Busy Quarter

Well, I haven't updated this blog for 4 months! I guess that makes more than a quarter. It makes it Busy Third. But that doesn't quite sound the same.

Gosh, time has flown. Will have to do a quick summary of what has been happening on the farm.
After Bonnie's Xmas party, we went and purchased a flock of sheep. 18 in all - 16 ewes, 1 ram and 1 baby ram. They are dorpers, which is a breed that is low maitenance because they don't need shearing (shed they're wool) and don't need crutching (have bald bottoms). They are hardy, eat anything and are great mothers. Have one purpose in life and that is to be on our dinner plates (*sniff*).

Bonnie loved going to pick them up. She thought they were an early xmas present. She looked over them all the way home.
The farm looks a bit farmier now with sheep.


Bonnie is learning to become a sheep dog. She is a bit ditzy but is most defininately getting better. Sheep are actually quite annoyingly dumb - they do what they like and go where they like. And often can't get back again. They are keeping Darrin very busy because he has needed to upgrade all the fencing since we've had them.

We have tried to get them into the shed to drench them, but haven't had much luck. After chasing them around for hours, we all (including Bonnie) give up.

Over December we had a lot of rain. Everything turned very green and lush, and the place just looked amazing.



My first attempt of gladiolii went well with all this rain and I had a nice garden bed full. This was most exciting!



Unfortantely I was not so lucky with our vege garden. After many hours of nurturing seeds to seedlings and then watering, weeding and digging, our harvest was a tiny few pieces of corns and couple of tommy tomatoes, and one tomato (not pictured). This was quite devestating, thank goodness we weren't relying on my farming skills for survival.




The calves are starting to look more like cows now. They also loved all the green lush grass. They particularly loved being let into the top sorghum paddock.



Summer bought a number of breathtaking sunsets at Cockburnie. Here are a few shots I took.






Mum did a suprise sabotage on me over summer. She could tell I was suprised because my house was a mess! She caught the train and Darrin picked her up. It was a great suprise. She stayed for a couple of days. In that time, we sort of chilled out - did some shopping (bought some barstools and a new lamp), did some gardening, watched a bit of kath and kim, went to the river, and went to the local swimming pool (mum learned how to do tumbles!!). And Darrin taught mum how to ride the quad bike. No points for speed, but heaps of points for giving it a go and staying on!



Darrin built a new fence at the entrance of the property. It took him all weekend in 40 + deg days, largely by himself. Here is a before and after shot....

Before...

After...

Looks amazing now.

The neighbour helped for a little bit, so afterwards he helped the neighbour fix his bore as well!

We had an infestation of frogs after all the rain. They were everywhere, including our shoes, Bonnie's humpy and the toilet.

Bonnie got a fat head again (same thing happened this time last year). Thought it was a horse kick at first, although it probably was some sort of sting. Her head got soooo fat.

Speaking of injuries, Darrin got a sore eye for a few weeks, but he never did anything about it, and it eventually got better, I think!

Bonnie got a friend for a few weeks. Another border collie called Kallie. Although Bonnie was a bit antisocial to start with, they ended up getting on great and having heaps of fun and getting into heaps of mischief together.

Kallie loved lying in the water troughs.

A few weeks later we also minded another dog, a little Jack Russell cross called Wally. Bonnie didn't really get on with Wally, especially at dinner times....



Sandra came up and visited a little while ago. She did more of our gardening, and did cooking and cleaning for us too! She even did our lawns whilst she learned how to use a ride on! We also went for a horse ride at Oakhampton which was fun.

Sandra just visited again, along with Karen. And Kiara. It was a full house for a few days. Kiara had fun playing and riding the quad bike (until she stacked it!). On the Sunday we all went to Oakhampton (other side of Manilla) and went for another horse ride (including Darrin). We were riding for 2 hours, and helped muster their cattle. Heaps of fun. Kiara loved the deer and bunnies after the ride. Don't have any photos of this weekend yet (on Darrin's camera). Will post them soon.

Anyway, thats a quick summary of the last 4 months. Wow. That took ages. Won't leave this blog so long ever again!