Aint she a Beaut?

Autumn is here, not that the humidity is aware of it yet, I feel like we should be sittin on a log drying out with the local cormorants.

Whilst I am waiting for things to dry out, we have had more showers nothing too drastic though. I kinda wanna go buy more water tanks, probably good we don’t have the money for more. haha. I’d have water tanks everywhere. Don’t worry I’d paint pretty pictures on them, of course.

I haven’t been feeling 100% of late. Stress does horrendous things to your body(bed ridden for 5+ days). I am coming good now & getting stronger every day. It can take a little over a month to regain my full strength when I’m struck down like this, which thankfully isn’t often. My Mum is such an awesome support, we toddle along in our moments & manage quite well really.

I am a little excited, the next step in my organising is almost complete. Now those of you who have been hanging with me for a while, will know that I use what resources I have & my project list seems to be forever bound. Never a burden always a joy. This took me a little longer to complete with my health at present, my determination often out ways that, it does feed my soul being creative. Ok lets start.

I have a beautiful family friend who home-schooled her boys. A relative of theirs had made them desks out of old supermarket shelving just awesomely fantastic. The boys finished school & the desks were heart-warmingly gifted to us. I had them in the house as desks for my kids & then one was my sewing cupboard & then up to the flat they went as spare cupboards, they have been put to great use & did well. Now they are in their forever home.

TA DA

Is that not the most adorable little garden shed you have ever seen. In time it will be painted & prettied up.

Aint she a beaut. A simple u shaped frame holds the roof at his highest point , I am yet to screw down the tin roof, it is tied securely for now. I need to be feeling a little stronger to be up a ladder at the moment. An old semi trailer panel holds the roof at the front creating a perfect slope for run off. I will set up a water catchment of some sort there somewhere. Just a few pennies for a new tank there would be nice. haha. I didn’t need a huge building & the door for the greenhouse is inside the shed so I can pot & prepare in any weather. Yes, I could enclose the front as well but with our heat being what it is the more air flow the better. The desks have fronts that fold down so I can sit & work if need be. I now have somewhere safe to store seeds, as I have put in an old metal locker as well so no rats/mice can chew & destroy.

This side faces Little Tuscany, I have since hung a couple of things to add a little more character to it, if that’s possible.
It looks lovely in the evening light, don’t you think?

Before if I was going to do gardening, it would be organise seeds in the house, then gather tools needed from the shed near the house. Collect seed trays from behind the greenhouse, put it all together somewhere & pot up. I know it doesn’t sound too dramatic but if it is raining, too awkward & the time it would take for me to organise would often do my head in before I had even started. I’m a little OCD when it comes to the practicality of things.

Now everything is accessible. The potting shed is near the compost for soil when needed. The greenhouse is attached to the garden shed & all are only a hop ski & jump away from vegiedom.

You can see the blue desk front, so cool.

I had tidied up a bit after I took this photo(of course). I have pathways wide enough to buzz around on the ride on when needed, which in turn makes it easier for Mum with her walker & me with the trusty wheelbarrow. It is all slowly coming together when the weather is grand & when there are no fire restrictions, we can fire up the little pizza oven in Little Tuscany, which is smack bang in the middle of it all. Pick from the garden our toppings & enjoy. The anticipation is too too excitement.

For an added bonus. Just before I had started the build I had a pile of containers that were used for water storage, well now we have water tanks & as my chooky flock is growing, I decided the containers would be great nesting boxes. The happy accident was the way I cut them resulted in water & feed trays for new chicks.

Bonus right?

I have left the handles on the back so as I can tip the nesting boxes up for ease of cleaning & the little feed & water troughs that resulted will be so great for teeny tiny chickens. I know I will acquire more teeny tiny chickens in the future as it is getting harder & harder to drive past the produce with the chickens for sale sign out front. “Look straight ahead Linda don’t stop”, I often wonder how painful I look when I drive past. Its just too much to bare. haha

If Spring is sprung for you or Autumn has arrived as it has for us. May you be ever blessed ever well & may it all be well with your soul.

