9 Dec 2017
When life is reborn there is always cause to celebrate. And so the first calf to arrive on farm has occurred. I heard Rex really go off on Wednesday night, and quite a distance away from the cottage. It appears now that this must have been the cow in labour, or at least the smell of afterbirth attracting foxes. But on Thursday morning we discovered the new arrival standing proud in lower paddock, mummy cow attending to her newest offspring. It was a lovely sight.
A quick check of the rain-water gauge this morning shows a heavy storm last night dumped 55mm, along with a spectacular thunder and lightening display; so December has already had 160mm, November got 90mm and October 330mm. Summer wet weather has finally settled into a rhythm. Master Rex was a total ''scaredie-catz" with thunder, and thoroughly enjoyed being allowed to sleep inside overnight. Not that I minded, along with finding baby chickens in the bathroom this morning, tree frogs in sink, nothing surprises me anymore on the farm. And the animals are clearly a large part of daily routine. Right down to the smallest of them all - insects. Parcels of wasp eggs have been arriving here now for last two weeks and being distributed out into orchard.
Testing for pests is also underway with the need to collect samples for this an ongoing task. Something as small as the larvae for the Macadamia Nut Borer; hunting through the orchard to find nuts that have rotted from last years crop , but still hang in the tree, are their favoured hiding place. Once the wasp eggs hatch they will seek out these Nut Borers and lay their own eggs into them, essentially eating them alive. Yum. So extracting those little suckers out of the rotting nuts is fun...until spiders lurch out....I didn't jump honest!
But as the days are getting decidedly hotter, the cooling off at the end of a work day is only best done with a swim - in the very large deep dam (to my left), which has left fish on the grass after the heavy rain as well. Yes fish. Well only one. (I told you nothing surprised me anymore here). Yet fish in the dam may be a great way to control mosquito larvae - as well as allow me to cast off from the porch.
Finally an opportunity occurred for me to promote understanding about that lovely little thing called ptsd. I will now refer to it in the 'lower case' - as it puts in into a lesser importance for me - because that it is. This makes coping with the issues it raises easier - ptsd....not PTSD....it will not control me.
A production company called Clucking Chooks with "Stories From The Red Couch" invited me to be interviewed about just that...ptsd. Check out the recording on Episode 14.
Here's the link if you'd like to watch. Oh and that Monster Mutt got in on the act too. Hehehe...
https://www.facebook.com/StoriesFromTheRedCouch/
Blue sky - green grass (lots) - happy trees. Time to go make some hay, while the sun shines.
When life is reborn there is always cause to celebrate. And so the first calf to arrive on farm has occurred. I heard Rex really go off on Wednesday night, and quite a distance away from the cottage. It appears now that this must have been the cow in labour, or at least the smell of afterbirth attracting foxes. But on Thursday morning we discovered the new arrival standing proud in lower paddock, mummy cow attending to her newest offspring. It was a lovely sight.
A quick check of the rain-water gauge this morning shows a heavy storm last night dumped 55mm, along with a spectacular thunder and lightening display; so December has already had 160mm, November got 90mm and October 330mm. Summer wet weather has finally settled into a rhythm. Master Rex was a total ''scaredie-catz" with thunder, and thoroughly enjoyed being allowed to sleep inside overnight. Not that I minded, along with finding baby chickens in the bathroom this morning, tree frogs in sink, nothing surprises me anymore on the farm. And the animals are clearly a large part of daily routine. Right down to the smallest of them all - insects. Parcels of wasp eggs have been arriving here now for last two weeks and being distributed out into orchard.
Testing for pests is also underway with the need to collect samples for this an ongoing task. Something as small as the larvae for the Macadamia Nut Borer; hunting through the orchard to find nuts that have rotted from last years crop , but still hang in the tree, are their favoured hiding place. Once the wasp eggs hatch they will seek out these Nut Borers and lay their own eggs into them, essentially eating them alive. Yum. So extracting those little suckers out of the rotting nuts is fun...until spiders lurch out....I didn't jump honest!
But as the days are getting decidedly hotter, the cooling off at the end of a work day is only best done with a swim - in the very large deep dam (to my left), which has left fish on the grass after the heavy rain as well. Yes fish. Well only one. (I told you nothing surprised me anymore here). Yet fish in the dam may be a great way to control mosquito larvae - as well as allow me to cast off from the porch.
Finally an opportunity occurred for me to promote understanding about that lovely little thing called ptsd. I will now refer to it in the 'lower case' - as it puts in into a lesser importance for me - because that it is. This makes coping with the issues it raises easier - ptsd....not PTSD....it will not control me.
A production company called Clucking Chooks with "Stories From The Red Couch" invited me to be interviewed about just that...ptsd. Check out the recording on Episode 14.
Here's the link if you'd like to watch. Oh and that Monster Mutt got in on the act too. Hehehe...
https://www.facebook.com/StoriesFromTheRedCouch/
Blue sky - green grass (lots) - happy trees. Time to go make some hay, while the sun shines.
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