A New Edition to the Family

We now have a new edition to the family as of last night...

Nikki had her calf, we heard nothing! but Rebekah who was staying in the guest room, heard what she thought was a cow in labour late in the night. Didn't think much about it this morning but when we returned from town with a load of work for ourselves... lo' and behold a little black Dexter calf was in the paddock.

It has been cool and raining the last 2-3 months and on the first stinking hot day for ages the poor thing had to be born the night before. Bekky as we have named her, is a little heat stressed at the moment, but all attempts to get them all in the shade we have erected over the pen so far, has failed, so we'll try again to entice them in later when it's cooler.

At least she appears healthy and happy! as does Mum.

Mow mow mow the grass! or is that Moo???

Charles has been shopping and came home with 2 Dexter cows (mother and daughter) who are supposedly both in calf, so we could have 2 extra 'lawn mowers' soon.

They might look placid but as a small breed they still have a lot of strength as we found out when they charged through 6 barbed wire fences when spooked by our little neighbour (LuKa aged 4). They are really scared of little people.



Named Nikki and Nina they have settled in and are both chewing their way through the grass which is higher than they are in places... but with all the rains the grass is growing faster than they can eat... perhaps another 2 cows for the 'herd' is a good idea.



We look forward to having calves soon and will post photos as soon as the moment happens.

Back again, sorry for the delay and Cock-a-doodle-doo!

Well its been awhile and there is a lot to catch up with... a new member of the community arrived. A young rooster who is trying his hardest to control the hens and catch them for a 'quickie'! but they have other ideas... he is learning and as his voice breaks his crowing is not as strained, we've decided to call him Russell 'Crow'.



He's a Plymouth Rock rooster to match the 4 PR hens that Charles bought from a lady in Kyogle, but he seems to fancy the 4 mongrel bred younger hens. Typical male... heehee!

Russell with his Harem.

He has taken to following Charles around like a faithful dog and comes running as soon as he sees him. Me on the other hand, he doesn't trust and has had a few goes at me (I have put him on warning that he could taste very nice!!!) I play with the hens and pick them up and scratch them, which I think he perceives as a threat to his authority. But as long as I get the eggs I'm happy!

More updates tomorrow!

If You Build It They Will Come

The Rammed Earth Chookhouse is finally finished...

It took a lot of labour, earth and pain, but I think it was well worth it! The result is a work of art, a chookhouse to be proud of and one that will keep the girls warm, cool and above all safe!!!




The whole pen covers a huge area but is divded into 4 areas which are all indivually accessed by both human and chicken (the latter only by opening one of the 4 doors bult into the walls). This enables us to rotate the chickens as we rotate the veggie garden beds.



And so they arrive... I did say "build it and they will come!" Or someone more famous once did.

We have bought 4 mongrel hens for their hardiness and 4 pure bred Dark Barred Plymouth Rock hens for.... Well, you will just have to ask Charles that one!
He wants a DB Plymouth Rock rooster now. Hmmm, chicken fancying anyone???

Next on the list is the electric fence and then our little lawn mowers... More soon ----->>>>

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Sunshine on my shoulder makes me Happy!

Well at least on the roof it does!

Finally after months of waiting the 1.5Kw PV system has been installed on the roof of the studio. with the Gross feed meter attached we will be generating 'Green Power' for Country Energy (our normal supplier) and then buying back from them our energy needs. Currently we sell for 60c per Kw and buy back at 20c per Kw... beautiful!

The careful monitoring of our energy usage over the last few months has given us a good idea of where most of our energy is used and by making sure we switch off all those pesky little red lights and tiny digital clocks that seems to be an essential componant of everything that we buy these days, we should be able to keep our energy consumption well under what we can generate on a sun shiney day!

So! we should get a cheque and not a bill every 3 months! Yippeee!
Next part of the solution will be the removal of the old electric hot water system for a solar version and replace the cooker for a LPG stove (still using non-renewable energy but more efficient and a little cheaper to use at this moment time!)

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Not the Great Wall, it is Chickenopolis

Rather than build a rammed earth home and make some very costly, structural and down right ugly mistakes, we have decided to go with a chicken coup that will survive a cyclone!

200mm thick earth walls have been constructed using a mixture of 'road base,' our own clay soil and approx 5% cement. mixed together and rammed into the formwork.

In the process of ramming we discovered just how much force is generated by the average person ramming down on the 100mm square surface area. some of the moulds we placed in the formwork to create the doorways from the house to the veggie gardens has buckled, one entire section has shifted nearly 15mm to the side as the section between the two corners was added.

This learning process is OK for the chickens as they won't complain (if they do then its the pot for them anyway!!!) but we hope we learn by this experiment so that the house is much smoother and structurally sound, not that the chookhouse won't be, but you know what councils are like!

Who needs a gym when in just a couple of weeks of ramming (just like the Great Wall builders) we have developed muscles that I thought didn't exist and Charles had forgotten he had!!!

Next Project Started!

The foundations have been dug and filled with concrete for our chookhouse which we have named after Hugh Fearnley whittingstall's 'CHICKENOPOLIS'.

This will be our test for the building of the main house in Pise (or rammed earth) and will incorporate 4 vegegardens which we can rotate and allow the chooks to scratch around in at the same time.

more later! cheers!!

Twelve Steps To Plan

And another project is finished.

The weather is now cooler and the humidity has mercifully dropped from the summer stinker we had this season. Working outside all day is a easy and a pleasure, but a nice soaking bath at the end would be the best ending to the day, which is another project for the future. We will remove the shower cubicle in the 'cottage' and relocate it to the guest room ensuite and install a huge bath in it's place. Mmmm Heaven!

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The stairs that were going to be thrown out at work were salvaged and brought home and are now in place. A bit of hard yakka with a pick and shovel, a few boards & blocks and a couple of loads from the cement mixer and (taadaa!) we have fantastic new steps down from the lawn to the orchard.

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This will make it a lot easier (and quicker) for us to get to the orchard as we no longer have to walk to the end of the embankment or walk up and down the bank helping to erode it.

you have got to love recycling, salvaging and reinvention!

OWNER BUILDERS KEEP ON IMPROVING

With the advent of all this rain since Christmas. It has been a good time for the planting of native tees around the property and to get the fruit and nut trees in as well.

We now have the beginnings of the orchard in place and the very welcome shade trees around the shed. With winter on it's way we will see how the frosts are for any future plantings.


The vegetable garden has suffered under the sun towards the end of last year and has been a little neglected but the new improved garden is on its way and the winter veg will be in soon.



The grapes are in as well and planted over the new pergola we have built onto the shed and have created a bush/fern house (albeit a temp one for now!) as well to help propagate seeds and new plants.

Summer Holidays and there's work to be done!

There is always work to be done when you have several acres, but the main priority has been to finish the guest room and after a few days of solid, sweaty, hard work we finished the room with just a few small touch up jobs left to do.

so it is all ready and our first friends have stayed and given it the thumbs up!!!



And as a wiseman once wrote... Friends Always Welcome, Family By Appointment!!!