Eight Acres

Very soon this blogspot address will automatically redirect to the new Eight Acres site, but in the meantime, you can check it out here .  You will find all my soaps, ebooks and beeswax/honey products there, as well as the blog (needs a tidy up, but its all there!).  I will be gradually updating all my social media links and updating and sharing blog posts over the next few months.  I'm very excited to share this new website with you!

One more post on this blog and then I think I'm going to be ready to launch the new site!  I can't wait to share it with you. Well it hasn't rained for a few weeks and I always find this time of year tough because all the grass is dead from the cold weather and lack of rain, so its all just brown and dry and I start to worry about bushfires.  We are just waiting for rain.  Which is a shame really because apart from that its quite a nice temperature and the days are getting longer, so I should be enjoying the weather instead of wishing for rain.  Also the dogs get very dirty and static from playing in the dust! Food and cooking Did you see my post about growing mushrooms?  That was quite fun :) Land and farming We've been looking at getting a bigger tractor because we really want to try a yeoman's plough to improve our pasture.  And we finally bought a firefighting rig for the back of the ute. Chickens Barastock sent me some c...

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...

The dogs are still sleeping outside on the veranda.  I think they are getting used to it.  Unfortunately if they don't sleep well, neither do we, as they are right outside our window.  I go out and put their coats on most evenings and I often find them like this: the little dog on the big bed and the big dog on the little bed.  I have to rearrange their blankets and put the right dog on the right bed.  The second photos shows the dogs in the correct position with their jim jams on... So with winter solstice on 21st June, its now officially winter and its bittersweet to know that evenings are getting longer but summer will be back before we know it!  We have been pleasantly surprised to find that our property up on the hill is up to 5degC warmer than the valley most mornings, so we might get away without a frost up here (overnight temperatures have been 8degC, so the dogs are fine, but they would LIKE to be inside).  We have had the fire going most ni...

Even though its not "technically" winter until after winter solstice on the 21st June, its getting cold enough to really need to light the fire (not just want to light it because its fun) and to wear winter woolies, so I kind of call it winter already.  The past few days have been close to freezing overnight, with some very foggy mornings as well.  The dogs are still sleep outside, and we have somehow lost the dog coats in the move, so I made some more (very easy to make) .  We have been going for "walkies" most afternoons, although there is not much time before it gets dark when get home at 4/4:30pm.  We go and check the cattle in one paddock or another and the dogs LOVE it. We think that it won't get as cold at Cheslyn Rise because we are higher than Nanango and it looked like the house was above the frost line (from observing the grass, it stayed green the last few winters), and we will soon find out.   Here's some thoughts on managing frost. Foo...