Farewell Kiwi

Kiwi

After only a short stay with us, Kiwi has moved on.

This beautiful beast had a big personality and provided joy to us all over the few months he was part of our four-legged family. He has relocated just up the road to a farm where the kids and adults all adore him and has settled in easily. 

Deciding to buy an animal is always an exciting prospect filled with potential and opportunity and for Bek it was a dream come true. But then two things happened. Firstly Bek decided to apply to go on an overseas education exchange next year and then she had a major fall. 

Despite efforts to re-engage Kiwi, he knew Bek was spooked and his big personality stepped in, behaving like a big goof-ball, whenever she tried to work him. This, along with ambitions to go overseas, led to the conclusion that a new home was needed. 

Now that this gentle giant is grazing happily on greener pastures its time to focus on new adventures abroad. 

Could we be cursed?

Recently, my friend suggested that the farm may be cursed. Off course you scoff at such ideas initially, but I must admit,as the tally of 'bad luck events' keep increasing, I am beginning to wonder.

My mother in her prime

 My adoptive mother hailed from Argentina, South America, and was well indoctrinated into the spiritual world often claiming to be able to 'see things' and perform other healing rituals.
I recall one of the many seances, this one held with a group of my teenage friends (which upon reflection  was a very rare occurrence, as I didn't bring friends home often). The event was memorable resulting with girls squealing as strange psychic events manifested.

Kiwi and Bek as they should be

My mother was a volatile woman who's temper could go from zero to ten in half a second. At times, the whole psychic deal was overwhelming and at generally a little scary, especially as the language was a strange mix of Spanish and something else.... not sure what.

So the question remains - could she have cursed the farm? Maybe......

Recent disasters involving personal injury on the farm are worrying. Daryl and Bek have had their fair share of bad luck and bruises. So far, I am reasonably unscathed.
As I write this I am still sitting in the emergency room at Sale Hospital awaiting results of x-rays and ultrasound after Kiwi and Bek parted ways this morning. The big boy bucked Bek off her saddle and into the air before she slammed to the ground. Her scream was heard some 300 metres away where I was unloading timber railings with Carol. In my distress I tried to run to Bek but I failed miserably and thankfully Carol was close behind me in the ute. Fear gripping my gut, we drive to Bek finding her on the ground tears rolling and clearly in pain. Kiwi was contentedly chomping grass a few metres away.

Great team to transport  and treat Bek

Today did not play out as planned and I wonder is  this another sign of invisible forces working against us.
Bek is finally sleeping after the painkillers kicked in; the poor girl is braced at her neck and the sweat, dirt and mascara are streaked on her face. even as she sleeps she is not restful today. Her forehead creases in pain and she wakes frequently.
Despite setbacks at Rivergum we continue to work hard and plan for improvements. The fence posts are all ready to go after the final pieces of rusty wire were taken away.

Front boundary fence posts

We are very excited to finally have fences, well posts at least, wire will follow shortly. The calves are also separated and they are unable to get through 9kv of  current to their cranky mothers. Sadly the loss of one of our new born calves (the same one the mumma cow trampled in her efforts to attack Daryl) reminds us how quickly good things can turn sour. On the shiny side of life we have five gorgeous calves who can't help but make you smile when you see them frolicking in the paddock.

West boundary posts

A worming opportunity

Meanwhile, Bek is laying flat on the hospital  bed hooked up to all manner of wire and tubes . She is unable to move her head at all and the ceiling is not very inspiring - she is hurting, frustrated and bored - like me :)

While we languish in ER, Daryl and our farmer trainees have been busily working at home. A bbq lunch, in the picturesque surrounds of the bush, was a highlight of the day. I'm sorry we missed it, Bek and I were looking forward to it.

However, before the 'fall' Daryl and I were excited to give Carol and Zac a gift and presented them with a pair of  'his and hers' yellow bolt cutters.

Oh, the things we do!!

The cutters were one of a few bargains we found at the clearing sale, however we took the trailer home empty this time. The remainder of the weekend was taken up with groceries and lung function tests for my father. I'm not sure if you have ever had to do one, let alone get an elderly man who is deaf and has dementia to do it, but I tell you the challenge is significant. We took him out for coffee an cake after the appointment, lovely idea, except he lost us after going to the gents room. Lucky he shuffles and we can catch him quickly.