From that to this.

Can you see what’s wrong with this picture other than the obvious clean up which is one of many projects? Keep looking it’s not too hard to miss.

Ok so I will zoom in for you, yes my Zina had decided that as I was running late getting breakfast she would just open her gate & wander over & help herself. She had only polished off about 3 or 4 biscuits as opposed to the 3 or bales she no doubt had planned on devouring. She is so malnourished isn’t she? look at her looking over her butt at me. I told her if she wanted to continue being proud of her butt as all mares are she didn’t need to eat all that was stored in the float. I mean for crying out loud look at all the greenery around her.

Then I think it was like 2 days or maybe the next day the rain bomb hit us, it is still going.

You have probably seen on the news? Its a little damp over our side of the country at the moment & funnily enough it’s the one time in a short reprieve from the rain, that is our weather, Mum & I went for a little drive. We are fortunate where we live to have access to a small look out. It gives us a glimpse of an idea, of how things are going, without putting ourselves or others in any sort of danger.

Feel free to click through, all the photos were taken with my phone so not great, but hopefully you’ll get the gist.

First we took little drive around a few of our surrounding streets.

Then we headed up to the look out.

The first 3 photos are spanning from right/north to left/south over our town, you can just see the roof of the barbecue area cover, the children’s park swings & climbing gym are all well & truly under. The carparks under our supermarkets are under but the supermarkets are open well they were yesterday any way.

A little closer to town, Gotta love us Aussies we will stand around & have a yarn about anything, but we always prepared with the dingy on the roof of the work ute, cause ya just never know when a spot of fishing might be available or ready to rescue at any given moment.

The one thing we are hoping is that no lives are lost & livestock is well & safe. Our farmers get warning via the bush telegraph, from way up river it travels all the way into town. We have cattle farms right next to town so we have farmers close to our doorstep.

Neighbours behind us get blocked in so they use another neighbours driveway to go through, to my friends paddocks & park at their front gate so as they can get into town if needed. There is a lot that goes on in our little town Which is just so beautiful & full of character & characters. I wouldn’t want to be in any other town really.

So much to give.

Lets start here shall we!

Our roses just keep giving. Between the aroma of the orange blossom & the butterfly bush, as you pass by them wandering down to the roses. Depending on the humidity of the day it hits you, Oh to bottle it, it would last longer than a drought in a desert, I’m sure of it.

What I am really here to share with you today is, what we have been enjoying abundantly for the last few days & what I did with these??????

I give you our passionfruit.

I know right its the fruit vine that just keeps giving, we are still bumping heads with them as we walk through the archway. Now all the recipes were double the doses as really we were just overwhelmingly blessed. Approx. 70 passionfruit in total. Just this first picking.

Please excuse the order for which I write these out, I am no pro at this, so here goes. I’ll start with the well known

Passionfruit butter/curd.

125g butter,3/4cup of sugar. I always use less, no need for all that sweet when the fruit itself is full of sweetie goodness. Approx. 15 passionfruit makes 3/4cup passionfruit pulp, 4egg yolks. Throw it in a saucepan over a low heat stir till it thickens, roughly 15 to 20mins, then pour into sterilized jars. Oh my crickey!!!! Yum. You can always sieve the fruit if you don’t want so much seed.

Next up

Passionfruit bliss balls

Approx. 6 passionfruit for this one or 1/4cup of pulp, squash juice out through a sieve using a wooden spoon( I did actually leave the pulp in the sieve over a saucepan whilst I did other things, made for quicker sieving) 1/2cup desiccated coconut, 1/2cup rolled oats, 1/2cup ground almonds, 4dates, 1tspn coconut oil. Add all the dry ingredients to the food processor first, then add the rest process till smooth, then roll into balls, roll in shredded coconut to coat & refrigerate. I did, surprisingly find this one a little bland, next time I think I would add a little lemon zest or pineapple juice. Still yum treats though.

