Pumping Dam Water
Well, after a few failed attempts we now have the tank at the top of the hill about 80% full. Over Christmas my brother bought 150 metres of pipe and connectors and, together with about 300 metres of pipe in various lengths that Dad found in our forest, Dan and Dad connected the dam to the tank. (The pipe was from the days when the previous owners pumped water from the creek and the forest is just an area of dense pine trees.) We had a petrol pump that was here when we came, but although we had a bit of success my brother came to the conclusion that it wasn't up to the job. When Paul came home from spending Christmas with his family, we bought a new Davey Firefighter 6.5 horse power pump & motor. This worked for about a half an hour and then we were having problems with the intake. We then bought a new intake valve and connector. This actually came off the end at one stage. We now know that the back dam is as deep as Paul's legs are long (I should have taken a photo of Paul looking for the intake valve). Yesterday we pumped up another rung. Finally, today Paul pumped two more rungs (wide rungs) into the tank before the pump ran out of petrol. So we decided to call it a day. I think there's about two months worth of water for the animals in the tank now.
Dad took this photo after the long job of mowing a path for the pipe from the tank at the top of the hill down to the dam.

Empty Dam
Yesterday I went out to check the cows and Star had broken through the fence into the paddock enclosing the dam. I opened the gate and shooed her back through. I promptly moved them to the next paddock, because Star was after the grass not the water (as you can see by the photo). Then I fixed all the tie wire that had been broken.
One of the cows had also pushed the new fence near the sheep yards to get to the grass in there and the wire had unravelled from the strainer ratchet. I have left that for Paul to fix.
So the cows are now supposed to be in the lower western paddock but the Murray Greys and Brownie have already pushed their way through the middle fence into the large eastern paddock. Yet another fence that has to be fixed.
On Friday I heard that someone was illegally pumping/stealing water from our neighbour's back dam! If our back gate didn't have a lock on it they would probably be pumping water from our back dam too. Because our front dam is now empty and we only have about 2-3 weeks (3 rungs) worth of water in the tank at the top of the hill, we will have to find a way of getting the water from the back dam up to the tank.

A New Beginning
Paul is coming home today! It has been a long eight months (in fact a long year) and I'll be glad to see the end of 2006. We're going to start rebuilding our relationship and work towards building a better farm together. I'm going to change the name of my blog from 'My Journey' to 'Our Journey' but the focus will still be on what we're doing on the farm (plus my craft things along the way).
I hope everyone has a happy and safe Christmas and that the New Year is everything you want it to be.

New Sheep Yard Fence
Yesterday the fence guy finished putting on the gate of our new fence near the sheep yards. He and a mate built most of the fence on Saturday. The other fence on the western side of the paddock may not get built now until January. After I moved the trough from the Veggie Paddock and removed about 20 cigarette butts and a handful of wire off cuts I let the cows into the Dam Paddock. They have access to the area under the plum trees as well. They thought it was Christmas. I'm happy that they have at least two fences between them and the outside world now. Plus there is plenty of grass in that paddock to keep them fed for a while.

New Weaving Project
Apart from all the animal stuff, I have found time to start weaving another scarf. This time I wound my own warp and threaded the loom all by myself, with the help of two girls at my spinning group in planning the initial thread count and a book called Learning to Weave by Deborah Chandler. The instructions were very clear and I felt like I really achieved something. I have only just started weaving but I'm pleased with it so far. The pattern is a twill and is also from a friend from spinning. Now I just have to force myself away from the computer and to the loom, which is just on the other side of the room.

Brownie AI'd
On Friday morning I checked the cows and Brownie's heat/pressure patch was white. When I checked in the afternoon it had activated and was red and dirty brown, so she had been ridden during the day. (I have included a photo of Brownie's activated patch.) Plus I saw Brownie trying to ride Lady, something I hadn't seen before (Lady being so big). So, a 7am on Saturday morning (no sleep-in) Brownie was artificially inseminated and the AI girl said she was sure it would be successful. Lady on the other hand was a different story. She may not have been cycling anyway, but when the AI girl felt inside her she said she could find the cervix but couldn't find the opening and although she wasn't quite sure what was wrong, she said she didn't feel right. So, together with the fact that Lady had already been with a bull for two months and the fact that she is much larger than normal cows, we're thinking she may have reproductive problems. All this is leading to the decision to send her to the butchers in January instead of Star. I guess this is why people say not to become too attached to animals you may have to eat.

