[UPDATED 24-07-2011] Have replaced canned pictures with real photos I took yesterday.
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My last post stated I was going to write an update every week.
EPIC FAIL!! 
Instead, it’s been over six MONTHS since I wrote anything. Just goes to show how lazy I am. Oh well, what is past is passed…or should that be the over way around?
Lots of things have happened on the farm, so let’s cut to the chase and give you all a long over due update on what’s happening down on the farm.
The first piece of news is that my sister Wendy and her husband John have moved out. They got a better offer than they had here on our farm, living as they were in a couple of containers and the filled in space in between. A friend of theirs offered them free accommodation in a six bedroom farmhouse on a 150+ hectare property outside Goulburn. A full sized house with multiple bedrooms—a joy compared to what they had here.
Of course, this means I’ve lost my gardener and my handyman, both things that were really, really handy to have access to here. I am definitely going to miss them. The wonderful vegetables and value-added products that Wendy made from the garden, and John’s enormous practical knowledge of…well, everything…are irreplaceable. <sigh> Now Chris and I will have to learn to cope ourselves. Oh well, things will or won’t work out. We’ll manage.
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Winter has been a bit colder than normal here, and we’re finding we are going through a fair bit more firewood than other years. With Wendy & John’s departure, so departed John’s huge collection of tools, along with his chainsaw. So when some friends of ours (Ian and Shaz, for those that know them) offered us some free firewood if we helped them collect some from their property in the Tinderry Mtns (about 20kms further out from our place), I decided that we needed to buy a chainsaw. Not just for collecting firewood, but also because there are hundreds of pines on the farm, many of which are now standing deadwood, and a lot more that need culling because they’re too close together.
The end of the financial year means bonus time, and the finance gods smiled upon me. So off to the local Stihl shop to buy the biggest practical (NB, not biggest possible, just biggest practical) chainsaw. In the end, I got a Stihl MS 311 Farm Boss. And here’s a picture, boys and girls (it’s from the Stihl website, so I’ve added a link and will call it free advertising, but copyright remains theirs).
The New Farm Boss
With a 20″ (50cm) blade, it’ll go through pretty much any tree on the property. On Sunday, even at less than full revs (recommended for the first few tanks of fuel to run the motor in), it was sinking through wind-fallen trees like a hot knife through butter. Effortless! Until I got home, when my left arm decided to let the rest of me know how much unaccustomed weight it had been hauling about! My forearms are still complaining. But we came home with over half a ton of free wood, possibly enough to see us through the rest of this winter.
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We have chickens!
The Girls
We’ve been talking about getting chickens since before settlement on the property even occurred, so now our third anniversary of buying the farm is almost upon us (July 28; it’s July 11 as I type this) we’ve been putting that off for one reason or another. But that’s all behind us now because I found someone who not only supplies chickens, but also supplies a sizable coop, and all the extras you need, like feed and straw and so on. Not only that, for a small fee they’ll come out and “service” your chickens.
No, not the kinky kind of servicing (I dunno, what’s the world coming to when you immediately think THAT!) but checking their health, dosing them with whatever is good for them for whatever ails them, dusting them for mites, clipping their wings, and all that sort of thing. Handy. Yes, it’s the lazy person’s way of handling things, but hey! neither of us are exactly farmers, and since we can afford it, why not? Our chickens will be getting expert attention at the very least.
They arrived today, and already we’ve had two eggs from them. Champion girls! And here’s a couple of pictures of their coop.
Chicken Palace – Side View
Chicken Palace – Hutch View