Last but not least

Passionfruit cordial

Oh my my crickey. This cordial will just blow you away with yummy passion fruity goodness. Again you don’t have to add as much sugar. The recipe asked for 1cup of sugar, I used less than a cup for double the recipes ingredients.

1cup sugar, 1cup lemon juice, 1cup of passionfruit pulp, 1+1/2cups of water. Place it all in a saucepan over low heat till slightly thick pour through sieve let cool refrigerate or freeze. The result is

Oh I nearly forgot, I don’t know how? I didn’t get a chance to get a photo of this one boo hoo. Nigellas chocolate passionfruit mousse. I found this recipe on the internet. I totally forgot to buy white chocolate, I used a mix of dark & milk choc chips. This recipe would have been yummier believe it or not, with the white choc as the milk choc seemed to make the mousse a little too tangy with the passionfruit. How did I fix it you ask? well just make some meringue, using the left over egg whites from the passionfruit butter, spread it over the mousse when it has chilled to a deliciously bubbly texture of yum moussie goodness, it cuts through the tang, ‘perfection’.

Well I am almost passion fruited out, lol just kidding, I had 4 off the vine for lunch in the yard the other day, whilst working off all the yummy stuff made from passion fruits. Then the next day, I popped a banana, ice cubes, passionfruit cordial & water into a blender & yum to the yum a refreshing slushy.

Preparing the soil & planting seeds in the dome garden & fixing the ride on mower(I had to drill a hole through the base plate to bolt on new mower blade) as the grass was way too thick & long for anything else to go through it. Job done. Giving Zina her weekly soothing wash. Packing away tools from start of kitchen make over. Taking a trip to the city(Port Macquarie) 1/2hr away.

My very first Dahlia flower almost fully open I think its shy.

Just a few of my joyous adventures last week.

Their back and we have?

They have changed their flight path. We haven’t had them pass over in well, my friend & I were just talking about it the other day, it’s probably been about a year maybe longer. A lot of people freak out about them especially horse owners, due to the potential Hendra virus they carry, we have never had an issue & it’s only droppings & contact with a sick one that can make these quirky looking mammals contagious.

They create quite the eerie seen as their flight is absolutely silent, I give you the Flying Fox cloud.

Writing of silent flight, check out this little beauty, having a drink from the top of the compost area, I think I have posted a pick of this variety before? I cant help it they are just so beautiful. We have an exponential amount of butterflies lately who knew they would be so hard to photograph. I would love to know what it is on our property that is giving them such a buzz, it’s hilarious their flight is silently psychotic. The yard is full of beautiful crazy.

A couple of surprises this week, oh I cant wait to show you. Check out these little cuties. This is a time I never tire of.

Our little hen menagerie is growing so well. I find we have a better survival rate with just a few at a time. Also I wait till they have all hatched & healthy then I move the mother & chicks to the nursery pen. Then clean out all chook bedding. I have found leafage from the property the best nesting material as the eucalypt from the leaves keeps the mites away. Alas with all this great rain we’ve been getting there is no dry leafage anywhere. I will create a dry leaf storage area somewhere! Don’t panic it wont be a huge project, I hope?

We have a dog accurately named Princess, I think we should have named Turbo something after royalty as she does pick princessy places to sleep, for instance could their be anywhere more sparkly than the beautiful cover my Mum made for me. In the midst of sparkling luxury she dreams of an opulent life.

I just love how her little paws are resting under her chin.