Dam Depth Gauge
When Mum and Dad were visiting, Dad secretly made and installed a depth gauge for the dam. When they were home he said I would find a surprise in the dam. I've always wanted to know the depth. Now we know how low the dam really is - less than a foot of water in the middle. There are other dams I see on the way to town that are lower than I've seen them in the time we've been here. Our dam actually dried up one year, but that was in March and we'd lost water because of tap problems.

AI Process & Fences
On Tuesday Dad helped put up two more electric netting fences in our neighbour's place to guide the cows up to their cattle yards. It was a bit wild and stormy but we managed. The AI girl checked Lady and said she seemed to have all the necessary reproductive bits. She also put our NLS tags on Brownie, Sandy and Star. Then injected Lady, Sandy and Brownie to bring on their cycles. This evening when I went out to check, Sandy's heat patch was red but after talking to the AI girl we think she may have rubbed her back on a branch of the only tree in the paddock. So without another heat patch we are only relying on observation to tell when she is ready. It's a bit hit and miss, but we'll see how we go.
The fence guys didn't come on Monday because it was raining and then they didn't turn up today when they had rescheduled. It's not looking good for these fences. I really want to move the cows to the Dam Paddock when this AI business is over and I don't want to do that without the fence in front of the sheep yards.

Moving Animals & Gardening
Yesterday Dad helped me move the cows down to the Veggie Paddock. I tried to move them by myself but they just looked at me and wouldn't move. Then we moved the sheep up to the top western paddock. Mum and I went up there this afternoon to collect pine cones and count the sheep, and they seemed to be enjoying their new grass, plus they have a large pine tree for shelter in the heat. Today Dad helped me put up the electric netting between the gate to the Veggie Paddock and the gate leading to the cattle yards in preparation for the AI process to start on Tuesday. Today Dad also mowed around the house and at the front near the road. The grass is starting to look neat again. The chickens also layed two eggs in the last few days!
I almost forgot, yesterday I planted lots of seedlings (tomatoes, pumpkins, corn, cucumbers, zucchini). Although today was quite warm and this afternoon they looked a bit wilted. I'll water them twice a day and hope that I don't loose them. Plus two of my potatoes are showing signs of life, sending up a few new leaves.

Mowing, Pruning & Planting
I brought the ride-on mower home today and mowed a path in the back paddock to the back gate and across the top of the hill. I also mowed around the outside of the veggie patch and at the side of the shed to reduce the risk of snake-surprise in the long grass when walking to the garden and feeding the chickens.
I connected a recently fixed energiser to the electric fence at the top of the veggie garden in readiness for bringing the cows in this area prior to their initial AI injection next Tuesday and the days following. We have to keep them close to monitor their cycles.
A week or so ago a very windy day dislodged some pine branches just above the area near our front gate, making it very difficult to drive in without scratching the car. This afternoon Steven and I went out there armed with a ladder and hacksaw and trimmed three branches the size of my wrist to clear a path. They really need to be cut off near the trunk but that's 15 feet up, so I don't know how that's going to happen. It won't be a problem until a truck needs to drive up our driveway.
Also this afternoon I planted two advanced tomato seedlings in the garden near the house tanks. These were given to me by a very generous neighbour who managed to save her tomatoes during the snow by putting sheets over her plants. The moral if this is to first listen to the weather forecasts and then be prepared. I was also reassured by the lady in the local hardware shop that my potatoes could possibly revive, so this afternoon I gave them a good drink of water and I will hope for the best.
All in all I've had a very productive day, together with herding the sheep back to their original paddock twice. This morning when I went out I had sheep in four different paddocks! They're worse than the cows. I'm going to have to give some thought to fixing those fences ... another day.

