Projects

The weekend at last!  I longed to snuggle further down under the covers when Hubby left for work this morning.  So warm and cosy in my bed.  But there were projects floating in my head.  They called me loudly and insistently so I begrudgingly staggered out for a cup of coffee to get me moving.

There's a freezing chill in the air this morning but the cloudless sky carries a promise of a beautiful day to come.  I've had a very productive week and today will be no different.  Once the sun is shing and the sky is blue, I will have all the energy I need to get on with today's tasks.

The projects I have on the go are many and varied.  I'm painting, regenerating paddocks, farm planning, planting while the weather's favourable, working with the children.....

Monday saw me checking the hive and robbing some honey.  I didn't measure but there were several kilos of golden sweetness.

Tuesday we went to help some friends pick their small commercial olive crop before they missed their deadline.  Three other friends also came to help.  Sadly we didn't get much done before the rain set in and made it impossible.

I've been determinedly painting our house over the last couple of weeks.  We never did get around to finishing the doors and trims when we moved in.  Once living here, we just got on with daily tasks and became so used to the unpainted surroundings that we didn't even notice anymore.  However, for some unknown reason, suddenly it's all I see!  So every day this week, I've painted a little more.

I've also dropped in to the local tip with a trailer on tow and picked up an old freezer.  Sorting a container for the chook food has been on my to-do list for a looong time but now that we're thinking of getting more chooks it's become a priority.  This freezer is perfect for the job.  I'm making my own grain mix for them and recording the costs as I go.  I'm confident that my mix is nutritious but I have a sneaking suspicion that when I add up the prices, it would be cheaper to buy the commercial mixes.

We've been to the library, picked up (and shoveled out) a load of manure and returned the trailer to the stables.  The children have played independently.  There have been shopping games, mum's and dads, doctors and even dinosaurs.  We've cared for the animals, milked the goats and Belle and I have knitted fingerless mittens to try and ward off the cold.  It's icy out there in the late afternoons!

  I've had a friend visit twice this week and twice she has helped me complete some tasks on my list.  She and her husband helped me plant the garlic last weekend.  I was despairing that I wouldn't get it in on time.  During the week, she and I planted comfrey under the fruit trees while adding compost and manure.  It's lovely to have friends that enjoy working alongside me.

The chooks are doing a lovely job in their new enclosure.  We've put them in a bare paddock on the top of the hill.  This paddock had no soil whatsoever so, a while back, we shoveled a couple of trailer loads of horse manure on it.  Now the chooks are scratching it around and adding their own manure to the mix.  We'll move them soon to a new area and put them to work again.  Our hope is that, over time we'll see the soil build up.

I know it can work.  I've inspected the area where we've been putting piles of horse manure in one spot over the last year.  Yesterday I scratched the soil around the piles.  It was definitely an improvement.  Just three metres away, where there has been no manure, I can't even scratch past the surface because there is no topsoil at all.  I will begin piling the manure there instead next week.

Near the manure pile

Existing 'soil?'

Today I will continue to paint and this afternoon I plan to take a look at a second hive which is down in the bush.  I find it hard to get to this particular hive because it's so far from the house.  I don't want to have the children there with me but I can't leave them home alone.  Hence I wait until Hubby is around, the weather is right, and my mentor is available.  It's getting late in the year for beekeeping and I won't have many opportunties before winter sets in.

I've only had a couple of attempts to beekeep on my own so far and they weren't very successful.   On one attempt the bees were very aggressive and I had two stings inside my boot which I had to ignore.  I was also stung twice on the hand.  I managed to calmly work through but didn't know enough about the bees to understand what was happening.  Normally they are quite settled.  My mentor felt it may have been due to the hive being so full of honey that they had nowhere to lay their brood.  Therefore, once I had removed three frames (all I could manage in my bee-stung state), they were calmer when we inspected them this week.

