Farm update - February 2014

We got a little bit of rain at the end of January. 30mm at Nanango and 50mm at Kumbia. It started to green up, but now its drying out again, we really need some decent rain to get our grass growing again.

And of course it rained just when Pete had started a major project of removing our two old rusty water tanks and replacing them with two new plastic tanks. We had one other good tank, so we had water, but the rain came when Pete had disconnected all the downpipes that normally feed the tanks! We have plenty of water though, it was just so typically that it will be dry for so long and then rain when you are trying to do something! I will post more about moving the tanks around, I think Pete did a really amazing job to get it all organised and completed in one week (mostly when I wasn't home too).

dismantelling the old tanks so we could load it onto the trailer,
it was so rusty there wasn't much woth keeping!

the lovely new tanks, and plumbing nearly finished

I posted about the garden on Monday... its not going great, but there's a few things to harvest each week.

And in chicken news, we hatched several (sorry I forgot the numbers already!) chicks and some guinea keets, and they are outside already, younger than normal, but they were in the spare bedroom (due to the unpredictable temperatures lately) and it as getting a bit stinky and dusty from the wood shavings. They seem very happy out on the grass. We are hoping for some roosters to eat and some replacement hens.

can't resist a rooster when he poses for a photo

here's the chicks in their outside catch, fully puppy-proof

and look who came to help me with the chick photos, lovely old Cheryl

Taz has taken an interest in them too, and has also started a sock collection

And here's the cows. Bella climbed through the barbed wire fence and some stage and stratched up her teats to the point that she wouldn't let Nancy nurse, so we had to milk her ourselves for a few days (and slather on the aloe vera gel to help her heal) and she eventually let Nancy have a drink after a few days. Nancy is 6 months old, so she was find without milk, but was keen to resume as soon as Bella let her. Molly is due to calve soon, so we will probably wean Nancy soon after and let Bella have a rest, but until them, we wanted to keep Bella in milk!

Here's a few blogs that you might find interesting:

http://thesables.com.au

http://ock-du-spock.blogspot.com.au

How was your January? What are your plans for February?

Farm update - August 2017

Its been cold this month, and very nice to have the fire going every night. Here's a photo of my boy in his cape, great for late night woofing at things. Most of July we were either preparing for the butcher to come or putting meat away. Its always a big job, but its only once a year, and its all done now. My lovely neighbour came over to help, so it was fun to have the company and work together. Taz was a champion once again as she helped us to move cattle in the yards ready to load for the market. Gus is not at that level yet and had to stay home (he cries when he gets left behind, but he just gets in the way and scatters the cattle). We have had a few sprinkles of rain here and there, but also plenty of cold nights, so the grass is mostly dead and dry, waiting for the warmer weather to revive our summer-active pasture. Gus in his cape Taz after she helped to move cattle Food and cooking It was all about beef in July and we are v...

Cooking and eating beans

When I was growing up, my family never ate many dried beans, they just weren't something that was used much in NZ cuisine. If I did eat beans, it was always from a can (and most likely baked beans). And until recently I was still using beans from a can, but it can be difficult to get organic beans, and to find cans not lined with BPA. Then I had an opportunity to buy some organic dry goods in bulk, so I bought 5kg of kidney beans, 5kg of adzuki beans and 5kg of chickpea (garbanzo beans). I know, that is a lot of beans. And then I didn't really know what to do with them! Not just what dishes to put them in, but how to prepare them, I just didn't know what method to use. So I decided it was time to learn how to use all these beans that I bought, here's what I found out. I started with an excellent ebook called The Everything Beans Book , from Katie at Kitchen Stewardship, which has lots of bean recipes, but more importantly, an explanation of h...

Guest post: Is there a place for power tools in the garden?

One of my regular readers and commenters offered to write a guest post about a horticulture course, its quite a funny read, with some serious insights into our technology obsession. If you'd like to submit a guest post, email me at eight.acres.liz {at} gmail.com. While I am always happy to share links back to your blog or website, this contributor preferred to remain anonymous. I hope you enjoy their story.... -**- -**- -**- -**- -**- -**- -**- -**- -**- -**- -**- -**- -**- -**- Just a few days ago our daily horticulture classes were interrupted by an invitation to review some new gardening gadgets. The idea was to open half a dozen of electric hand trimmers , test them and fill in some review about their goods and bads. As nothing is more dear to a student – even a “hort “ one - to escape routine and mess around till lunchtime, we opened the boxes and got down to business. What did we...

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