My wheelbarrow garden

I've recently discovered just how easy it is to grow most succulents and some cactus plants.   My dear friend Val, is a lady of many resources.  She is talented in many art forms.  The list goes on and on.  She's so good at cooking, baking, flower arranging, gardening, card making, arts and crafts.  She is just amazing and so full of energy.  Well, one day while visiting her I picked up the idea of a wheelbarrow garden.  She had one that was flourishing with these succulents.  They were so colourful with their tiny little yellow, orange and red flowers.  The best part was how easy they were to grow.   She taught me all I know about these tiny little treasures.  A few cuttings from her plant and all I had to do was regularly  break off an established piece and stick it back in the soil taking care not to replicate the same colour in the same area.   I continued to do this regularly over the next few weeks and before I knew it, I had a beautifully flowering barrow garden.   Obviously the tender loving care with daily watering makes a big different but just how easily is that and you have some lovely colour in your garden along with recycling an old wheel barrow that was just going to land in the tip otherwise.

A great find!

  Recently we discovered large fish in our dam quite by accident really.  We have been here three and half, almost four years and have never seen them before.  It was an exciting find here at Pine Haven.  The books were out, we googled all different types of fish to try and find the same one.   We think its a "tilapia".  A few weekends back Stuart came over with his casting net and just like a fisherman from the bible days, he cast his nets and caught the fish.  After we took about a gazillian photo's of this fellow, we released him back in the water.  The level of the dam has slowly gone down in the past few weeks and the colour of the water is incredibly murky and unclear.  I'm wondering if the rain  which I'm still wishing for would come and settle the mud down below again aswell as how much oxygen the fish have.  For the fish to grow to this size, there must be a thriving food chain down under which makes me smile.

Introducting Sammy!

Sammy is the newest arrival on Pine Haven.  She is a blue heeler which is a fancy name for a cattle dog I guess.  She belongs to Jonathan my son and is a gift for Christmas.  She has been visiting for a few hours to see how she settles in.  The family she was with had small children and couldn't keep her any longer.  Sammy is highly strung and very energetic.  Apparently she used to jump up and knock the children over.  I'm hesitant to get another animal and mouth to fed but Jonathan assures me he will take care of her.  I have agreed to accept her as long as he holds his side of the bargain.  I must admit though she is growing on me.  I never much liked the colouring of a cattle dog nor their nature but I think she might just fit here at our humble little home. I sat on the porch stairs early this morning watching the dogs interact and wishing for some cool weather.  We are in the middle of another heat wave and I'm drained and lethargic from the heat.  There was a promise of a storm yesterday but a rumble in the sky was all we got.  Hopefully today will bring some water from the sky.

A brief life!