I'm very lucky with my mentor.  He has years of experience.  I've known Jim since I was born.  He was a friend of my parents and we used to visit their family when we were children.  I was lucky that I unexpectedly came across Jim and his wife in the supermarket car park soon after we bought this property.  We had lost contact and I had no idea that they lived in this area.  Neither did I know Jim was a beekeeper.  I invited them to lunch, together with my parents, and it was then I discovered that Jim worked with bees.  He's been helping me since.  It's wonderful to watch him at a hive.  He works slowly and calmly.  He doesn't even wear gloves!!!

So onward I go!  Hopefully I can get through my jobs by the end of the day and perhaps tomorrow I'll just relax.

How is your weekend looking?  Are you taking it easy or do you also have a thousand projects on the go?!

A time for work

The talks by Joel Salatin that I recently attended worked like a shot in the arm; an injection of energy.  There's nothing like inspiration to awaken/rekindle motivation and get the blood flowing.

I wake each morning full of energy and with many ideas of things I would like to achieve in the day.  Sometimes I even find myself outside in my nightie and slippers before I know what's happened!  The timing of the talks was serendipitous too.  Why?  This is the time of year for work.  The weather conditions for plants, the comfort levels of working and the amount of time available are all better at this time.

The summer heat has gone, it's even raining regularly at the moment.  Cool days and a gentle soaking means everything planted stands a chance of becoming established before next summer arrives.

The temperature is perfect for work too.  The days are chilly so I don a jacket, hat and scarf when I head out but I can manage some serious physical work on these cool days.  It doesn't take long before shoveling out a trailer of manure has me stripping down to a t-shirt.  In summer, I would only last five minutes before giving up.

Autumn is also more generous with allowing me time.  Spring in the garden means soil preparation, planting, fertilising; summer is for watering and heat management and extra attention for the animals.  Late summer is a crazy time of year because so many fruits and veggies are ready and need to be dealt with.  As I learn more about preserving, each summer I am busier in the kitchen.  Now, with my shelves as ready as they will be and only the promise of a day of picking a friend's olives ahead of me, I'm out working.

I've been leaving my trailer at a near-by stable and picking it up a couple a days later, laden with stinky goodness for my paddocks and garden.  I've been shoveling it straight onto the top of the paddocks.  Because we are on a hill, I layer it thickly at the top end and hope that gravity will work in my favour over the next couple of months.  I imagine the rain and chooks will help it spread further down the paddocks without much actual intervention from me.  Occasionally, living on a hill has its benefits.

Daily we drop in to the post office in the hopes that our electric netting fence, that we ordered online, will be there.  When it arrives, we can put our chooks out in the paddock to do their best work.  They can scratch and peck at the moist dirt, spreading the aforementioned manure as they go.  With a bit of luck and a little management, the dirt may transition to become a layer of actual soil in the next season or so!  Last year, I laid branches across one of the paddocks on the contours and I can already see they are beginning to hold the soil and create flatter, more grassy spots.  The addition of some fertility should make a good improvement.

Sometimes I layer the manure with straw or hay from the goat pens to create a nice, hot compost.  It makes a beautiful addition to the garden beds!

Our does have been to visit a local buck.  He's a bit of a stud actually so I wait with baited breath now, hoping that they don't cycle again.  We're hopeful for some lovely baby goats in about five months time....

I have planted tagasaste for forage and put in some apricot seeds.  These were saved from apricots we ate.  I put the seeds in the fridge to plant out later in the year.  They were starting to sprout in the fridge however, so I've sown them and made little plastic covers in the hopes of seeing them through winter.  So far, so good.  They have shot up out of the ground and look great.  I will use these as forage for the goats as well.

I've planted elder-flowers, jerusalem artichokes, and a wormwood grown from a cutting.  The wormwood is next to the chook shed as an insect repellent.  I'm hoping all my new systems are more established by next summer and that life will be easier and more comfortable for us and the animals alike.  I'm deliberately planting chook plants near the chooks and goat plants near the goats to make our work flow.