Thistles
This afternoon I decided to declare war on the thistles in the Dam Paddock. I went out about 6.30pm with the mattock and an empty chaff bag. I intended to bag all the thistles but when the bag became full I left it and continued on leaving the thistles upturned. They ranged from small one hit wonders to thistles so high I had to cut them down in stages (only about 50cm high really). At the end of an hour I was hot and sweaty and puffing. It was as good as any workout in the gym, plus I killed lots of thistles at the same time (and it didn't cost anything). I then went for a brisk walk to round up the escapee sheep and cool down. By this time I was starting to lose the light. It's the best time of the day to work, though. In my exhausted state I dragged the full bag of thistles up to the shed and left it where the sun can bake them dry over the next few weeks.
In other news I have lost another kilogram, so I have now lost 15kg for the year. Plus Paul is talking to me again, so the future may not be as bleak as it once seemed.

Ride-on Mower & Escapee Sheep
Today Steve and I managed to get the ride-on up into the trailer. I'm going to take it into town tomorrow to see if the mower guy can find out what's wrong with it. It won't start, basically. The battery has been fully charged, so that's not the problem. My brother thinks it's something to do with the starter motor but even from his description I don't know where that is. I even put petrol (and oil) in the normal push mower but couldn't start that either. The ride-on has been out of action for a while and the grass is getting very high, so I thought I had better take it somewhere. It wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be getting it into the trailer. Steve was pulling on a heavy rope and I was pushing up the metal car ramps. Anyway, we'll see what the mower guy says tomorrow.
After moving the sheep into the Triangle Paddock and Veggie Paddock I thought they would stay put, thinking that the fences of those paddocks are better than some. But if there is the smallest chance that the lambs can push through, they will. Plus Fluffy and Spotty Ram (last year's lambs) always manage as well, even though they are both quite big now. They are just the adventurous types.
Our chickens (or should I say 3yr old chooks) haven't layed an egg in over a week. We are down to five now from ten. I guess they're the five that don't lay.

Bloody Snow
While it was snowing yesterday it was sort of exciting, even though it was freezing. My main worry was getting the sheep, lambs and Bobby into a paddock from which they could access the shed because they had no shelter where they were. And then of course I had to go to work. I didn't have anything in place or even think about saving the vegetables. Well, I've lost the lot - 40 potato plants (about 30cm high), almost as many bean seedlings (about 15cm high), four tomato plants and three pumpkin seedlings. The few beans and lettuce I had planted around the house tank seem okay (they are still standing at the moment), maybe they were sheltered a bit. We had 6mm of snow, which doesn't sound like much because it certainly looked like more, but that's what was in the rain gauge this morning.
It's pretty upsetting really, about the veggies that is. The potatoes were coming along nicely. I'll wait a while to see if any come good before I rip everything out and start again. I'm glad I hadn't planted the corn seedlings out, and I do have some more pumpkin seedlings in the shed too, plus some very tiny tomato seedlings. But of course the shed doors are open now to let the sheep in and that also lets a draft in that might affect the seedlings.
Steve and I went to see "An Inconvenient Truth" on Tuesday. It was good but they were probably only preaching to the converted, judging by the audience in the theatre. But after having snow in November, I think in our area we could do with a bit of global warming.

Snow, Fences and AI
This photo was taken at 8am this morning. It had been snowing since just after 6.30am when I went out to feed the chickens. (By the way I buried another chicken two days ago.) I brought the sheep down from the paddock on the hill to the Triangle Paddock, so they could have access to the shed. It's still freezing but all the snow has gone now. I hope my poor vegetables recover. The beans look a bit sad.
Yesterday I accepted a quote for $650 for building two fences (100 metres and 20 metres, both with gates). The previous quote I received was for $990. At that price I would have been building it myself. I'll get these two fences built and then at Christmas when my brother and Dad come to visit, we'll attempt to replace the fence down the middle of the property - there are no gates involved, so we may be able to manage it outselves.
On 28 November we are starting the process of getting our cows pregnant. They have an injection to bring on their cycle and then we monitor them. When they cycle the AI girl comes back to give them the semen. We have ordered two Poll Herefords and one Murray Grey. At the same time she will be checking if Lady is able to get pregnant. Around the same time I plan to send one cow to the butchers. Originally this was going to be Star, but that depends upon the outcome of Lady's investigation.

