Tuesday 15 May 2012

How people find the time (and energy) to write daily blogs is quite beyond me, although maybe with winter settling in with a vengeance I shall find myself indoors rather more often. After a beautifully mild autumn, we’ve had some awfully cold, wet and windy days. Working outside has been a continuous battle against the elements. Some areas are already getting soggy, such as parts of the pig pens, but elsewhere it’s not too bad as yet.

My gravel track across the tractor crossing leading up to the goat paddocks is holding up well, but the crossing itself is a mess. We’ve had some lovely autumn colours around, particularly in our fancifully named ‘arboretum’ although they are fading fast. I so prefer deciduous trees and rather dread Bronte’s gloomy pine trees coming up everywhere over the coming years. He’s still in tree-planting mode but has slowed down a little in the cold weather.

We are WWOOFer-free now, with the last two girls - Amber and Fiona - leaving mid- and end of April respectively. While they were both here, we had another magical outing to the Hartz Mountains. It was like entering a fairy-tale world as we neared the top in the car; suddenly everywhere was heavy with snow! We did one of the medium-length walks, as well as stopping at the Waratah Lookout and tramping to Arve Falls – which was much inflated from our visit just a few weeks previously. It was snowing hard as we left, by which time we were cold, tired and glad to be on our way home.

Other outings have included Envirofest at the Botanic Gardens – a bit of a disappointment really, except the gardens were clothed in the golds, reds and oranges of autumn. Bronte pinched a few sequoia nuts from just outside the gates – the seeds are tiny. Unfortunately, I don’t think we shall live long enough to see a ‘General Franklin’ on our land.

Anzac Day was great fun. It appears that there is a tradition of an Anzac Day sports day in Huonville and since Luke enjoys his Little Athletics and we thought it might be fun, we went along and entered ourselves in the various events. Rather worryingly, Bronte, Fiona and I found ourselves lumped in the ‘open’ section, which meant we’d be competing against anyone over 14 yrs old! Hence I was beaten into 4^th in the 100 metres by a 15-yr old girl who’s been breaking state records, her very fit friend and a young mum who apparently “runs a lot”. I was fairly proud of myself actually, since I’m pretty sure I was the oldest female competitor. I didn’t do nearly so well in the long jump and discus but at least I didn’t come last. I discovered in the long jump that my muscles and joints just don’t have any bounce in them anymore! Fiona did much better, coming third. Luke did better again, coming first in his age group in the 100m and the long jump, but was beaten into second place in the vortex. Bronte was a big jess and cleared off to Mitre 10 during most of the events, not competing or staying to support his team! He was shamed into competing in the Anzac mile at the end and he and Luke finished a very creditable middle of the field. I gave that one a miss!

I was taken out last Sunday for a Mothers’ Day meal. I was really very spoilt – to my surprise and pleasure. I’d asked for a meal out but hadn’t expected prezzies too. Luke got me a teddy key-ring and bath salts. Bronte bought me a huge cookbook (no reflection on my cooking I hope), a couple of fiendish puzzle books, some woolly socks for the farm and some Ninja gloves. Unfortunately they don’t imbue one with magical Ninja powers, but they are lovely and warm and waterproof for winter. We missed Agfest owing to Luke having flu’, which was where I bought a pair last year. They were my mainstays for the whole of last winter.

I greatly appreciated the meal out, since I’ve been starving myself. I decided to lose a bit of weight really quickly. So I’ve been living on tiny salads, nuts, stir-frys (fries?), thin veggie soups and skimmed milk fruit shakes – no carbo, no fat, no sugar. I’m even drinking my tea with skimmed milk and no sugar – urgh. However, the pain is bringing reward – I’ve lost 5kgs since 1 May. I plan to lose 3kg more then go back to eating normal meals, but much smaller portions – and no desserts, chocolate etc. When the WWOOFers were here I made big hearty meals and rich puddings such as treacle tart, banoffee pie, cheesecake, brownies etc (it’s making me hungry just thinking about them). I was unable to resist when they were in the house and added lashings of cream and ice cream. The ironic thing was that about a week into the diet I received a heavy parcel from Sydney which turned out to be the ‘Flat Belly Diet Book’ and the ‘Flat Belly Diet Cookbook’ – what a laugh. They were prizes from our fad earlier in the year of doing all the puzzles in ‘That’s Life!’ and other puzzle magazines. I was amazed to have won anything – but a wad of cash or a car would have been more useful!

