The boy

This blog not only serves as a record of us starting our farming life, but allows our distant friends and family to see what is going on in our lives, including the lad.  So for those who have been feeling in the dark about what he is up to (and that he has now had his THIRD haircut), here are some photos.  He has cut eight teeth and is pulling himself up on things and taking his first tottering steps.  For those who find kids a little creepy (like us), stay tuned for the next exciting instalment in our farming life, when more animals are sure to meet (meat!) their end.

Out visiting

My little whacked-out DJ

Loving the apples

When do I get to drive?

The teeth just starting to come

A break from picking for a picnic

Rocking the foam goatee

Time to recharge the batteries

We had a lot of family visiting over the Christmas and New Year period.  Our farm house was supposed to be finished, and the fact that it wasn’t could have been very stressful with my two sisters, our niece, my parents and Cor’s parents, plus our friends Scott, Sarah and their boy Zach all visiting over this period.  Fitting up to 8 people into the house we are staying in proved a logistical challenge, but it wasn’t the stressful occasion that I was expecting.  Instead, the house bustled with a wonderful kind of energy, people picking up Julian and playing with him, reading to him, helping us with cooking, cleaning, gardening and farm work. Having Julian may have acted as a catalyst to get everyone to visit us here in Tasmania, and we aren’t complaining one bit.

With everyone here we cooked, we chatted, we worked, but most importantly, after a really busy run up to Christmas, we recharged our batteries.

It was really great to have everyone here, it acted as a real circuit breaker in our daily routines and gave us a chance to step back and reassess where we were going.  It brought us to a crossroads in the life of our farm, which we will look at in our next post.  For now, here are the pics….

The Ungs and their boy Julian

Charlene and Julian

Our niece Amelie arrives!

Family photo!

The last Tack boys

Big cousin looking after "baby doolean"

Princess doing her job

Who would have thought a vegetarian would love wheelbarrowing a pig?

We kinda grow a bit of fruit here in Tasmania

Duckingham Palace, a construction brought to you by the Tack men

Wood?  Sorted!

Southport rocks!

Amelie liked the farm, but next time she wants to hang out with the cows!

Zach helps feed the pigs

Zach wants in on story time!

Julian was fascinated by his new mate

Julian's first haircut was well overdue, thanks Jo!

Bottling our beer

Julian and Dad at the Luminarium during the Mona Festival

Aunty Bee and Tony here, just before Chinese New Year, when the rest of the family descend!

Normal service is resumed, Merry Christmas!

Well after my last post, as you can imagine we have just been happy to get into the farm work.  I look around the farm and see so many things to do that sometimes I wonder what we have been doing the last couple of months.  Then I put together a blog post and it all comes flooding back.  It really is a full life.  Here are some photos so you can share in that “holy dooley!!” moment.  Sorry about the lack of Coreen photos, she takes all the good ones!

A walk up to Hartz with Mike and Tig...

...produces staggering views

Mike and Tig coming down from Hartz Mountain.

The lad styling it up on the farm (note the eczema on his cheeks).

The Kingston Black grafts get jumping...

and the Frequin Rouge are also looking good!

Our new litter of piglets grow so fast.

A couple of pigs from our last litter of piglets end up in a charcuterie course run by our old WWOOFer host Mandy.

Making sausage at Mandy's.

Our salamis hanging to dry, they taste great!

All our bacon and pancetta from the course, so much fun to make.

A fine day at the Apple Shed, but Julian is unimpressed by his lack of cider.

I tell him he will get cider later, see the difference?

We put our new found skills into practice on a couple of our pigs...

...and produce a staggering array of pork!

Julian is growing almost as fast as our piglets.

Taking Mary up the paddock to join the flock.

Our shed conversion gets going in earnest...

...the slab goes down...

...the framing is up...

...and the weatherboards start to go on.

You take a change table where you find it!

We have a lot of apples, Matt showing our wonderful Japanese backpackers how to thin them out.

Look, bacon seeds!

We start bottling our own home brew...

...but probably not enough for Christmas!

Poor Julian ends up in hospital for a couple of days this week when his eczema turns nasty.

Dave and Toddy getting our Christmas lambs "undressed".

Now that's a lot of Christmas lamb!

Such a great pic.

Lots of Braeburns...

and plenty of others!  It will be a busy harvest come May.

So that is it, have a Merry Christmas!!