Sunday, July 28, 2013

Don't worry we are still here.



Our youngest calves. 

Yep we are still here on the farm and daily life has been hectic as usual. So what's been happening since we last wrote a piece for the blog ? Well a fair bit really. It's Winter again and with it comes the rain, mud and cold. Once again the pigs are sloshing around in the mud as they go in and out of their sleeping areas. We have a plan to fix that problem. The Tamworths have had more piglets and they are now weaned. The Saddleback girls are in pig again, this time Horatio is the Dad and I can't wait to see the piglets. They are due around early August, so not long to wait. The calves are weaned and growing quickly they will be ready to sell in the Spring. Genevieve our Guernsey house cow had a beautiful grey calf in January and I called her Misty. We will probably keep her as she isn't related to our bull Monty. The geese number has grown to just over 60 and they are looking beautiful. They bred very well last season and made their nests in the paddock. We really need to sell some, the number is getting out of hand. 

Genevieve and Misty.


We went through a very dry Summer, in Tasmanian terms it was a drought. Someone said it was the driest Summer since the 1990's. The river got very low but we weren't in danger of it drying up thank goodness. We were getting a bit worried about whether we would have enough feed left in the paddocks but we came through it ok. There were lots of fires around Tasmania at this time. We were very lucky here in the valley as we didn't get a single fire even though the grass was so brown and dry. The green paddocks we have now are a very welcome sight again.  

It was such a dry Summer.


We recently bought a new garden tractor to dig up our large vegetable patch. It does a fantastic job in no time at all. It digs much better than you could ever do by hand. This will come in very handy with Spring approaching. We have our Rayburn woodstove in place in the kitchen and it's been great to cook on and in. Beautiful pork roasts and other assorted meals have been coming out of the oven regularly. Why do meals always taste better when cooked in a woodstove ? 

Our new garden tractor.


I've started a new tour business called Uncover Tasmania. I've been enjoying showing guests around beautiful Tasmania in our 4WD van. It's something I really love doing.  I think it's the best job ever. Well that's it, a short update as to what's been happening on Leven River Farm. We always seem to be busy and there's a long list of jobs to do in the coming months. Can't wait for Summer when we will have the longer days to do these jobs. Yes we are still here and still loving our life on the farm.

Michelle

  
Cheeky Tamworth piglets.

We've had some cold frosty mornings.