So we have been at the hospital for some seven hours and it has been decided Bek will stay overnight for further observations and more test tomorrow. On the bright side x-rays reveal no breaks. She is not excited about the overnight stay but I am so relieved the injuries are not more serious.

I know she will be battered and bruised for a periods of time but she will heal and she is whole.

We are blessed.

Lunch with an audience

Keep safe.

Until next time,


N

Ticked Off

Well, I'll be damned!

I found a tick embedded on the hairline of our horse's mane.

Nasty little creature

The little bugger did not want to let go and we were lucky Daryl could remove it with a pair of pliers.The horse is so tall it was impossible for me to reach it once he flicked his head up (wasn't too impressed when I tried to tug it out).

I must admit I was quite shocked when I found it. Ticks are nasty and can cause terrible issues with stock and pets.Now we will need to treat the dogs, just in case.  We just treated all our cattle, so hopefully this is the one and only critter we will find. After some research it looks like this could be a bush tick, but I will now be more aware of them.

On other farming matters I am delighted with our zucchini plants - producing an abundance of flowers, then succulent zucchinis.

Nice haul

As always there is too much at once, but we are more than happy to share with our friends and family.

Last year, I grated the oversupply and froze it using it in casseroles and pasta sauce during the colder seasons. This worked well, so I imagine we will do this again along with making a number of zucchini slices and sharing them also. I make a gluten free version as well as one full of 'glutenous' goodness, both are delicious, hot or cold.

While on the subject of yumminess our blackberries (the few bushes we didn't hack to pieces or poison) are also producing an abundance of fruit.

Blackberry jam on its way

Let's see if we can beat the birds and miss the snakes while picking these juicy little berries.

Sadly the rest of our garden is leaving little to be pleased about - tomatoes are slow, so slow, we are just seeing a few green fruit but not nearly enough. Hoping this improves greatly in the coming weeks. Other disappointments include the loss of all my bok choy plants and now something is attacking the spring onion and remainder of our lettuces :(

On a positive note the weeds are thriving,  as are our gorgeous rose bushes.

If you could smell the aroma - ah so beautiful

I hope your gardens are full of colour, fragrance and bees!

'Til next time

Cheers

N

Horsing around joy and heart break

Today has been a most difficult day, finally making the decision to sell Zeus, advertising him online.

Zeus is the horse we bought Bek for her 15th birthday, 16.3 hands of muscle and potential. The new best four-legged friend and the fulfilment of a promise I made to my daughter, after deciding to move to the farm. The joy I felt when she hugged me hard with happy tears in eyes on her birthday, is now replaced with my tears and heartbreak.

She was so excited, after having riding lessons and learning about the horse world with her riding trainer, Tegan Stephenson. Hours upon hours of learning, lunging, cleaning up horse poo, swatting flies, sunburn and sore legs has come to a sudden pause.

Today, Zeus was washed, trimmed and photographed in the hope of finding him a new home.

Sadly ours is a common story of  'they saw you coming sweetheart' - naive, keen and desperate for a horse for her birthday, I convinced Daryl this was a good idea, he was cautious, had a bad feeling about it all, but respected my determination to have Bek's horse. He also drove the eight hour round trip to pick him up, hiring a horse float and battling city traffic both ways. Patience is not my strong suit, but we had been searching for such a long time and he sounded perfect. The only problem was the seller failed to disclose all issues and concerns. We were regaled with assurances that Zeus was suitable for a confident beginner, told that he had no vices etc etc. We were not told about his hoof issues, his breathing issues, his dental issues or his sensitivities when it came to putting him under saddle.

We were duped and I was foolish, albeit with the best of intentions.

Today, Zeus looks beautiful, a bit lean, but handsome and glowing in the majestic way horses do. Tegan, helpful and supportive above and beyond all expectations, and with the help of her generous dad, brought Zeus home to eat the fresh grass and wait for a new someone to love him.

I  now have an unused saddle in my lounge room, bought for Bek for Christmas, the irony is not lost on anyone, especially me! And adding insult to injury  I have been hammered by 'uninformed, unhelpful, horse site trolls' who feel they should voice their opinions on our decision to sell Zeus. Some are just rude, others viscous, many are ignorant and most need to learn to use spell check!!

Right now my head is pounding  and I am wishing I could turn back time. But on the positive side of life, it has been an experience, a rather hard one, but valuable no less.

This is farming.

Cheers
N