the front garden to be disassembled. A sturdy wooden one with shiny handles and wheels on the bottom will probably follow.

Friday, July 11, 2008

Pig Medicine






















Well, nobody can accuse us of not offering our porcine charges the very best of care. This little guy was born with a testicular hernia which made him walk as though he was one of our kids wearing an overly large nappy. We have had a few with umbilical hernias that haven't seemed to have caused much of a problem but this one didn't look too good. James made some noises about getting rid of him early on..but just like the bottle reared earlier piglets, we thought we should give him a good shot at life (which is odd considering we are going to cut it short at 6 months... I am not sure why it makes me feel better but it does..perhaps I just don't like waste?). Anyway, a book published in 1958 called Swine Medicine held the answers that James was looking for and so he was loaded into the cat carrier this morning, crapped extensively through it all over the ute and arrived at the vet clinic shortly after. I went in to take some photos and show the kids and brought him home so the clinic staff didn't pass out at the smell (it is an indication of how bad it actually was that it made even the clinic smell bad). He recovered very quickly and is now up with his Mum. The suture material may mean he is unable to join the human food chain, however I have a back up plan at the local high school with the agriculture class.