Rosie our Swiss brown cow died  a week ago suddenly.  It was a shock to the system as we haven't yet had a cow die on Pine Haven.  It was a record I hoped would never change but the odds were against us I guess.  Of late I have heard many cows going down with "three day illness".   It's a illness in which the cows refuse feed, get a temperature and achy joints.   They don't move much but if they are strong enough they pull through the three days, mostly a little skinny but are back to their usual diet and put the weight back on.  In the cases of pregnant cows, usually they abort their calves but  in some cases they die.  Rosie, Daisy and Zulu our three dairy cows all looked a bit off colour the morning of Rosie's death.  Crystal the Dexter foster mom, was bellowing uncontrollably like she does when we part her from her calf.   Irritated, as I had a full day planned and was on my way out.  I thought it best to spare a couple of minutes and go check on them.   I walked down to the dam where they all stood grazing.   Rosie's head was down but I didn't pick up any signs from her.  Daisy the jersey cross worried me as she showed signs of distress but was still standing.   I made a mental note to come and check on them as soon as I got home.  I hoped they weren't coming down with something.  My outing took me away from home for most of the day.   A friend dropped by in the afternoon and we sat on the porch with a cuppa.  Crystal the Dexter cow was still bellowing constantly.   Silently I sighed, what could she be on about.  I glanced down into the paddock and did a count.  I didn't notice Rosie but guessed she was laying down.  Honestly I was more concerned about Daisy who had shown signs of illness that very morning more than Rosie.   The afternoon rolled past and I had planned to go buy some bales of hay for the girls.  We were running low on feed, its been so dry of late and the grass is not growing fast enough for the cattle.  On my return I could not bear Crystals bellows  any longer so while Jonathan unpacked the bales into the barn I walked down to Crystal.  She stood over Rosie and from a distance I saw she was down.   As I walked down I held my breath but honestly I did not expect what I found. Rigor mortis had set in already and her stomach was three sizes bigger.  It was not a pretty site for sure.  Poor Rosie.  I quickly rung Johnny who was on his way home already and then I rung Mary, my farm girl buddy from down the road.  She's had a fair few losses in this department and was much more experienced than I.   She advised me to burn the cow as we did not know what the diagnosis was.   What a loss.   We had such dreams and aspirations for Rosie.   We were going to learn how to make cheese with her milk.   We paid a large amount for her and travelled four and a half hours to collect her.   I racked my brain to understand why this had happened.   She came from a tick free zone so maybe she was bitten by a tick, maybe it was worms as it was a very hot summer this year.  Maybe it was "three day sickness".   All I could think of was, if only I could have saved Rosie!   I looked over to Daisy and Zulu the other two dairy cows.  They looked weak too.   The Dexter's were OK though which was a big relief.  Two of them are expecting calves in March.  After Rosie was gone, the bellowing stopped finally.  The remaining herd looked somber but life pretty much went back to normal the next day.  The remaining two dairy cows came right the following day and Johnny gave them all a dose of wormer just in case.  That night as I lay in bed thinking.   I was reminded how temporary and delicate farm animals lifes can be.  Illness can strike suddenly and they are gone.

The beauty of nature.

I found this butterfly early this morning.  Look at the colours and perfect design on her wings.  Isn't she stunning!  This morning we woke up to a nice cool start to the day.  It was a welcomed change from the previous weeks of heat waves. If you look carefully you will see the web she is caught in but don't worry this story has a happy ending.  I set madam butterfly free from Charlotte's web and she fluttered off as if she had just stopped off for a visit.

You win some you lose some.

Yet again it’s been a busy few days.  We got unexpected new that Johnny was made redundant at work two weeks back but God was gracious and he walked out of that job and into another one.  The salary is a drop but not nearly as much pressure and he’s at home a whole lot more which makes me over the moon.  Another set of hands, strong ones at that.  We have been hectically trying to tidy up the garage area and turn it into a studio.  Sad to say it’s still a way to go but we shall persevere none the less.  Our ride on is finally going again and is driving like a BMW.  The long grass stands no chance in its way.  It was good to get things under control again.  An unruly tree got the axe and my colourful ornamental section at the bottom of the garden was in full swing of creation.  At last the wishing well moved from in doors to outdoors. While cleaning up the garage we unearthed a treasure for sure.  Now to most people I guess this won’t be considered a treasure but to find a wooden ladder that was probably older than me in my barn was delightful.  The wheel barrow pot plant was in full bloom and is doing tremendously well.   After carrying all the potted plants I received from Val to the back, I stood back and smiled.  It was a creation in the making.  The little pink, yellow and red flowers in the barrow looked beautiful and I smiled. 

On the other hand a fox has been in the area and he found my address sadly.  We discovered the hole in the fence he was using.  He nabbed four of my laying chickens this past week.  Angry at myself for becoming complacent, we set about to mend the fence and block him out.  He would not be getting away with any more of my birds.  Annoyed intensely as my ordering customers are slowly starting to increase at last and right now I don’t need to be down four layers.  There was no more to be done but work on getting the numbers up again.   I collect the four eggs in the nesting boxes and went straight upstairs and put them in the incubator.  21 days away we will have more baby chooks to raise and look after for a while.   It will take a few months but we will be back to normal soon enough.