Belle and I asked Hubby to show us how to use the power drill and we're ridiculously proud of ourselves!  We made a goat shelter from pallets.  I've since collected heaps more pallets ready to scatter shelters all over our property.  Armed with my newly found power tool skills, I've also created a clothes rack for the winter months so that we don't spend all our time negotiating clothes hanging on clothes horses set up in the lounge room.  I'll hang it upstairs to catch the rising heat and the ceilings are higher there so I can raise the clothes out of my way.

Daisy overseeing the construction

I'm also dreaming of completing the bulk of our hard physical work before winter really sets in.  I'm picturing gentle days inside near the fire, crafting, spinning and cooking up winter delights to serve at the end of a short and chilly day.  I like the idea of winter being a time of rest and recuperation before the busyness of Spring and the yearly cycle begin again.

Do you find that each year follows a pattern (or rythym.....  I love the peaceful sound of that term) and are you working harder than usual now?

A Steiner special school and Organising a break from the farm

Recently, the kids and I attended a camp.  I knew I was going to like it but didn't realise what a huge impact it was going to have on me.

The camp was organised by the Melbourne Waldorf Farm School.  They are a group of Steiner connected people who are in the process of organising a Steiner special school.  It would be the first of its kind in Australia.

The vision is for the school to operate as a working farm and incorporate residential housing for elderly folk as well as people with disabilities.  I love the concept.  They are creating a place that is useful and where everyone would be involved in a very real way regardless of ability.  The way I believe the world should be.

The experience of the camp left me wishing I could be involved when the school is operational.  The days the children and I spent there were incredible.  We were immediately immersed in the most connected and nurturing environment I have ever found myself in.  We were a community of people who cared about each other by the time we left. 

There were opportunities for Buddy to experience new activities as well as felting and music and singing for all of us.  Buddy's sisters had the opportunity to part from him and each other while playing, and to meet many other children with disabilities.  Pumpkin announced on the way home that she would like to work with people with disabilities when she grows up (because they are so nice). 

The parents were nurtured and, through various activities and in-depth discussion, felt very deep connections with each other by the time we went home.  The school will be in the outer eastern suburbs of Melbourne; too far for us although I toyed with the idea of moving for a while.  I would encourage anyone with an interest, to get involved.  You would be welcomed.  Tell your friends and spread the word.  The families who end up at this school will be very fortunate.  The school is in it's initial stages and those who get involved will be instrumental in helping this concept become a reality.

Hubby was left at home, as usual, to care for the animals.  It's the only way the children and I have been able to go anywhere over the last couple of years.  He gets up early for work to put animals in paddocks and stays up late milking, feeding, watering, and locking up.  I was beginning to feel as though we could never go away as a family again.

A friend, who was aware of our situation, organised a three day beach trip for us and pushed me encouraged me to stop procrastinating and find a way to leave our farm.  I put the word out on Facebook and a few friends offered their services.  I chose this medium because I felt I wasn't putting anyone on the spot.  It seemed such a big ask!  This way, those who wanted to come forward, did.

With two people able to help on the selected dates, we began our organising.  I was determined to make it as easy as possible for our generous volunteer friends. 

We organised self feeders for the chooks (I usually feed mash) so that feed and water only needed to be checked and filled if low.  We made up the daily feeds for the goats in ziplock bags - yes, I know shouldn't use plastic but I was desperate to make it easy!  The goats' feeds are individualised so we labelled each bag and labelled the pens.  We even wrote a brief descriptor above each pen in case the naughty girls took advantage of inexperienced carers and swapped pens.  We labelled food containers and the receptacle (an old dishwasher put to new use) where we keep first aid equipment and minerals.

Our evening helper came over to learn to milk and be shown the ropes.  Goats' hay feeders filled, chooks locked up, goats up from paddock, buckets and washing water organised, goats milked and fed, milk strained and buckets washed ready for the next day.  She was very enthusiastic and made me feel comfortable about asking her to take the task on.

