17/05/2009

Well another weekend is behind us. The time flies by so fast these days it’s scary. I wake up on a Monday morning and blink and there the week is gone. I still have a long list of things I wanted to get too and the time is gone. I suppose I made a few changes. I changed the curtain hooks in Michaela’s room so they hang a bit higher and in so doing saved me another bout of sewing. The lounge painting (first coat only) is complete at long last and I have purchased the supplies to paint the doorframes and window sills too.

The grey water pipe repairs are still waiting to be completed. All my bright plans for Johnny this weekend came to a grinding halt as he had a breakdown at work and worked most of Saturday daylight hours. While I’m frustrated that it didn’t get finished I’m resign to being patience. A trait I seem to have less and less of as I grow older. The orange tree which I purchased two weeks back waits patiently to be planted in the ground. Oh where does the precious time go?

I have been reading up on the net regarding the diets of goats and I see that goats find lots of nutrients in weeds, so today while in the garden I plucked out a few dozen (boy do they grow like wildflowers) and recycled them to the goats. To my delight the goats found the weeds nice and juicy and munched them down quickly. The guinea pigs got the thistles and they enjoyed those too. Much of the front garden was worked in today and although the garden still has plenty to be done it’s taking the shape of our inexperienced hands nicely. Johnny attacked the far side of the rose bed with the tractor where the ground cover had just been left to run wild before. The roots were so deep and strong it was impossible for me to root them up with my humble garden tool. It was a Herculean labor and I was glad for the help of the machine. Perhaps there is light at the end of this tunnel after all. Thank goodness for tractors.

I made contact with a very helpful lady who runs a goat club and has dairy goats at the moment. I’m rather disappointed that I didn’t get hold of her before I bought the Boer goats. I’ve enveloped them into my heart and there is no way I could swap them for two dairy goats in stead as she suggested. I’m going to try and convince Johnny to have both. What is the harm? These nanny goats have won my heart and are part and parcel of our family now. None the less Monday night we will visit her and see her goats. I’m rather excited about it too.

This afternoon we went to look at the Dexter heifer which is in calf up the road from us after David contacted Johnny and told him that he has a heifer for sale. She is the most beautiful creature and very friendly. She has never calved before but she looks healthy and strong. A cows gestation period is nine months so we should have a baby around January. David reckons she had run with the bull for about a month so he’s certain she is pregnant but to be on the safe side he will put the bull back in with her to make sure. This means we will have to wait a few more weeks. I suppose it doesn’t matter really but we are eager to get her home. We gained a fair bit of insight from David about where to find cattle stores and fly tags which are used to keep the buffalo fly off the cows. Apparently the flies attack the cows’ eyes and cause a lot of damage there. New experiences and learnt information have become so part of us that it’s easy to forget that we never knew them.

The stray cat is making more and more relaxed visits. By george, I think it’s becoming domesticated! Its favorite place at the moment seems to be staring at us through the double sliding glass door in the kitchen. Jonathan was able to hand feed it tonight. He has named it socks due to the white feet. I’ve given it much thought and don’t have the heart to be a willing participant in its death. The RSPCA will not be able to re-home it and its fate is in my hands. Having a cat is good as I’m sure the snakes are kept at bay due to the cats’ presence. Okay another animal to the list.

I’ve been spending a lot of time down at the pond feeding the ducks and taking a few moments out each day to read my book down there. It’s wonderfully relaxing. Today the birds tried to get in on the action too but were rather wary of me. They stayed in the distance watching and waiting for a piece of bread to fly astray their way. I even had a Galare. That is a pink and grey cocker too like bird.

Jonathan came home from his rugby game and was rejoicing because he scored a try in the game. He really enjoys the rugby game so much and it’s wonderful to see his excitement and enthusiasm about playing.

