Renovations at Rivergum

Not a bad backdrop 

It's been a busy day here at Rivergum, well at least the evidence suggests it has been. My contribution was small in comparison, with only a couple of hours, after work, left to help out. Daryl and I finished felling an old pine tree which was in the exact spot our new fence needs to go, that and the fact it was rotten, were two good reasons to get rid of it.

Rotten to the core

I have no doubt the possums we see in this tree each night, when we lock the hens in, have jumped onto the surrounding pines and made new homes.  So this evening, that tree hitched securely to the tractor, with a lengthy sling,  fell easily into the open paddock and thankfully not onto the new chook pen fence. Phew!

Slinged up & ready to fall

Apart from adding more fuel to our rather large bonfire pile, friends Carol and Zac worked with Daryl to cut a couple of tonne of wood, despite the humid, muggy conditions this morning. They also trimmed up some older Cyprus trees clearing the laneway to the cattle yards. Our chances of losing an eyeball or scaring our faces with wayward, low hanging branches are now significantly reduced.

Daryl, Carol and Zac certainly had their farm workout today! No gym membership required here.

A small sample of winter fuel

Keeping in the theme of knocking things down, some minor renovations are taking place inside our home. Gone are the ugly bricks behind the combustion stove, and a couple of walls are now missing. It's a bit messy right now but in a week or so it will be nearly normal again and hopefully looking fresh and light.

Open space, lots of dust

Different angle

Seems pizza, in bed, is on the menu tonight (C & Z have gone home, just to clarify!). No way either of us have enough energy to cook or make space in the mayhem to find a spot to eat.

Bon appetit.

Until next time,

N

Rivergum update

Tree roots & concrete!

Progress is happening at Rivergum. Slowly, with hefty amounts of determination and grit the clean-up is showing signs of success.

Work conference

During the previous long weekend (thanks to the AFL) we hired an excavator from Coates in Sale, such a nifty little machine and boy was it put to work. Coates won the tender from us after ‘CanDo’, situated right next door to Coates, ‘Couldn’t Do’ – they wanted to charge an extra day’s hire due to the public holiday on Friday. No deal, they lost and we went next door.

That machine removed tree stumps and roots, concrete pathways, agapanthus and dug the foundation for a new carport. It also dug holes for fruit trees to be planted in the ground after becoming pot bound since the move. 

Daryl and Owen (plumber extraordinaire and awesome friend) worked that excavator as hard as it could go, despite Owen being desperately unwell he still rocked up as planned at 6 am on Friday morning. Our other faithful friends, Carol and Zac, had stayed over Thursday night (after enjoying a belated birthday dinner for me) and set to work before the sun warmed our hands. Once our little treasure, Bek, dragged herself out of bed, and enjoyed a hot bacon and egg sandwich, she too donned her work gear and began to sweat.

Carport foundations

Saving the wildlife

Throughout the day the three men excavated and we ladies worked the scrap metal pile, reducing it to random nails and bloody barbed wire which despite being rusty and brittle can still scratch any exposed skin. We also started a fire, because you can’t have a working bee without one I say. What started as a small endeavor, lasted for five days, and that fire glowed brightly throughout the night. 

The next day Owen finally succumbed to his dreadful virus and stayed home to rest and recover.   Despite our offer to extend our hospitality Carol and Zac bid us farewell and we collapsed into bed. During the continuous clean up and excavation work, tragedy struck and Daryl discovered the eaten carcass of a new born calf, its mother suffering from paralysis in the top paddock. We suspect a fox started at the calf before it was fully born. A horrendous experience I cannot begin to imagine for both cow and calf. Daryl and I were devastated by the loss and struck by the cruelty of wildlife. Daryl is still hunting the fox and it is an elusive one.

Girls at work

We had expected him at home to install a new hot water service. Instead, the four of us (Bek got to go to work to rest!) put on our work boots and got dirty. Over the course of the day, Carol and I managed to find more rotten wood to stoke the fire and more barbed wire to fill the metal bin. While we sweated and injured ourselves, the boys were ‘busy’ driving the tractor and the excavator. The day ended with chainsaws revving and a mountain of old fence posts cut, ready to stack.

Sunday saw a new hot water service put up after our old one died. This task took about 10 hours and it was doubly difficult for Owen who came out despite his dreadful lurgy.

Snake pit gone

In my enthusiasm I managed to smash the back window of the ute while cleaning timber stacked in the old piggery. Certainly not on the agenda.

