Wintertime visit

It's been such a long time since we last visited the farm. We've been desperate to go and see if everything is still ok, but circumstances beyond our control kept us away. Now that Marty's cast is off and he's all healed up from his broken wrist - and we got a new ute to replace the one that died on the way up to the farm last time.. we felt that there wasn't much else that could go wrong!

We left fairly early in the morning, but despite that, we still arrived in the dark on Wednesday. First order of business is to light some candles and see if everything is as we left it.

That shot is of inside the kitchen. There isn't any heating yet either, or the first order of business might have been to light a fire! You can see on the left there is our freezer / fridge. It's a 12v DC one! I may have been a bit premature bringing it (or even buying it really) since the power set up yet either, but they're so rare that I couldn't help but get it as soon as I found one. It's a bit big for the kitchen though, so it might end up in another part of the house some day.

The house and everything in it was exactly the same as we left it - a big relief. Being winter, and quite cold, we headed off to bed early.

The next day we went for a walk around the property. 20 acres sure looks small when there's nothing much on it! On the left is a brown bit that is the dam wall, and in the middle is the peppercorn trees and the house is just behind them. Otherwise it's a blank canvas, ready for anything. I do love winter in the country, though.. just look at that blue sky!

 

 

The only other thing we wanted to do on Thursday was set up the bed. We got it for a bargain, but little did we know just how heavy it was going to be. The ute brought it up without any apparent strain, but we sure did struggle to move it around. I hope we don't have to move it again anytime, ever!

The nights are cold, however. Neither of us slept soundly exactly. We both wore many layers of clothes, including thermals. Next time we'll bring ALL our blankets, a hot water bottle and the sheep-skin too. On the plus side, I wasn't woken by the sound of rats in the ceiling this time. That's because we set rat traps last time. Successfully, too, I might add.

That's Marty checking the traps. Bright pink gloves are too cute on him, don't ya think? Oh, just in-case I hear a cry of sexism here, I put the traps up last time, so it was his turn. Ha!

I think it was Friday when I spent some time digging out some accumulated dirt from above the foundations on the corner there. As with all old houses (and probably new ones I guess), dirt and gardens shouldn't be above the concrete footings or the damp-proof-course if you have one. I doubt this place has that though. When the dirt is above the concrete or DPC, the moisture gets to bypass that protection and go into the walls and cause problems.

Marty worked on a similar but different issue on the opposite side of the house on the left there, making the gutter drop the water further away from the footings of the house. He did a great job, too! I think it'll work, at least until we get the gutters and water tanks sorted later on.

Hopefully the digging will help slow down the damage to that part of the wall. You can see we have a lot of work to do here. The concrete on the side of the house is coming away by itself, so that should make life easier when it comes to taking it off and replacing it with something more natural. The mortar between the bricks in the chimney is missing so badly in places that you can actually see daylight if you stick your head in the fireplace in the kitchen. Still, it doesn't feel overwhelming after what we've been through at the old miners cottage at home.

Marty and I planted some rosemary along the side there, although we may have to move it someday.. if it lives, it lives. It was only cuttings from our main plant - plenty more where they came from, but I'll be happy if we can use a little rosemary on the BBQ sometime in a future visit!

We reluctantly left on Saturday, but we have to go up for another visit soon! The neighbour decided that he'd like to keep Larry the rooster, and we offered him a couple of our girls to keep him company. Hopefully we'll be done with the renovations at the old cottage in Stawell very soon and we can move up there for good!

Latest trip to the farm

We took a trip up to the farm a couple of weeks ago. It's a long long drive only to drop off a fridge/freezer.. but that's exactly what we did.

The farm is otherwise the same as we left it. A bit greener there than it is in Stawell, but otherwise unchanged.

