The Rain Finally came.!!!

We made a quick trip up to the farm this week as we had purchased a cool room. We had been  keeping our eyes open for one for some time and this one just happened along and was the perfect size  for us and was  within our price range that we had  allocated.

When we do our butchering up at the farm we usually do a couple of sheep  at a time to make it worthwhile, and now being able to hang the  carcasses for a few days  will make the meat taste even better. Also it will be  fantastic when we have large gatherings for keeping  food and drink cold. It will take so much pressure off my house fridge.
We will need to add a few more solar panels and an  inverter of it's own as we want to keep it on a separate  "grid" to the house.
When we arrived, there had been 26 mm of rain the night before, the place was still very bare,but we knew it would pick up soon.

Our next door neighbour(my husbands brother) has a better block down the road a few kilometers, and we keep a few of our sheep and a couple of cows there while the conditions are so bad on our smaller properties.  As we had driven  past on our way  to our place we had noticed a small new calf by himself, so after the brother in law  helped us to unload the cool room we went for a drive down to check it out.

She was a very sweet little calf, but sadly the first time mum was no where to be seen.We hung around for a couple of hours there  hoping that the Mum may  come back.We wern't

 sure which one it was and the boys did a bit of a scout around to try and identify her,meanwhile, my sister in law and I  had some very friendly horses  come up to say hello. They were lovely.

They eventually found the mother of the calf and decided to lock them up together  into the yards  so that she may begin to nurse him overnight. We raced home and got some hay for her and a big  container for water and left them overnight. That night we had three  storms pass over and we recieved another 27 mm of rain. Next morning the brother in law went to check on the mum and bub and they were ok, and the calf was still alive, but to my brother in laws shock, two of his best animals, a steer and a lovely cow were laying dead under a nearby tree, struck dead by lightening during the storms of the night, the tree they were under was smashed and charred from the lightening..
 And then the rain came again.

Just so lovely to see the tanks overflowing again...not all are full to the top, but most of them are.
Brian continued to hand

feed the sheep, as he hoped that by doing that , that the sheep  would have full bellies and may leave some of the new shoots alone for a couple of days...I think it worked a bit, they certainly seemed content. The babies born last month are growing, especially the singles. The twins arn't doing as well, but hopefully will pick up once there is a bit of green feed.

While we were up there, I also took the opportunity to sort out a few more preserving jars. I had purchased these green plastic stacking boxes from Aldi and had these shelves down in the shed holding used paint tins, so combined the two and scored myself  a  good new storage area for some of  the empties.

And speaking of green, within 48 hours of the  first lot of rain, we had beautiful new green shoots   all around the place. The photo below is on our front lawn,....I am so happy.
With a bit of luck, when we go up next I should be able to post some  photos of a wonderful green  farm, I certainly hope so anyway.
That final night we were there we had the most glorious sunset, we were in the kitchen doing the dishes and my husband pointed it out to me through the kitchen window, so I raced out and captured it's last golden rays through the trees as it was setting behind the rocky hill  on our boundary.

We headed home yesterday morning, back to the rat race, back to work and routine. Sadly when we arrived home we had a message from my Brother in Law to let us know that  the dear little brown calf unfortunately hadn't been strong enough to make it through the  second night and they had lost her.
So sad,I hope there is more success  with the others. They already have had 4 healthy calves, with  a few more still to  deliver, all we can do is hope for the best outcome.
So, until we catch up again,
best wishes to everyone,
Cheers,
Jane.

Camping

Last month, we headed out for a few days R and R with our caravan (on it's maiden trip with us) .We met up with my brother and sister in law and set up camp not far from the Warrumbungle mountains(about an hour and a half from our place.)

We set up camp and within minutes my husband and brother discovered we had a friend in the old shed beside us. It was a beautiful carpet snake,although i am not a snake lover I could see her beauty and we agreed to leave her alone, and hoped she would leave us alone. I have to admit though I did enter the outside bathroom with trepidation in the middle of the night and had a good scout around  with the light   to make sure she wasn't lurking around up in the rafters.

We had a good spot, light a good fire(luckily it rained after we arrived and were able to light the fire as until then we thought it was too dry)
My brother had bought his camp ovens and we had a lovely dinner of lamb stew and damper.There Was  even left over stew  to have on toast the next morning.
We love to sit around a good fire and relax,tell stories,eat and have a few drinks.

Looking towards the Warrumbungle mountains  ,we were fortunate to see a wonderful sunset with Mt Exmouth in the distance.

We had a lovely couple of days, and the wildlife was abundant, we found a very friendly frilled neck lizard,a pair of top not pigeons with their mum in the nest and a large group of kangaroos happily grazing in a nearby paddock.

We thoroughly enjoyed our little excursion and hope to do many more in the future. Our little  caravan is wonderful and will be truly loved,it previously belonged to our lovely uncle who passed away, and it was offered to us to purchase it.We will always have him with us on our travels.
So until the next adventure, whether it be here,at the farm or on the road, we wish you well,
Cheers,
Jane .

The best time of day.

To  myself and my husband the best time of day is sunrise and sunset. From the front verandah of our house( and from my bedroom window) we see the most amazing sunrises. The colour can sometimes be just so stunning. Mother nature sure is a wonder. We down tools and spend many,many afternoons out on the front verandah, either alone,with family  or with our neighbours, having drinks and nibbles or tea and coffee and just chatting away for hours. The other side of the house gets the beautiful sunsets, and can be equally as beautiful.
Below are a range of pics i took just one morning over a period of about 15 minutes.(I did warn you all photography is also an addiction of mine)

It never ceases to inspire me to get up and get moving. The above are all sunrises, and the sunsets are just as beautiful.
We don't give nature enough credit.
Take care everyone,until next time,
Cheers,
Jane.