30 September 2018

Bam!!...2002 hits to the blog. I'm no literary giant but that makes me pretty proud.

So two weeks has passed? Yes and where did it go? Why is it that when you are super busy time flies? That age old saying of course. Anyway events here on the farm keep rolling along. We've had a bushfire only 20 kms from the farm...lit up the sky with a smoke plume right out to the coast. Got quite scary actually as it would only have taken a wind change to bring it south east towards the farm boundary. Some great photos I think of that skyline somewhere.

Then the Black Cockatoos returned with a vengeance - only for me to reek my revenge and win that battle literally. A flock of at least 30 just decides to cruise on in for a late harvest snack attack!
No. You. Don't. The problem is the fledglings from last year are now out testing their environment, and its limits - like that cranky female farmer in the macadamia orchards.

And the goose eggs have hatched - well three of them, and what a beautiful sight to behold that is. A few nervous moments were had on their first outing to the dam...and trying to get them back into the old cottage at dusk. But mum and dad goosey are doing a sterling job with all babies in tow, beautifully. The goslings are yellow from birth, something that surprised me a bit. Expect the down will change colour soon. Definitely got photos of that event.

The goose summer house

Ruby has lets say developed a taste for chewing.....despite having numerous toys to occupy her, she seems to go hunting for my things to destroy....including my Leading Farm Hands lunch. Oops.
But her shoulder sprain has improved, mainly due to a new dog cage enclosure that I bought a few weeks ago, now erected to keep them in at night. My neighbour put out dog bait last month so we had to take drastic measures to keep my two safe for that timeframe. 1080 dog bait is lethal, with no known cure, and its put out for wild dogs/dingos on properties, so I don't despise him for that, its something farmers have to do.

Fencing is also something farmers have to do, but I'm getting a contractor in to redo mine. A 260m long star picket/dog proofed fence, with two gate entries, one solar panelled. Going to finally secure the farm and protect the crops and the dogs. Photo timeline will be done for that, to be sure.

Ponies next door have given the dogs some entertainment when out on their morning walks. The other property next door (not the dog baiter!) has a sanctuary for Donkies as well as Shetland ponies, who are extremely inquisitive of people. Ruby on the other hand gives off a silly baby "gruff puff" bark at them - like that would scare a horse. There are six in total - must go take photos.

Yes we are in a photographic mode at the moment, with our French guest having a professional camera, he has been out taking hundreds of shots across the farm. So you can look forward to many weeks ahead of great pictures. Sadly he will leave us next weekend, but not before celebrating his birthday with us in a joint event with my son, and a massive Korean BBQ next week too.

With family visiting next week, (and four birthdays to celebrate next month), we got some extra supplies in for the freezer...a whole pig. So I spent Friday morning , bagging up hocks, trotters, loins chops, head, cheeks, trimmings, bones, roasts and belly strips into vacuum packed bags for the freezer. And if anyone thinks butchers charge too much - well I don't now, because that was hard work. But I'm looking forward to the leg of pork becoming Prosciutto next year, and some authentic Korean BBQ style pork as well. Got to get that mincing machine out into sausage preparation too.

Deep in thought...yummy thought
On that note family have returned from Korea after an absence of 7 weeks, so the house is full to bursting. And once son and friend arrive next week it will explode! They'll have to sleep outside with the dogs! They are coming down for the Soil Workshop to be held here next Thursday, a morning conference on the farm to demonstrate how to practice aspects of Korean Natural Farming. So far we are expecting about 15 people, so am quite excited to show fellow farmers what we have achieved here in over 18 months since I arrived. The basics will be IMO 1-3 with a demonstration on making IMO 4, then hands on making other KNF products....cant give it away in advance - top secret!

And something I never thought I'd master for the farm....advertising. I started a Facebook page some time ago (cant remember exactly when) but with conference date looming I started trying out the way you can boost pages through that media. I'd thoroughly recommend it now as a means to promote a business. I mean compared to the traditional standards of advertising; newspaper etc, this format is working the best of all. The growth of the farm Facebook page too has been very pleasing.

But not as much as the vegie garden growth. We have had a long dry spell since May this year with rain finally coming in last week (and last night too), so the vegie garden is now getting some just desserts, directly from heaven.

A little testament to our Korean Natural Farming methods here.







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