tales from down under

Merry Aussie Christmas To The World!

2011-12-24T14:18:00.000-08:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS wherever you may be
F & V xx

bumper harvest

2011-12-18T19:03:00.000-08:00

This year has seen the best ever apricot harvest, with the trees laden. Ness has frantically been making jam and curd, freezing batches of puree and googling 1001 recipes with apricots. Hasty picking has been required as the competition has moved in.

From Protea Farm 1

The cockies and king parrots are happy to take 1 nibble of the fruit and spit the rest out the wasteful beggars.

I was very pleased with my apricot and frangipane tart- suck on that Nigella!

From Protea Farm 1

Picture below shows how quickly the guineas are growing. Sadly as from yesterday we are down to only 5 as Mr.Fox managed to prove that the avian Fort Knox was not impregnable and deftly removed one of their heads. Ness even more keen to get a gun license now despite my anxiety that she may accidentally shoot a guest or two.

From Protea Farm 1

flowers, food, fowl and fifty

2011-11-13T15:18:00.000-08:00

My avid reader ( yes, I have just the one ) has lodged a complaint about the recent lack of blog updates.Almost 3 months, very slack of me. My only excuse is that we have been pretty busy.

I turned 50 last month, and Ness in cahoots with J & G organised a fantastic party with many of my favourite people attending. Only down side was that they could not organise the weather a bit better, so it was 8 degrees with drizzle/heavy rain. Having spent many birthdays in Preston UK indoors due to rain it was typical that NSW proved very similar. No compensation at all that on the same day a text from my sister-in-law in Preston boasted a very heady 26 degrees and sunshine back in Blighty.

However the Poms and Europeans almost outnumbered the natives so I suppose it was too much to expect Australian sunshine.

Creative use of fire pits, patio heaters and outdoor shelters saved the day.

From Protea Farm 1

We spit-roasted one of our own lambs. Ness did a fantastic job, the rosemary and garlic marinade was phenomenal..
Pic below shows James carving the lamb with the aid of a head torch, with Profs Jules & Vanessa first in the queue for a feed

From Protea Farm 1

The garden has burst into full spring colour. I am glad that we chose a temperate part of Australia to live in, there is nothing better than watching the plants burst into life after winter.

From Protea Farm 1

We are now officially Australians, having purchased and installed a shiny new gas barbecue the size of a Ford Fiesta. Can cook a banquet for 100 people on this thing, although so far we have only managed 4 lamb cutlets which looked rather lost on the griddle.

From Protea Farm 1

Kylie and Kevin's offspring reared by the feisty bantam chicken are now fully grown. Ness the expert duck sexer reckons that they are all female ( a different quack than the males apparently ). Glad I did not have to show my veterinary shortcomings by trying to establish gender by examining feathered nether regions.

From Protea Farm 1

The second batch have also been hatched by a bantam, but Kylie is now diligently sitting on a clutch so may manage a brood of her own.

From Protea Farm 1

No snake sightings here as yet, but James dog was interrupted from her snooze on the verandah by a passing stumpy-tailed lizard which caused a bit of a commotion.

From Protea Farm 1

A birthday present from a neighbour was a '12 guinea note'. This translated into 12 fertilised guinea fowl eggs shipped over from Queensland. They were hatched at the local school- the farming and agriculture department have a large incubator- and 6 baby guineas were hatched from the batch. They currently reside in a brooder pen at home. The theory is that they must be handled so that they become tame and bond to your property so that when they are let out for the first time they do not just fly away in an ungrateful fashion. They are however very hard to catch and not too keen on the whole handling thing.

From Protea Farm 1

We also appear to have acquired a Happy Feet penguin pretending to be a guinea fowl.

From Protea Farm 1

Ness is currently away from home attending a 2 week residential permaculture course ( farming for hippies ). More news of this on her return, undoubtedly with grand schemes involving lots of digging and back-breaking manual labour.

life's little ironies

2011-08-26T16:13:00.000-07:00

The Royal Vet College Year of 1986 25 year reunion was held this year in Nottingham- that would have been very handy 5 years ago but surprisingly I did not manage to attend. However I now have the Year Book with updates on what my fellow graduates are doing which makes interesting reading. One vet has undergone open heart surgery after contracting MRSA endocarditis secondary to a venomous snake bite. One may expect this risk if working in the Amazon or Outback Australia, but it seems rather unfortunate that the reptile incident happened in deepest Surrey.

Signs of spring are here now after a cold winter, the first sign being the birth of the next batch of lambs. Last year we had 2 lots of twins but Clarrie, Lilian & Peggy have concluded that twins are way too much effort and producing a single lamb is sufficient to book them another year at the Protea Country Resort so to date we have had 3 single lambs with only Woolly left to drop ( all male of course- we can sell the females for a good price so the tally over last 2 seasons 8 males and 1 ewe lamb ).

The pleasure of sitting down to a meal consisting of only food produced from the property leaves a warm fuzzy glow, with all the food miles, food provenance and flavour boxes ticked. Throw in a couple of bottles of wine from the vineyard next door and local cheeses and the 'Good Life' is complete.

From 2011-08-26

Kevin & Kylie the ducks remain romantically involved, but have left the maternal bantam hens to do the hard yards when it comes to child-rearing. We now have a Japanese bantam who is the proud ( albeit rather confused ) mother of 1 chick and 3 ducklings.

From 2011-08-26

Yesterday Ness let the family unit out to stretch their legs and Mum tried to teach the kids how to scratch in the soil and forage for insects. This resulted in the ducklings shovelling up soil in their little beaks until they glued them together, all very bewildering.

We decided that we may have to teach them the rudimentary art of swimming. Now we know where the expression 'ducks to water' comes from. The bantam chick chose to pass on basic water survival lessons.

As the ducks are a meat bird I feel the choice of a roasting pan as their starter pool was a little unkind.

From 2011-08-26

Still very busy with the accommodation side of things. we have 8 children staying this weekend ( why did we take that booking?) so all creatures safely locked away as the feral mob tear through the place like wrecking machines. Must remember to take more bookings by the over 50's who are content to potter about and talk about vegetables.

catch up

2011-07-14T16:19:00.000-07:00

What a long time since my last post. In the thick of the busy season here at the moment, with the Small Farm Field Day weekend upon us. This is traditionally foul weather but today is quite sunny after a frosty start. We will be going tomorrow to look at obscure farm machinery and exotic poultry. Ness is after a large mechanical log-splitter after she sustained spinal damage chopping firewood with an axe last week. Those city folk are powering through our log supply and we will need to look for another source next week, all recently felled trees too green to burn.

The weed man came and approved Ness's weed control programme. It helped that he was the bloke who bought a lovely ewe lamb from us last season and is after more when the girls lamb again. Brian has calmed down and stopped attacking us when we enter his paddock so we assume that he has done his work and the girls are gestating.

Tennis news- our mismatched team managed to get into the Grand Final last week, but were outplayed on the day. Next comp starts on Thursday and I have a new team including a Kiwi and a Russian player, so all very multi-cultural on the Mudgee courts.

Hoping for duck eggs soon- Kevin is getting very amorous with Kylie. They are hopeless mothers apparently so we will try and get the hapless Snowflake the silky bantam hen to hatch them for us. The last crop of chicken hatchlings have mostly grown into useless roosters which have been separated from the others- Ness is sharpening her axe and I fear slaughter is imminent.

The Protea crop has been fantastic this year after a shaky start, so we are giving flowers away by the bucket load. If next year is as good we will get organised and sell some at the local markets.Knowing our luck we will pay for a pitch and the unpredictable plants will sulk and refuse to bloom next winter. Could always sell Ness's amazing pomegranate jam instead.

We have spent a couple of weekends in the comedy 70's caravan in order to rent our place out to large groups, but made an executive decision that we are no longer going to decamp- too cold and nowadays we just have too much stuff so emptying our unit out for rental has become a massive task. Ideally we would like to build a 3rd unit on the property to increase revenue, but funds are tight so it will need careful planning.

From Protea Farm 1

the weed man cometh

2011-05-19T15:19:00.000-07:00

The busy season is really upon us now with some great group bookings over the next couple of months. Last weekend was our first one in Dorothy the retro caravan. This was something of a challenge because it was the coldest weekend so far with night temperatures around minus 4 degrees C but we cheated and hooked her up to the electrics in James & Georgie's shed so the fan heater kept us defrosted, and thanks to Ness and some fine work with the silicon sealant she was watertight ( Dorothy not Ness ).

We received an official letter this week from Mid Western Regional Council declaring an 'Intention to Inspect for Declared Noxious Weeds'. Vince the Chief Weeds Ofiicer will be sending a Noxious Weeds Inspector round in June to assess the degree of infestation. He enclosed a handy pamphlet with pictures of serrated tussock, St John's Wort, and many more. On a brief inspection of the property we appear to be successfully growing the entire list and all are thriving so we may be contravening Order 20 of the Noxious Weeds Act 1993 slightly.

Ness has been whizzing around on the quad bike with litres of dangerous chemicals spraying anything that looks even mildly noxious. She has added a special red dye to the spray so we will be seen to be making the effort.I hope we get brownie points for our endeavours in the summer when we removed a massive infestation of St John's Wort by ripping out each plant by hand in blistering heat.

Despite the helpful pictures I am sure I would not recognise African Lovegrass or Khaki weed if I fell over them ( and probably have ) so it should be an interesting visit.

anniversary

2011-05-06T18:27:00.000-07:00

We have just celebrated our 2 year anniversary at Protea Farm, and were looking back at the photos we took when we arrived. So here are a few 'before and afters'

From Blog before and after

Because the place has evolved over the last 2 years we fail to notice the dramatic alterations until we look at the pictures. It has been a busy 2 years.

kylie & kevin

2011-04-06T03:28:00.000-07:00

We have acquired yet more creatures. Ness spent a couple of days building a bijou duck residence and 2 days ago Kylie & Kevin arrived.

From 2011-04-06

After 24 hours of skulking in their new house they were brave enough to venture out onto the dam.

From 2011-04-06

It is now pitch black and 8.30 at night and she is failing to get them back into the fox-proof house. If Mr Fox gets a good feed tonight then project duck is doomed!

on the wagon

2011-03-31T14:31:00.000-07:00

Thanks Lynn for the reminder that the blog is seriously overdue an update. Usually I have a picture or 2 of recent escapades but the last few weeks have been singularly uneventful.

We have had high drama at the Mudgee Tennis Club with the unexpected resignation of the President and departure of several committee members. I hope this is not directly related to my first term as secretary, The last week has been dominated by running around organising extraordinary general meetings and trying to drum up support for the committee. I do not think that I am a natural politician or lobbyist so do not have high expectations of next week's EGM.

