Poultry everywhere!

The June long weekend saw the National Poultry Show being held in Canberra.  A once in every four year event, over 5 thousand birds were on exhibition over three days. What a great opportunity it was to meet with breeders, to see quality birds and to go shopping!  Lots of free food samples and lots of great things to buy and I did come home with my fair share of new supplies (drinkers, chick feeders, leg rings etc etc).I had arranged for a pair of Bantam Salmon Faverolles from a breeder in Victoria and took delivery of these on the first day.  They will hopefully help a lot in my breeding program by improving on a few areas in particular for me. I also arranged to buy a lovely silve quail Belgian d'Uccle pullet who was entered in the show.  I love this colour and am so pleased to get some!  I have a thing for white animals with 'colour highlights' it seems.  There was also an auction held on the final day which was a great opportunity to buy birds, though some of the prices being paid were quite amazing. Some individual birds sold for around $700! I had my eye on a sweet little mille fleur d'Uccle pullet, but her final price of $200 was too rich for me. I did however, come away with a lovely black d'Uccle hen and a silver quail d'Uccle pair so I was happy.

So now I seem to have chooks coming out my ears! I have just sold the last of my 'non-keepers' from last seasons breeding, but still I seem to be needing more pens to house all the breeding pairs and trios.  At the moment we have housed them temporarily in dogs runs and pens.  All very comfortable, but they need pens of their own (I want my dog runs back!) so we are madly in construction mode at the moment.  Things have been made easier too by the gift of some old rabbit cages from a friend.  A good clean up and a coat of paint and it has taken on a new life as training/quarantine/broody hen/night cages. By breeding season we should be well set up and ready for the influx of new chicks!

Holidays mean more time for work!

The Easter holiday weekend has been and gone now.  So many people have I am sure enjoyed their break, heading off to the coast or camping with the family or enjoying other holiday pursuits. While it is definitely great to take time out occasionally, holidays on the farm generally mean grabbing the opportunity for a few days of solid work.  There are always things that need to be done and even visitors are roped into help. We are building some new chicken pens at the moment to keep our breeding groups and grower flocks better separated. The job for the Easter weekend was to dig holes and put in posts for the fences. Hiring a post hole digger helped a lot, though much of the ground is hard clay and rock so even it had a bit of a problem in some spots. Nice to kick back after a hard days work though with good company and a lovely meal of home grown roast lamb.

Bring on the dawn

Life is never dull on the farm and the cycle of the seasons always brings something new.  Nights are not always so peaceful at the moment. Foxes are out and about and are making a racket as they establish their territories prior to the breeding season.  Listen to the sound they make. As a result, the dogs have been on high alert and have been patrolling and barking their warnings off and on all night.  Early this morning was the most busy and I heard at least three different foxes calling to each other (there are probably more). With disturbed sleep (admittedly also partly due to my other half's snoring!) I was up and about well before dawn. Something that is not that uncommon here throughout the year really, but it was Sunday and I had hoped for a little sleep in for once. Being up early though has its benefits, and I was able to watch and enjoy a wonderful sunrise.  I took a picture so you could enjoy it with me. Of course that old weather lore rhyme is brought to mind: 'Red sky in morning, shepherd's warning. Red sky at night, shepherd's delight'. As the rhyme predicted, it is windy and raining now.

Support your local show

On of those great institutions which so reflect Australian country life is the local agricultrural show. Growing up in Queensland I have vivid memories of my Grandfather working on the fruit displays at the 'aggie' shows, including at the Ekka in Brisbane. All the fruit and vegetable growing associations in those days would build these marvellous themed displays, building pictures with their fruit and vegetables. I also remember my mother entering in the cooking competitions with her wonderful cakes.

As a teenager I rode and showed horses at shows, and enjoyed the fun with friends and competition at the small agrigultrual shows and the excitement of the big events - the 'Royal' shows (which are big agricultural shows held in the cities which 'bring the country to the city').

Now I show dogs so I still get to go along to a lot of aggie shows, run in towns all over the state. Something I thoroughly enjoy.  There is nothing like the fun and festivity of a local show and I still feel the excitement going to the big 'Royals'.

While horse and dog events often predominate, there are often lots of other things to see and do and to take part in. Of course there are the sideshow alley rides, fairy floss and dagwood dogs, but also the vegetable and baking competitions, art competitions, crafts and other animal competitions and displays. Everyone in the family can have a go at competing in something.

It would be a shame to see these wonderful events die. Already they are changing and many small shows struggle.  During the Equine Influenza outbreak where for several years horse could not travel or be shown, many small shows suffered a lot, and some will take many more years to recover. 