Yesterday I went with Luke and his classmates for a walk along the Pipeline Track, from Fern Tree down to the Waterworks just outside of Hobart. It was a lovely walk along part of the route of the old water supply pipe for Hobart, installation of which was begun in 1861. It’s redundant now but the infrastructure including a stone aquaduct and sluice house, still appears to be in good condition. The girls were as good as gold, whereas the boys took every opportunity to climb things, scramble down banks and ditches and chase one another. Luke largely ignored me! Two other mums who live locally came along and gave me a lift back to the beginning of the walk to pick up my car.

Things have been busy as usual on the farm. In fact I’ve been having a bit of a killing spree. Having been meat-free for about a month, we now have one freezer full of meat and the one in the garage is slowly filling up. 17 roosters have bit the dust, one piglet (3 months old at that stage and about 15kg) plus 3 geese. Jasper the goat is still in my sights and there are a handful of younger chickens whose gender is currently not clear. I’ve kept one colourful red rooster to keep the 6 remaining pullets (we’ve sold all the others) company. They have just starting laying and suddenly we are awash once again with eggs. I also culled all the older hens and Nigel the Australorp rooster, plus poor Handles our old goat buck.

I had a huge day of drenching the goats, trimming their hooves and moving them around to their new paddocks to be with the bucks (or not, in the case of the young ones). I also soaked all their feet to try to prevent any foot rot bacteria getting into the new paddock. Handles was in one of the old paddocks and Seb was in the new one with his girls. A week or so later, I woke to find Seb in Handles’ paddock and Handles standing hangdog to one side. It was pretty clear that he wasn’t performing. I tried to catch Jasper the wether to keep him company and thus delay the inevitable, but having failed I made the hard decision that Handles had to go. Seb had been through at least two electric fences at 7,000v, so his urge must have been pretty strong!

The two remaining piglets appeared to be suffering from PTSD for a couple of days after I’d so rudely torn their brother from their midst – but they seem quite happy again now (clearly not too upset then). I was so concerned that the one to go would remain unstressed and innocent of his fate, I didn’t think about the effect on his siblings! We’ve eaten half of the pork and one of the roosters so far and the meat was delicious. Some free-range hens can be a bit strong-tasting, particularly in the leg, but these are just right.

The geese turned out to be impossible to pluck. I remember that the three I did before Christmas took an age and I ended up using the blow-torch to take off the tiny pin-feathers. This time I literally couldn’t pull the feathers off without tearing the skin. I soaked them in hot water (60-70 degrees C) for several minutes, including using detergent to ensure they were wetted right down to the skin. It made no difference whatsoever. I was trying to do this in the kitchen one evening as well as keep track of our serial. I worried that I wouldn’t be able to get them in the freezer before going with Luke on his excursion the following day. In the end I got up early the next day and skinned them. It was pretty easy and took very little time. Today I rendered the skins so as to extract any fat that floats to the surface and sets. I shall have to wait until tomorrow when it’s cooled down to see if it has worked. The cooked skins have gone into the compost.

All the adult goats are now settling down with Seb in the new paddock. They are reluctant to venture far into the bush and stick mostly to the open grassy area and around the edges near the fence. They are gradually making inroads into the big area of blackberries at the bottom. At present there are no huts for them in there, so when it starting pouring last week and was bitterly cold and windy with it, I cut another gate between the new paddock and the old one alongside and let them through to access their huts. I drove around and filled all the huts (for goats, peacocks, turkeys, pigs, geese and hens) with fresh bedding and fixed up one of the goat huts that was sagging and getting holey. I finished in the dark, frozen and fed up, but at least the animals were all cosy. Actually I don’t know why I bother for the turkeys and geese since they prefer to sit outside in all weathers.

In an attempt to vary our diet further, I strung a continuous line over the big dam on pulleys either side and suspended several hooks from it with various tempting baits: grasshoppers, home-made flies sporting colourful peacock feathers, worms etc. Unfortunately it has been a complete failure. The trout circle around the dam blowing raspberries at me and refuse to take any of the baits. It became a real chore as I had to rig up the hooks and then rush back before it got dark to take them all down before the platypus came out and got snagged. Discouraged, I’ve continued to save worms (I’ve got a little worm farm going in the garage now), but haven’t been able to motivate myself to rig up the hooks again for a couple of weeks.