Snake pit

Thankfully Daryl and I needed to go to work during the week, which allowed us to have a break from the labour-intensive farm cleanup.

Old piggery

New solar hot water

Yesterday it kicked back in with more metal being thrown into the skips. The remaining tin was removed from the piggery. With every piece of metal moved it was hard not to be jumpy at the prospect of meeting a snake or two resting in readiness for summer. But no snakes, lots of lizards and spiders, but all with legs. We then moved onto the old dairy and just when I thought we were making progress, I found myself briefly slammed back into despondency at the never ending clean up. With every piece of rubbish we pick up and every broken piece of machinery we find, I am reminded that while we physically pick up rusted and damaged goods we are also cleaning up someone’s dreams.

The old dairy

At one stage this farm functioned like a well-planned party. Organised, coordinated and using top quality goods. The farm was home to a range of poultry, a piggery full of pork, a few dairy cows whose milk fed the piggies, herds of cattle ranging from Herefords in the early days to Limousines and then mixed bred steers. A few horses, dogs, and cats finished off the menagerie. Big machines were bought on a whim, and

money was never an issue when it came to equipment.

Penny on the job

Like all good parties, it eventually ended and in this case no-one came to clean up. Slowly over time the party goods lost their festive feel and began to look second hand. Slowly over time the hopes and dreams, the plans of a family disintegrated to little more than rusty wire and rotten wood.

I hope my family never have to clean up after me, to this extent. I hope our work restoring Rivergum will be the beginning of a new opportunity, a lifestyle we will all enjoy, our family and friends will benefit from, and one day, to be passed on to the next generation.

Until next time,

N.

Why did the chicken get in the tractor cab?

Layer by Layer

Twenty seven years ago I packed  a small bag and left the farm I grew up on, with little more than a backward glance. Barely 18 years old, filled with anger and bitterness, I finished my final HSC (year 12) exam and moved out the next day. I did not say anything to my parents, no goodbyes and no tears - I  would not return to the farm for a long time. Moving back here in 2015, was nothing short of a miracle, a decision that defied logic or reason. In my wildest fantasies I never imagined I would be here once again. But, there is something rejuvenating about living on the land, it is organic, spiritual, impossible to explain. Its presence captures your heart and soul and never really lets you go, at least it did for me. So now this place, formerly my childhood home, is once again where I return to each day, this time with enthusiasm and hope. These are, for me, foreign emotions never before associated with this land, and I am caught by surprise.  Maybe I'm finally learning to let go. These days I find myself staring into the paddocks or looking to the morass, all wild and crazy, and I remember so many things. I watch the havoc caused by the howling westerly wind and my emotions roar with it. The silence of the night sky thunders around me and I wrestle in my dreams. Returning here is exhausting. Yet it seems, layer by layer, as the farm is rebuilt, so am I.

Rivergum continues to change and improve, slowing morphing into something new and transformed. The never ending clean up continues, old fences are brought down and new ones replace them; scrap metal is picked up and put on the monstrous pile; machinery is bought and sold, rabbits breed faster than we could ever eradicate them and the eggs are again being laid in abundance, despite the presence of those sneaky foxes.

We recently bought some more cows - nine Angus mumma cows and 10 calves (one set of twins) - an exciting addition to our little herd. We will also sell our first group of steers next week. Also very exciting and a little daunting. The new chicken paddock is progressing and soon our 35 hens will have a new home. On the technological front, a new website will soon be up and running. So watch this space.

The past few months have posed some interesting challenges, to me and my family, and despite being a reasonably resilient character I have found myself floundering, frustrated and struggling to see the proverbial silver lining. In fact, you could say I'm fairly crusty at certain parts of the universe right now. But in the darkness, the place I use to run from, has become the place I yearn to run to.

Funny how life takes you places you don't want to go and then turns it into a gift.

Until next time

N

Dead chickens in the morning

Best efforts couldn't save her.

And then there were 14.
Clumps of scattered feathers across the paddocks, chickens wandering in the morning fog, and the chicken coop door wide open greeted us this morning. It was a stark reminder that foxes are at work. On the previous occasions where we have forgotten to close the gates we were just lucky, unlike today.  The loss of six chickens overnight, follows the loss of a single chicken the night before, who stupidly flew into the dog yard while we were looking after the neighbour's hound. We tried to save her, wrapped her in towel and put her near the combustion stove to keep warm, but the trauma was obviously too much. On both accounts I was responsible. Some days it just sux.

