Visiting Allsun

There was no sun yesterday, and plenty of rain off and on. Great for the paddocks and gardens but not so great for a visit to the Allsun Farms Organic Fair. Still, gardeners and growers aren't going to be put off by a bit of rain! The tour of the commercial garden was in full swing when I arrived so I joined in for a wander around to learn how they do things. I visited Allsun last year for their open garden too and it was interesting to see what had changed. Lots of stalls to browse and buy at this year which was great and fresh locally grown produce to eat for lunch, including some grown on the property. After eyeing them off for a few years I bought some new tools for the garden from the Gundaroo Tiller. They got a workout in our own gardens thismorning and I must say I love them! They will make life so much easier. It was interesting to hear stressed throughout the day that there is a big need for more growers around Canberra and the surrounding region and that there is plenty of market there for more people to take advantage of. A group called Growing the Growers has been formed to encourage more people into the food production side of farming.

Meet the dogs

Time to introduce the dogs, which are my love and passion. I am sure you will get to read a lot more about them in the future, but for now a bit of an introduction. I have Pyrenean Mountain Dogs. A breed of livestock guardian dog from the Pyrenees Mountains in France. My dogs are pets, show dogs, and also family farm dogs. They protect the house yard and orchard and all who are in it, including lambs and chickens, from predators like foxes. Luckily we don't have too much in the way of predators here compared to some places in the world. Pyrs are bred to protect stock from wolves and bears and do that very well. The dogs warn the predators that they are on duty by barking. It can be a problem in suburbia, but here I love listening to their deep bark as it echoes down our valley. I know the foxes will be going elsewhere for their dinner. All our neighbours bait with 1080 to protect their flocks. I hate the stuff (as horrible and indiscriminate as it is) and refuse to have anything to do with it. We actually have no need for it here with the dogs though. I have a separate website for the dogs - under our kennel name which is Espinay.

Like a mother hen

Eggs went in the incubator last night.  Like a mother hen I am checking all the time to make sure they are ok and not getting too hot or cold.  These are from our flock of Bantam Salmon Faverolles. I love this breed of chicken. Small enough to manage easily and economically, but still big enough to make a decent utility bird for both meat and eggs, quiet, good winter layers so we have eggs all year and pretty with their beard and muff, leg feathers and extra toes.  Fingers crossed for some nice little peeps in 21 days!

Spring, so lets begin

Well, it is spring here at Burrow Downs, though with the cold winds and overcast skies here today you wouldn't really know it. Still spring means new beginnings so it is as good a time as any to start a blog. While it is cold, there are lots of new beginnings here at Burrow Downs at the moment. After a slow cold winter the vegetable and herb gardens and beginning to look green and inviting again and we have new lambs in the paddocks. Also two newborn crossbred poddy lambs given to us after they were born at the abbatoir when their mothers were sent to slaughter. Once grown, Flopsy and Sox as they have been nicknamed will be joining our flock to breed lambs for our freezer. With the cold here they are wearing jackets at night to keep them warm in the lamb pen.