One last treat, I know right! How could there be more you say. Ok so I have a worm farm that I made from an old chest freezer. I lined the bottom of the freezer with debris(that someone said was ridiculous to keep, I was not going to explain my reasons for keeping it, sometimes its not worth explaining) then a layer of fine chicken wire over the debris then a layer of greenhouse mesh over the top of the wire. Allowing worm juice to sieve through without allowing the worms to escape. A layer or mulch then compost soil then scraps (nothing acidic) then the worms. Well I have been adding scraps & collecting worm juice for a while now & I noticed these 2 green stalks growing out of the soil in the worm farm. I just left them as I thought well they will probably die off after a bit, anyway. Nope they got taller & taller I had forgotten about them & yesterday I did some mateneance on the worm farm I thought, I will pull these plants out, which I did. You wont believe what I found a happy accident, well I’m hoping anyway. Attached to the ends of these green stalks were avocado seeds with long tap roots already forming, the seeds had split & grown in the beautiful worm farm soil, mmm what else could I try???? Walter was happy for us as well. I have transplanted them into pots for now. As we purchase some produce from the supermarket& some from the organic fruit stalls I have no idea which is which. I cant wait to see what they do. Even if they don’t fruit, we get excited about anything that grows & the root system of these run deep thus keeping the soil & drawing moisture from deep underground. Hopefully instead of 2 Avocado trees I will now have 4. More to share, yay always bonus.

The pen you see behind Walter is going to be the pig pen another future story I will be so excited to tell.

The tip of the thicker stalk had been eaten off by something.

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It’s shiny & pretty & yes I have a bits & pieces of final touches to do, for now it is all systems a go again, too excitement.

Whatever the days ahead have for you, may they be filled with awesome surprises, I love that you dropped by & well, thanks for just being the amazing wonderful you.

Poor little darlin.

Hello beautiful bloggers, I do hope you are all well, I love reading & catching up with my peeps, all my follow family friends.

As some of you may know, my son( A hard working lad whom I am very proud of) moved to the Central Coast a couple of months ago, time flies. He took this photo sunrise at Avoca beach not far from where he lives. Only 4 hrs from us. The cloud formation is magnificent, it looks like a huge bird. What do you think?

From our veranda our sky did try, not wanting to be completely out done. This one seemed to be thrown from the distant mountain tops. I’m thinking for this one a dragon lizard with its mouth open?

Now my peeps will know from my last blog, I’m in the process of redoing my kitchen. Whilst building I try keep all my tools central to where I need them, for family safety & convenience. I work hard at what I do & am trying to get the place to where we can just relax & things be functional & logical in terms of how we go about our day.

Well, she was a little disgusted & threatened to move out. She took her blanket & headed to the front door. You see, she likes to be close, where she can see me or someone in the family. Nearly completely deaf(clapping our hands is the only way to get her attention now) & her vision, I think everything is a bit of a blur?

She started out in her usual comfy morning place & she seemed content although, you see, the table under which she resides at times was central for all my tools & well central for a lot of bits & pieces really, during the kitchen rebuild. Photo was taken after she moved out.

I’m working away circular saw, grinder, drill & multipurpose cutting tool. I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye towards the front door.

Here she stopped worn out, a little disgusted, letting me know enough was enough. Poor little darlin.

Princess, had snuffed & pulled & pushed & dug her rug out from under what I can only imagine to her was a mountain that eventually would collapse & our little Princess was having nought of it, really.

Such a sad old little old Dame of our selection. The “woe is me” of it all. Princess stayed there for the remainder of the day. I must say knowing she was just laying there looking at me like that did make it a little hard to relax during the rebuild. when does it all end? Actually that kind of sounds like the whole family. I smile tentatively as I type. lol

Finished soon I promise!

I was a little excited at hearing the chorus from the chooks the other morning. I had to buy eggs for the first time in ages. Extremely hot humid days they have shade. I think they would be happier with an in ground swimming pool & floaties, anyhow. I try buy “free range” which by definition by Aussie standards means no more than 10,000 birds per hectare. Anyway I wont get started on the ridiculousness of these requirements. I reluctantly paid. Every so often I have scrambled eggs on home made grain bread for brekky or brunch 2 meals a day does me fine. Well I think I will search a bit harder for a local with backyard hens as check this out.