We are fortunate to have not lost them all. The remaining girls are in reasonable health although a couple seem short of a few feathers.

New mulch = less weeds

Cold mist,  no wind

On a positive note the day did improve with the visit of two of my daughters, just ahead of friends Carol and Zac (our faithful farm hands). We had just finished mulching the rose garden and cleaning out the chicken pen, therefore collecting a few more bags of fertiliser, if anyone wants some. Timing was perfect for our visitors. After a cup or three of tea, a few munchies and casual conversation it was time to work again.

Just a little more tension

Despite the misty rain, we donned coats and boots and headed to the front boundary fence to strain some barbed wire. What should have been a relatively quick job, even for us amateurs, took a couple of hours. Endeavouring to be frugal we tried to use an old run of wire and use as a puller for the barbed wire, but despite the best of intentions it created more problems and it was soon passed in for new wire. This soon improved the pace of the job, coincidently the rain also increased. Using the quad bike to run messages between the workers and provide tools as needed we soon had the job running efficiently.

Mia, always willing to help

Quad getting a tow home

Before long we were adequately drenched, cold and unable to see through our glasses but the fence was tight and well strained. With a plan for hot lunch (albeit late), a well earned drink and dry clothes, Carol and I got ourselves ready to go, but then I broke the quad bike! Seems the gear selector stripped - the bike was towed home.

Carol and Zac have headed home, Daryl has gone off to work (night shift on no sleep) and I am left with my new computer, a warm fire and my youngest girl resting next to me as we watch the English murder mystery Shetland.

Time for another cup of tea.
Until next time.
N

I think I broke my toe and other tales

Well finally I am sitting, in front of the fire, yes the nights are getting chilly and I love it. Nothing like the smell of  wood burning, watching the flames flickering in the firebox and that dry heat that warps its way into every fibre of your being - relaxing and caressing you. It's absolutely orgasmic.
Of course a couple of good quality reds help....everything, but not my poor big toe. It's currently throbbing (and swollen)  after the gate and said toe collided this evening. Following a call from Daryl(hubby) this afternoon, while I was at work, telling me we left a calf with his mum when separating our calves from their mothers on the weekend, we needed to get this little steer off his mum urgently and get him into the calf paddock.

Lovin' my new toy

Now, just to put your mind at ease, these calves are bigger than their mummas, who are hopefully pregnant. Picture Daryl on the quad bike tearing around the paddock rounding up this calf while Bek (daughter) and I waited to steer the calf into the yards. After lots of dust and cow crap flinging in the air the calf ran through the gates; in my haste to close the gate before the herd of angry mumma cows charged through, I heaved the gate (picture gate hanging off one hinge and bloody heavy) as hard as I could while my foot was still in motion and kicked the bottom of the gate with my boots (minus the steel capped toe). The squealing which followed was worthy of an Oscar and could be heard at farms far and wide.

Hen's have found a new hobby

Anyhow enough whining for now.

On a positive note we did get a new toy for the farm - our quad bike. This purchase has caused some heated conversations in the family circle regarding their safety and poor stats about people killing themselves on them. Despite these stats we have purchased one, mainly so I can get around the farm,with relative ease. It has already served its purpose multiple times. Daryl has rigged up a purpose built trailer to go on the back of the quad to collect firewood.

Making life easier

This carries up to four wheelbarrows full of wood and means  I don't have to try and push a wheelbarrow full of wood  during winter, a task made very difficult with dodgy hips. The quad factor also means our daughter is keen to use it - yeah for us! Like any effective piece of equipment, it is perfected through trial and error.

Bit heavy to go cross country

And our wood trailer is no exception. Our first load, stacked just beautifully, promptly fell sideways after the quad tried to go through a hole - unsuccessfully. With the 'help' of our chickens we reloaded and successfully parked our first load at the house.
The rest of the weekend took us to the rose garden and then the veggie patch for some autumn planting.

Loaded and ready to go

Nice crops

It is always satisfying to plant a new crops and work in the rose patch.  We had an infestation of aphids and some other unidentifiable black little critters on our roses causing them to wilt. We trimmed, fed, watered and sprayed the remaining roses in the hope of revitalising them. They thanked us by digging in their thorns at every opportunity.