On the veterinary front I have been required to complete more continuing professional development in order to maintain my license to practise so spent the weekend at a course on canine ultrasonographic imaging. Despite the dread of being held captive in a small space with 30 other vets it was extremely enjoyable. All the male Aussie vets without exception wore checked flannel shirts and jeans ( James the Pommy vet stood out a mile in his pencil striped tailored shirt ) and the whole gathering put me in mind of a James Herriot/1950's attitude of 'give it a go' and 'anything can be fixed with penicillin and a few bits of bailer twine'.

Brian the ram is now a testosterone driven monster. It appears that the ladies are coming into oestrus and even Ness cannot enter the paddock without being armed with a big stick. The harem are playing hard to get at the moment.

My New Year resolution was to shed some weight so I have been on the wagon for 3 months. Not easy when surrounded by vineyards, but pleased to report that my target of losing 10 kg by Ness's birthday mid April has now been reached. Tennis court coverage has improved dramatically and a new wardrobe of smaller garments has arrived from Marks & Spencer and Debenhams UK. The plan is to lose another 5 kg by the end of June but it is getting harder. Will power and myself are uneasy bedfellows.

Autumn has hit and the evenings are getting chilly. We have had to break into the firewood pile and supply the guest cottages which is a sign that the busy season is upon us.....just as well as we need the cash or I will have to buy a checked flannel shirt and revisit my previous profession.

not a post for vegetarians

2011-02-22T15:49:00.000-08:00

I have been away in Sydney at a Veterinary behaviour conference ( no, NOT the behaviour of vets, but of their furry charges ) so Vanessa took advantage of my absence and reduced our flock number by 2. The female lamb has been sold to a neighbour for breeding but the boys are for the freezer.

Being cheapskates we decided to perform our own carcase butchering which despite diagrams and a video by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is trickier than it looks. The legs are easy enough but trying to produce chops/cutlets/racks of lamb using a meat cleaver and an old saw from the shed provided interesting end results.
It is very handy having friends with a cold store and an equipped catering kitchen.

From Protea Farm 1

The days are getting colder here now after a blistering few weeks and autumn is just around the corner. We have 'Nick the Builder' on site at the moment knocking out windows and putting in new doors before the holiday season picks up again, so it is a busy week.

old farts in caravans

2011-02-13T23:02:00.000-08:00

We have been missing 'Geoffrey' the mighty Winnebago, so today we took delivery of 'Dorothy', a fine example of a 1976 Australian built caravan.

From protea

A magnificent 11 foot long, weighing in at 640 Kg. A quality aluminium product, with specs as advanced as a baked bean can. The electrics are rather dodgy, the fridge does not seem to work on electricity or gas, and the 70's interior is retro in a bad way, but we may grow to love her.

From protea

Meanwhile I have taken the plunge and spent today at the Opticians learning how to use contact lenses. Although I am not at all squeamish about ramming my fingers into my eyeballs, the dilemma is that of needing glasses in order to see the little blighters. Once lens is precariously balanced on the end of the index finger remove your glasses. At this point you cannot see your finger or your eyeball. Peer blindly into the large magnifying mirror and insert lens up left nostril. Repeat for right nostril.

Second problem is lens removal. Poke thumb and index finger into eyeball and squeeze. Sit back and cry for 5 minutes then try again as it has fused with your cornea and refuses to budge. Make note to self to trim fingernails from thumb and index finger. Make second note to take out a contract killing on sadistic optician who refuses to let you go until you have repeated the procedure 5 times per eye.

Having failed the practical test for lens removal by use of manual dexterity the optician handed me little rubber forceps. "Nobody can use these, not even me" said the exasperated sadist. Years of surgically removing corneal foreign bodies with fine instruments came flooding back and lens was whipped out in a nanosecond. Remainder of consultation was spent training optician how to use the rubbery micro-tweezers.

So now I have my box of disposable lenses and my tweezers. All this torture due to the fact that playing tennis under floodlights wearing multi-focal lenses is impossible. When serving or setting up for an overhead smash you tilt your head and look at the ball through the reading lens part of the specs. Instinctively you duck and fold your arms over your head to avoid being decapitated by a large yellow water melon.

heat wave & extreme gardening

2011-02-01T12:43:00.000-08:00

The last week has been viciously hot with temps close to 40 degrees and a hot dry wind. This may seem like an ideal time to skulk indoors with the air-con running but Ness's program of 'extreme gardening' is unstoppable. Terry the tree man called last week and chopped down a large gum tree that had curled up its toes during the wet spell, so we have been chain-sawing logs for winter fuel. She also borrowed a vicious brute of a mulching/chipping machine so we have felled and chipped several sick and ugly conifers and converted them into garden mulch.

Terry also brought his stump-grinder ( a machine I had never heard of before we became rural Australians ) and annihilated over 20 large tree stumps that have been cluttering up the place for years so now the lawnmower and quad bike can access all areas without complex slalom manoeuvres being required.

From Protea Farm 1

Stumps like these are no more

From Protea Farm 1

We are also making the most of the abundant water supply from Lake Protea and have been digging channels and running irrigation piping to the newly planted trees.

Jules & Vanessa came for their annual Australia Day visit- a tradition which involves cooking, cocktails and canasta and also the annual sheep muster. The sheep and alpacas are now worm-drenched and vaccinated. For feline specialists their large animal handling skills are developing well.

Wild excitement regarding 'Duck Island'. Every night at dusk parent birds have started arriving with ducklings in tow and swimming out to the island for nightly refuge from foxes. A great result.

From Protea Farm 1

James dog is now fragrant after major dentistry, but her fruit addiction is causing problems. Every day she throws up plum stones after a raid on windfalls in the orchard, and as the plums are fermenting very quickly in the heat I suspect that she is permanently four sheets to the wind.....hard to tell with James.

From Protea Farm 1

Above- the biker chicks!

recycling...with grout

2011-01-12T14:58:00.000-08:00

The local recycling centre/rubbish dump down the road has a shop which sells other people's cast-offs and junk, and Ness has become very adept at spending a few dollars and revamping furniture items.

This week has been spent in the grouting/tiling outdoor workshop dabbling with mosaics. I think the bit she enjoyed best was smashing the tiles to pieces with a large hammer, although getting covered with grout came a close second.

From Protea Farm 1

We now have 3 outdoor tables created for under $20.

The one below has been named 'the exploding hamster'

From Protea Farm 1

...and this is a lonesome land-locked seascape

From Protea Farm 1

The design for the mosaic was by Ness's 11 year old niece

down on the farm

2011-01-10T17:23:00.000-08:00

The time had come to get the alpacas sheared. We have been putting it off because last year poor Mick the sheep-shearer discovered that alpaca restraint is tricky and alpaca wool and sheep clippers do not get along. It took several attempts, many hours and several extra pairs of hands.

So this year Mike the alpaca man came to visit. Within minutes 1 end of the alpaca was tied to his ute, the other end to a post in the ground, and it took less than 10 minutes to get each one done.

From Protea Farm 1

Below Moon and Shadow ( our neighbour's alpacas ) await their turn....

From Protea Farm 1

With all the rain we have discovered that pasture management requires a little more than sticking a few hungry ruminants in the field, so 'ladies with powers tools' was taken to a higher level when I borrowed Lynn & Peter's tractor and slashed the paddocks

From Protea Farm 1

gardening woes

2011-01-05T14:48:00.000-08:00

Thanks to all who have expressed concern re the dreadful flooding in QLD, but we are around 1,000 km south of the devastation and the weather here has not changed from annoyingly damp with mild flooding. Obviously when the first settlers arrived here it was during a similar weather cycle and the state was called New South Wales because the climate was identical to a grey and wet spring day in Cardiff.

The business will need a new name soon though- after 18 months of treating our poor sick Proteas for phytophthora ( an insidious root fungus ) and getting stunning rejuvenation, they have started to curl up their toes as they cannot tolerate standing in water. One has been felled, many more to follow.' Farm Sans Protea'

When I discussed our gardening dilemmas in the past I thought we had managed to find the ideal plants- those which are tolerant of prolonged drought and temps of over 40 degrees, and also frosts as low as - 8 degrees. I can now report that these amazing plants cannot cope with being under water.Other casualties include established olive trees, rosemary, lavender, and even 2 large gum trees have given up the ghost ( not including those submerged in Lake Protea ).

So...is this going to be the norm for the next decade and do we replant accordingly, or will next year be as dry as the desert?

Meanwhile despite warnings about the perils of open compost bins, Ness dug over the bin before Xmas and unearthed a king brown snake nest and had to deal with 6 of the damned things. The soil was fantastic, but the composter has now been dismantled and replaced with a puny plastic one with a snake-proof lid!

We did have one interesting flood last week....our solar hot water panels and 300 L water tank are situated on the roof. There is a cut off valve which stops the water temperature exceeding 70 degrees, and it is pretty dramatic when said valve malfunctions, with a waterfall of near boiling water pouring down the roof. The hapless pot plant which was sitting on the verandah suffered third degree burns, as did the lawn. Cordylines may be heat tolerant, but cannot be boiled. This being New Year's Day in rural Australia the emergency plumber was at the cinema in Sydney, so it took 3 days to get the leak repaired and hot water restored. At least it did not come in through the ceiling, or scald an unfortunate guest.

This video link is worth a look - good old BBC. Look out for the pugnacious brown snakes going for a swim, the typical Aussie bloke abandoning his flooded house carrying his crate of 4X Gold and a bag of ice while his wife carries her shoes and the less important stuff, and the voice-over of a chap with an outstandingly unAustralian Mancunian accent! With a Kylie backing track of course.

BBC floods QLD

Happy New Year

2010-12-31T18:03:00.000-08:00

We survived Xmas and New Year. Much food was cooked and consumed, many local wines and exotic cocktails were downed, all with great company.

Temperatures now a festive 36 degrees, and shorts and T shirts have been retrieved from the wardrobe.

The Sydney Harbour fireworks were the best ever- cannot believe that it was 1996 when we were there to see them live. A lot has happened since then.

home alone

2010-12-11T13:17:00.000-08:00

Things ticking along quite well on the homestead in the absence of the Kiwi. I managed to find the blown fuse and restore the electricity supply after the last deluge.

The amount of water around the place has caused a population explosion of large aggressive mosquitoes which appear to have the ability to bite through clothing and are resistant to Aeroguard and all other repellents. As I write this I am sitting uncomfortably due to a nasty clutch of raised itchy bites on my right buttock. Ness may take some persuading that I have not been frolicking around outdoors naked at sunset due to their position!

We have a second bright sunny day today, so I may even be able to mow the lawns.

Australian sports lovers are in a trough of despond after the last 2 Ashes Test matches, and I am banned from discussing cricket and trying not to be too smug- very difficult with a Nation of highly skilled sledgers

.