We did at least have great fun one afternoon making different types of flies, with peacock and rooster feathers, sequins etc. Pity they just don’t seem to interest the trout. I also relearnt to splice ropes. To reach across the dam and back again needed a continuous loop of around 60m. I remembered my grandad teaching me to splice ropes together when I was young, but I couldn’t remember the technique. I found a great set of videos on the net and discovered that using a crochet hook was the best way. My splices are a bit lumpy but seem to have done the job. It’s the same principle as interleafing the pages of two telephone books as demonstrated on Mythbusters – it’s just friction really that holds them together.

Once the goats were all in the new paddock, we took the opportunity to fell an ancient dead wattle that was growing between two of my old fences. Having cut a gap in one of the fences we positioned the ute about a tree’s height away from the base and Bronte tried to throw a hammer on the end of a rope between two big high branches. He did this quite quickly but the hammer pulled straight out and wasn’t heavy enough to pull the rope down where it could be reached. Eventually (about 100 times later) he managed it again and we were able to wrap the rope around the hammer to hold it fast and tie the other end to the back of the ute. As the tree was so rotten Bronte wouldn’t use the chainsaw, so we took turns using the axe to bash away at it on both sides. When the axe went through to the rot within, we pulled with the ute and once the rope had stretched until we thought it must break, the tree finally crashed to the ground. Bronte’s since chainsawed it all up and stowed it away in the dry in the tractor shed. We should be just about OK for firewood now for the winter, but I still need to go foraging for my piggy brews.

Talking of piggy brews, the old brazier I was using had nearly collapsed, so Bronte kindly angle-ground another 44 gallon drum in half for me and cut some air holes in the bottom section. I mounted that between steel stakes driven into the ground and wired lengths of reinforcing iron across the top, for the ‘bowl’ to sit on. To make it more efficient, I’ve created a ‘shroud’ around it at full height from old bits of galvanized iron. This ensures that the hot air comes up the sides of the bowl and heats the contents more quickly. It works amazingly, bringing the whole container up to boiling point in about a quarter of the time it used to take – therefore using heaps less wood and saving me wood-gathering time.

I’ve had a couple of unexpected animal sightings recently. Walking across to the tractor shed I looked down towards the bucks’ pen and saw a wombat wandering along in broad daylight, well away from cover! Luke was off sick, so I tore back indoors as fast as possible, yelled for Luke to come outside, grabbed the camera and rushed outside again – only to find the wombat had disappeared! The pigs grunted and shot off in surprise so it must have taken cover in the sedge alongside the pig pen before disappearing in the bush near the creek. What a great surprise though! Another day I saw a long slinky creature which moved a little like a weasel, race from one patch of bog to another. The end half of its tail was white and looked fairly fluffy. I could only imagine it was a water rat or possibly a ring-tailed possum – however, it just didn’t move like a possum. There has been a great influx of the pretty green rosellas for winter. It’s great to see them back in big numbers – the last two years they’ve been noticeably thin on the ground. Less common suddenly are the black cockatoos.

Luke has taken to soccer like a duck to water. His team has played several games now, winning two, losing one and drawing the first. Luke was sick during the losing match so he can feel that they lost owing to him not being there! Last Saturday Bronte took him to a school in Kingston and Luke’s team won 15:1! I felt so sorry for the poor little souls in the other team – and was quite glad I’d chosen not to go along. Since Luke had never seen a proper game of soccer I recorded the FA Cup Final between Liverpool and Chelsea and we sat and watched it the following day (fast-forwarding over the boring bits). Liverpool was always my team (along with Luton and Bedford) in my youth when I used to go to football matches each Saturday with Grandad Tib. So I was rather disappointed when they lost 2:1.It was quite nail-biting in the second half however, when Liverpool piled on the pressure and looked like they might score an equaliser.

For entertainment on an evening, we’ve turned from film DVDs to TV serials. It’s great being able to watch more than one episode at a time, not have any adverts or interference (our signal is pretty weak here) and not have to wait until the following week to find out what happens. We really enjoyed The Slap, probably the first Aussie drama we’ve really enjoyed – Aussie films are usually so depressing and overly arty (everyone dies, takes drugs and ends up miserable). Now we are onto the second episode of Breaking Bad, which is surprisingly good. We’ve got a list of others we want to watch such as The West Wing and Lost.


