Tea Towels Off Loom
I finished weaving today! I managed to squeeze in a 10cm sample at the end of the fourth tea towel. So this weekend I will cut them apart, finish the ends and wash them. I've measured them, so I can see how much they shrink, for future projects. I'll include a photograph of the finish products after that.

PS I just walked past the loom. It looked so empty. Just like empty spinning bobbins or empty knitting needles, the empty loom beckons you, doesn't it? I have already decided on my next project but it won't be on this loom, as I am only borrowing it and have to give it back. So now I have to find another loom - and make more towels. All these tea towels aren't for me, mind you. Of the four I have almost finished I am giving one to my Mum and one to my Mother-in-Law as belated Mother's Day presents.

The Beginning of the Eggs
My Australorps have finally started laying little eggs! This morning I collected one large and one small egg (from yesterday - I came home late and Steven put them to bed). The large egg is from one of the Isa Browns. And again this afternoon I collected one large and one small egg. So one little black chicken has finally got the idea. I wonder how long it will be until we get six little eggs (and one large egg) each day. Then I'll have to get serious about using eggs for dinner (and lunch and breakfast).

Me Day
I had a 'Me' Day today. I had worked extra hours at the beginning of the week and took today off. This was primarily because Paul left again yesterday and I needed some time to myself. He is starting a new job in Sydney next week and is going to stay with his mother until he finds a place of his own. So, today I wanted to do stuff just for me. Of course I did some other things such as washing, changing the registration sticker on the car, changing the straw in the chicken's nesting boxes, refilling the cows' water, bringing in some wood for the evening's fire and the inevitable taxiing of children, but for the majority of the day I caught up on my weaving. I finished the third waffle weave tea towel and decided to also weave a plain weave tea towel with the same colour pattern. I'm not sure why I had so much warp left over. I could have miscalculated the loom wastage or take-up. I certainly hope I haven't made a mistake and made short tea towels. I guess time will tell and all will be revealed when I finally take them off the loom. Of course, I may get close to the end of the final tea towel and find I don't really have enough for a full tea towel but I'm going to try anyway. I'm over half way and the end is in sight but I have typing I need to finish, so the weaving will have to wait for another day.

Waffle Weave Tea Towels
I have started my next weaving project and have decided upon tea towels in a waffle weave. The pattern I am adapting is very multi-coloured, so I toned it down a bit and used roughly the same colour count to tie in with the waffle weave pattern. Although, I think the pattern is more clearly seen on the reverse of my weaving. So next tea towel I think I'll do the pattern in reverse. I'll include a photo of the next tea towel when I'm up to it to show the difference.

New Chickens
On Thursday we bought six Australorp/New Hampshire point of lay pullets. They're still timid and flock together. The other two chickens and Ericson are giving them a hard time but I'm sure they will stand up for themselves when they've grown a bit. One of the photographs below is the new chickens venturing into the grass jungle of the chicken's new area.


New Weaving Project
After hours of dreaming and planning, pouring over books and purchasing my cottolin, I finally started winding a warp for my first attempt at weaving tea towels. I have chosen a waffle weave pattern and my tea towels will have 469 ends! So, as I said, I have only just started winding the warp. I'll have to do it in a few stages, and I've done about a third so far. I'll include a photograph once I have set up the loom and I've woven the start of the pattern.

Mending Fences
Star, one of our Murray Greys, forced herself through yet another fence and so Paul and I were out there this afternoon adding another wire to the Dam Paddock fence. There is plenty of grass in the Dam Paddock, so I don't know why she pushed through the fence. Last week Paul and I rethreaded the wires in the fence at the top of the hill on the eastern side (Unslashed Paddock) through the star pickets and added another two wires for good measure. Paul also reinforced the small fence at the top of the hill near the gate with extra star pickets and rethreading the wires through the holes. All this was because Star pushed through this fence too.

Cows Resting
Paul pumped water to the tank at the top of the hill from the front dam. There were about three rungs already in the tank and we pumped until the tank was almost full with seven rungs. Even though the dam only had about a foot and a half of water in it to start with, this pumping only made the level go down by a few inches. That's pretty amazing. That water in the tank will be enough for the animals for about 7-8 weeks, and perhaps more now that Lady is not here. I have included a photo of our beautiful cows sitting down resting after a busy morning eating.