Store bought, paler than a cowboys knees in boardies.

Home grown a beautiful sunny sight on your plate.

The girls must have listened to my lecture about what we were having to eat & the living arrangements of those hens less fortunate than them. 2 days after I bought the eggs, I collected 9 from our girls. I did hesitate in giving the store bought eggs to the dogs. ugh…

As for the youngins that hatched a while back, it’s too hot humid & drenching wet to grow much at the moment. I put protection over what is surviving. Mum cut off some fodder pea foliage, fantastic soil nitrogen fixer, I threw this around the dome patch. Made a temporary little house & put the youngins to work.

I figure by the time we get some mild clear weather the youngins can graduate to the big pen growing my layer flock from 13 to 19 then eventually add 2 new chicks not long hatched & 3 on the way. Ever growing family fun.

May the adventures of your days be sunny side up

Sunset yesterday view from the paddock. WOW

Too Aussie really.

Goodness me I’m gonna find some eggs this morning, you should hear the chooks, it’s hilarious, I love it, they announce everything.

One of my dearest friends sent me home with a jar of her, oh my crickey, it’s delicious passionfruit butter. Amazing bestie of mine is a jam & pickle winner at our local show every year. This time it came with a little extra friend. Long story short , as I was getting into my car, I noticed this little darlin on the ground, it didn’t look well. My friend said “you have to take it or I wont sleep tonight” she is such a treasure. The things we do for our bestie, home the little birdy came & here we are the quintessential Aussie kitchen table décor.

No vets open, so I fed the little fella some Grevillea nectar popped into a box warm snug & dark. Alas it died through the night at least not cold & threatened. It’s just natures way these things happen & my bestie need worry no more.

1 week later & the passionfruit butter is nearly all gone, no apologize it’s just too yum.

There are a lot of these little darlings around our property at the moment,

so adorable & fantastic garden bug eaters, these precious little lizards will come out if I am weeding, they actually get quite close will turn their little heads & focus on me, we converse for a while about the weather, their family & the insects I disturb, we thank each other & go our separate ways.

Walter the dog growled a deep deep threatening growl & he grew 3 times his size, his hackles stood tall as he looked down from the back veranda. I hesitated to look as what on earth was it that got him so disturbed? It was this little adorable baby. I was in such a rush to get a photo of it I forgot to take one of Walter the giant dog. haha

Red Belly black snake, (I use the old meat trays in the greenhouse for seedlings, in case your wondering)which I tried to get rid of but it escaped me, I don’t mind them being around to keep mice/rat population down & they do tend to move away rather than attack if disturbed(we were always riding past them on the trails, even the horses never worried). But with all the family loving the garden as we do its safer if I can get rid of them when found. Now a carpet snake on the property would be perfect, please.

Who knew & this is why I am happy to see a snake on the property. Did you know a rat could rearrange your kitchen. Fair dinkum it’s true, I’ll prove it to ya. A few years back when I first built the kitchen I had an electrician hook up the wall oven, I had put chicken wire across the air vent at the top of the wall unit to prevent the rats from gettin in. Not realizing the electrician had made not one but 2 large holes in the wall to access the wiring, this extra hole being behind the wall unit I wasn’t aware.

Now I had put baits out from time to time, not for the electrician, for the rats, haha. There was the occasional odour as per usual when baiting. On this particular afternoon, I had just put a roast in the oven & went to lay down, resting my still recovering back. (hurt moving a large locker into my new shed)My daughter came in to tell me something didn’t smell right & I rose up carefully & woh…. I’m sorry but a roast is not meant to smell like that, that’s for sure. Roast out of the oven wait for the oven to cool turn off the power & the hunt begins. Where is the little flamin rat…mmm? Oh yes, so a wall oven by design did you know has a hole for a handle on either side of its frame not to make for easy carrying, its for the RATS TO ACCESS, it may as well have an exit & entry sign lit up for them. So folks here it is the after math, don’t panic I didn’t take a pic of the rat. This is gross enough.