I forgot to mention that before the WWOOFers left, we went to a sculpture trail on the coast. Here are some pictures of the artworks:

Kid in hole from which he and Bronte had dug a protruding rock and rolled it down the hill:

Diabolically difficult helicopter model sent by someone (can't remember who unfortunately) for a Christmas present for Luke. Bronte started it and gave up. I finished it, but eventually when its rotor blades starting drooping, I snuck it into the bin!

Sunday 8 April 2012

Dolphin mosaic, made by Luke from kit sent from his Nanny Shirley

Contrary to the last general posting 3 weeks ago, a huge amount has happened at home and on the farm front. With so many animals, Luke and the WWOOFers, there is never a dull moment.

Just as Luke and I were about to leave for the school bus one morning, I looked out of the bathroom window and saw Connor, our boar, wandering around under the washing line - a long way from his pen. He looks awfully large out of his normal environment. I had to get Luke to the bus, but as soon as I got back, grabbed a bucket of choice piggy morsels and was able to tempt Connor back towards the pig pens. Each time I took the bucket away from him and ran ahead, he'd catch up & poke me in the bum with his snout - a poke from a 150kg pig nearly bowls you over. There was no question of returning him to his own pen as one side was completely wrecked. So I chucked the food in with Blaize and let him in with her. We can now expect more piglets in about 4 months' time.

It turned out that the electric fence energiser had been switched off. Connor's fence was connected to the bucks'. It may have been off for a week or more. Luckily the bucks hadn't cottoned on and it had taken Connor a while. Perhaps Blaize had come back on heat again and he was determined to get to her. However, his ardour was thwarted owing to her fence operating at 8,000V on a different circuit. I've since fixed his fence up and took the opportunity to renovate the whole pen.

The piglets had been weaned a couple of weeks before with Yona's help. We fed Mum and babies and as they stuck their noses in the trough I grabbed them one by one, stuffed them into sacks, squealing fit to bust, and Yona dragged and carried them around to the weaning pen. They settled down happily in there as it was full of lush grass and cosy huts. They've since dug most of it up. Mum pig was a bit upset for a few days. A week later I advertised them with a cute photo in the classifieds. We had an avalanche of calls and sold the 5 we needed to in 2 days, for $90 each. We've kept 3 for our needs.

Bruce, our 9-year old terrier cross, was a bit unwell for a time. He started limping and then developed sore places on the tops of his front paws. I put him on Murphy the Cat's steroids and we treated him each night with an antibacterial cream (taping socks over his paws so he couldn't lick it off overnight). He's altogether back to his normal self now though there are still a few scabs remaining. We wondered if it might be stress from Rosie being at him all the time - or from Rosie stealing his limelight.

Bruce, sheared and paws well again (oh, and Bronte too)

Rosie is slowly learning to fetch and has calmed down a little. She does have the bad habit of jumping in cars at any opportunity - usually onto someone's lap. The other day I shut her in the ute door as I leant out to slam it without looking. Shortly afterwards she got zapped on the electric fence so felt very sorry for herself during the rest of the day. She collects 'treasures' and assembles them in her favourite places: a bone, a goat's horn, a bit of wallaby skin (not sure where that came from), a special bit of stick, a collapsed football, a rawhide chew.

Yona and Simon have ferried a load of wood from wattles that have blown over down on our rough area, back up to the tractor shed, split what remained to be split and stacked it all neatly. It's not enough for the winter, but will get us a fair way. The first time I took Simon with me to recce a route for them I got horribly stuck in the ute. I looked at a possible crossing place over one of the seasonal creeks, said "yeah, the ute will go through there fine" and then promptly dropped in to a ute-shaped hole between two large rocks. While Simon went to fetch the Suzuki, I did amazingly manage to wiggle out, though it was touch & go! A few days later we took the mud-splattered ute to the 'Relay for Life' car wash at the fire station. They looked a bit horrified but I offered them extra money and we bought their cakes & sausages. Even the fire hose couldn't get the clay stains off.

