Well, this time last year I believe I sat down to write my first blog posting. The opportunity to sit down at the computer during December became increasingly difficult as I ran about in a constant state of near hyperventilation and general anxiety....this was followed by many nights of inebriation and days of dark glasses. If memory serves let me give you a recap:
The great ham countdown:
Happily this went off without a hitch - we sold every one and the response in Mudgee was brilliant with most of them going in the local area. The hams were really fantastic (we got through one on Christmas Day and one on New Years Eve - the dogs are enjoying the ham bones as I couldn't face any more pea and ham soup). All the feedback has been excellent and we have been getting requests for Easter Hams already.
Christmas:
What can I say about Christmas, we had overly excited children (okay and adults) and lots of food - although my turkey hunt proved fruitless so I am going to have to start early this year. My aim for next Christmas is to have all Ormiston produce (I'm just getting to Vanessa's vegie patch extravaganza) if possible. Even though leaving the farm makes going away difficult we had lots of lovely people staying and actually felt like we had a holiday at the end of it.
The Farm:
Chickens: how do chickens manage to populate this planet? This has been one of the questions I mutter to myself when going about my daily business. Between drowning ducklings (see what happens when I allow the ducks to hatch their own), cannibalistic chickens, chick eating meat ants (don't ask) and god knows what else I thought I had seen it all. I have christened Vanessa the chicken whisperer as even the most stroppy of hens seems to become limp and maternal when she sticks her hand underneath it. This is a job that I simply refuse to do and even James has a special long pair of leather gloves to avoid the vicious beaks and flapping wings. I thought we had sorted everything out this weekend. However when I went to the chicken house this morning my egg eating hen is so fascinated when her babies are hatching out that she eats any yolky bits she can see and then pulls the chicks out of the eggs, which causes them to lose their insides. It is disgusting and I feel a little ill sharing this with you. Sadly for her chicken stew is apparently on the menu this week to stop the rest of the f learning from her habit.
Pigs: Why did I call a pig Britney? It was bound to cause problems - we all knew it. Surely enough she had all her babies outside and was more concerned with fighting all and sundry to steal food than looking after the little guys. I ended up trying to save one that didn't make it. She clearly wants to put them on formula and stop all this breast feeding business as she has very small teats and even smaller babies - they may be small but they are all little survivors though - they have to be. They are in with two other litters from Kimmy and Lil who are younger but bigger than they are. Dennis' babies seem to grow really well and our new Saddleback Winnie looks like she is getting due to farrow.
Goats: Dora needs half a bale of hay to keep up with my milking demands and her giant kids... Mickey the foal spends much of his day rounding them up and attempting to mount them. I don't think the running around helps her energy expenditure much either.
Sheep: They are now in the big paddock with the goats - they were extremely upset about this to start and spent a day bleating and looking with awe at the dam as they have only had a trough up until now. Luke still remembered his Mum and came running up to me with a slightly confused expression on his face when I called. After a cuddle he clearly didn't want his 'ram cred' blemished and ran off with his girlfriends again.
Horses: Ruth has a belly on her that could easily house another foal. Mickey can now walk on a halter, have his feet picked out and have a bath. I am completely taken with him and he runs up to me neighing when he sees me. He is going out with some other teenage horses to run about and learn some manners in a week or two. He has lost his foaly coat and is the same colour as his Mum.
The garden: although I have learnt a lot in a year (I don't dig coffin sized vegie patches anymore) in what may have been a whimsical and probably drunken discussion I outlined grand plans for the vegie patch. This involved digging it all out and putting borders around it. James and I talked about doing it in January... had it been left up to us it may have been done by
next January however Vanessa got the bit between her teeth and polished it all off
this week. This required italics because because the temperatures were between 36 - 40 degrees and there were times that I thought that maybe she might turn into a tomato. I have got into the spirit of it all by offering moral support and ordering vast amounts of seeds. I am looking forward to having a day a week to spend pottering in the garden...
This leads me nicely to the school countdown. Felix has his uniform and 2 wobbly front bottom teeth (which he tells me is excellent because he will now be very rich). Emily will be going to pre-school 3 days a week. I am trying to figure out what I will do with all the time on my hands..
