Lock down in Spring

  

Last week was amazing.  Warm sunny weather got us working outside all day and we got a lot done.  Edd worked with john and his sons to pour the concrete base for the car port and I Painted the wood in the vegetable garden and worked on clearing up the old kitchen patio in the ruins.  This job is traditionally one of the first spring jobs and I have been doing it at this time for years and years.  CB whipper snipped the grass around the vegetable beds’, and I planted out the first pumpkin seedlings that germinated.  

 

I now have zucchini seedings coming up and I have planted Queensland blue pumpkin seeds.  Often, I cheat and buy seedlings from Bunnings but with everything closed down for covid19 this is not an option.  I did check, just in case they would deliver seedlings to me but there was no luck there, so it was back to saved seeds from last year.  The snow peas and broad beans are producing their first pods and the cabbages are nearly ready.  Just in time too.  The freezer that was full to the brim with last year’s produce is nearly empty and ready for a spring cleaning.

 

The grass is growing fast and the sheep are cleaning up on the roof and in our house site/ fire reserve. It has been very hard keeping them going over winter because we were unable to sell the lambs when the market closed.  In this strict lock down we can’t even have people coming to the farm to buy stock, so we have been forced into a situation where we are over stocked.  Luckily, I had sold the spare goats earlier but now we have kids and all the males are ready for new homes.   

 

They are all looking cute and come rushing up for their milk.  All except Tom who Hangs back and is still very shy.  I have no idea why he has this attitude; we have never had another kid like this. Edd says he is sensitive! I think he is just being difficult.  He drinks well but has to be persuaded every time, making the job of feeding much harder than it needs to be.  I do hope someone else really wants a sensitive goat!

 

The kids now drink all the available milk, so I am having a break from cheese making. We have a fridge full of cheese, so this is fine with me.  I get extra time to work in the garden and learn about regenerative agriculture.  I am afraid I have given up in the sourdough bread.  Our friends make much nicer bread than I can make so we are buying bread from them.  Indi can make the great bread and the honey she got from her bees is the best I have ever tasted. It is really nice to eat honey from our own land and watch the bees feeding as they work in the garden.