There is insufficient wood to supply my pig brew needs as well so I've made a couple more trips and pulled great branches out of the brambles and weeds. Some took every ounce of strength to heave out. Luckily Bronte and Luke truned up the second time and helped out (eventually). As I struggled, Luke was yelling "Dad! Help her! Dad!" until eventually Bronte buckled and lent a hand. Much to my surprise, he chainsawed it all up for me when we got back. I still have a wary regard for the chainsaw (even though Bronte now refers to it as the 'little chainsaw' having acquired a bigger one recently). I would still use my old electric one but Bronte and Glen bent the bar and it doesn't cut properly any more.

We've had a bit of a sort out on the hen front. We caught all this year's young ones (barring the four youngest in the peacock run), made a guestimate of whether they were girls or boys and separated them into different pens. So far, we seem to have been largely right, although I think there might be at least one developing rooster in with the girls. A lady who'd bought a couple of 'hens' from us a few weeks back rang to say they were roosters so we went recently and switched them for actual hens. When they were separated it became clear that the roosters were generally more showy than the grils - the girls had much plainer colouring as a rule.

I'll soon need to cull the three eldest girls in the 'big hen' run and also replace the rooster there to keep the fertility and egg rate up. One hen is moulting dreadfully at present and looks a shabby mess. The egg-laying rate has fallen off a little with the shorter days. Nigel, our magnificent Australorp, is getting a little long in the tooth, so we'll either have to make another trip to the monthly Ranelagh livestock sale (always fun) or replace him with one of Henry's offspring from this last batch.

The days are getting shorter but it's still unseasonably mild, with many days being well over 20degC. While I hope the rain slows up a little compared to the last two years, I'd hate for us to move into a really dry period. Several of our lovely autumnal days have been blighted by the yearly round of forestry burn-offs. One day last week was particularly awful. A burn-off to the north of us, over the mountains, blotted out the sun for 2 hours and spread a pall of smoke from horizon to horizon. When I picked up Luke from school, the grounds were bathed in an unearthly amber light and the smoke was thick enough to burn the back of one's throat. I was so appalled - and embarassed in the presence of our new WWOOFERs from Canada and the UK - that I wrote to the paper that night and e-mailed a complaint to the EPA.


My main task over the past weeks has been getting on with the new goat paddock. Before they left, Yona and Simon made great progress building tree protectors for the 14 trees we'd planted that ended up within the new paddock. They include waratahs, banksias, willows and pine, so the goats would have decimated them. We're building triangular edifices nearly 2m high. It's an awful lot of work. For the largest 3 trees, I've cut the lower branches off and encased them in wire netting, to prevent the goats stripping the bark.

Now I'm pleased (and relieved) to say the new paddock is finished and the trees are all protected. When I tested the fence, it worked first time, which saved an awful lot of checking time. Amazingly, the big solar energiser is working OK, running all 4 paddocks up the hill, with barely a drop in voltage from when it was running just 3. I reckon the Gallagher Turbobraid is hugely more efficient (less resistant) than the cheaper stuff I got off the net for the last paddock. Now we need a day to drench the goats, trim their hooves, treat their feet and move them to their various new sites. I angle-ground the bolt off the goat-float jockey-wheel bracket (bent when I ran into the farrowing paddock a while back) and managed to find some threaded rod that fits so the float is operational again. I've worked out that Seb will have 9 girls and Handles 8, so Seb and his coterie will go in the new paddock.

New fence going up the hill

One drawback of working up the hill on the fence and tree protectors, is that I've been attacked by leeches and mozzies proliferating in this mild, humid weather. I don't emerge now unless swathed in Autan, Bushman or other forms of DEET. I'm sick of scratching bites.

I'm not completely certain if Handles will be able to perfom adequately this year. Not only is he getting on a bit, but we also had a health scare with him recently. He seemed to have a job walking and went off his food. Unable to make a diagnosis myself I called in the vet who said it was a neurologial issue and could be caused by lots of things, the most likely being a thiamin (B1) deficiency. He approved of the diet Handles was getting and said it's an odd thing that can crop up on one animal in a herd and never occur again. It can also be due to eating too much bracken, but there is no more than a handful of fronds in Handle's and Seb's field. Anyhow, following a few shots of B1 he seems back this usual self (I wondered if a few bowls of cornflakes would do the same job!). However, Seb now seems boss buck, often trying to mount poor Handles, plus the vet suggested the sperm count might be down for a few months after a health issue, however short. So my plan is to put the herd together again after 3 or 4 weeks so Seb can deal with any does missed by Handles.