...and there was rain

2010-12-09T02:06:00.000-08:00

I know I have been banging on about the rain, but it has been quite extraordinary. Our little water filled ditch which we rely on to provide water for the garden is now an impressive lake with an overflow that tonight is a serious canal flowing down the hill.

From Protea Farm 1

The kangaroos do not quite know what to do with the rising levels

From Protea Farm 1

Ness is now in NZ for a couple of weeks so I am home alone watching the rain and hoping we do not get flooded in again.

Had a great night out in Sydney last night...thanks to all the friends involved,

new toy

2010-11-29T12:41:00.000-08:00

From Protea Farm 1

Ness has a brand new toy. Now she can zip around the property at speed ( admittedly she does that anyway, but engine-assisted she is now just a blur ). Tiresome jobs such as collecting alpaca poo and disposing of large piles of prunings now great fun!

Meanwhile we have now exceeded the annual rainfall for Blackpool, with no end to the storms and rain in sight. Could be worse, I suspect that this week Blackpool is covered in snow.

a new life in the sun

2010-11-15T02:33:00.000-08:00

Rainfall in Mudgee to date in 2010 850 mm

Average rainfall per annum in Blackpool 871 mm

Should have stayed in Lancashire?

At least the olive grove that Ness is planting is being very well watered in.

Just need to plan the Protea Farm Illuminations- they may catch on.

betty pinder 1930-2010

2010-11-12T00:15:00.000-08:00

From Protea Farm 1

Farewell to Mum who passed away this week.

spring news

2010-10-22T20:42:00.000-07:00

After a few weeks back in the UK it is great to be home. The weather has not been particularly spring-like so far, although it is warming up well this week.

The drive home from Sydney up over the Blue Mountains was unusual- climbing to a height of 1,000 km to make the trek west to Mudgee the scenery is always breathtaking, but when it is 1 degree C and most of the trip is dominated by driving snow and hailstones it is not a barrel of laughs.

The lambs ( 6 in total ) are rapidly becoming sheep. and the mothers are now shedding their wool and having permanent 'bad hair days'

From protea

The bird population are building nests with the sheep wool, and the king parrots are gathering in groups and eying up the young fruit on the apricot and peach trees.

From protea

They have no fear and get bolder by the day

From protea

A western spinebill has made a nest in the climbing rose right next to the house.

From protea

The cacti are flowering well

From protea

....and the big news is that ducks have started to take an interest in Duck Island.

From protea

duck island

2010-09-16T16:58:00.000-07:00

Duck Island had an uneventful launching this morning.

God Bless her and all who hatch on her!

From Protea Farm 1

veterinary work protea farm style

2010-09-14T20:12:00.000-07:00

We had an enforced veterinary day this weekend, with 4 boys to castrate and a ewe with diarrhoea to drench. If that was not enough there was also a friend's sick lamb to treat and then Peggy decided to attempt to give birth to a monster goat-like creature. This was way too large to enter the world unassisted, so was manually delivered by torch-light.

From Protea Farm 1

Monster goat like thing pictured above at 3 days old. She is much larger than the 12 day old Bellamy twins and Grundy boys.

All the ewes are spending the days outdoors now, but due to torrential rain and the fox threat they are housed in the barn at night much to the amusement of the locals who find the molly-coddling of sheep most unnecessary.

From Protea Farm 1

Ness has started 'Operation Wood Duck'. Each year the wood ducks that live on the dam hatch out their ducklings and proudly show them off. Within 24 hours there are no ducklings and 2 distressed parents, so we assume that the fox has a poultry dinner. The plan now that the dam is a large lake is to construct a floating island out of recycled plastic items to provide a fox-proof refuge for the duck family, complete with plant life and a 5 star ducky environment. Hopefully the island will be successfully launched later this week.

From Protea Farm 1

'Lake Protea'

From Protea Farm 1

Duck Hilton under construction.

it is julia by a short head

2010-09-07T00:08:00.001-07:00

After an interminable debate , Tony and Rob have given Julia Gillard the thumbs up to remain as PM. Queensland Bob obviously was not impressed with her checks and balances regarding the flying fox threat and backed the coalition.

Back at the ranch we have 2 sets of twins ( The Bellamys and The Grundys ). Clarrie is not doing too well and I have had to go back to the text books to remind myself how to deal with explosive diarrhoea of an ovine nature. Not pretty.

Speaking of diarrhoea we purchased a second car today whose colour could well be described as 'sheep scour' yellow.

From Protea Farm 1

The supply of second hand vehicles which are not utes is somewhat limited in Mudgee, but I am quite excited about my 'hot hatch' with 17 inch alloys and boy racer speeds. It is also fitted with a sound system that any teenage boy would be proud of, with volume controls on the steering wheel for easy access! .........an ideal old lady shopping car.

new arrivals

2010-09-02T15:48:00.000-07:00

Having had doubts about the sexuality of Brian the ram when he first arrived, the girls have started to fill out and look pregnant, and yesterday morning Lilian gave birth to twin lambs. The dorper/wiltshire horn cross lambs look extremely goat-like, but we are happy to report that the 'Bellamy boys' are doing well.

From Protea Farm 1

We were somewhat taken by surprise by the birth, my calculations had the due dates a few more weeks away, so Lilian dropped them in the paddock and we had to hurriedly erect maternity units in the shed because there is more bad weather forecast over the next week.

Despite the forecasts of more rain we have just had a couple of lovely warm days, and the first week of spring was heralded not only by lambs but also the return of the first tree frog on the verandah sending Ness scurrying back indoors!

tony, rob and bob

2010-08-24T16:35:00.000-07:00

Still no further on with sorting out the hung parliament over here. The situation is very similar to events in the UK earlier this year, although in a country with a much smaller population ( just over 14 million people voted- and voting is mandatory here ) the Independent candidates hold the balance of power....

..... That is 3 blokes called Tony, Rob and Bob.

This gang of 3 are in talks with Gillard and Abbott and these kingmakers will decide who to side with and dictate which party takes power. As rural independents they are interesting characters, old Bob having some particularly peculiar things to say about the state of the country.

"You know we're not allowed to fish much at all, we're not allowed to go camping or shooting or even boiling the billy. We've got a terrible problem with the deadly flying foxes. They're going to kill many more people than Taipan snakes do in Australia."

Above is a video of Bob's election campaign.

Glad 'Bob is on the job' to save us from the terrible flying fox threat.

Rob, on the other hand, makes a mean vegetable pie.

My “life dance card” is pretty full at the moment where its either work or family or sleep, but where possible, I love my downtime with close family and friends, beach and surf, or bush and bikes. My world famous vegetable pie is also ready to be cooked at a moments notice, much to the growing concern of the kids!

He has the square-jawed looks of an American game show host, and apparently is the only MP who wears a tracking device so any constituent with an iPhone or Smartphone can instantly know where he is. Handy for Mrs Rob I suppose, though with 3 kids already and a 4th one on the way she is probably glad that he is anywhere but in the bedroom.

Tony seems quite ordinary- no tracking devices, concerns about flying foxes or famous recipes as far as I can tell.

Basically all 3 are independent for a reason- they despise party politics and have fallen out with labour and liberal so their remit is very much to represent local rural affairs.

It is gripping stuff.

election fever

2010-08-21T04:17:00.000-07:00

Awaiting the results of today's general election here and it is looking like a possible hung parliament.

James dog is taking it in her stride....

From Protea Farm 1

Still very cold and windy and wet, August has notched up over 100mm of rain, so we are planting trees and plants all over the place on the assumption that if we cannot grow them in these conditions we may as well give up all together.

tree hugging

2010-08-10T23:27:00.000-07:00

After a very wet July we are having an August of torrential downpours. No longer are we complaining of drought and empty water tanks as we squelch around the boggy garden and watch the small rivers flowing down the hill and into the dam. A few more days like this and we will be complaining of flooding and gathering together the animals two-by-two at the top of the hill.

The lovely yellow wattle tree in the garden is disappearing in a pile of sawdust. At first we feared termites, but on closer inspection it is blighted by 'stem borer'- a nasty bug that eats the tree from the inside out. It is currently a mass of yellow flowers which I fear is the swan song performance. However I have googled treatments, and despite all the Aussies we know thinking we are demented foreigners trying to save an infested tree which grows like a weed and is not worth the effort, 'Operation Tree Hugger' started today.

This involves identifying the source of each pile of sawdust, excavating the hole then inserting a piece of flexible wire to track and impale the bug within. Then prepare a paste of Dolomite and Derris ( that well known Music Hall double act ) and fill the hole. Finally use wood filler to seal the damage. The assistant in Bunnings ( a DIY superstore chain ) backed away very quickly when he spotted me in the wood filler aisle and asked what I needed the filler for. I plumped for exterior wood filler in pale teak.

farewell geoffrey

2010-07-30T15:18:00.000-07:00

It has been an unusual July, with a great deal of rain. The tanks are full, the garden is lush and green and everywhere is rather boggy and soggy. If we get the frosts predicted in a few days the whole place will be like an ice block. Hopefully the weather will benefit all the new plants that we have put in and get them off to a good start.

The end of an era was seen this week when we decided that Geoffrey the Winnebago was a luxury that we could no longer afford and he was collected and taken to a dealership in Sydney ( hopefully for a speedy sale ).

So long Geoffrey, and thanks for all the fun. We are now officially grown-ups of fixed abode.

christmas in july

2010-07-30T14:48:00.000-07:00

It is only in the past decade or so that Australia has embraced the fact that Christmas is hot and sunny and ideal for prawns on the barbie style festive dining. Many of our friends have strong childhood memories of being forced indoors on Christmas day to eat a hot meal around the table, with great tales of spending the day with semi-permanent red and green dye stains on their heads and down their faces after being forced to wear party hats which melted in the heat.

Christmas cards remain traditional, with pictures of snow covered houses, holly and red breasted robins.

Recently 'Christmas in July' has become extremely popular. The weather is suitably cold, with snow on the Victorian ski fields and log fires burning. Also the festive fare is all in season- turkeys are born in Sep/Oct so too young to eat in December and too old and stringy to eat the following Christmas. Sprouts are fresh and ready to pick, the trees are covered in mistletoe berries and holly trees are a luscious red.

So on tv for most of July we watch Nigella, Jamie Oliver etc cooking all their traditional British Xmas recipes while families are decorating their trees and boiling sprouts.

Merry Christmas everybody!

pinder ponderings

2010-07-25T22:14:00.000-07:00

The mighty shade house has now been constructed and anchored to the ground, so seed planting has started on an industrial scale. We only need to grow and harvest around 100 Kg of salad leaves to break even on the cost now.