13/05/2009

The chicken’s adventures have come to a halt! They are now kept away from the first fenced paddock with the wall and are resigned to the fact that they must stay inside the fences at last. I had the ducks, chooks and goats all together up until today. Lady and Carla have now discovered the chicken’s food is rather tasty and I guess the line about “goats eating anything” is true. They get quite annoyed with me when I stop them from eating the grain. I mean goats are meant to eat the grass and weeds aren’t they? So now they get separated from the ducks and the chickens. They don’t appreciate being left out of the feeding scheme. So at night I give them a little handful of cattle mix that I give to the cows to keep them happy.

T-bone has what I would call an ox picker permanently around him laterally. It’s a large white bird. Johnny doesn’t think we get ox pickers here so it must be another type of bird. No matter its name, he is enjoying the flies hanging around the cow and doesn’t stay too far from the black cow. Yesterday I was washing up the dishes and looked out to see the cows and the wild kangaroo’s interacting. It was amazing and yet again I wasn’t prepared with my camera. It would have been an amazing shot! The kangaroo’s looked quite aggressive and had there fore arms up ready. Nothing came of it and they eventually left.

The past two nights Johnny’s been working on the lounge. Using filler and plaster to fill in gaps. The builder that built this house didn’t finish off the sealing well so no wonder the bugs thought this was their hotel – nobody stopped them moving in! Slowly but steady we are moving ahead in the lounge. Now that it’s so cold in the evening it’s harder to want to work. One would much rather slouch on the couch and enjoy a fire and the telly instead.

Yesterday I ordered some stone and it was delivered. This weekend Johnny can lay the stone down and close up the gapping holes in the ground for the grey water system. I will be very happy to see this job complete. We got some more rain yesterday and our tank is overflowing again – yay!

I finally got around to buying my first fruit tree and I have chosen an orange tree to start off with. Hopefully this weekend it will find a home somewhere in the garden.

08/05/2005

Who says animals are dumb creatures? My hens are far too intelligent for my liking! Even after we cut there wings they still are escaping….. How I do not know yet but I’ve investigated any possible holes in the fences but alas, there are none. The remaining possibility is the flower bed that has a wall around it. The height takes the chicken around half way up the fence and I see they like to sit and perch on this wall. I now think they are using the wall as a spring board seeing that they can’t fly over. How else are they getting out? It is truly a mystery. Today I didn’t let them into the area where the wall is, so let’s see it that solves this mystery.

Lady and Carla are becoming so used to us now and on the odd occasion they allow us to stroke them. They are such beautiful creatures and have some real attitude too.

It was so cold last night that when I stuck my nose out of the blankets it felt like it was so frozen it would fall off. The cold weather is making its appearance slowly. Even the animals appreciate being left inside a bit longer.

07/05/2009

Today I am happy to announce the arrival of our beautiful goats “Lady and Carla”. Johnny and I finally decided to hire a trailer and make the hour and a half trip up to Billy Joe in Lowood to collect the goats, after nothing came of my post box drops. After seeing the children off to school, it was a quick runaround making beds and general tidy up. The weather was threatening to rain and I was hoping it would hold off for our trip. Hiring the trailer seems to be a breeze and we at last set off. Traveling through Ipswich was lovely and scenic. It is really rural out here which is always lovely to see. Once we arrived it was a case of decided which two to take. Billy Joe had a very young buck to sell aswell but Johnny thought it would be wiser for us to get used to the goats first before we jump in head first with the breeding. So it was settled, we would take Lady and Carla. Johnny carried them into the very big trailer. They looked so very tiny in the bright red trailer. We got caught in traffic caused by roadwork’s on the way back and doubted whether we would make it back with the trailer in the set time. There was nothing we could do but sit and wait as the traffic crawled along. Finally we made it past the road works and were on our way home.

At home we off loaded the goats. They made a lot of noise showing their unsettledness. Johnny and I rushed off to take the trailer back and got back just in the nick of time and so avoided the late fee charge.

The afternoon past with me snapping photos of Lady and Carla and them meeting Spot. The puppy has very quickly been put into place by the goats. They will not put up with his nonsense like the ducks and hens do. It is good that they are not afraid of him. The cows were rather curious too this afternoon and sensed something was different. They ambled up earlier than usual to stare at the goats. The hen’s wings got snipped at last and they weren’t too happy with us. They squawked for awhile but finally settled down. That’s the end of their flying days, at least until the feathers grow back that is. For now we are safe.