Another New Fence
Last weekend we put up the top half of the middle fence and moved the sheep into the top half. Paul finished off some extra tying of the hinge joint today. I have included a photo to compare with the photo in the previous blog about the fence.

Lots of Rain
I have included the rain gauge readings for the last eight days below:
22 February - 30.0
23 February -
24 February - 5.5
25 February - 4.0
26 February - 19.0
27 February - 8.0
28 February - 16.0
1 March - 30.0
After the first lot of rain the front dam just looked damp but by the end there is now 1 foot (as measured by Dad's depth gauge).
The shed tank hit a peak after 1/3 (seen by debris on walls) but today I took a photo showing how much water we have lost (due to leakage) since then, in only two days.

Lady's Meat
Last Wednesday we collected Lady's meat from the butcher - all 175kg (sample weighed and estimated) of it. We almost filled the large freezer in the shed and had to bring some inside to the laundry freezer. Plus of course we ate some scotch fillet that night (and t-bones the next night) - meat heaven. Even though I used to think Patch was a big animal, Lady was much bigger. Patch yielded 143kg of meat. Lady's carcass was 314.2kg and in all it cost us $427.04 (including abattoir and freight) to have her butchered, hung and packaged. Lady was about 140kg of bones, which was roughly the same proportion of bone as Patch.

Recycled Fence
Over last week Paul and I systematically removed tie wire and old droppers and unthreaded the old wire from the old star pickets of the lower half of the middle fence. Paul then removed the old star pickets and mowed some taller grass on the fence line. Then on Friday evening we replaced the top wire and began 'bashing' in the new star pickets. Of the 25 pickets I 'bashed' in about 5 with the very heavy picket pounder. Then on Saturday we rethreaded four more wires through the holes in the star pickets and attached the hinge joint. While Paul connected the hinge joint around the taps I proceeded to attach the hinge joint to the wires with tie wire. On Sunday while I continued doing this Paul attached one of the left over wires along the bottom of the hinge joint across the middle of the eastern paddock. All in all it was a very thorough job, reusing the wire that was already there. The sheep aren't getting out of this fence! When I save up and buy more star pickets we will repeat the process with the top half of the fence. I have included a very sad before photo of the top half of the fence.

Goodbye Lady
Yesterday the butcher came to collect Lady. She was being taken to the abattoir and then back to the butchers to hang for a week. It was sad that Lady had to go but it was a decision that had to be made. She had been with a bull for two months without getting pregnant and then the AI girl said she didn't feel right inside. There's no point keeping a cow if she can't reproduce, even if we have had her since she was three months. Plus she was huge and would just step over or through fences. She was always very friendly, though, and would come over to say hello. This photo is one of the many taken the day before she went.

Twill Scarf
I have just finished my second weaving project. I finished it off with a Phillipine Edge, using the warp threads. The scarf turned out much shorter than I expected. I think I underestimated the wastage at the ends and maybe the take-up - something to take into account next time. I'm pretty pleased with the result all the same.

Pumping from back dam
Yesterday we started pumping from the back dam and as everything seemed to be chugging along and it was lunch time we decided to leave the pump and go back to the house. After lunch we discovered that the wind had blown the ladder against the pipe going into the tank and it now had a kink stopping incoming water and the pump was still pumping! Lesson - don't leave the pump and tank unattended. It may have only just happened, though, because two rungs of water had been pumped. So we left it at that. I have included a picture of the back dam in all its muddy glory and the path to the tank at the top of the hill, plus the pump hard at work.

Crutching & Fencing
Two weekends ago Paul crutched the sheep. I didn't take any photos because I was helping closing the sheep pen panels so the rest didn't get out and sweeping up the shorn fleece. Paul has also been mending 'holes' or 'gaps' in fences that the sheep get through. We also had the dam paddock windbreak fence finished ($400). When the cooler weather comes we will transplant some little pine trees sprouting next to the fence line near the road and hope that they take. Tomorrow we're going to pump some more water from the back dam to the tank at the top of the hill. We're very lucky to have that dam.

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.