From Protea Farm 1

I have started the Thursday morning tennis competition, and I am being constantly berated for not playing 'patient tennis'. This involves lots of running around, prolonged rallies, large numbers of lobs and generally trying to stay in the point as long as possible. This philosophy does not come easily to someone who is lazy, unfit and impatient, and whose definition of good tennis is to try and hit the ball as hard as possible and get the game over with minimal effort.

As I pointed out, the word 'patient' in my vocabulary means a sick cat or dog, not a lifestyle choice.

Patient tennis resulted in my losing 3 out of 4 of my sets. However on Saturday where the tennis is social and not a competition the aggressive approach notched up several wins.

A weekly trophy is handed out ....namely 'the drill'

From Protea Farm 1

...and I am this week's proud recipient.

I should add that 'drilling' is hitting a ball exceptionally hard directly at an opponent in an unsporting fashion and a way likely to cause extreme bodily harm. Extra bonus points were added due to the fact that my 'target' was the club President.

Therefore I should not feel proud. Not at all. Not even a tiny bit.

small farm field day

2010-07-19T19:04:00.000-07:00

The weekend was a busy one with the small farm field day in Mudgee- a sort of agricultural show where you can buy all sorts of stuff from combine harvesters to frozen sheep sperm and all things in between.

Our guests were the regulars who attended last year, although this time they were a bit more flash and arrived by helicopter.

From Protea Farm 1

We have decided to keep the car parks for the riff raff, but would prefer it if in future all guests used the helipad facility.

Vanessa has purchased an enormous shadehouse/greenhouse for industrial vegetable growing, so we started the kit assembly yesterday. It was slightly baffling, but the skeleton has now been assembled.

From Protea Farm 1

autumnal Mudgee

2010-07-06T02:22:00.000-07:00

Ness has taken some great pictures of Mudgee in autumn.......including finally the superb Mudgee post office and the deco picture theatre.

From protea

relatives

2010-07-06T01:41:00.001-07:00

Of course I also need to add a big thanks to my fab niece and nephew and family for all the entertainment during my stay in the UK....pictured here in World Cup pose.

From Protea Farm 1

home sweet home

2010-07-05T14:40:00.000-07:00

After a prolonged break from blogging I am back home. It has taken 5 days to get the body clock back in sync, partly due to sitting up half the night to watch Wimbledon and the World Cup and partly due to the dramatic temperature difference. Heathrow was over 30 degrees and I arrived to the coldest day in Sydney in over 60 years. Fortunately Ness and james dog were waiting at the airport with a thick coat and woolly hat for me.

We did not realise just how mild our first winter here was until now- regular frosts and even snow forecast this week.

Ness has not been idle in my absence- not one for just keeping business ticking over, under the new management there have been many changes........ a major one being the provision of breakfast baskets on request. So at 7 am this morning I was taking a fresh loaf from the breadmaker and preparing sausage and bacon packs for guests next door. Being up this early has its advantages-sitting on the verandah with my coffee watching a large roo hopping up the drive and king parrots screeching in the trees.

Having been in the UK during the fascinating general election and all the shenanigans with the coalition I managed to miss the fact that back home little Kevin Rudd has been ousted in a bloodless coup and we now have our first ever woman prime minister.

It was great to catch up with a few people back in the UK, particularly Nancy and family in Lancs and the mad bunch in Tuxford whose company was a lifeline in difficult times, but there was not enough time to really see many other friends which was a shame.

However, despite the freezing cold and the large pile of end of financial year paperwork to tackle it is great to be back in the country that now feels well and truly like home.

election, dejection, connection

2010-05-12T10:40:00.000-07:00

A reasonably uneventful flight apart from 2 hours on the tarmac in Bangkok while BA technicians tried to decide whether to take off again due to 'hydraulic malfunction issues'. If this meant that the landing gear would not work, or the flappy bits on the wings would fall off, then I was all for disembarking but the masses in economy had no vote so eventually we took off.

Still a bit jet-lagged, so I am up at 6am ( those who know me would realise how exceptional that is ) and asleep by 10pm. The biggest problem at my mother's house ( my mother notwithstanding ) is that it is a technological black hole. No mobile phone reception on any network, sending my international roaming facility into meltdown, and no internet access. I have discovered that at certain times of day if I stand in the far corner of the garden amongst the weeds I can send and deliver text messages....sometimes. I suspect that mother has cast a protection spell similar to the one that Dumbledore put around Hogwarts, or that the cavity wall insulation is packed with tin foil, egg cartons and selenite.

So, in the absence of a viable mobile internet option, I was forced to do something I swore I would never do again and spent a week waiting for BT to supply the equipment for me to install broadband. After 2 days of apparent non-delivery (' if you are experiencing problems please visit our website' ) I discovered the BT Home Hub parcel hidden behind the wheelie bin, and today have finally made contact with the outside world.

I am not an internet addict, I can cope without it. 7 days abstinence?....no worries, plenty of other things to do. So now I am up to World 3 level 7 on 'Super Mario Brothers' on my Nintendo DS!

It appears that BT have not improved their service. After a massive 4 hours online, my Wifi is malfunctioning and connection is intermittent.

Meanwhile it has been a fun time to be in the UK with all the general election shenanigans. It is like a fly on the wall documentary about a group of boys in the playground. David and Gordon have new footballs, but they need to be inflated. Nick has the bicycle pump and is everbody's new best friend, so is being offered the team vice captaincy and all the sweeties he can eat. Great fun.

It has been one of the coldest Mays on record here, with no sunshine and even snow in the north east. I went shopping with my sister-in-law today, and she took me to a surf gear shop to help with the home sickness! The guy who runs the shop said he went to Scarborough to surf yesterday and just as he donned the wetsuit he was struck down with freezing hailstones and had to abandon the beach.

.......more tales from 'up over' to follow

leaving on a jet plane..

2010-05-01T15:46:00.000-07:00

New date for my flight is Tues 4th May, so I will be leaving the lovely autumn weather behind and heading for the UK- hope that the English spring has some sunshine for me.

So, I will try to see as many people as possible while over there, although I will not know until I get to Preston just how much care Mum will need.

Ness and the gang will be home alone- pics below taken this week and show Ness and her mob going for their morning constitutional. Daft creatures follow her like a pack of dogs!

From Protea Farm 1

volcanic disruptions

2010-04-20T03:42:00.000-07:00

Currently stuck here in Australia, flight to UK canceled, and the damned volcano in Iceland is causing major hassles. There is no way to contact BA at the moment- the website is being deliberately obtuse and the phone lines permanently on hold.

So, not a lot I can do but continue to enjoy the fantastic autumn weather here.

Vanessa got a birthday gift from Georgie ( hereinafter known as 'the animal hoarder by proxy' ) of 2 guinea pigs. She is refusing to call them 'Kath & Kim', so they have been named 'Myrtle & Sorrel'.

The new 'pig palace' is currently having coats of yacht varnish before the ladies move in.

From Protea Farm 1

Brian the ram has settled in well, but there has been no obvious procreative activity to date. he may turn out to be an Adam or Ian......watch this space.

kiwis and sheep

2010-04-07T18:59:00.000-07:00

It was an Easter of kiwis and sheep ( always a good combination). Friends from NZ who we have not seen for nearly 15 years arrived for a holiday. When we were last together in the UK there were only 2 of them, but times have moved on...

From Protea Farm 1

It was great to see them and get to know the 3 boys, who were incredibly well-behaved apart from regularly bringing bugs and creepy-crawlies for us to admire.

We also collected our new dorper ram. Sticking with The Archers theme he needed to be a bit of a Lothario in order to perform his duties, so we have named him Brian.

From Protea Farm 1

He is currently following Lilian around with a stupid amorous look on his face.

From Protea Farm 1

Happy Easter!

2010-04-01T22:11:00.000-07:00

From Protea Farm 1

quote of the week

2010-04-01T02:50:00.000-07:00

This week we went to the pre launch party of the 'Gourmet Pantry' at Thistle Hill, one of our local wineries. Obviously the main reason for attending was free wine, but an additional bonus was the chance to catch up with locals in the hospitality industry and swap stories about the joys of dealing with the public ( running this business has so many parallels with running a vet practice, and the delightful general public are the common spanner in the works ).

Having vented our communal spleens about feral children, obnoxious over 60's, and people's inability to understand basic rubbish recycling, Kate's sardonic comment was a belter.

' I mistakenly thought that Fawlty Towers was a comedy; I now know that it was a documentary'.

Blogs have been few and far between recently, mainly due to the fact that my Mum is seriously ill and I have to return to the UK in a couple of weeks. So Ness is having a crash course in all the business/internet stuff that I primarily deal with and trying not to panic about flying solo.

Fully booked for the Easter holidays, but hoping to get a little free time to go shopping for a ram- the girls are fat as houses after the rains and accelerated grass growth, and they need a man soon. Looking into getting a dorper boy and breeding wiltshire horn x dorpers, working on the principle that they will look very stupid and taste good.

biblical plague events

2010-03-22T03:32:00.000-07:00

We appear to be living the plagues of Egypt at Protea Farm at the moment.

The frogs have returned with a vengeance and are keeping Vanessa a hostage in her own home at night by suckering themselves to all the windows and peering in with little froggy eyes.

The plague of flies are a given at this time of year, but the locusts are exceptional and hopping all over the gardens. Tonight on the tennis court under the floodlights the locusts were swarming and almost stopped play. Difficult to return serve when locusts are crawling all over your head.

...so we await the hail, livestock death, and boils.

I was interested to read in the UK news today about the lovely lady B & B owner in Berkshire who turned away a respectable middle-aged gay couple who had booked a stay for the night at her establishment because allowing them to share a bed under her roof was 'against her convictions'.

I wonder whether we should stop allowing rampantly heterosexual people utilising our facilities. Actually, while we are at it we could preclude children ( noisy,messy things ) ladies with long hair ( too much bathroom cleaning afterwards ) people with irritating laughs, men with beards and sandals, and all those who have religious beliefs, orange cars or sisters called Gladys.

Welcome to the Inhospitality industry, nice one Mrs Black.

art of glass

2010-03-06T23:12:00.000-08:00

Paul the furniture restorer from Dubbo returned a van load of revamped items that Pickfords trashed somewhere between Lincoln and Mudgee, and he has done an amazing job with all the furniture.

The major triumph was the large antique gilded mirror frame, which had big chunks of plaster moulding missing. He has managed to reproduce the missing bits extremely well.

So today we had the unpleasant job of mounting said massive and very heavy mirror to the wall. This procedure has been performed after many house moves and involves Ness balancing her own body weight on her head while I mark out where to position the screws.

The mirror is now up, no damage to report.