Woven scarf
I have finally finished my first woven scarf. I wove a variety of patterns to see how the colours of the warp and weft came through, plus to find out how different patterns made the final fabric feel. I'm pretty pleased with the result.

Garbage Collection and New Trough
Today I bought a wheelie bin because we are going to get our garbage collected on Thursday! No more messy garbage bags in the boot on the way to the tip! We're going to get a collection once a week, so I'll have to take advantage of that and start cleaning out the shed, a little bit every week.
I also bought a new water trough today to go in the Veggie Paddock (called because it is the paddock next to the veggie garden). I bought all the fittings to connect the trough, with a short length of hose, to the tap. I wrapped plumbers tape around the threads as instructed and put it all together and it worked wonderfully. So now I have one less paddock to drag a trough to. Ultimately, I'd like to get a trough for each paddock.
I also cleaned out the cows trough today. I hadn't cleaned it for a while and it was filthy with thick algae on the bottom - the water was clean though. On McLeod's Daughters they're always talking about cleaning out troughs. Sometimes it seems overdone but believe me, troughs always need cleaning.
In the evening I weeded the garden and put down some sugar cane mulch around the potatoes and beans. I also planted two tomato plants that I had in pots in the shed. I'll try and plant the other three tomato plants tomorrow. These tomato plants are about 40cm high, so they're ready for the outdoors. My other tomato plants are only very small seedlings at the moment. The corn seedlings are about 20cm and should also be transplanted soon too - maybe tomorrow.
I was going to mow around the house today but the ride-on mower wouldn't start. It's on the charger overnight, although I don't think that's the problem. That's something else I need to do tomorrow - either mow or figure out what's wrong with the ride-on.

Thank you Mum & Dad
In the last couple of months Mum & Dad have been visiting for five days or so each month to help out with things around the farm. Mum has been helping with inside things such as ironing and cleaning and Dad has been helping with outside jobs I either can't do or never seem to get around to doing. On their last visit Dad put the shed door back on - it hadn't been up for the last few owners Dad thinks. He also set up a new gate for accessing the back of the shed. Now with both doors closed the end of the shed has a calm feeling because the wind doesn't whistle through and therefore my seedlings are more protected. Of course if there is ever an occasion, the sheep can now be closed in the back of the shed prior to shearing or if the weather is severe. On previous visits Dad has mended the chicken coop door, cleared areas of blackberry and helped with the continual tasks of mowing and collecting and chopping wood.
We've had quite a lot of rain in the last few days and the shed tank as well as the house tanks are full to overflowing. The dam still has a way to go though. I will wait until the mud settles before pumping up to the tank at the top of the hill.

Poor Polo
It's a year today since Polo died. That's when everything started going wrong. Poor Polo. I have included a picture of Bobby shorn. He survived shearing. He's been out in the rain for the last few days without his fleece, though.
The fence guy didn't come to give me a quote when he said he would. So tomorrow I'll ring a third fencing contractor and try again.
It's been raining practically all day today. The shed tank is full and the house tanks are full. I'll check the dam tomorrow. The grass is looking very green, it's nice to see.

Inquisitive Cows
This is just a short entry to practice uploading pictures. This is a picture of Lady, Star and Sandy (left to right). This picture was taken in September.
In the last few days we have had a bit of rain - enough to half fill the shed tank and make the grass fresh and green. We're lucky that we don't have too many animals, and so there is enough grass for them.
Hopefully someone is coming here tomorrow to give me a quote on building a fence (it's our third attempt). We also finally had our internet phone line fixed. It's now running smoothly and continuously.

Ericson the Brave
The other day I reached into the chicken's nesting box to collect two eggs and noticed they were splattered with blood. Then I notice that the whole inside of the A-frame chicken coop was splattered with blood. Then I noticed that Ericson's whole head and neck were covered in blood and his neck feathers were chewed and mangled, although I couldn't actually see any open wounds. I suspect that whatever took him on came off second best. I had a good search around and couldn't find any animal or evidence of any other animal. It's a real mystery. Of course I quickly checked our three cats and none had blood on them. I think there is a stray cat in our shed but I haven't seen any evidence of blood anywhere else but the chicken coop. It's been a few days and Ericson seems okay. He doesn't look as handsome as he used to and still needs to stand out in the rain to wash his feathers, but I think he'll be okay. He does a wonderful job of protecting the chickens from swooping crows and magpies and now it seems had to actually fight off something inside the coop.