After I took the outer frame off, finding we are so fortunate that the house hadn’t burnt down, we have a safety switch but looking at this damage, wow right.

I was not ready to do the kitchen yet. I had been drawing up plans for some time. According to the intruder I was ready. My back not so bad but feeling the twinge, alas the show must go on, so far this is how far. This Thursday the new oven gets hooked up. This one has no rat access, very very important manufacturing detail to look out for. Lesson learnt.

I will be moving the plate rack & putting pretty brackets up to hold it & all the bits & pieces. I just can’t wait I’m so excited. Can you guess how big the oven unit is? It has a gas stove top & electric fan oven. Not sure what I will cook up first, 3 loaves of bread & 3 cakes passionfruit cordial, jam & syrup, all at once just cause I can. To share with friends of course, I am beyond excited. And all thanks to the dear departed rat.

My Daughter took this photo from my car whilst we were heading into town, you can just make out the reflection of another 2 rainbows above it.

May your life be ever full of rainbows(Gods Promises) no matter what rats come your way.

Candy

I am so excited, yes I am paying for it now. I have pulled muscles in my lower back. Slowly recovering, at least I am able to enjoy what I have completed so far.

Believe it or not folks I have 2 sheds now, ok so I’m yet to put the doors on the second one. They are fully functional & dry inside though. Everyone seems happy about it. The dogs have a new area to inspect daily, the mice have a new shelter to call home(til I get rid of them) & the hornets & wasps zoom in & out building their little clay nests, keeping the spider content to a minimum, except for the occasional huntsman that help keep all the other insect invasion to a minimum. I love my new sheds & their amazing little echo system, who knew!

I am yet to add flooring , I know everyone would be like wouldn’t you do that 1st? Nope not here. I am not going to move the sheds location but rather they are light enough to lift. We cannot afford a cement foundation which is fine & when the land settles with its new layout & form then I will know what will drain & hold best. I didn’t have the finances to hire machinery to alter everything to what I need, so I shift & move a bit of soil, wait for it to settle & the land lets me know what will work best. I have learnt a lot about what not to do, from whom ever built this house & land layout for drainage & low maintenance functionality, but that is fine as I would be completely bored really.

Can you see Zina in the background she’s like really your gonna take a photo before breakfast.

Look out Turbo’s coming in for a cuddle.

I have to mention, “oh my crickey”! In the morning just as the sun sneaks through the trees & gently wakes up the sunflowers. (Giant Russian, seeds will be kept & planted out next year to add to feed for all the menagerie, slowly increasing supply).

I am awakened by the most beautiful variety of bird songs. It’s like a Cinderella moment. I know right! just dreamy & so magical & no I don’t sing along with them, hilarious. (one day I may awaken the locals in this way, that would be fun). As the air warms & the humidity settles in for the day then the aroma that wafts through its just like a candy store. That’s the best description I think. It’s all because of our magnificent gum trees, well the variety that flower there are over 700 species of eucalypt/gumtrees, you would think it would smell like eucalypt but nope, it’s just delicious candy.

You can just see the blossoms at the top right hand side of the tree.

The base of this magnificent specimen of a tree is still recovering from the drought. It’s so important to have this kind of roughage available to the horses during tough times. There wasn’t a tree in our town where horses were, that wasn’t stripped like this.

The little blossoms are just adorable they look like little funky fairy hair do’s. Yes the roses are from our garden doing beautifully. They are also great fodder for the horses (& the goats when we get them).

It can be so hard to concentrate at times & is it any wonder. The ever patient Walter, well maybe? I am so conscious that he is there & he is trying to be very patient but sending me hurry up stares.

On that note, I must be out the door & tend to our extended family.