I like to do my part by entering and supporting them and we always have a good time.  I would encourage everyone to have a go. Seek out some local shows near you, find out what events they are having, and put in an entry or two. Keep the country crafts and traditions alive. At the very least go along. I am positive you will have a great day out. See http://www.agshowsnsw.org.au/ for information on agricultural shows in NSW. Google for info in other states.

Eating what we grow

One of the things I really enjoy is being able to eat the things we grow.  When it comes to vegetables, there is nothing better than eating what you have picked that day.  This year the vegetable garden has been a challenge as we have had unusually cool weather all summer.  Things haven't grown quite the way they usually do.  We have still managed to feed ourselves reasonably well from our own garden, but I am finding we have not so much surplus this year.  This mornings haul from the garden doesn't look too bad though so I decided to take a picture for you. We have scarlet runner beans, roma tomatoes, zucchini, button squash, carrots, capsicums and parsnips. Strangely enough this year has actually been the first year I have been really successful with capsicums.

Lambs growing up

The lambs have now all been weaned.  They are growing fast and with the abundant feed we have at the moment are doing well.  I am pleased too that the ewes didn't lose condition at all this year despite leaving the lambs on them until 5 months of age. We are supplementing the lambs with some sheep pellets each day, mainly so they get used to us after being out in the big paddock with their dams.  I like the sheep to be able to come when called for a bucket.  Makes them so much easier to put in the yards when we need to if they will go in willingly themselves. They are shedding their first coats now too, though they don't always lose it all the first year. Photo is of the Wiltipoll lambs today. A big change from the tiny babies they were when they were born in September!

Merry Christmas to all

Such a crazy time of year as everyone prepares for Christmas Day and the holidays.  I was shopping in town yesterday doing some final preparations and thanking the heavens I didn't have much to do.  We are staying home this year so things will be quieter than usual, but I think we will enjoy the break and the time to simply take stock and prepare for the new year.  This break I want to take the time to breathe, stop for a minute, look over what we have achieved, and look forward towards what we will do in the new year. I have so many plans for the next year and it should be exciting time if I achieve even close to the things I want to in that time. I am looking forward to sharing our progress here with you.

While I plan to take some time out, I also seem to have a list a mile long of things I want to get done!  There are garden beds to be weeded, a shed to clean out, new chicken pens to build. The chicken pens are my Christmas present! Call me crazy, but frankly that pleases me more than gifts of perfume, jewellery or other things that you use once or twice and put in a cupboard. After a long cold spell here (when will summer start?), the vegetable gardens are finally starting to make progress so there will hopefully be plenty of picking and some more planting to do as well. There is no excuse for boredom here.

Christmas day will be fairly simple for us this year, but will basically follow our usual format for a Christmas lunch.  Local ham, roast turkey and chicken, home made potato and green salads and Christmas pudding made using my mother's recipe. We eat lots of fresh fruit at Christmas time too.  Cherries, peaches and apricots which make the kitchen smell beautiful.  It is hard not to pick one up to eat everytime we walk through! A boxing day brunch of 'eggs benedict' with our own eggs, spinach from the garden and leftover ham with thick crusty home made bread carries us through. I am salivating just thinking about it.

So to everyone this holiday period, wishing you all the best for the season, however you celebrate it and reminding you to take the time in amongst all the craziness to breath and enjoy the simple things. I leave you with one of my favourite Australian carols which I hope you enjoy.

Tag, you're it!

Today is a big day for the poddy lambs. Today they are getting their ear tags, having their tails banded and are being vaccinated. The older Wiltipoll lambs were done weeks ago, but as these little ones are younger, they are getting done now. At three weeks of age they are growing strongly and putting on lots of weight.  These two are out of the lamb pen during the day now, learning how to graze in the orchard and having a fun time running, exploring, and chasing the chooks around the yard.

We tag the sheep on the ear to identify them so we can keep track of individuals and bloodlines.  It is also now a requirement that all sheep be identified and traced in accordance with the National Livestock Identification System (NLIS) .  Each property must have its own Property Identification Code (PIC).  Amazing how much paperwork and red tape there is to comply with these days, even for a small farm. On our tags we have our PIC, plus a number to identify the individual sheep.  Each years lambs get a different colour tag. This year they are green.

Preparing for a rainy day

We have been a bit slack lately and have let our supplies get a little low. Maybe not low by some peoples standards - we could probably live a few weeks on what we have here with a little creativity and a lot of monotony - but it is not as organised as I would like it to be. So, at the moment I am working on restocking and making sure we have a reasonable amount in reserve for that proverbial or literal rainy day.