Our morning volunteer was a neighbour who has helped in a couple of emergencies and already knew the ropes.  The chooks to be let out, hay in paddocks, goats out.  Her farm is a similar setup to ours, with many of the same livestock.  She is a kind and generous neighbour who happily helped us out!  This same neighbour has come and helped when one of the goats was sick and has lent me her caged trailer when my girl goats were wanting to travel to a buck because they were looking for love.

We only had one hiccough while we were away.  I wasn't clear enough with the days I needed help and there was a morning when the animals weren't let out.  A lesson to me for next time - specify exact days!

All in all, I think we organised the care of our farm fairly well.  If you are in a similar situation, don't be scared to ask.  There are probably people out there that would be happy to help you.  Make it as easy as you can by taking notice as you go about your chores.  You'll think of ways to simplify your system for inexperienced helpers.  Make sure you prepare anything that you can in advance and make sure that you leave a contact number.

I'm sure, one day, we will be asked to provide reciprocal care and my friends will be comfortable to ask me seeing as they have already cared for our animals.  It's lovely to be able to walk away from the daily grind every now and again and well worth the effort of organising the carers.

 Happy holidays!!!

Self care

There's been quite a silence from me recently.  You may have noticed I regularly have spurts of blogging and spurts of nothingness.  If I've not been writing, one of three things have likely happened.....

1. I've been so busy with projects and fun stuff that I haven't had time to write.
2. I've decided I'm finally going to get life 'right' and I'm putting all my time and energy into organising the house and kids.  Always a nuisance when I get into this mode because I waste precious time sweeping and wiping surfaces!!
3. I'm overwhelmed, exhausted and feeling like a failure.

This time around it was number three.  One of the down sides with trying to live thoughtfully and with respect for the planet with which we are blessed is that often we are time poor.  Since I began teaching the children at home I have really struggled with time issues.

I still want to find time to cook most of our food from scratch to avoid shortcuts that mean creating waste.  I want to garden to avoid feeding my children food with residual pesticides.  I want to make cleaners, again to avoid packaging waste.  I'd like to sew rather than buy products that have wasted resources in the transport process.  The list goes on and on........

Not only do I want to do all of this; I want to do it all perfectly!!  Of course.  For the last few months I have been feeling very tired.  Near on exhausted.  But I couldn't see a solution.  Especially because, even in this state, I keep jumping at opportunities to learn new skills.  A new recipe here, how to dispatch a goose there, how to pickle.....  So I just kept putting one foot in front of the other and trying not to think about it.

Now, this is not a once off exhaustion.  This is a pattern I follow.  I think it's probably something many of you who are greening your lives can identify with.  A lifestyle danger if you will.  On other occasions I have reached crisis point by exploding with the kids or by falling into a sobbing heap.  Last time, I decided to really take notice of the warning signs and be proactive in fending off an inevitable collapse.  But how............?

I thought long and hard about what I felt I needed.  I decided I just. needed. to. STOP!!!! I didn't want to feed another chook, milk another goat, teach another child, book another appointment, clean another mess - all the things that make up our day.  I didn't even feel like talking to Hubby once the kids went to bed because I was so worn out from doing and thinking.

So there it was identified, I needed a break.

I am very lucky.  I rang and asked my mother, feeling very guilty, if she could take the children and she didn't hesitate.  She and Dad looked after the kids for two days even overseeing their lessons for me.  Hubby took on a load as he worked all day and then cared for the animals and milked.  Belle and I did heaps of preparation to cut down the work and I think it helped him.

I booked a room near Rosie so I could squeeze in a visit with her and my lovely granddaughter.  I spent two days listening to relaxation cds, crafting, planning a new daily routine for when I went home and generally just sitting quietly (just being) !

