19 August 2018
So geese bite. On the arse. And it hurts. Nice way to start this weeks entry, but thought I'd share that one first, not that I'm going to forget it either. You see with Spring comes a surge in reproductive animal hormones. And my Geese are no exception. So far we have three eggs laid. Enormous ones too. The Geese have been promoted in living status and now reside in the cottage that I used to live in. With their nest neatly tucked away in a corner, I ventured inside the cottage to place their feed tray down the other night. (Animal bedtime is quite an event here on the farm). And their they were, three beautiful, large, white, goose eggs. And one tiny chook egg. As I ventured closer to collect the chook egg .... whammo! He bit me on the arse! That will teach me not to go near a nesting Gander.
I'd found the first two eggs in some long grass outside the cottage but decided to move them inside for fear of hungry Spring snakes. Well at least the goose knows were they are now, despite my sore arse.
And with these Spring time hormones the parrots have begun their nesting, mating ritual. So I expect we will have some new baby parrots next month. Despite one of the parrots found dead in her cage last week, we still have a successful breeding pair. Chickens?? Who knows what they're up to. Apart from one very naughty chook who got into my sisters veggie patch - OMG did that cause a commotion and a half. Then a sneaky stash of 30 eggs was found inside an old tractor tyre this week - sadly all of them had to be thrown in bin. No idea how long they had been there.
And the eggs we do collect are just overflowing out of the fridge at the moment. Looks like omelettes for dinner again tonight. Not sure if my John Wayne roster is really a Jane?! No sight of anything fertile from his coop yet. But its still early days, and Spring is not officially here until 1 September. But there are ducklings in orchard and on the dam so its not far off.
So this week having come out of hospital from an infected finger, I was sent back to get it treated again - goddamnit - I'm just too busy for this bullshit. Anyway its all good now, thanks to some heavy duty IV antibiotics. And then this week we got the first instalment of our large cracked nut order completed, 100kg, again despite two mechanical breakdowns last week, and two days in hospital. Goes to show that if you really put your mind to something you can get it done. That was rewarded last night with dinner out with family, to celebrate a job well done.
And with lots of little orders starting to come in we should make good use of this years harvest.
The weather here is very hot and windy today and a total fire ban is in place across the SE of Queensland. Just as we had planned to do some burning off this weekend, the fire permit I got issued this week has now been suspended. No rain here on farm since May. Its a thankful blessing we have bore irrigation for the orchards but even so the rain water tanks had to be topped up from the bore last week too. Hoping that some predicted rain next weekend does materialise. Too windy as well to do any spraying in orchard so not changing over the tractors to connect that large spraying unit just yet.
Next week we will be doing some serious Korean Natural Farming, extracting loads of Calcium from buckets and buckets of eggshells, fermenting potatoes into a compost tea and turning IMO4 into IMO5. That's means lots of pooh collecting. Look out chickens - its Spring cleaning time!
So geese bite. On the arse. And it hurts. Nice way to start this weeks entry, but thought I'd share that one first, not that I'm going to forget it either. You see with Spring comes a surge in reproductive animal hormones. And my Geese are no exception. So far we have three eggs laid. Enormous ones too. The Geese have been promoted in living status and now reside in the cottage that I used to live in. With their nest neatly tucked away in a corner, I ventured inside the cottage to place their feed tray down the other night. (Animal bedtime is quite an event here on the farm). And their they were, three beautiful, large, white, goose eggs. And one tiny chook egg. As I ventured closer to collect the chook egg .... whammo! He bit me on the arse! That will teach me not to go near a nesting Gander.
I'd found the first two eggs in some long grass outside the cottage but decided to move them inside for fear of hungry Spring snakes. Well at least the goose knows were they are now, despite my sore arse.
And with these Spring time hormones the parrots have begun their nesting, mating ritual. So I expect we will have some new baby parrots next month. Despite one of the parrots found dead in her cage last week, we still have a successful breeding pair. Chickens?? Who knows what they're up to. Apart from one very naughty chook who got into my sisters veggie patch - OMG did that cause a commotion and a half. Then a sneaky stash of 30 eggs was found inside an old tractor tyre this week - sadly all of them had to be thrown in bin. No idea how long they had been there.
And the eggs we do collect are just overflowing out of the fridge at the moment. Looks like omelettes for dinner again tonight. Not sure if my John Wayne roster is really a Jane?! No sight of anything fertile from his coop yet. But its still early days, and Spring is not officially here until 1 September. But there are ducklings in orchard and on the dam so its not far off.
So this week having come out of hospital from an infected finger, I was sent back to get it treated again - goddamnit - I'm just too busy for this bullshit. Anyway its all good now, thanks to some heavy duty IV antibiotics. And then this week we got the first instalment of our large cracked nut order completed, 100kg, again despite two mechanical breakdowns last week, and two days in hospital. Goes to show that if you really put your mind to something you can get it done. That was rewarded last night with dinner out with family, to celebrate a job well done.
And with lots of little orders starting to come in we should make good use of this years harvest.
Which brings me to this morning and a well earned rest in my rocking chair on the front porch in morning sunshine. For the first time in about 4 weeks I stopped and rested with my two hairy mutsters (Rex and Ruby) at my feet listening to the orchard chirping awake. I was feeling very blessed. You see you don't get to sleep in on a Sunday on the farm, animals and their routines make sure of that. Every morning its the same, seven days a week, 52 weeks a year. Unless I get the luxury of going off sight for a few days, like my trip to do that microscope course a few weeks ago. Funny how you moan about the work they create for you, but as soon as you are away from it - you miss them. Like kids. Have I mentioned that Ruby is now 6 months old! How fast they grow up.
The weather here is very hot and windy today and a total fire ban is in place across the SE of Queensland. Just as we had planned to do some burning off this weekend, the fire permit I got issued this week has now been suspended. No rain here on farm since May. Its a thankful blessing we have bore irrigation for the orchards but even so the rain water tanks had to be topped up from the bore last week too. Hoping that some predicted rain next weekend does materialise. Too windy as well to do any spraying in orchard so not changing over the tractors to connect that large spraying unit just yet.
Next week we will be doing some serious Korean Natural Farming, extracting loads of Calcium from buckets and buckets of eggshells, fermenting potatoes into a compost tea and turning IMO4 into IMO5. That's means lots of pooh collecting. Look out chickens - its Spring cleaning time!
Comments
Post a Comment