5 August 2018
Is it just me, or is the year flying on by? I mean really, how fast can the days go by? I sit here with a nice hot coffee, having just completed the mornings jobs, and think...jobs. When do they ever stop?
Take this morning for example.
Its Sunday - yes I know, but farming jobs never stop.
Dogs awake for 5:30...feed them. Birds (Parrots awake not long after)...feed them. Rooster has been awake since 4:30am (definitely heard him)...go down to feed all 9 of them....Geese let out, feed them. Goats let out...thank god they feed themselves. And then its my turn for breakfast.
Did I mention that one of the parrots now can ''bark'' - yes a mimic for Ruby. Hilarious!
So know its that time of the week when I get to sit and type, and think some more. Jobs on the farm never stop. Take the next 7 days list for example.
*drive harvester up to top shed; empty nuts into large receivables bin;
*drive harvester back to bottom shed;
*get harvester disconnected from tractor - check connections for leaks / clean down for next year
*use tractor to pull out all the old tree stumps - pile them up to be burnt
*connect the 100 litre sprayer to tractor
*clean the sprayer out - test the connections
*put a compost tea onto brew - brew 36 hours
*fill the sprayer with 1000 litres of water - add the compost tea of 200 litres - spray that night
*finish painting fish sauce on tree trunks surrounding each orchard
*apply crushed egg shells to rows before fertigation
*get fertigation finished on rows in top orchard (and then start in bottom orchard - next week)
*water those finger limes.....
.....And somewhere amongst all this I will eat and sleep, try to shower and wash my clothes. But this is just a snapshot of life here. I do truly love it, or I wouldn't have chosen this lifestyle. Each day is a blessing, waking up to hear wildlife and breath in fresh country air. Its magical. I cant complain; I've lost weight, my PTSD is stabilising (well under review), and my baby puppy has learnt to ''sit" (well sort of!) and on Friday at the gym I managed to increase my weights.
Last week we got home from that microscope course and I just threw myself into work here. (I still haven't set up my microscope properly yet.)
Then on Thursday we had a big delivery arrive on farm - the Nut Cracker is here!!! Yes a semi commercial variety that can crack up to 60kg of nut per hour. No more laboriously cracking by hand. So just another job adding into the list above I have to crack enough nut to prepare an order of 100kg of kernels. The farm business is expanding and I cannot sleep on my laurels, no matter how tired I am. I still cant believe that two years have passed since I found this place, not to mention how much has happened this year alone.
So where to from here? Each week is full on, as my list above sets out, but at some point I will need to slow down and plan a holiday - plan some time to rest; time out. Its the stress of how much there is to do that raised its ugly head a few weeks ago. That's what I believe caused the incident I talked about on the 14 July blog entry - that disassociation. Having had a few weeks to reflect on it, and another two anxiety attacks, I have talked at length to my psychologist. The thing about stress (and don't get me wrong - I've had a very good dose of it through the Army) is you think everything is going ok, and then out of nowhere it hits you.
Stress from working too hard is not a good thing. Stress from PTSD is another nasty that needs careful management. I thought I was going really well (up until that incident 3 weeks ago) but have realised I must plan some time out each week. Whilst in the Army I remember the stress from; fearing getting into trouble...of never getting it right...of constantly being watched....of never being good enough or fit enough,.....of.....oh well just so many things, but being bullied was the underlying cause and if you have ever been bullied you'll know what I'm talking about. If you cant get away from it, well that just compounds and compounds.....thankfully life on this farm has reduced my stress levels through a routine that gives me some control again.
But time out is what I need. And so to do just that, I dragged my rocking chair out of the storage shed.....and put it on the porch..... in the morning sunshine. And that my fellow farmers is exactly where I am going right now.
Such is a farmers life.
Is it just me, or is the year flying on by? I mean really, how fast can the days go by? I sit here with a nice hot coffee, having just completed the mornings jobs, and think...jobs. When do they ever stop?
Take this morning for example.
Its Sunday - yes I know, but farming jobs never stop.
Dogs awake for 5:30...feed them. Birds (Parrots awake not long after)...feed them. Rooster has been awake since 4:30am (definitely heard him)...go down to feed all 9 of them....Geese let out, feed them. Goats let out...thank god they feed themselves. And then its my turn for breakfast.
Did I mention that one of the parrots now can ''bark'' - yes a mimic for Ruby. Hilarious!
So know its that time of the week when I get to sit and type, and think some more. Jobs on the farm never stop. Take the next 7 days list for example.
*drive harvester up to top shed; empty nuts into large receivables bin;
*drive harvester back to bottom shed;
*get harvester disconnected from tractor - check connections for leaks / clean down for next year
*use tractor to pull out all the old tree stumps - pile them up to be burnt
*connect the 100 litre sprayer to tractor
*clean the sprayer out - test the connections
*put a compost tea onto brew - brew 36 hours
*fill the sprayer with 1000 litres of water - add the compost tea of 200 litres - spray that night
*finish painting fish sauce on tree trunks surrounding each orchard
*apply crushed egg shells to rows before fertigation
*get fertigation finished on rows in top orchard (and then start in bottom orchard - next week)
*water those finger limes.....
.....And somewhere amongst all this I will eat and sleep, try to shower and wash my clothes. But this is just a snapshot of life here. I do truly love it, or I wouldn't have chosen this lifestyle. Each day is a blessing, waking up to hear wildlife and breath in fresh country air. Its magical. I cant complain; I've lost weight, my PTSD is stabilising (well under review), and my baby puppy has learnt to ''sit" (well sort of!) and on Friday at the gym I managed to increase my weights.
Last week we got home from that microscope course and I just threw myself into work here. (I still haven't set up my microscope properly yet.)
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| Say hello to Ámy |
So where to from here? Each week is full on, as my list above sets out, but at some point I will need to slow down and plan a holiday - plan some time to rest; time out. Its the stress of how much there is to do that raised its ugly head a few weeks ago. That's what I believe caused the incident I talked about on the 14 July blog entry - that disassociation. Having had a few weeks to reflect on it, and another two anxiety attacks, I have talked at length to my psychologist. The thing about stress (and don't get me wrong - I've had a very good dose of it through the Army) is you think everything is going ok, and then out of nowhere it hits you.
Stress from working too hard is not a good thing. Stress from PTSD is another nasty that needs careful management. I thought I was going really well (up until that incident 3 weeks ago) but have realised I must plan some time out each week. Whilst in the Army I remember the stress from; fearing getting into trouble...of never getting it right...of constantly being watched....of never being good enough or fit enough,.....of.....oh well just so many things, but being bullied was the underlying cause and if you have ever been bullied you'll know what I'm talking about. If you cant get away from it, well that just compounds and compounds.....thankfully life on this farm has reduced my stress levels through a routine that gives me some control again.
But time out is what I need. And so to do just that, I dragged my rocking chair out of the storage shed.....and put it on the porch..... in the morning sunshine. And that my fellow farmers is exactly where I am going right now.
Such is a farmers life.
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