Brown Snake Season
I walked out into the dam paddock towards the trees to make sure the sheep were all okay and to take a closer head count and say hello. I was looking at the sheep and not the ground and then realised there was a brown snake moving in the same direction just ahead of me and to the left side about a metre away. I stopped moving forward and started walking backwards and let it continue on its way. That was pretty scary. It was quite long, maybe almost two metres. Because the grass is getting browner due of lack of rain, he was the same colour as the ground and not easily seen. I'm now carefully surveying the ground in front of me whenever I'm walking. I do hope the lambs aren't tempted to go too close to snakes. I hope the cows don't either, or the chickens or the kittens. The kittens were playing with a small foot long baby snake the other day. I think Steve ended up chopping it with the hatchet, so the kittens didn't get hurt. We've been quite lucky in the past three years. I've only actually seen one large black snake (I was in the car at the time). I've seen a few little baby foot long ones and heard lots of slithering noises in long grass, but that's all. Today was the closest I've been to a snake so far.

Fencing Materials
Today I connected the trailer and drove into town and bought a gate (plus hinges and latch), a roll of hinge joint, a roll of wire and 40 star picket posts. Now I'm ready to organise a fencing contractor. I have left a message with one and I'm waiting for him to get back to me. I may not wait much longer, though, as I'm eager to get the fences under way.
Bobby seems to be fine, he was standing up and eating more today. The lambs are also thriving. I moved the netting across to the far side of the dam paddock today. Next weekend I'll move them to another paddock. The cows seem to be happy roaming around. At the moment they have the run of the other paddocks, but now that the grass is growing a bit I might try and limit them to one paddock at a time.
I planted more vegetable seeds today (zucchini, cucumber, pumpkin). I also repotted the tomato seedlings I bought the other day, and will be keeping them in the shed for a while longer.
I walked to the neighbours for a chat, plus paid for my part of the shearing. They were saying that they're having a lot of trouble with foxes, dogs and crows hurting their lambs. They think this is because both us and their neighbours on the other side have alpacas and so the lamb predators are preying on their lambs instead. Poor little lambies, they're so defenceless.
In other news, this morning the bathroom scales went down another kilo. I know this is not a weight loss journal, but it's all part of the process. That's 14 kilos so far this year, with another 6 kilos to lose to achieve my goal by Christmas.

New Growth
Yesterday, when I was watering my newly planted vegetables, I noticed a few green shoots pushing their way through the earth. At the beginning of the season when you first see some new growth you get an excited feeling and a promise of things to come. Today there were about five potato shoots showing and about five beans, plus the lettuce seeds sown near the house tank are also sprouting. Although I planted some tomato seeds, I bought two tomato seedlings today (Black Russian and Grosse Lisse). The lady in the shop suggested I keep them inside the shed for a little while longer. She thought that winter still had one more frost to come. This makes for a very short growing season.
In other news, the vet came to look at Bobby yesterday. Ever since shearing he has been sitting down and lying down a lot more than usual. Last year our first alpaca got an infection and died very quickly. I was very worried that something like that would happen again. But the vet said that even though he may have been stressed by the shearing and a little bit cold without his fleece, he seemed okay to him.

Septic Tank
We had our septic tank pumped out today. One of the 'joys' of living out of town. Aparently you have to get it pumped out every three years. We've almost been here three years. Today was our property settlement date three years ago. We didn't actually move in until early January, though. Originally the septic guy suggested dumping the effluent at the back of our property, saying that he apparently did that last time and that it would save me $100. At first I said okay but after thinking about it changed my mind and paid the extra $100 for him to take it all way. I found out today that if I had taken up his suggestion I would have been hit with a hefty fine. I'm glad common sense prevailed. Upon thinking about it today, if you have to pump out every three years then a septic system isn't very sustainable. Maybe that's yet another thing that will need to be replaced with a more environmental and sustainable version of waste disposal down the track.