When we stay there, I'm woken at the early hours of the morning by scratching and stomping in the roof. Whatever it is, it sounds HUGE! I climbed into the roof to check it out. It's pretty clean up there, pretty bright and airy. There was a skull, so I brought it down. When back in Stawell I thought for sure it must be a possum, so I researched and built a new possum home. I also ordered a book I've been wanting forever called Tracks, Scats and Other Traces. I took the book and the possum box up to the farm this last trip.

Being woken again early in the morning by thumping and scratching reminded me to look through the book for the skull I found. Sadly the skull looked nothing like the possum skulls in the book. My heart sank as I realised that the rat skull was a much more likely candidate. The next morning as the thumping and scratching started again, Marty grabbed the torch and climbed the long ladder in the kitchen. He peered into the darkness through the manhole and saw them. Yes, rats. Oh So Gross!

Other than dropping off the fridge/freezer, and finding out we have rats in the roof, there wasn't a lot accomplished during this last trip. Sure, we confirmed that we really need some batteries for the solar system, and a header tank and water tanks for water.. and that we all really want to move up there as soon as we can. To do that, we really need to finish renovating our house in Stawell.. so that's what we're concentrating our efforts on lately.

Larry and the electric fence

There isn't a lot to report from the farm lately. Last time we visited it was Ross and I bringing Larry to the farm with us. Larry is a young Dorking rooster that was upsetting the neighbours at Stawell, and so the plan was to house him at the farm using a solar powered electric fence to keep him safe from foxes. We'd go up and visit him weekly, of course!

The fence I really wanted has been on order since December, with an expected delivery date of mid January. Sadly the supplier was having troubles making that date and, since we were under pressure from the neighbours and the council, we needed a fence sooner rather than later.

I found a different fence, ordered it online, and it arrived about a week later. Ross and I took the whole kit and caboodle up to the farm with high hopes that Larry would be safe. Sadly we just couldn't get the fence to work the way we expected it to. There was a couple of breaks in the fence where it was clear the manufacturing wasn't up to scratch, the step in posts all but folded over when trying to get them in the ground.. so despite our hard work in the hot sun for a day and a half, we gave in and called the neighbour.

Thankfully he offered to take Larry in and look after him there in a fox-safe area. We're very lucky to have neighbours like Ray and Di! The next morning we could still hear Larry crowing all the way from their farm! I sure hope he's not driving them crazy.

Other than that, we're not doing anything at the farm lately. It's a good thing that this summer has been pretty dry, because it means we're not under pressure to cut anything. There's no grass growing.. only fruit trees fruiting. The local wildlife is making the most of that, of course.

It's like the place is stuck in time, waiting patiently for us to finish renovating in Stawell. We're all looking forward to the day we can move to the farm for good!

East side

Last post for today! I just wanted to share my favourite photo of the last trip.

It looks so dry, and hot! It wasn't too bad, though. We took off the barbed wire from the fence in the front there, and removed the wire that was just lying all over the place. That will make mowing and scything a lot safer. The grass is about knee height in places, and we don't want to encourage snakes around the house.

The trees in the picture are almonds, and surprisingly tasty!

You might see behind the trees a water tank. It's not in use, but has some water in it. Marty is standing near it, looking up at the tank stand and blue barrel that was once being used as a header tank.

I can already imagine a low cob fence in place of the wire - keeping the wood posts, of course, because they're so full of character. I'm sure there'll be plenty of nesting opportunities for the Blue Banded bees in the fence, too. It's a longer-term project though - not too high on the priority list!

Blue Banded Bees

These lovely little bees are making their home in our new home!

The mudbrick walls have plenty of holes in them and the bees are all excited. Since we could tell they weren't eurpoean wasps, so after that, we're quite happy to have them here.

Turns out they're Blue Banded bees and are useful pollinators and aren't likely to sting anyone.

I think this means we need to get re-mudding the walls either now (so they have time to make a nest in a new wall - perhaps one we make just for them), or we might have to wait until next spring, after the baby bees are all grown up and left home.

Judging by the number of other things on our to-do list, I'm thinking we will be mudding next spring!

