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.