May your day be full of sunny flowers, happy bird songs, cuddly cats, loyal dogs, patient ponies & a candy aroma that fills yours inner child with mischievous fairy fun.

You get it don’t you?

Alrighty just a quick glimpse although it is pretty awesome really.

So pretty the Orange blossom keeping the pumpkin vine company & you can just see the corner of the strawberry plant filled wheel burrow tray. With occasional yummy treats of 3 varieties of strawberry. Mums been pulling & cutting up nasty stringy grass, leaving room for the good native grasses or maybe we’ll just turn it all into garden. mmm what to do, what to do.

I just love how the flowers sprinkle down the pumpkin leaves, like a magical fairyland flowerfall.

Its so awesome to have a wonderful, daughter who has a very Edwardian romantic, fantastical imagination. Who prepared for those of us that toil at our selection under a sun that provides no respite from it’s ever heat. To sip on cold & taste the sweets that twas prepared & set upon the table before us. Oh well you get the gist. Which would not be complete without the KFC wipes.

We sat under the fruit trees in our Little Tuscany part of the yard so pretty & relaxing.

You see I had about half a foot of soil to shift in an area about 3mtrs x 4mtrs including 2 small struggling trees & their root systems so I couldn’t use the rotary hoe who’s embarrassing little mishap I have fixed. shh enough said about that. haha

This one was twice as quick to put together & I didn’t need to use props as logic was my main defence with this one. I managed to get all the walls done & the roof frame up all in one day this time even whilst the wind was tossing things at me from the trees above. There will be a picture of the completed project in upcoming blog.

Whatever your life has for you today, may you be surprised with the beauty & strength of all things wild, the fantastical joy of family & or friends & the promise that all things can come together for good, no matter what nature throws at you. You get the gist of it don’t you?

Shoes or no shoes

This is the question. I had a little laugh to myself this morning, oh, by the way Hi everyone. I hope you are all keeping well & you have much joy.

Anyway I was thinking of how to start this post & thought well its not raining that’s new, oh wait! just as I start typing it starts, to rain. hahaha. We so need all this rain to fill our aquifers as things were extremely dry. It’s just brilliant really.

This is so much fun best mineral absorption for your body & we don’t even pay for it.

You can even do a comparison with the picture at the top of the blog page.

Mum has planted different herbs throughout the mud, in between showers, so as we will have a lovely smelling walkway.

Horses are such creatures of habit, I put Danny into this paddock & he stood at the gate for ages as that’s where he got fed everyday. So I gave him good bucket of feed & then he was more than happy to graze. There is no risk to him foundering as he doesn’t have enough teeth to gorge himself. At this age they tend to use their tongues to gather the grass so I’m relieved that we have this much growth for him to get in touch with his younger horsey side.

So I went through both horses new paddocks & did some weeding, they followed closely & I’m sure to the locals it looked like we were grazing together.

“The family that grazes together stays together”.

I did wear boots for this adventure as there are some prickly weeds that like to hide. I was very excited to see native grasses, the summer grass had gone to seed & broadleaf paspalums are thicker & lushier. A beautiful salad of a paddock. I could even lay down in it, felt like a beautiful soft squishy fairy land. Never been able to do that here on our selection. I really know why the horses get so excited & go straight for the roll. Have a scroll through I know it’s a little repetitive but this is exciting when you work so hard on the land & nature all of sudden decides to go “here I’ll give you hand”.

On another subject, we caught her. The elusive hen that we, we being Walter & I, had been trying to catch for months(came from neighbours that are a little frustrating, mmm). I had been watching her for a couple of months now, I wasn’t overly concerned as she was spreading the horse manure over the paddocks beautifully. I just didn’t want her to discover the garden in the yard at any point or get taken by a fox or pack dog. Anyway, I was burning the weeds in the horses previous paddocks & the hen was hanging close, so I let Walter out with me he had a quick swim in the very full dam & then we went to work “again”. This time he was onto it, the hen tried to take off way down the bottom paddock but Walters skill full roll backs & turning were perfect, in hindsight I should have saddled Zina up. lol. Hen ran back towards me changed her mind & nose dived straight into the wood pile. Just in case you are wondering, I will be getting rid of the old lounges this winter. lol.