From a bed to a loo

Researching options for toilet facilities, we came across the very informative "Lovable loo" YouTube video. We liked the idea so much we decided to build our own version.

By chance we found a single bed for sale at the tip shop in Stawell for only $5, and immediately saw the potential for a toilet.

Single bed

There was a fair amount of materials available, and we got to work right away.

The finished product.. in place.

The sawdust is in a burlap bag that was once used for chook food, along with a handy scoop. The bucket sits neatly under the seat, very snug indeed. We've colour coded the bucket (it's black!) to avoid any confusion as to what the bucket is to be used for. So far, so good. It's working out very nicely. The whole room smells of pine.

This last visit we found that just hooking up the water tank to the plumbing let enough water push through to wash our hands in the sink. No pump required, at least while the tank is full.

We're working on the water situation - we need a header tank for the tank stand (which is about 4.7 metres high) and a pump to get water up there. It's all new to us, so we'll be researching and asking advice before jumping in. We then need to get the water into the kitchen somehow! :)

We've already made a few mistakes. The first one was to only have 2 buckets for the loo to start with. We're going to need at least a few more, until we get the composting part of the system set up. Last time we visited, we had to use the old outhouse - which isn't nearly as nice.

Otherwise, we've got solar power and batteries to research. It's probably the next priority so we can get some refrigeration happening.

Lunatic farmers

Yesterday I said that we had a busy 4 days, and I only accounted for 3. Well, yesterday was busy too, because we attended the Lunatic farm tour at Taranaki Farm with Joel Salatin.

The farm is about an hour north of Ballarat, where the wind was blowing and it was certainly chilly in comparison to home, or even Pleasant Hills for that matter, where we've been in T-shirts during the day. Luckily we dressed warm!

Taranaki farm follows Joel Salatin's advice very closely, with pastured poultry, pork and beef cattle. I've been interested in following some of the advice given in Joel's book "You Can Farm" and this was a perfect way of seeing it all in action.

We were also hoping to get some idea about the types of livestock that might be right for us and the farm. Getting up close and personal with cows, and seeing how easy fencing could be with electric wire.. it just made that side of things much easier to understand.

Joel Salatin entertaining the crowd, farm staff entertaining the cows!

Photogenic cows

The poultry side of things was a little different to how we would do it. Marty and I both felt a little under-whelmed about the housing the poultry were in. I'm glad to say they were working on a better version of the poultry house / tractor, and I look forward to seeing that in action! We know that things on the farm (as well as in the backyard) are always in the process of being revised and improved.

Kids loved the chook tractor

Looking forward to seeing this version finished

But the general principle of having the poultry follow the cattle in rotation is something we can all agree on. The improvement in the pasture was very obvious, and the quality of the egg and the happiness of the chook is going to be a million times better than anything confined.

However, I don't see us choosing broiler chooks for our situation. Marty and I both feel that the breed has been too heavily selected for fattening up rather than the ability to walk well, grow feathers or enjoy normal chook behaviours. Oh, and there's the flavour of course! Sadly that means the cost to keep the chook is more, but it's a moral issue for us, rather than a pure monetary one.

Although, the tour did make us re-consider getting pigs. We weren't going to get any pigs because it's not something we can eat, but the benefits of pigs are so numerous, it's certainly worth seriously considering anyway.

2 strands of electric wire is all that is needed to keep them in!

It was a good experience, and a fun day. The food provided was gluten free even, and Marty and I enjoyed a sausage (or three!) for the first time in a very long time. The pastured chicken had more texture than shop-bought, but even so, it didn't taste anywhere as lovely as the Dorking boys we process ourselves. (Of course, I'm very biased in my absolute devotion to the Dorking!)

We took the opportunity to purchase a copy of Joel's latest book, had it signed and even got a picture with the famous farmer. :)

The trip gave us lots to talk about on the way home, and plenty of things to consider going forward.