From Protea Farm 1

On a glass theme, we went to our favourite scavenging/recycling shop yesterday at the tip. We source all our wine glasses/crockery/books and sundry items from here, it is amazing what people throw away. I spotted a tangerine glass vase priced at $2 and decided to take a gamble on it being a piece of 70's Whitefriars.

......Google confirmed that it is a Whitefriars 1971-74 Geoffrey Baxter 'double diamond' vase, market value $250-300. I love a bargain.

From Protea Farm 1

wise words

2010-02-27T16:20:00.000-08:00

A wise man once said ( well, it was Max the old bloke at the tennis club yesterday )

'Worry is like a rocking chair- takes a Hell of a lot of effort and gets you nowhere.'

Very philosophical, the Aussies

melon harvest

2010-02-22T23:01:00.000-08:00

You have got to love a country where you can grow these.

From Protea Farm 1

....tastes delicious too...

From Protea Farm 1

snakes in the grass

2010-02-20T13:37:00.000-08:00

It was an ambitious project, but we managed to get all the rooms apart from one bedroom painted, a new toilet installed and all 80's pelmets dismantled and replaced with sleeker poles. Just the rest of the woodwork and 1 bedroom to go before the next booking at the weekend.

From Protea Farm 1

It all looks cleaner and fresher, and all ready for guests to trash.

From Protea Farm 1

The vegetables are thriving, and Ness is selling weekly veg boxes to The Farmer's Pantry and rather ambitiously taking orders from a local chef catering for a wedding next month. I can see her eying up any raised bed and border containing ornamental plants preparing for a cull in order to accommodate more profitable planting.

The disadvantage of experiencing such an unusually green and lush summer is the need for regular lawn mowing, long grass being an ideal habitat for the fully warmed up snake population. Obviously killing a brown snake in NSW is against the law and hefty fines apply, so when Ness found a brown snake in the storage shed we did not don sturdy boots and arm ourselves with shovels and other garden hardware, and I did not stand a safe distance from the shed in the middle of the field quaking like a girl and shouting words of encouragement to Ness who did not chop it to pieces with an axe. So that is OK.

The new website is coming along well, and will hopefully be launched soon. Could do with a professional photographer for the pics, but the budget is running low and the only one we know has selfishly chosen the live in the UK, so for now we will make do with our snaps.

From website pics

protea farm cottages relaunch

2010-02-10T17:56:00.000-08:00

It had to happen sooner or later- attention has moved away from the garden and towards redecoration of the cottage next door while we are guestless. We have less than a week to repaint a whole 3 bedroom house, slightly daunting as we discovered yesterday that a minimum of 3 coats will be required to cover the beige with a hint of filth that currently covers the walls.

From Protea Farm 1

We have invested in some new furniture, and we are also working in conjunction with the lovely Cletis to redesign and relaunch the website.

So, come and join the Protea Farm Cottages Mudgee group on Facebook and look out for the changes.

the grape vine moth

2010-02-03T22:38:00.000-08:00

You have to accept in Australia that the native wildlife will be more venomous, more stingy and bitey, and more scary than anywhere else in the world, and generally best avoided whenever possible. After today we are also beginning to realise that if the native creatures cannot kill with a single bite then overwhelming in groups of hundreds of thousands will suffice.

So, what can turn this.......

From Protea Farm 1

......to this, in a matter of hours?

From Protea Farm 1

Answer- several battalions of these fat juicy grape vine caterpillars.

From Protea Farm 1

So now we know what those pretty black and white butterfly/moth things have been up to for the last few days. It is impossible to describe the numbers-maybe the fact that Ness spotted the linear mountain range of caterpillar poo on the ground before she spotted the denuded grape vine may give you a clue.

We used the small amount of pymethrum spray we had (which was as effective as pissing in the wind) before admitting defeat and cutting back the vines which had not yet been totally stripped and giving the prunings to the chooks who are still happily scrapping over fat, juicy ( and hopefully non-venomous ) caterpillars.

Those which did drop off and die were pounced upon by a platoon of our least favourite garden pest the purple ant.

From Protea Farm 1

Ness has been banned from going near the cottage until the purple ants have gone because she has alarming allergic reactions when bitten by one.

What a fun day.

Australia Day

2010-02-03T14:34:00.000-08:00

It appears to be February already. A quiet time at Protea Farm with only sporadic guests, so time for more reorganising of grounds and minor repairs to the cottages. Ness is digging up the over large roundabout type arrangement at the top of the driveway in preparation for the ( as not yet designed ) replacement.

From Protea Farm 1

Australia Day was a January highlight, with the obligatory barbecue and beer drinking with friends, made more fun by the arrival of Jules & Vanessa for a break from Sydney....seen here enjoying pear cosmopolitan cocktails ( of which too many were imbibed).

From Protea Farm 1

The girls helped us with our annual vaccination of the sheep and alpacas-a very interesting project with 4 small animal specialists attempting to round up and catch unfamiliar species. How many feline medicine professors does it take to vaccinate an alpaca? ( answer, surprisingly only two).

Garden produce in abundance, so veg boxes are now being provided to the Farmer's Pantry as well as being used at home.

Below the girls proudly displaying the harvest before cooking a splendid ratatouille to complement Ormiston pork belly- an exceptionally low food miles meal.

From Protea Farm 1

The post Christmas tennis competition started this week, and I have been promoted into the ladies' Division 1 ( probably due to heart attacks and hip replacements rather than merit). These women can play the game with terrifying speed and accuracy, leaving me flapping about waving my racket at a ball that has long since zipped past. I can see relegation on the horizon already!

happy parrots, anxious sheep

2010-01-21T21:19:00.000-08:00

Temperatures in the high 30's this week, so back to watering the garden daily. The new storage tank is now in situ to hold the pumped water from our 2 bores and is all plumbed in to the pump so that we can utilise it from the garden taps. Ness is putting irrigation pipes into the vegetable plots this week because watering by hand in the evenings has become treacherous due to the mosquitoes. Last night we waited until dusk so it was cool enough to water and got eaten alive by the little blighters- so bad that we had to bolt indoors. Unfortunately we brought hitch-hikers into the house and had a frenzied evening tracking them down.

We have just purchased 3 large pomegranate trees, glorious with their bright red flowers. The king parrots and sulphur-crested cockatoos will be delighted- they have already stripped the trees of peaches and apricots so I am sure that extra fruit will be pecked. The sheep however are looking decidedly anxious as they watch us planting a substantial rosemary hedge and large plots of mint!

The Archers, NSW episode 3

2010-01-11T16:14:00.000-08:00

Those who have been following this blog from its inception ( you know who you are, and really should get out more ) will have noticed that it has transformed from tales of intrepid adventure in the outback in a campervan to a journal of gardening and weather conditions as I morph into Lynda Snell and life becomes a southern hemisphere parody of 'The Archers'.

It has been said that once you hit 40 you discover one of the three 'G's', namely God, Golf or Gardening. As I am not the sort to run around trying to find the unfindable ( God and golf) that only leaves gardening, and I am happy to report that all is well. We have our first tiny little water melons....

From Protea Farm 1

...and the pumpkins are testing the strength of Ness's new fence wires.

Many thanks for all the recipe ideas. Particularly fond of the marrow rum from Lynn,and will be brewing in the near future in between freezing large batches of soup. The Ormiston crew should be back from snowy England soon, so we can offload the excess for their cafe's range of 'low food miles' menus ( Lynda and Pat would be proud).

The rustic fencing for the newly extended front garden is complete, and we await cooler conditions to start some tree planting.

From Protea Farm 1

Huge tank still residing in the paddock until a team of strong men arrive to move 450 kg of solid plastic to its new location.

vegetable glut

2010-01-09T14:10:00.000-08:00

The rains have now gone, and it is getting hotter by the day. All the shrubs and plants which were hanging on like grim death are now blossoming and flowering again, and the dreaded zucchini/courgette glut is upon us. Ness planted some funky varieties and promised me that they would not turn into giant marrows overnight, but that proved to be misleading.

From Protea Farm 1

We are not managing to eat them as quickly as more appear,despite the assistance of Delia's vegetarian menus. I fear things will only get worse when the baby squashes and pumpkins get another growth spurt. Peppers and chillies also going well, and we are extremely excited about the baby water melons.

All recipes for zucchini/courgette, cucumber, butternut squash and pumpkin gratefully received. I wonder if any of them would make a half decent wine?

happy new year

2010-01-05T13:44:00.000-08:00

The story from Mudgee since Christmas has been one of rain, rain, and more rain. The extreme drought conditions of November are a distant memory as we sit on the verandah looking out onto green hills and pastures. The vegetables are raging, the stock have abundant food, and there is water in the tanks for luxuries like showers and flushing toilets. It appears that my skill as a rainmaker ( when travelling in Geoffrey around the country any town we stopped in was guaranteed a generous downpour ) has not deserted me and was merely slightly delayed.

170mm of rain since Christmas day, almost half the annual rainfall of last year in less than 2 weeks. We have lawns in places we never knew there was grass, and yesterday I had to mobilise Courtney the ride on mower and do some serious mowing.

From Protea Farm 1

For the first time the tennis court has been wet enough that the roller actually managed to flatten and level it, reducing the number of comedy bounces to an acceptable level.

Despite this, the enormous water tank that we ordered was rolled off a huge truck yesterday and resides in the paddock. It will be installed soon and provide a back-up system for the garden, holding a cocktail of bore and dam water in reserve for dry times, and will be linked to an irrigation system around the gardens. We are determined to create and maintain an oasis, regardless of the cost. Of course, once installed it will rain here forever and we will not require its services!

From Protea Farm 1

...and Ness ends up in the gutter

2009-12-26T19:49:00.000-08:00

As the rain continues to fall Ness decided to get onto the roof and clear the gutters to ensure maximum water collection. She was ably assisted by Coco the amazing spaniel who decided that catching mud and wet leaves from the sky was the best game ever invented.

From Protea Farm 1

the best Christmas present ever.........

2009-12-26T15:07:00.000-08:00

A slightly belated Merry Christmas to everyone. Hope those in the UK are enjoying all the snow.

We had the best present we could possibly have hoped for....60mm of steady rain. The grass is sprouting, trees are clean and happy, and the vegetables are growing visibly. It is raining again now, so we have had twice the rainfall of last December in 48 hours.

From Protea Farm 1

We had great company, good food and wine, and spent the day happily watching the rain.

From Protea Farm 1

almost Christmas

2009-12-15T13:50:00.000-08:00

The last 2 weeks have flown by. Still very dry so most of our time taken up with garden revival. We are now drawing water from one of our bores, which smells like sulphur and is possibly not the best stuff to hose onto the plants, but they will just have to put up with it as the alternative is death by dehydration.

We are harvesting cucumbers, courgettes and spring onions at the moment, and the tomatoes are hanging on by their little green skins.