Where Walter was quit happy to await further instructions, can you see a little brown feathery bum tucked right under the pile.

I have taught every dog we have had, to round up the chooks, no matter the type of dog, Walter is Border Collie x Rottweiler, there’s a little hunter gatherer in him, even Princess our little Jack Russel was a great rounder in her day. All the dogs we’ve had, have had a gentle kind spirit. I told Walter to sit as he shakes with excitement & me telling him to sit is telling him his job is done. He relaxes. After a job well done there is always a reward, so another dip in the dam, Walter was more than happy to return the stick for several dips after a job well done.

As for hen it was into the trampoline chook tractor with her, to be with her rooster, Wheezy & the other hen, Dot. Not sure what to name hen maybe that’s it? we’ll just call her Hen.

We had a blow out

I know right a funny way to start a blog but this was hilarious. I have a very odd sense of humour. Everything we have on the land has character, or I see character in everything. And, yes, I do talk to everything.

Lets start here, we have a stunning view (take away power lines there’d be no view)from the middle of our property, it is stunning.

Yes, that is more rain coming.

I put up a post back on Dec the 12th, about putting together a shed, before the rains were due, so that was last month & it hasn’t stopped raining since. No kidding, it really has been raining everyday since, we’ve had areas flooded bridges closed & reopened & then closed again. A little town west of us is cut off due to a landslide, if you can believe that? in what was our little drought, fire damaged region. We get a little reprieve from the rain maybe a couple of hours a day & of course all the animals are enjoying the green.

I just love our old Danny boy, his middle age grass belly. I had just moved both horses to greener paddocks (in between rain) & Danny always has a run a fart & then drops for a delicious roll. The bet is whether or not he manages to roll all the way over. Scroll through to see, such fun. does he?

Yesterday was the longest we had no rain. From 9am till 3pm. I have had on my list for some time now to plough an area for corn. I had trialled a smaller area but it was just a little too shaded. I need to fence the area off so if escapee menagerie, eg chooks, cant get in & do what they do best. The old duck pen was no longer in use, the ducks have run of the yard now. The pen is about 4mtr w x 5mtr l. mmm what to do with it?

So now really is a great time to rotary hoe where needed as the soil is completely pliable & the grass is easier to pull out. Still cannot believe we even have soil to plough. Out I get, the trusty rotary hoe, start him up, “Roger that, all systems are a go”. Get it “Roger the rotary hoe”(sorry)lol. Off we rotary hoe, its going great guns, had to untangle the grass a couple of times no biggy. Doing a beautiful job.

I stopped for a minute to assess our progress, when I notice a screw & washer on the dirt, too shiny to be old. I did a quick glance all over the rotary hoe as there were a lot of bolts & nuts & washers to put it together to start with. It seemed quite sturdy still, so off we went again & I swear its butt dropped. As it is already a reddish colour it seemed inevitable it was going to embarrass itself & “plop” a piece of machinery landed at my feet. I so wish I had a photo.

It was one of the rotary hoe blades, it had ploughed itself loose obviously having to work a little harder in the dampish soil. I laughed probably a little too much, told it not to worry we’ve all had our moments. As the elastic in my baggy yard shorts had busted earlier & as it was I had the top of my shorts rolled over to hold them up. hahaha. We kept on going. Cause on the farm that’s what you do. We got the job done.

Now all I have to do is drag/ slide the old duck pen over.

Everything is just growing so well & we have never had greenery round us like this before.

Only had a few minutes, almost there, then it started raining again. To make it easier to move I’m going to keep a look out for a couple of trailer jockey wheels screw them on the middle on either side so I can lift & roll it to where I need with ease.

When the rain stops.