Mother Nature is cracking the whip!

It has been a hectic time for us here on Our Mates’ Farm.  We have spent the last few months frantically ticking things off our to-do list, and I think October was our record for the most things achieved on the whiteboard in a month.

The driver behind the manic nature of our work schedule has been Mother Nature herself, with everything just bursting with energy and growth.  All that pruning you didn’t get to over winter?  Here comes another burst of new growth to shade the interior of those trees.  A heavy day of rain?  You better get on that tractor and put a spray out because you can bet apple scab spores will be parachuting onto your new leaves.

Those heavy winds aren’t a problem until your grafts are covered with leaves and you remember that not all of them are clipped to the trellis wire.

“Honey, can you remember when Barry the boar was in with the sows?”  “Hmmm, let me check the note, oh crap, it was just under 4 months ago, we had better get ready for piglets!”

Piglets?  We now have 20!

Blackbutt and Spot

So it has been more than a little crazy this spring, and it promises not to slow.  We have a lot of fruit set on our Galas, and while you can’t put more fruit on if you don’t have it, we have our work cut out to thin the apples down to a reasonable number that the trees can support, while at the same time growing the apples to a decent size.  We hope to have a good crop, and it is looking like our pest control measures have improved in leaps and bounds since last year.  There is no doubt that the new equipment we purchased, paired with close observation, traps and some incredible mentoring by Neil Fuller at Surges Bay and Andrew Smith at R&R Smith has helped no end in this regard.

Lots of fruit this season

The grafts that we put on last year were astonishing in their growth, and are full of promise for the coming season.  They will need a lot of care, but being around new trees fills you with such hope and energy it doesn’t feel like work.

This year's grafts doing their best to catch up with last year's!

Finally, our polytunnel is bearing crop after crop of food for our table.  We had forgotten what it was like to grow our own veges, and having the polytunnel and garden beds has reminded us that THIS is why we wanted land in the first place.  It has been a salve for my soul after those long days of work trying to keep up with Mother Nature in the orchard.

The polytunnel is pumping out food

The ingredients for today's lunch, with a couple of our eggs and Trev's goat milk fetta, heaven!

But enough of that guff, here are some more photos from this spring.  Also compare the orchard photos to the ones in the previous post, truly amazing!

Getting a spray on

The orchard looking flush with growth

We spent 3 days cutting up and curing a couple of our pigs

I spent a bit of time finishing the deck play area for Julian

Speaking of spring growth, look at this little fella go!

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!

Sprung!

Sorry, there is no new news on the property hunt, but I thought I would put up some photos from the last couple weeks to keep you entertained while we search on.

Spring has sprung down here, and is giving up some pretty sweet light for photography.  Plus there has been some real activity on the work and course front as the Tasmanians shake off their winter slumber and come to life!

Mornings can be frosty

Two of the triplets, doing well

Bob (short for Shish-kabob) is a bit of romantic.  Yes he is doing well!

New pig life at the farm.

We have been milking Elsie!  Great fun, but we always leave a bit for Herbert.

No peace for a cup of tea when Bob is around.

Taking hay to the cattle.

At a Sprout winter market garden course - very interesting!

OK, now today's activities may be a bit confronting for some, but here goes.....

Getting ready to process one of the Fat Pig Farm pigs we took to be killed yesterday.

Ross taking off the shoulder for coppa.

That's right, your tasty breakfast sausage had a face.  See it, accept it, respect it, and if you are up for it, eat it too!

Watching Ross knock out sausage twists - it's hypnotic!

The leg, waiting to be cut into a trotter, hock and a cured ham.

So that is it for now, stay tuned for more adventures to come!