We have 1 house booked out over Christmas, but have held the other one back so that friends visiting from Sydney have somewhere to stay. Also we will be minding the pig farm for some of the time, as the Caspars are jetting off to the UK for the festive season.

Tennis has been suspended until February, but hopefully I can persuade one of the visitors to venture onto our court at some stage over the holiday. Most frustrating owning a tennis court and never getting the opportunity to use it.

No more news and no exciting tales to tell, but all is well at the crispy homestead.

From Protea Farm 1

Above scary massive bee swarm in a shrub outside the house last week- fortunately they moved on the next day.

From Protea Farm 1

Completed the trellis beds for the tomatoes and peas this week.

From Protea Farm 1

Cucumbers and butternut squash.

From Protea Farm 1

Above water melons, rock melons and pumpkins grow in a mulch of Alan and Marley wool and poo.

From Protea Farm 1

...and the trellising goes up for our little secret drinking grotto. The planting consists of 2 bay trees and a Californian lilac, so should be a delightful shady area by next year.

going green

2009-12-03T22:02:00.000-08:00

First solar hot water unit was installed today, the next one will be fitted next week. Lovely free hot water- we may be frying, the garden may be crispy, but at least the sun will be working for us in electricity bill reductions.

From Protea Farm 1

tennis chic

2009-12-03T15:02:00.000-08:00

The picture above shows the victors and runners up in the tennis competition- note the coordinated sporty pink team on the left, and the somewhat more freestyle garb sported by my team on the right. Also note a rather marked height disparity!

From protea

......we get some rain

2009-11-27T13:44:00.001-08:00

After spending a week driving into town every day with a 1000 litre water container on the trailer to collect town water in a frantic attempt to keep a crispy garden alive we managed 7mm of rain on Thursday- a piddling amount, but the shrubs and trees have gained a little respite.

With a full complement of guests we also had to get 'Graham the tanker' to deliver us 26,000 litres of drinking water, so now we can flush the toilets and shower daily which is a treat.

Our next project is the installation of solar water heating in the 2 cottages which are still using fossil fuel mains electricity, so the panels and tanks are on order. The water situation is ongoing, but the bore pumps are being overhauled with a view to installing a holding tank for the bore water ( slightly salty, but should be OK for stock) and the grand plan will be a mix of grey and bore water for garden relief.

Obviously all this green Save the Planet stuff means that we will no longer be able to afford to eat, but we will have freshly grown vegetables and cheap local wine so all is not lost.

game, set and match

2009-11-22T16:15:00.000-08:00

There was an emergency meeting at Mudgee tennis club last week, and the ladies of Division 1 decided that the overwhelming heat meant that the tennis finals should be postponed. The Division 2 ladies are made of sterner stuff ( allegedly ) and elected to play regardless. This turned out to be great sport for the hardened Aussies watching an unfit, unacclimatised, overweight Pom struggle to the point of double vision and nausea! So, we managed a commendable second place due to my weedy northern hemisphere constitution- and the opposition were better players which helped.

The club is an interesting hotbed of politics and undercurrents of discontent. The Div 1 ladies appear to have total control of the place, and entry into the inner circle is based on ability, social standing, and whether your bum looks good in a pink skirt. I think on a points system those 3 parameters will ensure that I remain with the gang of outcasts in Div 2 in perpetuity.

heat stroke, bush fires and record temperatures

2009-11-22T14:00:00.000-08:00

It has been an action packed week in deepest NSW. We are currently experiencing the hottest November for decades, with temps in excess of 40 C for over a week with strong and horrendously hot winds blowing in from the west. The weekend was particularly alarming as we became surrounded by bush fires, a couple way too close for comfort. Last night Mudgee set up a temporary accommodation centre for people in a neighbouring town who were advised to evacuate by the rural fire service who were unable to contain the closest fire.

We have no water here , so our bush fire survival plan is now to elect not to protect the property and to pack up the dog, release the chooks and stock, and leave.

The garden has been fried despite our efforts to drive into town daily to fill a large water container and use it on the critical plants- too many casualties, not enough water. Today the needs of the guests take priority and we have ordered a delivery of 3000 gallons of water to top up the tanks.

It is cooler today, and showers have been forecast, but outside there is a haze over the hills and an overwhelming smell of smoke.

Exciting times.

tennis update

2009-11-16T18:07:00.000-08:00

We found an eligible player last week ( good old Bev ) so we have advanced to the grand final on Thursday. Temperatures are now 40 C ( 104 F ) so the match should boil down ( pardon the pun ) to the last person still alive on court wins.

There is apparently a club rule banning play once temps exceed 40 C so the match has been scheduled to start at 8.30 am. Anyone who knows me well will realise that I am a non-functioning being at that time in the morning, so unless I am supplied with large doses of caffeine at each end change I suspect the result is a foregone conclusion.

Ness has been getting up at 5.30 am to dig fence posts before it gets too hot for any outdoor activity, and then has an afternoon siesta. Just looking at yet another mountain of topsoil that was delivered today makes me feel exhausted, but as I type this she is digging, potting and pottering outside. Mad dogs and kiwis!

pretty flowers

2009-11-11T14:36:00.000-08:00

Another busy week has passed us by, but not a lot to report. Temperatures now in the mid 30's and all creatures and plants alike are wilting. 'The boys' are appreciating their radical hair cuts, no sign of a lamb from Lilian, and little Wooley is sprouting cute baby horns.

Ness is just about managing to keep the garden alive with a water butt to collect grey water from washing machine, and we are looking into installing a complete grey water system to harvest all water from sinks/baths etc.

From Protea Farm 1

The alpaca wool is being put to good use. We are saving Marley's because it is quite good quality and could be utilised in some handicraft sort of a fashion, but poor old Alan has hideous elderly animal skin and dermatitis, so his wool is full of scabs, skin flakes and assorted bits of crusty camelid.

It does however make a fine mulch, so the cucumbers, pumpkins and squashes are growing happily in their snuggly duvet.

From Protea Farm 1

The large resident flock of choughs are also enthusiastically sorting through it for nesting material, so alpaca nests are the 'new look' in avian interior design this season.

alpaca shearing

2009-11-02T14:10:00.000-08:00

The boys have been feeling the heat so yesterday Ness took them over Ormiston because Mick had offered to shear them while he was shearing the merinos. I suspect that it is an offer he will not make again under any circumstances-there were major clipper issues, alpaca wool being very different from sheep wool. Clipper blades were sourced, sharpened, altered, re-sharpened, replaced, and there was much cursing.

Then the matter of alpaca restraint came in to play-Alan is an old hand, but Marley was singularly unimpressed with being tipped on his side and restrained while the clipper chewed through his coat. In the end Donny ( an expert in all things alpaca ) was called in to assist, and with a combination of hand shears and clippers they have rendered the comedy animals even more ridiculous.

From Drop Box

From Protea Farm 1

Thank heavens for self-shedding sheep.

From Protea Farm 1

anyone for tennis?

2009-10-28T23:28:00.001-07:00

Well it was high drama at Mudgee tennis club today- the division 2 ladies' league came to an end, and despite being 2 team members down for most of the competition my depleted team topped the league and have a place in next week's play-offs. However a team member is unable to play, and the adjudicators ( all the posh ladies in division 1 ) have had a conclave in order to establish the rules regarding the use of a reserve in a semi-final.

The conclusion is that the only people eligible under the complex rules, sub-section Z, paragraph 93 ( 'absenteeism - player or players, for a total of 17 consecutive Thursdays') are the Archbishop of Canterbury, Elvis, left-handed ladies called Doris, or Gladys Trellis from Perth WA.

Will keep you posted.

dry spell gardening

2009-10-28T21:40:00.000-07:00

Ness has been transforming the rather neglected and extremely dry garden outside the top cottage and has gone for the dry river bed look with drought tolerant planting.

From Protea Farm 1

This involved shovelling several tons of gravel, so her fencing muscles have had an extra work out. I believe that the expression over here for advanced muscle development is being 'ripped', so I can confirm that she is well and truly ripped.

From Protea Farm 1

The ubiquitous wine barrel completes the look, and we are hoping for minimal maintenance once we have planted more grasses and spiky stuff. All we need is a blue bird bath for all the little honey-eaters that hang around the grevilleas.

feeling hot hot hot

2009-10-23T15:10:00.000-07:00

Temperatures in the 30's this week, and plants and animals alike are feeling it. We need to get our bore pump fixed up in order to keep up with water demand, as the dam is low and the drinking water tanks lower.

The cacti are thriving.

From Protea Farm 1

Little Woolley is now outdoors with Peggy and the other wailers, and skipping and looking very cute.

From Protea Farm 1

Despite the heat Ness decided yesterday that the unsightly wall/pile of rubble that used to support an old shade house needed to be dismantled and moved rock by rock up the hill to provide a hard base for the garden she is redesigning for the 3rd cottage.

From Protea Farm 1

The rocks have gone, another snake habitat has been eradicated.

a new wailer

2009-10-18T19:50:00.000-07:00

If we needed any concrete reminders about why we no longer do veterinary work then the weekend events did the job nicely. In a cold barn at 3 am, sleep-deprived and covered in poo, blood and dried placenta trying to persuade a very confused and stupid ewe that the small woolly thing that had appeared from her nether regions really did need to suck on her udder.

After 3 days Peggy has finally developed maternal instincts but is not producing very much milk at all, so little 'Woolly' is getting bottle feeds every 3 hours. We should have guessed that things would not be straightforward.

From Protea Farm 1

Woolly is an awkward little creature and despite being starving hungry still kicks and struggles and hates being bottle fed.

Lilian meanwhile has seen the whole process and looks like she is in total denial re pregnancy and showing no signs of lamb production.

more gardening

2009-10-13T16:56:00.000-07:00

Windy, cold and drizzly here. Not enough rain to significantly fill the water tanks, but enough to help the plants along. We have been shovelling piles of top soil and mulch and generally working on soil improvement and water retention.

I have never been a fan of cacti, but the ones Ness bought a few months ago are flowering and look very impressive so maybe I will be converted.

From Protea Farm 1

anniversary

2009-10-07T14:50:00.000-07:00

We have now been in the country for 2 years. Not sure where that went, or how we ended up being landladies in rural New South Wales.

We are also celebrating a weekend of rain- only 13mm but tanks and gardens looking better for it.

It is the first week of school holidays so flat out here with families arriving and departing and our house cleaning speeds have moved up a gear.

The garden is a mass of pink pig-face, and veggies are thriving. We even have baby olives on our olive trees. I am sure Ness will knock up an olive press out of bits of old tin and string before it is time to harvest.

From Protea Farm 1

The sulphur crested cockatoos have returned and are strutting around trying to impress the ladies.