Last year during all the floods I was reminded how important stockpiles can be.  We are in a good position here on a hill so our biggest problem is being cut off rather than washed away. As we have quite a few low creek crossings on the road to our place though, that can happen fairly quickly, so it pays to make sure we have enough supplies here to last should we need them.  Last year we were cut off for a while and in reality it didn't really affect us much - apart from having to stay home - as we had what we needed right here.  I must admit to being aghast, however, when the radio reported that food drops were being arranged for people living in a rural 'lifestyle block' area a bit closer to the city as their properties had been cut off from town and they were desperate for supplies .... after only two days!  Are some people really that unprepared and undersupplied?  Particularly those that live out of town?  How long could you last on your supplies?

Other events have reinforced my belief that being prepared is practical.  The eathquakes in New Zealand and the experiences of friends and family there brought the need to be prepared for the 'unexpected' back home to me. I was reminded of that again this week by a friend in the US who has lived for over a week without power and running water and limited road access after major storms. Remember that no power may also mean no ATM access and no money to buy things - if you can get anywhere to buy it in the first place. So, we are stocking up again so that a shorter term emergency at least doesn't become more stressful that it needs to be.

There are lots of tips on the net about how to stockpile.  One of my favourite forums Aussies Living Simply discusses this quite frequently and there is lots of great advice there on how to go about it.  The bare basics though are really a decent safe water supply and a decent food supply.  For us water is not such a major issue.  We rely on tanks so have a ready supply right here.  I do keep a supply of water in bottles and containers in our pantry too though. Food wise I have been trying to keep a supply of drygoods.  Flour, rice, pasta, salt, milk powder, dried beans & peas and so on.  Then there is a supply of canned and bottled goods. Canned goods that can be eaten cold in an emergency or used with things like rice to bulk them out. Oil and vinegar and canned vegetables like tomatoes and corn and such.  Surplus from the garden that has been preserved.  I really need to do more of this, but we have a few things. One of my aims this year is to grow enough to put away as well as eat fresh. Our wood heater has an oven and stovetop, and we have a gas BBQ and portable camping stove, so we can boil water and cook.

Our garden, chooks and other livestock also provide us with supplies too and should help in a longer term situation as well as the short term. The more self sufficient we are the less we have to worry that we can't run down to the shops because the road is cut or there is no fuel or power or the supermarket will be closed for the day...or longer.  I just don't want to be like those people who need foods drops just because they can't go shopping on a rainy day.

The Tyranny of Distance

There are lots of benefits to living in the country, and I wouldn't change that for the world. One of the things we have to deal with though is the fact that to get anywhere takes a bit of time. As we don't earn what you could call an income from the farm, working somewhere else is a must. For me that means an hour drive each way to get to work and the expense of petrol and a car to get me there. Unlike 'cityfolk' we don't have the option of a bus or train or riding a bike to work so a car it has to be. And those petrol bills can really add up! I am lucky as my job allows me to work from home a couple of days per week. A big plus for me as I love being able to stay at home and work in my office here. It does reduce the petrol costs a bit and gives me that travel time back. For the other three days a week though, and whenever we need to do something on the weekend, I need to hit the roads.

I have been debating car types lately. Trying to find the best car to do the jobs we need it to do has been daunting. A ute would be a bonus around the farm - we need a vehicle that can tow stuff and carry stuff and does ok bumping through the paddocks. To drive into town a small economical car would be better to reduce the fuel bill. To cart my dogs around to shows and other events I would love a van. You can't fit too many Pyreneans plus gear in a normal car! But having three different cars is impractical so at the moment I muddle on with the old 4WD which does none of the jobs perfectly, but at least it does them all.

I will say that driving in the country is much more pleasant than through city streets. I do enjoy the 'break'. A lot less vehicles to deal with and no traffic lights. On the other hand, defensive driving is as much a necessity out here too as while the human traffic may be less we have traffic of a different kind. Depending on the time of day I regularly see kangaroos, wallabies, echidna, wombats, possums, turtles, foxes, rabbits, snakes, lizards, owls (who like to hunt from the road at night) and all manner of other bird life who like to swoop in front of the car or sit on the road. I have even had a wedge tailed eagle swoop down in front of the car as I was driving along our road. It gave me quite a fright I must say. And then there are the neighbours goats, but we wont go there. Some days it can be quite a slalom course trying to avoid all the animals and you really do need to keep your mind on the job. While the distance has its problems though I wouldn't change living here for quids. There are too many positives to living away from the shops and chaos and close living of the city. We love our space too much. So for now we continue the commute and enjoy the scenery as we drive.