Shearing Bobby
To get Bobby shorn, we have to take him back to the farm where we bought him, as shearing alpacas is specialised and needs special equipment. Well, we got the trailer ready and managed to get the halter on Bobby, our alpaca, but we couldn't get him to move anywhere. He was so stubborn and wouldn't budge. In the end we had to ask our neighbour for help - he was great and practically picked him up to get him to the trailer and in. Bobby was well behaved when we got there (with a little help), especially on the shearing table, as he didn't make a peep. His fleece was darker than I thought, under the dust. He is a very dark brown. Of course he now looks very skinny and funny looking. The shearing assistant helped get Bobby back in the trailer. She walked in front of him walking backwards and saying "walk on", and he followed her wonderfully. I obviously need some training in leading an alpaca. The problem is shearing only happens once a year. I guess the answer is practicing in between, but I wonder if I'll find the time to do that.

Past Hurdles
I should have started this journal when Paul left. There have been a few adjustments to make and a few hurdles to struggle over since the end of April.
One of the first adjustments was having to get out of bed a half hour earlier in order to feed animals. And even though I do enjoy my sleep-ins when I do have them on the weekend, that half hour in the morning is sometimes the best half hour of the day. Of course the half hour always ends up being much longer on the weekends as I linger with the sheep or cows just watching them.
There have been a few distasteful things to cope with like burying dead chickens and lamb afterbirths. Although I should be very grateful that I didn't have to assist with any of the lamb births and all of the lambs have so far survived. There was a major panic when two taps burst from being frozen. But I purchased two new taps and replaced them. I also mended a broken fence wire by adding a ratchet strainer. And mended various tie wires where the cows pushed through. I've also almost mastered the ride-on mower - I always push it beyond its limits, I think. I've also become fairly apt at splitting wood too. We have to split it quite thinly to help the combustion stove reach maximum heat quickly.
Shearing also progressed smoothly, including selling three fleeces at a good rate. We are getting Bobby, our alpaca, shorn tomorrow, so I'll let you know how that goes.
The farm side of things seems to be progressing nicely. The grass is growing again, although somewhat slowly. A little bit more rain might fix that. But the cows aren't asking for extra feed now, so there must be enough grass for them. The sheep still ask for extra food but I think that's out of habit and maybe they're just greedy.

Gardening
I had a couple of hours gardening this afternoon. Nothing too strenuous, just weeding, preparing garden beds ready for this season's vegetables. Last weekend I planted my potatoes and some beans. I also planted tomato seeds. Today I planted carrot seeds and corn seeds. Not many of these plantings have been according to the moon but I have left things a bit late and time is of the essence. The best thing about this afternoon is that I worked until I could hardly see what I was doing. When I do this I feel as if I have not wasted any daylight (of course I did start late).
Earlier today I also collected two very large boxes of pine cones for use in the combustion stove, although I'm are not using it every day as I have been. Yesterday I pumped water from the dam up to the tank on the hill. Today I walked to the top of the hill and checked the level, which is now about two thirds full. The dam is pretty empty, though.
Yesterday I also moved the temporary netting fence in the sheep's paddock across to allow them access to another quarter of the paddock. Some of the sheep still get through occasionally but the majority of them stay on the right side. On Friday night we came home late and found a lamb caught in the netting. He was tangled so badly that I had to cut the black plastic vertical connectors in order to free his head. The poor little thing was so exhausted and traumatised that when I had freed him he just lay there and had to be encouraged to get up and go to his mother.

My life has taken a turn with my husband leaving and finding another partner. So I will continue here on the farm by myself (with the help of my 15-year-old son). We live on 55 acres and have six cows, nine sheep and seven lambs, one alpaca, six chickens and a rooster, and three cats. I also have a vegetable garden and I am a beginner spinner. Of course I work too and I also operate a business from home typing and transcribing. Maybe keeping this blog going will give me goals and keep me on track to improving the farm and my life.