three days to go . on the farm . cows . ducks. chooks . stinky hen house

An organic low waste food farm designed around sustainable principles and methods.

And often managed long distance! This week I am pausing on the farm to do a reset. A reset with winter in mind. Before getting back on the road to work in other people’s gardens and teach other people how to live like this too. And minding my other families.

John forgot how much he hates ducks and brought three ducklings home from the tractor shop in the spring. Quite by chance he brought two ducks and a drake.

They better not breed he has been growling. But if they survive the winter - and they might because they take themselves to sleep in the barn - one of these ducks will certainly lay!

The drake evidently chases John and bites him on his boot. You know that doesn’t hurt right? He says to the duck.

While I was away this time the oven in the kitchen finally died though the gas stovetop was still going strong. But John had to buy an entirely new oven because the parts are now impossible to find. So. He took the old one outside and hooked it up to a gas tank.

It is great. I cooked the chicken broth outside instead of heating up the house, we don’t have air conditioning, so this is an excellent idea. Plus he is going to cook the maple syrup out on the porch next spring. My kitchen ceiling - which I have cleaned again - thanks him.

I de-stemmed and cleaned all the garlic. There is a lot. It is in a cool corner of the larder and should last the winter.

Also digging all the potatoes and bringing them into the cool(er) dry larder for eating

.Back in Melbourne (where the little mother is counting down the days until my return) they are still picking cauliflower and broccoli. I look forward to seeing what else has been growing!

Those Australian garden colours are so wintry. Because it is winter there! Dark greens are an important food for us in the low sunshine weather. The seasons serve up what we need the most.

Dinner is easy when there is a little something in the garden.

Today I am gathering a team to help clean out the chook house. It is way too humid after all that rain and heat but I don’t have a choice. It won’t get done if I am not here.

The hen house is designed so we can take a wall off - set it aside - and drive the small tractor in to scrape and scoop the concrete floor with the tractor bucket. There is still a lot of manual labor involved and it will be dusty and dirty but has to be done. At least the heaviest of the heavy lifting is done with the tractor. The cows have cleared away the weeds in front of the wall and the chickens are free range so it should not be too bad a job.

But leaving a big stinky job to once a year is not ideal. However with me gone this year. No one wants to sweep and scoop weekly, like I used to, so we have to it all at once. Keeping the barn clean and keeping the chook house clean needs a dedicated resident farmer. That is me. And I am not here this year, so it will be a job I do when I pop in every few months for these resets.

There is always a way to solve a problem.

Even if it is hard labour solution.

To be honest I am not looking forward to this job and I need to get John up to help but the good news is we will have an even bigger compost pile by the end of the day! And the compost is used in our gardens and the gardens of our laborers and family.

Now I am off out onto the farm.

It is already hot and humid. It will be an uncomfortable day.

But soonest begun - soonest done.

(You can tell I am not looking forward to this job!). 😂 No one enjoys shit shoveling!!

Love ya.

Celi