From Protea Farm 1

still no rain

2009-09-29T01:12:00.000-07:00

Still no rain to speak of, water tank levels increasingly critical. It has however got very cold again, with frosts and bitterly chilly strong winds so we are burning logs again.

Unfortunately Clarrie, one of the wailers, had a still born lamb this week. She seems very happy to have her figure back, and is stuffing her face with hay- grass levels in the new paddock also low due to lack of water so stock being supplemented with hay and pellets. An expensive exercise unless we actually manage to get a live lamb or two-Peggy and Lilian are fat, happy, and unwilling to partake in anything vaguely gynecological.

Chooks laying well, so inventive recipes with eggs a regular occurrence.

It is a public holiday weekend coming up, and the start of the school holidays, so we are fully booked and will be busy for the next 2 weeks.

Not much more to report for now- first shed has been erected and fastened to the concrete base. Absco 'easy to build' sheds............are not!

the day the world went orange

2009-09-23T14:20:00.000-07:00

There were wild winds over night, and at 7 am in the morning it was unusually dark- on venturing outdoors the cause of the darkness became apparent. The skies were orange.

A massive dust storm from the west had blown in covering everything in orange dust. The sheep were orange, the blossom on the trees was covered in a layer of grit, there was filth everywhere.
Sydney also went orange. NSW has never seen such an extreme phenomena before.

We ventured outside to open the large shed and put the stock indoors, the poor things could barely see through gritty eyes.

Picture below of an early morning cyclist struggling over Sydney Harbour Bridge.

From Protea Farm 1

Spent the day indoors as the winds blew and the dust swirled.We thought we had left the red dust behind when we moved here. Little did we know that the wind would dump it all over us.

waiting for rain

2009-09-21T22:00:00.000-07:00

Despite the forecast of rain and storms we are still very very dry here. We even tried an outdoor job today which usually causes an instant downpour- laying a concrete slab for the new woodshed- but the rain stayed away.

James dog put her signature paw print on it for posterity.

From Protea Farm 1

The wailers are looking pregnant now so there should be the patter of tiny hooves soon.

From Protea Farm 1

The rockery is no longer home to the evil reptile, and our tulips are blooming.

From Protea Farm 1

frog invasion

2009-09-18T16:31:00.000-07:00

We had a little rain this week, and prior to the downfall small frogs appeared on the verandah, causing Ness to become apoplectic particularly when one sat outside the window looking in.

From Protea Farm 1

She is however not as concerned about the black snake that has taken up residence in the rockery. I spotted him yesterday and got irrationally cross about his existence so bombarded the shrub he was hiding in with rocks. This resulted in a dead shrub and snake disappeared. This morning he was back basking next to the mangled shrub and we watched him slither into a small hole in the depths of the rockery.

This nest is right next to the back door of the adjacent cottage, so we need to do something about it. Not sure whether we could just concrete the opening and hope he does not have a back door, or whether more violent action is required. Not that we would harm a snake, being a protected species and all.

All gardening has been suspended.

garden makeovers

2009-09-15T17:44:00.000-07:00

The weather is hotting up, and guests are starting to use the rather dilapidated wood burning outdoor barbecue so we decided that we would try and revamp the broken old tiles and make it look a bit prettier ( option 2 being demolish and rebuild).

From Protea Farm 1

We opted for a new shiny wipe clean aluminium top rather than retiling, so armed with tin snips and industrial strength cement the face lift began.

From Protea Farm 1

Still not a thing of beauty, but we will test drive it this week and see how it performs.

The rockery is a blaze of colour, mainly due to a splendid plant which goes by the rather strange name of 'pigface'

From Protea Farm 1

The raised beds are almost complete, so we should be able to pack the angle-grinder away this week- a large number of bush fires are started by sparks from them apparently.

From Protea Farm 1

I beg your pardon...

2009-09-08T16:18:00.000-07:00

It appears that the one plant that thrives drought and extreme heat over here is the rose. In England we always inherited a rose garden wherever we lived, and personally it is a flower that I really dislike, nasty prickly high maintenance things that they are.

We have located many around the property, and I have had to admit defeat and accept that we now have a rose garden. Every last one that we transplanted and chopped back to within an inch of its life is flourishing, and the guests love them. However I have a particular hatred for pink roses, so Ness is closely monitoring them as they start to flower, with warnings that should they exhibit any pinkness they will be exterminated. Another one defiantly revealed itself as pink today, so its days are numbered.

My paeonies are growing well against all odds, albeit alongside a carpet of ground cover roses ( white ) and the vegetable patch is taking off so soon we will be in the kitchen creating marvellous meals with broad beans.

Mudgee Wine Festival this weekend, so we are back in Geoffrey to accommodate 2 large groups of wine enthusiasts. Life is tough.

more snake sagas

2009-09-03T21:23:00.000-07:00

I know that I am becoming snake fixated, but justifiably so after the email we received today from a friend on the other side of Mudgee.

Fancy finding this on your doorstep?

From Protea Farm 1

Please note that no small cute terriers were harmed in the making of this photograph.

weather warnings

2009-09-03T15:40:00.000-07:00

It is now official- Australia has had the warmest August on record with mean temperatures 2.47C above the long term average.The bush fire season has come early, and water is scarce.

A couple of days ago we checked the water tank levels, and the one serving the main house was less than 1/4 full. We have no mains water and rely solely on rain water capture for domestic use and our artificially built dam for garden water. Guests taking baths and showers and selfishly flushing toilets use an alarming quantity.

In the last 24 hours we have had rain! 14 mm so far. Apparently 1mm of rain falling on 1 square metre of roof will lead to 1 litre of captured water in the tank, so this morning I paced out the roof on our place- 300 square metres. So, we have an extra 4,200 litres of water.I think we may need a little more than that.

king parrot

2009-09-01T22:47:00.000-07:00

A splendid king parrot has taken residence in a tree above the chicken pen and spends his day watching the strange birds in a cage.

From Protea Farm 1

stock moving

2009-09-01T19:26:00.000-07:00

The sheep and alpacas ( or the goats and llamas as the city types from Sydney call them ) are just small dots in the distance now that they have been relocated to their new large paddock.

From Protea Farm 1

I foolishly assumed that we had completed the fencing for a while, but today Ness started digging up gate posts and moving gates around.

From Protea Farm 1

We have started the time-consuming job of unpacking the remaining boxes in the large shed, and some of the many books have been put on shelves in the cottages. I am waiting to see which guest is the first to spot that the quality selection of contemporary fiction currently available only features authors from A-D.

From Protea Farm 1

creatures

2009-09-01T15:40:00.003-07:00

Yesterday was a good day for creature spotting- we found our first echidna on the property.

From Protea Farm 1

The turtles have returned to the dam, though they submerge their little heads whenever they spot a human with a camera.

From Protea Farm 1

....and a large lizard which we think is some sort of water dragon.

From Protea Farm 1

mudgee is ambridge NSW

2009-08-29T15:39:00.000-07:00

Listening to the Archers podcast today and the parallels between Ambridge and Mudgee living are becoming compounded. James has been living Tom Archer's life for some time, farming free range pigs and producing quality sausages. Even the story-lines about organising portable runs for weighing the weaners, pigs escaping etc seem to run in tandem with real time dramas over here.

Since we got the alpacas and started running holiday lets there have been worrying similarities between ourselves and Linda Snell. This week Linda and Roger embarked on a seaside holiday in a Winnebago, so it is now official. I am Linda Snell.

fencing

2009-08-27T02:10:00.000-07:00

We finally tackled phase 2 of the fencing project, and despite being armed with Wizard wire strainers, Wedgegrip clamps and T-gripples ( Hey, I speak fencing ) the tensioning of the fence was not anything like as easy as the man who did the demonstration at the Small Farm Field Day made it look.

From Protea Farm 1

The kangaroos appeared in the late afternoon with an advanced reconnaissance party to voice their discontent because we have restricted access to their grazing paddock.

From Protea Farm 1

I am sure that as I type this they are all testing the tension and durability by bouncing against it at speed. Hopefully they will ricochet with a satisfying twang.

first snake of spring

2009-08-24T02:29:00.000-07:00

Unseasonably warm for August here, the fruit trees are all in blossom ( so soon we will hopefully be able to identify what is what ) and my newly planted tree peonies are sprouting. No rain for weeks, so the dam level getting lower and lower as we water things manually.

I sneaked off to Kurrajong to visit M & N at the weekend leaving Ness home with the guests, so of course a red-bellied black appeared in her shade house and hid itself in a large empty planter, leaving her a gibbering wreck- the guests with 2 boisterous labradors were in the car and off like a shot once the reptilian sighting was reported. Maybe we should avoid canine guests in the summer.

Claudia has contributed to our chicken population with a donation of 2 cute Japanese bantam hens and a rooster. Said rooster was crowing at 5 am this morning, so I fear he may accidentally get lost very soon.

From Protea Farm 1

The Wailers are looking more pregnant, so the half completed fencing project must be finished soon, and we will have to erect the woodsheds this week before snakes start lurking in the 15 tonnes of newly felled wood scattered around the place.

From Protea Farm 1

women with 3 sheds

2009-08-19T01:14:00.000-07:00

The logistics of providing firewood for 3 cottages for the winter season proved rather tiresome as the guests were insistent on burning large quantities of the stuff, so we are determined to be more prepared next year. That in mind, we have had someone working all week felling all the accessible dead trees on the property before the bush-fire season. We now have several tonnes of wood in a massive heap in one of the paddocks.

After the snake in the wood pile incident a decision was made and today we purchased 2 woodsheds ( 1 for the furthest cottage, 1 for the lower ones). Knowing how the ownership of a minimum of 1 shed is mandatory for all Australians I am rather hoping that owning 3 sheds in total will qualify me for instant citizenship without having to take the exam.

The garden transformation continues, with more steel cutting and assembly of garden beds. Note the sexy hat to avoid further head burning incidents.

From Protea Farm 1

gardening dilemmas

2009-08-16T22:09:00.000-07:00

It is proving a challenge when considering what plants to incorporate into our new habitat. The first thing we have to do is disregard and unlearn all that we knew about gardening in the UK. The problem we have is to find attractive plant species that fit all the following criteria:

can tolerate winter frosts of at least minus 8 degrees
can withstand summer temperatures of over 40 degrees
need little or no water
can grow in minimal soil of extreme acidity
can withstand high winds

.....and that leaves us with wattles, wattles, proteas, wattles, rosemary, wattles, succulents and lavender.

Of course in reality the minor environmental drawbacks are not going to stop us, so we spent the last few days digging up huge mats of nasty spiky aloe vera type succulents in order to produce a border for paeonies. Large quantities of lime have been added, irrigation installed, and many prayers sent up.

