A New Year, Snow and a New Adventure

I am so pleased I wrote my last post about Christmas in November, because true to form, December was absolutely flat out…….but we’re through the other side – YAY! December was full of processing, orders, markets, negotiating leases, signing leases, and finally a wonderfully quiet Christmas at home with the family – I say wonderfully quiet, when actually we were rudely awoken by Jess at 2am Christmas morning after she had discovered her Santa sack which contained pink velvet stilettos and a twirling baton – the strains of the can can up and down the hallway were just about too much to cope with! I had words with Jess about the importance of sleep, and then had stern words with Santa!

The snow and ice continues to pile up, and it is truly beautiful, but does pose some problems for feeding animals and sourcing running water for them! I keep reminding myself it is much better than driving wind and rain, which is what we normally experience at this time of year. I went out with the camera the other morning to capture some of the icicles…..

So today is the first day of 2010…..Happy New Year to all! I hope it brings you happiness and prosperity. We spent New Year’s eve sledging in the moonlight in the back fields with the kids – it was such a great way to welcome in the New Year! We set off some chinese lanterns before the bells to farewell last year, and some after the bells to welcome the adventures to come. And what adventures we are set to have this year!

After three years of persistance and hard work, we have finally secured a 15 year lease on Orbost Estate Farm. We are graduating from smallholders into farmers, and it is going to be an amazing challenge to take the business a step up, and endeavour to rebalance the hills at Orbost with our native breed animals and aspirations for traditional, low impact management of the ecosystem. Focusing on the job at hand though, the snow means increased feeding of the menagerie, and as we have experienced this week, vehicles and ice just don’t like each other very much! Keith moved the cows down into the inbye fields and is feeding silage daily.

The cows are all pregnant, and will be calving in the spring. We have a new bull, Xavier, who is a beef shorthorn bull. He is quite the gentleman, and looking after the girls very well. Cailin, our highland bull is off at a neighbouring farm, and will be going to sale at the Oban Highland Cattle Society sale in February.

Misty is enjoying the snow very much, and has exuberantly joined in sledging and snowman construction with Tristan and Jess.

The kids got a wii for Christmas, and we’ve all had a great time playing the sports games on it! How sore have my arms been for the last week! Although I can proudly say, at present, I am archery and bowling queen!! My golfing skills are somewhat lacking, but this is a true reflection on reality, as the one and only time I ever went golfing in the Hunter Valley I believe I managed to lose every single ball I hit! I’ve got to say, as computer games go, it is fantastic, AND there is only so much swinging about of your arms you can do before collapsing in exhaustion, so there is no risk of the children wasting hours motionless in front of the screen.

Well, a very happy and peaceful New Year to all, and watch this space for new adventures unfolding as we speak! ( sneak preview – the whole farm is unfenced at present, and to be able to let the Soays to the hill we are going to have to fence approximately 17km in total……..anyone fancy a fencing working holiday??!!***)

The New Addition to the Menagerie

We are completely guilty of being one of those families that consists of more animals than people, and in fact, in our thirteen years together, Keith and I have had a wide and varied assortment of pets, including at one time some wallabies in our back yard – which we had obtained by swapping some polish bantam chickens – the wallabies, in turn, were swapped for a peacock three years ago, and last autumn we managed to obtain a peahen for him…….so hopefully this spring we will have little pea chicks running around the farm! In the mean time, as part of Keith’s job as a shepherd, he needs working dogs for gathering and working the sheep, and this week we added to our working dog possie with Misty – a 7 week old bearded collie.

Enough to make the blokiest bloke go soft at the knees!

Learning the first commands.....sit and look gorgeous!

So Misty is going to live in the house as a companion for Dherric (gaelic word pronounced Gerrick) who is our mad, but absolutely gorgeous Springer. We are hoping she will have a calming effect on him! The kids are obviously delighted…..and Keith is totally dotty about her too. I think she is lovely, but will be much happier when she works out the finer points of going outside for the toilet!