Big step, our first animals!

Since the last post we have been very busy, doing all the things that you do when are buying a farm at the end of the month.  Like pruning on these beautiful, changeable Spring days.

But we have also been doing some other things, like working for Matthew and Sadie at Fat Pig Farm, and attending Matthew's excellent book launch, complete with scrumptious food put on by Michelle and a great BBQ at Nick's place afterwards.  As you would expect, these guys know how to eat (and drink) well.  Such a great event, and a privilege to share in it.

But it has now been dwarfed by an even bigger event in the life of Our Mates' Farm.  Our first animals.

We have 2 dozen chicken eggs in an incubator, and some duck eggs about to go into an incubator of their own, but they won't hatch until the end of the month so it isn't them....

Regular followers of this blog will know about Bob, the bottle lamb we looked after while farmsitting for friends in Cygnet, and Duane and Joan brought him over today, to be our second animal.

But the first?  This beautiful girl:

We have named her Princess.  We had a whole bunch of names from myth and fable ready for her.  Names like Freya, and Sif, hell, even Xena (Warrior Princess).  But instead we end up just naming her Princess, because that what she is, a gorgeous, affectionate, calm little princess.  She is a Maremma sheepdog, and anyone who knows this breed knows that we have let ourselves in for quite a lot, but that if we look after her right, in a little while she will be looking after our farm, and all the animals that are to come.

We owe Julz and Shane from Backfatters a lot for bringing up such a wonderful puppy, plus my Mum and Dad for their help getting her to us.  We just love her to bits.

Introducing Princess and Bob to the farm, and doing some lead training.

She is a farm dog alright, sleeping under the tractor while it is being worked on!

On the home front we have been trying to become as self sufficient as we can, so have lots of cuttings of herbs from Mandy, bought our first citrus trees, Cor has successfully made yoghurt and cheese from Elsie's milk, as well as baked her first loaf of bread, and we are eating mushrooms growing on compost in the garage (and no, they aren't the "funny" kind).  It is brilliant and all happening very fast.

So for now we roll on, getting things ready to takeover the place for ourselves, enjoying great food, and trying our best to get it going.  All for Our Mates' Farm.

Taking the tractor for a drive - that brought some memories back!

Winner winner, bacon dinner!

Since my appointment disaster, we have been “pissed in paradise” and trying to get as much done in North Queensland as we could both to tidy up old loose ends and prepare for our new life in Tasmania.

Oh, and Cor has been baking too!

However while out doing some shopping Coreen and I were intrigued to see some frozen rare breed pork and goat being sold in a local fish shop.  It seemed like an odd product choice for a fish shop until we talked to Dominic, the owner.  To our amazement it transpired that we have a couple producing free-range rare-breed pork and Boer goats right here in Ingham!  I asked around and no one had heard much about it, apart from some gossip about the couple possibly being involved in the re-opening the old Taylor’s Beach abattoir.

So Cor and I got their phone number, and after some phone tag got in touch with Jules of Backfatters to go out and find out what was fact and what was fiction.

And what we found out was that not only were Jules and her partner Shane raising rare Large Black and Berkshire pigs, they were driving the development of a whole new form of agribusiness in an area traditionally dominated by sugar cane production.  On arrival at their farm we were met by some beautiful Maremma dogs, and I thought “here we go, we are in the right place”.  Maremmas are traditionally used to protect stock from predators (dingos, wild dogs etc) and if properly socialised are also excellent with people.

Jules told us the story of how they became “accidental pig farmers” when their boar got out one Christmas and mated all their sows, giving them (3 months 3 weeks and 3 days later) a massive number of piglets to get rid of.  She shared their experiences trying to get their animals humanely dealt with, and the sheer frustration and tyranny of distance that led to them to try to reopen the Taylor’s Beach abattoir.  She explained how government bureaucracy initially made it impossible, and how it was only a message on Facebook to all their market customers in Townsville saying that they were “going out of business” that galvanised a team of savvy loyal customers to help them fill in forms, prepare reports, document procedures and secure the necessary permissions to reopen the abattoir.

Backfatters also have these cute little guys!

She was open about the challenges they face, and proud of their achievements (try getting your new farm to survive Yasi, a Category 5 cyclone – yikes!).  Their produce is so good, they were finalists in the Delicious magazine produce awards and attended the finals in Sydney last week.  And they now have people from all over north Queensland sending them their animals for slaughter and processing.  If you can get your hands on pork or goat from Backfatters, do it, you won’t regret it.

Cor and I were overwhelmed.  To find yet another couple of people, 20 minutes from where I grew up, following their dream (or at least that of their boar), was absolutely brilliant.  The road beckons tomorrow as we start our long drive south, but the information that Jules and Shane were prepared to share with us made us feel like this thing we are planning may not be such a lonely road to travel after all.