From Protea Farm 1

The metal has arrived for our new industrial looking termite proof raised bed edges, so today we unpacked the newly purchased angle grinder and set to work. It is surprisingly easy, when using said angle grinder, to set fire to your head. I now have a very interesting fringe.

The beds will soon be transformed from this........

From Protea Farm 1

......to this

From Protea Farm 1

The rockery has been graveled, and although it still has the homemade in the 70's look about it, the overall effect ( combined with the chain-sawing and removal of dead trees) is much improved.

From Protea Farm 1

neglected blog

2009-08-07T16:45:00.000-07:00

It has been ages since I took time out to update the blog, primarily because there are no dramas to report. All ticking over very well, guests happy and abundant, and despite it being August the sun has been shining- the daffodils are blooming and the nights frosty.

Ness has been busy in the garden hacking and chopping- the theory is that we remove all the potentially snakey areas before the slithering creatures reappear.The rockery is being graveled ( allegedly the slitherers do not like the feel of sharp gravel on their bellies, though I suspect this is an old wife's tale), the proteas have been pruned ( lots of dead flowers this year, probably due to something we did wrong ) , new proteas have been purchased as part of our proposed spring restocking programme, garlic, potatoes and broad beans are growing.

The termite riddled sleepers are being slowly removed in the garden and we are replacing the raised bed borders with metal ones plagiarised from a design conceived by a local fencing chap. James made us 3 prototypes from recycled old fencing that he has removed ( he is in the middle of a massive re fencing project at Ormiston) and Ness has had 20 x 6 metre lengths delivered so we are going to learn the art of metal bending using an angle-grinder.

The problem with using wood as a replacement is the expense and the fact that termite-proof wood is impregnated with arsenic making it far from touchy-feely organic when used as a surround for vegetable patches. We sourced plastic sleepers made from 100% recycled plastic bags, which are light and look fab but the numbers involved made the cost prohibitive. So we are going for a new look which we are calling rustic/industrial chic.

From Protea Farm 1

A little imagination is required to picture the above frames in situ, but I am sure they will look pretty good.

Alpacas are happy and skippy, and the Wailers are starting to look pregnant so the clock is ticking for the as yet unstarted fencing project.

small farm field days

2009-07-27T01:51:00.000-07:00

It has been a busy week down on Protea Farm, with guests in abundance and another weekend spent in Geoffrey. We have revamped the chook shed and provided quality multi-storey roosting and nesting facilities for which we were instantly rewarded- one of the beelzebubs starting laying again, and Snowflake the comedy silky has now laid her first 2 eggs. She has a new best friend, a ginger chicken called Nutmeg, and they are now room mates in one of the nest boxes.

At the weekend we went to the small farm field days held in Mudgee, quite a big event with stock and farm stuff on display, and Ness was like a kid in a sweet shop buying plants and investigating irrigation systems, water troughs, grass seed, and assorted small farm paraphernalia. The highlight for her and James was a fencing demonstration ( the wire and post variety, not dashing swordsmen) and she is now well versed in strainer posts, star post positioning and T-gripples. I fear that the end of this week will be the start of further gruelling fencing projects.

landscape gardening Australia style

2009-07-16T00:44:00.001-07:00

Looking out over our dam this morning we spotted a new sculptural feature at the water's edge, which on closer inspection turned out to be a very dead and very headless kangaroo. Not sure if the fox killed it or stumbled upon it post-mortem and had an opportunistic feed- either way we decided that it was probably not a fine and lovely garden feature for the guests, so I have dragged the remainder of the corpse into some inconspicuous undergrowth.

alpaca vanity

2009-07-15T16:22:00.000-07:00

Marley, the Wailers and Alan were let out yesterday to wander the grounds and seek out some green grass. The lawn we planted outside our cottage has sprouted amazingly well so we were hoping that the resident grazers would mow it for us as the ground is too soggy to use the ride-on mower.

It transpires that alpacas are curious creatures, and the Wailers follow them wherever they go, so we had a bit of trouble evicting Marley and the girls from the laundry room after they nipped indoors to lick the washing machine.

Useless Alan had a large feed of roses and a few nibbles at the lawn before he became fixated with his handsome reflection in the window of the house, and we found him on the verandah with his nose pressed against the glass chatting and posturing to his new best friend. I expect that soon they will learn how to open the sliding doors and we will find them all sitting by the fire.

high finance

2009-07-14T01:48:00.000-07:00

Over here somebody in their infinite wisdom decided to time the end of the financial year to coincide with the second week of Wimbledon, which is not entirely fair dinkum. The last few days have been spent getting to grips with BAS returns ( VAT to those in the UK ) and user unfriendly accounting software. Some things do not change, whatever hemisphere you choose to live in.

Business is fairly buoyant and the next 2 weeks are school holidays so we had to madly clean up after a 40th birthday group at the weekend in time for the families on holiday from Sydney.

Ness has continued the agridome theme and built a new shade house to protect the summer seedlings and some cloches to get our chillies started early.

From Protea Farm 1

More fencing planned soon- the small paddock was merely a warm up for the main event, with a massive paddock to make alpaca/sheep proof so the gang can have access to the tiny amount of grass available.

free range alpacas

2009-07-07T15:30:00.000-07:00

The weekend heralded a landmark when we decamped and rented out our little home to guests. There was a great deal of last minute preparation plastering and painting the newly built wall, shoving things into locked cupboards and removing all traces of us, but it went without a hitch and the guests were happy. Just as well because Banksia cottage has a flurry of bookings over the next few weeks.

From Protea Farm 1

Ness decided that Marley. Wailers and Alan are now sufficiently well trained to be allowed out of their paddock to graze the more lush grass around the house and protea orchard, so the gates were opened yesterday.

From Protea Farm 1

The sheep proved to be very easy to bribe back to their paddock with food, and Marley and Alan will do anything for a bucket of alpaca nuts.

From Protea Farm 1

wimbledon down under

2009-07-01T05:34:00.000-07:00

Year 2 and I still cannot get used to watching Wimbledon when it is freezing cold and wintery. The stunning weather at the Championships this year has not helped. Now we have satellite tv I can watch the matches live, so I put on a warm dressing gown, throw another log onto the fire, and snuggle down on the sofa with james dog ( snoring in a disinterested fashion ). Generally I fall asleep, but I am determined to stay awake tonight to watch the Andy Murray match.

The new roof over centre court is a phenomenal structure- I thoroughly enjoyed the crowd's response to the rain the other day. Instead of the usual resounding undercurrent of grumbling there were cheers as the covers went across the court before the roof was rolled into place.

The acoustics when there is play once the roof is in position completely confuse the senses. Your eyes tell you that you are watching tennis on a grass court in a familiar outdoor arena, and your ears tell you that the echoes and amplified sounds of the ball on the strings indicate an indoor event. Play at Wimbledon until after 10 pm- fantastic! Pub quiz question of the future- what was significant about the 2009 centre court match between Safina and Mauresmo?

Tennis on a somewhat less skilled level continues in Mudgee. The Tuesday night tournament finished last week. There were a couple of weeks when rain and slippery courts stopped play ( the ladies were fearful of slipping and breaking a hip ) but I am happy to report that team 3 managed to win the event.

Unfortunately I have been rumbled, and tomorrow I start a serious competititon with the 'Thursday ladies'. They look a bit serious, many are under 70, and I am really not sure that I am going to cope with the pressure. Played a 'friendly' last week and it was not very! I am not sure whether wearing a woolly beanie hat was appropriate dress code, but I was very cold.

I will report back soon...off to see Murray get thrashed, hopefully under that incredibly sexy roof.

alpaca bonding

2009-06-29T18:50:00.000-07:00

Useless Alan has been sacked as the Ormiston sheep guard and now resides at Protea Farm, much to Marley's delight. The boys are very happy together, and Marley is less inclined to hang out with his Wailers.

From Protea Farm 1

He is proving to be quite a poser when he sees a camera.

From Protea Farm 1

gimme shelter

2009-06-26T01:37:00.000-07:00

Bob & The Wailers now have a custom built rain shelter- a mini agridome/hog house prototype that we have named the 'Hoof House'. Now we need to persuade the creatures to venture into it.

From Protea Farm 1

Above: Under construction

From Protea Farm 1

The finished article.

Although Marley has bonded well with the sheep we have been feeling guilty about him being a lone alpaca. Georgie's alpaca ( 'Pharaoh', a retired stud male, now renamed Alan ) who she has had for a few weeks is failing to do his job as a sheep guard and has been pining on his own, so it looks like pretty soon it will be Marley, the Wailers and Alan residing at Protea Farm.

protea preserves

2009-06-21T17:00:00.000-07:00

The frosts have ripened the oranges on the tree so Ness has produced the first batch of produce for 'Finesse Farm Foods' :

From Protea Farm 1

Introducing 'Mudgee Marmalade' the flagship product in the 'Protea Preserves' range. A cheeky tangy little number with a fruity bouquet and a long citrus finish.

marley and the wailers

2009-06-19T01:37:00.001-07:00

Today was the day when Marley and the girls came home to Protea Farm. Our first attempts at fencing a sloping paddock were a little amateurish, with some creative weaving and macrame of chicken wire, and a few glitches regarding the gate width and gate post positioning, but it looks stock-proof.

The 3 Wiltshire Horn sheep proved to be very feisty ladies when it came to loading them onto the trailer, but you cannot take the Kiwi out of the girl and Ness wrestled them into submission and rode them bronco-style up the ramp, where Marley was calmly waiting with a bored look on his face ( I think he feels very superior, in a Latino way, to ovine creatures ).

From Protea Farm 1

They unloaded calmly into their new paddock, and got stuck in to their hay. Above picture shows Lilian, Clarrie and Peggy in all their finery, hopefully gestating the rest of the flock.

From Protea Farm 1

Clarrie & Peggy enjoying dinner.

From Protea Farm 1

Marley keeps a watchful eye.

swine flu

2009-06-18T15:20:00.000-07:00

The number of cases of swine flu in Australia last week has tipped the official WHO categorisation to pandemic.

We are obviously taking precautions-

From Blogger Pictures

kevin's stimulus package

2009-06-17T15:23:00.000-07:00

We finally completed our rather late tax returns for the year 07-08 a couple of weeks ago. Little Kevin Rudd introduced a 'stimulus package' to all tax payers to encourage people to keep spending in the recession: basically a $900 tax refund, and we were hoping to be eligible.

The upshot appears to have been that most households now possess massive plasma screen tv's. In fact demand for these ( not made in Australia ) items has led to waiting lists of several weeks in most retail outlets.

We were lucky enough to claim a rebate and also each received our package. At least we spent ours on an Australian made product, namely a piece of a horse, rather than a tv or a holiday in Fiji. I hope Kev appreciates that we are not un-Australian