The children arrived home and were surprised to see the goats. Michaela spent most of the late afternoon in with the goats and eventually came out to have dinner. Unbeknown to me she had left the gate of the paddock open and the inevitable happened. I was rather exhausted from the day’s events and the rushing around early on and so was a bit slow at putting the animals in for the night. I got out eventually but it was dark already. I walked down towards the animal kennels and noticed the front gate was standing open. My heart sank as I could see the goats nowhere! The following few minutes the four of us frantically searched the garden in the dark calling and calling making supposedly “goat noises” but definitely sounding more like sheep. The gates in the top garden were all closed properly so I knew that the goats could not have escaped the property. They had to be hiding somewhere. Each minute that went by my hopes sank lower and lower. I could not believe this was happening. Just then Johnny had the wonderful idea of looking under the porch and low and behold there they were resting without a worry in the world! We picked them up and took them down to their own stall. I laid out some wood shavings and made sure there was water and some grain around. Michaela got the lecture of a life time again – the poor kid! I think she’s learnt her lesson though and the gates will all be bolted from now on. The importance of bolted gates is crucial on a farm and I think we got this point across to her well.

Our animal menagerie is slowly growing and we could not be happier!

06/05/2009

My goodness, it’s so hard to believe that almost six days have gone past and I haven’t written in this diary. I suppose it’s an indication that life is settling into a nice pattern. We have done heaps of stuff over the past week. To name a few, one was to unearth the grey water pipe which wasn’t functioning properly. After solving the septic tank issue and finding the culprit to be a mass of roots that were growing comfortable inside the pipe, I had a sneaky suspicion that this could be the same inside the grey water pipes aswell. After heaps of digging and lots of hit and misses we struck gold! As suspected the roots were causing the blockage again! We gained a fair amount of knowledge on the whereabouts of the pipes and how the drainage field is operating which is always good. We cleaned out the stables all ready for the horse to come, which I must add is not arriving as quickly as I would have liked. As far as my plans for the goats and sheep, I have made contact with a few breeders but unfortunately most of them are at least two hour drive away. Added to this dilemma is the fact that we do not have adequate cartage equipment. So either we use expensive animal carriers or hire a trailer and go and fetch the animals ourselves. This way is safer as you get to see the animals first and pay cash up front. We have to work out the details of the collection time aswell as booking and collecting the trailer. It’s all so exhausting! Down the road from me is a man who has what must be 100 goats. I think I’m going to slip a note in his post box and see if he is willing to sell me two. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if I could do this! Let’s hope. Failing this Johnny has said we can go and collect the “boer goats” which we have found in Lowood. This is an area 1 and half hours away. I have learnt so much about the breeds of goats in this process aswell as make a total idiot of myself too. I will fill you in on one very embarrassing conversation with the goat breeder I had made contact with. Her name was Billy Joe – how’s that for a real country name. Anyway wearing my ignorance like a crown, I was asking her if she had a boar (thinking this was the name of a male goat). She quickly corrected me and told me the male goats are called buck or Billy’s. Where was my English training now? Where was the memory of the story I learnt as a child – The three Billy goats gruff’s….. Oh boy, there is help for me yet! So in the suspicion that a lot of you out there are like me I will give you a bit of an English/biology lesson. Here goes….

Female goats are called does, and as stated above the males are called bucks. Boer goats which are a breed actually originate from South African and are hardy, good starter goats for a small holding/acreage. They are predominately for meat eating and not milking but you can cross them with a milk goat and you will get the end result. The Asian countries eat goat meat and there is apparently a huge export market out there. The meat I’m told is something like venison and quite tasty. Most people I’ve spoken too don’t eat the meat but like I said there is a big export market to hone into if ever we decide to go the breeding route. Apparently most people keep the buck away from the girls and introduce him to them around Feb to April which in turn insured a five month gestation period and kids are born after the cold winter and hence a better survival rate.

