A June Lamb
Yesterday after planting the pine tree seedlings we noticed that I had a new addition to my flock of sheep - a baby boy lamb. It was Ebony's lamb and he wasn't black! If he was black or coloured in any way that would have saved his life - now he is destined to be chops and roasts. Even so, he is adorable, as lambs always are. Some of the other sheep are also pregnant but I think it will be a while before we see another lamb born. (I apologise for the poor quality of photograph, I will take some more photos soon.)

Five Trees for Fifty Years
Yesterday we had the perfect conditions to do something I had been wanting to do for a long time. We dug out some seedling pine trees from the front of the property near the road and planted them in the wind break near the western neighbour's fence. It is winter so the trees are dormant and digging was easy because we have had some rain, and we also didn't need to water them in because we had good rain overnight as well. I didn't do this by myself either, as my whole family are visiting to help me celebrate my 50th birthday. Originally we had decided to plant five trees for my fifty years but I miscalculated the spacing and had to plant six instead, but that didn't really matter. The tree break does seem rather wide and empty, but in time I plan to plant some gums or maybe wattles in between the pines.

Bladey Grass and Woodpile
While Russell and I went on a short holiday from 21-26 May Mum and Dad came to look after the animals and the farm. During that time Dad mowed the areas of bladey grass to keep it under control. Since the photo Dad has used the whipper snipper on the grass near the fence.
He also sorted the wood on the woodpile. This woodpile has accumulated over the whole time we have been here and I think even before. Dad wanted to control the blackberries growing up through the wood and to do this he needed to move the wood. He sorted it into piles of different sizes and eventually was able to cut and dig out the offending blackberries. Then a couple of weekends after that Russell chainsawed most of the large stuff ready for chopping for the fire. (I have included a photo of the sorted piles and the chopped piles.) Even though most of the wood is not good quality, there were some ancient fence posts from the fence I replaced on the eastern neighbour's side and they are burning very well indeed. In time the aim is to use all this wood and clear the area entirely.

New Driveway
Some time in the middle of March the Council sealed the driveway leading to the gate from the road. With everything else happening this has taken a back seat but I thought it should be recorded as it has improved the look of the entrance and ease of driving through the gateway. I thought it was a lot of money at the time ($350) but the car doesn't bottom out any more. We did have a bit of trouble at first because they didn't pack down the dirt added before sealing, but it has hardened now and works well.

Nova gets away again
On the morning of 28 April when I poked my head out to get the cat food bowl I heard mooing. Not the normal far away not my problem mooing, but a closer to home come and help mooing. So I quickly got the cats fed and set off to the back paddock. When I got there I found Nova in the neighbours place at the back. Heavens knows how he got through the fence, I certainly couldn't see. He is turning out to be quite an escape artist. And of course to get him back in I had to unlock the back gate - I won't forget the key the next time I go down the back. After returning with the key I managed to get Nova out the neighbour's gate and into our gate without letting Star out. Cow and calf were very grateful to be reunited. Star was the one doing all the mooing, by the way, not Nova. After all the commotion all the other calves sidled up to their mums for comfort too. But that was soon forgotten and all the calves got together again. In the photos you can see how fast Nova is growing compared to the other calves.

Erickson is no more
Last Friday morning (12/6) I came out to feed the chickens and found three lonely black chickens and Erickson in a pile of white feathers minus his head. He was a very brave rooster and had fought many battles, which is why I didn't lock them away every night, plus I hadn't seen any foxes lately, either alive or dead on the side of the road, so I thought it was okay to let them waltz in and out as they pleased - but obviously not. I locked them in over the weekend while I was away and then Tuesday night as well. Then, thinking the fox would give up and go elsewhere, plus I was tired and it was wet and dark, I neglected my duties again and lost another chicken. So now I only have two very lonely black chickens who will be closed in every night or else I will lose them too. Before I get any more chickens I will build a proper enclosure, so it will be safe to let them roam as they please, plus so I don't have to trudge out in the dark and sometimes rain to lock them up at night.

Crutching, Shearing Rambo & Bobbie
The sheep were crutched by my neighbour on 14 March. Then on 2 April the shearer came to shear Rambo. I wanted to protect Rambo's fleece and keep him warm now that winter was fast approaching, so we put a cover on him. Now I don't know whether Bobbie remembered when Rambo first arrived or if he just doesn't like covers but he started attacking Rambo. The next day I got Rambo and some of the sheep back into the shed and removed Rambo's cover. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough for Bobbie and he continued to spit on him and chase him and wrap his neck around his head and the like. So I moved the sheep to the next paddock and kept Bobbie separate and let him into the 'tree run' surrounding the middle eastern paddock. I kept them separate for three whole weeks, then moved them all to the top eastern paddock. Everything is back to normal now. I guess that means that I can never put a cover on Rambo, because I'm not going through that again.

Harry's Meat
Harry stayed at our neighbour's yards overnight with a few young steers to keep him company and the butcher came to collect him the next day 9 March. I collected Harry's meat on 20 March, just over a week later. The total cost was $409. His carcass weighed 256.8kg and we received approximately 160.2kg of meat.

So he was 37.6% bones, which was good

compared to Patch and

Lady's meat to bone ratio. The actual meat cost

me $2.55/kg. By the way, his steak is beautiful.

Love at last
I have been 'off the air' for a bit as I have been rather preoccupied. I have fallen in love with a wonderful man who loves me very much. I think we suit each other very well and we have been spending every weekend with each other since about the middle of February. His name is Russell and he lives in a neighbouring town about 1.5 hours away. I firmly believe that everything that has happened in my life has happened for a reason and to bring me to where I am today. I am happy with who I am.