Before they left, we took our previous WWOOFERs, Yona and Simon, to Billy Browns Falls and the Hartz Mountains, on sucessive Saturdays. It was a while since we'd been to Billy Browns Falls and - apart from the drive to get there - we really enjoyed it. The walk is through a mossy underworld of tree-ferns in a patch of virgin old-growth forest on the edge of West Wellington. It's relatively demanding but hugely rewarding and the falls themselves are impressive. We met a couple there who'd learnt about the walk via the press release sent by the WWPG to the Mercury and published by its bush correspondent. That was greatly cheering - we are making some difference!

En route to Billy Browns Falls

En route to Billy Browns Falls

Billy Browns Falls

Yona, Simon and Rosie at Billy Browns Falls

Billy Browns Falls brochure produced by the WWPG

It was just Luke and I that took them to the Hartz Mountains and we did the walk to Lake Esperance for the first time. We all really enjoyed the weird, eerie atmosphere up there. It was quite invigorating - blowy and mist-swept, such that we couldn't actually see much of the lake. En route we stopped at some of the sights on the Arve Road including a couple of short walks and the Big Tree.

Yona, Simon & Luke at Waratah lookout

View from Waratah lookout

Arve Falls

Me (by Luke) on the Arve Falls walk

We're currently without meat and have been for the last two or three weeks. We're managing surprisingly well really and don't seem to have missed it much. Nonetheless, I keep eyeing up the animals to see which is big enough for eating! Once the goats are moved I shall need to have a slaughtering session - much as I baulk at the thought. Jasper the wether goat, one of the piglets, the three young ganders and a couple of roosters all have their cards marked.

Luke is doing well and is currently at home for Easter driving us nuts. Bronte is also at home which is why I finally have the time and energy to update the blog. A couple of weekends ago, we got up at the crack of dawn on the coldest day of the year so far, to sit through a three and a half hour handicap race and Little Athletics presentation day. Needless to say, it seemed endless. My feet turned to blocks of ice, but at least it was enlivened by Luke getting a gold medal for winning the under 7's championship, 3 certificates for breaking centre records (in discus and vortex) and another showing his highest achievements in each event for the year.

We thought it would be good to get him into a a winter sport and I dragged him off to soccer practice last Thursday much to his annoyance. He complained and whinged and refused to get out of the car. However, once there with a couple of his mates, he was as happy as Larry and said he'd like to go every week! I felt sure he would enjoy it. Sometimes we have to make him do something new otherwise he'd miss out on so many enjoyable experiences.

Bronte (er sorry, I mean the Easter bunny), hid eggs for Luke around the house and land with clues attached to each leading him to the next one. He tore round the house first thing and found all the indoor ones, then could barely contain his impatience until we were all ready to go and find the outdoor ones. We were all puffing and panting by the time we got back from trying to keep up with Luke. Bronte got up at 4.30am this morning to put all the outdoor ones in place! Luke was thrilled with it all of course. We couldn't top last year's egg hunt extravaganza but it was a great effort and loads of fun. Our two new WWOOFERs - Amber and Fiona - have made hot cross buns and some great gingerbread bunnies. We are now awash with chocolate, cookies and the remains of a banoffee pie I made a day or two ago. It's a good job we're active otherwise we'd all be the size of a house.

Evil alien Easter bunnies!

Monday 26 March 2012

The Hogman saga continues ... Still haven't got my piglets despite a solicitor's letter to him plus two follow-up e-mails in response to Hogman replies. He is acting now as though he is the injured party - poor old Hoggie. Fancy having to actually pay a debt without putting absurd conditions upon it! He's claiming his reputation is being ruined with businesses and locals.

Hoggie's also now saying that the boar stud service was a failure. This is despite him saying in a long phone conversation I had with him on or around 1 March that "the piglets are yours, but you have to do some things first".... then went on to say I had to apologise to him and get an RSPCA check. Therefore, he's explicity admitted that he has piglets and owes me two.

While all this is causing a great deal of stress, we did have a giggle about it at the weekend. We were passing the turn-off to his road and Bronte said "have you got a texter, we could find his mailbox and write 'The Horrible Hogman' on it?" Luckily sanity prevailed.