Now on to the cow’s. The contact we had has gotten tired of waiting for us to make up our minds and I have a sneaky suspicion we have lost them which is annoying as it was a very good deal but our own fault at the end of the day. I’ve emailed him and have tried to make contact but I’ve been unsuccessful. So we still do not have a milking cow. Argh, it is frustrating.

As for the sheep, there seem to be very little about, however I have found a man just around the corner from me who will sell me a ram and some ewes later on in the year. Johnny says one at a time so I guess if the ram is still here in a few weeks, we may follow up on this option too.

Well that is the update on the animal front. As for me, I’ve been sewing curtains and working in my rose garden each day. Slowly but surely I’m gaining ground back from the weeds and moving in on the pests i.e. the caterpillars. They are so pesky and ruin the new buds. They spin a web like patch over the new buds and completely suffocate them. Each day I am watering the roses with the soapy dish water and it seems to be helping. Whether it is the complete solution or not I’m yet to see, but I will persevere.

This past weekend I tried to lift the little bit of paint that had been left behind on the porch partly on the wood but mostly on the cement strip with the painter stripper. What a tedious job this was and I wasn’t very successful. I gave up shortly. Johnny says we should rather use a sander for the cement part and then rehire the wood sander again to complete this job, so for now that’s the plan. I’m not looking forward to the dust again but what’s a girl to do!

The evening and early mornings are chilly and I have completely removed all summery nightwear and replaced it with our flannel PJ’s and fluffy slippers now. We make fires most nights and enjoy the relaxing atmosphere it creates. It is wonderfully to walk outside midday and enjoy the rays of the sun and not worry that you are being burnt to a crisp for a change. Even the flowers seem to be relaxing.

Spot is doing well and slowly learning his lessons in life. Michaela comes out with the funniest things sometimes. Yesterday spot got hold of her school shoe and carted it outside to hopefully have a good chew on. I had warned her already early on to not leave her shoes there but the ears were ornaments again. When she discovered that the one shoe was gone she then had to take the torch and go outside to search for it. This is a task Michaela detests as she is a big scaredy cat in the dark. This “country dark” is a whole lot darker than the city as you can imagine. She retrieved her shoe and thankfully it wasn’t damaged. She then took spot to the laundry and gave him a stern lecture and closed the door. I asked her what was going on? She replied “Mom I am disciplining him as he has been naughty. I had to keep a straight face but inside I was giggling madly. Poor spot had forgotten completely about the shoe but put on the saddest face ever.

Okay I’ve been pro-active. I’ve gone and dropped notes off in the post boxes and hopefully will hear something soon. If this works out it will save us a heap of trouble and will be so wonderful.

CHAPTER FIVE

30/04/2009

The hens are starting to copy each other and I now have two hens outside the coop most days and two inside. I think it’s time to cut one of their wings. This will be another new experience to learn. I made a mental note for this task this weekend. This afternoon I took spot for our usual walk to take the ducks for their swimming time in the new pond. It was so peaceful sitting on the side of the pond just watching the ducks. They prune themselves and then dive under the water again and again. They come out of the dive and stretch their slim bodies up above the water and flap their wings. The baby yellow duck that I had a few weeks ago is gone and it his/her place is this graceful white beauty. Spot is learning not to chase them but he looks eagerly at them none the less. I’m really confused about the sex of the ducks. I thought we had a male at one point but I’m not so sure anymore, perhaps they are both females.

I must add that it looks like the level of the pond is dropping, not fast but substantially which is really discouraging. It means we have to reline it again. Not an easy feat!

Tonight was really nippy and we made a fire inside. The flames were mesmerizing and the warmth of the embers heated the whole lounge nicely. I love my fireplace! Well it’s hard to believe that the end of another month is upon us again. As I reflect back on April, I note that things have settled down a lot. I’m happy about a lot of things these day that have been achieved and not as wound up about the “to do” list anymore – I’ve relaxed abit. I think I’ve realized that none of the “lists” really matter in the great scheme of things. They will get done along the road.