Sunday 19 July 2015

One Tiny Step At A Time.

One tiny  step at a time we are slowly accomplishing some of  the things we need to do here at the farm.
Our tiler is slowly covering the allotted area with the tiles, we are
really pleased with how it is looking.We are  now halfway through the big lounge/dining/office area.
The first area  24 sq metres has now been laid and grouted, as that has dried we have now  swapped all the furniture over and the tiler will begin to lay the next 25 sq metre area tomorrow.
We have been  experiencing some extreme cold weather for the last week, with freezing temperatures, wild winds, heavy rain and hail storms.We are  spending all our inside time in the warm kitchen as the rest of the house is really,really chilly.

Our BBQ setting that we  moved last week  copped the full force of rain, so  maybe I should have left it fully under cover  after all.
The hail storm we had was  on top of us before we realized, we were lucky the stones were only small to medium size and after it was over  Brian  climbed up to check that our evacuated tube solar hot water system  on the roof  was not broken.
It became much heavier after I took this photograph.
The chooks and turkeys haven't minded the foul (pardon the pun) weather, they wander all over the place, scratching around and chasing all sorts of creepy crawlies, they are so funny.
They are so cute to watch  scurrying around in their little family group, I didn't realize that the chooks and turkeys would  hang around  together so much.
Our chooks have produced their first eggs, well at least one of them has,
We had our first  breakfast of poached eggs on toast from home grown eggs that we have had for many years, they were delicious.

Brian has also been harvesting his cauliflowers from the garden, he  planted  a dozen plants and we have now picked about 8 or 9 beautiful big cauliflowers., We have frozen some for later use, they have been lovely.
A couple of days ago, Brian noticed that there were some stray goats up on our hill behind the house,

We  had the chook yard gate open, and  later in the day we found the goats helping themselves to the chook food, so we locked them in the yard and gave them some hay.

We moved them down to the stockyards the next morning until we decided what to do with them, but they escaped  through a gap in the fence later in the day, and we haven't seen them since.
My beautiful sister in law next door gave me  this  unique tea-pot mobile the other day for looking after their goats for a couple of weeks while they were away, I love it.
I hang it at the kitchen window along with a lot of my other dingle dangles that  I have there, I will relocate them to other locations around the house later on.
While the bad weather was around over  last week or two , and the tiler is  plodding along slowly  I decided to give my canning pantry  a sort out, I love this room, as while the rest of the house suffers great chaos that is out of my control, this room is mine, it is usually  organized and ordered and it doesn't need to be  moved, altered or messed with... This is my last little bit of control. !!!

Yesterday we took a whistle stop visit to our daughter and son in laws to catch up with them and  our two beautiful granddaughters.
It was a foggy drive through the forest ,
But much clearer on our return through there today.
We had a lovely visit , our newest granddaughter is only 4 weeks old today  and a little sweetheart as is her 2 year old big sister.

We now have four  ever so adorable grandchildren, three girls and a boy and they are growing way to fast.We are so proud of them all.
Brian  has been having major issues with his water transfer pump and finally it gave up the ghost, or he did and purchased a new one at a good price on ebay a few days ago.
It arrived super fast and he has installed it  already , after buying some new fittings  as they were different to our original  pump.

The new pump works brilliantly and  when  we decided it needed   a cover, I suggested one of my many plastic crates that we packed out things in for the move, it works  perfectly after a piece was  cut  out of the end of it to allow for the pipes.
We  have had a busy week, some days a little crazy, and others relaxing and  enjoyable, but that  is  us and our life and how it will always be I  assume, and  truth be known we probably  wouldn't have it any other way.
So,  until we catch up again down the track,
Take care of  you and yours,
Cheers,
Jane.  :-)  :-)  :-)


13 comments:

  1. I made a comment and then it disappeared, so I'll try again!! I found your blog about a week ago and I've read it from the beginning. What an adventure you are on, and you sound so happy now that you are at the farm permanently!! It seems like you have boundless energy, all the things you have accomplished in 6 months! I am in awe at the amount of canning you do. I love seeing your pantry full of all those jars! Hope to read another blog post soon!!

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  2. Hi Janice,
    Thanks for stopping by,
    It has been a full on 6 months, but a wonderful 6 months.
    So much of this we should have done years ago, but we concentrated on building fences and just general demolition of old rubbishy sheds and yards and we were very limited to time. But now we so love being here full time.Brian is just so happy being retired.
    I love my canning, I also have a facebook page called My Canning Addiction, I am not preparing for the end of the world or any thing like that, I just do it to use and to know that if we have a power failure most of the food is safe (and we know exactly what we are eating) But still nothing beats that fresh from the garden taste.
    Have a lovely day Janice andvi hope you keep in touch,
    Cheers,
    Jane.

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  4. Were the goats wild or just missing from another farm? Would you have kept them? Can you, being non domesticated? Your canning pantry is a thing of beauty. I managed a dozen bottles of tomatoes and thought id done well. Huh! BUT im still eating my summer crop fresh - 8 months now. The last of them picked green have finally ripened in my kitchen. Still lovely on toast for breakfast.

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    1. Hi Lynda,
      We think the goats might have come from a neighboring property, (we have a nearby neighbor who has goats, but doesn't care for them or his fences and for nany years we had nothing but trouble from them) We replaced fences at our cost as he wouldn't help and haven't seen goats for ages, They were reasonably friendly but very hungry.
      If they were strays we would have kept them after drenching them for parasites....Have seen no sign of them since. You have been lucky with your garden, we hope to have a good summer garden established this year.I love my preserving, have been doing it for many years now and am so addicted.
      Take care Lynda,
      Cheers.

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    2. Oh, i forgot to say that we are renovating as well. Our house is now 21 years old and we are ripping up the horribly stained cream carpet and putting bamboo flooring down. Box by box as funds permit. I understand your frustration living in a half done, half not house.

      I just popped a post on about our day trip down to the peninsula on Sunday. Have you been down this far?

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  5. Hi Jane, the tiler did a good job on the flooring. How many turkeys do you have? Are their diets different from the chickens? Your canning pantry is so organized. In a few months, we are moving to a smaller house and I will really need to keep things organized. Have a great day!

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    1. Hi Joan,
      We are pleased how the tiling is going, it feels like it's crawling but we are slowly getting there. It will be well worth the pain in the end.We only have 4 turjeys now one male and three hens. We feed them the same as the chooks, wheat, scratch mix, cracked corn and layer pellets.
      Good luck with your move, (my pantry is my only organized room in the house)
      Thanks for popping in,
      Cheers,
      Jane.

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  6. Your canning pantry is an inspiration - want!

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    1. Thanks Phil, it's an addiction that I just can't shake... Cheers Jane. :-)

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  7. Hello Jane, I'm another new reader who's just finished reading all your blog entries - right from the beginning.

    They're a great read and I loved hearing about your canning exploits. I will definitely call in regularly to see what you are up to.

    Hope your renovations continue to go well and you enjoy your new permanent life in the country.

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    1. Thankyou for calling in Nicky,
      We are really loving our retirement, not that we have really retired, but it's fun.
      The reno's are stressful but will be well worth it in the end.
      The canning has become addictive, hadn't even heard of pressure canning until about 6 years ago and I love to watch peoples reactions when they walk into the pantry.
      Take care Nicky,
      Cheers,
      Jane.:-) :-)

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