New veggies

Man of many talents

On the whole we are making slow progress at Rivergum. Daryl, with the help of his 88-year old father (he's amazing)  has finished the stay-sets for our new chicken paddock and we are now waiting for fencing wire to arrive. Of course if we didn't keep getting injured we could progress faster. Apparently today Daryl tripped over, in the paddock, while holding the chainsaw and various other tools, narrowly missing cracking his head open on the old bath/trough, only denting his knee (large bruise presenting now). His poor Dad nearly had a coronary!

Negotiations with the neighbour for a new boundary fence have been successful  and the contractor is being organised along with wood man who splits our trees for posts.
It's all very exciting in a farmy kind of way. 

Our new chooks have settled in and are supplying us with up to 18 eggs a day.

Funny little fowls

Always keen to help

We can find them in all sorts of places - the shed, the wood pile, the old rusty boiler drum and even the laying boxes on occasion!! Looking forward to expanding our eggs production and being able to supply true free range eggs.


My toe is throbbing and no amount of red wine is helping.


 
'Til next time.

Cheers

Natasha

Tetchy tales

Well it's been a while, nearly two weeks in fact since I've hit my keyboard, at least for this purpose. The problem is when you spend a large portion of your day in front of a computer screen for work, the enthusiasm to have more screen time at home is a trifle waned. I have a new job and while this is great, it means less time at the farm and another task to juggle.

I must admit I've also been struggling with what to share with you. Some days the farm is so busy that I could write everyday and then there seems to be a lull and it all presents as rather humdrum. This past couple of weeks have been  a mixture of the two.

We were fortunate to have a few days break and enjoyed some R&R with friends at Lakes Entrance. Sleeping in, playing cards, dining, wine-ing, fishing and shopping were luxuries we enjoyed and definitely no longer take for granted.

Hoping for some fish fillets

The farm was ably looked after by my daughters and all animals survived, despite the water being accidentally turned off to the trough!

Good friends, great times

The farm continues to improve, at a slower rate than we hoped. Daryl is trying to rebuild the place, mainly on his own and that is no mean feat. Complications from my hip replacement are rendering me useless for most outdoors work.

An old truck base ready for some remodeling

The frustration is immeasurable.

 But Daryl continues to cut trees and prepare posts for new fences, continues to ensure the cattle are well fed and moves them from paddock to paddock, using the portable fences to keep them in (which look electrified but are not, thankfully tricking the cattle).

With little grass growth hay is a welcome treat

He continues to salvage machinery and turn them from rusty wrecks to functional features.  Most recently he discovered more damaged water lines and found himself elbow deep in mud. Fortunately the repair work is reducing the flooding around the house. It seems the water pipes are riddled with joins that continue to leak underground. The pipelines are another job on the ever-growing list of things to be replaced and restructured.

Ick! The stench was just awful

Daryl did wonder why anyone would be a plumber!

Adding the cranky factor to frustration is the heat. With temperatures still soaring and humidity at an unusually high level,  I am wilting, while my grumpy-levels are rising. I cannot cope with the heat and 'tetchy' has become my new descriptor; Daryl relishes the heat and you can imagine the fireworks that follow us.

I say, bring on autumn ( the cool version) and winter - open fires, cool days, chilly nights and lots of chunky soup.

Until next time

N

Bring on winter 

 

12 months and one day

Many people were sending flowers and chocolates this weekend to mark St.Valentine's Day, but for us at Rivergum, this weekend marked 12 months since moving onto the land. It's been quite an adventure and now we look forward to the next phase.

Daryl has started clearing the morass, restoring tracks and cutting down the water reeds which have taken over the land where pasture once grew.

Hidden in the thick foliage is any number of branches in many shapes and sizes. These make great firewood, dry and are ready to burn this winter.

The morass has potential to feed more stock and provide shade against our harsh summer. It is already home to a variety of wildlife including wallabies, kangaroos, koalas and sea eagles to name a few.

We hope this wild bushland will be restored and in time provide a sanctuary for many more critters and an enjoyable bush walk for nature enthusiasts and bird-lovers alike.

In other progress, our new secure chicken yard is being constructed. In time, it will provide a fox proof home (as much as possible) for our feathered flock and their alpaca friends. Shady with lots of grass this, with the rest of the property, will make for some very happy hens.

Next week begins the final stage of removing the last of the old house. Piles of concrete, smashed bricks, bones and all manner of debris will finally be gone. We can then start the discussions and planning of our new backyard. This will no doubt take some time for Daryl and I to agree on the layout. But more of that  later. It's late and tomorrow is a work day.

See you next time

Cheers

N