I Forgot and I Remembered !

 

I forgot that I have 4 Dexter cows and 3Dexter calves in the top paddock, silly me. I do go and see them regularly and give them extra hay as the paddocks are suffering with the long hot days we have been having. Our little farms is doing pretty well as for being self sufficient, I have two bull calves and one will be for the freezer.

 

 

I remembered after pulling these beauties out that I planted garlic a few years ago at least I think I did. I haven't really worked my garden since our house burnt down so anything is possible.

 

 

 

I've found that I have more time to do a lot more now and one of those things is making sour dough bread. Facebook has opened lots of opportunities for me and I have made lots of new friends in my area and one of them offered to show a group of us how to make sour dough bread and gave us some starter to start off with. The taste is amazing and the process is really easy and works in well when ever I want to make a loaf, plus have you seen the price of sour dough bread its something like $5. My other quest to make fermented drinks, but I need to do some more research into that.

 

 

I bought this ten tray dehydrator from one of my facebook groups for $40, bargain don't you think. So I've been busy drying herbs, I'm going to make herb butters and salts as well.

 I love spending my time doing these simple things and what's even better is I can pass these things onto my girls and get them involved in being self sufficient and tasting the difference between home grown and made to processed shop bought items. They have children as well and they are wanting to provide the best for them so they are choosing the healthier options.

My corn crop is going well and Rosie loves being with me as I work in the garden. I'm quiet please in how the garden is going, I did have high expectations at the beginning of the season and I did face a few problems but I am now picking the fruits of my labour.

 This is my bean teepee made from tree branches. My first planting of beans was a disaster, I think the seeds were eaten  before they could get out of the ground. Some did surfaced but were either killed off by the frost or were eaten just as they were about to take off. There is just over 7 weeks of summer left maybe the growing season will be a bit longer with this hot weather at the moment, lets hope so.

Trying to be productive and make a living!

 It is good to be back online, life on the farm has been busy. With the weather warming up shearing has been my top priority but with only about 25 sheep to shear it has been difficult getting a shearer out here. It was actually facebook that helped me get in contact with a shearer that was able to come and shear my sheep, so after a full on day with shearing, drenching and marking lambs it was satisfying to have this job over and done with.

 

 

We are only a hobby farm but it still takes time to tend to everyone on the farm, todate I have 24 sheep, 23 lambs, 1 ram, 14 dairy and bore goats, 15 kids, 9 chickens, 2 cats, 4 dogs, 3 guinea pigs and I think that's about it.

 

 

With not working anymore I am now a full time farmer and my aim is to make this little farm to be as self sufficient as possible so the wool from the sheep will be taken to a wool buyer in town and this will pay for the shearing. I only have cross bred sheep so the wool is not of a high quality but it still brings in an income.

 

My goats are also bringing in an income, I sell my goats milk to people who are bottle feeding puppies, lambs or one lady I sell to she has miniature donkeys, they say goats milk is the best for humans and animals. I also sell off my baby boys, the wethers, as I have no need for them, my girls I plan to keep until they are old enough to be put into kid and be able to be milked, then I will sell them off as dairy goats. This is the plan at the moment so I'm hoping this will turn into a viable business.

 

Beautiful spring days!

I'm determined to get my vegetable patch up and running this year, after our house burnt down a lot of things have been neglected and the veggie patch has been one of them. We just had 70mm of rain and the ground is just right to turn it over and remove the thick grass and roots from the ground. My lovely hubby has erected a fence and gate for me to keep the dogs and goats out.

 

The rain has made my work a lot easier pulling these grass roots out. My leeks are still going strong, I usually cut my leeks just below the ground so that they will reproduce next season.

 

These are my raised beds, I still have a lot of work ahead of me to get them ready for planting. My hubby said he'll make a couple of trellises for my beans and other vines. I'm going to try and grow everything possible because I'm wanting to have enough to feed ourselves, children and grandchildren as well as bottling, preserving and maybe sell, barter and give to others in need. We have been having beautiful springs days and they have been getting longer, daylight savings is just around the corner.

 

The paddocks are alive with babies!

The paddocks are alive with babies, at the moment all my goats have kidded except one which gives me 16 kids. The sheep have done pretty well also but I will have to wait till I get them all in for shearing before I can do a tally.

 

I was so excited when this little black beauty was born, the father was a British Alpine. With having all white Saanens it was a nice change.

 

 We just had 70mm of rain after nearly 30 dry days it was a breath of fresh air and the paddocks are starting to show the green. I had to start thinking seriously about my herd of goats, I've decided to give away two of my wethers which I have  had from the beginning but I know they are going to a good home. At present I have 17 goats and 14 kids plus that sheep below which has been with the angoras since it was a week old.

I have sold one of the angoras and started advertising the little wethers. I am now milking six goats and the milk I pasteurize and feed to the babies so life is a little hectic. With having so many goats one of the problems we are having is a few of them are jumping fences and getting out, you'd think with 88 acres to roam they would be happy but no apparently the grass outside the front gate is the best. So now we are setting up electric fencing.

Oh what a pampering!

Well its that time of year again, another year wiser but oh boy do I feel pampered. My darling children gave me a day of pampering which included eyelash tints, eyebrow wax & tinted, massaged, facial, pedicure, manicure and a cut & colour it was sure a day to remember.

 

On the Farm

I love these frosty early mornings when I get up to feed the animals they all give me their own little personal greeting noises. Our little hobby farm has grown, to date we have 37 sheep, 2 horses, 16 goats, 4 cows,2 rosters, 6 chickens, 2 cats and 4 dogs and with spring around the corner we are going to have baby fever.

 

 

 

Last season wasn't very productive in the veggie patch well it really hasn't been since the house burnt down but with the family rapidly growing and with friends and family coming up to stay for days on end I need it to be booming.                                  

Hubby cut up the old water tanks from the house for me and I've filled them with compost, manures and mulch from the paddocks. If you look to the far left in the picture that metal frame is going to be my green house, I'm thinking big here now I want this garden to give me the variety, quantity, quality and more. I'm not very experienced at gardening so I'm searching the net and reading up as much as I can to make this happen.

More lovely rain!

Another day of rain and cold winds but we all achieved something during the day, I fed and check all the livestock and pulled down the wire on the old chicken pen so the little goats had another place to shelter in out of the rain. My son in-law to be went and did some fencing for me, I have sheep that have been getting out and into my neighbours property as well as feral pigs coming through so that fence needed fixing. The feral pigs have been making a mess in my paddocks and they have been getting closer and closer to the house. I've chatted with my neighbour a few times about the pigs as they have been on his property as well, he said he we will put out a large trap with some sweet corn and try and catch some.

My daughter was in a cooking mood and made bread and cooked  corned beef for dinner. My hubby spent most of the day in bed as he has been sick but spent a few hours sanding back gyprock in the new lounge room him and son in-law have been building.

For mothers day my hubby and family gave me some great books, today I was reading "The good life" by Sarah O'Neil if you haven't heard of it, google it, it is a great read. I've taken in some great ideas and inspiration one being a herb tea garden I don't know about you but I could taste those fragrant teas in my mouth already. I'll have to take photos of my raised beds tomorrow for my blog but I think I'll make one of those beds just for the tea pot.