On the farm there is always something going on. It feels like there are more projects than time. If you are curious to see what we are working on at the moment, look no further. Projects on the farm are often slow and gradual but I’m keeping the faith that these things will get done. Watch this space it will slowly be updated as projects shift, work gets done, and seasons change. I also want everyone to know that there is so much more going on but these are our main focus at this time.
Animals
Spring pigs. This year we will be growing out 5 pigs. The current plan is to have them free range in the pig paddock to start then move them through the forest to help tidy things up. The pigs made it to the farm in week 39.
Cattle. In order to get calves we need to get our cow and heifer in calf. Therefore, we need to figure out how this will happen. In week 40 I learned that AI is likely not the option for us.
Sheep. We like lamb but for us to have lamb we need a ram. It is my hope that we will buy in a ram lamb mid summer-ish and another a couple/few more ewes to over winter.
Garden
Flower garden. A flower garden is a must for me and when we moved here there were very few flowers to be found. Over the course of the last growing season I have managed to plant out a very small portion of the flower garden. This year I hope to plant out more and one day it will be covered with beautiful flowers
Vegetable garden. Aside from the ongoing maintenance and preparing for the next seasons crops. I am trying to establish a “crop garden”. Im hoping to plant the more sprawling and larger things there. Think, corn, sunflowers, pumpkin, zucchini (courgette).
Infrastructure
Fencing. We are working on two fence lines, they are the north boundary and the south boundary fence lines. Work has started on the south boundary fence line. We had to put in a new stay posts and now we are slowly clearing the fence line… Almost done. Next we will take out the old t posts or waratahs and wire. The north boundary hasn’t seen much done on it yet. Only the cows have grazed it so I can almost find the old wire. Update on the south boundary fence I finally got the old fence down in week 43
Blackberry. Oh blackberry why are you so prolific. We have a large amount of blackberries that we need to get a handle on. It is a slow journey (especially cause I wont just poison them) so instead I’m letting the animals graze it and slowly taking it out or cutting it way back. I know it will work even if it is slow (so so so slow) as the parts I got to last year look fantastic.
Orchard
Protecting the trees. We have three orchards and some scattered fruit trees. Each year I have done a tiny bit in the orchard. The biggest orchard project I hope to get through this year is in what I call the north orchard. Here I need to put up some kind of protection for the trees. This will make grazing an option during the growing season.