It worked!  I came home refreshed, implemented my new routine and threw myself back into our busy lives.  I kinda felt validated when the kids arrived home.  They were all talking to me at a million miles an hour and it was mayhem and busyness right from the word go.  No easing back into it.  The contrast of my peaceful time made me realise that my life really is very busy and tiring.  The difference is that I have got through my week with it's usual up's, down's and minor crisis's with a sense of humour rather than doom.   I have had energy as I've tackled my work and I've found enjoyment in my everyday tasks.  Cooking and creating a nice environment for my family has been a particular pleasure.  Taking care of myself was really successful in enabling me to care properly again for the others in my life.

Pre-rest photo.  I didn't even get around to icing the cake for poor Belle!

As I stated earlier, I am very lucky to have such caring parents.  I know not everybody has a backup but I hope you have a way to refresh yourself when you need to.  Or more importantly perhaps, the ability to know when you've had enough and it's time to care for YOU!  Maybe you have your own secret weapon to use against burn out.

A week filled with.....

I'm halfway through writing a lengthy 'save-the-world' post.  Somehow I haven't been able to find that elusive hour or so to sit uninterrupted and complete it.

So! Rather than complete silence from me, let me show you what we've been up to.  Our week has been filled with....

...tomatoes (not mine, boxes bought from the orchard)

...train trips to Melbourne rallies

...coming home to a busted solar hot water system

and nine little baby chickens!

After more than ten years of keeping chooks, I still get excited when chickens hatch.

Feed calls

When you're on property, you find yourself behaving in ways you never imagined while living a town life.

Daily we feed the animals.

Here chook, chook, chook, chook, chook.  In the Front Pen (yes, imaginative name) we supposedly house our Orpington chooks but in reality it has become our gentle pen....... the pen for elderly hens, hens with bad gaits, chooks that get picked on.

Here chook, chook, chook, chook, chook.  The Australorps.

Here chook, chook, chook, chook, chook.  This  pen is the goose pen.  So named because it used to house the geese!  Now it's supposed to house only the silver dorkings but has sort of become the containment pen.  When little chickens keep getting in my veggie garden they are likely to end up in here because it's the only pen that can keep little goslings or chickens from getting out.

Here goose, goose, goose, goose.  These guys free range, usually in the orchard.  And I have a favourite by default.  He is named Rebecca.  Ooops!  She's a he!  But still Rebecca.

Then there are the goats.  Come on Daisy.  Come on Gooey.  Come on Esmeralda.  Come on Daisy.  DAISY!!!  Would. you. COME ON!

We have the dogs later in the evening.  SpottyOscAR.  SpottyOscAR.  Always one word for Spot and Oscar.  Always the sing song lilt.

Last but not least is Nutmeg, the cat.  Well, actually, we never need to call her.  She's a cat. She tells us when she wants to be fed.  But if we ever call her, the call is 'Nutty, here puss, puss, puss.  Heeeere Nutty.'

So there you have it.  Behaving in ways you never imagined.  Apparently each group of animals must be called in the same way, the same number of times for their particular species, in the same tone of voice.

Also once named, anything on property remains named.  Rebecca remains Rebecca.  The Goose Pen is The Goose Pen regardless of who's in there.  The Dry Dam remains The Dry Dam even when full of water (not often) and our orchard is 'out the back' although it's at the front of our home.  (When we moved here we were living in another tumbledown house in a different position.)

Have you developed any strange behaviours while living rurally?

Evenings

Living on property and having animals makes for busy evenings.  Each day around here is different.  Sometimes our days are filled with appointments, sometimes we go to the pool for summer holiday fun, sometimes it's housework and shopping.  Today we're picking up a new milking goat and I'm tossing up a trip to buy fruit for preserving.  However, no matter what happens during the day, through necessity, the evenings are all pretty much the same.

I love going through the routine at days end.  Wandering to the orchard with a bucket and spoon, making up a mash for the poultry.   It's the back chooks that are fed first, followed by the dorkings, then the geese.  Lastly I feed the front chooks and leave a little in the bottom of the bucket for our lone duck.  (Must address that and find myself an appleyard drake)  The bucket is left with the duck ready to pick up the next day as I go through the process again.