Wednesday 14 March 2012

Recent sunrise

It seems impossible that just over two weeks ago we were sweltering in above 30degC heat and worrying about a possible bushfire threat. Now, despite it being quite mild – almost hot today – it feels positively autumnal with misty, moisty mornings and short days. The bushfire in the Derwent Valley which was concerning us in the last blog, eventually burnt over 4,000Ha, but luckily no-one was hurt. Horrid to think of the stock and native animals that perished.

Remarkably it has been a fairly uneventful time since then, apart from one significant upset. I followed up on the two piglets owed to me by the ‘Horrible Hogman’ (he who borrowed our boar and then abused me by e-mail over my position on the forestry question). An e-mail to him bounced back and there was no reply to a text message, so I eventually called his landline. He was quite irrational, saying that I cannot have my piglets until I apologise to him for “lying” to The Mercury (whereas he was the one that sent bits of an e-mail I’d sent to him to The Mercury under my name and also sent in a spiteful piece about me personally) and also have our place checked out by the RSPCA. What a cheek!

Needless to say I was extremely upset following the call, but nonetheless determined to pursue the issue. I’ve engaged a solicitor who will begin by writing to him; I’ve requested a claim form from the Magistrates’ Court and familiarised myself with the small claims procedures; sent out an e-mail to various networks warning people to be cautious when dealing with the Hogman, and have collated all the e-mails and information on the case prior to filing a complaint with the police. I will write to him laying out my position and giving him a chance to repay the debt, but if he still refuses I will pursue him relentlessly.

It turns out that I am not the only one to have a problem with him. A neighbour has apparently (this is hearsay, not confirmed fact) had a long-running dispute with him over boundary issues and the way he treats his animals! Typical, I can just guess what sort of state his place is in. I rang the RSPCA and asked if they had received any complaint about us and it appeared Hoggie had never contacted them.

On the farm front, I’ve been greatly helped by having friendly, reliable and helpful WWOOFERS who have been able largely to take over the animal feeding chore leaving me more time to build fences etc. I finished my quoll-proof fence overhang all around the main bird enclosure, mowed around the house and up the drive (again), completed clearing the track for the new goat fence and have at last begun putting in stakes.

New quoll-proof fence around main bird area 

Beginnings of new goat fence

A brown goshawk has taken a few of Henry’s young chicks from the enclosure, but it is hard to begrudge him as he’s so handsome and so incredibly bold. We first moved the young ganders in there thinking they might make a noise and put him off, but instead they appeared curious rather than concerned. I then made an evil-looking scarecrow and mounted it in the pen, plus we caught the remaining chicks and installed them in the covered peacock run. To my surprise, the peacocks have laid more eggs which are now in the incubator. No idea if they are fertile, but I can candle them in a couple of weeks and see if anything is happening.

Currently, we have two WWOOFERs: Yona, a willowy Canadian girl and her boyfriend Simon, a French guy. Prior to them we had young German girls, Kristina and Laura, who both stayed for over two weeks and were so friendly that it was a pleasure to have them around. We always end up being sad to see our WWOOFERs go and feel rather protective towards them as they continue their travels! We joked about being visited in our dotage by former WWOOFERs - what fun that would be. Laura helped plant trees and adopted one as her own, making and installing a sign for it before she left!

As well as being very decorative, Yona and Simon are good company and a great help around the farm and house. They are terrific with Luke too. They play the Wii and kick a ball around with him and take an interest in all his activities. I’m sure he (and us) will miss them hugely when they leave at the end of March.

Happy goats

Already they have cut heaps of willow browse for the goats (before Autumn claims the leaves) and renovated the old goose run ready for the pullets currently in the large turkey run. We’ll leg ring the pullets to identify them as 2011 birds and clip their wings to discourage them from flying out. The young roosters can stay with the turkeys and lone peacock until fat enough for the freezer. Before Simon arrived, Yona picked a heap more blackberries, which we’ve turned into another load of jelly, complete with labels decorated by Luke.

Jars of blackberry jelly in background

We’ve been out and about a bit: to the Taste of the Huon at the weekend and to Hobart to take Luke to a friend’s birthday party for a laser skirmish. Since Bronte shirked his duty and made me & Yona take Luke, we dropped him off with the other parents and treated ourselves to fish and chips in Fish Frenzy on the harbour. The Taste of Huon was the ‘same old’ enlivened only by the street entertainer ‘Mr Inferno’ who juggled with a chainsaw, fire and knives as well as winding-up some of the more straight-laced in the audience. Luke thought he was “awesome”.