Meanwhile, Belle makes up the food for the goats and fills their overnight hayfeeders.  We are both very popular with all our livestock at this time of day.  Chooks, duck and geese run after us eager for something yummy.  The kid goat maaa's away to tell us he's hungry too.

A hopeful goose!

I find a few leaves to place on the hay racks.  At this time of day we just use forage to entice the goats up to their night pens.  In the mornings, I cut more substantial forage to keep them happy in their paddock.

At this time of year, I need to attend to the garden next.  It's a rare day that I don't need to water!  Pots, a couple of the winter beds and my main summer bed, the round garden, all need to be watered.  This is a time I use to inspect the garden as well.  I've learnt a lot about gardening this year so we have some good results showing.  It's nice to check for ripening tomatoes and to wonder how I will know when the eggplant is ready.  I have one reasonably large one on the bush and I've been waiting for it to become an eggplant-y shape but wonder if it's just not going to be an elongated one.  Do you know how to tell when they're ready?

There was one special evening this week on which we were treated to a special concert complete with tickets, seating and a raffle!

It's not all roses though because I need to make the difficult decision of which plants get watered properly and which just receive the minimum they need to keep them alive through the summer.  Water is so scarce here.  Whenever it rains, the water soaks into the parched soil rather than running off into the dam.  We need flooding rains to fill it again.  Sadly, this week Victoria received flooding rains but we somehow missed out.  We had plenty of beautiful rain on the garden but not enough to fill our dams.  My rhubarb is a sorry sight as it is one of the plants I've held the water back from so that I can grow the annual veggies well.

Once the watering is complete it's back into the house and back to reality.  The mundane tasks of dishes to be dealt with, picking up some of the days mess, tallying up all the jobs I didn't get done and wondering where the day went!

Tired but productive

It's been a great week around here with lots of busy spring activity taking place.  With the school term starting, we've resumed our weekly activities.  I had missed our Social Swimming program where I get to jump in the pool with the kids and have an hour of songs and fun.

Pumpkin's bathers disintegrated through sheer overuse last term so rather than buy a new pair, I made her a swimming costume.  I can't call them bathers really because they are not very conventional but I had left over fabric from making the bags.   Using a sheet, a pyjama pants pattern and a modified sundress pattern, I came up with an outfit.  Pumpkin LOVES wearing them.

It's been a week of finding a hard-to-find rooster and a pet silky.

 

Uh huh!  You're seeing it right.  It's on her bed!!

A week of expecting six Orpington chicks and getting instead...  only one little chicken which we suspect is a moggy.

This week Argoo went on heat.  (Is that correct goat terminology?)  So we had a rushed visit from a nearby Saanen buck!  It wasn't successful because, while they both showed some interest and pranced around a bit, they didn't do the important bit.  Oh well, I'll try again next month.

The garden has been needing my attention but my efforts are paying off!  We eating lots of beautiful, fresh lettuce at the moment and I've even been organised enough to plant more lettuce to follow!

 

We harvested broad beans this week.  Have you discovered yet how much fun podding is for children?!

 

 



Most of our enthusiasm this week though, has gone into preparing for a trip away.  We're travelling to New South Wales next week to take part in the Flotilla with the Pacific Climate Warriors.   I like involving my children in actions to address climate change because I want them to realise that they are not powerless.  I want them to believe they can play an important part in creating the world they want to live in.

My big lesson for the week has been the realisation of the importance of sleep in our busy lifestyle!  I have been struggling to sleep for some unknown reason and it's driving me mad!  I go to bed, sort of sleep but not quite.  I seem to spend the whole night in a half asleep, half awake state and it has impacted on me.  I'm dragging my feet (and feeling grumpy) during the day.  Our lives are so physical with leading goats up and down hills, carting water etc.  I've realised that after a good, refreshing sleep, I feel able to take on the world but without it I struggle to get through each day.

Now that I've made this clear connection between sleep and my ability to function well, what do I do with this awareness?  Do you ever suffer from insomnia and have you found a solution for it?